Venue: Committee Rooms, 2nd Floor, West Wing, Guildhall
Contact: Joseph Anstee
tel. no.: 020 7332 1480
Email: joseph.anstee@cityoflondon.gov.uk
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Apologies Minutes: Apologies were received from Alderman Alastair King and Deputy Edward Lord. |
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Participatory City Foundation The Chairman welcomed Nat Defriend, Development Director of the Participatory City Foundation (PCF), to the meeting, to speak to the Committee about their work. Participatory City Foundation had received funding from City Bridge Trust amongst several other funders to deliver the Every One Every Day project in Barking & Dagenham.
The project was a unique experiment on participation culture at scale, exploring a range of ways for local people to make change happen in their area, and research into how infrastructure could be built to support participation culture. The project would include running openly accessible participation spaces, where members of the community could come in and engage in discussion about what they wanted for their local area, with staff trained to support and develop their ideas. Furthermore, the PCF planned an open access ‘Maker-Space’ warehouse, to be filled with machinery and tools for people to use and develop ideas for their businesses. These services were free for residents of Barking & Dagenham and were aimed at driving employment and opportunities in the area.
In the first year of the project, two participation spaces had been opened, with two more opening soon, and a site had been marked for the warehouse. The project had already worked with approximately two thousand people across around nine thousand hours of engagement. Over seventy projects had been created, which was more than anticipated and demonstrated the potential of the project. The PCF was present in nearly forty locations across the Borough other than the participation spaces in order to promote their work. The PCF also distributed a newspaper and had circulated over eighty thousand copies. The newspaper was the PCF’s primary basis of communication and had been a critical tool.
The unique funding arrangement for the project meant that the four funders played a critical role, having agreed common metrics, and required a collective commitment to the experimental nature of the project. The project and its potential had attracted huge interest from other cities and boroughs.
The PCF had an active online presence alongside the newspaper, but felt the newspaper enabled them to attract more types of people and have a deeper reach into the community. The impact of the project was measured on resident engagement and indications were that the project was having a positive impact, however, the specific impact of the newspaper had not yet been gauged.
The PCF favoured the direct route of targeting their work at residents, but also worked with local organisations. The overall vision of the project included strengthening the infrastructure and cross-sector opportunities in the Borough.
The Committee thanked Nat for his interesting presentation and commended the Participatory City Foundation for their work. |
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Members' declarations under the Code of Conduct in respect of items on the agenda Minutes: There were no declarations. |
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To agree the minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 7 September 2018. Minutes: RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 7 September 2018 be agreed as an accurate record. |
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Report of the Town Clerk. Minutes: The Committee received a list of outstanding actions, noting those which were on the agenda or were scheduled for a future date or meeting.
RESOLVED – That the Outstanding Actions update be noted and updated accordingly. |
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Report of the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust Minutes: The Committee received the regular progress report of the Chief Grants Officer and discussed the updates provided.
HR Update The Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust (CGO) advised the Committee that the current round of recruitment was almost complete, including the recruitment of the senior communications post. An updated organogram would be circulated to Committee Members once the round of recruitment was complete.
Mayor of London – Young Londoner’s Fund Update The CGO advised the Committee that decisions on medium and large grants applications had been made by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and final information would soon be available. The final cohort of grantees had been informed and the funding would soon be distributed. More organisations than expected needed to achieve the London Youth Quality Mark, but achieving this was a process in itself and was a good cause.
Funding from City Bridge Trust would also go towards support network-enablement costs and more specific training to front-line youth workers. Work was ongoing on a front-line mental health support service. As this was a sector where the workforce was not used to such an offer, there might not be a wide take-up at first and may require training and encouragement.
Co-opted Members The CGO advised the Committee that officers had sought advice from the Town Clerk about possible voting rights. Several committees had external members with voting rights, but it was not standard. An external Member could be Chairman or Deputy Chairman, but would require an elected Member to be their Deputy Chairman or Chairman respectively.
