Start at the top in controlling Met's budget - Dee Doocey

1.00.00pm GMT Tue 2nd Feb 2010

Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Policing Spokesperson and Member of the MPA, commenting on plans set out today by senior police officers to control costs, including overtime said:

"Senior police officers should start with controlling their own costs. The Met alone could save over £2million a year by simply ending chauffeur driven cars for senior officers and ending the use of First Class and Business Travel.

"While there is a case for looking at whether the Met's overtime bill can be reduced lets not pretend sergeants and police constables should be blamed for simply putting the extra hours in.

"The Met also needs to examine every aspect of its expenditure, including its £7 million a year expenditure on hired cars. If the Met can reduce this bill by 40% in just two months what other areas of expenditure are needing to be controlled?"

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. In answer to a written question by Dee Doocey the Mayor has confirmed that only recently has the Met started to control its expenditure on the use of hired cars.

Question No: 139 / 2010

Dee Doocey

The MPS spent £7.2 million on hire cars in 2008/9, and a total of £48.2 million over the last 5 years. Can you let me know what proportion of these cars were used for surveillance and/or special operations, where anonymous and changing vehicles may be required for operational purposes?

Answer from the Mayor:

I have been informed that the proportion of hire vehicles used by the MPS on surveillance and/or special operations averages around 36% over the past 5 years. These figures are higher in some of the years than others.

A strategic review of the MPS fleet was conducted at the end of 2008/2009, which has already resulted in a 40% reduction in overall use of hire vehicles since November 2009.