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• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

These families are generally led by women; I wondered how significant you thought the gender pay-gap in London was, which is increasing - widening - here, whereas it isn't in the rest of the country. I understand that the most typical job for a woman here is paid at £5.30 an hour, whereas the most typical job for a man is paid at £17.50 an hour.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

I think this is a question about transport and the effect on poverty, so it might be appropriate for Mr Ross. We know that part of the nature of poverty in London is the cost of travelling, not only to economic and business opportunities, but also, for those perhaps who are less mobile, to hospitals and health centres. We have the situation in London where those people who travel relatively infrequently find that for the cheapest fares you actually need to purchase up-front an Oyster card. If you do not do this, because you've only have a small amount of...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

I won't pursue that, because we have some questions on the employment piece a little later, so I was just going to follow on from Angie (Bray). If the 60% of median income, which as she rightly says is a relative measure, is not merely statistical convenience, because there are exclusion or inequality issues, I wonder whether John could help us in terms of the balance between policy measures that address the absolutes and policy measures that should be reducing inequality, because they clearly are differing strands. If the argument is that we need to do both, how do we...

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

Before I bring in Mr Tuffrey, I wonder, Mr Faulkner, whether you would like to make a contribution about the role of the Chamber of Commerce, and particularly, I know, your particular expertise on the Skills and Employment Forum, and the role it is playing in reducing poverty?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

I was just wondering what the impact of the minimum wage has been in London in reducing relative poverty. Clearly, it affects those in employment, rather than those outside it, but I would like some idea of what the experts feel has been the impact.

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

I am happy to take a response from you, Mr Faulkner, but I do not want to discuss the merits of the Oyster card.

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

You've just said that the proportion of children living below the poverty line in lone-parent families is high ' I do not know if you have the exact figures?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

Given that there is a clear policy to move fully to cashless bus services, which will then have an level playing field, would it not be sensible to explore a campaign to get the last few people over to Oyster cards, including giving out free Oyster cards to people, particularly on the bus routes, where cash is being used a great deal. Brian Coleman (Chairman): I think perhaps, Mr Pope, that this is a specific item of policy which is for the Transport Committee, which you chair, to take up.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

Any other thoughts in terms of dealing with this bottom-end problem, and the relativity?

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 19 July 2006

I just want to briefly return to this business of definitions, because some mathematicians have calculated that one of the reasons why there are so many variations in different countries about what is defined on the 60% median of people in poverty is because, quite simply, if you change your tax structure slightly, if in Britain the Government were simply to tax slightly more heavily those just above the poverty level, you could, at a stroke, to use an old phrase, remove half a million people from poverty. Now, even if we accept these definitions, and I appreciate, Kate (Kate...