Agenda item

Motion No. 1

 

In accordance with Council Rules of Procedure No.10, Councillor S. Dickinson to move the following motion, received by the Democratic Services Manager on 7 July 2021:-

 

To bring Northumberland County Council into the 21st century and provide equality to Councillors as well as staff, it notes the following research findings:

 

That analysis of the 2019 Local Election results by the Fawcett Society found that only 35% of councillors in England are women, up 1% since 2018. Of the seats that were up for election in 2018, 38% went to women, up just 3 percentage points on 2014 when these seats were last contested;

 

That the role of a councillor should be open to all, regardless of their background, and that introducing a parental leave policy is a step towards encouraging a wider range of people to become councillors, and is also a step to encourage existing councillors who may want to start a family to remain as councillors;

 

That parental leave must apply to parents regardless of their gender, and that it should also cover adoption leave to support those parents who choose to adopt.

 

Northumberland County Council resolves:

 

To adopt the parental leave policy drafted by the LGA Labour Group’s Women’s Taskforce to give all councillors an entitlement to parental leave after giving birth or adopting; (see pages 107-110).

To ensure that councillors with children and other caring commitments are supported as appropriate;

To notify the LGA Labour Group that this Council has passed a motion at full Council to adopt the parental leave policy  .

 

Motion No.2

 

In accordance with Council Rules of Procedure No.10, Councillor I. Hutchinson to move the following motion, received by the Democratic Services Manager on 31 July 2021:-

 

“The Queen's Platinum Jubilee, marking 75 years of being our reigning monarch, is to be celebrated on the weekend of 3rd to 6th June next year. Many of the County's residents and communities will wish to celebrate this remarkable achievement, and to help them do this, Northumberland County Council Resolves to waive road closure fees for one day events on one occasion organised by Town and Parish Councils held during that weekend”.

 

Motion No.1

 

In accordance with Council Rules of Procedure No.10, Councillor S. Dickinson moved the following motion, received by the Democratic Services Manager on 7 July 2021, with an amendment to the final paragraph at the bottom of page 3 so that it read as set out in bold below:- 

 

To bring Northumberland County Council into the 21st century and provide equality to Councillors as well as staff,?it notes the following research findings:? 

? 

That analysis of the 2019 Local Election results by the Fawcett Society found that only 35% of councillors in England are women, up 1% since 2018. Of the seats that were up for election in 2018, 38% went to women, up just 3 percentage points on 2014 when these seats were last contested;? 

? 

That the role of a councillor should be open to all, regardless of their background, and that introducing a parental leave policy is a step towards encouraging a wider range of people to become councillors, and is also a step to encourage existing councillors who may want to start a family to remain as councillors;? 

? 

That parental leave must apply to parents regardless of their gender, and that it should also cover adoption leave to support those parents who choose to adopt.? 

 

Northumberland County Council resolves:? 

? 

To adopt the parental leave policy drafted by the Member Services Working Group.

 

To ensure that councillors with children and other caring commitments are supported as appropriate;? 

 

To notify the LGA Labour Group that this?Council has passed a motion at full?Council to adopt the parental leave policy??.? 

? 

Councillor Dickinson commented that this motion was about diversity, about ensuring that becoming a parent did not prevent a person from being a councillor and making it equally possible for any councillor of working age to represent their community through the implementation of a policy which 40 other councils had adopted, giving them the same rights as other employees.

 

Councillor Wilczek commented that since the creation of the Council in 2009, she was only the second pregnant member. She seconded the motion which was first drawn up by the LGA Labour Group’s Women’s Taskforce, and modified by the Member Services Working Group to ensure that women came forward to stand for Council positions. 32 Councils had adopted the motion, including Newcastle City Council and 7 other councils had adopted their parental leave policy and she hoped that Northumberland County Council would lead the way for business to do the same in Northumberland. A woman councillor was not entitled to any maternity leave or support after having a baby and councillors needed to encourage and empower women parents and carers to become local councillors and take on leadership positions. She urged members to support it.

 

A number of comments were made by members including:

 

·       Councillor Reid commented that a lack of parental leave policy had never been raised with him in 30 years of recruiting people to stand in local elections. Councillors were not employees and did not have employee rights under the terms and conditions of employment. Any member could not attend a meeting for six months and there would be no come back about that. He queried who would grant parental leave, what evidence would need to be provided and did not feel that it was necessary. Also, extensions beyond six months’ absence could be granted by Council.

·       Councillor Dale commented that this was an attempt to get more women into politics which was fair. Of 34 Conservative places, only 9 were women. Labour had 21 and 13 were women. She would have liked to have become a councillor earlier than she had done, but this had not been possible due to her family commitments. If this helped to bring more women into politics then it had her support.

·       Councillor Foster commented that for a long time in the workplace it was very hard for women to get into senior positions in case they became pregnant. Things had moved on since then and she felt the Council needed to do the same. Having a policy in place brought certainty for those who were adopting and would encourage more women into politics. She also hoped it would encourage more younger people into politics, people who would be more in need of such a policy. This was a positive move and she fully supported it.

·       Councillor Ezhilchelvan commented that members were spinning the motion into some kind of instrument to bring more women into politics, which was not correct. He was the first minority group councillor and this was not because of some special provisions from the Conservative party, this had happened for organic reasons. There were many factors involved in bringing more women into politics and this motion may or may not help. He urged members to look at the merits of the motion as a tool for bringing councillors into line with staff, as that was all it could reasonably do.

