Mr. Drew Harris:

As has been stated, we have three strata. The first thing is to reassure people of our support in respect of smaller events, charity events and community events. With respect to purely commercial events, the hourly rate, as it is at the moment, is not reflective of our overall cost. A comment has been made about the utility of the RDM system and how joined up our systems are. We have taken all the recommendations on board and want to work those through.

Having said all that, we are very conscious that there is always a public safety element to a major concert. Beyond just charging, we have an obligation concerning the prevention of crime and preventing people being preyed upon by others as they enter or leave a concert. Since there is a policing obligation as well, I am not entirely sure we will ever get to the point of having 100% recovery of funds. I am not sure we would want that because I do not want to lose my operational independence, and I want to have a part of this which I will have paid for because the prevention of crime is my responsibility. We entirely accept the report. We will implement it, and then we will have to provide guidance to our chief superintendents who are making the operational decisions on how to deliver.