Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Alderman Peter Estlin, Deputy Tom Sleigh and Alderman Sir David Wootton.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 29 May 2018.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on Tuesday 29 May 2018 be approved as a correct record subject to the following amendment:-

·         The word ‘antiquated’ on item 11 of the minutes be changed to say ‘lagged behind’.

To consider a resolution from the Standards Committee from its meeting on 18 May 2018.  

Members considered a resolution from the Standards Committee concerning the visibility of the Members’ Code of Conduct on the City Corporation’s website.

The Director of Communications advised Members that this would be included in the development of the website. Members raised the issue that, generally, it took five or six clicks on the website for people to access Members’ webpages.

A Member also asked for the Members’ email addresses policy to be clarified so that officers are allowed to email Members’ external email addresses regarding non-private information. The Chairman of the Establishment Committee confirmed that there was a report to the next meeting of that Committee, where this would be discussed.

Another Member asked a question around publicising home addresses on the City Corporation website. It was confirmed that there was no need for a Member to publicise their home address but instead use the City of London’s PO Box address.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The visibility of the Members’ Code of Conduct and associated documents on the City Corporation’s website be improved to make them easy to find and readily accessible; and,

·         Details of how the public make a complaint under the Code also be easy to locate on the website.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

Members received an update report on the work of the Economic Development Office over the month of May 2018. This report was discussed at the same time as item 9 of the agenda (Progress Paper: India-UK FinTech Initiative).

The Director of Economic Development tabled a paper, which gave an overview of job moves in the City, with many jobs moving to Paris and Frankfurt. Members heard how the three key areas of focus for the Economic Development Office were: a) Brexit and the future relationship, especially the talent strand of the three T’s, b) US and Switzerland, and c) Asia.

The Special Adviser for Asia then gave a presentation on the recent work of the Asia team. The presentation covered the Asia Next Decade campaign, the Policy Chairman’s recent visit to the Luijiazi Forum in Shanghai, the political situation in China, the Green Finance Institute, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Policy Chairman’s engagement with TheCityUK China Market Advisory Group, work in ASEAN and Japan, amongst other things.

The Policy Chairman asked for the report of the Policy Chairman’s recent visit to China, as well as a reminder of the core Asia priorities, to be reported to the next meeting of the Public Relations and Economic Development Sub Committee. The Sub Committee also asked later for a report to be submitted on the Economic Development Office’s business objectives to its next meeting.

Members discussed engagement with Commonwealth countries more broadly, with two Members of the Sub Committee having recently had lunch with Governor Generals of the Caribbean. The Director of Economic Development advised Members of the long-term work that was being undertaken in partnership with HM Government following the Commonwealth Business Forum, in two areas: infrastructure and development finance.

In addition, there was discussion surrounding the creation of the Green

Report of the Director of Communications

The Sub Committee received a report of the Director of Communications outlining key elements of the Corporate Affair’s team activity in support of the City Corporation’s external political engagement and corporate communications.

The Director of Communications advised Members of two additional updates to the report:

1.    That the City Corporation had supported the Professional Business Services Council (PBSC) in writing a letter to the Government on the sector’s contribution to the economy and concern of the latest status of the Brexit negotiations; and

2.    That the Leader of the Opposition had visited Highbury Grove school on constituency business earlier that morning. The Chairman of Governors of the Highbury Grove school confirmed that the school wished to thank the Director of Communications for his help in managing the visit.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The report be noted.

Report of the Remembrancer.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Remembrancer updating Members on key elements of the Parliamentary Team’s activity in support of the City of London Corporation’s political and parliamentary engagement.

A Member reported that he had spoken to Caroline Russell AM of the Green Party, who views the City of London Corporation as a ‘green champion’ across London due to its many environmentally friendly initiatives, including that at Bank Junction.

In response to a question, the Remembrancer updated the Sub Committee on the Cabinet Office’s work on a Social Value Impact report, which would be due out in Autumn.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The report be noted.

Report of the Director of Built Environment.

The Sub Committee received a report of the City Surveyor and the Director of the Built Environment regarding the City Corporation’s activities at the MIPIM property exhibition in March 2018 and proposed attendance for MIPIM 2019.

The Chairman advised the Sub Committee that the London Councils booklet that had been developed, had been a helpful tool during the conference last year.

The Chairman of Planning & Transportation, who had attended the MIPIM exhibition last year, spoke in favour of the findings of the report, and advised that the visit had provided better value for money and was better organised than in previous years. In addition, he reported that the media interviews had been much more powerful than ever before and that the ability to launch the research publication ‘City as a Place for People’ in the UK in advance had been helpful. He also reported that the drinks reception in place of the dinner had been very successful. He agreed with the report that going forward there was no need to take the Chief Planning Officer to MIPIM as those discussions should be happening in London instead.

