Agenda and minutes

Also in attendance

Representatives from the following organisations, whom the Chairman welcomed to the meeting were also present:

·         London Youth

·         Westminster Arts

·         Switchback Initiative

·         City Philanthropy

There were no apologies; however the Chairman noted that due to a funeral which many Members had attended, the substantive proceedings of the meeting would be delayed to allow for Members to arrive.

The Chairman gave thanks to Senior Grants Officer Karisia Gichuke for her hard work and service to the Committee as this was the last meeting she would be attending as part of her one year appointment to City Bridge Trust.

Ian Seaton declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of Item 6, Professional Development Events attended, due to being a Director of the Livery Company Apprenticeship Scheme, which had undertaken a joint venture with Creative & Cultural Skills.

The Chairman and Mr Simon Duckworth declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of Item 8.cc) St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace due to being voters in their Wards.

To agree the minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 28 November 2013.

The public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 28 November 2013 were approved as a correct record, subject to the following amendments –

·         Item 2 Declarations of Interest corrected to read Deputy Ken Ayers, Marianne Fredericks and the Chairman’s non-pecuniary interest under Item 9.a) Pan-London Personalisation Project, due to their involvement with Broadway Homelessness Support, and not Item 8.b) National Theatre.

Matter Arising

Item 13 (The COL as Trustees of Bridge House Estates) - The Chairman noted that a report on this matter would be received at the next meeting of the Court of Common Council.

To receive a report of the Town Clerk.

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

Members were informed that a satisfactory budget had been received for 2013/14 from Young People Matter.

To receive a joint report of The Chamberlain and The Town Clerk.

The Committee considered the annual submission of the revenue budgets overseen by the City Bridge Trust Committee that sought approval for the proposed 2014/15 budget for subsequent submission to the Finance Committee.

The Chamberlain noted that the decrease of £6.526m in budgeted net expenditure for 2014/15 was mainly due to the removal of two one-off grant programmes provided in 2013/14, one towards young people Not in Employment, Education or Training (£3.2m) and the other for the expansion of City Carers Open House (£280,000), and the removal of a one-off budget carry forward of £2.966m from 2012/13 to 2013/14.

Resolved – That,

a)    the provisional 2014/15 budget be approved for submission to the Finance Committee; and

b)    the Chamberlain be authorised to revise the budget to allow for any necessary realignment of funds resulting from corporate projects.

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.

The Chief Grants Officer noted Members were asked to approve the principles of the draft report listed in Appendix B to his Progress Report – Resourcing for the City of London Corporation’s Social Investment Activity, which sought to make recommendations on the future resourcing of the City’s social investment work following the first year of operation of the Social Investment Fund.

The Chief Grants Officer stated that Social Investment Board Officers had been examining fund management costs and were working towards bringing more financial expertise in-house, before third parties were consulted on social investments.

The Committee received a presentation from City Philanthropy Manager, Cheryl Chapman, which outlined the achievements of the organisation in its first full year of funding. The City Philanthropy exhibition, which documented the history of philanthropy in the City had received good media coverage and a book was now available which was sold online. Work and networks were being established with other organisations to grow philanthropy in the City, including the Lord Mayor’s Office, The City Funding Network and Young Philanthropy.

A Member raised concern over a lack of awareness of the work of Young Philanthropy previous to this presentation.  Members and Ms Chapman discussed the aims of City Philanthropy whose success rested on achieving the support of City companies as well as the support of City Bridge Trust Members to build awareness of the role of City Philanthropy.

To receive a report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer, which dealt with the recommendations relating to applications received on the current programmes. Members noted that a total of 27 applications would be dealt with at the meeting, of which 10 were recommended for approval, 6 recommended for rejection, 3 had been withdrawn and 2 had lapsed. 6 were noted as proposed for approval under delegated authority.

The Deputy Chairman remarked that Table 2 – Grant approvals by outcome area – was in a much-improved format but, in future, could provide more details on the trends, the balance of funds, and additional analysis. In reply, officers advised they were happy to amend the report as advised and to receive further comments on the structure of the report so that it could best serve as a strategic tool.

