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(Public Pack)Minutes Document for London Assembly (Mayor's MINUTES Meeting: London Assembly (Mayor's Question Time) Date: Thursday 20 December 2018 Time: 10.00 am Place: Chamber, City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2AA Copies of the minutes may be found at: www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/london-assembly/whole-assembly Present: Tony Arbour AM (Chairman) Nicky Gavron AM Jennette Arnold OBE AM (Deputy Chair) Susan Hall AM Gareth Bacon AM David Kurten AM Shaun Bailey AM Joanne McCartney AM Sian Berry AM Steve O'Connell AM Andrew Boff AM Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM Leonie Cooper AM Keith Prince AM Tom Copley AM Caroline Russell AM Unmesh Desai AM Dr Onkar Sahota AM Tony Devenish AM Navin Shah AM Andrew Dismore AM Fiona Twycross AM Len Duvall AM Peter Whittle AM Florence Eshalomi AM City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA Enquiries: 020 7983 4100 minicom: 020 7983 4458 www.london.gov.uk Greater London Authority London Assembly (Mayor's Question Time) Thursday 20 December 2018 1 Apologies for Absence and Chairman's Announcements (Item 1) 1.1 There were no apologies for absence. 1.2 The Chairman provided an update on recent Assembly working, including the Health Committee’s report ‘Supporting Londoner’s ambulance service’ and the #backtheplaque campaign. 1.3 During the course of the meeting, the Chairman welcomed to the public gallery pupils from South Park Primary School, Ilford. 2 Declarations of Interests (Item 2) 2.1 Resolved: That the list of offices held by Assembly Members, as set out in the table at Agenda Item 2, be noted as disclosable pecuniary interests. 3 Mayor's Report (Item 3) 3.1 The Assembly noted the Mayor’s Report covering the period from 9 November to 6 December 2018. 3.2 In accordance with Standing Order 5.4A, the Mayor gave an oral update on matters occurring since the publication of his report. The record of the oral update is attached at Appendix 1. 4 Questions to the Mayor (Item 4) 4.1 The record of the discussion with the Mayor, including oral answers given by the Mayor to Members’ questions, is attached as Appendix 2. 4.2 The written answers to those questions not asked or unanswered during the meeting is attached as Appendix 3. 4.3 During the course of the question and answer session the Chairman proposed, and it was agreed, that Standing Order 2.9B be suspended to extend the meeting in order to allow the remaining questions on the priority order paper to be put to the Mayor and for the remaining items of business on the agenda to be considered. 2 Greater London Authority London Assembly (Mayor's Question Time) Thursday 20 December 2018 4.4 At the conclusion of the question and answer session, the Assembly agreed the motion set out on the agenda in the name of the Chairman, namely: “That the Assembly notes the answers to the questions asked”. 5 Future Meetings of the Assembly (Item 5) 5.1 Resolved: (a) That it be agreed to accept written answers to all questions submitted to the 25 February 2019 London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) meeting under the Mayor’s Question Time procedure, in order to devote time to discussion of the Mayor’s Draft Consolidated Budget 2019/20; and (b) That it be agreed to use the 7 February 2019 Plenary meeting principally to hold a question and answer session with the Mayor Sadiq Khan, in his capacity as Chair of Transport for London, and Mike Brown MVO, Commissioner, Transport for London, on the policies and work of Transport for London. 6 Date of Next Meeting (Item 6) 6.1 The next scheduled meeting of the London Assembly was the Mayor’s Question Time meeting which would take place at 10.00am on Thursday 17 January 2019 in the Chamber, City Hall. 7 Any Other Business the Chairman Considers Urgent (Item 7) 7.1 There was no urgent business. 8 Close of Meeting 8.1 The meeting ended at 12.51pm. Chairman Date Contact Officer: David Pealing, Senior Board Officer GLA Secretariat, City Hall The Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA Telephone: 020 7983 5525 Email: [email protected] 3 This page is intentionally left blank Appendix 1 London Assembly Mayor’s Question Time – Thursday 20 December 2018 Transcript of Item 3 – Oral Update to the Mayor’s Report Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London): Good morning. Today we are publishing our Draft 2019/20 [Consultation] Budget, which covers the entire Greater London Authority (GLA) Group. Over the last two and a half years we have already made great progress, from creating the £45 million Young Londoners Fund to starting to build more social rent homes than ever before. This Budget will see this record of delivery continue at speed. However, it does come against the backdrop of the Government’s continued austerity drive. