Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Deputy Roger Chadwick, Simon Duckworth, Caroline Haines, Christopher Hayward, Deputy Tom Hoffman, Deputy Clare James, Alderman Alastair King, Alderman Andrew Parmley, Alderman Matthew Richardson, Deputy James Thomson and Deputy Catherine McGuiness.

Deputy Hyde declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 29 due to being a owning a property in the building.

Jamie Ingham Clark declared a non-percuniary interest in respect of item 27 due to being Church Warden of St Lawrence Jewry.

To receive the Order of the Court of Common Council from Thursday, 19 April 2018.

Members received the Order of the Court of Common Council from Thursday, 19 April 2018 appointing the Finance Committee until the first meeting of the Court in April, 2019.

To elect a Chairman in accordance with Standing Order 29.

In accordance with Standing Order 29, Jeremy Mayhew was elected Chairman of the Finance Committee for the ensuring year.

To elect a Deputy Chairman in accordance with Standing Order 30.

In accordance with Standing Order 30, Deputy Jamie Ingham Clark was elected Deputy Chairman of the Finance Committee for the ensuing year.

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 10^th April 2018.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 10^th April be approved as an accurate record, subject to the following amendment:

Ian Seaton reminded the Committee Clerk that he had declared a Non-pecuniary interest in Item 22 (Report on Waivers over £50,000 December 2017- March 2018)

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk which set out outstanding actions from previous meetings of the Committee.

Officers informed Members of the positive feedback at the recent meeting of the Establishment Committee.

Post meeting note: The Chairman of the Establishment Committee circulated the draft set of minutes from the relevant meeting to all Members of the Finance Committee.

RESOLVED – That the Committee noted the report.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk which advised Members of the key discussions which had taken place during the recent meeting of the Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee.

RESOLVED – That the Committee noted the report.

To note the draft minutes of the following Sub-Committee meetings:

Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee – 10 April 2018

The Committee noted the draft public minutes of the following Sub-Committee meetings:

-        Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub-Committee held on 10^th April 2018;

The Chairman noted that the Town Clerk had recently circulated the draft minutes of the following minutes via email for information*:

-       Efficiency and Performance Sub-Committee held on 21st March 2018.

-       Information Technology Sub-Committee held on 26^th March 2018

*Theses sets of minutes were not included in the 10th April Finance Committee pack as the Sub Committee meetings took place just before that particular pack was published. The respective Chairmen did however, provide verbal updates at the Grand Committee meeting of the major discussions that took place.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes of the Finance Grants Sub-Committee meeting held on 10^th April 2018 be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a Report of the Town Clerk concerning the appointment of the Committee’s Sub Committees for 2018/19, to approve their composition and Terms of Reference and to appoint representatives to a number of other City Corporation positions.

Terms of Reference and Composition

·         Members agreed the composition and Terms of Reference of the following Sub Committees:

Corporate Asset Sub Committee

Efficiency and Performance Sub Committee

Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee

Information Technology Sub Committee

Members agreed that the Terms of Reference for both the Efficiency and Performance Sub Committee and the Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee include a new provision, in which any vacancies on the Subs will be offered to the Court of Common Council.

Members agreed that the minimum number of appointments for the Efficiency and Performance Sub Committee and the Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee should be reduced to seven, furthermore, this number would now include both the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Finance Committee.

Appointments

·         Members agreed to the following appointments as Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the respective Sub Committees:

Corporate Asset Sub Committee

Nick Bensted Smith (Chairman)

Dominic Christian (Deputy Chairman)

Efficiency and Performance Sub Committee

Jeremy Mayhew (Chairman)

Jamie Ingham Clark (Deputy Chairman)

Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee

Simon Duckworth (Chairman)

Philip Woodhouse (Deputy Chairman)

Information Technology Sub Committee

Jamie Ingham Clark (Chairman)

Randall Anderson (Deputy Chairman)

·         Members agreed to the following appointments of Members of the respective Sub Committees:

Corporate Asset Sub Committee

Randall Anderson

Michael Hudson

Deputy Wendy Hyde

Deputy Philip Woodhouse

Members also noted the appointment of the following Members of other Committees to CASC: Marianne Fredericks, Joyce Nash and Jeremy Simons representing Policy and Resources. A further three Members from the Property Investment Board would be appointed on 16^th

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a Report of the Town Clerk concerning the conservation of the Gresham Music Collection.

RESOLVED – that Members approved the allocation of £18,477 from the Finance Contingency Fund to pay for the immediate works necessary to restore the priority works within the Gresham Music Collection (noting that the total cost of the works is £36,954, with £18,477 to be funded each from the City Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers).

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain which provided updates regarding the top risks within the Departmental Risk Register.

A Member queried the level of confidence officers had about being able to reduce CR16 (Information Security) to green in the medium term (page 40). First, officers had to demonstrate how CR16 would be reduced to amber.

