Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from John Bird, Deputy Revd Stephen Haines, Michael Henderson-Begg, Alderman Peter Hewitt, Deputy Edward Lord, and Deputy Joyce Nash.

There were none.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 31 October 2012 (copy attached).

          The public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 27 September 2012 were approved, subject to it being noted that Deputy Mead’s term of office as Sheriff had ceased by the date of the meeting.

          MATTERS ARISING

(1) London Air Ambulance (p3) – As suggested at the previous meeting, it was confirmed that the helicopter had only been painted very recently following the withdrawal of sponsorship from Virgin and that there would be a prohibitively high cost associated with any re-spray. Further, given the wide range of sources from which the organisation received funding, to include the logos of all funders would be impractical. The Deputy Chairman also noted that, in any case, the Trust’s funding was for a Patient Liaison Nurse and not the helicopter itself.

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.

It was noted that the application from the Rugby Football Foundation was on today’s agenda as recommended for rejection, with fuller reasons for the recommendation listed. Members were also advised that discussions had taken place with the Shakespeare Globe Trust with regard to their application, and officers were waiting to see if a revised application would now be submitted.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

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.

The Chairman took the opportunity to inform Members that the Trust had recently won the award for “Best Annual Report - non-profit/public sector” at the CorpComms award ceremonies, and congratulated officers on their success.

In response to a question about the Wembley National Stadium Trust (WNST), it was advised that the first grants programme was now open for applications and grants would be considered by the WNST Board in January.

          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-four applications would be dealt with at the meeting, of which four were strategic initiatives, fourteen were recommended for grants and ten recommended for rejection, with two having been withdrawn. Four grants were also noted as having been approved under delegated authority.

          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:

·         In respect of the application at Annex 1 (Guildhall School Trust), a Member expressed a slight reservation as to the legal advice provided, particularly in light of some confusion which appeared to exist within the application form surrounding the numbers of staff and the property owned, which hinted at some confusion on the position between the Guildhall School Trust and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama itself. It was asked if definite assurances could be sought and obtained prior to the release of funds, and authority was subsequently delegated to the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, to approve the grant following the receipt of these reassurances from the Comptroller & City Solicitor’s Department.

·         At Annex 2 (Deafinitely Theatre), a Member noted that the Management Committee of the applicant was composed of four individuals and also that three of the applicants’ Trustees had recently changed and sought assurances that the governance of the organisation was sufficiently stable. The Grants Officer clarified that organisations often had a larger number of Trustees from which a smaller Management Committee was drawn and undertook to explore the issue and report back to the Member. The grant was subsequently approved subject to this check proving satisfactory.

·         In response to a Member’s query at Annex 4 (Migration Museum Project), the Grants Officer informed the Committee that the applicant had recently received confirmation of funding from the Esmée Fairbairn, Rayne, and Rothschild Foundations. There had only been one full-time employee of the organisation to date with a strong Management Committee in place to prepare for a launch once

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer recommending ten grant applications in the Working with 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 detailing two applications that had been withdrawn.

          RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer advising Members of four grants, totalling £71,020, which had been approved under delegated authority since the last meeting of the Committee as follows:

·         Mapping for Change - £4,320 for a London-wide educational and awareness event on air pollution, subject to sight of satisfactory draft management accounts for the current year.

• Kongolese Children’s Association - £25,000 over two years (£12,500; £12,500) for the provision of English teaching, incorporating English through employment training, for women from minority communities.
• Kainos Community - £21,000 for a third and final year towards salary and project costs of a rehabilitation and resettlement programme for prisoners on indeterminate sentences held at HMP Swaleside.
• Bermondsey Artists’ Group - £20,700 over two years (£10,000; £10,700) to meet the salaries and associated running costs of weekly “Grow to Sell” gardening session

          RESOLVED: That the contents of 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 contents of the report be noted.

Joint report of the Director of Economic Development and the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Grants Officer concerning the establishment of an employability initiative in partnership with Central London Forward to be aimed at providing a flexible menu of joined-up, cross-borough provision able to meet the needs of both employers and unemployed people across Borough boundaries in Central London.

Members were advised that the suggestion for the scheme had arisen from discussions at the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee Away Day, where it had been suggested by a Member as an additional piece of work that could be done on top of the “NEET” offer to enhance the employability work done by Central London Forward. It was confirmed that Central London Forward staff were based in the Corporation’s Economic Development Office so good links were in place, and assurances were given that the Department of Community & Children's Services had been involved in the drafting of the report.

RESOLVED: That, subject to the concurrence of the Policy & Resources and Finance Committees and the Court of Common Council, approval be given to the approach outlined in the report for a new employability initiative for Central London, the City and neighbouring boroughs.

Joint report of the Chief Grants Officer and the Director of Public Relations (copy attached).

The Committee considered a joint report of the Chief Grants Officer and the Director of Public Relations setting out the Trust’s Communications Plan and progress achieved since April 2012, as well as presenting the ways in which it was intended to measure and report the impact of publicity in future.

A Member stressed the importance of publicity, suggesting that the correct use of media could help increase readership of the Trust’s work, thereby increasing awareness of the Trust and encouraging an increased number of applications from those charities who might not have previously been aware of its existence.

In respect of measuring the success and impact of publicity, it was observed that it would be beneficial to discover what media the objects of any research viewed or read so that the Trust could tailor and target its media activities appropriately. 

Discussion took place over whether or not it would be more appropriate to focus on “old” media, such as print, or whether utilising “new” media such as web publications and social media might be more productive, with the suggestion made that the Trust’s approach could be more innovative through the use of a multimedia approach.

With regard to the use of Twitter, Members were asked to contact the Public Relations Office should they desire any training, and officers were also asked to circulate instructions setting out how Members could set up Google alerts to ensure they received relevant news updates. The Chief Grants Officer also advised the Committee that she was to host a session with those organisations who had been awarded grants under the Growing Localities scheme to discuss the best ways of publicising their activities, and she would provide an update in due course.

RESOLVED: That Members approve the City Bridge Trust’s Communications Plan for 2012 – March

Report of the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer providing Members with an update on progress made towards achieving the objectives set out in the City Bridge Trust business plan for 2012-13.

With regard to the Key Performance Indicator associated with Learning and Sharing, the Chief Grants Officer advised that it was felt that it would be best to hold off the Annual Conference in the wake of the quinquennial review and instead use the opportunity to link the review’s launch with the Conference.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Chief Grants Officer providing an update on progress made in implementing the recommendations of the Internal Audit’s Due Diligence Review.

It was noted that a fuller report would be presented to the next meeting of the Audit & Risk Management Committee.

RECEIVED.

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items.

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

15                                                                                                 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

            15                                                                                              3       

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 31 October 2012 (copy attached).

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 31 October 2012 were approved. 

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items.