Zero Hunger city
The London Assembly is calling for more action to help thousands of people going hungry in the capital, including school children.
Your guide to bedroom benefit changes
Social housing residents may lose some of their housing benefits if they have an extra bedroom.
Assembly warns high streets are in decline
A London Assembly report has warned that emergency measures are needed to help London's high streets.
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Calls for an end to Heathrow night flights
The London Assembly is calling for an end to Heathrow night flights to stop the noise disturbing the sleep of thousands of people.
The Health and Environment Committee believe they should be reduced to 'an absolute minimum' at the very least.
If a reduction is not possible they are calling for planes to land from the West, rather than the east. Which would reduce noise disturbance for around 110,000 people.
How we reported it: Food banks in London
A new report from the London Assembly calls for more action to help those who are going hungry, despite London being one of the richest cities in the world.Ria Chatterjee visited one of London's food banks in October 2012.
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Zero Hunger city
The London Assembly is calling for more action to help thousands of people going hungry in the capital, including school children.
Read the full storyMayor asked to clarify policing statistics
The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) has asked Boris Johnson to clarify figures on police numbers.
The chairman of the UKSA, Andrew Dilnot, has written to the mayor asking him to publish a "reconciliation" between different sets of figures published by the Greater London Authority and the Home Office.
London Assembly Labour Police & Crime spokesperson,Joanne McCartney AM said:
“We know that 2,208 police officers have been lost already in London and we had deep concerns that Boris’ plans for the future of the Metropolitan Police were based on misleading statistics.
"Today’s letter from the UK Statistics Authority confirms that the Mayor’s figures are far from clear, he has been asked to publish an explanation of why his figures differ from the Home Office figures.
"He needs to do this as a matter of urgency so that Londoners can have confidence in his future plans for the Met."
A spokesperson for the Mayor's office said: “The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) acknowledges that there are various sets of figures available for police numbers in London and reasonable explanations for why they differ slightly.
"The UKSA have asked if we would be willing to provide more information to reconcile the statistics we have used with other available statistics, and we are happy to do so in due course.
"The UKSA have not called into question the accuracy of the budgeted figures we are using, which remain the correct baseline for our plans.”
Shopping increase
Six out of seven regions in England reported a rise in footfall including Greater London (5.8%).
Conversely footfall in shopping centres and retail parks declined annually in February by -1.6% and -1.5%.
Figures from London retail consortium
Your guide to bedroom benefit changes
Social housing residents may lose some of their housing benefits if they have an extra bedroom.
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Housing benefit changes "have not cut rents"
Mayor Jules Pipe, the Chair of London Councils and Mayor of Hackney, told the London Assembly that the Government's plans to cut housing benefits have not stopped rents being increased over the last 18 months.
Councils have limited money for housing benefit relief
The London Assembly has heard that councils have a limited pot of money to provide relief for tenants who face losing housing benefit because they have a spare bedroom. Some tenants are eligible for some extra money if they can prove they need the spare room.
However, Geoff Fimister of Citizen's Advice told the Assembly members that councils' relief is limited so they may not be able to provide relief to all the eligible cases.
See how councils expect the housing benefit reforms to affect them.
Housing benefit rises "caused by housing shortage"
The London Assembly heard today that the shortage of available homes in London is why housing benefit costs have risen. The Government is about to introduce measures to limit housing benefits.
The Assembly members heard evidence from Kate Bell from the Child Poverty Action Group and Geoff Fimister from Citizen's Advice.
Conservative members walk out of City Hall meeting
Conservative members of the London Assembly walked out of a meeting at City Hall this morning after the Chair Jennette Arnold refused to let one of them ask a question about Labour's policy on welfare changes.
The Assembly was questioning Kate Bell of the Child Poverty Action Group about the welfare reforms but Ms Arnold felt that a question from Conservative member Andrew Boff was inappropriate because it made a political point.
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