Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Alderman Sir Peter Estlin.

Paul Martinelli and John Scott declared non-pecuniary interests in respect of item 12 due to being governors of the Board of the Museum of London.

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 18^th February 2020.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes of the meeting held on 18^th February 2020 be approved as an accurate record

Report of the Town Clerk

The Committee considered a Report of the Town Clerk concerning appointments to the Finance Committee’s Sub-Committees.

RESOLVED – that the Committee approved the following appointments:

·         James de Sausmarez is appointed Deputy Chairman of Corporate Asset Sub-Committee

·         Alderman Sir Peter Estlin is appointed Deputy Chairman of Digital Services Sub-Committee

·         The following Members are appointed to serve on Corporate Asset Sub-Committee:

Rehana Ameer

Andrien Meyers 

Henry Pollard

·         The following Members are appointed to serve on Efficiency & Performance Sub-Committee:

Roger Chadwick

Dominic Christian

James de Sausmarez

Alderman Sir Peter Estlin

Oliver Lodge

·         In addition, Roger Chadwick is appointed to the Procurement Sub-Committee and the Finance Grants Oversight & Performance Sub-Committee

The Chairman thanked all those Members who had agreed to serve for the remainder of the 2019/20 civic year, and thanked those individuals who were stepping down, namely, Nick Bensted-Smith, Wendy Hyde and Henry Pollard for their contributions, to respectively, Corporate Asset Sub-Committee, Efficiency & Performance Sub-Committee and Finance Grants Oversight & Performance Sub-Committee.  

Report of the Chamberlain.

Appendices in the non-public agenda.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain regarding the anticipated year-end position for the 2019/20 Contingencies, and an update on the uncommitted balances for the 2020/21 Contingencies.

RESOLVED – That the Committee agreed to carry forward sufficient resources of £617,002 to meet existing allocations and thereby provide a full year’s Central Contingency for funding requirements that may arise during 2020/21.

The sum of £125,000 will be made available in 2020/21 for the National and International Disaster Fund.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk which provided information of the action taken by the Town Clerk since the last meeting of the Committee, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, in accordance with Standing Orders 41(a) and 41(b). The decision related to the donations sourced from Finance Committee’s International Disaster Relief Fund of a) £20,000 to the British Red Cross to assist its national response to the Covid-19 crisis, and b) 20,000 to Team Rubicon to assist its London wide response to Covid-19.

In response to a Member raising the prospect of providing a donation to the World Health Organisation, the Chairman stressed that given the ongoing health and economic impact caused by Covid-19, he was anticipating further calls on the International Disaster Relief Fund before long.

With the help of the Central Grants Unit (CGU), each request would be judged on its merits, with an emphasis on providing smaller donations to appeals closer to home. It was also important, in the event of further crises occurring, to ensure that monies were still available in the Fund throughout the whole of the financial year.

RESOLVED – That the Committee notes the report.

There were no questions.

The following item of urgent business was raised –

The Chamberlain confirmed that the Corporation has now provided £14.5 million of the original £14.7M Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) allocation or 98.6%.

This represents 847 grant payments out of the original estimate of 900 or 94%. The Chamberlain’s Department is continuing to process all grant payments within 48 hours of receipt of bank details, the remaining 6% represented firms which had yet to respond with these details.

The Chamberlain informed Members that the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets and the Minister for London, Paul Scully MP had, via a conference call with local government finance representatives on 16^th May, thanked the Corporation for its efforts to distribute payments thus far.

Separately, the Chamberlain raised concerns about the outline plans for the new Discretionary Scheme, namely, the size of the Corporation’s potential fund compared to others, as well as the current type of business that was eligible for funding. An update would be provided at the next meeting of the Committee.

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

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 18^th February 2020.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 18^th February were approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the impact of Covid-19 on the Corporation’s finances in 2020/21 (as at month end of April 2020).

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the Report.

Report of the City Surveyor.

This paper was withdrawn.

Report of the Director of the Museum of London.

The Committee considered a Report of the Director of the Museum of London concerning the MoL’s annual pay award.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee noted a report of the Town Clerk detailing three non-public decisions taken under delegated authority and/or urgency procedures since the last meeting.

Report of the Chamberlain

Non-Public Appendices for ITEM 4 - Central Contingencies

There were no non-public questions relating to the work of the Committee.

There were no items of urgent business.