• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

I was not seeking a full list, just a few would be helpful.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

The difficulty we have is that in the run-up to the election you announced that Nicky (Gavron) would be your Deputy if you were both elected. Afterwards, you appointed her saying how pleased you would be to have a Labour Deputy Mayor for the full four-year term. That says to Londoners that you have a person at your right hand who you can rely on to do a range of things both specific and general. In relation to the specific, surely those should now be spelt out so that Londoners can see what tasks you have assigned to her and...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

Where I am coming from is where we left off last time, two years ago, as Simon (Fletcher) alluded to earlier. Our unanimous party view is that major decisions should be taken by elected politicians and that you should not be delegating major decisions to staff. You should only be delegating to staff the implementation of your major delegations. That was not the case before. Now you are saying that you are in permanent charge electronically wherever you are. I want to understand, and I think Londoners want to understand, how arrangements work when you are not in touch by...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

I am not saying you need to check, but we, your staff and Londoners need to know how that works because you are clearly holding yourself out.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

No, the Act talks about a vacancy in the office.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

Is that set down?

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

I do and we do because we are here to understand how this Authority is being run and to hold you to account, but the situation is not fully open and transparent. You have said that you do not now delegate formally when you are out of the country and so forth, but clearly if you were to become permanently incapacitated through death or some other thing then the Act kicks in. However, suppose there was a 9/11 incident here in London and you were trapped underground, mercifully fully alive but unable to function, who would take your place? What...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

Are those areas which you have assigned to the Deputy Mayor, such as environment, planning and so forth, set down in writing so that your other staff know to refer to her on those matters rather than to you?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

I think this is why we need this in writing. This morning, it seems that there are so many places where you are making policy and procedure on the hoof, but you are not prepared to put it in writing and have an audit trail so that we can know what process the decisions have gone through before they get there. If the Commissioner of TfL has a power of veto over his board is that not a quite irregular situation compared to the commissioners of the other parts of this Authority, or indeed to Chief Executives of authorities or...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 12 January 2005

Therefore, in effect, Bob Kiley has a veto?