Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Revd Dr William Campbell Taylor, Emma Edhem, Deputy Henry Jones and James Tumbridge.

Resolved - it was proposed that the Committee Clerk consult the Remembrancer regarding committee room bookings to ensure that this Committee was allocated both committee rooms 3 and 4 for all future meetings. The motion was seconded and agreed unanimously.

Mr Gareth Moore declared an interest in all housing related matters, as he was a resident of the Golden Lane Estate.

To agree the minutes of the previous Committee meeting.

Also attached is a resolution from the Education Board.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as an accurate record.

Matters Arising:

London Youth Games

Members were informed that there had been an increase in participation in the London Youth Games and the event had been very well attended.

Tenancy and Rents Policy

Officers informed Members that the Chancellor’s recent Budget announcement would significantly affect a number of areas of social housing, notably a cap on welfare benefits.

Sir John Cass Tripartite Expansion

The Chairman informed Members that on 2^nd July a Tripartite meeting was held with the Governing body of the school and the Foundation invited as usual.

The Foundation refused to attend citing various spurious reasons including that a letter addressed to the Director had not been replied to when in fact it had. The general reason given was that they did not believe a meeting would be productive.

Members were informed that the matter was now being investigated by the Comptroller and City Solicitor.  The Chairman said that he and other Members including the Chief Commoner Billy Dove, Deputy Henry Jones and John Fletcher had attended the tripartite meetings; the Foundation gave no indication in any of those meetings that their agreement to school expansion would not be forthcoming. The Foundation gave their in principle agreement in writing. Members agreed that a full and final decision of objection to school expansion, with no discussion or coming round the table to address any of their concerns was a complete reversal and U-turn.

Members agreed that as the matter was now going through a legal process it must run its course.

Wardmote Resolutions

The Committee received the following wardmote resolutions from the Town Clerk:

From the Ward of Portsoken(i)

 “The residents of the Portsoken Ward are becoming increasingly concerned about

The Committee received a presentation regarding City Gateway from Mr Robert Stanex, Youth Work Manager, Ms Hiliary Walker, Participation Manager and Miss Lulu Watuta, Chair of the City Youth Forum. Members noted that the key achievements of the past year were:

•        Election of Chair of City Youth Forum

•        Launch of CiCC (Children in Care Council)

•        Launch of City Youth Forum

•        HOPE Street Dance Crew

•        Outward Bound

•        Green Box Redevelopment

•        Young Leaders

The challenges that City Gateway would face in the upcoming year were listed as:

•        Building Access & Maintenance

•        Levels of Expectation

•        Communication & Reporting

•        Negative Attitudes, Disillusionment & Apathy

•        Culture of Entitlement

•        Girls Network

In response to a query from Members, Officers explained that whilst they encouraged girls to take part in events and activities it would proving difficult to engage with girls aged 11-19 from the Bangladeshi community. Officers said they were investigating ways in which they would engage further with this group by contacting the families of the girls and informing their fathers of the advantages of taking part in the communal activities.

Members said that Officers may wish to contact the Museum of London to discuss the Hard Education project to discuss participation from the City youth services.

Members thanked Lulu for attending the meeting and the Chief Commoner informed the Committee that he and Lulu had attended the Lord Mayor’s visit to West Ham Park together in May 2015. Despite the bad weather, the Members and Officers had enjoyed their day in West Ham Park and Lulu had had the opportunity to meet the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress.

Resolved – that the update be received.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Also attached is a resolution from the Education Board.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services which informed Members of the cross-cutting review of the grant giving activities of the City Corporation. The objectives of the review were to identify the grants programmes which are offered by the City Corporation, to suggest how to improve value for money and drive up impact.

Members noted that the review identified approximately £13.2m awarded in 2013/14 by the City Corporation across 15 different grants programmes, although by far the largest programme was the City Bridge Trust. The review concluded that there was no consistent approach across the City Corporation to governing or managing disbursements. Officers informed Members that this potentially exposed the City Corporation to financial, organisational and reputational risks.

