• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

I read in the newspapers that the Bain Report terms of reference were not actually agreed by the union and that they were very unhappy with the terms of the report. Now, the result of the report is absolutely dependent upon the terms that you set at the beginning. Is it true that the union was unhappy with it?

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

Essentially, to get the message through to the FBU that they have to start talking about the other side of the coin and they can't simply ask for money without being prepared to talk about these things, which as Val rightly says, is actually in the interests of their members, many of them, in any case.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 20 November 2002

Would the Chair of LFEPA accept that from the Liberal Democrats side we have been supportive of the basic position that more money is possible and is justified but only in return for modernised working practices? And if so, will she accept that too few people in the public, in the media, actually understand the extent of the current practices and what is required? Will she agree to make it clearer exactly what changes we are asking for in terms of working practices? Because most people simply do not understand how inflexible they are. As far as the Mayor is...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

Nobody is being gloomy and depressing, they are willing you to succeed, but the question was whether the additional public expenditure on housing would allow you to meet the targets and you have said, "Yes". Everybody else is saying, "No". If you just look at the Challenge Fund element, the figure you referred to was only an extra £60 million, which is well short of the £200 million that we were talking about. The Challenge Funding element is competitive against South East and East, it is for only one-year and it is for sites where you can start constructing within...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

That was the answer I was expecting for once. What do you then say to the fact that the ALG, who after all, represents the boroughs who are the housing authorities in this matter, who calculate that the increase in funding will only result in about an extra 1,000, from something like 7,000 affordable units a year currently to about 8,000? And the reasons they have reached that conclusion are that while there is more money, land values are rapidly accelerating, construction costs are running ahead of inflation, more marginal sites are more expensive to bring on-stream in terms of...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

So, you do not think it helps when the Prime Minister says that street crime will be under control by 30 September?

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

Mayor, you have made some very interesting comments about re-examining police policy in the broad and in the main. All Home Secretaries who have been in charge of the MPS to date have measured their success by footfalls on the street. You have gone down that way with numbers targets, which you have declared at 35,000 and other people have talked at 41,000. I look forward to getting engaged in that debate. However, as Mayor, you have a number of other functions with regard to policing. You have a role in setting the Budgets and you have a role in...

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

But the need is still there for local accessibility. The actual location we could argue about.

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 23 October 2002

When you listened to the people's requirement or need or desire to have police on the street, you did not hesitate to say that this is where policing should go. I am saying to you, will you listen again and agree that the public should have access to police at all hours in a local area; local to where they live so they feel safe and reassured?

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

I share your scepticism about an academic approach to the next Mayoral Election and I suspect you won't be leading that either, but you are right about the need for public education in terms of understanding the debate, not just simply a crude numbers one. What I am saying to you is that in your position and with your undoubted ability to communicate, you are in a uniquely good role to lead that debate. What I am asking you to do, instead of talking about 35,000 by 2006, is to start talking about operational police measures, effective policing, the use...