• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

In that case, given that your assessment, which I think is probably correct, is it is unlikely that such legislation would be passed, why do you think they are motivated to seek legislation? Do you think they see there being votes in knocking homeless people; is it something cynical like that?

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

Private gardens are a very significant proportion of London's open space, of London's biodiversity and also of London's tree cover. I really welcome your proposal to work with London Councils to strengthen planning policies about safeguarding London's gardens. There is a related point and I wonder if it could be rolled in with it, which is that, in addition to the rash of building on gardens, we also have a worrying trend in concreting over gardens, back and front. As we struggle with climate change this is leading to more and more flash flooding, and in fact inevitably leads to...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

I have selflessly not included the park that I live next to so I am not being grasping on this. So you are happy for a feasibility study on this?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

I am delighted to hear what you are saying but what I would like you to guarantee is that you would impress upon the London Employment and Skills (LES) Board that it is very important that 31% of unemployed Londoners are somehow targeted in order to gain the skills to get these jobs in the environmental industry. They are quietly content that there is no skill shortage in London because these vacancies get filled from other parts of the country or by Europeans. I am concerned that there are still their figures: 31% of Londoners unemployed. With the jobs that...

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

We can expect to see it greened up a bit? In terms of the LDA's budget for 2007/08 it is spending £76.3 million on skills and employment yet only, at the moment, £100,000 of this is specifically devoted to sustainable construction skills. Do we need to shift that balance more?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

It actually says very little about the skills needed for greener construction and a low carbon economy and so on. Do you think the document needs to be strengthened, given the work that the Environment Committee has done here and that the London Energy Partnership has done on the skills crisis?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 November 2007

I completely agree with you about the employment potential in this sector and the need to make that massive shift. Surely, if that is true, it needs to be given a much stronger focus in the Strategy rather than just be a little bit of an afterthought.

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

Is TfL really trying to deter anybody else from bidding? Obviously your intention is to take those contracts back in-house. In a sense it is like a re-nationalisation. You are going to take them back into public ownership. You are determined to do that. Initial soundings from the Arbiter would suggest that there is some value in those contracts and that other people might be prepared to bid for them. I think you seem to be quite determined to deter those people from bidding.

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

In the Contract Journal there was something that caught my eye on 26 September; a comment like this, 'TfL are determined to frighten off other bidders. You may get a couple of financial bidders but will they be able to attract any contractors to do the work with such a hostile client in the mix?', the hostile client being TfL.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

Before we get carried away in a love-in of support for this policy, we would have to be clear that it is not the role of government and public money to subsidise vibrant profitable and successful businesses. It is about supporting businesses which otherwise would be squeezed out of town centres and which provide valuable and important public services or provide opportunities for disadvantaged groups to get active in the economy. Certainly, speaking in my role with the LDA, I am sure you would support this; it is important to address those areas of under-provision without us getting carried away...