• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

I have two questions rolled into one. First, at a previous Question Time, when you were quizzed on this following the leaked letter from the Health and Safety Executive, you made it clear that you would be, not necessarily happy but content, if the HSE were to sign off the safety case as they are required to: you would consider that to be a valid form of verification that it appeared to be a safe-running system. You seem to have resiled from that - I think that is the word people use nowadays. I would like your comment on that...

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

My question was not how long it has taken but, will he sign it tomorrow?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

One of the reasons that the Deputy Prime Minister gave on television for not disclosing information to Bob Kiley was that he had not even signed his contract yet. You said in the Commons debate on Monday that you expected him to sign his contract tomorrow. Is that still your expectation?

• Question by: Trevor Phillips
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

The minutes are dated the 20th.

• Question by: Louise Bloom
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

Which kind of proves my point. I am interested in making sure that we get the views of people who are not necessarily on committees and stakeholders and all the rest. I am interested in getting on the Round Table ordinary Londoners, so that, rather than having, say, the sustainability expert from Friends of the Earth, we should have a member of Friends of the Earth from Barnet who is interested in sustainability. That is what I am getting at - the whole principle of sustainability is bottom-up rather than top-down. How are we going to make sure that it...

• Question by: Louise Bloom
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

I will certainly take you up on that. Also, will the Round Table be seeing the draft strategies and be able to comment on them?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

Could I get you back to the point that Elizabeth Howlett was making? You seem to have considerable support and help from the Labour Government in implementing your congestion charge. Would you not agree that this flies in the face of the sort of stance we see among the Labour group here at the moment, which is that they are not really very keen on it?

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

The success of the congestion charge, as you yourself have said, partly depends upon people seeing it as justified. One of the problems is that residents in Croydon and Sutton are going to be paying 10 times what people in Mayfair will pay. You said that there are issues in terms of getting in place a real investment in public transport in outer London until some way down the line. Do you think that there is a conflict there? Since no Assembly meeting can pass without mention of the Coulsdon inner relief road, may I say that I am very...

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

Certainly, if you cannot improve public transport, you will not get another term, and judging by what happened this morning, when it took me one hour and 45 minutes to come in from Southfields on the District line, it is in a very poor state. I consider that it is in a worse state since November, since they have been running the shadow specification for the PPP. I am against PPP. That does not mean that I am against privatisation - I am not - but I do think that the specification they are running now is cutting costs in...

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 15 November 2000

I wondered about that. I understand that the Government were quite keen to bring in congestion charging in other metropolitan areas, but they have gone a bit quiet on it. Do you think they are waiting to see how you get on? Do you think you are being hung out to dry by the Government on the issue?