• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

Specifically only a 1% rise in the fire grant is surely a disappointment, particularly to us here in London, with the pressures on the resilience budget.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 12 December 2007

OK. Would you share with me concern that although we have had a number of years of growth in funding for London, which has been welcome, this year's settlement for London, particularly for the boroughs, is a challenging one and will you join with Labour councils and others in lobbying the Government to ensure that we have the resources to meet our needs, bearing in mind that London has very peculiar attributes compared to other parts of the country in terms of turnover, population growth, churn, demand for services, different profiles in the population and so on?

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

Have you or your Office given direction to increase funding to any of these projects over their life?

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

Can I be clear then; what direction have you or your Office given over these specific projects?

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

For the Assembly, in cooperation, you will direct the LDA to make available to the Assembly all the evidence that we require to complete our process of auditing these projects?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

Mr Mayor, do you share my concerns about the possible damage that this discussion might be having on these organisations that are ' a number of them ' well in an advanced stage of their work, because they have not had any funding for the last two years from the LDA? One of them that you mentioned, Laban, is out there and is a reputable organisation doing a vital piece of work. If you agree that there is damage, can you yourself, or through your Office, ask the LDA to write to these organisations immediately and give a full explanation...

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

The clear issue from the Assembly's perspective, I think you will appreciate, is we started asking questions about these projects almost a year ago. We asked the LDA to produce specific evidence. They attended a scrutiny meeting and were singularly unable or unwilling to answer questions, which led us then to commission these particular reviews of these projects. Then, on Monday, they turn up to the Committee and say, 'There is a lot of other information that we could have given you but we chose not to', to paraphrase. Do you think we are right then to be concerned about...

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

Mr Mayor, we are not talking about these projects making profits; we are talking about the expenditure, under your auspices, of £13 million worth of public money from the LDA. Now the issue is, is that money being usefully used and is it being controlled in how it is being spent? The key issue for you as Mayor is to say whether you are satisfied or not that proper project control is being exercised over these projects.

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

Mr Mayor, I think, frankly, you have missed the point here. The key issue is not about the success of these projects or the failure; the issue that we have been looking at as an Assembly is the controls that the LDA exercise over expenditure. The report that has been produced by the Assembly, which we have then had checked by Deloitte to make sure that the findings are reasonable, points out that there is a lack of project control, a lack of accountability for financial decisions being made, that changes are being made to expenditure levels without proper approvals...

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

Finally, Mr Mayor, are you content with the way that project management is run under the LDA?