To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the manning levels of British Transport police on the Central line; and what arrangements there are for compensating shopkeepers for criminal damage to shops on London Transport premises.

More than 160 officers are stationed at British Transport police stations in the geographical area covered by the Central line. The terms of leases between LT and its tenants are a commercial matter for the parties involved, but I understand that LT's normal practice is to advise shopkeepers to take out insurance against criminal damage.