Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Nick Bensted-Smith, Caroline Haines, Gregory Lawrence, Tim Levene, Ian Seaton and Sir Michael Snyder.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive the Order of the Court of Common Council from Thursday, 16 July 2020.

To follow.

The Committee received the Order of the Court of Common Council from Thursday, 16^th July 2020 appointing the Finance Committee for the 2020/21 civic year.

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

The Chairman thanked Members for their continued support. Acknowledging the substantial challenges that now faced the Corporation, he urged Members, when they sat on other committees, to champion financial discipline and responsibility.   

He expressed his thanks to Chris Boden, John Fletcher, Alderman King, Andrien Meyers, Henry Pollard, and Simon Duckworth, all of whom had left the Committee.

He welcomed Munsur Ali, Alderman Goyal, Caroline Haines, Angus Knowles-Cutler, Mark Wheatley and Chris Hayward, all of whom had joined the Committee for the year ensuing.

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

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd June 2020.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd June 2020 be approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Chamberlain.

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 recent meetings of the Committee’s Sub-Committees.

RESOLVED – That the Committee notes the report.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a Report of the Town Clerk concerning the appointment of the Committee’s Sub Committees for the 2020/21 civic year, and to appoint representatives to several other City Corporation positions.

Given the previous uncertainty about the start of the 2020/21 civic year, the Committee undertook an informal re-appointment round at the 19th May Finance Committee meeting. This provided Members with the opportunity to express an interest in standing for/or to step down from any of the five Finance Sub-Committees.

As a result of that process, wholesale changes at today’s meeting were not anticipated, and the Chairman asked Committee to effectively retain the status quo and “roll over” the current respective memberships into the 2020/21 civic year.

RESOLVED – that the Committee approved the following:

Terms of Reference and Composition

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

Corporate Asset Sub Committee

Digital Services Sub Committee

Efficiency and Performance Sub Committee

Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee

Procurement Sub-Committee

Appointments

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

Corporate Asset Sub Committee

Jamie Ingham Clark (Chairman)

James de Sausmarez (Deputy Chairman)

Digital Services Sub Committee

Randall Anderson (Chairman)

Alderman Sir Peter Estlin (Deputy Chairman)

Finance Grants Oversight and Performance Sub Committee

Nick Bensted-Smith (Chairman)

Philip Woodhouse (Deputy Chairman)

Procurement Sub Committee

Hugh Morris (Chairman)

Robert Merrett (Deputy Chairman)

In addition, Members noted that Jeremy Mayhew would serve as Chairman and Jamie Ingham Clark would serve as Deputy Chairman of the Efficiency and Performance Sub Committee.

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

Corporate Asset Sub Committee

1. Chairman: Jamie Ingham Clark

2. Deputy Chairman: James de Sausmarez

3. Jeremy Mayhew

4. Dominic Christian

5. Rehana

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the Corporation’s financial position and the impacts of COVID-19 on budgets since the last update (reported to the Committee in June).

The Chamberlain re-emphasised that whilst the annualised estimate of the financial impact had, since June, come down from £30M - £27.6M, Covid would continue to yield significant damage to the Corporation’s finances, both in the short and longer term.

The Chamberlain confirmed that, as per the Chairman’s request, an in-year re-budgeting exercise had begun, and would continue during the coming months, culminating in a new revised budget which would be submitted for Finance Committee Members’ consideration in October.

The re-budgeting exercise would look to both capture in-year savings and present an opportunity to get the finances on a “sustainable flight path” for the next 3-4 years. He added that, going forward, the Target Operating Model (TOM) would underpin budget proposals.   

The Chamberlain informed Members that the results of the Government’s Spending Review would be announced by the Chancellor in the autumn. In addition, the Business Rates Review has been reactivated, with the call for evidence closing in mid-September. Due to Covid, the next Business Rates revaluation will now take place from 1^st April 2023. The Chamberlain emphasised that the decisions taken on Business Rates will be key to the Corporation’s Medium-Term Financial Plans and longer-term forecasts; he will update Members in due course.

The Chairman thanked the Chamberlain for his remarks and reminded the Committee that, whilst Covid had wrought significant damage, the medium-term financial projections were looking fragile before Covid; it was, therefore, incumbent upon both Members and officers to carefully scrutinise current spending, and, accept that in the case of any new, in-year capital bids, these would only be approved on the basis of rare, exceptional

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the provisional outturn for the 2019/20 Financial Year.

The Chamberlain informed Members that the 2019-20 provisional net expenditure outturn position of £183.7m represented a better than budgeted position of £9.7m (comprising £6.9m City Fund and £4.5m Bridge House Estates and a £1.7m worse than budget position for City’s Cash).

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the Report.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the 2019/20 outturn for capital and supplementary revenue projects (SRPs), and the Prudential Indicators for City Fund.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the Report

Report of the Chamberlain.

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

After introductory remarks from the Chamberlain, the Chairman informed Members that a proposal had been made by officers to merge the City of London Police risk item (CR23) with a broader Unsustainable Medium-Term Finances risk item (CR35); this had been reject by the Audit & Risk Management (A&RM) Committee at its meeting on 14^th July.

The Chamberlain added that the Information Security risk item (CR16) also went through a “Deep Dive” at A&RM last week, and steps to mitigate this risk further were endorsed by that committee.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the 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 notes the report.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the work of the IT Division.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the Report

Report of the Town Clerk.

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

There were no questions.

The following item of urgent business was raised –

New Report template

Given the clear need to reemphasise the importance of financial discipline, the Chairman advised the Committee that he had been in discussions with officers about amending the Report template that came to Committees. Reports requesting funding were, on too many occasions, still being submitted without a clear narrative about the source of funding.

With the absence of a clear and upfront narrative, there is a significant risk that Members will give their approval for projects/programmes where there is an inherent source-of-funding issue.

As such, officers have drafted a new version of the Report template; the changes to the previous iteration are in the top box, namely, four new extra inserted lines below the Subject heading, and the insertion of a paragraph directly below the top box, outlining the expectations on Report authors.

The Chairman asked the Committee clerk to circulate the new template to Finance Committee members asking for views and feedback. The aim then was to roll out the new template for use by all Report authors.

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 23^rd June 2020.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd June were approved as an accurate record.

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.

Joint Report of the Chamberlain and the City Surveyor.

The Committee considered a Report of the Chamberlain and the City Surveyor concerning the procurement exercise to appoint a preferred supplier of a Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) for offsite renewable electricity for the City of London Corporation.

Joint Report of the Chamberlain and the Comptroller & City Solicitor

The Committee received a joint Report of the Chamberlain and the Comptroller & City Solicitor concerning the IT Service Contract Supplier.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning Bad and Doubtful debts.

N/A

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

The Committee considered an item of urgent business relating to ITEM 10.