Transcript

So for item one, may I sign the minutes of the previous meeting? Agree, agree. Marvellous, thank you very much. Declarations for interest, are there any interests to declare? No? Doesn't that look like it? Okay, thank you. And so, Mayoral Announcements are apologies, we've received apologies from Councillor Hayes, Councillor Kiprahim might be coming later, I don't think he's here yet, so yes, he's going to be running a little bit late. As on the order of business, as Mayor, I have the discretion to change the order of business. As such, motion one, care leavers as a protected characteristic, will be heard after item five. I can confirm that there have been no items declared for declaration of discussion items. And on to the Mayor's Announcements, just me chatting about stuff, everybody. Over the past summer months, I've had pleasure connecting with honestly so many communities across the borough, at numerous street parties and general garden parties, and celebrate the successes of our young people at GCSE results day, and my Deputy Councillor Jackson celebrated the results day with the A level results, it was amazing. But the cutest event, to be honest, that I attended was definitely the Brickworks Community Nursery graduation ceremony, that was so lovely. Anyway, I also celebrated the accomplishment of local refugees and migrants at the Islington Refugee Centre for their work at Speak Streets English classes, and celebrated their contributions of paid and unpaid carers at the Dignity Care Awards. I also represented the borough at a very, very moving ceremony to mark the UNESCO day for remembering the transatlantic slave trade and its abolition, hosted by the Mayor of London at City Hall, where I was also joined by my very own. When I was elected, I said that I would use my term in office to champion diversity and inclusion. Therefore, I was very excited to host a panel discussion on the theme Free to Be Me, which marked South Asian Heritage Month, and thank you to the members of the Council who supported the event, either by joining the panel or attending the evening, which was a wonderful celebration of the diversity of experiences of being of South Asian heritage and the contribution that the South community makes to life in Islington. I am just going to put on my fan because I'm eating up underneath this hat. I don't know if we need aircon on at this moment. Anyway, I also attended a really special event marked South Asian Heritage Month with author Shitra Sounder at Central Library and the play Ingolund, which was a play about a South Asian girl from Rugby, Rugby the town, not the game, with a love of football at the King's Head Theatre, which kind of resonated with me. That was my town. I like football. Some of you might know that. Anyway, speaking of football, I had a great time also at the launch of Black Arsenal, a book exploring Arsenal's connection to black culture and identity at the Emirates Stadium. Yeah, it was really, really incredible, and there was only one mention of 1989 and Michael Thomas. We'll move on from that. I was very pleased to attend Disability Star Forum event to discuss disabled allyship. Okay, so in addition to all of those events I just told you about, I've also been to some wonderful parties and celebrations over the weekend and just up to now, this week. So, on Saturday I had great fun at the Toy Project Street Festival. I'm surrounded by cuddly toys that had been rescued from landfill, trying my hand at graffiti with Rumi, the resident artist, who's a Cali boy, apparently, but he ventured north to the Arsenal and had a vegan sausage roll and a doughnut provided free of charge by Greg's, and I finished off my visit with a photo shoot with an incredible dame, pantomime dame, not a regal dame, but he's quite regal, so anyway. Then I shot down to St Mary's Festival to open their family fun day, and then I was off to a really fun garden party with Highbury View sheltered housing residents and Islington Pensioners Forum, and I can confirm that there was indeed some dancing involved, which is a bit weird with these sort of things, I don't know, it doesn't matter. Anyway, and I had some artists, like, drawing me. I'm going to have to try and get copies of those because, you know, it's like proper celebrity, right? It was like, oh my gosh. Anyway, on Monday I had the pleasure of presenting the Special Recognition Award to the, well, presenting to the winner of the Special Recognition category at the Dignity and Care Awards, and there's no denying that the work that's done by all the carers in Islington, whether they're paid or unpaid, it's just outstanding and serves as a real inspiration for us all about how to truly serve and, you know, help our community. Again, I can confirm that some dancing was involved with our very own Chief Exec here throwing some shapes, it's all on video. And yesterday I had the further pleasure of being at the 21st Islington in Bloom Awards, and it was just so fantastic to see groups and individuals, young and old, from across Islington playing their part and looking after and enhancing our green spaces, whether that be a tree pit. By the way, just in case you're interested, there are tree pits still available to sponsor if you want to, you can see the website for details to sign up. They also celebrated some of the amazing window boxes and our precious community parks. And I was also incredibly happy to see that Mitford Road, located in my very own ward of Tollington, won the first place in the Best Street category. So that's, you know, that's something that I need to say. I did actually fail to mention that the person that won the Special Recognition category, her name was Sue Beveridge, and honestly, what an amazing woman. I just wanted to say that. Right. So, oh, yes, and I'd like to say a big thank you to George of Islington Court Tour Guides for a very engaging tour of the church and the tower of St Mary's Church. So, yeah, we climbed the tower, it was amazing. Thank you very much to those members that joined me on that and helped raise the money for my chosen charity, Brickworks Community Centre. Okay, so now on to the boring stuff and we're going to talk about length of speeches. So could I remind everyone to take note of the timer, just there on the table, and to stay within the permitted length of speeches. Please, could I also remind everyone to use your microphone to speak into them clearly and to turn them off again once you finish speaking. Before I start business this evening, I would like to remind everyone of the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Equality Duty requires the Council to have due regard to the need to a) eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, b) advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, c) foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, including tackling prejudice and promoting understanding. The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, gender and sexual orientation. Finally, a reminder that this meeting is being webcast live on the Council's website. Thank you. So we will now move to Item 4, which is the Leader's Announcements. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I hope everyone's had a relaxing summer and I think in honour of our Youth Council being here tonight with us, I know you're going to ask some fabulous questions later. I'd like to start by saying that we've had a brilliant summer for our young people. I've put on record my congratulations to the borough for their outstanding A-Level and GCSE results, which have continued to improve the proportion of our top grades in the borough and we should be very proud of those young people. And thank you, Madam Mayor and Deputy Mayor, for helping us celebrate them this summer. Also, I'm exceptionally proud to announce that our Youth Justice Service also was rated outstanding by HMIP. [Applause] A remarkable recognition and testament to our unwavering dedication to young people. Thank you for being with the congratulatory theme. I am thrilled to welcome Councillor Shreya Nanda. [Applause] Having her August by election is never an easy feat, but I'm proud of the dedication and commitment you have already shown, Councillor Nanda, and I look forward to continue working with you. Madam Mayor, whilst there has been much to celebrate this summer, it has also been a difficult summer. With the tragic murder of three young girls in Southport triggering a wave of racist, Islamophobic and violent disorder, the worst unrest that we've seen in our streets for