asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ask for a report from the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire on the presence of plain clothes officers at the public inquiry into the proposed Airedale route and the subsequent arrest and release of one such officer.

The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire tells me that a police officer in plain clothes was present on occasion at the inquiry for the purpose of assessing the general situation and reporting developments to the officer in charge who was responsible for the deployment of uniformed personnel.He was not arrested.