Sally Hamwee to lead investigation into Mayor's "oil for advice" deal

4.00.00pm GMT Wed 21st Feb 2007

London Assembly Members today voted to hold an investigation into the details of the Mayor's "oil for advice" deal with Venezuela.

A motion instructing the Budget Committee to conduct an inquiry was proposed by Sally Hamwee AM after Assembly Members questioned Ken Livingstone about the impact and operation of the agreement he signed yesterday.

Sally Hamwee said:

"It is clear from the Mayor's answers today that there are many more details about this scheme - how it will operate and its background - that the Assembly and the London public should know about.

"We will want to look at how many people can benefit from the scheme, and indeed that there are no disbenefits to people claiming Income Support; how it will be administered; and how TfL's and the GLA budget will be affected. Clearly, there is still some fine-tuning to be done before this agreement can deliver on its promises."

The full text of the motion passed by the London Assembly is:

"The Assembly instructs the Budget Committee at its March meeting to investigate the details of the agreement between PDF Europa BV, the GLA and TfL and this specific provision be added to the Budget Committee's terms of reference until the conclusion of its investigation."

Notes to Editors

1. The Energy Funding Contribution and Co-operation Agreement promises Londoners on income support half price bus and tram fares. The discounted travel will be paid for by a contribution of up to $32 million dollars a year from Petroleos de Venezuela Europa B.V. (owned by the government of Venezuela) in exchange for technical advice from Transport for London to the public sector in Venezuela.

2. The Budget Committee will publicly examine the agreement at its meeting on 22 March at City Hall.