Although I Have Lived in London All My Life, I Have Yet to See Any Evidence of a Tradition Or Culture of Celebrating St George’S Day As a Public Festival
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GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY London Assembly 27 March 2002 Appendix D Subject: Written Answers from the Assembly meeting held on 27 March 2002 Report of: Executive Director Of Secretariat 129 / 2002 - Stephen Byers Lynne Featherstone On February 20th, Kevin Maguire and Jill Treanor wrote in The Guardian, “To preside over the financial collapse of one vital plank of Britain’s transport system has proved a tragedy for Stephen Byers, to second a suffer would be a farce.” Why won’t the Mayor join with Liberal Democrats in calling for Stephen Byers to go, and to take his ill-fated, unloved and unworkable PPP plans with him? The PPP was devised by the Treasury not by Stephen Byers, therefore I do not believe he ought to resign over this matter 130 / 2002 - Draft Cultural Strategy Mike Tuffrey What has happened to your draft cultural strategy? Following the submission of the Cultural Strategy Group’s advice to me before Christmas my staff have agreed how to proceed on the development of my draft Cultural Strategy. I want to ensure that the strategy has a robust evidence base and a clear policy framework. The CSG conducted a range of research and consultation which has contributed to the strategy work but there are some areas that I want to see strengthened and to this end further work is being carried out over the next few months. I anticipate signing off a draft before the summer and it coming to Assembly in September for scrutiny. I would hope that the draft would be published for public consultation in later this year. 131 / 2002 - Nominations to Cultural Institutions Mike Tuffrey What nominations have you made to cultural institutions in your capacity as Mayor? I have nominated Yvonne Marson to the London Sports board, Maya Even to the board of the London Museums Agency, and Richard Sumray to the London Marathon Trust. These appointments are all from the Cultural Strategy Group. Maya Even is also a member of the board of the South Bank Centre but I did not make this appointment. In addition, I have nominated Trevor Phillips to the board of the Royal Parks, and Nicky Gavron to the London Advisory Board of English Heritage. 132 / 2002 - Student Access to Financial Support Graham Tope How will the Mayor use his influence to ensure that students in London have as much access to financial support as students in other regions within the UK? There is growing evidence that a combination of the high cost of living in London and the abolition of maintenance grants is pricing poorer students out of studying in London. This comes out strongly in two reports on higher education in London which I will be publishing next month. I have consistently argued that the government was wrong to abolish grants and introduce tuition fees, most recently at a 10,000 strong National Union Students rally in Trafalgar Square on 20 February. I will be making a submission to the government’s higher education review reiterating this point. I am able to use Mayoral powers to make some direct improvements to student living standards. In particular this year a record 174,000 students have taken advantage of the 30% travel discount via the TfL Student Photocard. I have asked TfL to examine extending the discount to include part-time students in hardship. 133 / 2002 - Assistance to Cultural Institutions Mike Tuffrey What financial or other assistance have you provided to museums, galleries, libraries, archives or other cultural institutions in Greater London? I have given support to a number of cultural institutions. In the heritage sector, officer advice and support has been given to the London Museums Agency, facilitating a meeting on the establishment of a London museum hub. Museums represented at the meeting included the Museum of London, the Grange Museum, Croydon Clocktower, the Horniman Museum, and the Geffrye Museum. Officers are working closely with Cultural Partners for London which includes London Arts, Heritage Lottery Fund, the London Libraries Development Agency and the Area Archives Council. I have explained in separate answers how I am supporting events and festivals that celebrate the cultural diversity of London, attract tourism and encourage economic development. 