Agenda item

Global passporting arrangements for financial services

Oliver Lodger asked a question of the Chair of the Policy & Resources Committee concerning global passporting arrangements for financial services and work being undertaken to ensure access to the City for the worldwide financial industry, given the expected loss of all EU passporting for financial service firms and in consideration of HM Treasury’s recent consultation on the Overseas Fund Regime.

Responding, the Chair welcomed the Government's focus on revisiting the Overseas Funds Regime, noting that the arrangements governing how overseas retail and money market funds could be marketed to retail investors in the UK would need to change following the end of the Brexit transition period. The Chair observed that it would be important for this to be part of a broader review of the UK's openness to overseas capital and firms and advised that the City was currently developing proposals to address this and broader issues, such as the authorisation of branches and the equivalence regime imported from EU law. This would enable the City to put forward recommendations in collaboration with industry that would work for the City’s ecosystem and ensure its long-term competitiveness.

The City was also encouraging Government and regulators to operate UK decisions on equivalence and authorisation on an open and permissive basis. The Chair noted that the UK was an open trading nation, operating on the basis of sound regulatory standards, and the City should broadcast that fact.

Recognising that the current system of passporting with the EU would come to an end, the City Corporation also continued to make the case for the greatest possible access for UK financial services to worldwide markets; not just in ensuring that financial services were covered by the free trade agreements which the UK would negotiate, but also relating to redeveloping relationships at a regulatory level, as most of the existing barriers to access in financial services could be addressed through regulatory cooperation independently of trade agreements.

The Chair advised that she and the Lord Mayor had been carrying out a virtual engagement programme with overseas markets, including China, the USA, Switzerland and Japan. In all these engagements, the Chair and the Lord Mayor continued to do all they could to secure the greatest possible access for UK financial services and to emphasise the importance of global regulatory coherence. The Chair reassured the honourable Member that this work would remain a priority.

Responding to a supplementary question from Oliver Lodge concerning Member engagement in this matter, the Chair noted that further ways to involve Members would be considered, including increasing Members’ briefings and increased involvement of the Public Relations and Economic Development Sub-Committee, noting that it was important to maintain a small number of Members as spokespersons in order to maintain consistency of messaging.

City Plan and future needs of businesses in the City

Matthew Bell asked a question of the Chair of the Planning & Transportation Committee concerning the assumptions of the City Plan, given the impact of COVID-19, and what leadership the City Corporation was giving to develop new working practices which challenge the reliance on physical space in the City.

In response, the Chair noted that the City Plan 2036 Plan sought to deliver a minimum of 2 million square metres of additional office floorspace during the period 2016-2036, with 1.5 million square metres of that target to be delivered in the decade to 2026. This target was based on the economic and employment growth projections of the London Plan, which expected significant growth over the medium term in central London, including in the City. The City’s office floorspace target provided space for the projected 100,000 additional office jobs. Responses to public consultation on the draft Plan also included support for the general scale of long-term office growth proposed within in it. 

With reference to how future needs were being assessed by businesses, the Chair reported that feedback from City businesses was being sought actively through one to one meetings and surveys conducted by the City Corporation’s City Property Advisory Team, the various Business Improvement Districts, and emerging business partnerships. Survey work was also in progress on anticipated office occupation for the current year given the ongoing pandemic. To date, feedback suggested varying responses reflecting specific business needs but some common themes were emerging, such as some consolidation of office occupation and taking account of greater use of remote working as part of agile business models. The Chair noted that many firms still considered face-to-face contact to be essential to their business and that there was also a strong preference among younger workers for a city centre base for the social and career progression benefits it offered.  Space consolidation by existing office occupiers would also provide new opportunities for new occupiers to find space in the City.  In the long-term, if the City was to remain an attractive place to do business, then it would also continue to attract occupier demand from other places in London, the UK, and internationally. 

The Chair also reported that the City Corporation had taken the lead in encouraging new technology which supported modern business practices, such as the promotion of a standardised wayleave toolkit to speed up broadband connections, fibre-to-premises rollout for City offices, provision of the fastest outdoor mesh Wi-Fi network in Europe, and the enhancement of 4G mobile coverage. The City was also experimenting with 5G mobile coverage. Such innovations would benefit City-based firms and those with more agile business practices. The Chair was confident that the City would remain a key business center and would encourage firms to take physical space to the City to complement their online and remote working practices. 

