In the news articles

Caroline Pidgeon AM, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group and transport spokesperson commenting on the highly critical KPMG report on the collapse of the Bombardier signalling contract which has just been published, said:

“It is staggering that TfL simply accepted at face value significant claims made by Bombardier before they awarded such a major contract. Due to a lack of research and basic enquiries about their actual record TfL signed up with a company that had no track record in London and little chance of being able to deliver the new signalling on some of the oldest and most complex Tube lines in the world.

Writing at Liberal Democrat Voice, Caroline Pidgeon defends the Freedom of Information Act and argues for sticking to its principles and extending it to more publicly funded bodies.

One of the most significant constitutional developments of the last Labour Government was the passing of the 2000 Freedom of Information Act, which finally came into force in January 2005. This was legislation which Liberal Democrats had called for over many years.

£60 million of the public’s money is now being held in a cash pile by TfL due to a growing number of Oyster cards that have not even been used for at least one year.

The huge cash pile is due to the soaring levels of money that Transport for London (TfL) generate from people obtaining Oyster cards that are used just once, or very rarely.

The Kilburn Times highlights the findings of a report commissioned by the London Assembly Liberal Democrats, showing that Brent has had more incidents of children in care going missing than any other borough in the last five years.

Caroline told the newspaper:

“A local authority looked after child who goes missing for 24 hours or more is at serious risk, including at risk of physical abuse.

“The widespread failure to keep some of the most vulnerable children in our society safe while they are in the legal care of a local authority is nothing short of a disgrace.”