Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from John Bennett, Charles Bowman, Roger Chadwick, Stuart Fraser, Marianne Fredericks, George Gillon, Vivienne Littlechild and Tom Sleigh.

The Chief Commoner declared an interest in item no.16 as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Museum of London.

To consider minutes as follows:-

The public minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2016 were approved.  

The draft minutes of the Public Relations and Economic Development Sub-Committee meeting held on 6 June were noted.

To note the following resolution from the Ward of Cheap:-

“That once again great concern be expressed at the serious lack of Post Offices within the Ward of Cheap and within the City generally. The Corporation is strongly urged to continue its efforts to ensure that adequate Post Office facilities are provided throughout the City”.

A resolution from the Ward of Cheap was considered as follows:-

“That once again great concern be expressed at the serious lack of Post Offices within the Ward of Cheap and within the City generally. The Corporation is strongly urged to continue its efforts to ensure that adequate Post Office facilities are provided throughout the City”.

Members noted that the provision of post offices in the City would continue to be monitored.

RESOLVED – That the resolution from the Ward of Cheap be noted.

The Committee considered the appointment of its representative on the Central Criminal Court Sub-Committee. Alex Deane and Edward Lord expressed their willingness to serve. A ballot was undertaken to fill the vacancy.

RESOLVED – That Alex Deane be appointed as the Committee’s representative on the Central Criminal Court Sub-Committee.

The Committee considered the appointment of a Member to serve as a Trustee on the City of London Academy Trust. One expression of interest was received from Dhruv Patel.

RESOLVED – that Dhruv Patel be appointed as a Trustee of the City of London Academy Trust in the room of Hugh Morris.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning the One Safe City Programme and the creation of a Working Party to oversee it.

Members were advised that the Committee’s representative on the Working Party would be considered at its next meeting in September.

RESOLVED - That:-

1.   it be noted that the Chamberlain, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee was due to consider the allocation of a sum of £567,000 from 2015/16 corporate underspends on City Fund;

2.   should the above-mentioned sum be approved, it be allocated to take the Programme, and the various projects associated with it, forward in 2016/17; and

3.   a Working Party be created to oversee the Programme, comprising Members of relevant Committees and Chief Officers as follows:-

·         Chairman of Policy and Resources Committee (or representative);

·         One additional Member of Policy and Resources Committee;

·         Chairman of Police Committee (or representative);

·         Chairman of Finance Committee (or representative);

·         Chairman of Port Health and Environmental Services Committee (or representative);

·         Chairman of Planning and Transportation Committee (or representative);

·         Chairman of Community and Children’s Services Committee (or representative);

·         City of London Police Commander (Operations);

·         Assistant Town Clerk - Programme SRO.

Report of the Chamberlain.

NB: This item is to be read in conjunction with the non-public Appendix at item no. 24.  Background papers relating to the two IT projects covered in the report are available on request. The report will have been considered by your Resource Allocation Sub-Committee earlier this day.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain concerning the provision of one-off funding to enable two projects, the Wide Area Network Replacement and the IT Infrastructure Performance Improvement Plan, to progress to the next gateway of the projects approvals process.

It was noted that the funding had been considered by the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee and was recommended for approval.

RESOLVED – that, subject to any requisite approval by other committees, approval be given to the provision of funding totalling £72k from the 2016/17 provisions for new schemes (50 % City Fund and 50% City’s Cash) to progress the following two schemes to the next gateway:-

·     Wide Area Network (WAN) replacement – £16k

·      IT Infrastructure Performance Improvement Plan - £56k.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Economic Development concerning the commissioning of the Work and Health Programme (WHP). It also dealt with the City of London Corporation becoming the accountable body for the Programme and a co-financing organisation in order to facilitate access monies from the European Social Fund (ESF) to assist with the funding of the Programme.

RESOLVED – That:-

1.   the Town Clerk be authorised, under delegated authority, to take a decision on the following in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman; the City Corporation:-

a)      participating in the WHP in Central London:

b)      becoming the Accountable Body for the WHP, subject to being satisfied with further details to be provided by HM Government;

c)      becoming a ‘Co-Financing Organisation’ for the ESF in London, subject to a successful funding application.

2.   Subject to the approval of (1) above, the Comptroller and City Solicitor be requested to negotiate and settle suitable terms for any agreements to enable delivery of the WHP, including appropriate terms for sharing of risks and liabilities between the Central London authorities participating.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Economic Development concerning  the provision of funding for three roundtable event at the forthcoming Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative party conferences.

