§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what requests he has had from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis for an increase in the number of police officers in the Tooting police division in the light of the presence of prostitutes in the Bedford hill area of Balham; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydIt is for the Commissioner to decide how to allocate resources between divisions from the overall pool of officers available to him.
The Commissioner is aware of the problem of prostitution in Bedford hill and a local squad is dedicated to combating it. In addition, as a result of discussion with 268W the local police consultative group, the police and Wandsworth council have within the last few weeks set up a working party to explore multi-agency approaches to tackling the problem.