Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Stuart Fraser, Alderman Alison Gowman and the Rt Hon the Lord Mayor Alderman Fiona Woolf.

Ian Seaton and Wendy Mead declared a conflict of loyalties on item 7d by virtue of being Members of the Epping Forest & Commons Committee and Open Spaces and City Gardens Committee respectively, and as such would not participate in the discussion or decision of this item. Mr Seaton also declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 7m as his Livery Company supported London Youth.

To agree the minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 12February 2014.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the last meeting held on 12^th February 2014 be approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

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

Outstanding Grant Conditions

Members noted that the outstanding financial conditions relating to SSBA Community Trust and Castlehaven Community Association had now been completed and therefore could be removed.

Access works

Officers had looked into the query over whether access works were being delayed until a balance had been raised by previous grant recipients. Three organisations currently had works to be completed, of which two had commenced work and one was awaiting a planning decision.

Members’ Handbook

Members noted that the handbook was now online and it was agreed that a few hardcopies would be circulated at the next 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.

The Chief Grants Officer informed Members that a substantive report would be received at the next Committee on the Trust’s proposed designated reserve which was anticipated to be £3.4 million from the previous year (2013-14) and would then be considered at Finance Committee.

The Deputy Chairman was concerned about the length of the draft Business Plan and urged the Chief Grants Officer to consider shortening the content for future years, though recognising that it followed a standard, corporate, template.

Members were informed of dates for two forthcoming events. The “Greening the Economy Conference”, provisionally set for 19 May, was now confirmed for Thursday 10 July. There would also be an event to launch the Trust’s partnership with Buttle UK to be held at the Mansion House on the morning of Tuesday 6 May (followed by a buffet lunch).

RESOLVED – That,

a)    the report be received and its contents noted;

b)    the Draft City Bridge Trust Business Plan April 2014 – March 2015 be approved; and

c)    a waiver be approved for £4,000 from the underspend in the Learning and Sharing fund to be used to engage Champollion for a 4-6 week social media campaign for the Park Life London website.

To receive a report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer that summarised applications received and action taken under the 2012/13 Working with Londoners and Investing in Londoners grants programmes. There remained 2 applications to the Working with Londoners programmes under assessment and which are intended to be brought to the April meeting. In response to a question from the Deputy Chairman, the Grants Officer advised that the number of applications against objectives was presented in the annual report.

The Deputy Chairman queried if Table 3 (page 59), could be provided to the Committee with six monthly analysis of different levels of grant approvals by outcome area, and the Chief Grants Officer undertook to do so in future.

RESOLVED – That:

a)    the report be noted; and

b)    the grant recommendations in the subsequent annexes 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 7a (Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network) – A Member raised her concern over the low level of free unrestricted reserves. Officers had discussed this with the organisation who offered assurances that opportunities for income generation and reductions in expenditure had been identified.  It was highlighted that the organisation had secured 98% of this year’s income and 78% of next year’s income and that this provided some reassurance as to the charity’s financial position. Members requested that details like this were recorded in the minutes to support their decision.

Item 7b (Community Development Finance Association) – In response to a Member’s query, the Chief Grants Officer advised that work was underway to bridge the Social Investment Board and the City Bridge Trust so organisations were aware of all funding opportunities.

Item 7c (Council of Somali Organisations) – In response to a Member’s question, the Deputy Chief Grants Officer reported that this organisation sought to strengthen the Somali population’s capacity to become more involved with the wider community and with statutory services and prevent isolation.

Item 7i (Zacchaeus 2000 Trust) – It was noted that Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K) was no longer religiously affiliated, and the Deputy Chairman reported that he knew the Chairman of the Trust in passing.

Members raised concern over the organisation’s aim of “campaigning against laws and practices which operate unfairly or oppressively on [their] clients”, but were advised by the Grants Officer that this aspect was not related to the purpose of the grant and was clearly stated in the Trust’s standard grant conditions. Members agreed that care needed to be taken to ensure the Committee was funding organisations

£109,120 over 3 years (£36,000; £36,030; £37,090) for 2 part time (14hrs/week) co-production facilitators and on-costs to support community organisations and leaders in Wandsworth to come together to transform public services.

