§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of whether the Metropolitan police are institutionally racist. [134999]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeMy right hon. Friend the Home Secretary made clear his assessment of institutional racism in the Metropolitan police service as well as in other public institutions in his statement to the House on publication of the report of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry on 24 February 1999,Official Report, columns 389–93. The action plan he published in March 1999 sets out a major programme of reform, the implementation of which is overseen and audited by the steering group set up for this purpose, which he chairs. The first annual report on progress in implementation of the action plan was published in February 2000.