Agenda item

Prior to the consideration of the Motion (as published), which had been approved by all political Groups on the Council, the Chairman asked Members to confirm that they were prepared for Standing Orders to be suspended to allow the Motion to have four Proposers and Four Seconders and drew Members attention to the email from the Monitoring Officer setting out the procedure that would be followed on this occasion to deal with the Motion.  Members indicated their agreement.

The Chairman also confirmed that there had been an indication that a Member might want to requisition a Recorded Vote on the Motion.  Standing Order 22.3 prevents a Member requisitioning a Recorded Vote on a Motion therefore given the exceptional nature of the Motion, the Chairman asked Members to confirm that they were prepared for Standing Orders to be suspended to allow for a Recorded Vote on the Motion if, at the point of voting a Member requisitions a Recorded Vote and is supported by 10 further Members rising from their seats to signify their support in accordance with Standing Order 22.3.  Members indicated their agreement.

The Chairman also took the opportunity to remind Members that during the debate, Members should direct their speech to the question under discussion and emphasised that the debate was not an opportunity to discuss the merits or otherwise of any individual complaint or complaints made about any individual Member.  The Chairman confirmed it was not appropriate for the Chamber to discuss individual cases where no formal investigation or consideration has been given to a complaint.

The Council considered the Notice of Motion proposed by Councillors Prad Bains, Arun Mummalaneni, Keith House and Kim Taylor and seconded by Councillors Louise Parker-Jones, Juliet Henderson, Adrian Collett and Jacky Tustain, submitted in accordance with Standing Order 18.1.

During the course of debate, the support of all the political Groups on the Council was welcomed and several Members shared their own experiences of discrimination. 

Councillor Kirsty North, the Executive Member whose portfolio encompasses Inclusion and Diversity thanked the proposers for bringing this Motion and for all the contributions during the course of the debated.  Councillor North reported that under the umbrella of the Member Development Group (MDG) she had asked officers to reach out to the Local Government Association (LGA) to explore some bespoke training for Members on inclusion and diversity.  Cllr North also confirmed she looked forward to working with Cllr Arun Mummalaneni as the new Inclusion and Diversity Champion, as announced by the Leader in his earlier report to the Council.

Councillor Tim Davies proposed the following Amendment which was seconded by Councillor Andrew Joy:

Add the word “should” between the words “views” and “have” in the first line of paragraph one and that the apostrophe be removed from the word “Group’s” in the first line of the third paragraph of the published Motion.

The original Motion together with the proposed Amendment detailed above was put to the vote.  Councillor Parker-Jones requisitioned a Recorded Vote in accordance with Standing Order 22.3 and 10 other Members rose in their seats to signify their support.  The outcome of the Recorded Vote of those Members present in the Meeting at the time the vote was conducted was as follows:

For:  63

Councillors: Nick Adams-King, Prad Bains, Lulu Bowerman, Jackie Branson, Ryan Brent, Ann Briggs, Steven Broomfield, Pamela Bryant, Graham Burgess, Roz Chadd, Peter Chegwyn, Adrian Collett, Mark Cooper, Rod Cooper, Tonia Craig, Debbie Curnow-Ford, Tim Davies, Christopher Donnelly, David Drew, Barry Dunning, Liz Fairhurst, Steve Forster, Jonathan Glen, Tim Groves, Marge Harvey, Pal Hayre, Juliet Henderson, Edward Heron, Dominic Hiscock, Keith House, Zoe Huggins, Rob Humby, Wayne Irish, Adam Jackman, Gavin James, Andrew Joy, Hugh Lumby, Keith Mans, Lesley Meenaghan, Derek Mellor, Rob Mocatta, Arun Mummalaneni, Kirsty North, Russell Oppenheimer, Sarah Pankhurst, Stephen Parker, Louise Parker-Jones, Neville Penman, Roger Price, Lance Quantrill, Stephen Reid, Patricia Stallard, Elaine Still, Kim Taylor, Tom Thacker, Michael Thierry, Martin Tod, Andy Tree, Jacky Tustain, Rhydian Vaughan, Malcolm Wade, Jan Warwick and Bill Withers.

Against: None.

Abstentions: None

NB: any Member who had either given apologies or had had to leave the Meeting by the time the vote was conducted is detailed as “Not voted” in the electronic vote shown in the webcast of the Meeting.

RESOLVED:

(a)     To request that the Leader of the Council writes to Government to request that the code of conduct legislation is amended, so that when racist and discriminatory remarks are made by a Councillor, in a public forum, their actions should fall within the scope of the Council’s Code of Conduct.

(b)     To request that the County Council’s Conduct Advisory Panel considers amending the County Council’s Arrangements for dealing with complaints against Members to include reference to the Council’s ability to invite a Member to resign as part of an action of censure determined by the Council in accordance with those arrangements when a Member is found to have expressed racist and or unlawfully discriminatory beliefs publicly.

(c)     To request that the Leader of the Council creates the position of an Anti-Racism Champion for Hampshire County Council and to appoint a Member to this role prior to the next Council meeting.

(d)     To request that the Executive Member for the portfolio inclusive of inclusion & diversity, ensures that equality, diversity and inclusion training is available for all Members annually.