I propose to take Questions Nos. 117, 118, 119 and 120 together.
The British-Irish Agreement provided for the establishment of an Independent Commission on Policing to make recommendations for future policing arrangements in Northern Ireland, including means of encouraging widespread community support for these arrangements. In accordance with this commitment, the British Government established a commission under the chairmanship of the former Governor of Hong Kong, Mr. Chris Patten. What the recommendations of that commission must achieve are clearly set out in the British-Irish Agreement. As the Agreement states, the commission's proposals should be designed to ensure that policing arrangements, including composition, recruitment, training, culture, ethos and symbols, are such that in a new approach, Northern Ireland has a police service that can enjoy widespread support from, and is seen as an integral part of, the community as a whole.
In formulating its recommendations, the commission is charged with inquiring into policing in Northern Ireland. It is currently undertaking a process of wide consultation amongst all interested groups and individuals in Northern Ireland. I understand that the commission has received a large number of submissions offering a variety of approaches and proposals. Regionalisation and community-style policing are issues which are favoured by some parties. All the proposals will, I am confident, be reviewed and considered by the commission and its members. They have all added to the debate on policing. However, it would not be appropriate for me to seek to pre-empt the deliberations or the recommendations of the commission.
I welcome the recent statement by the chairman of the commission that he will have access to the reports of the Stalker and Stevens inquiries into the RUC. It is vitally important that the public has confidence that the commission has fully discharged its obligation to ensure that its recommendations will be based on a full and complete knowledge of policing in Northern Ireland. The Government continues to monitor the relations between the security forces and the community in Northern Ireland, including the operation of the RUC, and to make representations as appropriate to the British authorities through the frame-work of the Intergovernmental Conference.