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• Reference: 2012/0016-2
• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 08 March 2012

Steve O'Connell (AM): Turning to resources, I know recently you have written to the Chair with an update on your thoughts around PCSO numbers and improvement and that letter has been copied to us, so thank you for that.

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 08 March 2012

Tony Arbour (AM): I have been looking at this card, and I have to say I am not sure I agree with you, Kit, that people do not expect criminals to be caught. I seem to recall Kit Malthouse (Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime): They do. Tony Arbour (AM): the saintly Sir Robert Peel [Home Secretary who established the Metropolitan Police Force in the 1820s], when he put down the things of people being caught and brought to justice; no mention of that on the card. The key thing about this card which I note is that it says...

• Question by: James Cleverly
• Meeting date: 08 March 2012

James Cleverly (AM): Following up from Victoria's questions about particularly young victims of crime and their confidence in policing, and I do not want to go crashing into one of the issues we have later on, but we are going to be touching a little bit on disproportionality. From memory, from the feedback we get from the sectors of the community who are least confident interacting with the police, the young tend to be less confident than the older generation. Black and other ethnic minorities tend to be less confident than the white population. Specifically with young, potentially black victims...

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 08 March 2012

Tony Arbour (AM): On the specific point which John raised with you relating to the legal cost, are you telling us that it is possible that Lord Blair, Lord Stevens and other former luminaries at the top of the Metropolitan Police Service, we have paid to give them legal advice before they have gone to Leveson?

• Reference: 2010/0070-1
• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 21 July 2010

The coalition government is keen to promote localism. How will boroughs be allowed to control planning in their areas?

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 21 July 2010

Minister, you have talked about devolution to the boroughs as a whole. Recently I read the suggestion by a former Parliamentary colleague, Rob Hayward [former Member of Parliament for Kingswood], that perhaps there are too many London boroughs; currently there are 32, and some of them are rather small. He said that he had been an advisor to the Secretary of State when he was in the Shadow Cabinet. Are you aware that your Department might be looking at reducing the number of London boroughs?

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 21 July 2010

Minister, the Act you referred to, which in 2007 gave the London boroughs and the residents of the Greater London area the right to serve up parish councils, also changed the legislation to the point where establishment of parish councils was removed from the Secretary of State and given to the primary authority. In a London context I am assuming that is the London boroughs. That would mean that the only requirement that a London borough would have if it was being pressured to set up a parish council would be to conduct a community governance review which could prevent...

• Question by: James Cleverly
• Meeting date: 21 July 2010

Minister, one of the challenges that I think is going to be faced by the coalition Government is that the very people that you rely on to help you drive this localism are the very people who are going to be disempowered. I am thinking particularly of your civil service team; it is from their desks that the power is going to be taken. Is there a structural plan? Is there a mechanism in place to make sure that, after this initial set of proposals are put forward, there is a way of providing a constant review and maintain that...

• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 21 July 2010

Around the same theme on planning controls; in the prospective Green Paper we have talked about third party planning appeals. I think we will recognise that there is an imbalance in the planning system whereby only a developer can appeal against and the residents cannot. I think we all tend to agree that that is a grotesque imbalance that needs addressing. The Open Source document did put some thoughts around that and I would like your amplification on it as well. It seemed to me that it is a very good point to address, but the Open Source document talked...

• Question by: Gareth Bacon MP
• Meeting date: 21 July 2010

): I want to talk to you about garden grabbing. Firstly, I would like to thank you and the Government for re categorising gardens as green land rather than brown land, primarily because, the previous designation, taken into account with the need to drive housing targets, has led developers to change the character and nature of boroughs like mine, which you are very familiar with, against the wishes of local people. We are very, very pleased and encouraged that Government have echoed the Mayor's sentiments in terms of trying to put a stop to this. It could be too early...