Members were keen for any external co-optees to be as equal to elected Members as possible. A Member advised that some committees had external Members with voting rights, and there was legislation which covered it. Another City of London Committee |
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Financial Position of City Bridge Trust in respect of Periods 1-6 (April-September 2018) Report of the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust and the Chamberlain Minutes: The Committee received a report of the CGO, setting out City Bridge Trust’s spend against budget for period 1 April to 30 September 2018.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted. |
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Proposed Revenue Budgets 2018-19 and 2019-20 Report of the Chamberlain and the Town Clerk Minutes: The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain and the Town Clerk, providing the annual submission of the revenue budget overseen by the City Bridge Trust (CBT) Committee in the context of CBT’s strategic and business priorities, and highlighting adjustments made to the 18/19 budget since it was originally presented in November 2017.
A Member raised the point that the allocation of the budget to departments was a matter for the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee, and that a service committee could not agree its own allocation, but rather agree to recommend an allocation. This was acknowledged and a recommendation made accordingly.
RESOLVED – That the City Bridge Trust Committee:
a) Review and approve to recommend the updated 18/19 revenue budget; and
b) Approve the recommendation of the 19/20 revenue budget. |
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Philanthropy Strategy Implementation Plan Report of the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee considered a report of the CGO, setting out the Philanthropy Strategy implementation plan for the Committee’s review and approval. The strategy had been approved in May and was subsequently approved by the Policy & Resources Committee. The implementation plan was intended to run to March 2020 but plenty of good work was already underway. The Committee noted that the implementation plan would be referred to Summit Group before going to the Policy & Resources Committee in January 2019, rather than December 2018.
RESOLVED – That the City Bridge Trust Committee:
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Grants Budget and Applications Today Report of the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust Minutes: The Committee received a report of the CGO and Director of City Bridge Trust summarising grant applications recommended for decision at the meeting, and those that had been considered since the last meeting under the schemes of delegation. The Committee noted that thirty-six grants had now been made under the Bridging Divides strategy.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted. |
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Grants Analysis, Trends & Management Report of the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust Minutes: The Committee received a report of the CGO providing an update on progress against the Committee’s 2018/19 grants budgets and summarising those grants awarded and in management.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted. |
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Grants and Strategic Initiatives Recommendations and Assessments To consider the Chief Grants Officer’s reports on grant recommendations as follows:- Additional documents: Minutes: A Member, noting that several law centres were recommended for grants, asked if there were any overarching strategies that might encourage co-operation between organisations, and whether City Bridge Trust could ask organisations to tie in with one another as a condition. The CGO responded that officers asked about networking as an assessment question and often cross-referenced other organisations. A Strategic Initiative on a framework for networking is in the process of being formulated. The Chairman added that the law centres recommended for grants at the meeting were all in distinct areas and provided localised services but asked that framework for networking be looked at as an outstanding action to carry forward. |
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Freightliners City Farm Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £123,600 over three years (£40,400; £41,500; £41,700) for the full-time Farm Development Manager (37.5hpw) and associated running costs. |
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Women's Environmental Network Trust Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £110,600 over three years (£35,720; £37,160; £37,720) towards the part-time (3.d.p.w) salary of the Tower Hamlets Food Growing Network Coordinator, activity costs and a contribution to core costs of the Women's Environmental Network. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £99,000 over three years (£31,700; £33,100; £34,200) for the post of Clinical Coordinator and Well-being Lead (4.d.p.w), NI and pension contribution. Drawdown is contingent upon receipt of a revised budget that demonstrates the sustainability of the charity's income. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £125,000 over 3 years (£41,300; £41,700; £42,000) towards the salaries of 0.5 fte music therapist and 0.5 fte drama/play therapist. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £138,300 over three years (£45,200; £46,100; £47,000) to cover the cost of a full-time Therapist, clinical supervision and a contribution to organisational overheads. Funding is conditional on receiving updated and SORP compliant accounting policies. |
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Southside Partnership Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £168,500 over three years (£55,300; £56,200; £57,000) for the salary of two part time Community Development Mentors (each 0.5FTE) and associated running costs. |
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St John the Evangelist Church, Kingston Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £99,300 towards the redevelopment of the church building to accessible standards to include reconfigured and improved accessible entrance lobby and footpath, ramps and step free access, hearing enhancement system and accessible toilet. Grant Is conditional on registration with the Charity Commission. |
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The Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000 Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee noted the reserves held by the organisation and that the proposal was part of a larger redevelopment project. The CGO advised the Committee that when officers calculated free reserves held by an organisation, fixed assets were deducted.
