Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Alderman Sir David Wootton.

Alderman Vincent Keaveny declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 13, stating that his wife was a member of the Company of Nurses.

To approve the minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 21 March 2023.

The Committee considered the minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 21 March 2023.

RESOLVED: - That the minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 21 March 2023 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

Chairman’s Congratulatory Remarks

The Chairman congratulated Alderman Greg Jones who, with effect from 1st April 2023, was successfully appointed to the Government Legal Service for Northern Ireland’s Senior Civil Panel for a period of 5 years. He commented that the Government relies on the Panel to represent its interests and seeks candidates of the highest quality.

The Chairman also went on to congratulate Alderman Prem Goyal for his recent appointment as Chair of the City’s Audit and Risk Management Committee.

The Chairman encouraged all to continue to keep him informed of any future successes to report to the Committee.

The Chairman welcomed Simi Shah who presented on Finance for Growth: A Roadmap.

The Committee were informed that this project was intended to document the future vision for the UK’s Financial and Professional Services sector. It was recognised that there were a number of reports and reviews that had preceded this and that this was intended to build upon as opposed to replicate these. It was highlighted that this was a sector-led initiative and not explicitly endorsed by government although they were welcoming of the ideas coming out of it. This was inclusive of the entire UK, reflective of best practice and innovation across the world and built upon existing insight. Ms Shah commented that it was very important that this was part of a wider narrative around how the sector supports the economy across the UK. Finally, it was underlined that it was important to ensure that this was grounded in evidence and that there was an economical case for any suggestions made.

The focus of the report would be ‘big moves’ and big, clear, costed, tangible mechanisms to support big outcomes by 2030. The Committee were informed that there had been wide sectoral engagement around this which was already underway and would continue for the next few months. In terms of governance, the project had been presented to the Policy and Resources Committee in December 2022 and would come back in June 2023 before progressing to the Court of Common Council in July. It was reported that the project was jointly chaired by the Lord Mayor and the Policy Chair and was being championed via many avenues such as the Competitiveness Advisory Board. A Senior Advisory Group (also chaired by the Lord Mayor and Policy Chair) had also been set up and would allow for some critical challenge.

The Chairman welcomed the Recorder - His Honour, Judge Mark Lucraft, KC - to the meeting.

The Recorder updated the Committee on work at the Old Bailey. He stated that the Bailey were continuing to deal with 14 trials concurrently in the 14 large Courtrooms with the smaller court rooms being utilised for non-trial work. Reflecting on the impact of the pandemic, the Recorder reported that, pre-pandemic, there was a period of a year where defendants might be held in custody awaiting trial at the Old Bailey. However, with the pandemic affecting the ability to hold as many trials, some significant delays ensued adding a period of, on average, 9 months to the time that a defendant awaited trial. The ability to work once more at full capacity had, fortunately, seen these delays begin to reduce. The Recorder reported that trials for April 2024, were already in the process of being fixed.

The Recorder commented that the Old Bailey was very fortunate in having a loyal and committed group of staff from both the City of London and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS). He added that there were also now 14 permanent judges at the Old Bailey with 2 new judges being appointed in April  – Judge Lynn Tayton KC and Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC – meaning that there were 7 male and 7 female judges now in post. A third new judge was to be appointed in September taking the Old Bailey’s complement to 15.

The Recorder went on to talk about judicial diversity in a wider sense stating that the Bailey’s 14 judges came form a variety of professional backgrounds. He highlighted that appointments were made by an independent body called the Judicial Appointments Commission with Old Bailey judges being drawn from senior circuit judges (of

Joint report of the Deputy Town Clerk and the Executive Director and Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor.

The Committee received a joint report of the Executive Director and Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor and the Deputy Town Clerk outlining the proposed 2023-24 Mayoral Theme which would be championed, subject to election, by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Mainelli.

