§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of whether the liaison and co-operation between the security service, special branch arid the various police forces is working to the maximum efficiency.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI am satisfied that these arrangements are working effectively.
§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he proposes to take to ensure that when warnings are given as to an imminent security threat the maximum information is given to the relevant police area.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI am satisfied that the current arrangements for disseminating information of this kind to the police, and within police forces, are working properly.
§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make sufficient funds available to the City of London police to establish road blocks as and when required;
(2) what plans he has to increase funding of anti-terrorism operations (a) in general and (b) by the City of London police.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeIt is for the police authority to determine the level of funding for its police force. This then attracts specific grant of 51 per cent. from my Department in the normal way. Chief officers decide how to allocate the resources which are available to them. Whether and when road checks should be mounted under the powers available to the police is an operational decision for the chief officer.
At a recent meeting with the Lord Mayor and the commissioner of the City of London police I informed them that I would consider sympathetically any application I received from them for additional police officer posts or for capital spending on closed-circuit television in the city.