a long, long time. I was proud to speak at the rally organised by Finsbury Park Moss and Muslim Welfare House here in Islington. We know too well in our borough the impact of far-right extremism that can have on our communities. In response, the council released a cross-party statement reaffirming our commitment to tackling racism and supporting those affected by these heinous acts. We also wrote to the leader of Southport community to put on record our heartfelt consolidations to the families of the actual victims of the horrible crime that happened. I'd like to thank our opposition colleagues for working with us to put together that statement, which we've put forward this evening as well, and as well as the motion will be moving later on. And also I want to put on record my gratitude to Muslim Welfare House and Finsbury Park for their continued support and organising the anti-racism rally that united our community so strongly against hatred. As a borough sanctuary, we remain committed to embracing diversity and celebrating community cohesion. Councillor Chapman has organised an event on October 1st to bring us all together so we can rethink about where we go further on this agenda, and the details will be circulated, so I look forward to seeing many of you there. Madam Mayor, seven years after the awful Grenfell Tower tragedy, the report's findings were finally published. The findings are a stark reminder to us all of the critical importance of stringent safety standards and accountability in housing. I welcome the Prime Minister's pledge to deliver a generational shift in safety and quality of housing for everyone in this country, and prevent any similar further tragedies in future. Everyone deserves to have a secure home to live in, and I also was delighted with the announcement last week that the Labour government has banned section 21 no-fault evictions, a key driver of homelessness. [Applause] This landmark reform will protect and empower renters across the UK, including the 27,000 private renter households here in Islington. This government has also shown its support for the most vulnerable people in our community in agreeing with us on our request, the extension of the Household Support Scheme. The £421 million this extension will give to local authorities will certainly help those most in need as they continue to feel the brunt of the cost of living crisis created by the previous Tory government. Last week, our council staff participated in a range of workshops and activities for Purpose Interaction Week, emphasising the implementation of the two years ahead of our Islington Together delivery plan, and the importance of cross-collaboration across the council to support our residents. As a Labour-run council, with a Labour London Mayor and a Labour government, we are in a prime position to influence and change not just locally, but nationally too. For example, we've been working this week with the Mayor of London to deliver the London Grace Plan, setting out how we will drive a sustainable and inclusive economy. The announcement in the King's speech to make spiking a specific criminal offence is another example of this, and I know later on this evening, Councillor Weeks and staff will be speaking on the importance of tackling spiking and the work we're doing here to deliver a safer night-time economy for all. Madam Mayor, now more than ever, our residents need us to not just hold the government to account, but to work collaboratively to ensure that we can reverse the damage done by 14 years of Tory chaos. And change won't happen overnight, but we are determined to make sure that we can do all we can to create a truly equal virus. Thank you. Thank you for that. I will now call on the leader of the majority opposition group, Councillor Sincarona. Would you like to respond? Yes, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Good evening. I'm proud to be standing here as the opposition leader with my colleagues. I'm also proud of the achievements of the manifesto we were all elected on. However, it should be noted that the stance of the current Labour Party there in government is not one that sits well with us. It's not one that I recognise. It's not one that the working class recognises anymore. It's not one which incorporates the whole of society. It's one that is causing its own form of austerity. We are cutting winter fuel payments. We are not coming back from the stance of two child policy. We're keeping that in. We are not there for the people anymore. This is why I am proud to stand as an independent. I am really proud to stand here with all my colleagues. We have pledges which we have all agreed on and our pledges to our residents in Islington. Our pledges to be their voice, to be their eyes, to communicate their struggles, to speak about their struggles and to defend their rights. Not just on a national level but on an international level, to continue to fight for Gaza, to continue to fight for Palestine, to continue to ask for an end to the hostility, to an end to this genocide. This is why we stood as independents. We are sick to death of being treated as the other. We all know that there is a rise in the far right. But this cannot just simply be blamed on social media when we have politicians referring to people as fleas or we have politicians that will say things like, Well, the Bengali nationals can go back to Bangladesh. This is not something that we stand on. We stand as the voice of the people and I am very proud to be an independent. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, we will now move to item 5, petitions. We have one petition this evening from the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. Is Elsha here to present this? Thank you. You have two minutes. A year ago today, I wouldn't have dreamed I would be bothering strangers about petitions or standing in front of my local counselors, but here I am. This past year has been harrowing for me and a lot of people around me. Witnessing death and human suffering on such a scale has worn me down, disillusioned me, but it has also awakened me. Can we really not do anything about it? To be so horrified at a genocide, to follow it in real time, to share this horror and protest and rage with many others and to still question, can we really not do anything about it? As an immigrant leaving my home, among other things, for a more democratic and just government, this is an especially crucial question for me. This is when I began to look into my borough, Islington, and how I found Islington PSC. It made me proud to find that my council had called for a ceasefire and an arms embargo last year, that my borough reflected my respect for human life and dignity. I was happy to find out that we are making plans to divest our funds from institutions engaged in illegal occupations and crimes against humanity. In many ways, we are an exemplary council and my conscience is eased, living and taxing here. And thank you all for your work and your courage so far. But we have to do more. Finance is what drives the world. The money speaks intentions and the money makes decisions and the money, our money, your money, should not in any way be complicit in the loss of human life. We simply cannot stand for that and I am here today with the voice of more than 2,000 Islington residents behind me to ask that we care for our money, our work, according to our values. We Islingtonians have always been relentless in being a voice for justice. As an African, I have immeasurable gratitude for Islington's unbending protest of apartheid in South Africa in 1985. We made history. Let us continue that legacy now. [Applause] Thank you. You will receive a response after the meeting. Okay, so we will now move on to Motion 1, Care Leavers as a Protected Characteristic. I believe that we have received a deputation on this item. So please could Alan Torres and Roxana Gresham come to the microphones? Is it just yourself, Alan? Hi there, can I start? Just to let you know, you have got up to four minutes. Yeah, so my name is Alan Torres and I luckily now run my own photography business. I've been given the opportunities with the councils, they've opened doors for me. So I've worked with the likes of Liam Gallagher, who's super trendy right now, and that's kind of like opened further doors for me with other clients. I've worked with the Emirates Stadium, Tiny Temper, and that was through the council as well. And what I'm saying is these doors would have not been opened for me without the council. And there's a bunch of other care leavers who has that kind of potential in their own creative skills. But they don't know that yet, and I feel like with the council, like opened the doors for me and myself, they could run their own business as well. Oh yeah, also I am working with the virtual school on a project, Matthew Blood. We've been doing a series of portraits of ten care leavers, kind of like showcasing them in their journey. It's called Resilient Souls, and we've finished it with it, but we're going to present a showcase next month. And that's kind of also kind of helping, you know, bringing that out of care leavers as well, because sometimes they don't know what they're good at. I think most of the times we're kind of taught just for learning academics, subjects, and they don't know they have that creative spark. And because of the council as well, with like different contacts, they've kind of given me that voice as well, of like showing what I'm good at in photography. So yeah, I guess you guys are all welcome to join the showcase as well, I mean to be there. Yeah, I think that's it really. Thank you. Thank you so much, Alan. That's brilliant. It's really good to hear. Councillors, have been gone good, please bring the motion. You have five minutes. