• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

That's interesting. The environmental officer when we contacted them had no knowledge of anything to do with the energy strategy. Have you got any contact with Camden Council who are another one of the beacon boroughs as far as energy is concerned?

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

On top of the league at the moment is Hammersmith and Fulham, and you believe you do have a relationship?

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

No, I just think we ought to have it on record that that would be your position. We've talked about your relationship with boroughs quite a bit this morning. Taking you away from the waste strategy and moving on to the energy strategy, could you tell me do you have a particularly good relationship as far as the energy strategy goes with say Hammersmith and Fulham, which is one of the top boroughs leading on the Home Energy Conservation Act (HECA) work?

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

So therefore as far as you're aware there are no particular issues arising from your relationship with staff?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

I'm not trying to cut you off but just trying to get to the crux of this. In the past the ALG has come and made a statement in support of various parts of the Mayor's strategies, sometimes distancing themselves from a small part of it, but taking a responsible view that we have a number of people involved in some of these issues and obviously in waste the boroughs, as you said, play a key role. Would you be recommending to the Mayor that it would be a good idea to have ALG representation at the launch to show...

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

Five or ten times? Well that's not bad because actually it's seven times, which doesn't seem a great deal when you've been talking all morning about a wonderful partnership working with the ALG. I certainly welcome the improvement from when this was produced to now. When you were talking earlier you mentioned your partnership with the ALG every other sentence, and I'm delighted about that. But I wondered if perhaps you were prepared to take that a bit further and what advice you will be giving to the Mayor about his working relationship with the ALG. What advice are you...

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

I'm very interested in your comments about the Association of London Government. I wondered if you could perhaps just show us your knowledge of the Municipal Waste Management Strategy and hazard a guess maybe - I wouldn't expect you to know exactly - how many times do you think that you've mentioned the ALG in this strategy?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

So in terms of the waste strategy, will the Mayor and the ALG be sitting down together and presenting the issues to Londoners?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

Given that there's quite a lot of agreement and you highlight that the ALG are very pleased with the waste strategy - well they're complementary about the waste strategy. So would you think it would be a good idea for the Mayor and the ALG to jointly be on a platform and talking to Londoners directly about some of these issues?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 14 November 2001

John, just simply as someone who's not dealing with the detail of this every day I thought it was a useful indicator for me as a lay person on these environmental issues to get an indication of that relationship. So happiness is breaking out it seems between the ALG and you, that's great, but what about the Mayor then? We've heard various useful comments from various members about the need for Londoners to have a clarity about the future of waste management, whether it be around recycling, incineration, landfill or whatever. How are you advising the Mayor to take forward...