§ Mr. Nellistasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests have taken place at Wapping in connection with the printing dispute from 16 June to date.
§ Mr. Giles ShawNinety six up to midnight on 29 June.
§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he expects to be able to provide a substantive reply to the question tabled by the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, for priority written answer on 16 June relating to the police operation at Wapping;
(2) what has been to date (a) the cost to public funds of the public operation outside Mr. Rupert Murdoch's establishment at Wapping, (b) the proportion of total Metropolitan police manpower engaged in these operations, (c) the proportion of total Metropolitan police time taken up by these operations, (d) the effect of these operations on other Metropolitan police operations and (e) which anti-crime activities have specifically been affected.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw[pursuant to his reply, 16 June 1986, c. 409]: I understand from the Commissioner that the additional costs of policing the News International dispute at Wapping up to 14 June are estimated to be about £1 million. The number of officers deployed varies from day to day and hour to hour according to the operational requirement: the maximum number of officers deployed on any one occasion has been 1870. Over 570,000 police man hours have been spent in connection with the dispute. 371W As to the effect on other Metropolitan police operations, I would refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question from my hon. Friend for Hayes and Harlington (Mr. Dicks) on 8 May at column 207.