• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

You are all doing an admirable job of retrofitting justification to all this activity. What I would like to ask you for, and I would appreciate having it in writing afterwards, is in relation to the India trip - which I absolutely agree India should be on our map - can we have the goals set out in writing, and the KPIs, so that at least now, thanks to Assembly scrutiny, we can get some strategy behind this activity? Will you give us that?

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

However, nowhere in the Mayor's objectives, nowhere in his manifesto commitments was securing cheap oil 'mentioned.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

No, no. A gap year Mayor.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

Simon, you are misunderstanding the point I am trying to make.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

But what you have not established is any causal link between the tenfold increase in spending on trips by all your staff and the achievements of things like the position of New York in the financial markets.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

Yes, but what we are talking about this morning is the tenfold increase in the expenditure in the GLA on these overseas trips. We are trying to understand what the justification is and the KPIs backing that up. We look in our Plan but the only one is tourism which does not apply, as far as I am aware, in terms of Venezuela for example.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

It is terrific you are now coming out with all these KPIs. We have not got time this morning to go into whether they are legitimate KPIs and whether they address the additionality point, in other words the difference it makes rather than simply happenchance. Perhaps we will do that through another route, perhaps the Budget Committee. What perplexes me, however, is that you are able now to come out with all these questions but if you actually examine, for example, our corporate plan - and I do not know whether Murziline [Parchment] will be able to help us on...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

I am glad I have this power to force the Mayor to write to people! Could we just return to the question.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

Then why did the Mayor have to write to John Hutton to clarify the point? Either you knew before you launched the scheme that there was not a problem, or you did not. You did not, because you had to check.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 March 2007

Indeed we do not want a gap year Mayor, and I did say that, but I also said, and so it is a little deplorable if you misquote me and partially quote me, what I also said 'was that Ken Livingstone has a duty to stick up for London and to support London's economy. We support specific foreign trips that encourage investment in the capital. However, after the Mayor's failed junkets to Cuba and Venezuela I will be keeping a close eye on the costs and purpose of the trip so that Londoners get value for money. That is what...