Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Doug Barrow, Charles Bowman, Roger Chadwick, Alex Deane, Wendy Mead, Hugh Morris, Alistair Moss, Baroness Scotland and Jeremy Simons.

There were no declarations.

To consider minutes as follows:-

The public minutes of the meeting held on 19 October 2015 were approved.

The draft public minutes of the Projects Sub-Committee meeting held on 4 November 2015 were noted.

The draft public minutes of the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee meeting held on 19 October 2015 were noted.

Reference was made to the proposal to ask the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen to consider transferring oversight of its outside appointments to this Committee. It was suggested that rather than transferring oversight, it should be a coordinated effort on the part of both committees. Members supported this suggestion.

A Member referred to the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) and its relationship with Epping Forest. He advised that whilst the City Corporation did not have direct nomination rights to serve on the Park Authority, London Councils did. Oversight of any matters of mutual interest had previously been maintained by a Member of the City Corporation becoming London Council’s representative of the LVRPA. The Chairman suggested that the Park Authority remains on the list of outside bodies for the time being.

RESOLVED – That:-

1.    an Outside Body Sub-Committee be created to be responsible for overseeing the City Corporation’s Outside Body Scheme;

2.    the Membership of the Outside Body Sub-Committee comprise the following:-

·           the Chairman and one Deputy Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee;

·           three Members appointed by the Policy and Resources Committee (but not necessarily Members of the Policy and Resources Committee);

·           three Members appointed by the Court of Common Council; and

·           one Alderman, appointed by the General Purposes Committee of Alderman).

3.    the City Corporation no longer nominate to the following Outside Bodies:-

·           Association of the Friends of Chapel Royal Foundation

·           Central London Waste Disposal Joint Committee

4.    the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen be asked to:-

·           review its outside body appointments in line with the current review being undertaken of all Common Council appointments; and

·           consider whether the Policy and Resources Committee should undertake a review of the various Mayoral patronages in conjunction with the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning the arrangements for the annual election of the Chief Commoner.

The Chairman supported the introduction of an official campaign period and suggested that this be from 1^st September each year. He also expressed support for the introduction of an upper limit to the number of nominations a candidate could receive. The Committee supported both amendments and indicated a preference for the requisite number of nominees to be set at 10 and no more.

It was also suggested that to avoid any misunderstanding it was important for candidates to secure the signatures of all their nominees in order to be validly nominated.

RESOLVED – That the arrangements for the election of Chief Commoner be amended as follows:-

1.    an official campaign period for the election of Chief Commoner be introduced and that this be from 1^st September each year;

2.    the number of nominees in order for a candidate to be validly nominated be set at 10 and no more; and

3.    candidates for the office of Chief Commoner must also secure the signatures of all their nominees in order to be validly nominated.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee consider a report of the Town Clerk concerning proposed changes to the terms of reference and composition of the Barbican Centre Board.

A Member, who was also a Member of the Barbican Centre Board, advised that whilst he was supportive of the proposal to include details of the requisite skills when advertising a vacancy, he did not support the proposal to increase the Board’s external membership. He explained his reasons and questioned whether increasing the Board’s membership was the answer to concerns about skills.

Detailed discussion ensued on the merits of increasing the Board’s composition. A Member, who was also the Chairman of the Barbican Centre Board, concluded by reminding the Committee that the increase to the number of external Members was prefaced by being “up to” seven. He pointed out that the Board had no intention of appointing an additional person if the requisite skill was already available.

The Committee proceeded to vote on the matter. 14 Members voted in favour of the Board’s proposal to increase its number of external Members from five to up to seven Members. 4 Members voted against the proposal.

 RESOLVED – the subject to the approval of the Court of Common Council the following be approved:-

1.     the use of a role description when advertising vacancies to Members of the Court of Common Council; and

2.     the Barbican Centre Board’s terms of reference be amended to permit the appointment of up to two additional external Members and adjustments be made to the quorum  of the Board to ensure a Common Council majority in any voting matter.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk requesting funding to facilitate City & Livery Awards finale event at Mansion House.

RESOLVED – That a sum of £6,000 be provided from the Committee’s 2015/16 contingency budget to facilitate the City & Livery Awards Finale being held at Mansion House on 28 January 2016.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk updating it on the progress of actions previously agreed should be taken with regard to the removal of any barriers which might deter people from standing for election to Common Council.

A Member stated that he believed that more outreach work could be undertaken to assist with the removal barriers and to ensure that the Court of Common Council was more representative of the City. He referred to the various diversity networks which now operated within organisations including those within the City Corporation and suggested that those networks be made aware of the benefits and contribution its members could make to public service.

The Town Clerk undertook to look into use of the networks as a means of communication.

RESOLVED - that the report be noted.

Report of the Deputy Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Town Clerk on the progress of the cross-cutting review of the City Corporation’s grant giving activities.

The Committee noted that as the outcome of the review would have an impact on a number of committee terms of reference and because proposals also included the amalgamation of some of the City Corporation’s smaller charities it was proposed that the outcome of this particular review should be reported to the Court of Common Council in January.

RESOLVED – that the content of the report be noted and that the outcome of the cross-cutting review of the City Corporation’s grant giving activities be reported to the Court of Common Council accordingly.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain concerning the Policy Initiatives Fund and the Committee Contingency for 2015/16.

RESOLVED – That report be noted.

Deliveries in the City

A Member referred to the problems caused by the high number of deliveries made in the City during the day. She advised that one of the things that made the new development recently agreed at 22 Bishopsgate work, was its use of an offsite consolidation centre for deliveries and she questioned what the City Corporation was doing to address the problem also.

The Town Clerk acknowledged the use of consolidated holding centres and the other delivery systems which were in operation elsewhere. He suggested that officers be requested to look into the mechanisms which could be used to address the problems caused by delivery vehicles and report back to this Committee and the Planning and Transportation Committee. Members supported his suggestion.

RESOLVED – that the Director of the Built Environment be requested to look into the mechanisms which could be used to address the problems caused by deliveries made in the City during the day and to report back to this Committee and the Planning and Transportation Committee and this Committee.

There were no items of urgent business.

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 the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

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 the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act: -

Item Nos.                                   Paragraph(s) in Schedule 12A

                 13a – d                                                      3

                 14                                                         3

To consider non-public minutes of meetings as follows:-

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 19 October 2015 were considered and it was agreed that minute relating to the service based reviews should be amended to reflect the need to demonstrate value for money.

The draft non-public minutes of the meeting of the Projects Sub-Committee held on 4 November 2015 were noted.

The draft non-public minutes of the meeting of the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee held on 19 October 2015 were noted.

The draft non-public minutes of the meeting of the Hospitality Working Party held on 27 October 2015 were noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Town Clerk concerning the proposed Centre for Music.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.