Agenda item

Report of the Private Secretary & Chief of Staff.

The Committee received a report of the Private Secretary & Chief of Staff updating the Committee on the Lord Mayor’s declaration of gifts and hospitality.

The Private Secretary confirmed that there were no separate, sensitive items to report to the Committee on this occasion. He went on to apologise for the fact that the register of hospitality did not include entries for April. He assured the Committee that this would be rectified and re-published by close of business that day.. Declarations for the subsequent quarter were also set to be published by the same deadline.

The Private Secretary stated that lunches were not included within the register of hospitality. The Lord Mayor attended far fewer lunches than dinners and they tended to be working lunches the costs of which would be under the suggested threshold.

The Chairman highlighted that the Private Engagement at Queen’s Club listed in the hospitality log was, in fact, an annual invitation to each Lord Mayor from the UK Chairman of BNP Paribas. The Chairman requested that this be ‘rebadged’ as such in future.

In response to a question regarding the reporting of overseas hospitality, the Private Secretary undertook to clarify this and update the Committee within his next report. The Chairman added that the Committee were content that hospitality provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in relation to overseas visits did not need to be declared.

The Committee requested that, for future reports, the Private Secretary produce a non-public annex detailing those gifts actually retained by the Lord Mayor.

RESOLVED – That, Members note the report and request that future versions also include a non-public annex detailing those gifts retained by the Lord Mayor.