Agenda and minutes

On introducing the meeting, the Chairman welcomed newly appointed Members of the Sub-Committee, Caroline Haines and Deputy Madush Gupta, the latter of whom was taking the position as the Chairman of Finance Committee’s nominee.

The Chairman thanked Deputy Henry Colthurst, Mary Durcan and Deputy Charles Edward Lord for their service on the Committee.

Welcome was then extended to Emily Tofield, the newly appointed Executive Director of Corporate Communications and External Affairs. The Committee wished to note its thanks to Philip Saunders for his time as the interim post-holder.

And finally, the Chairman wished to thank Bob Roberts for his time overseeing the work  Communications Team, both as Director of Communications and then as Deputy Town Clerk.

Apologies for absence were received from Catherine McGuinness and Alderman Michael Mainelli. Ruby Sayed had issued apologies for being late.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 19 April 2023.

The Town Clerk noted that Deborah Oliver’s name had been mistakenly omitted from the attendee list.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 19 April 2023 be approved as a correct record subject to the addition of Deborah Oliver’s name within the list of attendees.

To appoint up to four Co-Opted Members from the Court of Common Council, for the year ensuing.

Members conducted a ballot to appoint four Members from the Court of Common Council to the Sub-Committee. The results of the ballot were as follows:-

Name                                                  Number of votes

Emily Benn                                          9

Helen Fentimen                                  6

Alderman Prem Goyal                        7

Deputy Charles Edward Lord             9

Deborah Oliver                                   2

Ian Seaton                                           4

Paul Singh                                           1

Naresh Sonpar                                    0

James Tumbridge                               2

Mark Wheatley                                    0

The Chairman thanked Deborah Oliver and Ian Seaton for their service to the Sub-Committee.

RESOLVED, that following a majority vote, Members appoint Emily Benn, Helen Fentimen, Alderman Prem Goyal and Deputy Charles Edward Lord, to the Sub-Committee for the year ensuing.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members received a report of the Town Clerk regarding outstanding actions of the Sub-Committee.

1/2023/P – There was a meeting for Members scheduled for 20 July so Members could be consulted on the outcome of the City Residents and Workers Survey.

2/2023/P – There was a brief discussion about the launch of the Lighting Campaign, which was recognised as a very important piece of work. A robust public awareness and media campaign was requested and it was noted that there would be an officer employed to lobby on the matter, with the Communications Team providing support.

3/2023/P – Members were advised that the City of London Corporation did not qualify for the discounted Party Conference rates.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

Report of the Interim Executive Director of Communications and External Affairs.

Members received a report of the Executive Director of Communications and External Affairs regarding an update on Corporate Affairs activity. The following matters were raised:-

·         It was remarked that recent updates to the Sub-Committee have been retrospective, and Members were keen to get a strategic oversight of future projects. Comments were made about appropriate benchmarking to help measure success.

·         There was a good mix of engagement between the Conservative and Labour Parties, with officers clearly responding to earlier feedback by exploring options for events, and Think Tanks.

·         It was noted that the City Corporation abstained on a recent vote of confidence at the CBI. The position would continue to be closely monitored.

·         The Communications Team continued to work closely with Innovation and Growth on Financial Services and Markets Bill matters.

·         A question was raised about the current list of the City Corporation’s Memberships and Subscriptions. It was confirmed that this matter had gone to Policy & Resources Committee recently and a copy of the report was to be circulated to the Sub-Committee.

·         The new Executive Director of Communications and External Affairs would be responsible for a new engagement strategy. As part of that, in future, it was planned that a consolidated Communications Report would be presented, featuring Corporate Affairs, Media and other updates.

·         Given the success of the Coronation Social Media Campaign, Members were keen to see updates on this specific area.

·         Following a question about Livery engagement, Members were advised that this had improved significantly however, the next step was to be better at reporting this activity and consider how best to do this.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

Joint Report of the Executive Director & Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor, Director of Innovation & Growth, Deputy Town Clerk and Chief Strategy Officer

Members received a joint report of the Executive Director & Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor, Executive Director of Innovation, Deputy Town Clerk and Chief Strategy Officer.

It was noted that the Sub-Committee had considered this document at a previous meeting in draft form. The main difference between the two documents was Annex A, which provided detail on the headline activities and who will be involved in their delivery. There was also greater detail on strategic implications, outlining which Teams had been consulted and how the Theme will tie back to the Corporate plan, which was crucial.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

There were no questions.

There was one item of urgent business.

Following omission of a written report submitted by the Remembrancer, a verbal update Parliamentary matters was given, and a report shared with Members informally outside of the meeting.

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

There were no matters due to be considered with the public excluded and so the meeting was closed at item 10.