APPROVED £100,000 towards access works at The Old Vic's historic building, including an accessible entrance on Waterloo Road; installation of a platform lift and improvements to the stairs and balustrades. Associated works include demolition and alterations to doors, walls and the basement and associated electrical work. |
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Why Me? Victims for Restorative Justice Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee noted the revised amount requested and conditions attached to the grant. Members suggested that the index of grant recommendations could be clearer about the fact that the request was revised and the reasons for the revision, as there was a risk of giving the wrong impression. The CGO responded that the index of grant recommendations was for transparency and always showed the original request, as this upheld financial good practice. The assessment process determined eligibility of and within grants and details were provided in the assessment report.
APPROVED £57,000 over 2 years (£28,400; £28,600) towards a Policy Development Officer (1.5 dpw), a RJ Service Coordinator (1 dpw) and associated project costs, for work to enable hate crime victims from the London LGBTQ community to access restorative justice. This grant is conditional on confirmation that a dual authorisation process is operational for online banking. The second year of this grant is conditional on 2018 accounts being fully SORP compliant. |
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Neighbourly Care Southall Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £108,500 over 3 years (£36,600; £35,800; £36,100) for a Senior Projects Officer and associated running costs to develop and expand work with small community groups to extend their reach to older people in their communities. |
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Islington People's Rights Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £134,100 over 3 years (£43,600; £44,700; £45,800) for a FT Specialist Caseworker to provide specialist welfare and debt advice through the IPR Assist project, and associated project costs. |
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Camden Community Law Centre Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £136,700 over 3 years (£46,000, £46, 100; £46,600) to meet the salary and oncosts of a Welfare Rights Representation caseworker. The second year of funding is conditional upon Trustees adopting an appropriate reserves policy. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £175,000 over five years (£34,500; £34,500; £35,000; £35,000; £36,000) for the salary costs of a f/t Dementia Advisor and related project costs of a dedicated support service for people living with dementia. |
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Islington Law Centre Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £185,800 over three years (£60,100; £61,900; £63,800) for a specialist Welfare Benefits advisor to provide client advocacy, casework, and representation as well as training of volunteers to provide skilled reception services. The grant includes funding towards the charity's overheads. |
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Southwark Law Centre Additional documents: Minutes: A Member queried whether there should be concern that the organisation tried to influence the opinions of local authorities. The CGO responded that City Bridge Trust was clear that that they would not fund any influencing of party political work, but it was legitimate to support organisations who wanted to change policy that affected the group or groups which they represented.
APPROVED £101,000 over a further 2 years (£50,000; £51,000) towards the salary and associated running costs of SLC's Senior Immigration Solicitor to provide legal advice to individuals and advice and support to other advice agencies. |
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Zacchaeus 2000 Trust Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £200,000 over five years (£50,000; £45,000; £40,000; £35,000; £30,000) towards the core costs of Z2K's advice and support work. |
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Bonny Downs Community Association Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £100,700 over 3 years (£32,400: £33,200; £35,100) towards a Project Coordinator (0.5FTE) for its Active and Connected Elders Project, an Advocacy Manager (8hpw), and a contribution to project costs. |
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Community Southwark Additional documents: Minutes: The CGO advised Members that whilst City Bridge Trust policy was usually to award one grant to each organisation, this application was an exception as Community Southwark was the most appropriate agency to host Southwark Giving.
APPROVED £328,900 over 5 years (£85,380 per year) towards 0.6 fte Head of Southwark Giving and 0.4 fte Community Investment Officer, plus associated running costs for the development and consolidation of Southwark Giving. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: A Member raised an issue around funding medical interventions that had no proven medical benefits. It was stated that the charity had been supported for three years already and was performing well.
