• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Let me put it another way. What is the relevance of the view of somebody living in perhaps Barking, or Dagenham, or Kingston, on a proposal which only affects a very small area of western central London? What is the relevance of their views, given that many of them do not know the area, will never go there and do not have to live with the consequences?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Yesterday I think you will have received a letter from the leader of Kensington and Chelsea, Councillor Merrick Cockell, in which he has outlined some serious concerns about the way your consultation on the westward extension of the congestion charge is being conducted. In particular, I think there is real concern that you are attempting to bury the views of those who live in the immediate area under the views of three million other households across London who are also being asked. Why should the people in Kensington and Chelsea, plus a few extra in Westminster, have their futures as...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Indeed. You clearly have a cynical frame of mind. Perish the thought that I should think the same. What assurances have you received that they will not cut other budgets? We have seen that this is another example of Gordon Brown's prudence costing Londoners dear, but what always happens is that they give with one hand and they take with the other. What assurances have you received that they will not grant budgets because we can now borrow?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

But they do not want it anywhere near them.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Clearly this is welcome news. We should be grateful for small mercies, and you made the point that actually this is relatively small in terms of the potential that TfL, and indeed the other constituent parts of the GLA family, could support in market terms. We should also be grateful for late mercies because we have been arguing for this for more than four years. What has actually changed over those four years? Why could this announcement not have been made four years ago and then we would have had the benefit of this spending four years earlier?

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

When do you anticipate that TfL will produce an updated draft business plan to take account of this? We are all aware that the plan for 2005/06 and onwards aspirationally had a £1 billion shortfall. Assuming the market plays ball, with that amount less of a shortfall in aspirational terms, clearly the detail of what really can be done will require a lot of planning and consultation.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

I wonder how close you are to sacking Capita from parts of the congestion charging contract.

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Of course we will bear down on it. At last week's budget meeting you gave us an undertaking that you would seek to release audit reports which showed us how well TfL's finances and other systems were performing. Will you actually let Assembly Members see the detailed audit report into congestion charging, which has not been released so far, so that we can see for ourselves what the problems were and what has been done?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

The reason they said it was poorly controlled is, and I quote again, that `the original report was issued in December 2002, prior to the charge being introduced." They say that `as a result of those recommendations remaining outstanding for nearly 12 months after they were initially raised, and after two follow-up reviews, the report has been reclassified as poorly controlled." If you knew about the problems in December 2002, why has TfL not taken any steps over the last year to put them right?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

But you have not received any reassurance from Government that even though you are able to meet the debt from fare income, reductions in grant will not occur which may have an impact on the Council Tax demands by reducing revenue expenditure.