Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Michael Henderson-Begg, Vivienne Littlechild and Deputy Edward Lord.

There were none.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 26 April 2012 (copy attached).

The public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 31 May 2012 were approved.

MATTERS ARISING

(1) British Red Cross (p2) – The Chamberlain advised Members that a review of the situation had been undertaken and he was now content that the condition attached to the grant could be discharged and the funds released.

Report of the Town Clerk (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk identifying those items raised at meetings of the Committee that required further action by officers.

The Chairman advised that the financial observations issue had now been resolved.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk on behalf of the Post Implementation Governance Review Working Party (copy attached).

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk seeking comments from each Committee on the governance arrangements introduced last year and the impact that they may have had on the operation of the Committee.

Members were content that none of the changes had any impact on the Committee which necessitated comment, but did raise a query as to the governance of a future Social Investment Fund. The Chief Grants Officer advised that this matter would be clarified by the report at item 9 on the agenda.

RESOLVED: That no representations be made to the Working Party on the revised governance arrangements in respect of this Committee.

To receive a progress report of the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee received the regular progress report of the Chief Grants Officer which highlighted the various activities that were on-going or had recently concluded.

A Member made reference to the Trust’s website, asking whether it would be possible to update it to include some more recent activities; the Chief Grants Officer undertook to ensure that this was done.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

To consider the Chief Grants Officer’s reports on grant recommendations, as follows (copies attached):-

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer, introducing the grants programmes and stating that a total of thirty-one applications would be dealt with at the meeting, of which twelve were recommended for grants and eighteen recommended for rejection, with one lapsed.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer recommending grants to organisations.

          During consideration of the applications before the Committee, the following comments were made by Members of the Committee and relevant officers:

·      With regard to Annex 1 (Blackheath Halls - grant payable to the parent body, Trinity Laban), a Member queried the high surplus which was forecast, to which the Chamberlain was able to advise that the organisation had significant liabilities and negative reserves so this surplus would help to offset these issues. The Chamberlain reported that Trinity Laban had advised that it had secured support from two funders amounting to £3.4m over the next 5 years and, providing this was received, the finances of Trinity Laban should improve and the grant could accordingly be recommended. A Member suggested that the size of surpluses and deficits be put into context in future reports to Committee by expressing them as a percentage of turnover (income); the Chamberlain agreed to provide this percentage to Grant Officers for inclusion.

·      Updated financial information was circulated at Annex 5 (JustDifferent).

·      In respect of Annex 10 (Charities Evaluation Service), the Deputy Chief Grants Officer declared a personal interest as a Trustee of the organisation. In response to a Members’ query, it was advised that the monitoring report for the previous grant had not yet been completed because the grant period was until the end of June 2012, and so the report would be made once the month was over.

·      Revised financial information was tabled at Annex 12 (Lambeth Voluntary Action Centre).

          RESOLVED: That the following grants be approved:-

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer recommending eighteen grant applications in the Working with Londoners programme be rejected for the reasons identified in the schedule attached to the report.

A Member made reference to a discussion at the previous meeting about providing more detailed feedback to those organisations whose applications had been rejected, asking what progress had been made in implementing this. The Chief Grants Officer advised that work was currently being undertaken to make the required amendments to the templates and software used by the Trust, and that this work would hopefully be completed in the near future. A further update would of course be provided at the September meeting.

A Member commented that he was aware that information was provided to the Committee concerning the geographical distribution of grants and asked how often this report was provided to Committee; further, he sought clarification as to whether or not the details provided were simply the pure numbers or if the number of grants and amount awarded was weighed against the population and deprivation index of each borough. The Chief Grants Officer confirmed that the report did indeed contain such a breakdown and analysis of distribution, with explanations provided as to any particular discrepancy which might appear; she was also happy to provide this report every six months rather than annually if this was beneficial for Members.

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 detailing one application which had lapsed.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

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

            RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer updating Members on the progress of the establishment of the City of London Corporation Social Investment Fund.

The Chief Grants Officer outlined the proposal and advised that a report would be going to the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee in July for consideration. Whilst the City Corporation of course had a wealth of experience and well-established procedures for managing financial investments, this initiative was an entirely new issue and so, in terms of governance, it was felt that a discrete management and oversight system was needed. Accordingly, the creation of a “Bridge House Estates Social Investment Fund Board”, which would report to the Investment Committee in a similar way to the Financial Investment and Property Investment Boards, was suggested. This Board would likely comprise the Chairmen of the Policy & Resources, Investment, and City Bridge Trust Committees (or their representatives), as well as Member of the Court with less than five years’ experience and a Member of the Financial Investment Board; however, this was of course merely a preliminary sketching and was subject to changes following debate. A Member expressed their concern that there was only one Member elected by the Court of Common Council, and also felt that the experience of the Energy & Sustainability Sub-Committee should be used in some way.

A Member commented on the proposed management of the fund, expressing concern that too many parties appeared to be involved. He stressed the need to remember that the intention was for the investment to provide a return and was accordingly concerned how management costs would be built in to the process, voicing his desire to see the figures in due course. Another Member, also the Chairman of the Financial Investment Board, sympathised with this viewpoint, commenting that the £20million fund involved

There were none.

          Strategic Review Meeting

The Chairman reminded Members that there would be a Strategic Review meeting for Members of the Committee held at the Guildhall onFriday 16 November at 10.30am, and asked Members to kindly note this in their diaries.

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 as follows:-

Item No                                                                                  Exempt Paragraphs

13                                                                                                           3

RESOLVED: - That under Section 100 A (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 as follows:-

Item No                                                                       Exempt Paragraphs

            13                                                                                              3       

There were no questions.

There was one urgent item.