• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

Is that not convenient for you, that the Arbiter now cannot report on this?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

This is a very important situation because we are talking about millions and millions of pounds here and we all know that Metronet failed in quite a lot of their work, which has increased the bill that we all have to pay. The Arbiter has already reported in September that London Underground was at fault as well for proceeding with work far and away above what was originally expected and the cost, which was down to London Underground, was somewhere between £370 million and £1 billion. My concern is that in the future we are just going to rack up...

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

It will all be hidden away by then. No one will know. You will not be here and nor will I.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

Well that was running up to £2 billion overspent. That is not saying anything.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

We certainly welcome the free travel over New Year's Eve, but last year you did actually promise our Chair, Sally Hamwee, that you would look into running the bus service on Christmas Day, because quite a lot of people still work on Christmas Day for essential services, at the level of night bus provision, both on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Why is your answer this year, 'bah humbug'?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

Did you look into running a night bus service on Christmas Day?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

My question was not driven by crime figures particularly, it was driven by health inequalities and I hope you are not intending to give the impression, as I think you are, that actually problems of prevention of alcohol related issues is not a serious problem, because I think it is. I will move on now.

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

Still, again looking at the inequalities, one of the inequalities in this is actually the funding that goes to drugs related issues and the funding that goes to alcohol related issues. It may be a minority, but I think it is a relatively large minority who either have an alcohol problem themselves or are involved in crime that is related to alcohol. Not necessarily just antisocial behaviour; a lot of domestic violence is alcohol fuelled for instance. I do not know the figures for London but nationally £946 per head is spent on drugs treatment and only £197 per head...

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

My desire, as I think you are saying, is to recognise that alcohol is in a sense a drug and does cause as much harm, as does tobacco. The problem is that they are both legal; government gets a lot of revenue from them and yet does not spend enough revenue on tackling the issues that they cause. There is a huge disparity between London boroughs too in treatment here; is your Inequalities Strategy going to tackle that?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

Yes. I do not think you or I want alcohol to disappear from the world, Mr Mayor. It is certainly not my wish.