• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

I am sure we will all feel completely safe in the hands of developers here in London, especially putting in an environmental project that they probably do not have very much sympathy for in the first place. I just think it is incredibly premature to start planning homes, houses or buildings before we have actually had any sort of flood management assessment. I think it is expected in 2008 or 2009, the interim results are going to be in May this year, apparently, but plans are already in hand. How can you possibly do that?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Do you accept that all sustainable construction skills now must be integrated into general construction training and apprenticeships? Are you pressing for that?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

You have mentioned the Mayor's energy objectives. Specifically on that, what steps have you taken to assess the number and type of skilled technicians in delivering some of that? There are some very specific objectives, such as by 2010: 400,000 energy-efficient homes, 7,000 VB installations, X number of wind turbines and so on.

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Just going on from that, there are two areas I think we wanted to dig in a little bit on. The first question is around the evidence that came from the London Renewables group, which the LDA are participating in. The consultant there said that the problem is not to do with skills today, but to do with regulation today, because there are a lot of ersatz double-glazing salesmen who are putting solar panels on roofs. Does the LDA have a role in terms of looking at regulation? That is part of the confidence in building a renewables industry, i.e...

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Is skills training as a responsibility too fractured in London? We share skills training issues with the five different Learning and Skills Councils. Is five LSCs too many for London? Is the compromise of sharing the process of skills training through FRESA and the London Skills Commission, while worthy, in the end probably a false compromise and should the LDA have the prime responsibility for skills training in London?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

But we have not got long now, given the timetable for constructing new buildings, where these targets are only six years away, let alone installing and constructing the thing, never mind training people up to be able to equip them with the skills and find the workforce and all the rest of it. That is quite a task that the LDA should be further down the road on, would you say?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

What sustainability standards does the LDA require on its own projects, as a condition of project approval?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Something else that I was concerned about when I visited was the condition of a lot of the equipment that is used for training there. I was told by one of the managers there that one of their visitors had recognised some of the machinery as what he used to use at Ford before he retired. Now, clearly that is not what we should be expecting from a centre of excellence. Will that be something that will be addressed sooner rather than later?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

If the LDA is the agency, what resources are you going to need to be able to deliver?