• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

So presumably it's been revised and updated?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

The job has certainly developed since then, as has the salary, of course.

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

Has the Mayor ever publicly disagreed with a decision you've taken in his name?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

My final question is about the quality of advice that the Mayor gets. I know this has been probed a little bit earlier, but I think we all know that, yourself excluded, the Mayor's advisors include a range of people who have political baggage behind them. How do you ensure that the Mayor gets good advice, notwithstanding thatadvisors may carry with them prejudices that help to inform their advice?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

The Mayor, we know, is an elected politician, and we know where he comes from politically. The Deputy Mayor is elected; we know where she comes from politically. Some of the Mayoral Advisors are described as having political links with various pressure groups, for example Socialist International and Socialist Action. Do you have any links with that?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 12 June 2002

But you're not forced into set objectives and then measured against the achievement of those objectives?

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 11 December 2002

Those figures are, of course, wholly misleading, because the land on which those houses have been built was land which was available for housing and had been identified for housing. That land no longer exists, and indeed in the first list, which the Mayor produced of land which could be developed, every single one of those sites already was either subject to planning consent or the developments had been built. So, I repeat - where does he propose in the future those target number of houses should be built?

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 11 December 2002

Given that you have just told us in this remarkable new Government document, which I have to say I've never heard of, that the Mayor is going to be able to enforce his housing targets, I wonder if you'd care to tell us precisely where in the boroughs of Hounslow, Kingston and Richmond, he proposes to meet those targets, given that in particular Richmond has already objected to the targets which are being provided. They do not believe that there is scope for the amount of building which is proposed in that borough, and indeed they think the original target...

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 11 December 2002

Can I ask, is the presumption, therefore, that's made by the Mayor's Office that negotiation is always the best way on these plans, and do you think that any sanction will ever have to be used? I guess in many ways, we are all asking this question in different ways, with a number of questions on housing about delivering on targets. But in reality, is it persuasion? Is that the best approach?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 11 December 2002

I am glad to hear you're resolving the difficulty with Sutton Council, although the difference between 30% and 64% still seems quite large to me. I am really concerned that this is an example of how the Mayor's credibility can be undermined on the whole issue of targets of affordable housing.