Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Hugh Morris, Stuart Fraser, Tom Sleigh and Alderman Sir David Wootton.

It was noted that Lucy Frew had resigned from the Court of Common Council and therefore was no longer a co-opted member of the Sub Committee.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 4 July 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 July 2016 were approved as a correct record.

The Town Clerk to be heard.

The Director of Communications was heard regarding a recent proposal by the City of London School to refresh its branding. The following comments were made.

·         Any change of brand would undermine the links between the school and the City of London Corporation, and ran contrary to the City’s Education Strategy.

·         A number of organisations affiliated with the City used different branding – for example, the Barbican Centre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

·         Notwithstanding that point, there was a clear affiliation between the independent schools and the City of London Corporation, and therefore the matter of branding deserved further consideration.

Anne Fairweather arrived at this point of the meeting.

The Town Clerk noted that a report on branding in City Schools would be submitted to the Policy and Resources Committee at a future meeting. The report would also be submitted to other relevant committees, including the Education Board. In the meantime, the City of London School would be asked to defer its decision to adopt a refreshed brand.

Sir Michael Snyder left at this point of the meeting.

Report of the Director of Economic Development and Director of Communications.

Members considered a report of the Director of Economic Development and the Director of Communications regarding the City’s Business Communications Plan, and the following points were made.  

·         Members should be provided with means – such as a telephone number – to access information on items such as key messages at short notice.

·         In response to a comment from a Member that key messages should be tailored to specific audiences, the Chairman noted that the City Corporation was seeking to influence audiences in broad  terms and therefore the current messages appeared fit for purpose.

·         In response to a comment from a Member, the Director of Communications noted that measuring impact of communications was a challenge, but that work would be undertaken to develop some simple tools to do so.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

Members considered a report of the Director of Economic Development regarding the City of London Corporation’s activities at the 2016 Party Conferences and the following points were made.

·         A Member expressed disappointment at not being included in a City Corporation roundtable event. In response, the Chairman noted that the City would derive greater benefit from its Members attending as wide a range of fringe events as possible.

·         A Member noted that this year’s format of private roundtables was a new approach by the City, and that the format could have been better communicated to Members.

·         Members agreed that attendees at conferences should seek to be more collaborative with one another to ensure the City Corporation derived maximum benefit from their attendance. For example, officers should identify a programme of key fringe events that Members should aim to attend.

·         Members should be encouraged to feedback from their meetings so that any relevant intelligence was ‘captured’ and fed into the work of the City Corporation.

·         Members felt that the roundtable approach was more effective than fringe events. Officers should however design events that were more likely to attract key audiences. One example would be a reception-style event that would attract flying visits from key stakeholders who wished to attend several events in one evening.

·         The Chairman noted that it was his impression that senior City figures did not attend the Conservative Party Conference and that instead attendance came from mid-level public affairs figures. In response, a Member therefore suggested that the Economic Development Office map out likely attendees from City businesses so that guest lists could be designed accordingly.  

·         A Member noted that the City should seek to reach out beyond City issues and deal with other issues such as social mobility.

A note on feedback from the Liberal Democrat conference was received.

A note on feedback from the Labour Party Conference was tabled and received.

A note on feedback from the Conservative Party Conference was tabled and received.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

An update report of the Director of Economic Development on the work of the International Regulatory Strategy Group was received.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

N.B. To be read in conjunction with the non-public appendices at Item 14.

An update report of the Director of Economic Development on EU Engagement was received.

Report of the Town Clerk.

A report of the Director of Communications on Brexit messaging was received.

There were no questions.

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 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.

The Chairman to be heard.  

The Chairman was heard on his recent Brexit-related activity.

Non-Public Appendices to accompany Item 8.

The non-public appendices to item 8 were received.

There were no non-public questions.

There were no urgent non-public items.