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To be moved by Councillor Ellie
Ormsby and seconded by Councillor James Small-Edwards.
This Council notes
that:
·
This administration was elected with a commitment to
build a Fairer Westminster. Creating a more equitable economy and
society in Westminster, which puts our residents and communities
first. It notes the principles and plans set out in the 2023/24
Fairer Westminster Delivery Plan.
·
The Council has recently become a signatory to the
Unison Ethical Care Charter, making a commitment to improving
protections for care workers and improving outcomes for service
users. It has also created a unique Dirty Money Charter with the
New West End Company (NWEC), the Heart of London Business Alliance
(HOLBA), the Fair Tax Foundation and others to call for national
change to tackle economic crime and corruption, whilst doing what
we can here in Westminster.
·
Westminster is proud of its vibrancy and diversity,
and its history of welcoming refugees and displaced people from
around the world fleeing conflict, climate change, inequality,
discrimination and violence. On the
latest published figures, Westminster is home to 763 people who are
here on the Homes for Ukraine scheme, 997 asylum seekers of which
851 are in Home Office Contingency hotels, 7 refugee families
resettled through the UK Resettlement and Afghan Resettlement
pledge, and we are
responsible for 54 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and 212
former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children care
leavers.
·
Council of Sanctuary designation is awarded by the
City of Sanctuary Local Authority Network to institutions that are
welcoming to those fleeing violence and persecution in their own
countries, and protecting the rights of all migrants,
asylum-seekers and refugees. There are
33 members in total (10 in London, including recently in Camden
where this designation was adopted unanimously) and 11 that have
achieved the full award (1 in London).
·
Councils can have a significant impact on their
local area by promoting better mental health. Westminster takes its
responsibility to care for its resident’s mental health
seriously and recognises the impact it can have.
·
Councillors represent their community and where
possible Councillors, as a whole, should
reflect the diversity of their community, particularly those with
protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment,
marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race,
religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation). The Co-operative
Party’s Diverse Councils Declaration sets out ideas for
increasing diversity in local government by suggesting ways to
remove barriers standing in the way of a more diverse and inclusive
democracy.
This Council believes
that:
·
Our vision for a Fairer Westminster must
extend to the most vulnerable in the borough, including our
refugee, asylum seeking and migrant communities.
o
We have a duty of care towards children,
and vulnerable and trafficked adults in our borough.
o
We must continue to go above and beyond
business as usual to support migrant communities. The journey to
become a Council of Sanctuary will solidify this
commitment.
·
As a local authority we have a crucial role to play
in improving the mental health of everyone in our community and
tackling some of the widest and most entrenched inequalities in
mental health.
o
Mental health should be a priority across all the
local authority’s areas of responsibility.
o
All councillors, whether members of the Cabinet or
Scrutiny, and in our community and casework roles, can play a
positive role in championing mental health on an individual and
strategic basis.
·
We should seek to take proactive steps to ensure our
councillors are representative of the diversecommunities they
serve. A more representative democracy is a more inclusive
democracy, which enables increased participation and more-informed
decision-making.
This Council resolves
to:
·
Launch the journey to become a Council of Sanctuary
by joining City of Sanctuary’s local authority network and
demonstrate its values of ‘Inclusive, Openness,
Participation, Inspire, and Integrity’.
o
Continue to welcome and support refugees and
migrants in the borough and stand in solidarity with
them.
o
Challenge anti-migrant sentiment where we find
it.
o
Work to ensure that Central Government provides
adequate resources to local government to properly support refugees
and displaced people in our City
including funding for care, advice, housing and skills and
employment support;
o
Find more opportunities across the Council to
celebrate our refugee and migrant communities, tell their stories,
and promote their voices.
o
Work with local community, voluntary sector, health,
and education partners, including those with lived experience, to
shape Westminster’s borough of sanctuary ambition.
·
Sign the Local Authorities’ Mental Health
Challenge run by Centre for Mental Health.
o
Continue to support the Mental Health Member
Champion in their role.
o
Support positive mental health in our community,
including in local schools, neighbourhoods and workplaces.
o
Work to reduce inequalities in mental health in our
community.
o
Work with local partners to offer effective support
for people with mental health needs.
o
Tackle discrimination on the grounds of mental
health in our community.
o
Proactively listen to people of all ages and
backgrounds about what they need for better mental
health.
·
Commit to being a Diverse Council:
o
Provide a clear public commitment to improving
diversity in democracy.
o
Demonstrate an open and welcoming culture to all,
promoting the highest standards of behaviour and
conduct.
o
Recommend a Diverse Council Action Plan to political
groups for adoption ahead of the next local
elections.
o
Work towards the standards for member support and
development as set out in the LGA Councillor Development Charter
and Charter Plus.
o
Demonstrate a commitment to a duty of care for
councillors by:
§
Providing access to counselling services for all
councillors;
§
Having regard for the safety and wellbeing of
councillors whenever they are performing their role as councillors;
and
§
Taking a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and
harassment of members including through social
networks.
o
Provide flexibility in Council business by regularly
reviewing and staggering meeting times where appropriate and
feasible.
o
Ensure that all members are able
to take up the support to which they are entitled,
particularly any reimbursement for costs of care, so the role of
member is not limited to those who can afford it or those reliant
on the support of others to fulfil their duties.
o
Review the Council’s parental leave policy
setting out members’ entitlement to maternity, paternity,
shared parental and adoption leave and relevant allowances to
ensure it as inclusive and fair as possible.
·
Support the delivery of our commitments
under Westminster’s Dirty Money and the Unison Ethical Care
Charter.
(b)
Opposition Party Motion – Restoring the 75%
cut of new build intermediate housing for Key
Workers
To be moved by Councillor David
Harvey and seconded by Councillor Robert Rigby.
This Council deplores the cut
of up to 75% in new build intermediate housing aimed at key workers
since this Administration took charge and seeks for the Cabinet to
reinstate the key worker homes to the build programme.
We want a "city for all" that
builds not just homes but communities. That has
to include our hard-pressed key workers who will seldom
qualify for social rent housing or otherwise be able to afford
to live in Westminster. Without our key workers living here,
this is not a fairer Westminster.
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