Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor Alderman Andrew Parmley and Deputy the Revd Stephen Haines.

The following non-pecuniary declarations were made during the meeting:

·                Agenda item 8f) – Rushey Green Timebank  - Deputy Edward Lord

·                Agenda item 8h) – Park Theatre – Karina Dostalova

To agree the minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 15 June 2017.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 15 June 2017 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.

London Metropolitan Archives and CBT’s historic records

Members noted that the grant making arm of Bridge House Estates had been operational since 1995, making 7,676 awards with a total value of £370m. Detailed records were produced for each grant awarded, including not only what was provided to the Trust by way of application and subsequent monitoring, but also what was produced by officers following assessment and site visits.

Quite extensive records now existed in secure storage, with many grant files dating much further back than the mandatory minimum 6 year retention period stipulated by the 2011 Charities Act. The oldest files had no practical value for grant management purposes, and were now very unlikely to ever be required for purposes of fraud investigations or any legal action. However, as London’s largest independent grant-making Trust, the City Bridge records contained a rich history of the capital’s voluntary and community sector, and could be of significant interest to researchers.

Discussions were now underway with London Metropolitan Archives as to how this material might be preserved.

RESOLVED – That permission be given for LMA to have access to the City Bridge Trust records as part of the history of London’s voluntary and community sector.

London’s Giving

Members were reminded that at the March 2017 meeting the Trust approved a grant of £300,000 over three years for London Funders to continue the development of the London’s Giving place-based giving initiative.  The grant was subject to two conditions. Firstly, that a consultancy contract be awarded following an open tendering process.  The second was that the post of Project Manager within London Funders be filled through an open recruitment process.

Eight bids were received for the consultancy contract, four

Report of the Chamberlain and Chief Grants Officer.

Members received a report of the Chamberlain regarding the key risks register for Bridge House Estates (BHE). Three risks had been identified as relating to the services overseen by the City Bridge Trust Committee.

RESOLVED – That:

a)            It be confirmed that appropriate control measures are in place for the three risks currently on the register for the City Bridge Trust Committee; and

b)            It be confirmed that there are no other risks relating to the services overseen by the City Bridge Trust Committee which should be added to the Bridge House Estates risk register.

To receive a report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee received a summary of applications received and action taken under the grants programmes this financial year, including those recommended for decision to this meeting.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

AGREED - £72,340 over two years (£36,170 x 2).  The grant to be received by Rushey Green Time Bank on behalf of the Lewisham Local Collaborative, as part of the London’s Giving initiative.

(NB Provided post meeting)

APPROVED* - £300,000 to the John Lyon’s Charity to co-fund the salary and running costs of the Young People’s Foundations for one year in each of the boroughs of Brent, Harrow and Barnet. The grant to be costed against the Anniversary Programme for infrastructure support.

*Subject to clarification of the figures given in the chart on page 39.

APPROVED-  £450,000 over two years (2 x £225,000) to the Participatory City Foundation to deliver the Every One Every Day neighbourhood project across the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Release of the grant is subject to confirmation of the organisation’s registration as a charity.

APPROVED - £146,400 over 3 years (£41,600; £51,600; £53,200) towards the salary costs of the Project Manager /Tutor (2 days per week); ESOL teacher (2.5 days per week); business support (0.5 days per week); and associated running costs.

APPROVED - £50,400 over three years (3 x £16,800) for the costs of 2 p/t (15hpw) ESOL Tutors; associated project costs; and a maximum of £2,800 pa towards core costs.

Members questioned the fact that the application referred to year ending April 2015, but the assessment report covered the concurrent year’s accounts from 15/16 to 18/19. 

APPROVED – £113,000 over three years (£41,000; £35,000; £37,000) for the salary of a Co-ordinator (p/t 16 hrs per week) and Assistant (p/t 8 hrs per week) and associated direct costs of the Wild Cat Wilderness project.

Members questioned the fact that the application referred to year ending April 2015, but the assessment report covered the concurrent year’s accounts from 15/16 to 17/18 and the report did not clearly cover the links between the years. Added to this the numbers of participants responding to the survey following the programme seemed low.These matters were to be clarified to the satisfaction of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman between meetings.

APPROVED That delegated authority be given to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman to approve £139,800 over 3 years (£46,100; £46,600; £47,100) for the Club Development Officer (18.75hpw), sessional Sport Coaches, Facility Hire and associated running costs of 5 Disability Sport Clubs across London subject to clarification of the financial information provided.

