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• Question by: Stephen Knight
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Stephen Knight AM: Thank you, Chair. My question was on this issue of London’s relationship with the EU, which your report makes quite a few comments about in terms of London ‘staying open for business’. It is quite clear in terms of the need to maintain the relationship with the EU and the dangers of undermining that relationship. In particular, I wanted to ask you about - and I am reading from the report - wanting to: “... strengthen London’s voice on national policies that could put London’s status as the global hub for business and finance at risk: particularly...

• Question by: Andrew Dismore
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Andrew Dismore AM: Thank you, Chair. I would like to raise the issue of connectivity and broadband, which does not seem to be moving on particularly well. A few weeks ago, Emily Thornberry [Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury] raised in Parliament an example she had of a business in central London taking nine hours to upload a two-and-a-half-minute film, which is not particularly helpful. What are you doing to try to do something about this problem of connectivity?

• Question by: Victoria Borwick
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Victoria Borwick AM MP: If I may, I would just like to follow on and say that there are other boroughs that are very concerned. In fact, I have a residents group in Kensington and Chelsea that is extremely dismayed that it seems to be that others are moving ahead on this agenda. I would - I think - second the points made by Mr Dismore, not all of them, but I know there are others around here who I am sure could instance their boroughs and issues with this. There seems to be subsidies and other information for other...

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Nicky Gavron AM: Thank you very much. I just wanted to make one point. It would be extremely helpful in forwarding this issue if the LEP and Assembly Members could really look carefully at the amended London Plan. I argued on behalf of the Planning Committee that we should have symmetrical high-speed broadband as the new utility delivered to all new developments. There was a lot of querying of me about ‘symmetrical’. I am not a technological whizz, but I explained that it was about having the same speed of uploading as downloading, which is obviously an issue. Moreover, we...

• Question by: Kit Malthouse
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

Kit Malthouse AM MP: I assume that you would accept that for all the businesses and people employed in the area of green technology and green industries, 80% of what they do and what holds them back is exactly the same as for businesses that are not involved in those technologies. Therefore, your work on small business, science and technology and all those areas of emphasis would be equally as applicable to green technology, Jenny ‑‑ Jenny Jones AM: Yes. Kit Malthouse AM MP: ‑‑ as they are to other things. Harvey McGrath (Deputy Chair, London Enterprise Panel): Indeed. Kit...

• Question by: James Cleverly
• Meeting date: 01 July 2015

James Cleverly AM MP: Thank you, Madam Chair. Prompted by Mr Knight, you mentioned more corporate involvement in the housing market and the provision of housing specifically for employees. Across the country, there are some significant examples where business owners have taken a very direct role in the provision of housing. I am thinking of Port Sunlight, Bournville, etc, where those - for want of a better word - early corporate entities recognised that they had a vested interest in the provision of good quality, local housing for the people working in their businesses. You mentioned the utilisation of pension...

• Question by: Stephen Knight
• Meeting date: 24 October 2012

Stephen Knight (AM): To pick you up on the point you have just made around the high property values in London, compared, I believe with most other developed countries, we have very few property and wealth taxes in this country; we predominantly focus on income and sales taxes. I just wondered to what extent you think the high cost of housing in London is partly driven by the fact that it is a tax free growth area for people, by which I mean it is a tax free investment and therefore that has partly driven the speculation that has driven...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 24 October 2012

Goodness me. I think this is a very worthwhile debate although it may seem a bit arid to some observers and we need to make sure we do not get too academic about it. Would you agree with me that around the world probably the single greatest source of income for city governments tends to be, in one shape or form, from properties? You have said a couple of times now that property taxes are so visible and so potent that virtually all political parties play 'chicken' with each other. Well, the opposite of 'chicken'; they are scared to look...

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 24 October 2012

Nicky Gavron (AM): While we are on land and talking about the planning system, currently the Assembly's Planning Committee is looking at the community infrastructure levy (CIL). That is, to a certain extent, a fixed charge, although there are lots of complications because it is set different in different boroughs and there is not necessarily a duty to cooperate and so on. On top of that is the Mayor's own CIL. I was wondering, this CIL is for Crossrail, but is the Commission going to look beyond that to the way CIL might be used by the Mayor in the...

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 24 October 2012

In the same spirit, how far are you going to frame for the Mayor any of the mechanisms he might be thinking about for the comprehensive spending review for London?