• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

Are you urging a `no" vote in the fire fighters" strike ballot?

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

If you accept - which I assume you do - that any industrial action by fire fighters could be damaging to London, and if you support - which I assume you do - the Government's announced enquiry into pay and conditions for fire fighters, will you therefore be urging London fire fighters to vote `no" in the ballot on industrial action?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

Can I ask you: do you think the antipathy which we have recently seen to you from the Prime Minister and some members of his government, is rendering you rather impotent in order to protect this very important international capital city? Do you feel that you're a bit impotent because of this difficulty you have with actually communicating for London? Do you think that it inhibits London in any way?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

After September 11 last year, you said that an emergency control room would be set up in Romney House. You also said that an emergency control room would be set up in this building with a hotline directly to central government. Has that been done, have you used this hotline and who is on the end of the hotline to answer you?

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

Just to comment on the contingency arrangement in the event of a strike. There have been military personnel in training for a couple of weeks and provision has been made for London to have about 90 Green Goddesses. We would not have 100% standard cover that we have in the normal course of events, but it still would be significant cover across London. I think if there was a catastrophic incident or terrorist incident, even the fire fighters on strike, the pattern in the past has been that they would actually come back in and come off strike and attend...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

Can I ask how you can conceivably say that the strike ballot is an internal matter for the trade unions in which you will not intervene, when the result of a strike vote and withdrawal of labour might very well be that Londoners lose their lives?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

Can I ask the Mayor what contingency plans are in place in the event of a civil emergency, should he be unsuccessful in preventing a fire fighter's strike?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

Can I ask about your role on the London Resilience team? I understand you to be the public face. No doubt that's in recognition of your skills as a great self-promoter, but can I ask whether you're managing to get this information out to the public, and particularly I understand that the Financial Services Authority has said that up to 40% of those small and medium sized businesses have no contingency plans. Other ones have not updated their plans. The BMA has in fact criticised the way in which these plans, being put together by the London Resilience teams, are...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

We've got a target of 80% acceptable performance, which was reduced to 70% this quarter, after being at 80% all the time TfL have been running it. You're now speculating that you might reduce that figure further to 65%, I think that's what you've just said to us here. Can you just enlighten us about the way TfL make these decisions? Is it something that happened and that you've found out about in retrospect and you're defending or because safety in TfL is not important enough to be discussed about at board level? Or is it something that you and...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 18 September 2002

We all welcome measures to encourage people to use the bus. Buses are travelling slower than they have done for the past two years; they're also less safe. Can you tell us why TfL have agreed to reduce the acceptable driving standard for buses from 80% to 70%? And did you, as Chair of TfL or any of your representatives on the TfL board - perhaps in particular the Trade Union reps. who talk a lot about safety - make any representations about that to Surface Transport before they made that decision?