Agenda item

Report by the Town Clerk.

The Committee had before them a report by the Town Clerk on applications for dispensations and, with the agreement of the Chairman, a late application from Deborah Oliver was considered (external member of Police Committee).

Deborah Oliver

The Committee considered that a decision should be deferred in order to allow the applicant to complete the section of the dispensation request form that relates to criteria met for the granting of a dispensation.

Deputy Robert Merrett

The application from Deputy Merrett (a Common Council appointed member of the Board of Governors of the City of London School for Girls (CLSG)) was to speak and or vote on all CLSG matters, but not vote on any matter that has a direct financial impact to himself as a parent of a pupil, such as school fees. Deputy Merrett’s daughter has recently become a pupil at the school in September 2018.

The Committee noted that, at its meeting in August 2018, the Dispensations Sub (Standards) Committee considered a request from another Common Councilman for a dispensation to speak and vote as a member of the Board of Governors of the City of London Freemen’s School, and the parent of two children at that School, on all business before the Board except the setting of school fees, and the award of bursaries from the City of London Freemen’s School Bursary Fund.

In considering that application, the Sub Committee noted that as a Common Council appointment, the applicant’s role as a Governor was different to that of a parent governor and therefore his disclosable pecuniary interest was such that a dispensation could only be granted if it met with the criteria set out under the Localism Act 2011.  The Sub-Committee acknowledged the request to participate only in core strategic business and where no direct pecuniary interest arose.  However, Members felt that it was not possible to determine what business before the Board was or was not relevant to the disclosable pecuniary interest and on that basis, the request should be refused as it was not appropriate for the applicant, in light of his disclosable pecuniary interest, to serve on the Board of Governors as a City Corporation Member.

With regard to the application from Deputy Merrett, the Committee considered that, whilst being sympathetic to the parent governor role and the content of the request, they were again not satisfied that it was possible to determine what business before the Board was or was not relevant to the disclosable pecuniary interest and on that basis, the request should be refused in line with the similar decision made by the Dispensations Sub (Standards) Committee.

The Committee asked that a resolution be sent to the Policy and Resources Committee, in view of that committee’s overall governance role, on the issue of interests affecting the ability of a member with children at a CoL school to serve on that school’s governing body, in order to allow that committee to consider the matter further and possibly seek a solution to it.

RESOLVED – That

(a)  a decision be deferred on the dispensation request from Deborah Oliver to allow the applicant to complete the section of the dispensation request form that relates to criteria met for the granting of a dispensation;

(b)  the dispensation request from Deputy Robert Merrett be refused on the grounds that the Committee is not satisfied that it is possible to determine what business before the Board was or was not relevant to the disclosable pecuniary interest; and

(c)   with regard to the decision on (b) above, and at an earlier meeting of the Dispensations Sub (Standards) Committee on a similar dispensation request from another Common Councilman, a resolution be sent to the Policy and Resources Committee, in view of that committee’s overall governance role, on the issue of interests affecting the ability of a member with children at a CoL school to serve on that school’s governing body, in order to allow that committee to consider the matter further and possibly seek a solution to it.