Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Andrien Meyers (Chair), Caroline Haines, and Florence Keelson-Anfu.

Alderman Sir Charles Bowman and Judith Pleasance observed the meeting virtually.

There were no declarations.

To approve the public minutes of the meeting held on 26^th June 2024.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes of the previous meeting held on 26^th June 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Under matters arising, an update was requested on the matter raised as the previous meeting regarding the Chaplaincy at the City of London Corporation. The Sub Committee heard that a number of meetings had been held with the Chaplain of St Lawrence Jewry on how to review the chaplaincy offer, and a page had been launched on the intranet. Members of the Sub Committee would be followed up on this matter.

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning the draft Terms of Reference for the Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EEDI) Review. It was explained that, subject to decision, a firm would be appointed in either October or November 2024, and a draft report would be received by the Committee in early 2025.

RESOLVED – That Members endorse the Terms of Reference of the EEDI Review.

Report of the Chief People Officer & Executive Director of People and HR.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Chief People Officer and Executive Director of People and HR, concerning the overall findings of the recent staff survey to assess employee satisfaction, engagement, and areas for improvement within the organisation. The report specifically highlighted the Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EEDI) responses collected during the survey.

The Sub Committee welcomed Costa Antoniou from People Insight and received a presentation of the slides included within the agenda pack. Questions and comments were made of the presentation, as follows:

·       On the cross over of demographics, there were some observations to be made, such as on age and length of service, and that those who were disabled having generally lower or less favourable responses to questions.

·       The Sub Committee noted and expressed concerns on responses relating to Members. It was queried whether this was benchmarked. The response was that this was not benchmarked for Members specifically. Scores for senior leadership teams (SLT) could also vary dependant on the organisation. The Sub Committee heard that the concerns raised following the staff survey on members was being addressed, such as via a member behaviour review which was due to be received by the Policy & Resources Committee. It was further explained that there was a piece of work to educate and explain the role of elected members within the organisation, such as at the new staff induction, and attending the new internal EEDI Staff Forum.

·       The option to include free text was not included for each question, as this could have caused user fatigue. It could be considered for future surveys.

·       Relating to the ‘honeymoon period’, or those recent employees tended to react more positively, the Sub Committee heard that it was becoming more typical that this positivity would reduce after one year of service, whereas previously

Report of the Commissioner of Police.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Commissioner of Police, concerning the City of London Police’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for 2024-27.

A Member queried how the Strategy would directly affect the low female participation within the force. The response was that there were some initiatives, such as a sponsorship programme, to increase recruitment. It was observed that though there was a high number of female staff overall, this did not translate into the number of officers.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.

The Chamberlain to be heard.

The Sub Committee heard a verbal report of the Chamberlain, concerning an update on the current position of the City’s Finances, following requests from the Sub Committee on the resources and prioritisation of resources for the EEDI portfolio.

The Sub Committee had sight of a presentation which covered the challenges for the City Fund and the City Estate, and the Medium-Term Financial Plan. With the capital programme, the ambitions were over-exceeding the funds available. There were also the challenges with operational property, an aging estate, and major projects. The City Fund had to be balanced across a Medium-Term Financial Plan, but also the budget needed to be balanced year-on-year. It was forecasted that in a few years, the deficit would not be balanced, and this needed to be addressed. With the City Estate, this operated on a drawdown of assets. However, if the Corporation continued without change, there would no longer be a City Estate.

The Sub Committee heard that the challenges were how to fund areas of pressures at the Corporation, without adding to the deficit and making cuts. It was a question of how to re-prioritise resources, to ensure that the Corporation was providing services to the right place. The Court of Common Council had approved a temporary funding contingency for EEDI, and the next steps were looking into re-prioritising resources to ensure that the EEDI function was supported in the future.

RESOLVED – That the verbal report be noted.

Executive Director of Corporate Communications and External Affairs to be heard.

The Sub Committee heard a verbal report of the Executive Director of Corporate Communications and External Affairs, concerning the City Belonging project. The presentation was received by the Sub Committee as it was a programme of activity which incorporated EEDI.

The Sub Committee heard of the engagement challenge within the City of London, with its unusual community, it was hard to reach using traditional communication methods, especially workplaces. The solution was to launch the City Belonging project, which sought to bring together workplaces and their staff utilising their staff networks and internal communication to reach the wider workplace and foster a community within the City of London. The next steps were to increase the contact with staff network leads and set up a new-starter programme. The project could address diversity and inclusion issues both internally and externally, including considerations on cultural change on how to put City Belonging and EEDI front and centre when thinking about community and events.

The work to create a central Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system thus far were noted, and it was queried what the plans to create a single database. The Sub Committee heard that there were plans to create a City Corporation owned dataset, such as the Digital Lighthouse Project, which could be stored centrally and be used to identify gaps in data. There was some data collect by the Corporation, such as for electoral registration, which could not be shared. However, other data collected could be fed back to Electoral Services.

It was raised that chains, such as coffee shops, would have a separate central HR function, which could raise issues. The response was that the project could not be perfect for every situation, and it was important to maintain contact details of the manager of the local shops to combat these

There were no public questions.

There were no public items of urgent business.

MOTION: That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) 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.

RESOLVED - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) 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.

Report of the City Remembrancer.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Remembrancer, concerning events and venue accessibility at Guildhall and the City’s other large venues.

Report of the City Remembrancer.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Remembrancer, concerning a Diversity Questionnaire for City Corporation events.

There were no non-public questions.

NOTE – During this item, the Committee agreed that, under Standing Order No.40, the meeting be extended in order to conclude its business.

Two items of non-public urgent business were raised.