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• Question by: Leonie Cooper
• Meeting date: 08 February 2018

Leonie Cooper AM: Thank you very much, Chair. Like other Assembly Members, I would like to join with adding my congratulations to both of you. It seems very appropriate in this week, when we have just celebrated the 100th anniversary of some women being given the vote and changes to the Representation of the People Act, to see both a female Commissioner and also yet another woman Deputy Mayor. I am very pleased to say that the Mayor has made that part of his modus operandi , it would be fair to say, in who he has appointed as his...

• Question by: Florence Eshalomi MP
• Meeting date: 08 February 2018

Florence Eshalomi AM: Good morning to you both. I wanted to add my congratulations to both of you for your new appointments. I do remember watching the tragedy of Grenfell unfold because my son was just a week old and so we were watching the news all night long. I just commend you both for the courage and leadership that you showed through some of the difficult challenges that London has witnessed over the last year. I wanted to focus on some of the work that the LFB leads on youth engagement and how we get our young people involved...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 08 February 2018

Jennette Arnold OBE AM: Thank you, Acting Chair, Deputy Chairman. Commissioner, I have some questions for you and, like my colleagues, let me add my congratulations to you on your appointment as the first female Fire Commissioner. Now, I heard the answers you gave to my colleague Assembly Member Russell’s questions about gender and so I want to ask now specifically about racial diversity. From the LFB’s monitoring data of December 2017, I see here that from the operational staff of 4,612, 606 were of BAME heritage: 13.14%. We will all know that that is quite woeful. Can I just...

• Question by: Tony Devenish
• Meeting date: 08 February 2018

Tony Devenish AM: Good morning, Deputy Mayor. If we tried to paint a picture of the LFB in, say, eight years, 2026, could you paint me some big pictures of what the real differences will be, please?

• Question by: Onkar Sahota
• Meeting date: 08 February 2018

Dr Onkar Sahota AM: First of all, let me add my congratulations on your nomination, Dr Fiona Twycross, as the Deputy Mayor and also your reappointment, Commissioner, to the post. I want to talk about the assistance given to the firefighters and to operational and non-operational staff after the tragic event of Grenfell, and ask what support was given to the fire service.

• Reference: 2013/0005-1
• Question by: Stephen Knight
• Meeting date: 13 March 2013

What do you perceive will be the impact on London of housing related welfare reforms - including linking the uprating of Local Housing Allowance to the Consumer Price Index rather than rent inflation and introducing under-occupation penalties - given London's existing shortages of affordable rented accommodation and overcrowding problems?

• Reference: 2013/0006-1
• Question by: Fiona Twycross
• Meeting date: 13 March 2013

London is about to experience the largest change to the welfare system since the 1940's, due to take effect on 1 April. These changes include the overall benefit cap, uprating Local Housing Allowance by CPI, bedroom tax (under-occupancy penalties), localisation of the discretionary social fund, localisation of council tax benefit, and replacement of Disability Allowance with the Personal Independence Payment. Can you provide a very general picture of the impact these changes will have on the people of London?

• Reference: 2013/0007-1
• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 13 March 2013

There have already been many significant and cross-cutting changes to the welfare system, and there are even bigger changes planned for the coming year. Is there adequate monitoring and publicly available information about the cumulative impacts on Londoners, councils and support agencies?

• Reference: 2013/0008-1
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 13 March 2013

The 'bedroom tax' will result in an immediate cut in Housing Benefit of 14% for those deemed to have one extra bedroom and 25% for two or more extra bedrooms. However, the extent to which such penalties will make a difference is questionable, as there is a significant mismatch between under-occupying and over-occupying households - with 80,000 households in London under-occupancy, against 260,000 over-crowded households. Will the bedroom tax help address overcrowding in London in any substantive way, and what impact do you believe it will have on established communities and social cohesion in the capital?

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 13 March 2013

I want to follow up from Stephen Knight's questioning on the CPI. Perhaps I could ask Kate, because she did not get a chance to answer. Have I got it right that the CPI is going to mean that rents are now going to be tagged to the CPI, rather than to rent inflation? Further, as the CPI has always risen at a much lower rate than rents, the 30th percentile which the LHA is tagged to will drop to perhaps 20th or 10th percentile available? Have I got this right?