• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

I must ask you about East Marsh. I cannot meet you without asking this question. Sally Hamwee (Chair): If it is about legacy. Jennette Arnold (AM): It is about legacy. Can you, once again, assure the people of Hackney that East Marsh will be restored to parkland after the Olympic Games? Are you able to give a timescale for this and for the further improvements that have been promised, specifically, a land bridge, improved football facilities, and replacement land for the Arena Fields?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

I am sure you will get a lot of support for that position. Can I just move on then to health? Currently, Londoners are less physically active than the average for England, and certainly, London's children and young people have a higher level of obesity than other regions in England. A health impact assessment study commissioned by the London Health Commission has demonstrated the potential for the longer-term health benefits of hosting the Olympic Games. Could you just tell us, briefly, how can you ensure that these are delivered? What about health? How can we get the legacy for a...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

Thank you for that answer, Mayor, but I have three areas on which I would just like to pin you down. Can I just start with cultural education. I welcome that announcement that you have just made about the commitment following the Games for the maintenance of the Park, because it seems to me that we can judge whether an Olympics was successful in two ways: the gold medals and all their absolute wonder of the sport, and also we judge when we look back at where the Olympic Games were held, and what it is like there following the...

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

Mr Mayor, I am looking at the cultural legacy from the Olympics. Funding for arts and culture in London is already hard pressed, as you know, especially that that is dished out through the Association of London Government (ALG) and the London boroughs. How are we going to fund the cultural legacy? Is that going to be to the disadvantage of arts organisations which are currently funded from the public sector?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

Yes, was that a big `yes'?

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

That is what worries me. That is the trouble.

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

I am glad to hear that, and I suspect a lot of local authorities will be competing amongst themselves for which countries to host. Could you just keep me informed about those developments, because it is quite a critical one that we need to keep an eye on.

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

Thank you, Mayor. One council leader that I have recently spoken to was very keen to see the refurbishment of much of the leisure facilities in their local authority. I am just wondering if, on the back of the Olympics, you can see a vehicle for this occurring. In some ways, if there is an upgrading of facilities, it would be quite astonishing if at one end of town we have elite sports facilities, and at the other we still have grotty facilities, which most residents have to live with.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

It is just a quick one following on from the issues John (Biggs) has raised. This is about representation and perception. The ethnic diversity of London was, quite rightly, acknowledged within the bid, and our presentation team and the inclusion of the athletes made the work to date, if you like, ethnically representative. It does, however, concern me that if you look at the people now lining up to sit in the seats of power ' the ODA, LOCOG, the Olympic Board ' all I expect to see is white men in suits. Are you as concerned as I that...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 08 September 2005

One final question, and I can ask this by posing a possible answer, I suppose: who should hold the Olympics to account? Potentially, the Olympics board holds it to account; the ODA holds it to account; the LDA holds it to account; and the London Assembly and each of the individual boroughs might consider they have to. There is a Select Committee of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) which might want to, as well. Is there potentially a real messy soup of accountability, out of which everyone will want a soundbite, but no one will actually wrestle...