QUESTIONS, DEPUTATIONS OR PETITIONS
To consider any questions, deputations or petitions received In accordance with Part 4, Section B29 of the Council's Constitution.
Minutes:
Jacob O’Callaghan, Friends of Alexandra Park and Palace Conservation Area Advisory Committee, submitted a number of questions to the Board.
a. The Trustees were requested to consider, whether all parts of all of the items listed as exempt should be classified as exempt.
b. Whether the Trustees would reconsider plans for the Theatre, which did not include provision for physical infrastructure so that community theatre groups could perform in the theatre.
c. Whether the Trustees would support the implementation of the London Living Wage for all employees of the Charity and its subsidiaries as it was in the best interests of the Charity.
The Chair advised that the Board was required to make decisions as a collective entity; not based on individual trustees. The Chair made the following points in response to the questions raised.
a. That the designation of items as being exempt was done in accordance with statutory guidance and that the determination was made in conjunction with Democratic Services and Legal Services at Haringey Council. Furthermore, the Chair commented that whilst the Board was a Council Committee, the Trustees of the Board were required to make decisions in the best interests of the Charity. Recent ICO (Information Commissioners Office) findings determined that where a local authority was the corporate trustee of a charity, that charity law governance had primacy, and that the draft reports between executive staff and trustees were not subject to Freedom of Information requests.
b. The need for a lighting and PA system is recognised and an item included on the fundraising list.
c. It is the stated ambition of the Trustees and Directors of the Trading Subsidiary to sign up to the London Living Wage and we have been working towards this. The majority of staff are currently paid on or over this level but we have not yet created a sufficiently robust financial situation to be able to achieve 100%. The Trust and the Trading Subsidiary review pay annually. It was last looked at in October 2017 and the Directors of the Trading subsidiary and Trustees supported the undertaking of a review of pay across both organisations, which aims to complete in 2018/19.