To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis on the reasons why the officer commanding Southwark division Metropolitan police did not alert Kent county constabulary, Gravesend, that six traveller families were moving into the county of Kent; for what reasons the usual protocol was ignored, and on whose authority; and if he will make a statement.

The Commissioner accepts that Kent constabulary should have been told about the movement of these families and regrets that this did not happen. Police officers on Southwark division have been reminded' of the importance of inter-force co-operation in similar cases.