RESOLVED – that a total of £17,500 be met from the Policy Initiatives Fund for 2016/2017 to meet the cost of three party conference events as follows:-

·         at the Liberal Democrat conference to be organised with Centre Forum, at a cost of £5,000.

·         at the Labour conference to be organised with the Smith Institute, at a cost of £6,000.

·         at the Conservative conference to be organised with Bright Blue, at a cost of £6,500.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Economic Development concerning the sponsorship of a Battle of Ideas Festival being organised by the Institute of Ideas in October 2016.

RESOLVED – that approval be given to the provision of £16,000 from the 2016/17 Policy Initiatives Fund, categorised under ‘Events’ and charged to ‘City’s Cash’, to sponsor the Battle of Ideas Festival, taking place on 22-23 October 2016.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Economic Development concerning the use of Guildhall for future London Councils summits.

RESOLVED – That approval be given to the use of accommodation in Guildhall for London Councils Summits for the next three years and to the payment of sums exceeding £15,000 in 2018, £15,500 in 2019, and £16,000 in 2020 (£46,500 in total) to the Remembrancer’s Department for the hire of the Guildhall Complex. The cost should be met from the Committee’s Policy Initiatives’ Fund for 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 categorised under the Events section of the Fund and charged to City’s Cash. 

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Economic Development concerning the Chairman’s visit to Shanghai, China, on 10-13 June 2016.

The Chairman drew attention to the possibility of a further visit to China in the next two weeks. He advised that it followed a request from government.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

NB: This report was approved by the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Public Health concerning the promotion of wellbeing and the inclusion of health implications in future reports where applicable.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Town Clerk concerning the monitoring of surveillance carried out under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 since the last report in January 2016.

RESOLVED – That it be noted that no requests under the Act had been received.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a statement of the Chamberlain on the use of the Policy Initiatives Fund and Committee’s Contingency for 2016/17.

RESOLVED – That the content of the statement be noted. 

Report of the Town Clerk (TO FOLLOW).

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning the progress of proposals for the relocation of the Museum of London and to the City Corporation working with the Greater London Authority (GLA) to support the proposed move to Smithfield General Market.

In response to a question on whether joint funding would be forthcoming, Members were advised that the GLA had signified its commitment and that both organisations would need to be satisfied regarding any future fund raising activities.

A Member questioned the link between the relocation of the Multi-Academy Primary School and the Museum. The Committee was advised that the School had expressed an interest in using some of the Museum of London’s temporary function space but that this would require a number of practical issues to be addressed.

RESOLVED – That:-

1.   the Museum of London’ s proposed move and the City Corporation working with the GLA to bring new life and purpose to the underused buildings at Smithfield General Market, Annex and Poultry Market basement be supported in principle; and

2.   the following be noted:-

a.       any move by the Museum would require the approval of multiple committees and the Court of Common Council;

b.       full approval would have to be subject to satisfactory terms having been agreed between the City, GLA and Museum of London; satisfactory financial arrangements including cost envelope, affordability,  capital and revenue funding shares; and satisfactory completion of due diligence including legal powers and governance proposals;and

c.       a decision in principle at this stage would not predetermine a final decision later in the year which would be taken once the above considerations had been addressed.

There were no questions.

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 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

20 - 26                                                                      3

Part 2 – Non-Public Agenda

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2016.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2016 were approved.

Report of the Town Clerk.

NB: A supplementary paper relating to this item is also due to be circulated.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Town Clerk concerning the next steps in strengthening the City Corporation’s support and promotion of the City.

Report of the Deputy Town Clerk.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Deputy Town Clerk concerning the Corporate Programme Delivery Unit and the extension of the associated consultancy contract.

Report of the Chamberlain.

NB: This report is also due to be considered by the Establishment and Finance Committees.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Chamberlain concerning the restructuring of the City Corporation’s procurement activities to incorporate a new Commercial Contract Management Team.

To be read in conjunction with item no. 7.

The Committee noted the appendix to the Project Funding Update report (item no. 7).

A Member questioned, and discussion ensued, on the content of a speech made by the Lord Mayor at a recent Dinner.

The following item of urgent business was considered:-

City of London Wireless Concession Project

The Committee considered and agreed a request for a decision on the City of London Wireless Concession to be delegated to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.