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. Very difficult for me to deliver speech, to follow what Alan said. We can hear from our young people, very good articulated, the help and the support they receive from Exlington Council. Madam Mayor, I'm pleased to propose this motion this evening, is to carry on a support and help as Alan targets for our care experience young people. I'm pleased for all of us to hear their voice, because their voice matters. Their voice is the one is helping us to move on and to do more for them, because we are their corporate parents. We are all in this room, the parents of these young people. As a good parent, we have to do everything we need to do to make sure they receive the best needs and we are supporting them for the 60th of the future. Madam Mayor, the Equality Act 2010 states out which personnel characteristic is protected by law. A protected characteristic means that it's against the law to discriminate against anyone because of the characteristics they identify with. All protected characteristics have equal importance. Our care experience young people have experience of challenging in life, including trauma, due to many different stories sometimes they are going through during life. For us, not just to highlight or to speak about the difficult experiences, even not just to acknowledge it, it's a time for us to make sure they are being protected by us and also we do have a duty to provide everything they need to meet their needs. Madam Mayor, the current legislation is not acknowledged or is not even mentioning the care experience young people as a protected characteristic. Even the statistic shows they are very poor receiving outcome, they are more in risk of being in employment and homeless. The statistic says also our care experience young people, they are a huge higher number of committing suicide due to the trauma they are going through. I believe all of us, as soon as we start to hear the challenges all our young people are going through is a time for us to make sure they are become protected characteristic. As we are good parents, I believe it's our duty to stand and to stand alongside with our young people. That is the main reason we have been elected for, is for them. They are our future, they are the future of our lovely Eglinton borough. If we want this borough to have a great future, we need to invest on our young people, including care experience young people. Madam Mayor, I want just to request my colleagues, please we need to stand beyond our care experience young people. They need our help, they need our support, they need us as their incorporated parents to be there for them. Thank you very much, I move the motion. Well Councillor Zhamit, Chase would you second? Do you have three minutes? Follow that. That's better isn't it? OK, I wasn't sure how I was going to follow it now, but anyway thank you Madam Mayor and I echo the point raised by Councillor Safi and Oliver. I'm honoured to make this speech on this vital topic that's vital to the future of our young people in our community. It's actually my maiden speech. I have scrubbed that out because I was like really really nervous and as some of you know I am dyslexic so this is not an easy one. But anyway, I had a difficult childhood which meant I left school and home at 16 and I remember what it was like not to have a voice. This motivated me to become a Councillor, I wanted to make a difference and provide a voice to others. This is also why I joined the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Committee and the Fostering Adoption Panel. As corporate parents, when a child enters our care we become their guardians. Our duty goes beyond providing basic needs, it's about giving them the same opportunities we want for our own children as they transition into adulthood. I'm proud that our Council is committed to improving outcomes for care experienced young people by opening doors to education, employment and skills development. Islington Labour is dedicated to giving every young person the best possible start in life. However these young people continue to face systemic barriers that are often overlooked. Care experienced individuals frequently encounter discrimination and stigma across many aspects of life. Whether it's housing, health, education, relationships or employment, the data speaks volumes. They are three times more likely not to be in employment, education or training compared to their peers. A third of care leavers become homeless within two years of leaving care and 25% of all homeless individuals have been in care. Nearly a quarter of the adult prison population has been in care and almost half of under 21 year olds involved in the criminal justice system have care experience. They are four times more likely to suffer from mental health issues than their peers. These outcomes are deeply concerning and reflect years of cuts to public services under Tory leadership. But despite these challenges their resilience shines through and many overcome barriers to become community leaders, business owners and role models. 62% of care experienced young people in Islington are in education, employment or training and 38 are currently attending university. These successes happen because we take our role as corporate parents seriously. We must continue to listen, consider their needs in every decision and challenge the prejudice they face. I'm going to be over by about 30 seconds. One crucial step is to recognise care experience as a protected characteristic. The Public Sector Quality Act duty gives us the tools to tackle discrimination and promote fairness including care experience within this framework is key to building a more inclusive society. 54 councils recognise this as a protected characteristic in England. Madam Mayor, I'm heartened that the new Labour Government has committed to better supporting care experienced people as part of its five key missions, making care experience a protected characteristic. It is essential for breaking down barriers and ensuring fairness to all. And so in closing, I urge us all to champion the needs of care experienced young people. Let's be the council that stands up for them, that listens and that acts. Our role isn't just to care for them while they're with us, but to empower them to build the future they deserve. I believe that Councillor Ostermeyer would also like to speak in support of this motion, so please. Thank you Madam Mayor. I'm pleased to support this motion this evening. I also want to thank Councillor Ngongo in consistently and passionately championing for our care leavers. I have seen that since I've been a Councillor and since working with her, so I wanted to put on record my thanks to her commitment. Creating a borough that is inclusive, fair and actively tackles inequality is at the heart of everything we do as a council. For us, this means ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, can reach their full potential. When we speak of inclusivity, we must consider those who have been marginalised, including care experienced people who often face systemic barriers. If we are truly committed to social justice, we must place their needs and aspirations at the forefront of our agenda. An exclusive borough is one where every young person, no matter their history, can