Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Alderman Alison Gowman and Vivienne Littlechild.

The Chairman declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 7.g) due to being an honourary life member of SetPoint.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 3 October 2013.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 3 October 2013 be approved as a correct record.

To receive a report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk that identified items which required further action by officers.

Members were informed that satisfactory audited accounts for the first year of the newly merged Dulwich Helpline & Southwark Churches Care had been received.

The Chief Grants Officer noted that a report was being completed, in consultation with the Comptroller and City Solicitor, on the meaning of the Trust’s independence from the City of London Corporation and would be presented to the Committee at the 28 November 2013 meeting.

To receive a progress report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered the regular progress report and events update of the Chief Grants Officer, who remarked that visits with Members to City Bridge Trust (CBT) grant recipients were taking place.

The Chief Grants Officer informed Members that the communications strategy to promote the Investing in Londoners programmes was underway..

The Chief Grants Officer remarked that a new format for updating Members on the Trust’s progress against its Business Plan objectives was being trialled at this meeting and could be found appended to this report.

It was noted that the assessments of all applications received as part of the Working with Londoners grants programme would not be completed by the target date of October 2013, but would be likely to be completed by January 2014. The target for the launch of the new grants programmes was also likely to change from amber to green by the next reporting period.

The Chief Grants Officer invited officers to present on the City of London Corporation’s social investment portfolio and the work of the Social Investment Adviser who was being jointly funded by the Trust and Policy and Resources Committee.

The Social Investment Advisor updated Members on her work to engage with a number of policy investment actors, including City businesses Big Lottery Fund, the Treasury and the Cabinet Office.  This work supported the Corporation’s aim of positioning London as a global hub for social investment.

The Principal Grants Officer added that in October of 2012, the City of London Corporation had established a £20m Social Investment Fund, drawn from capital in the Bridge House Estates. This fund was overseen by the Social Investment Board on which several members of City Bridge Trust Committee sat.  In its first year, the Board has invested £2m, including £500,000 in Golden Lane Housing Bond.  Members watched

To consider an introductory report of the Chief Grants Officer relative to grant recommendations.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer, which dealt with recommendations relating to applications received from the currents programmes. Members noted that a total of 35 applications would be dealt with at the meeting, of which 1 was a strategic initiative,12 were recommended for approval, 16 recommended for rejection, 2 had been withdrawn and 1 had been lapsed. Three grants were noted as proposed for approval under delegated authority.

RESOLVED – That,

a)    Members note the contents of the report; and

b)    the individual grant recommendations in relation to the applications set out in the summary schedule and other papers be considered.

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

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer which recommended grants to various organisations.

Members considered each application and the following observations were noted:

Item 7.d) (British Wheelchair Association) – It was noted with regards to the grant recommendation that 2012/13 accounts had been received.

Item 7.e) (Trussell Trust) – A Member remarked that in the current environment, a number of churches had also become involved in the development of food banks.

Item 7.f) (ShareAction) – A Member asked if in future, further information on these types of organisations could be provided as in many investment funds, many decision were taken by the fund managers. It was agreed that a progress report be submitted to the November 2014 Committee. The Deputy Chairman requested that this report also include details of the work that Economic Development Office was undertaking to support financial literacy.

Item 7.g) (SETPOINT London East) – The Chairman noted that this was interesting project that had been a beneficiary of previous grants. Members noted that the grant was conditional on City Bridge Trust not being the organisation’s single largest funder in any one year.

Item 7.i) (Beyond Youth CIC) – based on a query from a Member, officers had corrected Section 8 of the application to read as follows: voluntary income £50,000; investment income £0; other sources £0 and total income of £183,734.

£64,500 over three years (3 x £21,500) for additional sessional workers and volunteers, a driver and new equipment to support and accommodate disabled beneficiaries to take part in paddlesports.

£60,000 towards disability access works to the community centre, at St Laurence Church.

£50,000 towards access-related costs comprising the following components:

a)    £2,000 towards a further access appraisal of architect plans when these reach a more advanced stage; and

b)    £48,000 toward access-related building works, conditions upon:

(i)    A satisfactory further access appraisals of architects’ plans;

(ii)   Confirmation that revenue needed to offset revenue losses while works take place has been secured before building works start.

£71,000 over three years (£16,000; £27,000; £28,000) towards the salary of a full time Project officer and associated costs to run an equipment loan scheme and support multi-support events as part of the Motivate East Paralympic legacy programme.

