Agenda item

Joint report of the Executive Director & Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor, the

Director of Innovation & Growth, the Deputy Town Clerk & Director of Communications and External Affairs, the Chief Strategy Officer and the Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion.

The Committee received a joint report of the Executive Director & Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor, the Director of Innovation & Growth, the Deputy Town Clerk & Director of Communications and External Affairs, the Chief Strategy Officer and the Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion outlining the proposed 2022-2023 Mayoral Priorities which will be championed, subject to election, by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Nicholas Lyons.

Alderman Lyons stated that this report and its contents had been discussed at length with Innovation & Growth as well as with the Communications and Corporate Affairs Committee. He went on to raise two contextual points on communication and continuity. Firstly, he highlighted that it was, in his view, essential that future Mayoral themes built upon existing themes in order to really have impact upon areas of national importance. He added that a significant amount of what had been achieved under the last two mayoralties around social and economic priorities needed to continue to be built upon. Secondly, he spoke on the importance of a ‘one team approach’ between the mayoralty and the Guildhall. Reinforcement of messages from the Policy Chair through the Mayoralty and vice versa would be key and was something that Alderman Lyons had already actively discussed with the current Policy Chair. This would lead to better coordination in the messaging and would also provide greater clarity around the leadership that the mayoralty can take around some of the larger, national, financial priorities.

Alderman Lyons went on to state that the current climate provided an ideal opportunity for the City to step up and provide leadership nationally and to drive change and growth. He reported that there was overwhelming support from the financial services industry behind this agenda as well as many offers of assistance to help progress this.

The Chairman invited questions from the wider Committee.

An Alderman questioned whether, in terms of coordinating messaging between the Mayoralty and Guildhall, there was a system in place whereby past speeches or key messages were circulated to lead Members representing the City so that these could be cross referenced. He also questioned whether there was a system of pre-briefs in place so that key messages that the Lord Mayor was set to share at a forthcoming event could be signposted to key Members. Alderman Lyons stated that he felt that this was exactly what was needed and that he was very keen to use members of this Committee as extensively as possible around these various different initiatives. He would therefore like to share messaging in exactly this way so that when other Aldermen were asked to participate in various task forces and the like they could have this to hand. The Deputy Town Clerk & Director of Communications and External Affairs reported that briefings and speaking notes were provided to the City’s representatives who were speaking on various platforms or to the media. Pre-briefings were also provided where necessary. However, he clarified that regular, all-Member briefings were not provided to the entirety of the Court of Common Council as this had been met with some resistance in the past. Having said that, briefings could be provided on request to any elected Member representing the City of London Corporation.

The Alderman questioned whether the Court of Aldermen could regularly be provided with key quotations from mayoral speeches with links to full speeches. He added that Aldermen were often invited to speak at dinners and the like at very short notice and that this information would be very valuable to have to hand in such circumstances. The Deputy  Chairman reported that some of the institutions that he currently supported circulated a ‘common hymn sheet’ to all on a regular basis, setting out narrative that was consistent and common for all. He agreed that this could also be extremely helpful for the Court of Aldermen going forward.

Another Alderman stressed the importance of using the expertise and areas of influence of those on this Committee to help drive these priorities forward.

Another Aldermen spoke to congratulate Alderman Lyons on this paper and underlined that he felt that the focus on the future and next steps for the City was particularly important.

An Alderman noted that the report referred to the need to ensure that the City is an attractive place to live, work, play and visit. He questioned whether Alderman Lyons felt that there was scope to expand this such that City residents felt fully engaged in his Mayoralty. Alderman Lyons reported that there were many things that happened within the mayoral year which gave residents an opportunity to participate in and engage with the mayoral themes. However, he underlined the importance of striking a balance between what the Lord Mayor was trying to accomplish given the scale of the agenda and the national priorities and the particular preferences and priorities of residents which should be a consideration for all Common Council Members. He added that the Lord Mayor continued o have a duty in his or her own Ward. He clarified that paragraph 8 of his report sought to set out that there was a real priority around residents and SMEs within the Corporate Plan and that it was important to ensure that there was joined up thinking between the Lord Mayor and Policy Chair. That being said, it was difficult to set out what could be done within the Lord Mayor’s agenda that was resident specific. He asked if the Alderman had any particular  thoughts on this. The Alderman stated that he would be happy to work with the Lord Mayor on this. He stated that paragraph 8 spoke of how the Mayoral priorities were interdependent with those of the Policy Chair who had recently delivered a speech at Common Council flagging issues with the relationship between the City and its residents in recent years and undertaking to rebuild these as a priority. Alderman Lyons recognised that this was a priority for the Policy Chair and if it was felt that there was something that the Lord Mayor could do to shine a light on issues that were particularly relevant for residents then he would certainly look to do that.

The Lord Mayor echoed Alderman Lyons’ comments on the demands of the mayoral diary. He went on to commend this paper and underlined that he felt that this theme would effectively build upon those of Sir William’s and his own mayoralty whilst giving things a fresh focus – a helpful mix of continuity and new direction. With regard to the availability of Mayoral speeches, he reported that all major keynote speeches were now being posted online.

Another Alderman reported that he was currently working with the Communications Team on a special event that Alderman Lyons was looking to hold for SMEs. The Deputy Town Clerk & Director of Communications and External Affairs confirmed that a proposal around an SME Summit to bring together and better engage with the City’s community of SMEs was currently being looked at.

The Chairman also urged Alderman Lyons to ensure that there was continued focus on culture and the arts. Alderman Lyons assured the Committee that this would be the case.

RESOLVED – That Members note the 2022-2023 Mayoral Priorities as set out in the report.