·       Councillor Murphy commented that her job was to assess adopters and part of that assessment involved how supportive employers were. The private sector was very supportive in this regard and local government was not the same. She urged members to be trailblazers on this, and not dismiss it as some members had done.

·       Councillor Dodd commented that a lot had changed in local government since he had been elected a councillor and maybe the time was a right for a change to the six month rule.

·       Councillor Reid reiterated his earlier comments that councillors were not employees and had no contract of employment. They could not take leave, let alone parental leave. He was fully supportive of achieving a diverse council and felt being a councillor was workable around family life. He was against the motion because it was unnecessary. A member could not attend a meeting for six months without recourse. If an extension to this was required, then the whole Council had to decide on that request, which he felt was intrusive.

·       Councillor Dickinson responded that being a councillor was seen as employment in life whether members liked it or not. Just not turning up to meetings was not an option for his Group. This motion was about equality across the Council and he was disappointed at some members’ reactions. His Group had been very co-operative in amending the motion to make it acceptable to all members, it had been reviewed from HR and Legal point of view and he was disappointed at the response it had received. He asked for a named vote on the motion, which was supported by the required number of members.

 

The Deputy Monitoring Officer sought clarification that the amended motion adopted the recommendations of the Member Services Working Group. Councillor Dickinson confirmed this was the case.

 

On the motion, as amended, being put to the vote the votes were cast as follows:-

 

FOR: 57

 

Ball, C.	Murphy, M.
Beynon, J.	Nisbet, K.
Bowman, L.	Parry, K.
Carr, D.	Pattison, W.
Cartie, E.	Ploszaj, W.
Castle, G.	Purvis, M.
Clark, T.	Renner Thompson, G.
Dale, P.A.M.	Richardson, M.
Daley, W.	Riddle, J.
Darwin, L.	Robinson, M.
Dickinson, S.	Sanderson H.G.H.
Dodd, R.	Scott, A.
Dunbar, C.	Scott, P.
Dunn, L.	Seymour, C.
Ezhilchelvan, P.	Sharp, A.
Ferguson, D.	Simpson, E.
Flux, B.	Stewart, G.
Foster, J.	Swinbank, M.
Grimshaw, L.	Swinburn, M.
Hardy, C.	Taylor, C.
Hill, G.	Thorne, T.
Horncastle, C.	Towns, D.
Humphrey, C.	Waddell, H.
Hutchinson, J.I.	Wallace, A.
Jones, V.	Watson, A.
Kennedy, D.	Watson, J.
Lang, J.	Wearmouth, R.
Mather, M.	Wilczek, R.
Morphet, N.

 

AGAINST: 2

 

Lee, S.

Reid, J.

 

ABSTENTIONS: 1

 

Hunter, E.I.

 

 

It was therefore RESOLVED that:-

 

(a)  the County Council adopt the parental leave policy drafted by the Member Services Working Group;

 

(b)  councillors with children and other caring commitments will be supported as appropriate;?and 

 

(c)  the LGA Labour Group be notified that the?Council had passed a motion at full?Council to adopt the parental leave policy.? 

 

Motion No.2 

 

In accordance with Council Rules of Procedure No.10, Councillor I. Hutchinson moved the following motion, received by the Democratic Services Manager on 31 July 2021, noting that the platinum jubilee was actually 70 years, not 75

 

 “The Queen's Platinum Jubilee, marking 75 years of being our reigning monarch, is to be celebrated on the weekend of 3rd to 6th June next year. Many of the County's residents and communities will wish to celebrate this remarkable achievement, and to help them do this, Northumberland County Council Resolves to waive road closure fees for one day events on one occasion organised by Town and Parish Councils held during that weekend”. 

 

This was seconded by Councillor Castle who commented that the Town and Police Clauses Act allowed processions to take place without charge, and some of these events would be processions.

 

Member comments included:-

 

·       Councillor Dale suggested that member small schemes funding could be used to help out town and parish councils who wanted to host such events. She also asked if the motion could be amended to extend the fee waiver to community organisations in areas where town or parish councils were not doing anything. However, Councillor Hutchinson felt it was safer to restrict it to town and parish council applications so things could be kept controlled.

·       Councillor Hill suggested that organisations approved by town or parish councils could be a way forward and she supported the motion. Councillor Hutchinson replied that organisations would have to go through the town or parish council to apply to benefit from the exemption.

·       Councillor Reid quoted from the Town and Police Clauses Act which permitted processions for free. If the event was being held under the Road Traffic Act 1984 then the cost was £550 which covered the cost of advertising. He would have preferred a motion which urged the press to carry the adverts for free. He was also concerned about the cost to the Council, depending on take up, and felt it would have been better allocated to the LACS.  

·       Councillor Dickinson queried where the funding would come from if many town or parish councils applied. He asked whether community organisations could apply for the waiver and he asked the Deputy Monitoring Officer to confirm whether the types of events which were being envisaged here would be caught by the Town and Police Clauses Act or the Road Traffic Regulation Act.

·       Mr Masson advised that the circumstances of the event would determine which category it fell into.

·       The Leader commented that this was a proposal to help celebrate the jubilee. He felt it would be appropriate to get some definitive legal advice and some idea of the potential costs and bring the motion back to Council.

 

Councillor Hutchinson agreed to withdraw his motion to allow these matters to be considered in more detail by officers and the portfolio holder, and be brought back to the next meeting. 

 

RESOLVED that the motion be withdrawn to allow this additional work to be done, and brought back to the November Council meeting.