Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Deputy Wendy Mead, Alderman Alison Gowman, Michael Henderson-Begg and Ian Seaton.

The Chairman took the opportunity to pay tribute to John Bird, who had resigned from the Court of Common Council since the last meeting of the Committee. Mr Bird had served on the Committee since its establishment and was indeed its first Chairman, and as such it was felt it would be appropriate for the Chairman and Chief Grants Officer to write to Mr Bird thanking him for his contribution over the years.

It was also noted that this would be Stewart Goshawk’s last meeting, as he would shortly be resigning from his contract for general grant-making work with the City Bridge Trust. Whilst he would still be working within the Trust’s office three days per week managing the Wembley National Stadium Trust, this would be his last attendance at this meeting and so the Chairman took the opportunity to thank him for all his work in his eighteen years at the Corporation, including sixteen working for the Trust.

Jeremy Mayhew declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in respect of the application from the Barbican Centre Trust Ltd as a Member of the Barbican Centre Board.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 10 January 2013 (copy attached).

The public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 10 January 2013 were approved.

MATTERS ARISING:

·         1.) Retirement of Chief Grants Officer (p2) – The Chairman expressed concern that he had not been involved as much as he would have liked in the recruitment of the current Chief Grants Officer’s successor. A Member suggested that the matter be raised with the Town Clerk and Comptroller & City Solicitor outside the meeting to explore the potential for any change to the appointments process and the legalities surrounding this.

Report of the Town Clerk (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk identifying those items raised at meetings of the Committee that required further action by officers.

With reference to the application from the Shakespeare Globe Trust, officers were asked to try and elicit a revised application one final time, copying in the organisation’s Chief Executive to any correspondence.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

To receive a progress report of the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee received the regular progress report of the Chief Grants Officer which highlighted the various activities that were on-going or had recently concluded.

The Chairman drew Members’ attention to the confirmation of a date for the annual Committee Dinner, which would be held on Friday 21st June at Tower Bridge, and also took the opportunity to inform Members that the Trust’s Growing Localities Awards ceremony would take place on Thursday 11th April, in the Garden Room at the Barbican Centre. Formal invitations for both events would of course be circulated in due course.

A Member highlighted access issues at Tower Bridge for those arriving in taxis, asking that explicit directions be provided with the invitations to ensure that guests were fully aware of how to reach the venue as easily as possible.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

To consider the Chief Grants Officer’s reports on grant recommendations, as follows (copies attached):-

The Committee considered the Grant Applications as follows:

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer, introducing the grants programmes and stating that a total of fifty-one applications would be dealt with at the meeting, of which one was a strategic initiative, seventeen were recommended for grants and nineteen recommended for rejection, with nine having been withdrawn. Five grants were also noted as having been approved under delegated authority.

A request to carry forward funds remaining in the 2012/13 Working with Londoners and Growing Localities to the 2013/14 grants budget was also approved, with the Chamberlain advising that the request would go to the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee for formal approval.

RESOLVED: That:-

•              The contents of the report be noted;

•              Officers be instructed to put formal arrangements in place to carry forward the £2,596,473 remaining from the 2012/13 Working with Londoners grants budget to financial year 2013/14; and

•              Officers be instructed to put formal arrangements in place to carry forward the £233,410 remaining from the 2012/13 Growing Localities grants budget to the 2013/14 general grants budget.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer recommending grants to organisations.

During consideration of the applications before the Committee, the following comments were made by Members of the Committee and relevant officers:

·         The Chairman reminded Members of the distinction between the Barbican Centre and the Barbican Centre Trust Ltd at Annex 4 (Barbican Centre Trust Ltd), and made clear that the funding was for a third and final year of a grant. The Chief Grants Officer noted that it would be sensible to further clarify the definition of “exceptional grants” as part of the quinquennial review to avoid any potential confusion in future.

·         In response to a Member’s comment at Annex 8 (London Orchard Project Ltd) concerning the Lord Mayor’s interest in this area, the Chief Grants Officer undertook to explore the possibility of a cheque presentation ceremony being arranged to take place at the Mansion House.

·         With regard to the application at Annex 15 (Green Alliance), a Member noted that this was the second successive year that funding had been sought and asked officers to ensure the applicant did not become dependent on the Trust’s funding. Officers undertook to pass on the message but gave assurances that there was no danger of the organisation becoming reliant on funding from the Trust given the wide range of funders already involved and their knowledge that Trust funding was limited to a maximum of three years.

·         Members were supportive of the Strategic Initiative proposed at Annex 18 (Institute for Public Policy Research), citing their concerns over the issue of payday loans and some of the seemingly extortionate interest rates charged to some of society’s most vulnerable people. The Chief Grants Officer advised that this research would mesh well with other campaigns being undertaken in the field as the IPPR

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer recommending nineteen grant applications in the Working with Londoners programme be rejected for the reasons identified in the schedule attached to the report.

RESOLVED: That the grant applications detailed in the schedule attached to the report be rejected.

The Committee considered the reports of the Chief Grants Officer as follows:

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer detailing nine applications that had been withdrawn.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer advising Members of variations to four grants agreed by the Chief Grants Officer since the last meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer advising Members of five grants, totalling £99,810, which had been approved under delegated authority since the last meeting of the Committee as follows:

•               Kazzum - £19,300 for a third and final year towards Kazzum's Pathways project for young migrants and refugees on condition of receipt of a satisfactory monitoring report for year two of the current award.

•               West & North West London Vietnamese Association - £24,850 over two years (£12,425; £12,425) towards the costs of the coordinator, tutor and project on-costs for the ESOL project.

•               Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens - £11,900 for the provision of 10 training courses over two years (2 x £2,950) and the printing, distribution and launch of the London Map (£6,000).

•               Forest Farm Peace Garden - £19,760 over two years (£9,800; £9,960) towards the Bridge Worker's salary (10.5 hours per week) and associated project costs.

•               Community Cancer Centre - £24,000 over two years (2 x £12,000) towards the costs of providing information and support to cancer patients and their carers.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer relative to two visits that had been undertaken.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

Joint report of the Chief Grants Officer and the Director of Economic Development (copy attached).

The Committee considered a joint report of the Director of Economic Development and the Chief Grants Officer concerning the proposed extension of the Social Investment Consultant role to 31 March 2014.

RESOLVED: That the following be approved:-

•               a contribution of up to £50,000 to fund 50% of a dedicated Social Investment role and associated costs, subject to the City Bridge Trust Committee agreeing to fund the balance and that the contribution be met from the Policy Initiatives Fund for 2013/14 and charged to City’s Cash (categorised under the “Communities” heading);

•               a variation of the consultancy contract to facilitate an extension to 31 March 2014; and,

•               the City's Procurement Regulations relating to tender thresholds for the consultant be waived to facilitate the extension of the contract.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer providing an update on the Growing Localities programme.

RECEIVED.

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items.

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 as follows:-

Item Nos.                                                                    Exempt Paragraphs

13 - 14                                                                                       3                   

RESOLVED: That under Section 100 A (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 as follows:-

Item Nos.                                                                    Exempt Paragraphs

         13 - 14                                                                                        3                     

Report of the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer updating Members on the monitoring and evaluation of grants awarded under the “Working with Londoners” programmes which were launched in July 2008.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer updating Members on progress made with the quinquennial review and reporting on actions arising from the strategic workshop meeting of 16 November 2012.

There was one question.

There were two urgent items.