thrive in an environment free from prejudice and discrimination and where they feel valued and supported. By prioritising fairness and equality in our policies and services, we send a powerful message that this is a community where everyone belongs and where no one is left behind. It's important to recognise that making care experience a protected characteristic is more than a symbolic gesture. It is a concrete step towards addressing the disparities and challenges faced by those who have been in care. We must acknowledge the resilience of our care experience individuals who, despite facing significant adversity, continue to inspire me and us as a community and contribute positively to our community. However, acknowledging their successes is not enough. We must also take proactive measures to remove the barriers that still exist and ensure that care experienced people are not just surviving but thriving. This includes offering targeted support in education, employment, mental health services and challenging the systemic issues within housing, employment and education that leads to poorer outcomes for this group. By committing to these actions, we affirm our dedication to fostering an environment where care experienced individuals are respected, supported and given every opportunity to succeed. As a corporate parent, we have a responsibility not only to support our young people but to prevent them from going through even more challenges by removing the barriers that are in place. It is vital that we continue to listen and learn from care experienced young people themselves. Their voices and lived experience must shape our approach, ensuring that the support we provide is truly effective and responsive to their needs. By doing so, we not only enhance the quality of care but also empower these young people to advocate for themselves and future generations. This Council has the responsibility and privilege to lead by example, demonstrating that our care experienced young people are valued members of our community, deserving of the same opportunities as everyone else. Thank you. [Applause] Can I ask, would any other Councillors like to speak? Please, after your vote. Thank you, Mayor. The Green Group will vote for this motion and it's heartbreaking to hear that children in care and care experienced people of all ages are more likely to have a lower quality of life and die prematurely, through no fault of their own. As Councillor Sethi Ngongo said, every Councillor and Officer within this Chamber and also outside has a responsibility to act for those children and young people's bare wood for their own child. We recognise that Islington Council already does some of this work really well and that it will continue to do so and do more. We celebrate that in Islington, care experienced people do not pay Council tax up to the age of 25. We also welcome the approach that will put the needs of care experienced people at the heart of decision making through co-production and collaboration. I'll just add one bit today as well, just really briefly. To be honest, with my other hat as a teacher, I can't say that I have always listened to care leavers. But what I have been is inspired and humbled by the big heart that they have had and shown to me. And I think there is a duty for us to listen, but listen proactively and listen to understand as well. Thank you. If there's no one else, then Councillor Ngongo, would you like to respond please? Yes, thank you Madam Mayor. I'd like to say thank you to all the contribution as corporate parenting and I believe we are preparing to take our responsibility to save our young people. Thank you. Okay, we will now vote on the motion. So, all those in favour of the motion? All those against? Good to see, good to see. Any abstentions? None. Marvelous. Well, in that case, marvelous news, the motion is carried. And thank you once again, Alan. That was much appreciated. Okay, we will now move to item six, which is questions from members of the Youth Council. So, up to 20 minutes is allowed for these questions. I understand that Youth Councillor O'Rea would like to say a few words before we move to the questions. Please go ahead Youth Councillor O'Rea. As the Mayor has said, I am Youth Councillor O'Rea. I am the London Youth Council lead member for Youth Safety and the former Deputy Young Mayor. On behalf of my fellow Youth Councillors, I would like to thank the members of this Council for providing us with the opportunity to attend this four Council meetings and the others, and ask questions, thereby representing the voice of the borough's young people. As our time in office ends in the next two months, it has been an amazing experience and the greatest privilege to be part of this Youth Council. During this time, we have met with Council leaders and executive members, as well as senior managers. For me personally, I am really pleased with leading on Youth Safety and being involved in various events and activities, including promoting and supporting Isn't It Standing Together Fortnite, by taking part in a Youth Night at Lift Youth Hub. This involves sharing our views about Youth Safety and making a podcast. Supporting Isn't It Counts as violence against women and girls team, by creating videos for the annual 16 Days of Actism against VAWG held in November. Attending a street doctor session in order that we can learn from actual junior doctors via remote emergency first aid and bleed control. And inviting youth engagement and diversion police officers to one of our monthly Youth Council meetings to discuss the role of safer school officers and how to engage the borough's young people. We hope you will promote the opportunity to stand as candidates in the Youth Council to your young residents in your own wards. Thank you. Thank you very much and thank you to you all and all of the Youth Council for your work. We actually truly appreciate your contributions because you know stuff we don't know. So it's really good to hear. So the first question from the Youth Council is from young Mayor Tyra, I believe, and this is a change to the agenda so Councillor Safi and Longo will respond to the question. Following the general election which resulted in a change in the national government, how are Islington Council leaders working with the new administration to improve the lives of young people in Islington? Are there any exciting plans Council leaders can share with the borough's young people? Thank you very much for your important question young Councillor Tyra. Islington Council vision for young people and the new government vision regarding helping and supporting young people are very much the same. Even I'd like to welcome for a few ideas the lobbying with us as local Councillors to share Islington Council's practice, to share what we are doing in Islington for our young people. And I believe that is the route they are adopting to make sure not only Islington young people they are receiving help and support on everything is also to adopt across the country. That is why I'm proud to be Islington Councillor, that is why I'm proud to be the lead member for children, young people and families. Because our work in Islington, the help and support this Labour Council we are providing to our young people has become a model across inner London and outside London. We are proud and there is many for us to celebrate how the Labour group run Council for all we are doing will become the example of many. Including we are going to launch our youth safety strategy next year. We start to engage across the bit with our partners in schools, health and police for us to start to put some work together for the next strategy. Our main goal is for us to reach out to have a very big campaign ever, Islington never had with our young people. Get ready and prepare yourself. Because we need to hear your voice we are preparing to use all approach to reach out to get the voice of many young person as possible. And believe you are going to get involved because your voice matters. Is your voice going to help us to shape this strategy? Is your voice and your commitment going to help us to understand where can we improve? And we believe always there is a room of improvement. And as I said before I'm glad for government to lobbying with us to share our experience. That means your voice will be heard not just in Islington, it will be across the UK. Thank you. Mayor Tyra, would you like to ask a supplementary question? No problem, thank you then. So the next question is question B from the Deputy Young Mayor Amira