• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

I take it you include the Learning & Skills Councils.

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

As a matter of design, if you like, and seeing the problems that we all see for sole practitioners, sole GPs, now. The way seems to be, though I am not an expert, for health centres and for combined facilities. You talked about shining examples, one shining example which I know, is the Bromley-by-Bow centre, and I think actually Members of the Assembly have visited it. That's got a health centre which is operating alongside other community facilities. Is this something which could be -- how to achieve this could be put onto the agenda of the Architecture and Urbanism...

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

Mr Mayor, I have lots of humility, because in fact Wandsworth has excellent, excellent social housing, as you well know. Millions of pounds put into our social housing. Unfortunately other local authorities have not done that. Now, stop looking back and look forward! You, as Mayor of London, can do something to force these local authorities to improve their social housing. I read recently that still something like 100,000 empty homes, some of them in the private rented sector I admit, but a lot of them still in local authority social housing. And you can do something about that.

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

The NHS, as you know, is the largest employer in the country; particularly in London, the largest employer of all sorts of skilled workforce. But damp and crowded housing conditions, particularly in the East End, have contributed greatly to the increase of certain communicative diseases, and we will be highlighting that in our scrutiny in Access in Primary Care. But what you can do, I think, is to talk to these inefficient local authorities, mostly Labour and one Liberal, who have the most appalling social housing conditions and allow this to remain, so that we have the spread of TB...

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

In answer to Bob Neill, you said that the population figures had only recently become clear, but I think it's been clear for quite a long time, that we're losing GPs, particularly from inner London. Did you talk to the health authorities about trends, in order address the needs, either within different areas of London, or the type of practice that the health authorities think might be the way for the future?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

Will you be advising local authorities to write this into their UDPs, and if so, in the guidance that you give, and if so, will you be revising your London Plan to take account of that?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

Back to planning and health considerations, do you think that ensuring adequate access to local health care should be a planning consideration when local authorities are looking at housing applications?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

Mr Mayor, we have a huge council housing stock, as you well know, in Wandsworth. If we did not look after our housing residents, we would not be in so many numbers as we are. But what I'm asking you to do is to forget Wandsworth, we can look after our own residents, but you to work with these local authorities in the East End. It is an absolute scandal. We're a country with free housing, free education. We have children with rickets, we have children with TB. And that's an absolute scandal. And you, as Mayor, the first Mayor...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

Whilst much of the information in the answer is welcome, can I ask why it was that the strategic health authorities and the Workforce Confederation, which are charged with drawing up the capacity plans, and in particular those in north east London, which are the lead authorities on regeneration issues, were not actually involved in these discussions until September, after the draft Plan had been drawn up. Surely, the logic should have been that those who have to deliver the capacity should have been involved at a much earlier stage by the Deputy Mayor and those others who are responsible...

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

Is it in the public interest not to put into the public arena the key performance indicators which Capita are required to meet under that contract? I would say that of any contractor, but particularly a contractor in a scheme of controversial as this, and a contractor as controversial, frankly, as Capita is. Let's not forget that this follows on the problems with the Criminal Records Bureau and a lot of problems with other contractors in the boroughs. When Derek Turner was asked about this, he said that releasing the performance indicators would enable people who were opposed to congestion...