To receive announcements.
Decision:
The following procedural motion on behalf of the Conservaive Group was AGREED by 43 votes to 0, with 7 abstentions:
In view of the Chief Executive’s announcement and update from the Director of Public Health, and in recognition of the considerable work that officers are currently engaged in and need to continue with; I am putting forward the following motion under Council procedure Rule 12.1 (k):
Under Council Procedure Rule 20, Council agrees to partially suspend the Council Procedure Rules for this evening’s meeting. There are petitions under item 7, one report at item 8 as well as members’ questions and motions for debate at items 9 and 10.
i) The petitions are marked as received
ii) The report in item 8 be received and a vote only procedure is followed on the proposed amendment and if necessary the recommendation in the report.
iii) That the answers to Members’ Question be circulated to all Members by email. Any supplementary questions from Members who put forward the questions be sent to Democratic Services and a written response provided in due course which is copied to all Members.
iv) That the Council follow the vote only procedure pursuant to Rule 13.4 in relation to motions A and B put forward by the Independent Resident’s Group and their proposed amendments.
v) That the Council agrees the withdrawal of motions C and D pursuant to rule 11.7 and agrees that those items are resubmitted to the next scheduled meeting of Full Council in January 2021.
In putting forward this procedural motion, in particular the vote only procedure for Motions A & B, I acknowledge that the Leader of the Independent Resident’s Group has stated that his and his Group’s preference would have been to debate these motions before these are put to a vote.
As this is a procedural motion under Council Procedure Rule 12.1(k), this motion should proceed to a vote without discussion.
Minutes:
A minute’s silence was held in memory of former Councillor Cyril North who had recently passed away. Tributes to Councillor North were paid by Members of several Groups.
The Mayor advised Council that his charities would be St Francis Hospice, Clowns In The Sky and the Rainbow Trust. The Mayor had recently attended Remembrance Sunday events in Hornchurch and Romford as well as a Zoom meeting on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims and the on-line lighting up ceremony for the Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square. The Deputy Mayor had attended a recent live virtual fundraising auction for King George and Queen’s Hospitals Charity.
The Leader of the Council thanked staff for their hard work during the pandemic period and added that this been recognised by the granting of an extra day’s leave to all staff over the Christmas period.
A total of 30 Covid martials and 7 additional public protection officers had been recruited. The Leader was pleased that the first Covid-19 vaccinations had now taken place at Queen’s Hospital but felt that the coming months would continue to be very challenging.
The Chief Executive advised that numbers of Covid-19 cases in Havering continued to rise and that three mobile testing units would therefore be based in the borough. Secondary school pupils had been targeted for testing with 96% of tests given out in the first tranche. Home tests were also available for pupils or teachers.
More lateral flow asymptomatic tests would be rolled out across London and the Council had requested 30,000 of these for Havering. The Covid response work was taking a lot of officer time and the Chief Executive requested that Members work with officers to support the ongoing response work to Covid-19. An all Member briefing would be arranged in due course to give the latest information to Members.
The following procedural motion on behalf of the Conservative Group was proposed by the Conservative Group:
In view of the Chief Executive’s announcement and update from the Director of Public Health, and in recognition of the considerable work that officers are currently engaged in and need to continue with; I am putting forward the following motion under Council procedure Rule 12.1 (k):
Under Council Procedure Rule 20, Council agrees to partially suspend the Council Procedure Rules for this evening’s meeting. There are petitions under item 7, one report at item 8 as well as members’ questions and motions for debate at items 9 and 10.
i) The petitions are marked as received
ii) The report in item 8 be received and a vote only procedure is followed on the proposed amendment and if necessary the recommendation in the report.
iii) That the answers to Members’ Question be circulated to all Members by email. Any supplementary questions from Members who put forward the questions be sent to Democratic Services and a written response provided in due course which is copied to all Members.
iv) That the Council follow the vote only procedure pursuant to Rule 13.4 in relation to motions A and B put forward by the Independent Resident’s Group and their proposed amendments.
v) That the Council agrees the withdrawal of motions C and D pursuant to rule 11.7 and agrees that those items are resubmitted to the next scheduled meeting of Full Council in January 2021.
In putting forward this procedural motion, in particular the vote only procedure for Motions A & B, I acknowledge that the Leader of the Independent Resident’s Group has stated that his and his Group’s preference would have been to debate these motions before these are put to a vote.
As this is a procedural motion under Council Procedure Rule 12.1(k), this motion should proceed to a vote without discussion.
The procedural motion was AGREED by 45 votes to 8 with 0 abstentions (see division 1).