Members were advised that the City Corporation had worked in partnership with others, including the Department for International Trade, to deliver events at the conference.

The Director of Built Environment also reported positively and advised Members that last year they had looked at including younger influencers in the PropTech sector as well as ensuring that the City Corporation was perceived as part of the whole of London’s offer.

Members noted that next year’s MIPIM would take place two weeks before the UK left the European Union, making it vitally important that the City Corporation was represented there.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The report be noted.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Director of Economic Development on the India-UK Fintech Initiative. This report had been considered in conjunction with item 5 (EDO Monthly Update) at the meeting.

Members questioned whether the initiative was also reaching out to smaller FinTech companies. The Chairman of the Innovate Finance Network Access Group advised that work was being carried out bring together different FinTech networks across the City.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The report be noted.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Director of Economic Development regarding the Policy Chairman’s recent visit to Washington DC and New York.

The Director of Economic Development outlined to Members the differences between this visit compared to previous visits to the US:

·         The Policy Chairman was accompanied by someone from the sector, which helped to increase the City Corporation’s reach;

·         The Policy Chairman met with a more senior group of individuals;

·         Events were now planned directly following this visit;

·         In the usual way, a report of the visit was sent to HM Treasury and the Department for International Trade, who were both very appreciative of the insight.

One Member asked for more information on the roadmap of activity for the work in the US, and how to prioritise resourcing amongst this. The Director advised that a report outlining the proposed strategy for the City Corporation’s US activity would be reported to this Sub Committee later on in the year.

A Member suggested that the reports from the Lord Mayor’s Overseas Visits should be submitted to this Sub Committee, as the Policy Chairman’s reports already are, to assist the improvement of the ‘one team’ approach. The Sub Committee were in agreement on this and the Executive Director of Mansion House and the Central Criminal Court confirmed this would happen going forward.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The Lord Mayor’s overseas visit reports to be submitted to the Sub Committee, in the same way that they are for the Policy Chairman’s reports, going forward; and

·         The report be noted.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Director of Economic Development concerning the closure of the City Careers Open House (CCOH) and City of London Business Traineeship (CBT) programmes.

The Head of Employability gave Members an overview of the history of the City Corporation’s support of the two programmes. Members asked for more detail of the City Corporation funding attached to the two programmes.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The report be noted.

Report of the Director of Communications.

Members received a report of the Director of Communications summarising media output over the past six months from the Media Team.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The contents of the report be noted.

Report of the Remembrancer.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Remembrancer updating Members on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill’s progress through Parliament.

A question was raised to the Remembrancer as to the position of EU citizens living in the UK who might wish to stand for election as councillors after the UK has left the EU. It was noted that neither the London Government Association nor London Councils had yet commented on this. The Remembrancer agreed that this was something that had not yet been properly discussed as resources in this area in Government were finite. However, the Remembrancer read out a statement from the Home Office, stating that it would be exploring “bilateral arrangements”.

One Member asked that the Sub Committee be consulted on the position before the City Corporation began to advocate the position externally. Other Members felt that this should be dealt with as a matter of urgency. Members asked the Remembrancer to speak to the London Government Association and London Councils to progress this matter.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The report be noted.

One question was raised as follows -

A Member asked for any information on Youth Mayors in London Boroughs and whether the City Corporation had an equivalent young Lord Mayor. Members recalled a discussion at the Policy & Resources Committee in December 2014 on whether the terminology reflected the governance of the City Corporation and questioned whether there should be a young Policy Chairman rather than a young Lord Mayor.

The Town Clerk undertook to get an update to the Member from the Department for Community and Children’s Services.

The following item of urgent business was raised –

Nomination of 100 women to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage

The Chairman and a Member raised an idea to nominate 100 women connected to the City for the Freedom as part of the celebrations marking the centenary of women’s suffrage.

The Director of Communications advised that this would be reputationally positive for the City Corporation and that his team could make best use of social media impact as well as link it to other programmes.

The representative from the Chamberlain’s Court also endorsed the idea but outlined some of the logistical difficulties in organising these nominations and ceremonies.

Members of the Sub Committee were very supportive of the idea and had a few suggestions of easing the logistical burden on the Chamberlain’s Court:

·         Common Councillors could sponsor one woman each and manage the administration of that individuals Freedom;

·         Each ward could sponsor four applications;

·         Women who had already been awarded the Freedom so far this year (15 in total) could be approached and invited to an event at the end of the year celebrating that they are included in 100 women who were given the Freedom in 2018.

It was agreed that the Freedom Applications Committee should be made aware of the view of that of the Sub Committee and that this idea could progress to the next stage.

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 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.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 29 May 2018.

The non-public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 29 May 2018 were approved.

There were no questions.

One item of urgent business was raised.

To approve the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 29 May 2018.

RESOLVED - that the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 29 May 2018 be approved as a correct record.