The Chairman of the IT Sub Committee and officers responded that a great deal of work was being done. A deep dive had been produced for Members at the last IT Sub Committee meeting and what had become apparent was the evolving nature of the risk; the boundary between red, amber and green was much more fluid than other risk areas and the decision was made to keep CR16 at red. That said, a programme of work was being carried out, and the goal was to mitigate the risk as much as possible, not least in preparation for the roll out of GDPR.

The Chairman briefly spoke about CR23 (Police Funding). A constructive discussion had recently taken place between the Town Clerk, the Chamberlain and the Chairman. The result of which would be a letter from the Town Clerk to the Commissioner of the Police re-emphasising the obligations for the Police and stressing the need for the Police to work with others across the Corporation to ensure medium term financial sustainability.    

RESOLVED – That the Committee noted the report.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the quarterly report for City Procurement and the annual performance figures for the 2017/18 financial year.

A Member raised a query regarding the methodology used to determine what the target price is per contract, The Chamberlain responded that there is a range of ways of determining this. Post meeting he would provide the Member with an extract from the Corporate Procurement Efficiency and Savings Process Manual, on setting the ‘baseline’ cost against which the actual new price will be calculated against. 

RESOLVED – that Members noted the following:

·         Procurement savings achieved £6.98m, against a target of £6.47m.

·         New service of Commercial Contract Management, achieved savings £311k against a target of £550k. The shortfall will be added to this year’s target to be presented at June 18 Finance Committee.

·         Purchase Order Compliance was 97%.

·         Supplier Payments

o   95% of all supplier payments happening within 30 days (Target 97%).

o   76% of SME payments happening within 10 days (Target 88%).

·         93% of invoices are currently received electronically.

·         The City Procurement service costs £3.08m, with a breakdown found at paragraph 13 in the main report.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain which provided Members with information regarding the current balance of the Finance Committee Contingency Funds for the current year.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the report.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a Report of the Chamberlain concerning a year end summary for the Chamberlain’s Departmental Business Plan.

RESOLVED – that Members noted the Report.

Members considered the note from the Police Committee.

The Chairman wanted to expressly reassure Members of the Finance Committee (including those Members that also sat on Police Committee) that he bore no antagonism towards the City of London Police. Finance Committee’s job was not to second guess the operational decisions of needs of the Police, but, a key part of its remit was to ensure the Police had robust plans in place to ensure financial sustainability.

A Member (who also represents the Police Committee) stressed that the aim of the note was to give Finance Committee forewarning of the strong likelihood that a rise in funding will be required in the medium term to help mitigate new challenges. Ultimately, the Police Committee wants to avoid “surprising” Finance Committee with demands for extra cash.

The Chairman reemphasised that neither he, nor the Finance Committee were there to second guess the Police when it came to operational needs. When the time came the Committee would “endeavour to provide the means needed”.

RESOLVED – that Members noted the Report.   

There was one question.

A Member queried why the Report on the Priority Investment Pot process had not been circulated to the Finance Committee, as it had been to P&R and the Resource Allocation Sub Committee.

The Chairman requested that this should come to the Finance Committee for information at the next meeting.

Furthermore, the Chairman requested a regular update report (on a quarterly basis) informing Members of three areas:

·         the criteria when making a bid

·         approvals that quarter

·         Rejections that quarter

There were no urgent items.

MOTION - 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 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 Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 2018.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 10^th April were approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee noted a report of the Town Clerk which set out outstanding actions from previous non-public minutes of the Committee.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee noted a report of the Town Clerk which advised Members of the key discussions which had taken place during non-public session at recent meetings of the Committee’s Sub-Committees.

To note the draft non-public minutes of the following Sub-Committee meetings:

Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee – 10 April 2018

The Committee noted the draft non-public minutes of the following Sub-Committee meetings:

-        Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub-Committee held on 10^th April 2018

The non-public minutes of the Finance Grants Sub-Committee meeting held on 10 April 2018 were noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning a contract award for Corporate Catering Services.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the review of Corporate Purchase Card Holders and Credit Limits.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the provision of Energy (Electricity and Gas) Supplies.

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee considered a Report of the City Surveyor concerning the St Lawrence Jewry Church.

Report of the Town Clerk

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning funding arrangements for Gresham College.

The Chairman, whilst supportive, emphasised that officers should not assume that approval gave a green light for further costs to be sourced from the Finance Contingency Fund. The Policy and Resources Committee also had a responsibility in this area.

RESOLVED – that Members approved the following:

·         1.5 FTE Office Junior posts, at a cost of £33,000 per annum the post currently funded from reserves, viz. one Communications Assistant post, at a cost of £26,000 per annum

·         One-off capital costs for production equipment, at a cost of £10,000

·         One-off capital costs for IT workstations, at a cost of £10,000

·         One-off capital costs for website development, at a cost of £20,000

Report of the City Surveyor

The Committee received a Report of the City Surveyor concerning 1-5 London Wall Buildings EC2.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee noted a report of the Town Clerk detailing three non-public decisions taken under delegated authority and/or urgency procedures since the last meeting.

There were no non-public questions relating to the work of the Committee.

The Committee considered one item of urgent business.