and to Councillor Walsh. Deputy Mayor, please ask your question. Hi, during the summer in which racist marches and riots took place across the country, how is the Council supporting and reassuring young people from all faiths and ethnic backgrounds to feel safe in Islington? Good question. Well firstly as ever can I thank you and the Youth Council for the work that you guys are doing to help us create a safer Islington. As we've heard the work that the Youth Council have been doing with Islington standing together, the videos you've been doing around violence against women and girls, the conversations you've been having with school safety officers. One way in which we create a safer Islington is to have a community response listening to experts such as yourself and ensuring that you're part of the conversation and part of the solution. So I just want to record my thanks for the work that you guys do. I'd also say in regards to the horrific thuggery that we saw over the summer, I was exceptionally proud of Islington where we celebrate our diversity, that we came together as a Council, as a community to make it very clear, and I've said it in this chamber before and I'll say it again, that hate has no home here and we ensured that we had joint patrols with the police, a community impact assessment was done, reaching out to stakeholders and numerous events, making very, very clear once again that hate has no home here. In terms of ensuring that young people feel safe and are safe, there's a plethora of different things that we do, but over the summer period in particular, we as a Council were so excited to get behind for the 27th year the amount of support we give in terms of free activities for young people. So we had some adversity for 13 year olds and over with a wealth of different activities to keep them engaged, to create new contacts, to have new experiences and most importantly to have fun. That emphasis on diversion and making sure that young people have worthwhile things to do is a key part of our preventative approach to ensuring a safer Islington. So I want to thank you once again for your question and for the work that you and the Youth Council do. Deputy Mayor Murrah, would you like to ask a supplementary question? No problem. Well, in that case, the next question is from young Councillor Merriam to Councillor Halloran. I don't know really how to word this in the best way, but other than allowing young people to interact in youth activities, over the summer to keep them obviously off the streets so they can feel safer. What other things have the Council done with the police and other things to be able to interact and to stop what's been going on, like stop the anti-racism and everything, not anti-racism, stop racism and everything that's been going on recently in the past couple of months? Thank you for that. There's a number of things that we do with our police partners to ensure that racism has no home here. A key part of what we do is around tackling hate crime and you're going to come across the hate crime prevention champions, making sure with our faith communities that we are raising awareness of what constitutes hate crime and encouraging people to report hate crime. We also do preventative educational training for frontline staff and indeed the local police as well. Islington have been leading anti-racism training for our police officers to ensure that those on the streets are au fait with the kind of values that we have. And so across the pieces, whether it's engaging with schools or engaging with police or engaging with our communities through things like the hate crime prevention champions, we want to make it very clear that racism has no home here. And as ever, we're always welcome to the conversations that we have, you and I and as part of the Youth Council, to further discussions about how we can do even more because Islington, we're never ever complacent. Thank you. Thank you. Now I think we can move to Councillor Mairan. Councillor O'Halloran, please ask your question. Youth poverty and homelessness on the rise, what support systems are in place for young people suffering and what preventative measures are there? Thank you for your question. Islington Council is proud to host the New Horizons Youth Hub in Islington. And this scheme provides pan London short stay accommodation for young people aged between 18 and 24 years of age with a history of rough sleeping. Islington Council also has a designated young person support accommodation pathway, which provides accommodation and onsite support for people experiencing homelessness. As part of our programme to buy homes in the borough for people experiencing homelessness, the council has purchased 20 one bedroom ex right to buy properties for young people leaving looked after care. And each one of these people receive support through housing first support framework to ensure these young people never experience homelessness. This is all part of our labour run council's commitment to make Islington better for young people, as outlined in the manifesto that this labour administration was successfully elected in 2022. Councillor Mairan, would you like to ask a subsequent question? I will pay attention this time. Please, please go ahead. You stated that Islington Council was planning to buy or have bought 20 one bed apartments. Am I right in thinking those are for those that have already been made homeless or those on the brink of homelessness? If so, having those on the brink or have been near the poverty line for quite some period of time seem to be having not additional support. What are you planning to do on that? Thank you. Great supplementary. I think you heard earlier how many labour councillors and people in this chamber are fighting for the rights of young people. So when I said 20 right to buy for people, that's people just experiencing homelessness. But I assure you, children's services and Councillor Ngongo, every time I buy a right to buy, fights for young people and children. So the more right to buys, the more they will get off of me. And what we're doing, it's not just about giving the properties, we've got such a brilliant service. I think you heard, we hear sitting on groups together and we do hear the voices of young people in our care experience because Councillor Ngongo doesn't like adults to talk, she likes us to listen to the young people. So that's how we make changes and make differences. So all I would say is watch this space. Yes, you're right, there's not enough homes, but we intend to build more and I intend to buy every single right to buy I can. And I will be working with the Labour government, I'm proud to say that, the Labour government, because we have a rotten Tory government and we've got to put young people first. A lot of us, it's not about us, this is about the future and our younger generation. So we've got voices like you who's all sitting there that are going to hold us to account. And I wouldn't be surprised if you're the next generation of Councillors sitting here. So thank you. Thank you for that. And before we come to the final question, oh no it's not the final question, it is. I just wanted to say it's so nice to see you guys, all our youth Councillors. I met them all, had the pleasure of having them in the parlour and it's lovely to see you again. Anyway, we will move on now, sorry to Billy, well sorry that I diverted, but my final question is question D from youth Councillor Billy. To Councillor Bell Bradford, Executive Member for Inclusive Economy, Culture and Jobs. Youth Councillor Billy, could you ask your question? We are concerned about rising number of cultural organisations moving out of the borough and the adverse impact, the reduced number of organisations there are to deliver cultural activities for local people. What is the Council doing to ensure Islington continues to have a vibrant cultural offer for young people in the borough? Thank you for that and Councillor Bell Bradford, please will you respond? You have three minutes. Thank you so much Billy, it's an incredibly important question. I think you've hit the nail on the head, which is it's never been more difficult for cultural organisations, cultural institutions in our country. After 14 years of Tory austerity and years and years after cuts, rising rent prices and the cost of doing business and keeping things running, we're seeing cultural institutions, grassroots cultural organisations closing. But also our residents are impacted as costs and price rises, working class residents being priced out