• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

That is the reason you have given for not appearing at the Liberal Democrat conference.

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

When can we expect to see these fare increases and is there going to be an increase in the congestion charge?

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

Thank you, what a pity that in your brief they did not also give you the figures for those wards that neighbour Safer Neighbourhoods schemes that actually showed a displacement of crime and an increase in the neighbouring wards. However, you mention in your report that you welcome the £50 million Neighbourhood Policing Fund and the recruitment of 20,000 additional Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). You welcome those as though they were new money. The Safer Neighbourhoods fund actually finishes this year, so London will lose some £14 million. We have money in the SR2004 for PCSOs, but there is...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

How are you going to give all these extra police officers the radios to actually make them work efficiently?

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

One would also hope that there would be an increase in the detection of crime if they have less to do or less crimes to actually detect. Are you going to insist that the MPA sticks to your original structure of one police sergeant, two PCs and a number of PCSOs in each ward, or are you going to start changing that?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

Within the Safer Neighbourhoods programme, I have been urging the police to increase the number of officers on bikes and also to cut the number of cars and replace them with bikes, where practical. Do you support both of those objectives?

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

So, as yet it remains unfounded?

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

You are aware of what is happening with Airwaves, and you are also aware that we are buying no new radios because of our change over to a new system.

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

The Mayor has made it clear that we should be welcoming our athletes and I think that every one of us will support that. We look forward to the bus tour on 23 October. I recall a previous bus tour where athletes actually returned to London. You were all over them, a bit like a mud bath. You promised them the freedom of London. What has happened to that?

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 15 September 2004

You have spoken today about some of the benefits that will occur in the East End itself; I wonder if you could give an idea what effect holding the Olympics would have on other communities across London?