RESOLVED – That,

a)    Members note the content of the report; and

b)    the individual grant recommends 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 8.f) (Shoreditch Trust) – officers noted that the revised amount requested was due to the organisation’s revision to its original funding request for two full time posts, which was not Trust policy.

Item 8.g) (The Switchback Initiative) – officers noted that they had examined the trend of deficit spend and were satisfied with the figures to date.

Item 8.i) (Action for Kids) – Members expressed concern over the small number of active volunteers, and officers replied that the number listed was with regard to those volunteers which worked at the headquarters and not across London boroughs. Officers remarked the charity had developed a strong reputation to date with employers.

Item 8.j) (Partnership with Prisoners Abroad) – the Chief Grants Officer stated the programme would receive a Trust grant contribution for an 18 month period initially, upon which support would be re-assessed. Members requested that it be noted the Director of Economic Development at the City of London Corporation was a Trustee of Prisoners Abroad.

£8,380 over three years (£26,000; £26,780; £27,600) for the salary of the full time Wheelchair Basketball London Development Officer.

£80,000 over two years (2 x £40,000) as a final contribution towards the salaries and associated running costs of PDT’s community development work in Queen’s Park on condition that a satisfactory monitoring report is provided for the current grant.

£89,5000 over three years (£33,7000; £27,800; £28,000) for the salary and costs of developing programme for emerging leaders from divided communities in London to build improved community relations and promote community engagement.

£47,400 over 3 years (£10,400; £18,500; £18;500) towards the salary and associated costs a Centre Manager (30hpw), subject to the Trust not being the organisation’s largest single funder in years 2 and 3.

£72,000 over three years (£17,000; £25,000; £30,000) towards Westminster Arts’ Resonate programme, on the conditions that the balance of funding is raised.

£132,700 over three years (£43,000;£44,000;£45,7000 towards a full time Lead Facilitator and the running costs of Blue Marble Training programme to support care leavers and ex-offenders to develop skills and access opportunities for fulfilling careers in food.

£96,000 over three years (£31,000; £32,000; £33,000) towards the salary and running costs of a Switchback Mentor to provide long-term, semi-therapeutic relationships for young adult offenders from London.

£75,000 over two years (£50,000; £25,000) towards the salary and associated running costs of a 3 day a week Development Consultant in order to establish the BAMER Advice Network as an independent organisation.

£107,000 over three years (£36,500; £35,600; £35,600) for the salary of a f/t Job Coach and related project costs to help young disabled Londoners into employment.

£330,000 from the City Bridge Trust grants budget for 2013/14 in order to establish and administer a hardship fund for destitute British citizens returning to London after imprisonment overseas.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer which recommended that 6 grant applications from the Investing in Londoners and Working for Londoners programme be rejected for the reasons identified in the schedule attached to the report.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which provided details of 3 applications which had been withdrawn.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which advised Members of 6 grants, totalling £52,526, which had been presented for approval under delegated authority to the Chief Grants Officer in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

Members remarked that funding listed for City Bridge Trust to complete the Parklife London website as part of the Trust’s Growing Localities Initiative, looked as if the Trust was paying itself. Members and officers discussed that this additional funding had been agreed as a delegated authority through the grant application approved by the Committee.

Members requested that these instances be clarified in future, either through the Chief Grants Officer’s report or by including a category of delegated authorities to note such exceptions in the report received by the Committee.

The Committee received a report of the Chie Grants Officer relative to 2 visits that had been undertaken.

Questions were raised in respect of the following -

The Deputy Chairman queried whether the Trust should consider directing funding to projects or charities in any of the London boroughs where social tensions were evident.  Members felt that more energy should instead be spent locating suitable projects/charities to fund at all times across the boroughs, and particularly those that were receiving less Trust funds.

The Chief Grants Officer advised that Officers were considering a proposal to Members at the February and March 2014 meetings to earmark funds from the Trust’s underspend for some higher level, pro-active grants. Members suggested that those funding applications, that had successful support models, could be rolled out to those boroughs that were currently underrepresented.

There were no items of urgent business.

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 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 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item No                                   Exempt Paragraphs

13                                            3

14                                            3

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2013.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2013 were approved as a correct record.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.