• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 20 June 2019

Len Duvall AM: Mr Mayor, in terms of keeping with the theme about honesty in politics, I understand you have mentioned about the issues that occurred during the debates about leaving the EU, are you aware what the UK Statistics Authority actually said to the then Foreign Secretary [Boris Johnson MP] when he made his announcement around that £350 million ‑‑

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 20 June 2019

Nicky Gavron AM: Good morning, Mr Mayor. With climate change high on the agenda as well as air quality - and rightly so - you have declared a climate change emergency and I am very pleased that the week after next you are running the first-ever Climate Action Week in London, but we need more concerted effort. Of course much of that should come from the Government in terms of regulation, support and investment, but you have very strong powers in planning. How are you going to ensure that we accelerate towards zero-carbon developments? Just before you answer that question...

• Question by: Unmesh Desai
• Meeting date: 20 June 2019

Unmesh Desai AM: Thank you, Chair. Mr Mayor, on 9 June [2019], the flats at De Pass Gardens in my constituency at Barking Riverside were engulfed by fire, destroying 20 homes and damaging 43 more. Mr Mayor, I am sure you will join me, firstly, in thanking the emergency services for ensuring no one was hurt. Indeed, within five minutes, Barking fire crews and vehicles were responding to the incident. Mr Mayor, will you also join me in noting and congratulating the extraordinarily swift response of Barking and Dagenham Council to this incident? Thirteen minutes after the initial reports, the...

• Question by: Fiona Twycross
• Meeting date: 20 June 2019

Fiona Twycross AM: Thank you. There has been a rise in hate crimes, as has already been noted, since the EU referendum, and there have been particularly bad spikes in the aftermath of some of the major events we have seen in our city, such as the London Bridge terror attack in 2017. What role do you think the re‑emergence of the far right has had to play in this, and what measures are you taking to protect the diverse communities in London and prove that London really is open?

• Question by: Florence Eshalomi MP
• Meeting date: 20 June 2019

Florence Eshalomi AM: Just on the stop and search, Mr Mayor, which sometimes is a contentious issue, especially in the two boroughs I represent where a disproportionate amount of young black men are stopped and searched inappropriately, but we know that stop-and-search, when intelligence-led, does work. I have a group of students from St Michael’s sixth form in Bermondsey, and a big issue for them is around knife crime. Can you talk about some of the other initiatives to help reduce knife crime about getting our young people engaged in positive activities from a younger age?

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 16 May 2019

Andrew Boff AM: Mr Mayor, you have restated what was in your press release, that more homes were started at social rent levels than ever before. How do your 3,991 compare to the 11,329 that were started in 2010/11, the 10,663 homes that were started in 2009/10, and the 7,439 that were started in 2008/09?

• Question by: Florence Eshalomi MP
• Meeting date: 16 May 2019

Florence Eshalomi AM: Mr Mayor, just following on from that, you may be aware of the Pecan food bank in Peckham. On 1 May [2019] the Bishop of Southwark opened the first of its kind, Peckham Pantry, in London. This is based on a membership scheme where local residents and families can pay £15 and can come to that pantry and buy a lot more than £15 worth of food shopping, going a long way to help address the issues around food poverty and the number of families relying on the food banks. I very much appreciate that your diary...

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 16 May 2019

Joanne McCarthy AM: Mr Mayor, poverty is a major barrier to social mobility and I am sure you were as shocked as I was this week when the London Child Poverty Alliance announced the new figures for poverty not only across the country but in London. It is increasing. If I can give you an example in my own boroughs of Enfield and Haringey, in Tottenham and Edmonton, nearly 49% of our children are living in poverty. This is after housing costs. Across my two boroughs, that means 66,000 children are living in poverty. You have already made some progress...

• Question by: Susan Hall
• Meeting date: 16 May 2019

Susan Hall AM: Thank you. Mr Mayor, it was with great distress that I read about the plight of Police Constable (PC) [Edwin] Sutton, who was forced to face a misconduct hearing by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) for knocking a suspect ‘moped mugger’, who incidentally had no licence or insurance, off his bike. What conversations have you had with the IOPC regarding the pursuit of police officers doing their jobs, and what representations have you made to reverse this trend? Also, have you spoken to the Commissioner [of Police of the Metropolis, Cressida Dick CBE QPM], asking...

• Question by: Caroline Pidgeon
• Meeting date: 16 May 2019

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM: The recent Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) report into child protection in the MPS was a really worrying read. HMI added in a new recommendation regarding online child protection and highlighted serious limitations with digital forensics, particularly it hindering police being able to secure prosecutions. What are you doing to help police officers with this need for new technology and access to digital forensics to help them secure more prosecutions and help stop these horrendous crimes against children?