Calling the tune

I WAS interested to read, following an aggressive campaign by the licensing organisation, PRS for Music (formerly the Performing Right Society) that the police in England and Wales spent £800,000 a year to enable music to be played in canteens, work areas and even in the cells. While I am able to walk out of restaurants that play loud and intrusive music, I am particularly glad I have never been confined to such a small space and from which there would be no escape.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Scottish arm of Pipedown has been informed that the Lothian & Borders Police alone paid some £17,275 (20012-13) for a similar arrangement and I wonder just how much Police Scotland is planning to spend entertaining their employees and those detained in custody?

It does seem strange that such expenditure is being incurred when police stations are being closed, but it also begs the question: just how much are we paying to enable other public service employees to be ‘entertained’ at their work place?

Alan McKinney

Edinburgh