• 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...

• Question by: Emma Best
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): I now call on Assembly Member Best, please. Emma Best AM: Thanks, Chair, I do have some questions. I wanted to first start with you, Andy, please and take you back almost to the day last year when we had this Plenary, and I was asking you a series of questions focused on the LFB’s work with youth. One of the challenges I made was the age that you need to be to join the cadets. You said that was a good challenge and question and you said you would go away and look at it...

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Before we move onto the next question - and this is off the clock - I am a little concerned that in the response to previous questioners there seems to be a lot of reference to another Deputy Mayor and just as a piece of advice, and perhaps for the future to take into consideration, much as you are here to represent the Mayor’s policy with regard to the fire service, you are also part of the administration. Therefore, I would hope that in the future your briefings could be a little more extensive so that...

• Question by: Sem Moema
• Meeting date: 08 February 2024

Andrew Boff AM (Chair): Thank you. Assembly Member Bailey, please. Then Assembly Member Moema, please. Sem Moema AM: Thank you, Chair. Good morning, Commissioner, and good morning, Baroness Twycross. I want to turn my question on its head a little because I appreciate that there is this fuzzy line between you and the Deputy Mayor for Housing [and Residential Development] when it comes to building and fire safety, as in there are things which are clearly within your remit and things to do with remediation and the actual works, which fall within his remit. I just wondered though, for the...