• Question by: Alex Wilson
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): Thank you. Let us move to Assembly Member Wilson. Alex Wilson AM: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, panel, for the comments you made far and my question is going to be directed largely at Aidan if that is OK. If there is time, possibly Anthony as well, but as you can see the clock is ticking. What I am keen to understand very much - I should also thank you the research unit, it was a very comprehensive briefing, which has been very helpful. What I am keen to understand is to...

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): OK, let us turn to the Greens. Assembly Member Polanski. Zack Polanski AM: Thank you, Chair. Good morning, panel. Alex, if I can begin with you. Unsurprisingly, I want to ask about green skills. We are in a climate crisis. We know that insulating and retrofitting homes is a triple win, it reduces bills, it reduces emissions, and it creates good green jobs. We also know that insulating homes is vital for keeping homes warm in the winter, but also increasingly important, cool in the summer too as we face extreme heating...

• Question by: Hina Bokhari OBE
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): Let us go to the Liberal Democrats, Assembly Member Bokhari. Hina Bokhari AM: Thank you very much, Chair. I would like to go first to Rushaa because the work that Toynbee Hall is doing is amazing. I have visited many times and the peer research work that you are doing is inspirational and something that should be mirrored in many other institutions. My main questions are going to be for the panel on educational inequality. You mentioned Toynbee Hall’s 2022 report for the GLA. In that it makes the case that disabled...

• Question by: Alessandro Georgiou
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): Let us move on to Assembly Member Georgiou from the Conservative Group. Alessandro Georgiou AM: Thank you, everyone, for your contributions. It is very insightful. Aidan, I found what you said quite refreshing because it does highlight a lot of the pitfalls with the current funding arrangement with the ASF. It is good that we are all honest about what the pitfalls are and how we move forward. Given what everyone has identified as the limitations on the Mayor with regard to the funding that he receives and how he can spend...

• Question by: Marina Ahmad
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Marina Ahmad AM: Thank you very much, Chair. Good morning, panel, and thank you all for the way that you have given us a really strong overview. We now have an opportunity to unpick some of what you have said. My first question is to you, Anthony. As we know, businesses face a challenge in recruiting appropriately skilled workers and in upskilling their existing staff to expand. What are the needs of the various business communities in London for skills and training and how does the ASF deliver for those businesses in London?

• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): Thank you very much. Alex.

• Reference: 2024/4381
• Question by: Chair, London Assembly
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): What we are really here for is our first part of this morning’s session, which is a question and answer session around the Adult Skills Fund (ASF) in London. Joining us in the Chamber for our first panel, we have Anthony Impey MBE, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Be the Business; Alex Stevenson, Project Director at the Learning and Working Institute; Rushaa Hamid, Research Manager, Toynbee Hall; and finally Aidan Relf, a Policy Consultant of RGMR [Ltd]. Thank you very much for being with us this morning. There will be a lead-off question...