• Question by: Gareth Bacon MP
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Gareth Bacon AM: Yes, thank you, Chairman. Mr Mayor, I would like to take you back to the exchange that you had with the much-admired Member for Barnet and Camden, who would not dream of electioneering in this chamber. Mr Mayor, from the moment you became Mayor, it seemed that the Labour Party were sure that you were about to take a big axe to police numbers. I think some of the more fair-minded among us can see that you fought tooth and nail, despite, as you said earlier, the massive cuts in funding and the seven years of famine...

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Tony Arbour AM: Contrary to what you have heard, Mr Mayor, there are residents of London who think you have actually done a very good job on policing. My constituents show the highest levels of confidence in policing that there have ever been. They are grateful to the MPS for the very substantial reduction in crime that there has been and they are glad that they are able to feel so much safer. However, today we are discussing the police budget and I am concerned to know how it is that you propose in future years the budget gap is...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Jenny Jones AM: I am starting to look like one of the more polite people around this table, I would like to point out, which has probably surprised us all. Last week I published my report into MPS surveillance practice. In it, I outlined an awful lot of stuff that they do not need to be doing because they are looking at people like environmental activists, anti-racist organisations and so on. Would you consider reviewing that particular practice? You could save a lot of money for the MPS if you just stopped them wasting time on people like me.

• Question by: Andrew Dismore
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Andrew Dismore AM: Can you tell me how many police officers we have in Barnet and how many in Camden?

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Joanne McCartney AM: Mr Mayor. I think we both agree that policing is very stretched at the minute and that the future looks very difficult. Boris Johnson (Mayor of London): Policing is going very well in London. That is how I would put it. The MPS has delivered a remarkable success in continuing to bring crime down throughout the recession. Joanne McCartney AM: Of course, we had the Commissioner at our policing Plenary in December sitting alongside you and telling us that it was very difficult. He has warned that, with future budget cuts, public safety could be at risk...

• Question by: Caroline Pidgeon
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM: Given the significant increase in child abuse cases, are you satisfied that your budget has allocated the correct level of funding to resource the Child Abuse Investigation Teams?

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Nicky Gavron AM: We have a housing crisis and in the face of that, Mr Mayor, you have set up a new target of 42,000 homes per annum starting from April, but the last record we have of house building we have in this city - as Mr Copley has just said - was for 2013/14 17,720, so there is a massive gap. Now Labour has a -- Boris Johnson (Mayor of London): Those are affordable homes. Nicky Gavron AM: No, they are all homes. Boris Johnson (Mayor of London): No, they are not. Nicky Gavron AM: You are not...

• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Tom Copley AM: Mr Mayor, there are many things I could ask you about in regard to the housing section of your budget, but I want to focus on the private rented sector (PRS), if I may? As you know, many of the more than 900,000 households that rent in the PRS, the conditions for many of them are not good. The PRS has the lowest compliance with the Decent Homes Standard of any tenure. Complaints against landlords are up 47% since 2008. Boris Johnson (Mayor of London): You say complaints against landlords? Tom Copley AM: Rents are up 21%...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Jennette Arnold OBE AM (Deputy Chairman): Good morning, Mr Mayor. Boris Johnson (Mayor of London): Good morning, Jennette. Jennette Arnold OBE AM (Deputy Chairman): Oh “good morning, Jennette”, OK. If that is an opening to call you “Boris” I shall resist. Can we start by where we agree? By “we” I mean the Labour group in terms of your involvement with education and work around young people. We certainly agree and support your involvement in education and the work around young people, and many of the recommendations that came out of the Education Commission. What we disagree with you about...

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 28 January 2015

Murad Qureshi AM: Mr Mayor, 2014 was a terrible year for air quality in the Capital. With your watered down Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and new evidence emerging all the time about how bad the public health impact is, will your budget be another year which we have wasted in trying to tackle the silent killer?