• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

Going on to the issue of fuel policy, you made a very clear manifesto commitment, and, indeed, your Energy Strategy said that no person would be in fuel poverty in 2010. And then, in your strategies, you talk about the London-wide Fuel Poverty Programme. Will you be taking a personal hand in that?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

Will you apply a funding allocation to these groups? I ask you, specifically, if your Children's Strategy recommends a GLA Children's Unit? Will you give that core funding in the same way that you have supported other units and other areas of activity, so that they don't have to go into any bargaining and then miss out getting financial support? You have it in your gift to give financial support to these groups, to actually make the networking across London better. That is something that is missing in terms of the groups that are active. They would welcome some pan-London...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

I welcome this opportunity, because it allows me to follow on two themes that I have brought up with you before, Mr Mayor. It is, really, referring to reports, which is all very well, we welcome them, but I do believe that it is time that Londoners have some positive actions from you with regard to children and young people, and also to hear from you what you can contribute to reduce the 30% poverty rate among Londoner's pensioners. Let me just say that a child born in December 2002 would arguably face the same obstacles as one born in...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

I want to ask you about London Weighting, so your notes to Question 435 may prove helpful. On London Weighting, would you agree that one of the barriers to tackling poverty are nationally negotiated pay rates which do not have an adequate London premium? If so, will you endorse, if you have not already, the London Weighting Advisory Panel? In particular, can you tell me whether a copy has been sent to the Treasury, whether you have engaged in any discussions with them, and what their response has been?

• Question by: Victor Anderson
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

In what you said just now about the impact that the GLA can have on poverty and equality, you did not refer to the LDA's work in a single part of the regeneration programme. Surely, they are a major way in which the GLA can have an effect on these issues.

• Question by: Victor Anderson
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

The GLA has just recently carried out a pretty thorough best-value review of equalities for all. But when you look at the recommendations in the improvement plan, it says the GLA group adopts six high-level equality categories for service and employment purposes, Gender, Race, Sexuality, Disability, Age and Faith. There are a lot of people on low incomes, disadvantaged people, who are not covered by any of those six categories. And I wonder why they have been left out? Why, poor, white, working class men have been left out of the equalities approach of the GLA?

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

I just want to come back to the target issue, because I think that although the London Plan is a very redistributive document, and one of its main objectives is tackling social inclusion, and tackling deprivation and discrimination> There are not any targets relating to poverty. That is why I wanted the others to come in, because I think you could be putting some targets around fuel poverty, we could be putting targets in on other poverty fronts. That is something I want us to consider in the conversation. That is why I am asking about that.

• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

Just very quickly your analysis of people at the bottom end of Hackney is wrong. They all have cars. It is packed with cars. A lot of them are actually the white van drivers, and in all this, they are the ones who are going to be directly hit. I am just really asking, what is the point in you mouthing about a Poverty strategy when you haven't analysed the actual strategies you have got in terms of their impact on jobs in the poorest part of London?

• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

Am I right, Mr Mayor, that actually you appointed the Deputy Mayor, Nicky Gavron, to produce the London Plan, who is now asking why isn't poverty in it? Is this some new discovery she has made, in terms of a mayoral ambition, about the poor in London? More importantly in terms of some of the things you mentioned, yes, we all agree about the LDA, but is it not a real problem in terms of regeneration that we cannot yet measure the impact of that spend in terms of what it is doing? Is it actually displacing people, or is...

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 16 July 2002

You said that you would take some persuading to favour any expansion or a new runway at Heathrow. Can I suggest that you go further than that and actually oppose any expansion at Heathrow, given the comments of Inspector in the T5 Inquiry? He said that the evidence he had demonstrated that a third main runway at Heathrow would have such severe and widespread impacts on the environment as to be totally unacceptable, and he put a limit on flight numbers. We all know the issues of noise and pollution, ground access and so on.