• Reference: 2024/4382
• Question by: Chair, London Assembly
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): Welcome back. We now move to the second panel for our question and answer session on Adult Skills Fund (ASF). Joining us here in the Chamber we have Richard Watts, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Mayor of London; Ayo Akande, who is the Assistant Director, Skills and Employment - Delivery, Greater London Authority (GLA); and Ann-Marie Soyinka, Assistant Director, Skills and Employment – Policy, at the GLA. There will be a lead question from me as Chair to all our guests. Assembly Members will then put supplementary questions. Please, can I...

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

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): I am looking to Assembly Members. Are there any more questions at this part of the session? OK. With that, we have now reached the end of that. I would like to thank our guests in terms of the contributions they have shared with us this morning. There may well be some further questions that arise from Assembly Members and we might want to enter into communication with you, or you may think, “Hold on, I just want to reemphasise some thoughts”, you can always write directly to us. Are there any...

• Question by: Neil Garratt
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): Assembly Member Garratt. Neil Garratt AM: Morning, Aidan. You mentioned just a moment ago about discrepancies in Yorkshire and earlier in your earlier remarks you talked about the lack of transparency in adult skills funding in London. One of the things we have picked up through the Audit Panel here, which I chair, is problems of fraud, money moving down through the system gets picked up by the wrong people and then not spent on students. I do not know whether that is something you have come across or whether your suggestions...

• Question by: Elly Baker
• Meeting date: 05 December 2024

Len Duvall AM (Deputy Chair in the Chair): Let us go to Assembly Member Baker. Elly Baker AM: Thank you, Chair. Morning, panel. I have a couple of questions about the support for disabled Londoners. I know we have talked a bit about this, Assembly Member Bokhari has talked about this. I will just ask a couple of follow-ups on that. Rushaa and Alex, these questions will be to be you. We have talked about the barriers that disabled people face in terms of accessing adult skills support. I wonder whether you could talk about whether there is a mechanism...

• 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.