• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

I have two questions for you. Firstly, is the precept for the Olympics going to be listed separately on people's Council Tax bills or is it going to be rolled up into the entire bill?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

As the only party nationally that actually did press for a cap on what Londoners might end up paying, I think we feel very proud of our record on this because I think we are interested in looking after the best interests of Londoners. Have you heard the same rumours as I have that it now looks as if the burying of the power lines may be running over budget and over time as well? If so, how concerned are you that that is yet another aspect of the preparation of the site that appears to have been under-costed in...

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

I really think that you are trying it on. Frankly, you have sat there time and time and time again and said £550 million, the price of a walnut whip, 38p ' another £75 million, another 2p. I find it extraordinary that you can sit there with a straight face and say Londoners do know what they are going to pay. It is nothing to do with the 2% in Band H; there are half a million people in Band E and a further quarter of a million people in Band F and in Band G another 200,000. There are...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

Can you just briefly give us an update on the North London Line because this occurs on the North London Line? Where are we in your taking over of the North London Line and will you be looking at this as a key issue?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

There is not much disagreement in our positions here, and my friend Murad (Qureshi) has made a lot of the points that I wanted to make in actual fact. We have, as you probably know, just issued a report on the Public Carriage Office (PCO). I do not know if you have had an opportunity to read it, but I would certainly recommend that you do so. I am sure that you would find it a very interesting read. I have to say that the section on `The Knowledge' only accounts for about four pages out of 52.

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

Thank you for that. Given your initiative on trying to make the black-cab market accessible to minority groups, I think the trick is to make `The Knowledge' more accessible through National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) as Jennette (Arnold) has campaigned for, or even developing it into a diploma or degree qualification. I think that is the trick to do because I think the way `The Knowledge' is spread, it needs to change with the times. When it was first created, it was quite acceptable to have that knowledge passed through one-to-one exchanges; today that is just not current and the nearest...

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

I welcome this move of the velodrome. It is just that keen cyclists in Eastway do not feel that it actually meets some of the specifications that they would like. Can you just confirm that it will be up to Olympic standards and that it is probably going to be state of the art? In time, I am sure they will grow to appreciate these new facilities.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

Would you be happy if the people of Waltham Forest were to lose the only land-based legacy coming out of the Olympics?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

Last week, I was in my constituency visiting that area and people were a bit concerned because there was a rumour that the velodrome may well be moved, because when you start to reconfigure the site that is one thing that it is possible to relocate. Have you heard anything like this and what do you think about such a move?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 14 December 2005

You would not be worried then?