• Question by: Anne Clarke
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): OK. Now Assembly Member Clarke. Anne Clarke AM: Thank you, Chair. My question is to you, Vicky. The Government is investing £22 billion in the NHS over the next two years and has already made significant progress on waiting lists. Do you anticipate this investment to improve health inequalities in London?

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Dr Tom Coffey OBE (Senior Adviser to the Mayor, Health Policy, Greater London Authority): I have delayed leaving for a while but thank you for letting me go. Len Duvall AM (Chair): Thank you. Andrew, do you want to --? Andrew Boff AM (Deputy Chair): My question was to Tom Coffey. Len Duvall AM (Chair): All right. Can you take this very quick one? This is Assembly Member Boff. You cannot see him, but you can hear him, because he is behind you. Andrew Boff AM (Deputy Chair): You said, Mr Coffey, that you want the Mayor to focus on...

• Question by: Susan Hall
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): Thank you very much. Assembly Member Hall. Susan Hall AM: Thank you. In your opening speeches, the three of you quite rightly mentioned inequality. Jazz, you mentioned it 27 times. You all mean it, which is right and proper. Either Vicky or Tom mentioned that the Mayor considers health in all policies and, therefore, I would imagine actions. There is a whole list of things I could talk to you about here, not least homelessness, which has gone up 50 percent, and you have mentioned homelessness. My biggest concern is the lack of funding for the...

• Question by: James Small-Edwards
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): Assembly Member Small-Edwards. James Small-Edwards AM: Thank you, Chair. My question is to Vicky. Around 8 percent of households in London are overcrowded and one in 21 children live in temporary accommodation. How does this situation impact health inequalities and what is the Mayor doing to address it?

• Question by: Krupesh Hirani
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): Assembly Member Hirani. Krupesh Hirani AM: Thank you, Chair. I am going to turn to Vicky again on this one, on the Mayor’s Health Inequality Strategy. It has a commitment for Londoners to share a city with the best mental health in the world. What actions do we need to make this happen and make it a reality by 2028?

• Question by: Lord Bailey of Paddington
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): Assembly Member Bailey. Lord Bailey of Paddington AM: Thank you, Chair. I am going to address my first questions to Dr Coffey and then I will come to Dr Hannbeck afterwards. Do you feel that the Mayor has done enough around the promotion of health? We have had lots of conversations this morning about health inequality because that is our theme. However, there is a point where your health is also your own responsibility. This conversation could be interpreted as the belief that people do not have enough agency to deliver their own health. Your best...

• Question by: Elly Baker
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): OK. Let us move on to Assembly Member Baker. Elly Baker AM: Thanks, Chair. I want to ask about transport and its impact on health. I am going to ask Vicky and Tom to answer this question. Up front, both of you referenced the importance of transport in good health. It is positive to hear that, but certainly in the Health Inequality Strategy there is some focus on active travel, which is of course really important for physical health. There is no recognition of the inherent good that transport has on health. I am thinking in...

• Question by: Neil Garratt
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): OK, moving on, Assembly Member Garratt. Neil Garratt AM: Thanks. Morning. Vicky, in your opening remark you talked about tobacco harm. Currently in Parliament is the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which ultimately takes us to a zero-tobacco society effectively. Obviously, that is a significant curtailment of people’s civil rights. I am interested, does the public health case for that policy, that counter-balances that, is it significant enough to justify it?

• Question by: Zoë Garbett
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): Assembly Member Garbett. Zoë Garbett AM: Morning. Thank you for your responses so far. I am finding this really interesting. I want to raise health inequalities for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities. People from these communities live an average 12 years less than the general population. As we have been discussing, a stark inequality. GRTs tell me it is difficult to monitor the health outcomes as the NHS director does not define Gypsy, Roma or Traveller in terms of an ethnicity. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) census asks if health is poor or very...

• Question by: Leonie Cooper
• Meeting date: 05 June 2025

Len Duvall AM (Chair): Sorry to interrupt, the Lib Dems are now out of time. Maybe you will follow up outside the meeting. There was a lot of lenience there. Can we move then to Assembly Member Cooper? Leonie Cooper AM: Thank you very much, Chair. I am very pleased to see everyone here this morning. In your introductory remarks, Tom, you were talking about mental health, you were talking about cardiac health, and you were talking about child health, and we have just been touching on the health of older people as well. One of the innovative, and it...