The Committee received a resolution from the Education Board and considered the most appropriate means of joint governance, with the Education Board, of the Combined Education Charity and City Educational Trust Fund.

The Deputy Town Clerk agreed to circulate information regarding the amount spent on educational bursaries in 2013/14 to Members via email after the meeting.

RESOLVED – that the Community and Children’s Services Committee:

·        Agreed to take on governance of the Combined Relief of Poverty charity (from Finance Grants Sub Committee) and of the various ‘poverty relief’ charities proposed for merger; and

·        Agreed to review with the Education Board the most appropriate governance arrangements for the Combined Education Charity and City Educational Trust Fund (proposed for transfer from Finance Grants Sub Committee).

Joint report of the Chamberlain and Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services which informed Members of the 2014/15 revenue outturn for the non-Housing Revenue Account (HRA) services overseen by the Committee with the final agreed budget for the year.

Members noted that the Director of Community and Children’s Services local risk budget was underspent by £346,000 with an underspend on all risks of £44,000. There was an overspend on recharges of £193,000.The Director was proposing to carry forward £340,000 of his local risk underspend for identified purposes of this Committee. These proposals would be considered by the Chamberlain in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee and, if agreed, would be added to the Director’s budgets for 2015/16.

Resolved - that the revenue outturn report for 2014/15 be received.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services which informed Members of the City of London Corporation Children and Young People’s Plan 2015–18. Members noted that the plan was shaped through extensive consultation, engagement with and involvement of external agencies and partners, children, young people and their families.

Resolved – that the City of London Corporation Children and Young People’s Plan 2015–18 be approved.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services which informed Members about the heating and hot water equipment replacement at the Golden Lane Estate. The Committee was informed thatGolden Lane Estate was listed, the majority at Grade II and Crescent House at Grade II. There were 560 properties on the Golden Lane Estate. All of the tenanted properties had individual gas boilers within the property.

Members noted that where boilers were required to be replaced, modern flues and outlet pipes which extend further from opening windows must be installed. For two blocks, this poses a challenge to meet the requirements of this safety legislation and the aesthetic preservation in accordance with the listing. The option of a communal heating system was assessed as part of this project as a potential solution to this problem.

Resolved – that approval be given for £6,330 to progress the Option 2 and approval be given of the current budget estimate of £1,035,000 - £1,243,000

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services which informed Members that from April 2013, local authorities had been mandated to provide comprehensive sexual health services to their residential population. This included open access to genito-urinary medicine (GUM) services, which include outpatient HIV services, HIV testing, specimen analysis and the dispensing of medication alongside a wider range of sexual health services.

Members were informed that as it was open access, City residents can access GUM services anywhere across the country and the City of London Corporation would be required to pay for it. To date, the City of London Corporation had been working with local authorities across Waltham Forest, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham to negotiate the tariffs and terms for payment with the providers with the highest activity levels for our local authority areas. These negotiations had resulted in savings for each local authority.

Officers informed Members that the majority of local authorities across London are now working together to negotiate tariffs for services across London, and to commission a future Pan London service which represents value for money for all authorities involved.

Resolved – that approval be given for:

·        the proposals to continue the Pan London negotiations with GUM

providers across London, and involvement in the potential Pan London

commissioning of GUM services from 2017; and

·        officers to publish default conditions for financial year 2015/16 on

the City of London Corporation website for GUM providers cross-charging for

GUM services that do not partake in local tariff agreements.

There were no questions.

Report of the Assistant Town Clerk.

The Committee received the Prevent Strategy 2015/16which informed Members how the City of London Corporation would fulfil its new duty to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism introduced within the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015.

Resolved – that the strategy be noted.

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 Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act as follows:-

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 Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the previous Committee meeting.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as an

accurate record.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the report of the Director of Community and Children’s

Services.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the report of the Director of Community and Children’s

Services.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the report of the Director of Community and Children’s

Services.

There were no questions.

There was no urgent business.