Alderman Mainelli took the opportunity to provide the Committee with some preliminary thoughts as to his year ahead as well as some thoughts as to the continuum. He highlighted that his mayoral theme would be ‘Connect to Prosper’ with a tagline of ‘celebrating our knowledge miles in the world’s coffee house’. The focus would be on how we prosper through trade, ideas and culture. The theme recognised that the Square Mile contained many knowledge miles. Alderman Mainelli referenced the many universities and research institutes within close proximity to the City or in the Square Mile itself. He also highlighted that almost a third of the City’s SMEs were in the science technical area, something that he was therefore keen to see more engagement with. He added that he was keen to show that the City of London was an active and interesting place to be and do business.

Alderman Mainelli highlighted that his theme was very much in line with the government’s productivity theme and also followed on from the themes of recent Lord Mayor’s around people and skills a well as finance, whilst also focusing on the importance of connectivity. He went on to speak on the importance of partnerships and mentioned that a connectivity app would be launched for the Lord Mayor’s Show. He also highlighted that his Mayoral year would include a very full travel programme but that he hoped to supplement this with visits to science, research and university establishments whilst on tour.

The Committee were informed that a

An opportunity for all Aldermen to formally feedback on any key points from March Annual Wardmotes.

The Aldermen took the opportunity to reflect upon the annual Wardmotes held in March.

The Deputy Chairman noted that the Grand Court of Wardmote would meet at the rising of this Committee where the formal resolutions put forward by respective Wardmotes would be received but felt that it would also useful to reflect more generally on the running and relevance of the Wardmotes and consider whether there were any consistent messages arising from these. Aldermen were asked to comment on how long their Wardmote meetings had lasted, how many had attended and what matters were raised.

During the course of discussion the following points were raised:

·       The Ward of Billingsgate had seen approximately 25 attendees – a record number;

·       The Wardmote had lasted for 30 minutes;

·       There were disadvantages of terming the meetings as ‘Wardmotes’ as many struggled to understand what this meant – some Aldermen had done their own marketing around the meetings to try and explain the purpose and relevance of these meetings. The historical importance of the terminology was recognised but it was felt that more explanation around this was certainly needed;

·       The Ward of Bassishaw had attracted over 80 people and the meeting had lasted for over an hour – the level of engagement here was tangible different to in previous years;

·       LinkedIn had been used to promote some Wardmotes which had proved successful, particularly with the business community;

·       An Alderman praised the work undertaken by the City in terms of re-engaging the electorate around the all-out Common Council elections in March 2022 in terms of a baseline and stated that this should continue to be leveraged;

·       The Ward of Portsoken had attracted approximately 50 attendees;

·       An Alderman commented that it was not helpful to hold Wardmotes the day prior to an election, particularly when many

There were no questions.

There were no additional, urgent items of business for consideration.

MOTION - That, in accordance with the Court of Aldermen’s Disclosure Arrangement (Standing Order 25), the public shall be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen have determined, having had due regard to the Disclosure Arrangement, that disclosure should not be permitted.

RESOLVED - That, in accordance with the Court of Aldermen’s Disclosure Arrangement (Standing Order 25), the public shall be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen have determined, having had due regard to the Disclosure Arrangement, that disclosure should not be permitted.

To approve the non-public minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 21 March 2023.

The Committee considered the non-public minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 21 March 2023.

RESOLVED: - That the non-public minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 21 March 2023 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk, written at the Committee’s request, examining the benefits and disadvantages of two different voting systems (i.e., the current “first-past-the-post” system and ranked/preferential voting).

Report of the City Remembrancer.

The Committee considered and approved a report of Mr. Remembrancer on the petition of the Company of Nurses to be constituted as a Livery Company of the City of London and related documents.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk advising of action taken by the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Court of Aldermen, in accordance with Standing Order No. 46 (Court of Aldermen).

To note the non-public outstanding actions in respect of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen’s work programme.

The Committee considered the Non-Public Outstanding Actions List which had been updated since the last meeting on 21 March 2023.

Members of Strategy Group Three, focused on Communications and Stakeholder Engagement were given the opportunity to update the Committee on their work.

There were no questions raised in non-public session.

Aldermen raised matters pertaining to Member culture and the CRM database in the non-public session.