APPROVED £77,600 over a further two-years (£38,800 x 2) towards the salary of a pit Volunteer Co-ordinator (11 hpw); p/t Manager (7hpw); and related project costs. |
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Migrant & Refugee Communities Forum Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £300,100 over 5 years (£60,000; £56,700; £59,000; £61,100; £63,300) towards the costs of the CEO (2 days per week), Advocacy Organiser (1 day per week), too/kit development and associated running costs. |
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Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £80,000 over two years (2 x £40,000) to cover the salary costs of a f/t Project Worker and a contribution to project costs for Brand Memories. The grant is conditional upon receipt of an up to date cashflow prior to the release of each year's funding showing adequate expected funds to cover planned expenditure. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £148,000 over 5 years (£371100; £35,300; £32,800; £24,900; £17,900) towards the Putting Down Roots in Rotherhithe project including a contribution to a FT Green Mentor (4dpw tapering down to 2dpw), a FT Horticulture Apprentice (1dpw) and project costs. |
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Open Door, Young People's Consultation Service Additional documents: Minutes: APPROVED £94,500 over two years (£46,900; £47,600) for staffing, supervision, support and project costs and a core contribution for services at the Tottenham site. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: A Member asked how City Bridge Trust officers monitored the use of funding to ensure that there was no overlap into alternative uses. The CGO responded that the funding application was for specific work with people with mental health issues and misappropriation was very unlikely. The organisation was well-established, held in high regard and had been funded previously by City Bridge Trust. The funding was for an employee post and was not distributed to individuals. A Member suggested that the Roma Support Group could be invited to present to the Committee as a presentation on Roma culture and heritage would be interesting.
APPROVED £84,800 over two years (£41,000; £43,800) towards the costs of a Project Coordinator (21hpw); 2 p/t bi-lingual mental health advocates (7hpw each); and related running costs for a mental health advocacy service.
A Member queried whether organisations that received grants of five years could reapply after the fifth year, and how officers worked with organisations to prepare them for the end of the grant. The CGO responded that under the Bridging Divides strategy some of the ‘fallow’ period had been closed and this had been welcomed by the sector. Some organisations were able to reapply straight away if they still needed funding. Officers always discussed plans for after the grant ended and maintained regular dialogue.
A Member asked if organisations still found it more difficult to raise money for back office resources and infrastructure. The CGO responded that this was still the case as whilst infrastructure was vitally important it was less appealing to funders. |
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To consider reports of the Chief Grants Officer as follows:- Minutes: |
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Strategic Initiative - Funder Plus Phase 1 Minutes: The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust, seeking approval for two grants under the first phase of the new CBT Funder Plus offer, one to the Cranfield Trust and the other to Locality. It was envisaged that three grants of up to £150,000 (from the £500,000 agreed from the 2018/19 grants budget towards this first phase) would be awarded to providers of civil society support in London to each work with a cohort of CBT grantees to provide a Triage and Connect programme over 12 months to test what good ‘diagnostics’, ‘connecting’ and ‘supporting’ looks like. The process for procuring a Managing and Learning Partner was also underway. If approved, City Bridge Trust would work with both organisations to ensure both offers were aligned.
The Committee was advised that it was important that neither organisation used the offer for self-benefit, but there may be some flexibility if the offer was genuinely the most appropriate. A third grant recommendation would be brought to the January meeting of the Committee.
RESOLVED – That the City Bridge Trust Committee:
a) Approve a grant of £150,000 to the Cranfield Trust towards a Triage and Connect programme to support the delivery of Phase One of the Trust’s new Funder Plus offer;
b) Approve a grant of £150,000 to Locality towards a Triage and Connect programme to support the delivery of Phase One of the Trust’s new Funder Plus offer; and
c) Approve a condition on both grants that the two organisations work with CBT to ensure their respective budgets and the numbers of beneficiaries are appropriately aligned. |
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Applications Recommended for Rejection Minutes: The Committee considered a report of the CGO and Director of City Bridge Trust detailing 16 grant applications that were recommended for rejection. Of these 6 applications were under Investing in Londoners criteria and 10 under Bridging Divides.
