Agenda item

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.

The Town Clerk informed that Committee that the Chairman had noted that, as part of the Review of Grants which had been completed earlier in the year, the Finance Committee Chairman’s Discretionary Fund had been abolished. The Town Clerk explained that this Fund had typically been used to make small donations at Christmas to charities based around London, up to a total of £10,000. The Town Clerk explained that the Chairman had requested that Officers explore methods which would allow these donations to be made for Christmas 2016, with a permanent solution to be determined for future years.

The Town Clerk explained that the options were:

-       Not to make the grants for Christmas 2016, and advise the Charities, which may have hoped for funding, to make applications to the Stronger Communities Theme of the Central Grants Programme in January 2017;

-       to allocate £10,000 from the Finance Committee’s Contingency Fund for Christmas Donations; or

-       to request that the Policy and Resources Committee, as an item of urgent business at their meeting later in the week, approve that a proportion of the Disaster Relief Fund be diverted for contributions to UK appeals.

In response to a question from a Member, the Town Clerk confirmed that it was intended that any decision taken by the Finance Committee would be for the purpose of funding donations for Christmas 2016 and a permanent solution would be proposed to the relevant Committee (likely to be the Policy and Resources Committee) during 2017.

A Member commented that, as the Lord Mayor’s appeal this year sought to promote the Corporation’s work outside of the London area, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman may wish to consider donations to charities across the UK. The Chairman agreed that he would consider this.

RESOLVED – That the Committee:

a)    notes the report;

b)    approves the allocation of £10,000 from the Finance Committee’s City’s Cash contingency for charitable donations to be made at Christmas 2016; the donations to be approved by the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.