• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 18 July 2001

I appreciate that, but there are two aspects to animal welfare. London is also the centre of the international trade in endangered species. [Presents stuffed animal.] I have brought this to emphasise the point that it is not just about tiger balm and ground rhinoceros horn. This is a three-week old tiger whose mother was shot in the far east. It and its fellow cub were killed, brought to London and stuffed; this was on sale for £5,000 in London. Over the years, London has encouraged the return of native protected species. We have otters in Hillingdon, and peregrine falcons...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 18 July 2001

I am amazed, Mr Mayor, that you had to be reminded on 6 July of a pledge you made in The Independent during your election campaign, when you said: "Over the years, I have had more letters of concern about animal welfare than any other single issue, so I intend to recognise the genuine concerns on those points, and appoint an officer who will liaise with existing animal welfare organisations to tackle cruelty." You said that before you were Mayor, so I am astonished that you had to wait until 6 July to be reminded of what appears to have...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 18 July 2001

On 11 July, you had a meeting with Toby Harris, the Chair of the MPA, and with Graham Tope, the Chair of the Budget Committee. Toby Harris came out of that meeting and drafted a note of it to other members of the MPA. Among the comments he included was the statement that you felt that the MPA was frustrating your search for efficiency savings in the Met, that you did not believe there should be an MPA, and you would be trying to get the legislation changed to give you the power to appoint any police authority and take...

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 18 July 2001

I am sure that Londoners will regard that as a very sensible and sober view. In other conversations that you have with the Commissioner, then, one of the current controversies within the service is the transfer of senior officers from some boroughs to others as we begin to accommodate recruits. That can be very disruptive to police services. In Croydon and in Sutton, police officers are being transferred out, which means that, at least in the short term, promises of improved police services and officer numbers are not being delivered. Do you have any views on this problem?

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 18 July 2001

Thank you very much for that helpful answer on what that weekly relationship with the Commissioner is like. I know that Londoners would look to you to be well informed on what is going on, so that is a very reasonable point for you to make. You must have frequent conversations with the Commissioner, nevertheless, and I wonder what views you express to him on the use of firearms when the lives of officers and Members of the public are apparently at risk.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 20 June 2001

Would you accept that, taken as a whole, as far as we can see, the Atkins report gives strong support to the need for a package of river crossings, including both rail and road, in various forms? Will you make sure that that is followed up swiftly with consultation with the boroughs, particularly Greenwich, Bexley and other potential partners downriver who will be interested in the form that the river crossings take? Would you also consider the thought that the draft report from Atkins indicated that there would be particularly strong regeneration benefits from a heavy rail crossing, which I...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 20 June 2001

Okay. Our staff asked for all the background papers on the Atkins report, and were told that only the Tym report would be released, that the rest were none of the Mayor's business. Had you heard that?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 20 June 2001

Can you make sure, please, that TfL and the LDA actually put all this on the Web, and that they particularly speak to the local people who have been fighting this east London road river crossing for 20 years? Can you ensure that there is genuine consultation with the locals?

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 20 June 2001

Coming from a design and communications background, I thought it was an excellent piece of marketing, which really engaged. You can pick at it at all sorts of levels, but I thought it was something that people would pick up and read, and that is a major step forward in any piece of literature. The Chair: Question, please. Lynne Featherstone: Will you focus next time on the more serious and statutory parts of the document? What Eric said is right: if you are trying to dumb down congestion charging so that it is approved of subliminally, that ain't fair; so...

• Question by: Eric Ollerenshaw
• Meeting date: 20 June 2001

Just one last question. Part of the way through this, you talk quite straightforwardly about gaining the respect of Londoners and engaging them. Now you are saying that you are spending all this money on patronising Londoners. I will give you another quote about the new "Respect" anti-racist festival. All we have there is some guy from Radio London being asked what his favourite street is: it is Lamb's Conduit Street, "because it is real old London, but with just the right amount of trendy stuff - it's hip." A "harmonica-playing 38 bus conductor" talks about his favourite street, which...