£195,000 over three years (3 x £65,000) towards the f/t salaries of a London Network Manager and a London Development Officer.

£117,000 over three years (£38,000; £39,000; £40,000) towards the salary and costs of a three year programme of environmental education for London’s residents.

£40,000 over two years (2 x £20,000) towards the salary and running costs of environmental workshops for children at the Soanes Centre conditional on the City Bridge Trust not being the organisation’s single largest funder in any year.

£71,800 over two years (£37,100; £34,700) towards the salary and costs of training and delivery of a volunteer and disabled-led information, support planning brokerage service to help people accessing personal budgets and direct payments for the first time.

£38,000 over one year towards the salary of a full time Project Facilitator and running costs to deliver Chance to Change in HMP Send.

£90,500 over three years (£30,350; £29,850; £30,300) towards a part-time Project Administrator (2 days per week) and project running costs for a London network matching experienced fundraisers with small charities to strengthen the financial skills of the latter.

£131,600 over three years (£43,800; £42,800; £45,000) towards the salary of a part-time (21hpw) Project Co-ordinator and running costs of the ‘Know Your Impact’ project.

£114,000 over three years (£40,000; £38,000; £36,000) for the salary and related costs of a full-time Corporate Engagement Manager.

To consider a report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer which proposed the Committee commission the Institute for Voluntary Action Research to prepare a study of evaluation practice by charitable grant-makers to convene a meeting for leading trusts and foundations.

This would provide an opportunity to discuss a case-study prepared for the occasion and support CBT and other participating grant-makers, to develop an improved understanding of the design and use of evaluation.

RESOLVED – That,

a)    the Institute for Voluntary Action Research be commissioned to convene the inaugural UK Evaluation Roundtable for charitable trusts and foundations, at a cost of £5,000, to be charged against the City Bridge Trust Strategic Initiatives allocation for 2013/14.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants officer which recommended that sixteen grant applications from the Working with Londoners programme be rejected for the reason identified in the schedule attached to the report.

A Member raised concerns over the rejection of an organisation for reasons that seemed to mirror the reasons given for other grants that had been approved. Officers advised that the organisation had been rejected for reasons beyond those given that could not be listed in public papers without seeming punitive.

It was discussed that for organisations that were requesting grants up to £50,000 a different due diligence form could be developed to make the level of required information proportionate to the size of request.  This might be especially helpful for smaller organisations which may not have the same administrative capacity as larger ones.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which provided details of two applications which had been withdrawn and one lapsed application.

Members were updated that St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace would now be submitting an application under the Working with Londoner’s programme as further information on finances and theory of change had now been received and, therefore, it was to be withdrawn from its “lapsed” status.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which advised Members of a variation to one grants agreed since the last meeting of the Committee.

A Member queried as to why the £89,000 balance for the Ackee Housing Project had been revoked, to which officers advised that the end of year accounts had not been sent to the Charity Commission. Officers had subsequently met with the organisation and found that in the first year of the grant, funds had been well spent but subsequent failure to comply with the Charity Commission regulations meant that it had been decided to revoke any further funding.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which advised Members of the following three grants, totalling £53,760 which had been presented for approval under delegated authority to the Chief Grants Officer in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.  An amended covering report had been circulated, correcting an error in the Table.

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

The Chief Grants Officer reminded Members that schedules of upcoming monitoring visits would be received quarterly going forward.

To receive a report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee received a report which advised Members of the progress and activities undertaken by the Wembley National Stadium Trust (WNST), which was administered under contract by City Bridge Trust.

Members were informed of the structure of the National Stadium Trust and the work delivered for the WNST by a seconded CBT officer three days a week.

The officer explained that in consultation with CBT, WNST had been able to develop grant monitoring systems and had produced an annual review that would be presented to an upcoming annual general meeting. The contract with CBT was at the halfway mark, and it was suggested that the WNST may seek to continue the third party administration of the Trust. The officer was hopeful that CBT would be able to continue in this role, to which a Member asked if there was concern over the cumulative impact to CBT on this use of resources. 

It was noted that this CBT model of service, where CBT acts as a business incubator for the charity organisation, could be of interest to other charities, and should thus be monitored.

The Deputy Chairman and Chairman agreed that if these types of contracts were to develop further, a policy would need to be considered by the Committee.

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.

RESOLVED – That under Section 1009A) 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 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item No.                                  Exempt Paragraphs

14                                                        3

Questions were raised in respect of the following –

The funding relationship between Bridge House Estate and City Bridge Trust.

There were no items of urgent business.