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• Question by: Caroline Pidgeon
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM: Thank you. Mr Mayor, just ten weeks ago, in answer to a Mayoral question (MQ), you stated, “The Elizabeth line remains on course to open as planned in December 2018”. The Commissioner, in the TfL Board report of 25 July [2018] stated, “Crossrail remains on course to open as planned in December”. Sir Terry, on 6 June, when the Transport Committee visited Tottenham Court Road with you, you gave me an absolute assurance that the opening of Crossrail would be in December. You even confirmed the date, Sunday, 9 December when the Queen would be opening...

• Question by: Florence Eshalomi MP
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Florence Eshalomi AM: Thank you. To come back to Crossrail, on this side [of the table] we definitely recognise the scale of this project but once completed it will be a big success for London. I am definitely looking forward to when it opens. You may be aware of Rob Holden’s [CBE, Chairman, High Speed 1] letter last week in The Times where he stated, “The problems with Crossrail arose from the decision taken in 2011 to delay the procurement of new rolling stock, a decision that has affected the commissioning of those new trains ... signalling was always going...

• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Caroline Russell AM: Thank you, Chairman. I want to ask about the experience of the passengers who are waiting to use this line but before I get on to those questions I want to pick up on something that Sir Terry said at the very beginning. You said, “We mitigated one risk and others materialised”. I wonder if you could expand on that a bit more, whether that is what has caused this decision about the delay.

• Question by: Keith Prince
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Keith Prince AM: Thank you, Chairman. Good morning, Sir Terry. I am trying to get some dates straight in my head. You mentioned a Board meeting in July [2018] where it was raised that there could be problems. Could you tell me the date of that meeting in July, please?

• 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?

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 13 March 2013

Can we look at the cost. We all understand the principles of trying to help people that are truly in need but it is right, is it not, that Housing Benefit costs have gone up by £10 billion since the beginning of the decade? It was about £11 billion in 2000/01 and it is now £21 billion, and if it were to go on then it would be £25 billion in the coming year if the reforms were not brought in. Jules Pipe, do you want to comment on that?