I’m looking forward to Ray Lewis‘s appearance before a London Assembly committee to answer questions about the London mayor’s controversial mentoring scheme, which Lewis is credited with developing.
I’d be particularly interested to see if questions are asked about former Tory mayoral candidate Steve Norris, who is both chairman of Lewis’s Eastside Young Leaders Academy and the London Action Trust, which was part of the consortium that won the £1.3m mentoring bid.
BBC London’s Kurt Barling reports:
“And now Mr Lewis’s letter of appointment as the mayor’s mentoring champion, seen by BBC London, reveals that he was told more than a year ago he would have “no decision-making or budgetary responsibility”.In 2008 Boris Johnson promised to match 1,000 black mentors with 1,000 black youth, but the latest figures show the winning bidders have only managed to link 21 mentors, well behind schedule.
The London Assembly is now asking if it was appropriate for him to be on the decision-panel responsible for choosing the best bid in the first place.
They are proposing to refer the matter to the district auditor.”
London Action Trust papers lodged at the Charity Commission show the mayor’s budget adviser Nick Griffin joined LAT’s board just months after Boris won the 2008 London elections.
LAT has since gone into Administration, having managed to avoid due diligence during the bidding process, which was led by the mayor’s chief-of-staff, Sir Edward Lister.
The black consortium that came top of the bidding process was not chosen after failing due diligence.
It should be a very interesting session down at City Hall at the next Time for Action panel meeting…
Lester Holloway
Originally posted at: http://cllrlesterholloway.wordpress.com/
