Mayor answers to London

Consultants

[Main question]

Question by Joanne McCartney

Will you be employing consultants to produce your statutory strategies? What is the projected cost of this?

Answer by Boris Johnson

The Culture Strategy is produced largely by the Cultural Strategy team but consultants will be brought in where specialist or technical expertise is required or specific research needs to be commissioned. The estimated cost is £40k.

The Environment strategies which are being revised or produced for the first time (Air Quality, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation & Energy) will be prepared by GLA staff in the Environment Team.

The London Plan will be prepared by GLA staff in the London Plan team.

To date, the LDA have spent £5700 on an external copywriter for the Economic Development Strategy (EDS). The LDA expects to hire specialist consultants to carry out statutory impact assessments of the draft EDS. The anticipated costs for this are £50,000. It has not yet been determined whether the GLA will use any consultant support for the EDS but no commitment has been made at this point.

Consultants will provide specialist advice in the process of revising the Transport Strategy. For example in the production of the Integrated Impact Assessment it is important to have an independent assessment of the potential impacts of the strategy. The exact scope of consultancy support is in the process of being determined.