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has already had to make savings of £850 million and I am furious that this is set to continue. Yet again, this Government is shifting the burden of police funding to council tax, which is deeply regressive, and hits the poorest the hardest. The reality of the rise in violent crime and the Government’s cuts means I have no choice but to increase the police element of council tax by the maximum amount allowed. This will enable us to do everything we can to give our police the resources they desperately need. In total, we propose to commit an additional £95 million next year to policing and tackling crime from City Hall. I am also announcing today that City Hall and the GLA Group will be paying the settled status application fees for all our European Union (EU) employees. Our EU staff are Londoners, they are critical to our work, they belong here and they will always be valued. No one should be forced to pay to stay because their immigration status was changed through no fault of their own. I have also stood up for London by criticising the Government’s proposed rules for migrants post-Brexit. If the Government chooses to move forward with their proposal to restrict tier 2 visas for skilled workers to jobs paying over £30,000 a year, it would see businesses struggle to fill thousands of crucial posts in key sectors. I will be continuing to put pressure on the Government to think again and to change this short-sighted political approach. Finally, Chairman, toxic air pollution in London is a major public health crisis that is stunting the lung development of our children and leads to thousands of premature deaths. We have prioritised cleaning up the Transport for London’s (TfL) bus fleet and now we need private hire vehicles (PHVs) and taxis to play their part and help us clean up our filthy air. On Tuesday we announced a new £23 million scrappage scheme to help tackle London’s air quality crisis and support microbusinesses - that is businesses that employ fewer than 10 staff - to prepare for the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). I have also called on the Government to step up and match this funding. Lastly, as everyone prepares to head off for a well-earned break, I just want to wish the Assembly, all your hard-working staff and everyone a joyful Christmas and a happy New Year. Tony Arbour AM (Chairman): The same to you, Mr Mayor. Page 1 Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London): Thank you, Chairman. First of all, the oral update from Assembly Member Pidgeon that I had sight of. Delivery of the Northern line extension is progressing well. Tunnelling of the whole route has been completed and the track has been laid from Nine Elms to Battersea in both tunnels. The two stations are taking shape and the two junctions that connect with the existing Northern line at Kennington have also been completed. In terms of the opening date, as was reported in the public session of last week’s meeting of TfL’s Programme and Investment Committee, the end of December 2020 target is under review. This has been driven by the need to adapt the construction programme as the designs for both Battersea Power Station’s oversight development and the Tube station underneath it have evolved. There are very significant interdependencies between these two projects. They need to be kept in close alignment with the line ready for when new commercial tenants and residents are moving in. TfL and the developer have been working closely together to ensure that the interfaces are well-managed. There are also other considerations related to the planned closure of the Bank branch of the Northern line that is timetabled for September 2021. This is part of the Bank station upgrade and necessitates a full closure of that branch. As well as making the operation of the line more complicated, the temporary closure of the Bank branch will have a significant impact on the overall capacity of the Northern line. All services will run on the Charing Cross branch and there is clearly an imperative to do all we can to maintain frequencies at stations which are already very busy. This is not an ideal operational context within which to introduce services onto the extension. For all those reasons, TfL is reviewing the timetable for the extension. This process is expected to be completed in the new year. With the granted costs of the project, it is fully budgeted for in TfL’s Business Plan and cost projections are broadly in line with the original budget set in 2014.
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