Agenda item

(i)            Guidance for Liveries and Guilds – Conduct of Virtual Business

The Court of Aldermen considered a recommendation of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen relative to an extension to the guidance currently in place in relation to the conduct of Guild and Livery Company business until 31 October 2022.

                  Resolved Unanimously: - That:

i)              insofar as the Ordinances or By-Laws of any Company with Livery, Company without Livery or Guild contain restrictive or prescriptive provisions as to the location and timing of any meeting, election, installation or admission of any members or officers, the Court of Aldermen agrees to allow any reasonable variation to such provisions, to be determined by the Guild or Livery company concerned and to be valid until 31 October 2022;

ii)             in particular, procedures adopted on the occasion of the binding of apprentices may be conducted virtually, subject to the requirement for the indentures to be entered within six months of the decision being taken in the Books of the Chamberlain of London;

iii)           the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen review the decision in due course and consider the future position in respect of the conduct of Guild and Livery Company business, noting that more flexible ways of working are now bedded into most business practices.

(ii)          Revisions to the Court of Aldermen’s Standing Orders

The Court of Aldermen considered a recommendation of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen relative to the Court’s Standing Orders where revisions were now proposed to SO17 where it would be clarified that the ability for the Chairman and in their absence the Deputy Chairman to have a second or casting vote should only apply to the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen and not to the Nominations Committee, to SO20 which would clarify that the quorum for the Nominations Committee should be thirteen members, with a quorum of three members applying to the General Purposes Committee only and finally to SO33, 35 and 36 so that they might reflect the current practice in terms of the administrative process in relation to Aldermanic attendance at the Central Criminal Court.

Resolved Unanimously:- That the proposed revisions to the Court of Aldermen’s Standing Orders and the publication of the revised Standing Orders are agreed.