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

Before we get over carried away in an orgy of `I told you so', I thought first of all I would say that I am very happy to defend every comment I made seven years ago about the PPP. Secondly, I would remind colleagues and the Mayor that one of the PPP contractors is performing apparently to specification and is not going bust. Also, the shareholders in the Metronet consortium have lost millions upon millions of pounds as part of this so they have not exactly walked away laughing all the way to the bank, although there is obviously a...

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

What about our real Government in Brussels? Tim O'Toole did suggest that European Union rules might possibly be delaying the process because there are the state aid rules and if TfL were to take over the assets there is a chance that that might be opposed. Maybe a small chance, but it nonetheless means you have to provide all the information and get approval. Where are we with that?

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

Following up on that point, do you think that there is a case for Londoners, possibly through the GLA - I would think that is the most obvious route - undertaking an examination of whether the conflicts of interest between the management of the PPP contract and the shareholders in it and the levels of charging were such that we might look to ways of getting some of that money back?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

I remember you sitting here seven years ago saying that you wanted the maintenance to be kept in-house, and obviously then you got total opposition from Government, total resistance. Are you encountering any resistance from Government now for the idea of TfL getting these contracts back in-house?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

As and when the maintenance is brought in-house, how will asset management be dealt with? When I have travelled round the Tube lines it strikes me that a lot of potential assets have not been developed, particularly above Tube stations. For example, the area above the Bakerloo station at Maida Vale could clearly be developed for residential use, as could Holland Park on the Central Line and other places like Edgware Road. Indeed historically the LCC (London County Council) did that at Baker Street. Is that something you would wish to pursue when the maintenance is brought in-house?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

So Gordon Brown concedes that he made a complete mess of this seven years ago?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

want to thank for that answer because you have more or less said everything I was going to say. What you are actually saying is at the moment we are using biofuels because in answer to a Mayor's Question Time question in December 2006 you said: 'Most London buses now run off a 5% biodiesel blend, the Metropolitan Service say they used 600,000 litres of biodiesel last year and the London Fire Brigade is planning to use a biofuel blend to run their vehicles as well.' What you are saying is we have not currently got a procurement policy that...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

I want to agree with that, but how soon can we have that procurement policy though? How soon can we have that set of guidelines for them?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

I am your sustainable transport advisor and I think I have been saying this. What really worries me is we are already using the fuels and yet we do not have any procurement policy to make sure they are safe.

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

The Inspector said that the bridge would create adverse impacts on climate and air quality - that would actually go against the objectives in your own strategy - and expressed scepticism about the degree to which it would assist regeneration. Surely the bridge, at least in its current form, is dead in the water now?