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• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 24 October 2007

Sorry, can I stop you there. There are new powers for boroughs to monitor them, but there is no new money for boroughs to do it. Without the funding it is very difficult to see how boroughs can monitor Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 24 October 2007

No, but the Mayor can make representations to the Government to try and explain that there is no point having a strategy that says, 'Boroughs will look after HMOs and will monitor them' if there is no money in order for them to do it. So, what I am asking is that the Mayor is much more proactive in pushing central government for local government's case, for them to get some more money, and working much more in tandem with boroughs, rather than at the moment there tends to be certainly a perception that the Mayor is one side and...

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 24 October 2007

My concern about this whole thing - the overall concern - is that I think it is very easy to say, 'We have decided that boroughs should do (a), (b), (c) and (d)'. It sounds good: 'We will therefore say we will have 50% of this and 70/30 mix', but if boroughs do not have the money in order to do this, there is no point saying, 'The Mayor's Strategy is that the boroughs will deliver', because the boroughs really do need money in order to deliver. With the best will in the world they cannot do it if they...

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 24 October 2007

Surely the emphasis ought to be on providing better accommodation for older people, which might persuade them to move on from under-occupying homes - one in four homes in London are under-occupied - and therefore trying to free up at the top, which will eventually free up at the bottom, for the hostels? There does not seem to be too much emphasis on that. I am concerned that nothing that you have said has led me to believe that the problem is going to be addressed, of people with mental problems in hostels not having appropriate support and accommodation.

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 24 October 2007

Sorry, can I cut in, Neale. I do not accept what you are saying because, again, you are saying the same thing: it is up to boroughs to provide the revenue. Boroughs are squeezed all the time on funding and if they have not got the money they cannot provide the revenue, and just putting in a strategy that says, 'boroughs will provide it', is not going to help. Can I move on to overcrowding. You talked about overcrowding in your opening remarks. I think the estimate is that there are 260,000 children in homes that have got not enough...

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 24 October 2007

I have got very little time left, so can I finally ask you about student accommodation. There was very little in the Strategy about what the Mayor is doing about student accommodation in London. I am sure you are aware that young people are at risk from things like dodgy wiring, faulty gas heaters and cowboy landlords. Is the Mayor working with student union representatives and universities to address this?

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 24 October 2007

Sorry, I was asking is he putting pressure on central government to do so.

• Reference: 2007/0077-1
• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 24 October 2007

What are you doing to ensure that an appropriate range of different kinds of housing will be available to Londoners in each of the boroughs?

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 08 November 2006

Thank you. Could I deal perhaps with just two of the issues? First, I would like to talk about access via front counters. I think you rather glossed over this and, although you said they were not fit for purpose your suggestion, your suggestion was that the reason they were not fit for purpose was because they did not have enough people if you like serving behind the counters. Would you not agree that it is an appalling design, a total lack of customer focus from the people who are serving, ignoring the public, dirty front counters, no seats, long...

• Reference: 2006/0349-1
• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 08 November 2006

Since 2003/4 the budget for the Specialist Crime Directorate has decreased by £38.1 million, yet this year the number of DNA samples taken was 45,563 higher than in 2003/4. Are you concerned by the increasingly stretched resources in the Specialist Crime Directorate and the effect this could have on cases that hinge on rapid analysis of vital DNA evidence? Please explain the detail behind this data.