Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk and the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Chief Grants Officer, which proposed releasing an additional £1.05m per year from the Bridge House Estates surplus income over a period of 10 years (over and above the Investing in Londoners grants programmes budget, or their successor) to provide a long-term strategic grant to the Prince’s Trust Charity (£1m per year), with associated grants management cost (£50,000 per year).

Members noted that the Policy and Resources Committee would decide on the quantum of additional monies to be released from the Bridge House Estates surplus income, and the City Bridge Trust Committee would oversee the administration of the strategic grant as an exceptional grant, subject to the approval of the Court of Common Council.

RESOLVED – That:

(a)  Subject to the allocation of the necessary resources by the Policy & Resources Committee (see below), a recommendation be made to the Court of Common Council to approve a Strategic Grant to the Prince’s Trust of £1m per year, for 10 years, to support some of London’s hardest-to-reach young people, and £50,000 for grant management resource for City Bridge Trust subject to the following conditions:

            ·      The grant will be subject to the usual City Bridge Trust monitoring and                                    grants management procedures and, additionally, every 3 years,                              performance of the grant will be reviewed externally. Satisfactory results                    will need to be achieved for the grant to continue;

            ·      Prior to the release of any grant monies, the Prince’s Trust will need to                        satisfy the usual due diligence requirements of the City Bridge Trust                              grant-making procedure (this will include the submission of a satisfactory                  project budget);

            ·      Prior to the release of any grant monies, the Prince’s Trust will need to                        submit a satisfactory project plan, detailing what the grant aims to                                achieve (outcomes); how these outcomes will be delivered and by                                    when; and how progress towards achieving these outcomes will be                               monitored and evaluated.

(b)  From the financial year 2014-2015, the Policy and Resources Committee be recommended to approve an additional £1.05m per year, for 10 years, from the Bridge House Estate’s income surplus (over and above the Investing in Londoners grants programmes budget, or their successor) with the express intention that the City Bridge Trust Committee recommend, and that the Court of Common Council approve that this money be used for the sole purpose of a strategic grant to the Prince’s Trust to support work with some of London’s hardest-to-reach young people.

(c)  The Court of Common Council, acting as sole corporate trustee of Bridge House Estates, be recommended to agree:-

                  i.        the Strategic Grant to the Prince’s Trust, as detailed above; and

                 ii.        that the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the City Bridge Trust and the Chamberlain, be authorised to approve the release of grant monies when satisfied the conditions of grant, outlined above, are met.