Metropolitan Police District Boundaries (Hansard, 16 June 1998)

§ Lord Williams of Mostyn

The Government are committed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system. Aligning the operational boundaries of the different agencies is an important element in this. The Crime and Disorder Bill's proposed changes to the youth justice system and creation of local crime reduction partnerships give added emphasis to the importance of boundary alignment. The recently 127WA announced changes to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will make police and CPS operational boundaries coterminous.

We have in recent months received strong representations that the boundaries of the Metropolitan Police District, which stretch into Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey, make more difficult effective joint working between the different criminal justice agencies.

The present boundaries are an historical anachronism dating back to early in the 19th century, before the advent of modern local government.

The Government have therefore decided that the Greater London Authority Bill, which will come before this House later this year, will provide for a change to the boundaries of the Metropolitan Police District to make them coterminous with those of the 32 London boroughs. As a result, those parts of Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey which are currently policed by the Metropolitan Police Service will be policed by the respective county police forces.

This change will mean that local councils and criminal justice agencies in the county districts of the Metropolitan Police District will not have to work with two different police forces, which leads to inefficiency and duplication. The change will help to promote effective joint working between agencies as they implement the provisions in the Crime and Disorder Bill.

These boundary changes will also support democratic accountability and enable the Metropolitan Police to focus on policing London, a major task in itself. A majority of elected members on the new Metropolitan Police Authority will provide the vital democratic link between Londoners and the Metropolitan Police. Residents in those parts of Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey currently policed by the Metropolitan Police will not have a vote in the elections for the mayor and assembly members. It is therefore right that those areas be policed by county forces whose police authorities already provide local democratic accountability in their areas.

We expect this change to take place in April 2000. Implementing it will require close co-operation between the relevant police forces, police authorities and local councils, and other interested parties. My right honourable friend the Home Secretary has written to them today to inform them of this decision and to seek their views on how it should be implemented.