£133,400 over two years (£44,400; £89,000) towards the delivery of three community finance partnership pilots in North, East and South London, on the condition that the balance of funding is raised from other sources.

£100,000 over two years (2 X £50,000) towards the salary and associated running costs of a Business Development Manager (3 days per week) and a Research Development Officer (2 days per week). The grant was conditional on the appointment of a Director with the requisite financial skills to be paid in monthly instalments.

£388,000 over one year towards Epping Forest and Hampstead Heath’s volunteering programmes which will increase Londoners’ skills, knowledge and understanding of the green environment and biodiversity.

£130,000 over three years (£43,000; £43,000; £44,000) towards the salaries of a p/t (17.5 hpw) Development Worker and 17.5 hpw of the HR Administrator, plus running costs of the “Go Anywhere, Do Anything” Project.

£88,000 over three years (£29,000; £29,000; £30,000) towards the salary of the Manager (11hrs/week) and Assistant Case Worker (11hrs/week), and running costs of the Starfish domestic violence project subject to the necessary balance being raised in year 2 and 3 to make the project viable.

£101,440 (£34,440; £33,320; £33,680) over three years for the salary and on-costs of a specialist f/t Money Advisor in Bexley.

£90,000 over three years (3 X £30,000) towards the salary and overhead costs of the full-time Advice Worker at the Centre for Armenian Information and Advice.

£149,850 over three years (£48,388; £49,910; £51,552) towards the salary of one of Z2K’s full-time Caseworkers and towards general running costs of the general advice service. The grant is subject to the organisation achieving the ASA Quality Mark or other recognised accreditation.

£50,000 over two years (2 X £25,000) towards the core costs of Changing Paths.

£40,000 from the City Bridge Trust Strategic Initiatives allocation to commission Lemos&Crane to undertake research into the scope for people with learning disabilities to access the Arts in London.

£222,000 to engage the Association of Charitable Foundations to expand your City Philanthropy a wealth of opportunity initiative until December 2015, costed against the City Bridge Trust budget for Strategic Initiatives 2013/14.

£216,000 over three years (£68,000; £112,000; £36,000) from the City Bridge Trust Strategic Initiatives allocation for the revenue costs of delivering the Inclusion project.

£240,000 over three years (3 X £80,000) to enable the Media Trust to further develop its London360 initiative to be costed against the City Bridge Trust budget for Strategic Initiatives 2013/14.

£30,000 to enable the New Economic Foundation to disseminate the findings of its Surviving Austerity research across local authorities in London to be costed against the City Bridge Trust budget for Strategic Initiatives 2013/14.

£450,000 over three years (3 x £150,000) towards core salary and other costs to support the provision of Centres of Excellence in Greater London.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer which recommended that four grant applications in the Investing in 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 received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which provided details of one application which had been withdrawn.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which advised Members of 6 expenditure items, totalling £32,250, which had been presented for approval under delegated authority to the Chief Grants Officer.

Grants

·         Protege DNA Ltd  - £4,000 to match CEP funding towards wage costs Dagenham Bangladeshi Women & Children's Association - £12,000 for two years towards salaries and running costs

·         Carers Support (Bexley) - £11,500 for a third and final year towards salaries and an advice and advocacy service

Eco-audits

·         Community Links Bromley - 10 days (value £4,000) to undertake an eco-audit

·         London Voluntary Service Council - One additional day to complete the review process and prepare the final report

·         Voluntary Action Islington - Provision of one additional day for the delivery of an information workshop

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

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

There were no questions.

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 of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item No.                                              Exempt Paragraphs

12 -14                                                              3

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2014.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2014 be approved as a correct record.

There were no questions.

There was one item of urgent business raised in respect of the following:

The City Bridge Trust Committee annual dinner.