of cultural experiences, things that should be theirs by their right. So you're right to ask what are we doing as a borough to tackle these problems? I think the first thing to say is not all doom and gloom. We do have some cultural organisations coming and starting in Islington because they see Islington as a place where culture thrives. That's organisations like Tall Stories, Arts Exchange and the London Screen Academy. We ourselves as a council see ourselves as a way of making sure that young people and all our residents have access to that culture. Be that through programmes like 11 by 11, making sure all our residents can say that they've had 11 high quality interactions as they grow up. It means working with our cultural institutions and our borough to leverage them to get benefits for our residents by working with the Guildhall Music School to showcase the work and creative talents of over 600 school children. It also means working and running targeted pilot schemes like our Islington Access to Culture pilot which has 500 pound pots for care experienced young people to get access to culture. I think combining all these things as well as working with these new creative networks to make sure we're profiling and showcasing the culture institutions we have in the borough is how we make sure that adults and young people have access. It's also about what we provide as a borough to cultural organisations. We leverage things like the Affordable Workspace programme to make sure that we try and provide cheap things like artist studio space. So if you want to do art in the borough, you don't have to travel to Enfields to a garage or warehouse out there, you can do it in the borough. You can be an artist in the place where you grew up. I did have a final point about the impact that work can have, working in culture can do, but it seems almost pointless after the speech we had earlier about the impact that working in culture can have on the lives of our young people. What I will say is, for me what it comes down to is if you're a working class resident who lives opposite the Sadler's Wells, what does that do for you if you have no chance to ever go in there or work there? And I think one of the things we've always wanted to solve is what are those pathways into work for young people to get into the creative industries? We have 85 tier 1 cultural institutions in the borough, how can our working class residents work there? And what does work mean? I think part of that is creating pathways into those work using the experience we have from things like the LIFT programme to make sure that we create those pathways so that we have our young people becoming photographers, becoming set designers, also making it clear to them what work in the arts means. That doesn't mean just being an actor, but it also means you can be a set designer, you can be a carpenter, you can be an accountant and still be working in the arts. Thank you so much. [Applause] Thank you. Councillor Billy, would you like to ask a supplementary? No. That's alright, thank you very much. Now we have 30 minutes for questions from the members of the public. We've only received four advanced questions this evening, so we may be able to accept some questions without notice from the floor. When I call your name, please come forward to the microphone. The executive member will then answer your question. There's no need to repeat your question as it has been circulated in the meeting papers. You will then have two minutes to ask a follow-up question if you so wish. Your follow-up question must be directly related to the original question or the response received. Thank you. The first question is question A from Sheridan Cates to Councillor Ward, Executive Member for Finance and Performance. Is Sheridan here? She is. Please will you come forward to the microphone? Councillor Ward, please will you respond? Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. Thank you very much, Sheridan, for this really important question. From the latest report I have, there were 490 residents of Islington who would be entitled to pension credit but not receiving it. I'm happy to confirm that the council is contacting each and every one of those residents to support them into making that application. We are unable to say the total number of Islington pensioners who may be entitled to pension credit or receiving it as we don't have that benefit and savings information for those not in receipt of housing benefit or council tax support. This information is held by the Department for Work and Pensions and by HMRC. However, we do run public campaigns to encourage local people who might be eligible to contact us and we also help them to make an application as well. Our older population is expected to grow by 30% in the next 10 years and there is an unacceptable level of older people living in poverty. Recent analysis shows that we are the fourth most deprived area of London for older people with Finsbury Park having the highest rate of income deprivation affecting older people in London. Over the last three years, I'm really proud to say that our labour-run council's income maximisation team, IMAX for short, has been working with residents and has helped them claim over 2 million in pension credit. And just to talk a little bit about that campaign, in a recent case, the team was contacted by a 70-year-old man living in council accommodation. Following investigations into his circumstances, the team supported him to claim pension credit and he was awarded £78.45 a week. But in addition to that, he was given back a deal for three months and over £1,000 in a lump sum. So that is the difference that our amazing IMAX team can make. Once again, thank you so much for this important question on a really important topic. Sheridan, would you like to ask a supplementary? You have two minutes. Okay. Oh, that's working. Thank you. That's very helpful information. I really agree the council's done fantastic work here. I know that you worked with policy and practice in the past to get more of these. But as we know, this is an incredibly important thing to address right now because of the labour government removing the winter fuel payment from pensioners who are eligible, who are not claiming pension credit. And as we know, there are many people eligible for it and not claiming. So my question is, given there's a lot more and actually on policy and practice's website, they think there's 3500 missed claims with £13 million in Islington. So maybe that's individual claims. So maybe that's where the difference is coming from. But would you consider working with them again to try and get more of the eligible pensioners back on and repeating the good work that you did in 2022, maybe again with policy and practice? We will work with policy and practice any time. But just to give you some more background, since 2023, IMAX has helped gain an additional £9 million in benefits for Islington residents. And we're actually due to reach our target of £12 million plus in 2025. It's not just about pension credit. We've helped secure nearly a million pounds in a tenants allowance, backdated benefits. And this is the benefit to people of pension aids who have care needs and they have to help them to remain in the community. This may also help them access pension help as well. So our wonderful IMAX team is doing some great work on this. Our IMAX team was obviously funded very proudly in the last, the last budget. And I think it's fair to say my green colleagues do know that I'm very concerned about, my great old green colleagues, voting against that budget here at the council, including all of the funding for the IMAX team. So that remains a concern. I think it's a conversation to have with the Green Party. Thanks very much. The next question is question B from Rona Topaz to Councillor O'Halloran. Is Rona here? Take your time. There is Peabody Housing Development. I'm part of the community plan for Holloway. There's a Peabody Housing Development that we visited called Thamesmead, which is tenure blind with respect to the use of a residence lounge. Holloway Park, another Peabody project which is being built at the moment. Rona, sorry to interrupt you. Just to let you know that Councillor O'Halloran will have already had the question, so she will just be able to give you the response. You don't need to worry about really getting out to her. And then she'll respond and then you can see if you have a supplementary after you hear her response. Thank you for your question, Rona, about the Holloway