Mr. Mark Toland:

We went to Scotland, which has an inspectorate - Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland. South of the border, one has HMIC. Scotland has its own variation. It works to the Minister in Scotland. Scotland now has a police authority, so the inspectorate there has a sole role. It does not report to the board but produces reports on behalf of the Minister. In fact, it has the power to inspect the board in Scotland, which is different.

My experience in London is a couple of years old because I am well retired but there is a police authority in London. There were police boards and authorities all over the UK but they have now been replaced by a new system - police and crime commissioners. The UK, outside of London, has seen an enormous change. What I would say in terms of London is that one has Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, which does the inspections, and one has the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which investigates serious complaints. The Met in London is slightly different because it still has its own investigation professional standards unit that investigates many of the complaints, which takes it away from a local superintendent or local officer investigating it. In London, a particular unit investigates complaints. It is not ideal for the public but it is better than a local police officer.

Mr. Olson will meet our equivalent in Northern Ireland next week and, of course, it has the board there. HMIC covers Northern Ireland as well and does the inspections and has many of the functions.