§ Mr. John Fraserasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the reasons for writing to the Community/Police consultative group for Lambeth on 23 September to say that the Government have allowed the Metropolitan Police (Compensation) Act 1886 to remain on the statute book even though the Government no longer accept the principles upon which it is based; and if he will specify the principles with which his Department disagrees.
§ Mr. Douglas Hogg[pursuant to his reply, 19 December 1986, c. 734]: I assume the hon. Member is referring to the Riot (Damages) Act 1886. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary wrote to the chairman of the Lambeth consultative group in reply to a letter from her enclosing a copy of the group's report on the disorders in Brixton in September 1985. The report contained proposals for amending the 1886 Act. The Act is based on the assumption that riots are the result of a failure to provide adequate policing and that those who suffer damage to their premises or property in the course of a riot should therefore be entitled to compensation from the police fund for the area. As my right hon. Friend's letter explained, we no longer accept these assumptions but have retained the Act because it provides help to small businesses and households in inner city areas which may be vulnerable to riots.