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• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

My concern is the real deprived communities; the ones that are just not being picked up because nobody knows who they are. The more visits I do the more convinced I become that what is on offer is not really going to help these people and those are the people that we all want to help more than anyone. I wondered if you would consider a couple of things. First of all I really identified a need for some pan-London funding where at the moment you are giving it to boroughs to dish out, which I understand, but there is...

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Are you saying that the increase of 1.3 million more visitors to London last year is a direct result of this investment?

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

According to figures £14.6 million is being paid to Visit London and another £6.7 million for London Unlimited. What evidence have you got that there is a direct relationship between their activities and the increase in tourism in London?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Just one final question; do you have any sort of ball-park figure as to the number of trips that have been made by the Mayor's Office and paid for by Visit London?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Right, and those figures will go back till when?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Final thought; we used to have the London Tourist Office, which we could say was a body that was there simply to actually enhance tourism to this country. You seem now to have created it into something which is completely unmeasurable because you are saying that we do not any longer measure our tourism as such. Visit London is actually wrapped up in far bigger things to do with business, to do with environmental policies. Wouldn't it be simpler if we could actually say, 'Well, this is about promoting tourism and this is why we spent X amount of money...

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

OK, I think that would be helpful because then that clarifies the additional cost in relation to that. One of the concerns I have here is that we seem to have a potential for not conflict but confusion. We have got Visit London. Why are we spending an extra £6 million on London Unlimited?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

You are saying that on occasion they have been paid to travel. Perhaps you could give me an example of where somebody has been to promote London?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Well, their travel is paid for in order to promote London. Could you perhaps give me an example of where a trip has been taken by someone from the Mayor's Office?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Presumably there is a budget within Visit London to pay for people to travel abroad to promote London abroad, is there? How much is that approximately?