Search questions

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 10 October 2001

I have two little tiny questions. I'll roll them together. The first is, following from Meg's point about the FBU, do you find that the Mayor of London is a help or a hindrance in your management of relations with the trade union, given the problems that perhaps there have been, particularly in relation to the rail unions? And the second part, while you're thinking of a good answer to that first part, is the relationship between fire vulnerability and poverty and whether you're working on any particular regeneration initiatives in London, where particularly vulnerable communities would benefit from the...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 10 October 2001

It does beg a supplementary, doesn't it? Can you describe one or two of the bear traps that he's pushed you into?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 10 October 2001

I think many Londoners would be surprised to hear that actually the fire service doesn't have a statutory responsibility to deal with those things that you listed, whether it's a pussy cat up a tree or, in this case, a child that very nearly drowned. In fact it was thanks to another emergency service - the Air Ambulance - that the child was rescued. But I think people would expect their fire service to do that and maybe a better title would be the London Fire and Rescue Service, but I'm glad to know that you want to see change...