• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

The framework is crucial. Working from LFEPA, I was quite concerned about the huge proportion of elders who are subject to fires. In the conference, are you going to include the functional bodies so that you do have a proper dialogue with, say, LFEPA and the MPA, are they going to be there and talking to people?

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

You talked about the conference that you are holding; the crux of it is the framework you set up so that you ensure appropriate participation. One of the good things around the work we do is whether a bus shelter is located appropriately so elders can use it comfortably and safely. These sorts of issues are crucial to the quality of life in many of our town centres. How will views of people attending the conference be embedded into a new framework so that the design of buses, location of bus shelter, and the like are properly consulted and participated...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

Regarding the money coming through from the advertising and, I am sure, from your Budget, I know that elders are gathering together - there are loads of forums across London - and I know that the Greater London Forum for the Elderly co-ordinates this but they do not have a place to meet. Do you see this as a priority; to enable a group like this to organise together and would you see this as something you could do, to help them find premises?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

The Chair: Just as a matter of fact, Peter Hendy was in front of Budget Committee three weeks ago and Transport Committee last week. Graham Tope: I am astounded to discover that only this morning have you learned that age discrimination is a real issue for people of your age and mine and younger and that we have been doing nothing about it. Now you have made that great discovery, do you regret saying when we were first all elected here that you wanted the GLA to be full of bright, young people? Would you now like to suggest that...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

A lot of elderly people who I know are concerned about the quality of their bus service. They are concerned about buses that travel too fast; swerve round corners; stop too fast; bus drivers using mobile phones. With a lot of your new buses there are fewer seats, so they are standing up more often to try and face these perils as well. What are you doing to improve the quality of bus rides for elderly people and for other passengers in London and will you make a decision to reverse your previous decision to reduce the standard of acceptable...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

At a recent conference on old age, it was suggested that there are lots of factors which play a part in staying fitter, older, which is what we're all concerned about. They suggested that there were two things: one was diet but the other was climbing stairs. Richard has mentioned that this building is not particularly suitable for disabled people; it also has stairs that are not fit for everyday use. Will you ask the developers to make our staircases fit for everyday use? I heard this morning that someone was trapped in there for over an hour because their...

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

So perhaps you are committed to working with the LDA?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

Do you think that is one of the problems, we talk about older Londoners and people assume that means elderly pensioners not people over 50? Can I move on to the wider London issue about older people in the economy? The London Development Agency doesn't really have a strategic approach to ageing and economic development and, from what you have said, it sounds like you might back them taking this issue on more seriously as well. Perhaps you could briefly answer that point.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

How independent is the mediation when the mediator appears to have been identified by one party but has not even been considered by the other - that is Transport for London - and the terms of reference for the mediation have not been considered by the other trade unions who would wish to be party to that?

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

The substance of this question is laid well down in the agenda, 781, but I am sure you can answer it without finding the paper. I understand the point about the timing of the take-over. Your Budget has to be agreed - indeed you have to consult on a Budget well before your licence to take over the Tube - so what provision will you be making in your Consultation Budget for that backdated pay?