Agenda item

Joint report of the Director of Economic Development and the Chief Grants Officer.

The Sub-Committee received a joint report of the Director of Economic Development and the Chief Grants Officer, City Bridge Trust, concerning the recent consultation exercise to refresh the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards in 2020 and the Awards’ website.

Following a question, the Director of Economic Development committed to finding out who owned the rights to the Awards.

A Member spoke, from his own experience, of concerns relating to how the Awards required organisations to be able to devote considerable effort in putting together their entries, which might mitigate against those without the same resources even if they have the best projects. Other Members reported that, in the last year, this had improved, and smaller organisations had been included.

A Member also highlighted the need to draw together the City Corporation’s work on the Dragon Awards with that of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal and Heart of the City.

Members, then, began to discuss the dress code for the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards Dinner and whether black tie is appropriate, and the format fit for business. Others felt that this was a celebratory event and so the dress code should remain black tie.

A Member also felt that beneficiaries of the projects ran by these organisations should also be invited to the dinner, and reported that this balance had been better than in previous years.

Following a discussion, Members gave the steer to the Director of Economic Development that there was no need to change the format of the Awards for 2019 but to review this in more detail for 2020.

RESOLVED, that:

·         The approach of building on the recent consultation exercise to consider how best to refresh the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards in 2020, and a planned refresh of the Awards website for 2019 to improve its functionality, be noted.