§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money was spent by the Metropolitan Police on undertaking road blocks, in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will list the occasions when road blocks were undertaken in conjunction with other agencies, other than for national security reasons. [32584]
§ Mr. MichaelThe Metropolitan Police Commissioner tells me that there is no current requirement within the Metropolitan Police Service to keep account of the costs for road checks. The checks are a core function of the Metropolitan Police Service's work and do not incur any additional expense to the budget.
During 1 January 1997 to 31 December 1997, nine road checks were carried out. Two checks were for the purpose of ascertaining whether a vehicle was carrying a person reasonably suspected of having committed a serious arrestable offence and seven checks were where it was suspected that the vehicles carried a witness to a serious arrestable offence.
Operation Mermaid, a nationally co-ordinated road check involving most United Kingdom police forces targets the safe operation of commercial vehicles. The checks are undertaken on the same day and for the same duration by each participating police force.
The checks for 1997 were conducted on:
- 9 April: 0700 to 1500
- 10 June: 1600 to 2400
- 10 September: 1200 to 2000
- 18 November: 0700 to 1500.
Other agencies involved were:
Customs and Excise: for illegally imported goods and/or non duty paid fuelVehicle Inspectorate: for vehicle conditionBenefit Fraud Investigation Unit: detection of fraudulent claims to the Department of Social Security.Additionally, an officer assists Westminster City Council for 12 hours a week with a pilot enforcement scheme under the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emission) (Fixed Penalty) Regulations 1997. The power to stop the vehicles is exercised under section 163 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.