Responding to a supplementary question from Matthew Bell regarding the use of the City Plan as a reliable planning tool in the absence of a vaccine for COVID-19, the Chair advised that it was important that planning for the long term continued even in these current, exceptional circumstances. The City Plan 2036 provided a strategic context for sustainable growth over the medium term and was flexible and adaptable to accommodate shorter term shocks such as the current health and the current economic situation. It was also important to distinguish the pre-vaccine era, when unusual measures were needed for business to continue to operate safely, from a post-vaccine era when the social and economic attractions of city centre locations would likely re-emerge as drivers for growth. Although there was no vaccine at present, there was some confidence that one would be developed; therefore, it was a reasonable planning assumption that growth would resume in the City over the medium and longer term.  Nevertheless, there remained scope to adapt the Plan as needed to address changing circumstances including longer-term changes in business practices and space requirements should these materialise. 

With reference to a specific query regarding office occupation levels, the Chair advised that he did not have the relevant figures immediately to hand but noted that the recent level of applications and development illustrated a that demand for office space remained high.

Use of outdoor space by businesses in Middlesex Street area

John Fletcher asked a question of the Chair of the Policy & Resources Committee concerning the use of outdoor space by small businesses in the Middlesex Street area, namely cafes and restaurants, in order to allow businesses to recover as swiftly as possible from the impacts of COVID-19.

In response, the Chair noted that Businesses and SMEs were of utmost importance to the City and recognised the continued impact of the pandemic and social distancing on the hospitality sector. She assured the Member that the City was committed to helping businesses to recover from COVID and allow them to start generating income again; however, it was clear that there was increased and conflicting demand for outside space in the current situation, both to allow for the placing of tables and chairs, and to allow for the safe socially-distanced passage of pedestrians.  

Since 21 March 2020, all 138 tables and chairs licences in the City were suspended, when businesses were no longer able to trade. The City needed to look extremely carefully at their re-instatement. The re-instatement of each licence would be on a case-by-case basis, subject to detailed criteria with public safety to the fore.

The Chair observed that issue of tables and chairs licensing was a matter for the Planning and Transportation Committee, which had established five principles to guide consideration, and which would consider a detailed report at its meeting on the 23 June. She ventured that the Chair of Planning would doubtless welcome the Member’s contributions to that debate.

The Chair noted that officers would explore opportunities to reallocate carriageway space for tables and chairs where it was safe and practical to do so. In such locations, tables and chairs would be privately managed but available for public use, and this approach was being explored for Middlesex Street in liaison with The Aldgate Connect BID and Tower Hamlets. The Chair noted that it was essential to facilitate business operation while at the same time protecting public safety.

In response to John Fletcher’s supplementary question regarding the appointment of a dedicated officer for Members and business representatives to contact on this matter, the Chair undertook to speak with colleagues and officers to see if a suitable individual could be identified.

Fire Safety across the City’s housing stock

Deputy James Thomson asked a question of the Chair of the Community & Children’s Services Committee regarding fire safety across the City’s housing stock, in light of the previous Sunday being the third anniversary of the Grenfell fire.

The Chair noted that, since the tragic events at Grenfell, the City had been carrying out a significant amount of work to ensure that City residents remained safe in their homes and that buildings were maintained to the highest possible standard. The City continued to ensure that all blocks of flats had fully compliant and up-to-date detailed Fire Risk Assessments, delivered by an independent specialist consultant, with specific Action Plans produced from these. As well as ensuring that the relevant remedial action was taken, the City had also committed to going much further, having instigated several major projects to improve further the safety of the City’s residents and the buildings they lived in.

This included a Door Replacement Programme across the City’s estates to install new fire door sets that, where possible, provided 60 minutes fire resistance. Integrated fire alarms and sprinklers were also to be installed in the five high-rise social housing blocks at Great Arthur House, Petticoat Tower, and the West, East and Centre Point buildings on the Avondale Estate. Additional projects to enhance safety were also being undertaken, including upgrading all fire safety signage, installation of hard-wired smoke detectors and alarms, and upgrading of emergency lighting.

The Chair also outlined the additional work being undertaken in respect of Estate Management activities, including significant communications activities, in-home visits, and inspections to ensure that balconies, walkways and exit routes were kept clear from hazards, as well as to ensure consistency and monitoring of fire safety matters.

Whilst he was satisfied that the City’s housing was compliant, the Chair observed that there was still work to be done to make homes even safer and the City was not complacent. There would be further improvements identified, either through the new round of FRAs that would take place the following year, or through the additional more intrusive surveys that the City continued to undertake, to satisfy that potential risks were mitigated.

In response to a supplementary question by Deputy James Thomson, the Chair advised that he could not give a definite date by which the additional capital projects would be completed, as some uncertainties or delays with the contracting process had arisen due to COVID-19. However, he advised that the sprinkler installations were due to be completed by the following spring, with all fire door replacements expected to take approximately two years to be fully rolled out.