• Reference: 2021/0025
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

Much of London’s world-renowned arts and cultural industries rely on self-employed creative workers, many of whom have been excluded from the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s support packages during the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, many people have been made redundant from arts and culture institutions while money has been given by the Treasury to keep the buildings running. What support are you making available to these forgotten parts of London’s creative workforce?

• Reference: 2021/0024
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

The London Assembly Economy Committee report, Tackling London’s Disability Employment Gap, published in March 2019, contained the following recommendation: “Part of the Greater London Investment Fund should consider giving a share of its fund to disabled entrepreneurs wishing to scale up.” What action are you taking to support disabled entrepreneurs?

• Reference: 2021/0023
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

The London Assembly Economy Committee report, Short Changed: the Financial Health of Londoners, published in January 2018, contained the following recommendation: “Local authorities in London should work together to share good practice and identify gaps in local welfare advice and money and debt advice services—as well as continue to review debt collection practices—with the aim that each borough develops a financial inclusion strategy.” The coronavirus pandemic makes this work more urgent, especially as so many support services have gone online and the people who experience financial exclusion are also digitally excluded. What steps will the London Recovery Board take to...

• Reference: 2021/0022
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

The London Assembly Economy Committee report, Short Changed: the Financial Health of Londoners, published in January 2018, contained the following recommendation: “The Mayor should commission a wide-ranging and representative annual survey of London households on their activities and interactions with financial providers to give policymakers and the industry a better understanding of how London’s ‘underbanked’ transact, borrow and save.” This recommendation has not been followed up; do you now have plans to do this to help with Londoners’ financial resilience as we look to recover from the pandemic?

• Reference: 2021/0021
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

In the London Assembly Plenary meeting on 23 July 2020, Jordan Cummins, Head of London Policy at the Confederation of British Industry, said: "The construction skills academies that we have seen across some boroughs can be rolled out to different types of industries. […] there is more than one real anchor industry for London. [...] I am thinking energy efficiency, retrofit. We can create jobs really quickly in those areas, but the skillsets are not quite there yet.” What action have you taken to expand the offer of the skills academies to future-proof Londoners’ skills and work opportunities?

• Reference: 2021/0020
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

Since 2017 the GLA has funded London & Partners’ teams in Paris, Berlin, Bangalore, Shenzhen, Toronto and Chicago to help with London’s Brexit preparedness. What has happened to these teams since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020?

• Reference: 2021/0019
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

Thank you for your answer to my question 2019/17405, in which you said you would be informing customers of your plans for toilet facilities at Transport for London (TfL) stations. I now understand that it is no longer TfL policy to charge for toilet use at stations, which is welcome, but work to achieve this is still to be completed. Will you: a) confirm that TfL has now changed policy to stop charging at stations and b) support public health with more public toilets, including at TfL stations, as part of your recovery plans for London?

• Reference: 2021/0018
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

Thank you for your answer to my question 2019/17408, in which you said that bus driver toilets still to be installed would be provided as permanent facilities by Spring 2020. I appreciate that coronavirus will have caused some delays, but can you provide a list, by route and terminus, of the current toilet availability for bus drivers on all routes previously identified as not having a toilet facility?

• Reference: 2021/0017
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

Recent research suggests that new in-car entertainment, navigation and communication systems that connect to mobile phones, such as Apple CarPlay, cause greater distraction and danger. Findings from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) found a 53 to 57 per cent increase in reaction time from these systems. Will you use your communication channels to educate drivers about these serious safety risks, and will you engage with vehicle manufacturers and technology companies to ensure they act to reduce them?

• Reference: 2021/0016
• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 21 January 2021

Front line transport workers, particularly bus, taxi and private hire drivers, have been at greater risk of infection from coronavirus during the pandemic. Will you support early vaccination for these front line workers as part of the national prioritisation process?