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• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

The first is that I am a great fan and supporter of the Olympic bid, as I hope you know, not least because it benefits my constituents enormously. One of the assurances that I think some people in east London, where there is some residual cynicism about the bid, would like is assurances about the ways in which you are going to link the bid into local contracting, local recruitment, training of local people, and relationships with local schools, so that it will be a bid that strengthens the area. There is a history of colonial intervention in east London...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

I know that quite a few detailed assurances and commitments have been made in this area already, but I think experience teaches us that you have to tell people again and again, and our job is to examine those proposals again. Are you happy after this meeting to make another written representation, to us, if you like, which could be used in communications in east London and which will clarify points about training; local contracts; the fact that you are going to get local firms, rather than Burger King or whoever, into the area; the fact that contractors will be...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

This is very important also to Athens, which is about overspends and who will meet the bill, because my sense - and this is a recurrent theme through today's questions - is a concern amongst some party groups and amongst Londoners, as well, that there is a potential outcome where there is an overspend which comes back to haunt us, like the Montreal Olympic Games of 1976, year, after year, after year. You have gone some way to answering this today, but again, it would be very helpful for us if there were a very clear, unequivocal statement coming out...

• Reference: 2004/0274-1
• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

What support has London's business community given to the bid?

• Reference: 2004/0286-1
• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

What plans do you have to relocate businesses that will be displaced by a successful bid and what steps are you taking to minimise blight over premises and land potentially threatened by the bid?

• Reference: 2004/0287-1
• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

Are the tidal Bow Back Rivers an asset or liability and would the area's ecology and environment be improved by impounding them, rather in the same way that Cardiff Bay arguably benefited from a barrage?

• Reference: 2004/0294-1
• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

What position are you taking on the six demands made by 'London Citizens' and more generally what steps will you be taking to secure lasting and real benefits for local communities from the games?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

And how much have you received?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

I'm delighted to report, Chair, that the gunners across the river haven't quite found their range yet! My question is about education, because clearly if we're going to avoid the construction of incinerators, we need to change people's mind in London. And there is quite a lot of good on the ground work in individual boroughs, but there is a London-wide responsibility for an education campaign. Can Mr Duffy tell me what steps he's taking to ensure that's the most effective campaign that's possible?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 November 2002

I don't intentionally want to fill the time, but I find those rather inadequate answers, and I put it to Mr Duffy that a problem with this was that the bids were rather inadequate and didn't show the sort of vision and leadership that London should be showing on waste minimisation and on education. A couple of sound-bites is not itself enough. It's got to be joined up with the boroughs. It's got to be an effective, driven campaign, with leadership from London. Do you think that London is offering the leadership on this that it should be?