In advance of tomorrow’s meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority (10am, 28 July 2011), Jenny Jones, Green member of the Metropolitan Police Authority and mayoral candidate, said:
"This coming Thursday will be make or break for the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority.
"I think that all members of the Authority will be expecting clear and honest answers about how Kit Malthouse has handled the phone hacking affair and what advice was given to the Mayor.
"Whomever made the mistakes at the time, it led to a situation where the Mayor completely misled the public about an active investigation into phone hacking and could well have influenced the outcome of that investigation with his remarks.
"That is a very serious issue, especially when it forms part of a pattern of misinformation and mistakes."
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Questions that Jenny Jones AM has submitted to the MPA ahead of the meeting (28 July 2011):
Questions to the (acting) Commissioner:
– What steps have been taken to ensure that the investigators within the Metropolitan Police working on Operation Weeting and Operation Elveden are not themselves compromised, either through having accepted payments or gifts from the media in the past, or through contact with officers who have?
– What guidance was available for officers on contact with the media? Has this guidance been updated in light of this case, and can I be provided with a copy?
– Would it still be considered acceptable for senior officers to have private meetings with journalists or executives of news organisations?
– When confidential police information leaks to the press what is the procedure for investigating the source of this information? Does the MPS press office have responsibility for identifying leaked information?
– In 2011, how many instances of confidential police information leaked to the press have been investigated internally?
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To Chair of MPA:
– In 2009, when members were raising lots of questions about this case, did you or the Mayor meet with Sir Paul Stephenson or John Yates to follow-up the concerns of MPA members about the phone hacking investigation and the allegations of payments being made to police?
– Is there an opportunity for the MPA anti-corruption scrutiny to examine the issue of corruption that has developed in dealings with the media?
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Questions for written answers:
– Will the Commissioner investigate claims that News of the World reporters were able to purchase mobile phone-tracking data, known as "pinging", for £300?
– Will the Commissioner request an audit of all cases in which the MPS has accessed phone-tracking data under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to ensure those were valid requests?
– Will the Commissioner guarantee that, where a person has reason to suspect their whereabouts may have been gleaned from their mobile phone signal and passed to a tabloid reporter, the MPS will also check its records of RIPA requests to establish no tracking data was obtained by its officers?