A Member asked about the reason for rejecting Real Action Ltd. The CGO responded that the application did not meet City Bridge Trust priorities relating to educational institutions. A Member asked why St. Vedast-alias-Foster had been rejected, noting that this was their third unsuccessful bid. The CGO responded that the application was risk assessed in relation to the community programme undertaken at the location by a single external organisation only. Therefore, if that organisation pulled out the programme would not be able to continue and the public access to the building which is a requirement would not be met. The organisation had had this feedback on both previous occasions but continued to apply nonetheless.
A Member asked if the guidance on funding objectives and criteria could be provided to Members with the papers as a matter of routine so that Members could be clear on the restrictions on funding. The Chief Grants Officer and Director stated that these are quite lengthy but that a copy could be sent around again for Members to have to consider for the future.
RESOLVED – That the Committee reject the grant applications listed in the accompanying schedule. |
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Funds Approved or Declined under Delegated Authority Minutes: The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust which advised Members of 24 expenditure items, totalling £544,272, 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 received, and its contents noted. |
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Withdrawn and Lapsed Applications Minutes: The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which provided details of ten applications which had been withdrawn or had lapsed.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted. |
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Variations to Grants/Funds Awarded Minutes: The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer which advised Members of a variation to one grant agreed by the Chief Grants Officer since the last meeting.
RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted. |
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Strategic Initiatives - Monitoring Reports Minutes: The Committee received a report of the CGO providing a monitoring report for a current Strategic Initiative. It was intended to provide two such reports to the Committee whenever possible. The written report on the LGBT Consortium was provided alongside an update on the Participatory City Foundation strategic initiative, which was presented verbally by the guest speaker.
RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.
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Report on Learning Visits Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust about two visits that had taken place.
RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted. |
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City Bridge Trust Communications & Events Attended Minutes: The Committee received a report of the CGO and Director of City Bridge Trust updating on the communications work of the City Bridge Trust. The Committee noted the City Bridge Trust’s Charity Times Award for the Stepping Stones Fund, which had been reported to the Court of Common Council. The Committee also noted that the Kiln Theatre had named a lobby after City Bridge Trust as a show of appreciation for the funding of major capital refurbishment.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted. |
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Questions on Matters Relating to the Work of the Committee Minutes: A Member said that the Committee had previously approved charitable health organisations. Whilst there was no issue in funding things that had a proven benefit, the Member added that they would be less comfortable with the idea of funding elements such as homeopathy, and asked whether City Bridge Trust had a position on this. The CGO responded that the Trust did not currently have a position, but would look into the matter and come back to Members.
A Member suggested that the Committee could mirror the Gateway process used at other committees and provide a cover sheet which set out a summary of criteria for the Bridging Divides strategy and grant applications to make clearer how each application fit the criteria and met the City Bridge Trust’s priorities. The CGO responded that this could be provided as a separate annex and tabled at meetings, or could be circulated electronically with the agenda before meetings. |
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Any other business that the Chairman considers to be urgent Minutes: The Chairman offered a vote of thanks to Rebecca Green on her last meeting of the Committee as an officer of the Corporation before taking up a role at A B Charitable Trust. The Committee gave thanks to Rebecca for her valuable contributions to City Bridge Trust. |
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Exclusion of the Public 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. Minutes: 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 16 3 17 3, 5 18 3 19 – 20 3 21 – 22 - |
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Non-Public Minutes To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2018. Minutes: RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2018 be agreed as an accurate record. |
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Bridge House Estates Strategic Review - Update Report of the Town Clerk & Chief Executive and the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust Minutes: The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk & Chief Executive and the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust. |
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Philanthropy House - Verbal Update The Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust to be heard Minutes: The Committee received a verbal update on Philanthropy House from the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust. |
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Stepping Stones Fund, Progress and Proposals Report of the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust Minutes: The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust. |
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Pipeline of Pro-Active Strategic Grants Report of the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust Minutes: The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust. |
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Questions on matters relating to the work of the Committee Minutes: There were no questions. |
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Any other business that the Chairman considers urgent and which the Committee agree should be considered whilst the public are excluded Minutes: There was no other business. |