Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor Dr Andrew Parmley, and Jeremy Mayhew.

The Chairman, Alderman Alison Gowman, and Edward Lord declared non-pecuniary interests in item 7e by virtue of being the City of London Corporation’s representatives on Trust for London.

Karina Dostalova declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 7p, Age UK Croydon, by virtue of being the City of London Corporation’s representative on the London body.

Vivienne Littlechild declared a non-pecuniary interest regarding Cripplegate Foundation which was one of the strategic initiatives in management reported in item 12e.

The Committee welcomed Natalia Rymaszewska, Chief Executive of the London Legal Support Trust (LLST), to the meeting.

Ms Rymaszewska advised that the London Legal Support Trust supported the provision of free legal services in London and the South East. The LLST operated on the principle that access to justice should be equally available to everyone, regardless of their financial situation, and advised people with a variety of issues ranging from small scale disputes to large scale legal battles. She outlined some of the key work being done in the sector, including the Justice First Fellowships, an initiative to support the next generation of social welfare lawyers to deliver justice in their communities, and Centres of Excellence, which demonstrated quality service provision and business efficiency and which ensured funds were being focussed in effective and secure organisations. Ms Rymaszewska spoke about the future work of the LLST, noting the uncertainty of governmental approach, the fragility of the organisations involved, and the fragmented advice services across London, and advised that a likely focus for the future would be training new and existing managers in order to up-skill and expand the capabilities of those working in this field.

In response to Members’ questions, Ms Rymaszewska detailed the money-saving work the LLST had undertaken by uniting organisations for larger spends, and comparing organisations’ budgets and therefore highlighting where money could be saved. She added that improvements in technology would facilitate more detailed comparisons in the future.

The Chairman thanked Ms Rymaszewska for her presentation.

To agree the minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 22 September 2016.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 22 September 2016 be agreed as an accurate record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

RESOLVED – That the Outstanding Actions update be noted.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee received the regular progress report of the Chief Grants Officer and discussed the updates provided.

Hate Crime/Social Cohesion

The Chief Grants Officer advised there had been a number of discussions regarding the impact of Brexit and the Trust remained in touch with the consultations and work being undertaken in City Hall and with umbrella bodies. Although there was no one-single initiative, the need for greater understanding of the emerging context would be crucial in the Strategic Review.

Association of Charitable Foundations

The Chief Grants Officer reported that, on 3 November, a number of officers and the Chairman had attended the ACF’s annual conference held at BMA House. Members queried the value of attendance and were assured of its importance and usefulness. Members therefore asked that early notice of, and invitations to, next year’s conference be sent to all Committee Members.

CBT Strategic Review

The Head of Strategic Review reported that the Project Steering Group had met twice and external-facing conversations were underway. She reported that she had met with the Chairman to discuss the best ways to ensure the engagement of Members throughout the process and advised that dedicated sessions would be held and updates regularly provided to ensure a two-way flow of information. She encouraged Members to contact her for further information or to feed-in at any stage of the process.

Communications

The Chief Grants Officer thanked Kristina Drake, new Media Officer for the Trust, who had secured media activity and a number of publications since starting.

Resources/Financial Resources

The Chief Grants Officer commended the work of Karen Atkinson since her appointment as Head of Charity and Social Investment Finance. He advised that very positive working arrangements had been established between the Chamberlain’s Department and CBT with a focus on improvements to due diligence and financial management

Joint report of the Chamberlain and the Town Clerk.

This report will also be considered by the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Town Clerk regarding the revenue budgets for 2017/18. Members noted the proposed uplift of £142,000, and officers advised this figure would need to be revised, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, in light of costs incurred through the management, monitoring and administering of grants.

RESOLVED – That:

a)    it be confirmed that the provisional 2017/18 revenue budget reflects the Committee’s objectives and the budget (including the revised uplift over the local risk resource base and subject to a bid for further resources) be approved for submission to the Finance Committee;

b)    an uplift to the 2017/18 budget be submitted to the Resource Allocation Sub Committee for final approval; and

c)    the Chamberlain be authorised to revise these budgets to allow for any necessary realignment of funds resulting from corporate projects.

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

APPROVED – That additional grant funding agreed by the Court of Common Council to support London's civil society infrastructure be used:

a)    £1M be allocated to create a Bridge Fund to:

                 i.       support London's civil society infrastructure organisations with grants of up to £50,000 each for 1 year;

                ii.       fund additional expert advice on organisational change if required;

b)    In principle, £1.5M a year for 2 years be used to provide cornerstone funding to support a pan-London strategic fund, working with other funders and key stakeholders, to support the infrastructure underpinning London's civil society (full details of which to be brought back to this Committee for final agreement).

APPROVED -

a)    £100,000 (£50,000 per annum over two years) to cover the cost of a full-time Business Engagement Officer to engage directly with businesses to tackle the effects of air pollution in London and to encourage a behavioural shift towards greener ways of doing business.

b)    This agreement be subject to the financial due diligence being satisfactorily completed and that approval of the due diligence is delegated to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman in consultation with the Chief Grants Officer and Head of Charity and Investment Finance.

