• Reference: 2011/0370
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In answer to Written Question No: 4125/2010 you informed me that 'the Council Tax freeze grant to the GLA in 2011-12 is estimated at £23.2m'. Does this rebate expose as false the government's rhetoric of 'more for less' in the provision of public services and is this rebate merely designed to enable you, as Mayor, to maintain this myth by allowing you to 'freeze' the GLA's share of the precept?

• Reference: 2011/0369
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In answer to Written Question No: 4125/2010 you informed me that 'the Council Tax freeze grant to the GLA in 2011-12 is estimated at £23.2m'. Since the rebate will have been funded in the main by the government's rise in regressive V.A.T, are the poorest people in Britain being expected finance a tax-break for London's wealthiest households?

• Reference: 2011/0368
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In answer to Written Question No: 4119/2010 you informed me that you are 'currently in discussion with the Government about the possibility of the responsibility for managing the Royal Parks being devolved from the DCMS to the GLA'. Has there been any progress on this matter since and, if so, what?

• Reference: 2011/0367
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In Written Question No: 4117/2010 I specifically asked whether you would undertake to write to the Chancellor, George Osborne, reminding him that, by very conservative HMRC figures alone (National Fraud Indicator 2010), tax evasion costs the Treasury ten times more (£10.7 billion pa) than benefit theft and urging him to invest proportional resources in recouping benefit theft and evaded tax and securing convictions for those engage in such illegal acts. Unfortunately, you did not answer my question. Will you write to George Osborne, informing him of the above statistics and requesting that he respond accordingly?

• Reference: 2011/0366
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In response to Written Question No: 4117/2010 you stated that 'we currently do not have estimates on the impact on London's economy of all tax avoidance measures'. Will you undertake to commission such a report in conjunction with the London Assembly?

• Reference: 2011/0365
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In response to Written Question No: 4115/2010 you stated that you 'would be happy to receive any evidence or analysis' that a distinction in law between the tax relief that results from a pension payment being deducted from somebody's 'top line' pay and corporate tax avoidance would lead to increased tax revenues, which could be used to offset cuts to public services in London. Please provide me with some evidence demonstrating that the introduction of anti-avoidance legislation would not have the effect of increasing tax revenues for investment in public services?

• Reference: 2011/0364
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In response to Written Question No: 3744/2010 you stated that 'the reduction in subsidy would be achieved by continuing to bear down on costs and by setting realistic, affordable fares'. What calculations/criteria have been employed to establish bus fare affordability and what definition of 'realistic' did TfL apply when establishing the new fare level?

• Reference: 2011/0363
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

What is the elasticity of demand for bus travel in London and what calculations have been made to ensure that January's 7.7% fare increase from £1.20 to £1.30 will not price people off public transport?

• Reference: 2011/0362
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In response to Written Question No: 3742/2010 you stated that you 'will bring together the housing and land assets of both the LDA and the London HCA to create a powerful new housing and regeneration arm of the GLA'. Will LDA land assets be sold and/or employed to raise revenue for a direct delivery budget for economic development by the Greater London Authority and, if so, what projections have been made of future revenues generated by LDA land assets?

• Reference: 2011/0361
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2011

In what way is Tax Increment Financing philosophically different from the PFI?