Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Sophie Anne Fernandes and Alderman The Lord Mountevans.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 16 July 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2015 were approved as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

Members considered a report of the Director of Economic Development on the recent activity of the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG). In response to a query from a member, the Chairman replied that the work of the IRSG was led by industry practitioners, and that the Special Representative for the City would, among other things, be working with EU member states on policy areas such as Capital Markets Union (CMU).

Following a comment from a member welcoming the inclusion of data protection as an IRSG objective given the importance of fintech to the City, the Chairman took the opportunity to note that Mark Hoban would be taking over as Chairman of the IRSG in February 2016. 

RECEIVED

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

Members considered a report of the Director of Economic Development on recent engagement with EU policymakers. The Chairman considered that the recent Business for New Europe/Business for Britain event held at Guildhall on 1 October 2015 had been unsatisfactory and had not encouraged a worthwhile debate. He felt that the City Corporation’s resources were better focused on smaller scale, more focused, events.

The Chairman then updated members on the City of London Corporation Brussels event held on 13 October 2015. He noted that it had been well attended with a keynote speech from the Special Representative for the City. The Chairman had also met both Jonathan Faull (European Commission official responsible for the negotiations with Britain) and Roberto Gualtieri MEP (Chairman, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, European Parliament) and offered to host an event for Mr Gualtieiri in London.

A member present at the reception commented that it was his impression that EU attendees felt the City Corporation’s engagement with the EU was constructive, and that Commissioner Hill was making a positive contribution in his role as commissioner responsible for financial stability, financial services and the capital markets union.

The Special Representative for the City then took the opportunity to summarise his activity during the first few weeks he had been in post. Going forward he emphasised the importance of stressing the value of the City during the EU referendum debate, and noted that the City had many positive attributes that the EU needed to be successful during the coming century - attributes that were unique to London and which could not be recreated elsewhere.

In response to a question the Special Representative replied that there had been no further update on UK demands regarding reform of the European Union. Moreover the forthcoming debate on UK membership of the

Report of the Director of Public Relations.

Members considered a report of the Director of Public Relations on annual party conference activities before going on to exchange feedback on the conferences. The following points were made.

·         The Liberal Democrats had appreciated the City of London Corporation presence at their conference. The City Corporation dinner had been well attended with some good discussion on London issues. Given the number of Lib Dem peers scrutinising legislation in the House of Lords, continuing City Corporation engagement with the Lib Dems would be fruitful.

·         The Chairman commented that the City Corporation fringe event at Labour conference had been well attended, and that the recent City Corporation housing policy announcement had been well received. He had also met Sadiq Khan, the Labour London Mayoral candidate.

·         The City Corporation fringe event at the Conservative conference had been poorly attended. Consideration should be given in future to locating events within the secure zone. No further detail on localisation of business rates to local authorities had been provided at the conference and was unlikely ahead of the Autumn Statement.

·         The Chairman noted his attendance at the Scottish National Party conference had not been useful, primarily as there had been a low business presence.

RESOLVED, that

·         The general approach outlined within the report for the delivery of the City Corporation’s party conference activities in 2016 be agreed.

Report of the Director of Public Relations

Members considered a report of the Director of Public Relations on City Corporation activity with think tanks during 2010-15. A member expressed disappointment that the report did not include elements such as a strategic review of existing engagement, the policy context, policy themes, and cost.

The Chairman commented that think-tank activity to date had ensured that the City Corporation had secured a reputation for engaging with issues of public policy.  He agreed that a paper should be prepared for consideration by the Committee on the Corporation’s strategy on political engagement.

RECEIVED

Joint Report of the Director of Economic Development and the Director of Public Relations.

Members considered a joint report of the Director of Economic Development and the Director of Public Relations regarding the City Corporation’s political and business contact programme. The Town Clerk tabled an updated annexe that included additional detail on TheCityUK activities.

RECEIVED

City of London Corporation Aviation Policy

In response to a question from a member, the Chairman confirmed that the Court of Common Council had at its 15 October meeting agreed to support the recommendation of the Airports Commission for a third runway at Heathrow.

There were no urgent items.

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Appendix of a Report of the Director of Economic Development.

Members received a non-public appendix regarding  engagement with EU policy makers.

RECEIVED

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.