Written Answers to Questions Not Answered at Mayor's Question Time on 10 August 2017 The Law and Domestic Violence Offenders Question No: 2017/3314 Len Duvall Worryingly, there has been a rise in the number of domestic offences with almost 150,000 crimes being committed this year alone. Current legislation on domestic violence means that the onus is often on the victim of an abusive relationship to report a change of address or with prospective partners to check an individual's record with police. In contrast, for sexual offenders the obligation is on the offender to notify their local police force with details held on the 'sex offenders list'. In order to protect people and their families, do you think the law should be changed to introduce a serial 'domestic abuse offender' list or something similar which makes the offender have to notify the local police force about a change of address? Oral response New council homes for London Question No: 2017/3000 Sian Berry How are you helping councils in London to build more new council homes? Oral response Uber Question No: 2017/3129 David Kurten To ask the Mayor whether TfL is aware of the practice of Uber drivers lending their vehicles to other drivers - so passengers have no idea who is actually driving them to their destination. Oral question receiving a written response The Mayor TfL is not aware of any incidents where licensed drivers are lending their vehicles to other drivers to illegally undertake bookings. I urge you and and anyone who witnesses or experiences this type of illegal activity to report it to TfL immediately. TfL has introduced measures to combat this type of behaviour and to minimise the risk of passengers entering an unlicensed vehicle. Since summer 2016, private hire operators have been required to provide a booking confirmation to passengers. This includes providing passengers with the vehicle registration number, as well as the driver's first name and private hire licence number. Where a passenger can receive it, operators must also provide a photo of the driver. In addition, all private hire drivers are required to display their photo identification when working. All these measures are in place to make sure passengers are fully aware of exactly who their driver is. It is important for passengers to check all these details before they get into a vehicle and begin their journey. Where operators are not complying with these requirements TfL will take swift and appropriate enforcement action. I am quadrupling the number of Taxi and Private Hire Compliance Officers in London by recruiting an additional 250 officers by September 2017. We so far have 245 officers already added to the previous number of 82 compliance officers with 13 in training now. TfL's compliance teams carry out regular checks to ensure licensed drivers, vehicles and operators meet the required standards under the relevant policies, regulations and other legislation. Operators are also required to keep a record of all their bookings and compliance officers will check to make sure these are all in order when visiting operating centres. Housing Question No: 2017/3139 Andrew Boff Are your housing policies meeting the demands of Londoners? Oral response Government's Transport Investment Strategy Question No: 2017/3224 Tom Copley Transport secretary Chris Grayling has announced a Transport Investment Strategy that proposes the creation of a major road network, with councils given a share of Vehicle Excise Duty. Will London receive a share of this funding? Oral response Notting Hill Carnival Safety Question No: 2017/3202 Tony Devenish As a result of the conclusions from your review into crowd safety of the Notting Hill Carnival, what are you doing to improve the safety of our Carnival? Oral response Tower blocks Question No: 2017/3183 Shaun Bailey How will recent events impact on your approach to tower blocks? Oral response Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf cycling and pedestrian bridge Question No: 2017/3046 Caroline Pidgeon What progress has been made towards fulfilling your pledge to build a pedestrian and cycle bridge linking Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf? Oral response Crossrail 2 Question No: 2017/3215 Leonie Cooper Are we still on target for a hybrid Bill going through Parliament in 2019? Oral response Acid Attacks Question No: 2017/3185 Steve O'Connell Can you provide an update on the Metropolitan Police Service's plans for combating the recent rise in acid attacks? Oral response Additional funding for the fire service Question No: 2017/3305 Andrew Dismore What response have you had so far to your request for additional funding for the fire service, and what will the consequences be, if the Government does not accede to that request? Oral response Challenges to Policing Question No: 2017/3243 Unmesh Desai Will challenges to policing in London impact the timeline for borough mergers? Oral response Immigration Skills Charge for the NHS Question No: 2017/3342 Onkar Sahota The government has introduced a new immigration skills charge where every employer must pay £1000 per non-EU employee per year. In March, the BMA and Royal College of Nursing wrote a joint letter to Amber Rudd, copied to Jeremy Hunt, asking for the NHS to be exempt from the charge. Do you think this is an extra cost the London NHS and social care system can afford? Oral response Night Tube (1) Question No: 2017/3164 Keith Prince Given the failure of engineering solutions to ameliorate Night Tube Noise at the eastern end of the Central Line, is there an honourable alternative to TfL paying for triple glazing for those residents adversely affected? Oral response The future of the LLDC Question No: 2017/3354 Navin Shah What strategic discussions has the Mayor had around the phased dissolution of the LLDC and the return of planning powers to the host boroughs? Oral response Tube Noise Question No: 2017/3214 Leonie Cooper Would the Mayor consider asking TfL to look into reducing the running speeds of the night tube? Oral response ThriveLDN Question No: 2017/3341 Onkar Sahota Your campaign ThriveLDN is an important intervention into the often ignored world of mental health. What do you see ThriveLDN achieving and how will you measure its success? Oral response Community-led housing on GLA land and property Question No: 2017/3001 Sian Berry What opportunities will there be for community-led housing developments on Transport for London and Metropolitan Police Service land and property? Oral question receiving a written response The Mayor For too long community-led housing groups have found it difficult to get projects off the ground. I am determined to change this, and so since last summer, my team has been working with those involved with community-led housing to identify both barriers and opportunities to grow. On the back of these discussions, I have been working with the sector and I have invested £250,000 to establish the 'London Community-Led Housing Hub' - an innovative new resource which was launched at City Hall by the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development last month at an workshop event attended by over 80 people. The Hub will provide a one-stop shop for groups wanting to make community-led housing happen in London. It will offer a way to connect those who want to get projects off the ground with existing experts, groups, initiatives, and resources. It will enable and facilitate collaborative and cross-sector working, peer learning, partnership brokering, and technical learning. Beyond the Hub, I am also keen to support community-led housing through funding and land opportunities that I can help make available. As part of my Affordable Homes Programme, I included an Innovation Fund for organisations who want to deliver affordable housing in an innovative way including community-led projects. As part of the initial bidding round earlier this year, 12 community-led housing bids were received - and four have now been taken forward to the next stage of assessment. In terms of land, my officers are developing a 'Small Sites, Small Builders' programme that will offer public sector landowners a new and simple way of bringing small sites forward for development. My officers have been working with community-led organisations in the development of this programme and will be encouraging them to bid for sites. The GLA group will be leading by example by putting a first batch of around 10 small sites through this programme's pilot that TfL have identified after a thorough trawl of their landholdings. Community-led housing organisations will be able to bid for these sites, and at least one site will be specifically reserved for them. Once it is launched fully, we will bring further TfL sites through the programme, as well as encouraging MOPAC, London boroughs, and other public sector landowners to use this new route too. Police Stations Question No: 2017/3122 Peter Whittle To ask the Mayor how many police stations in the Metropolitan Police District have been closed over the last five years. Oral question receiving a written response The Mayor Following cuts in Government funding, the Met has had to save over £600m since 2010. They have achieved this through a mixture of measures, including significant reductions in PCSOs and police staff, outsourcing back office functions and closing 70 police stations in the past five years. In 2010, there were 149 police front counters in the Met Police District. In May 2016, there were 73. The Met has to make a further £400m of savings by 2021 as a result of Government's continued failure to properly fund London's police service. The draft Public Access Strategy proposes the closure of a further 40 police stations with public access and keeping one 24-hour police front counter in every borough.