Prison site. The 106 agreement relating to the Holloway Prison site requires that the proposed residence lounge on Holloway Prison site is operated on a not-for-profit basis. It will be accessible to all occupants of the development on a payment of a charge. It is acknowledged that not all residents of the development can afford to pay a charge. The agreement therefore ensures that all occupants of the development will be able to access parts of the residence lounge for the equivalent of one day a week free of charge. Peabody is required to produce a management plan setting out how it will make this space available to all residents of the development. It is also required to produce a further plan indicating how it will foster community cohesion and integration across the entire development. The council must approve both plans. In negotiation the 106 agreement, the council decided to prioritise the delivery of 60% affordable housing, including over 400 homes for social rent. A new public park and the women's building, rather than securing general purpose community facilities. In contrast, the percentage of affordable housing delivered by Peabody at Thamesmead varies between 35 and 55%, depending on the phase of the development. This council has also secured a payment of 13.3 million, 50% of this funding can be used to invest in community facilities in the wider local area. As a matter of principle, the council is committed to tender blind development. The Holloway scheme has therefore been designed to ensure that the private housing looks exactly the same as the genuinely affordable housing. The new park and the play areas and all public spaces will be accessible. Thank you very much, Councillor, for your reply. My follow-up question is, I am actually hard of hearing and I have found the audibility quite difficult at tonight's meeting. So, does this mean that the council is in favour of or opposed to a tenure blind approach to the Holloway park development? The site was tender blind. It is tender blind. The Peabody site is definitely tender blind. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Next question is from Pete Gilman, who I see actually here, so I know he's here, to Councillor Comer Schwartz, leader of the council. Pete, please go to the microphone. Hello, Councillor Comer Schwartz. Please, will you respond? You have three minutes. Thank you for your important question. We've always been clear in Islington that we are a campaigning council that has always stood up for the fight for policy change and the powers and funding that we need to deliver for our residents. As I said, especially now after 14 years of austerity, multiple Conservative primary ministers that have tried to scapegoat local authorities without giving us the necessary powers and resources to deliver for our residents. We need to go even further and bolder on this agenda. Since the general election, we have lobbied successfully for the extension of the household support scheme, invited ministers to visit our outstanding youth justice service, and together with over 100 other council landlords, launched a report in Westminster on how a new government can secure the future of council housing. We're pleased at the changed approach that we've seen in the last two months since the historic Labour landslide on the 4th of July. We know we need a radical change in how our government operates, devolving power to local areas so that we can make local decisions informed by local residents' voices. We will continue to lobby for multi-year financial settlements for local government that will help us bring about stability to our services for residents that so badly need us to support them. Devolving things like our employment support can help us put resources back where they're needed and make more difference to thousands of residents and help them get into good paid work. A proper settlement for families with seven children and adult social care are also frontiers that we must fight on. As the leader of this wonderful borough, I welcome the 28-page paper report on power and partnership that Labour's plan to power up Britain released from the Labour Party earlier this year, which set out a new vision for partnership between Westminster, local government and the private sector. Thank you. OK Pete, now do you have a supplemental question? I've got the time on the right this time. Sorry, I pressed the wrong button. The point I want to make is, since the Tories got back, we've had a period of 40 years where they've taken away the powers of local authorities. It's the salami tactic, they've taken away slice by slice, and it started with rate-capping under Thatcher and then went on to ring-fencing and there's so much else. But in particular, they want to take away, or try to take away, the planning powers of local authorities, because they've said it is wrong that local authorities have the power to stop developers developing when we say you can only develop if so much is social housing. This is a big battle we've faced, and also you can understand I think I was very, very distressed when I read in a newspaper that Rachel Reeves, meeting with some bankers and property developers, has said that she will remove some of the bureaucratic impediments that stop them developing. Now this wasn't spelt out, but it seems to be again that she is planning to attack the planning powers of local authorities. So I think what we need to do, and what we're doing, and what Islington leads in this, is to fight and join with other local authorities to campaign, to return to local authorities the powers that have been taken away from by Tories. It's something that we've done in the past with the 2016 Housing and Planning Act. It was Islington Council, we can be very proud of this, it was Islington Council and the campaign that Islington led that made that act, the 2016 Housing and Planning Act, inoperable. We can be very proud of that. We did it then, we can do it again, it's something we can do, we should do, we must do, and I think certainly I'm confident this Council will do it. [Applause] Thank you, thank you Pete. I couldn't agree with you more, I have to say that we know that throughout the last 14 years we've here in this chamber prioritised social, genuinely affordable housing, because we know it's a top priority for our residents, and also I have to say that we have, I think, some of the best planning policy in the whole country. I understand that 50% of all local government don't even have a local plan, and ours sets the standard for some of the best local plan policy that the country has seen, and I have to say, working with a Labour government is how we're going to improve that. I am glad to see that the Deputy Prime Minister's number one priority, like ours, is housing. Angela Rayner has been clear on that, she's clear that it's the way that we'll tackle poverty, and I think we need to work with her to do that. And the way we have been doing that in Islington Labour is working with other boroughs. Only the other day, Councillor Halloran was on a call with the Department of Housing and Local Government, again, yes, local government has got back in there, talking to the Minister about the work we've been doing in this borough to go further on housing, and also works with boroughs like Subic to produce, other councils to produce, not only a thing that says we need more money for new homes, but actually tackling the housing crisis through the private rented sector, temporary accommodation, a comprehensive suite of asks for the new government to get this right. They're new, but we're here with the expertise that they need to do it, and do it right. And I have to say as well that Councillor Bell-Bradford has been doing a sterling job, making sure that people who need to know, know that in this council, our planning legislation has been setting the standard, whether it be 50% affordable housing that we hold developers to, regardless of what they say about viability. And we've proven that in the High Court, with my great colleague, Councillor Halloran. And we've proven that in affordable workspace, so it's not just housing, but it's a whole ecosystem that we've proven that we can deliver on. Thank you, Pete. Thank you for that. I just want to remind everyone, including members, that everyone asking and answering questions, let me introduce you so that helps me manage the meeting and the time. Thank you very much. OK, so the next question is question D from David Harrison, to Councillor Champion. Is David here? He is. Marvellous. David, please