• Question by: Susan Hall
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Thank you. Assembly Member Hall, please? Susan Hall AM: Thank you. This one is to the Commissioner. What were your main challenges when you were setting the 2024/25 budget?

• Question by: Lord Bailey of Paddington
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Assembly Member Bailey, please. Lord Bailey of Paddington AM: Thank you, Chair. Is it afternoon? Good afternoon, panel. Just to quickly go back on two staircases, have you had any conversations with DLUHC on what you would like to see that guidance look like?

• Question by: Tony Devenish
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Thank you. Assembly Member Devenish, please? Tony Devenish AM: Thank you very much. Can I start by thanking the LFB for pulling me out of a lift shaft in Paddington, where three activists and I got stuck a couple of months ago. I was very grateful. Twenty-eight minutes in a Paddington lift on a Saturday afternoon was not my best opportunity of spending a weekend. Andy Roe KFSM (London Fire Commissioner): No one needs that, no. Tony Devenish AM: I was delivering Susan Hall literature. Léonie Cooper AM: That is why the lift broke down, Tony...

• Question by: Sakina Sheikh
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Assembly Member Sheikh, please? Sakina Sheikh AM: Thank you, Chair. Commissioner, I wanted to come to a question that has not come up yet, but it has certainly come up in the FREP Committee we had in September [2023] when your colleagues attended and DLUHC was there. It was regarding the second staircases and the change in the decision from DLUHC around whether that applies to 30-metre or 18-metre buildings. We will be having that transition, but we still have a lack of certainty around the specifications on that second staircase, which is delaying the 30-month...

• Question by: Marina Ahmad
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Thank you. Assembly Member Ahmad, please. Marina Ahmad AM: Thank you, Chair. Good morning, panel. Commissioner, at the 5 December 2023 FREP [Committee] meeting, Ben Selby, Assistant General Secretary of the FBU, said, “Progress is not easy to measure when we are talking of culture.” With regards to the progress of the Culture Review, do you agree?

• Question by: Onkar Sahota
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): The next on the list is Assembly Member Dr Sahota. Dr Onkar Sahota AM (Deputy Chair): Thank you. The next question is to the Deputy Mayor. In 2023, the LFB launched its CRMP in response to Grenfell [Tower fire]. Can you tell us how the LFB has been delivering on the priorities set out in the CRMP, please?

• Question by: Keith Prince
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Thank you very much. Assembly Member Prince, please. Keith Prince AM: Thank you, Chair. Deputy Mayor, I would like to have a quick word with you about Launders Lane. For those watching, this is a piece of land in Rainham in my constituency, where there are a lot of fires and pollution occurring because of fires that occur underground, especially in the summertime. I would like to thank you for what you have done so far and for trying to grip this. It is a very difficult situation, but what I would ask of you, Deputy...

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Thank you. Assembly Member McCartney, please. Joanne McCartney AM: Thank you. My question is to the Commissioner; it is about wildfires. I represent Enfield and two years ago we had a few wildfires and I suspect this is a feature particularly for outer London boroughs where we have a lot of greenbelts, or for example the Lee Valley Park. I have a couple of questions if I can? First of all with the work you are doing with London boroughs and also with the public, what are you doing to make sure that stakeholders and the...

• Question by: Neil Garratt
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Thank you. Assembly Member Garratt, please. Neil Garratt AM: Morning. Commissioner, you were speaking earlier about the risk from electrical fires from small EVs, which we are very aware of. We have also seen examples of very large EVs, specifically buses, and TfL’s plan is to convert the entire fleet to electric. My local bus garage in Sutton is almost completely electric these days and we have seen, I think, three fires plus a couple of years ago there was the fire in the depot in Potters Bar, which is very concerning. I wondered where you...

• Question by: Leonie Cooper
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Thank you. Assembly Member Cooper, please. Léonie Cooper AM: Thank you very much, Chair. Good morning, Commissioner and good morning, Deputy Mayor. I have asked you about this before so it will not come to you as much of a surprise, but it is about flooding and whether or not there is any news about flooding becoming a statutory responsibility, which I know that is something the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has argued for. Obviously, it has now become a statutory responsibility in Scotland since 2005, in Northern Ireland since 2012 and in April 2017 a...