Agenda item

Return to Guildhall

A question was raised concerning the plans for the City Corporation to return its staff to Guildhall and related activities.

The Gold Command Lead and the Director of Members Services explained that the City Corporation was continuing to follow government guidance, which stated that workers could return to the workplace as long as workplaces were Covid secure. It was reported that the City Surveyor had been working hard to produce a road map on return with risk assessments in place. The HR department would also need to undertake risk assessments on each individual member of staff. Members heard that the North Wing was still in operation and work was being undertaken to open the West Wing too, but with all of the Guildhall offices only operating at a 40% capacity. The Director of Members Services added that the aim was to enable Members to return to Guildhall, if they wished to, by September 2020. The message was reinforced that Members could not expect the same level of physical service as in pre-pandemic times. In particular, committee meetings would likely be hybrid with a small number of Members coming into Guildhall but the majority of Members still accessing meetings remotely. Members also noted that to help the track and trace system, the City Corporation would be implementing a booking system.

Further discussion ensued and the following points were raised:

·         The Property Investment Board had discussed the importance of building confidence in London and the City Corporation should demonstrate this by bringing its workers back into the office;

·         It was important that the technology in committee rooms be improved to ensure good levels of sound quality for hybrid meetings;

·         When talking to Government and London Councils, the City Corporation should continue to emphasise how important it is for digital meetings to continue beyond the sunset of the Coronavirus Bill.

·         Consideration should be given to turn the Club Cook and Butler dining room into a fifth committee room to provide more space.

·         It was important that Members did not feel pressurised to return especially if they were vulnerable and/or in the shielding category.

Frequency of Resource Allocation Sub Committee meetings

A Member asked for views on the frequency of Resource Allocation Sub Committee meetings and whether they should take place monthly rather than fortnightly come the Autumn. Others felt it was important for meetings to take place when needed rather than necessarily every fortnight, and the Policy Chair reminded officers of her request for an overall governance timeline, which brought together the fundamental review, target operating model, governance review and the Fraser review.