Agenda item

The Chief Executive of TheCityUK, Miles Celic, to be heard.

The Sub-Committee received a presentation from the Chief Executive of TheCityUK, Miles Celic.

The Policy Chair introduced the Chief Executive, and made clear that TheCityUK was a critical partnership for the City of London Corporation, especially at this time. Members heard how the City Corporation was a founder and partner of TheCityUK and that it was important that the two organisations continued to support each other. Members were reminded that a report on the future funding arrangements for TheCityUK had been submitted to the Policy and Resources Committee and that this was not the opportunity to discuss that matter.

The Chief Executive of TheCityUK then gave an overview of the work and history of TheCityUK, and made the following key points:

·         TheCityUK was a membership body set up by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling, and former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to represent the ecosystem of the City.

·         The City Corporation founded the organisation and paid the office rent; today, the City Corporation contribute 8% of the TheCityUK’s income.

·         TheCityUK and the City Corporation work closely together as a private/public partnership and jointly set up the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG).

·         The City Corporation was represented on the TheCityUK’s main governance groups such as the Advisory Council and the Board, where the Policy Chair serves as the Deputy Chair.

·         TheCityUK and City Corporation have worked on Brexit issues together as well as international work such as building the Memorandum of Understanding with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

·         There was appetite to build on success with the City Corporation as a key partner.

Members then asked the Chief Executive of TheCityUK a range of questions, as follows:

·         A Member raised a question regarding TheCityUK’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and how the Chief Executive planned to increase the diversity of his leadership team. The Chief Executive accepted the Member’s comments and explained that TheCityUK represents a sector which generally struggles to attract a diverse group of people in its leadership teams.

·         A Member raised a question regarding the transparency of companies declaring their membership of TheCityUK. The Chief Executive clarified the position that the decision on whether to declare membership of TheCityUK lay with the organisations themselves. Some Members suggested that the Chief Executive should consider publishing those organisations who wished to be declared as Members on their website to help encourage all organisations to be transparent in this matter.

·         A Member raised a question regarding TheCityUK’s engagement with the Labour Party, as well as TheCityUK’s position on mutual recognition and the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal. The Chief Executive updated Members on TheCityUK’s engagement with the Labour party at various events, and that regarding mutual recognition, they had adopted the position taken by the IRSG in regards to Brexit scenarios.

·         A Member commented that, in his experience, there was sometimes some confusion in Brussels as to the difference between TheCityUK and the City Corporation. There was discussion that the name “TheCityUK” contributed to this misunderstanding. The Chief Executive emphasised the importance of the business voice being heard in Brussels and he reported the great support he had heard concerning the increased presence that the City Corporation were building in Brussels.

·         A Member asked whether there was anything that the Chief Executive would change about the relationship with the City Corporation. The Chief Executive felt that the relationship was currently extremely constructive and that he would only want to build on this and work more closely together.

The Policy Chair thanked the Chief Executive for his presentation and he left the meeting at this point.