To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration was given to the cost of policing the Tyneside Metro when establishing manpower levels for the Northumbria police force.

My right hon. and learned Friend approved 38 extra police posts for the Northumbria police as from April 1990. Twenty of these are to deal with general problems of rising crime in the areas in which the metro operates. The cost of a further 10 posts, specifically for policing the metro system, is reimbursed by the passenger transport executive.