(NB Provided post meeting)

APPROVED - £68,650 over three years (£29,250; £21,900; £17,500) for the delivery of accessible performances for disabled audiences; access training; the installation of evacuation chairs; website adaptions and a 10% contribution to core costs.

APPROVED - £103,700 over three years (£35,500, £33,800, £34,400) for a p/t Casework Lead (26h/w), a Case Management System and associated project costs.

APPROVED - £75,000 over 3 years (£25,000, £25,000, £25,000) towards core costs of A4D’s London Arts Programme (LAP) delivering arts workshops to those living with early stage dementia and their Carers.

APPROVED - £99,900 over three years (£33,000; £33,300; £33,600) for the salary of a part-time Dementia Café Co-ordinator (3 days per week), project activity costs and overheads.

APPROVED - £155,000 over 3 years (£51,000, £50,000, £54,000) for the salary of a f/t GP Link Officer, volunteer costs and associated project costs. Release of the third quarter’s payment in year 1 is conditional on the organisation amending its charitable objects within 6 months of the grant commencing, to accommodate a broader remit of services. 

APPROVED - £70,500 over three years (£25,000; £22,500; £23,000) for the salary of a part-time (17.5 hr/p/w) Volunteer and Health Development Officer (VHDO) and towards associated projects costs working with people aged 75+.

APPROVED - £153,900 over 3 years (£51,300; £50,600; £52,000) towards a full-time Project Coordinator, associated running costs and fitness sessions for an activity programme for older people aged 75+ living in Gospel Oak.

APPROVED - £108,400 over 3 years (£28,750; £39,350; £40,300) towards the cost of a Community Manager 0.7 fte year 1 and fte years 2 and 3) and associated project costs. Years 2 and 3 of the grant are conditional on: successful implementation of the business model; achievement of predicted performance (36 platform subscriptions year 1, 108 platform subscriptions year 2); and on the grant in any one year not exceeding 50% of the organisation’s turnover.

APPROVED - £69,600 over three years (£22,800; £23,200; 23,600) to cover the cost of mentoring sessions and associated management costs.

APPROVED - £93,700 over three years (£30,400; £31,300; £32,000) towards 25% of the full-time Artistic Director’s salary and the General Manager’s salary, and associated project costs of a creative programme to support prisoners/ex-prisoners.

APPROVED - £144,000 over three years (£48,000; £47,000; £49,000) towards a 0.6FTE Project Manager, 0.4FTE Project worker, volunteer expenses and associated running costs. This is subject to the submission of satisfactory quarterly management accounts, including the cash balance held.

APPROVED - £100,500 over two years (£50,000; £50,500) towards the salaries of a Community Accountant (21hrs) and Development and Funding Advice Manager (15hrs) and running costs, to provide monitoring and evaluation; financial; social enterprise and social prescribing training support to voluntary and community organisations in Enfield.

APPROVED - £50,000 for a third year towards VAI’s volunteer project. The funding covers a Project Officer (3.5 days per week), Information and Communication Officer (2.5 hours per week), associated running and training costs.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer outlining 18 organisations which had been approved for funding under delegated authority, to provide a summer programme of activities for young people and their families living in and around the Grenfell Tower area.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer, which recommended that four grant applications be rejected for the reasons identified in the schedule attached to the report.

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

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which advised Members of three expenditure items, totalling £19,010, which had been presented for approval under delegated authority to the Chief Grants Officer in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which provided details of 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 to six grants agreed by the Chief Grants Officer since the last meeting.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which provided an evaluation summary of the Moving on Up project which was co-funded between CBT and Trust for London.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Committee received an update on the communications work of the City Bridge Trust.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

There were no questions.

On behalf of the Committee the Chairman thanked all those who had been involved in responding to the recent fire at Grenfell Tower in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea including those officers whose work in the office was increased in order to cover the exceptional call on the time of the City Bridge Trust Officers.

The Chairman also thanked Sufina Ahmed who had led the Strategic Review with exceptional care and skill and had made a real difference to the approach and outcome of the Review."

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.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2017.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2017 be agreed as an accurate record.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee received and noted a report of the Chief Grants Officer in relation to Buttle UK, Anchor Project.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer outlining the pipeline for strategic grants.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

There were no questions.

The Chief Grants Officer informed the Committee of the work that the London Emergencies Trust had undertaken and the involvement of City Bridge Trust officer expertise in responding to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.