• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Nicky Gavron AM: Thank you very much. I just wanted to make one point. It would be extremely helpful in forwarding this issue if the LEP and Assembly Members could really look carefully at the amended London Plan. I argued on behalf of the Planning Committee that we should have symmetrical high-speed broadband as the new utility delivered to all new developments. There was a lot of querying of me about ‘symmetrical’. I am not a technological whizz, but I explained that it was about having the same speed of uploading as downloading, which is obviously an issue. Moreover, we...

• Question by: Victoria Borwick
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Victoria Borwick AM MP: If I may, I would just like to follow on and say that there are other boroughs that are very concerned. In fact, I have a residents group in Kensington and Chelsea that is extremely dismayed that it seems to be that others are moving ahead on this agenda. I would - I think - second the points made by Mr Dismore, not all of them, but I know there are others around here who I am sure could instance their boroughs and issues with this. There seems to be subsidies and other information for other...

• Question by: Andrew Dismore
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Andrew Dismore AM: Thank you, Chair. I would like to raise the issue of connectivity and broadband, which does not seem to be moving on particularly well. A few weeks ago, Emily Thornberry [Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury] raised in Parliament an example she had of a business in central London taking nine hours to upload a two-and-a-half-minute film, which is not particularly helpful. What are you doing to try to do something about this problem of connectivity?

• Question by: Stephen Knight
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Stephen Knight AM: Thank you, Chair. My question was on this issue of London’s relationship with the EU, which your report makes quite a few comments about in terms of London ‘staying open for business’. It is quite clear in terms of the need to maintain the relationship with the EU and the dangers of undermining that relationship. In particular, I wanted to ask you about - and I am reading from the report - wanting to: “... strengthen London’s voice on national policies that could put London’s status as the global hub for business and finance at risk: particularly...

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Murad Qureshi AM: Sorry. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Can I just move the debate into another area, Harvey? I have heard what the Mayor’s [Chief Economic] Advisor, Gerard Lyons, has to say about the impact that the UK exiting the European Union (EU) will have on London’s economy. Could you tell me what you think the impact will be on key economic clusters like the financial services and medical services that we provide in London?

• Question by: Navin Shah
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Navin Shah AM: Yes, on the London Living Wage again, are recipients of LEP funding required to pay their employees the London Living Wage? Harvey McGrath (Deputy Chair, London Enterprise Panel): In terms of ...? Navin Shah AM: Are the recipients of the organisations that you fund required to pay the London Living Wage?

• Question by: Fiona Twycross
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Fiona Twycross AM: Thank you. I just want to come back a little bit to the part in the question that refers to fairness, which we touched on a little bit in terms of increasing employability but not in terms of issues of pay. I was at a meeting last night when a number of cleaners spoke quite passionately about the impact on their lives of low pay. We know that the number of jobs paying less than the London Living Wage has risen quite dramatically in recent years while average pay rates have also been declining in real terms...

• Question by: Navin Shah
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Navin Shah AM: Thank you, Chair. I would like to explore further the issue about the childcare aspects. One of the largest barriers to participation in London’s labour market for women is the lack of flexible and affordable childcare. I would certainly say that if you would, please, look into this as one of the priority issues. Looking at the GLA’s history with regards to childcare, before 2008 - I think it was in 2003 - there was a Childcare Strategy that was launched at the time, followed by about £33 million in investment planned over a three-year period, to...

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Richard Tracey AM: Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just dig a bit deeper into this question of skills and the equipping of young people? You will be well aware that in my constituency, in Wandsworth, we have the massive Nine Elms [Vauxhall Nine Elms] development going on. I was pretty shocked when on one of my recent visits there to hear from some of the people running the support operation that there are terrible problems with getting the funding and getting the operation going. They are not able to lay on the supplies of skilled young people and apprentices...

• Question by: Caroline Pidgeon
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM: I have a specific question for Mr McGrath. Very briefly, Harvey, employment is a key for a stronger economy and you talked very much about this document and yet it does not mention anywhere the challenge of parental employment. Given that around 10% fewer women who are parents in London are in employment compared to the rest of the UK, have you done any work on this issue and perhaps the childcare challenges that the capital faces?