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• Reference: 2006/3013
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

You stated on the Nick Ferrari LBC radio programme on 22nd November that VAT payable on the Olympics is attributable to a 'new law'. As you know, VAT law is controlled by the European Union and the UK may only amend its own laws with regard to this tax by order of the EU. Please can you state which new law this is, when it came into force and how it applies?

• Reference: 2006/3015
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

I regularly find on my desk at City Hall leaflets, pamphlets and stickers from Recycle for London urging me to recycle. How much does Recycle for London spend annually on producing promotional literature, most of which is immediately recycled into the bin? Would it not be more environmentally friendly to send these messages by email?

• Reference: 2006/3016
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

Will the Mayor consider erecting on top of City Hall a solar-powered illuminated sign to keep Londoners informed of the ever-rising budget estimates of the 2012 Olympics?

• Reference: 2006/3017
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

Does the Mayor consider it fair that the ODA's delivery partner, CLM, had ten staff (paid for by the ODA) working with the ODA during the bid process while others tendering for the contract did not?

• Reference: 2006/3019
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

Thank you for your answer to my question 2549 / 2006 in which you clarify the difference between unemployment and worklessness. However, your figures make my point that the London Development Agency uses the misleading worklessness figure in its publications, which you concede includes 863,000 people (57% of the total worklessness figure for London) who neither want nor are seeking work. Would it not be more appropriate for the LDA to quote an accurate figure of people who actually want work?

• Reference: 2006/3020
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

Jack Lemley has made clear that it was known in May of the fact that VAT had not been included in the original bid estimate, that security had been massively underestimated and that the ODA was pressured into cutting large sums out of the budget for political and public relations reasons. At what point did the Mayor become aware of these situations?

• Reference: 2006/3021
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

In answer to my question 2544 / 2006 you stated that the benefits to London of European Union membership 'are huge and certainly bigger than our contribution to the EU budget' (£5,000 million in 2007-13). Please can you quantify these benefits. In particular, please can you explain how London would be denied access to EU markets if the UK were outside the EU. Switzerland, Norway, the United States and China do not seem to suffer lack of access to EU markets. Also can you give examples of UK membership of the EU contributing towards 'peace and political stability'.

• Reference: 2006/3023
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

Further to your answer to my question 2545 / 2006, in which you state that salaries for LDA staff increased by 3% in 2005/06, please can you state the percentage increase for staff paid over £50,000?

• Reference: 2006/3024
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

Thank you for your undertaking (Question No: 2541 / 2006) to publish at regular intervals the actual amounts of electricity generated and CO2 saved by the photovoltaic cells on City Hall and to publish full details of ongoing maintenance costs. Why is the same undertaking not forthcoming from the London Climate Change Agency for its similar 'flagship' scheme at Palestra? And why only annual publication of electricity generation and CO2 savings? Surely if the intention is to promote wider use of wind turbines and solar panels, it is essential to publicize the costs and benefits of such schemes?

• Reference: 2006/3022
• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 13 December 2006

Given your contention that the benefits to London of EU membership 'are huge and certainly bigger than our contribution to the EU budget', will the Mayor support One London's campaign to ask the government to publish a full cost/benefit analysis of the UK's membership of the European Union?