APPROVED -

a)    A grant of £500,000 (£250,000 per annum over two years) to the Mayor's Fund for London to deliver the Enterprise Advisor Programme: creating powerful lasting connections between businesses and schools - improving student understanding of the world of work be agreed; and

b)    it be noted that the balance of the previous grant to The City of Westminster has been rescinded.

APPROVED - A grant of £205,100 over eighteen months (£120,500 year 1; £84,600 year 2) to Cranfield Trust to provide up to 95 London-based charities with management consultancy support.

APPROVED - A grant of £62,000 to Trust for London (£50,000 for match funding to projects and £12,000 (Inc. VAT) towards the costs of managing, administering and evaluating the pilot crowdfunding programme).

APPROVED - £59,400 over three years (£19,600; £19,800; £20,000) for the employment of a part-time Women's Support Worker (15 hours per week) and for the costs of delivering ESOL Classes to Entry-level and Level 1 standard.

APPROVED - £81,200 over three years (£26,700; £27,000; £27,500) towards salary (0.5 full-time equivalent) and associated costs of providing ESOL classes.

APPROVED - £42,400 over two years (£25,900, £16,500) for the salary of the part-time (14 hours per week) White House Garden Coordinator, planting initiatives, volunteer expenses and associated project costs for work at the White House.

APPROVED - £36,000 over three years (3 x £12,000) towards the costs of a Manager for Forest School Harrow. Funding will cover 0.5 full-time equivalent. The award to be subject to the following conditions:

·         The Manager should be employed by the charity rather than any third party organisation

·         The charity should recruit a suitably qualified treasurer to Its board

·         The charity's constitution should be updated to include an appropriate dissolution clause

APPROVED - £91,000 over three years (£34,000; £28,500; £28,500) towards the costs of Somerset House Trust's Edible Utopia programme, with funds covering 1.5 days per week of an Outreach Manager, volunteer expenses, the production of education materials and a small capital sum towards a new potting shed.

APPROVED - £153,200 over three years (£50,600, £49,700, £52,900) for the full-time salary of the BME Outreach and Engagement Community Worker and associated project costs for the Connect and Change for Better Health project.

APPROVED - £99,000 over three years (3 x £33,000) for the full-time salary of a Children and Family Worker at the Westminster refuge.

APPROVED - £106,000 over three years (£34,800; £35,300; 35,900) towards 80% of the inclusive salary costs of a Children & Families Practice Manager.

APPROVED - £159,690 over three years (£51,920; £53,220; £54,550) towards the full-time salary (36 hours per week) of the Brent and Ealing Service Manager.

APPROVED - £95,000 over three years (£30,000; £32,000; £33,000) for the salary, on costs and supervision costs of a full-time Talking Therapist providing one-to-one and group support to children attending Red Balloon Learner Centre NW London.

APPROVED - £60,800 for access and improvement works to Scratchley Hall.

APPROVED - £95,500 towards building works to improve access to Toynbee Studios.

APPROVED - £100,000 towards access works on St Mary Magdalene's church and the new annex.

APPROVED - £180,000 over three years (3 x £60,000) towards the full-time Support Services Manager and lunch and transport costs of Day Centre users.

APPROVED - £85,900 over two years (£43,500; £42,400) for a full-time Co-ordinator and project resources to support Living Streets' work to address barriers to walking for older people in Redbridge.

APPROVED - £105,400 over 3 years (£34,100; £35,200; 36,100) towards the cost of a part-time (21 hours) Project Manager and part-time (14 hours) Assistant plus running costs to provide Redbridge Dementia Befriending Service.

APPROVED - £66,220 over 3 years (£18,990; £23,570; £23,660) towards the salary of the Community and Access Officer (2 days per week), freelance costs and on-costs of the Out of the Frame project in London working with older people aged 75+ and people living with dementia. Release of the grant is conditional on a satisfactory revised monitoring framework being received.

APPROVED - £165,900 over three years (£54,800, £55,300, £55,800) towards a full-time Client Services Support Worker and associated project costs.

APPROVED - £64,300 for the third and final year of meeting staffing and overheads costs of an advice service for Wandsworth Foodbank users.

APPROVED - £96,700 over 2 years (£48,000, £48,700) towards a full-time Advice Worker and associated running costs for a project working with prisoners in HM Prison, Wormwood Scrubs.

APPROVED - £123,400 over three years (£40,100, £41,100, £42,200) towards the salary of a full-time Recovery Support Worker working out of the London Hub, and associated project costs.

APPROVED - £100,700 over three years (£36,000, £33,900, £30,800) for the salary of a part­ time (14 hours per week) Project Coordinator, the cost of Tutors and Mentors, related overheads and associated costs for the Horizon Plus project.

APPROVED - £180,000 over three years (3 x £60,000) for a learning and support programme to London-based City Farms and community gardens.