134 / 2002 - PPP, Risk Involved to Londoners Lynne Featherstone The Liberal Democrat team’s visit to the ‘Bids Room’ at London Underground to inspect the PPP draft contracts confirms us in our view that London council tax payers and funding for buses and street management are all potentially at risk if the PPP deal goes wrong. Can the Mayor give his own view of the risk involved to Londoners, and give an indication of what sort of rise in the GLA precept on council tax might be needed? The latest draft of the PPP contracts show that virtually no risk is now being taken by the private sector Infracos over the life of the PPP contracts. With regard to cost overruns, the Infracos are only liable for up to £50m over the first seven-and-a-half years of the PPP, a tiny amount of risk when one considers the PPP is likely to cost over £1bn a year in Infrastructure Service Charges alone. Furthermore, the Infracos total equity investment (an amount somewhat above £500m to be paid in over seven-and-a-half years) is not at risk until an LUL funded contingency fund of over £1bn over the same seven-and-a-half year period is exhausted. This money is also available to fund overruns, but if not needed for this purpose, it can be converted into profit. In total, if the Infracos are successful in exploiting all the financial avenues open to them through this PPP, then the rate of returns they can expect to achieve are way in excess of the 15-20% quoted by London Underground and Government sources. In fact, they would top the 35% figure that I have quoted in the past. In TfL’s recently published report, “Interim Consultation Response to London Transport”, it is estimated the private sector Infracos stand to make upwards of £4bn from what is now no more than a glorified maintenance contract. As if all this were not bad enough, the Comfort Letter drawn up by Government places Transport for London (TfL), and consequently the GLA, first in line when it comes to meeting the potential financial liabilities I have just outlined. Despite Government and Underground spin to the contrary, there is no long-term Treasury funding commitment to PPP – a fact confirmed by LT Deputy Chairman Brian Appleton at the most recent Transport Sub-Committee hearing into the PPP. Instead, there is a TfL guarantee of all payments to the Infracos. The consequences of all this for London are staggering. With TfL and GLA placed squarely at the front of the queue in terms of paying for this outrageously expensive PPP, and with no long-term funding guarantee from Treasury, my entire planned investment programme to improve London’s transport system is placed at risk. And if the Transport Budget is sucked dry by the PPP, the burden could fall on London’s taxpayers through the Council Tax precept. At this stage, it is impossible to predict just how much the PPP will cost London. Suffice to say, these PPP contracts are now little more than a licence to rob London. 135 / 2002 - PPP Safety Issues Lynne Featherstone What progress is being made by the Health and Safety Executive in getting London Underground Limited to resolve the 52 safety issues they have raised with them over the PPP arrangements? What kind of delay is this process going to cause to finalising the PPP contracts? Unfortunately, I must refer you to the Health and Safety Executive. However, it is widely acknowledged by transport and safety experts that breaking up a unified Tube system into four different organisations, as well as replicating the key split of operation of trains from maintenance of the track – a key problem in the collapse of Railtrack – increases the safety risk. This fact was even acknowledged by the London Transport Board in their 1997 Report, “The Future for London Underground – Evaluation of Options”, prepared when PPP was first floated as an idea for the Tube, which reported that PPP was clearly an inferior safety model. 136 / 2002 - Taxis After 10pm each evening Lynne Featherstone Since the introduction of your new ‘black cab’ fares regime, how many more taxis are there on the streets of central London after 10 pm each evening? Transport for London have been conducting surveys of the supply of taxis at night since the fare change, both on the streets and at ranks in Central London and on suburban ranks . The results demonstrate, in general, good availability of taxis nearly everywhere. One taxi radio circuit reports a 20% increase in cabs available at night. However data on the supply of taxis at night was never collected prior to the fare change and so it is not possible to make definitive comparisons. Anecdotally, I have lived in London all my life and have never known so many taxis available for hire at night in central London. Survey information was given to the Transport Operational Scrutiny Committee at its last meeting, and Peter Hendy has offered the detailed results. 137 / 2002 - Growth in London Population Graham Tope Oral Is the predicted growth in Londons population sustainable? answer 138 / 2002 - Consultation Protocols Sally Hamwee In your role as Chair of TfL you agreed that a protocol should be drawn up to ensure proper consultation is undertaken before TfL embark on new schemes. Are you planning to make sure that similar protocols exist when you undertake consultations as Mayor? I support the principle that locally elected representatives should be informed and consulted on initiatives proposed for their areas in advance.