• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 15 October 2008

The second question I have is a number of councils are considering cutting the funding for Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) because of the financial position we are in. Do you have any plans to deal with this or will this result in less uniformed presence on the street?

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 15 October 2008

Mr Mayor, would you not agree that there is an awful lot of commentators at the moment who are telling us what is going to happen to housing and the only thing that is certain is that over half of them are going to be wrong?! As you stated, to make any investment on risky strategies would be very unwise at the moment. Would you also agree with me that this is not only an opportunity for us to build good quality houses that look good and are sustainable and all the rest of it, but which can now start...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 15 October 2008

Darren Johnson (Deputy Chair): OK. Thank you. Now question 2088 on housing in the name of Mike Tuffrey. Mike [Tuffrey] has indicated that he does want to come back on this issue. Mike Tuffrey (AM): Thank you; I am grateful for your indulgence. The specific question - because it is highly topical - there is a story running in the media this morning that Alistair Darling has released some funding from the Olympics contingency towards the Olympics Village. I gather that is not correct and that is not a new story, but what I am wanting to get from you...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 15 October 2008

Roger Evans (AM): I think we have got to the point that perhaps we think London was over-reliant on the financial services sector but do you feel that our national Government was over-reliant on taking taxes out of London as well? Some people report up to £7 billion tax on the back of city bonuses. Will you join with - I should think the rest of the Assembly would support this - an approach to government to say they should take less tax from London in future and spread the burden more evenly across the country?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 15 October 2008

Finally, your Business Advisory Council met for the first time this month and I think we are all looking forward to finding out what went on. However, the Chair, [Sir] Martin Sorrell, his company has just relocated to Ireland. I am just curious; is he the right person to Chair that body if he has just abandoned London?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 10 September 2008

John Biggs (AM): I have two other tiny questions about your appointments; the first is I think at the last Question Time you said you were bringing back into your office your decisions on planning matters - Can you tell us whether you have actually got round to doing this yet?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 10 September 2008

John Biggs (AM): When did you last meet Mr Parker?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 10 September 2008

John Biggs (AM): Final question then is about the pay of Deputy Mayors whom you have appointed who are, for example, Chairs or Deputy Chairs of functional bodies. Members of functional bodies who are Deputy Mayors and therefore your appointees. Could you make a clear statement, given your comments earlier today about budgets, about what you think are acceptable levels of pay for your appointees in those positions? Would you sanction massive hikes? If you found there was a war going on between your advisers to pay themselves increasing amounts would you frown upon that?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 10 September 2008

Would you agree with the statement that so-called ethnic minorities together form a majority in boroughs such as Brent and Newham and that by the time the third world no longer wants to move to Britain, Britain will be a foreign land?

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 10 September 2008

Nicky Gavron (AM): Do you think that Conservative controlled boroughs will have more difficulty setting affordable housing targets than other boroughs?