Agenda item

Vote of Thanks – Staffing of Lord Mayor’s Show

An Aldermen stated that they wanted to make the unusual move of publicly and formally moving a Vote of Thanks to those staff who had been critical in the successful delivery of this year’s Lord Mayor’s Show and moved the following:

That the sincere gratitude of this Committee be extended to all those personnel involved in the organisation, planning and delivery of the Lord Mayor's Show weekend and Lord Mayor’s Banquet in the face of the particular logistical and public order challenges of this year.

The Show this year took place against a backdrop of increased activism and disruption to public events and coincided with one of the largest public marches to take place in central London. Despite a series of closures to the main underground lines serving the City of London on the day of the event, the route was once again lined with spectators which is testament to the enduring attraction of what remains one of the City of London’s key cultural assets. It is as a result of the meticulous planning and delivery of all those involved that the events were able to take place without incident.

The Committee wishes to record particular thanks to:

- the Pageantmaster Dominic Reid OBE for successfully delivering his 31st Show, and Laura Groutides in his Office for her tireless support;

- Commander Umer Khan OBE and T/Chief Supt William Duffy of the City of London Police for their extensive and diligent planning of the policing operation, and to their teams on the ground who made sure the Show, Remembrance Day and the Banquet were a great success;

- Richard Woolford MBE and the Resilience Team for co-ordinating the overall safety and security of the Show;

- the Environment Department, particularly Ian Hughes, Michelle Ross, Vincent Dignam and Larry Costa and their teams for ensuring disruption from road closures was minimised, and the streets were cleaned and returned to normal as quickly as possible after the conclusion of the return procession;

- the City Remembrancer and all in his office, in particular Bruce Hunt, who this year worked alongside the Pageantmaster; and to Fiona Hoban MBE, Jo-Anne Brown and all the events staff for their delivery of the Banquet;

- Caroline Jack and all staff at Mansion House whose efforts enabled the transition of mayoralty to happen so smoothly, and for their provision of hospitality to those viewing the Show from Mansion House;

- Lt Col Brian Fahy MBE and LONDIST for co-ordinating the military involvement in the Show and for recruiting and training the Marshals who are such an essential part of the integrity of the Show;

- the Communications and External Affairs Directorate in the Town Clerk’s Office, particularly Emily Tofield and all her team, including Sheldon Hind and Andrew Buckingham, for their promotion of the Show on the day and in the weeks running up to it; and

- Anne Pietsch in the Comptroller and City Solicitor’s Office who ensures the obligations of Directors of the Lord Mayor’s Show Ltd continue to be met.

Finally, the Committee wishes to place on record its gratitude to AD Health & Safety who for the first time this year managed the health and safety aspects of the Show alongside the Pageantmaster and City Corporation officers. 

The Committee would like to wish all those involved every success as planning for the next Lord Mayor’s Show, on 9 November 2024, gets underway.  

REOLVED: - That the Vote of Thanks be unanimously supported and that the Town Clerk be instructed to formally record this within the public minutes of the meeting as well as to communicate this with those Officers named.

Collaborative Working

An Alderman queried whether various initiatives being fronted by the current Lord Mayor and his team such as forthcoming Coffee Colloquies could be incorporated within the Aldermanic Rolling Programme of Events circulated by the Town Clerk on a monthly basis so as to ensure that these were helpfully captured in one place versus across various different emails. This would also be an effective means of encouraging the wider Court to involve themselves more in the Lord Mayor’s programme with very little additional resource/effort required. They went on to state that it would also be helpful to incorporate the Lady Mayoress’ planned events here too going forward to make these more visible to all.

The Town Clerk undertook to liaise with the Lord Mayor’s Programme Office on these points and to update the next iteration of the Rolling Programme document accordingly.

Exclusion of the Public

Ahead of the formal exclusion of the public to be considered at agenda Item 11, an Alderman queried under what part of the disclosure arrangement the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of this Committee had decided to exclude the public for the consideration of Agenda Item 13 specifically.

The Chairman commented that this had been determined in discussion with both the Town Clerk and the Comptroller ahead of publication of today’s agenda. The Deputy Town Clerk highlighted that the Court of Aldermen’s Standing Order number 25 set out the reasoning and rationale as to why things might be considered in non-public session. In relation to agenda Item 13 specifically, the relevant clause set out would be that relating to ‘business which would be considered as non-public in an equivalent Court of Common Council (or one of its Committees) and also that relating to information provided under arrangements associated with legal professional privilege.

The Comptroller and City Solicitor emphasised that this was not a Local Authority Committee but that when public session had been introduced in this forum in order to increase transparency, it was recognised that local authority rules ought to be strongly mirrored. He added that the decision as to whether or not to pass the motion for the public to be excluded for certain items was ultimately one to be taken collectively by this Committee. In relation to Item 13 there were three particular issues to bear in mind –the provision of legal advice which was subject to legal professional privilege, the likelihood that debate would include questions and discussion as to the conduct of individual Aldermen and the need for a safe space to have a full and frank debate on such matters before work was able to then progress and move into the public domain.

The Alderman responded to underline that the arrangements in place for the Court of Aldermen made it clear that there should be a presumption in favour of disclosure and stressed that this should therefore be the starting point for all matters brought to this Committee. They added that the legal privilege referred to belonged to the Aldermen and could therefore be waived. They added that they would therefore like to see the motion as to whether or not to exclude the public for this particular item be formally put to a vote In relation to the potential for any debate around individual Aldermen, it was highlighted that this would not concern any commercially sensitive information but would be around tenure and the six-year convention generally which was of public interest.

The Committee proceeded to vote as to whether or not to pass the motion to exclude the public set out at Item 11, in relation to the consideration of Item 13 specifically.

Votes were cast as follows:

IN FAVOUR OF PASSING THE MOTION: 14 Votes

OPPOSED TO PASSING THE MOTION: 2 Votes

There were no abstentions.

The Committee therefore proceeded to Item 11.