APPROVED - £136,000 over two years (£67,000; £69,000) to fund the salary costs of a 0.4 full-time equivalent Superhighways manager, one project worker (O.8 full-time equivalent) and associated running costs, for the continued delivery of the Superhighways Project.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer regarding the third round of Stepping Stones, which had recently concluded, and provided an update on past and current investees. Members noted there was merit in maintaining the programme, and agreed a business case be prepared to ensure the correct resource be allocated to support a fourth round of the programme. In response to Members’ questions, officers advised that funding to the Mayor’s Programme was to support a separate strand of work to the decision earlier in the meeting, and although banks had experienced difficult trading recently, UBS was still very positive about supporting Stepping Stones.

RESOLVED –

a)    That £500,000 be approved in principle for a fourth round of Stepping Stones subject to confirmation by officers at the City Bridge Trust Committee meeting in January 2017 as to whether this comes from the 2016-17 or 2017-18 grants budget;

b)    That a business case be produced to ensure that the correct resource is in place for programme administration and evaluation for the new round;

c)    That officers seek match funding from partner organisations towards this fourth round;

d)    That the Risk Finance strand of Stepping Stones be discontinued; and

e)    Subject to a full proposal to January 2017 meeting, that the Trust trial a new invitation-only strand for Stepping Stones which provides bespoke assistance.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which provided a progress update on the external review previously reported, made recommendations and set out an action plan and timeline for their implementation, and outlined the resources required. The Chief Grants Officer advised that the strategy would be jointly agreed with the City of London Corporation and would align with the strategies of other key stakeholders.

RESOLVED – That:

a)    the update provided be noted;

b)    a Giving Strategy be developed with the vision of ‘Encouraging more giving of money, time, skills and other benefits in kind – effectively done for the benefit of thriving communities’;

c)    the overall action plan, including timeline, be agreed; and

d)    additional interim resource be agreed in principle in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman to support the delivery of the action plan.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants officer regarding the additional funds agreed as part of the City Bridge Trust’s 20th Anniversary year, some of which had been allocated to support the most disadvantaged into work. It had been agreed that these funds be targeted at disabled people and those with mental health problems, and work with key figures and stakeholders in the disability field had been on-going for the past eight months in order to inform where the money would be most effective.

Members voiced their strong support for investment in this area, advised of their wish for the Trust to remain actively involved with the projects and/or organisations being funded, and requested mid-term reviews to ensure grants could be revisited over the five year period to safeguard against the vulnerability of organisations.

RESOLVED – That:

a)    the proposed focus and principles of this funding as outlined in the report be agreed; and

b)    specific recommendations for funding be presented in early 2017.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer, which recommended that nineteen grant applications be rejected for the reasons identified in the schedule attached to the report. Officers advised that one organisation, Bonny Downs Community Association, had withdrawn their application.

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

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer, which outlined ten grant applications to the Stepping Stones fund that had been rejected for the reasons identified in the schedule attached to the report.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which advised Members of twelve expenditure items, totalling £244,434, and seventeen Stepping Stones grants, totalling £70,000, which had been presented for approval under delegated authority to the Chief Grants Officer in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Committee noted a report of the Chief Grants Officer regarding the 18 larger and currently active “Investing in Londoners” strategic initiatives which collectively amounted to £5,137,650. Members discussed the report, noting that work was underway to ensure the Committee was best placed to make decisions on future strategic initiatives alongside the resourcing required to effectively and actively manage them. Members noted that dissemination of the learning points would also be considered as part of this, and asked for future updates to be staggered throughout the year.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Committee received a report providing statistical analysis of grant applications received in the first three years of the Investing in Londoners grants programme (September 2013 to August 2016). In this period 989 grant applications were received and 461 grants awarded for a total amount of £35,685,515. This was an average success rate of 54%, which suggested that guidance was sufficiently clear and the improved application process was helping applicants to make appropriate requests.

The core applicants to the City Bridge Trust were smaller medium sized organisations (income of £100k to £500k), but there was a good spread of grants to organisations with incomes ranging from £10k to £10m. Although there were issues regarding resourcing, financial viability, and CBT grants being proportionate to a charity’s size, the most common rejection reason amongst all income sizes was that applications did not sufficiently address the Trust’s priorities. Members discussed the geographical distribution of grants awarded and of beneficiaries, having regard to the limitations to the data, and noted that overall there was a relatively good correlation between Trust’s ranks by spend and relative rank in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer about two visits that had taken place.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

The Committee noted a report of the Chief Grants Officer regarding the key meetings and events attended by Members and officers since the last meeting.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

There were no questions.

There was no other 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

17 - 18                                                             3

19 -20                                                              -

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2016.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2016 be agreed as an accurate record.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer outlining the pipeline for strategic grants. A Member updated the Committee about the success of a previous grantee she had remained in touch with, and Members sent their congratulations.

There were no questions.

The Committee received a staff update and discussed future meetings. The Town Clerk undertook to schedule a provisional meeting date in March 2017 in addition to the January and February dates.