go to the microphone. Microphone. Right, Councillor Champion, please will you respond? You have three minutes. Hello David. Thank you very much for all that you and Living Streets do to facilitate walking and wheeling, both in the borough and beyond. I agree, I was actually delighted by the new look of Clerkenwell Green. But I'm more delighted by the dedication and the determination of the local council and officers to make sure it's a great local community space. But also to really root it in the history and the culture of the area. And we know that socialism, but actually particularly trade unionism. And I was really pleased to be able to continue to facilitate the May Day march throughout the construction. It's difficult to believe that five years ago there were cars driving through Clerkenwell Green, if you look at it now. It is brilliant to see that Clerkenwell Green and also other historic areas of Islington are part of the 15 mile new Greenlink walk. But actually, as our public health team will continue to remind me, sometimes it's more important that the walk is a short distance from your local home, to a local shop, to a cool green space, to a park, or even to a parklet down your street. And that's why our liveable neighbourhood program is so important. It creates quiet streets, safe, connected walking and cycling routes, attractive community spaces, but also getting to really, really incorporate things like child friendly features, shade and seating, as well as of course pavement improvements, which we know are so important. But also taking the opportunity when we're doing other things like cycle schemes like C50, like the crossing on Southgate Road, to improve walking and wheeling accessibility throughout. I remember during Covid seeing an elderly woman like you, who lived on her own, sitting on her seat on her trolley, actually on Thornhill Road, broad grin on her face, told me it only came out to walk around the block. I've been here half an hour because people keep stopping to talk to me and I can hear them because there's no traffic. And I have to say that brought home to me more than all the studies I read, all the people I listened to, how important your local spaces are and your local communities. So facilitating walking is important, but it doesn't actually have to be a route march. It can just be allowing an older person to get out of their house to connect with their communities. Saying that, of course there are many great walks in Islington and the local areas and we will continue to look at how we can support local people to do that. And I know that we're working with organisations such as Footways and also other local community organisations to put together great routes to try and attract people out into their local streets. And I think just this weekend we're going to have the Car-Free Day on Sunday, so there are many different local events going on, but particularly the Southern Soul Festival and Hydrofields. So anyone who's free, please do come along. But as I say, we will continue to do what we can on all different levels. Thank you so much, Councillor Champion. I'd just like to congratulate Islington Council on their fantastic achievements to date. I mean, walking is the healthiest and cheapest and most sustainable form of transport and it's very impressive what you've achieved so far. I'd just like my supplementary would really be to urge you to continue the programme to see more liveable neighbourhoods and all the other things you're doing. And I very much hope you can reassure us that you are pressing ahead and not sitting on your laurels. I can certainly tell you that we're not sitting on our laurels. There are a large number of schemes underway, as you probably know from the number of consultations and engagements that are going on at the moment. But I think what I'm finding so fascinating is every time we do a new scheme, how we build on and find ways of improving. And I think I've probably said in this chamber before, the thing I'm most proud of when we're doing these schemes is how we're now bringing in all the other departments of the Council, working fantastically well with homes and communities to incorporate the estates. Child friendly, we're really being driven by Micheline and her office team to try and really incorporate and think about how you design space for children as you do it. So it's not an add-on, it's absolutely in the part of the DNA in which we're doing because we know getting children out into local streets, making them feel comfortable being in public, connecting through their use of streets is so important. I mean young people, we all know young people which are sitting in a group of three or four people, actually people feel suspicious of them. How do you change the space so that those young people can come together, chat to their mates, walk without feeling uncomfortable in doing it? And then of course you've got the climate emergency. So how do you get shade into the streets? How do you make the streets more absorbent? And how do you just get people out of their houses when it's 40 degrees? You know the old lady, unfortunately she's no longer with us, but she could be sitting in a flat, she can't get out because we haven't got benches for her to sit, we haven't got shade for her to sit, she can't make it as far as the local park, how do we get those people out and about? So absolutely there are so many things that we have to think about and we are, each time you do something as they say, we learn more. But thank you very much, we have definitely not seen hard laurels, we can't, there's a climate emergency and a health and wellbeing emergency. Okay, thank you for that. And now we have time, so the Council of the Constitution provides up to 30 minutes time for questions from the public. As we have some time remaining, we can move to questions from the floor. If anyone present wishes to ask a question, please raise your hand so we can call you forward when it's your turn. Please note that you can only ask one question and it should be about a matter for which the Council has responsibility and can affect the borough. They should not name, you should not name any individuals or questions should not be substantially the same as any other question asked this evening. Please keep your questions brief to ensure everyone has an opportunity to ask their question and please state your name if you would like it to be recorded in the minutes. So, is there anybody, does anybody would like, anybody, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What I mean is, would anybody like to ask a question? Okay, I can't see anybody, I don't know, can, nope, okay. Well, that concludes public questions, so we will now move on to item 8 which is questions from the members of the Council. Up to 30 minutes is allowed for questions from Councillors. Please note that the question responses should not exceed three minutes and I will cut you off. Supplemental questions and responses should be two minutes. Just remember as well, leave me some time to introduce you and to manage the meeting for any questions and answers. So, first question is Councillor, is question A from Councillor Clark to Councillor Safi Ngongo. Councillor Safi Ngongo, please will you respond? You have three minutes only. Thank you very much Madam Mayor, I promise I will keep my time. Yes, thank you for your question Councillor Clark. I would like to put out my records really for the great work our adventure playgrounds are doing. We would like just to say thank you to every single staff member across our 12 adventure playgrounds and we do have another one which is supporting our children with special needs and disabilities. They are doing a great work to help these young people develop at the early stage as possible and also for the great work they are doing with their families. We are very grateful for us to have those staff around to support our local families. There is a question where Trish is asking regarding the advantage playgrounds and also for the Exlington Play Association. We are aware about the situation, the Exlington Play Association unfortunately is going through a difficult period at the moment. We are engaging with them at the leadership level to make sure they are doing the right thing for their own employment because they are legal employer for their staff members. Also we are aware they are in the middle of formal consultation that is what I am keeping pleasing with all employees for adventure playgrounds to communicate with their employers through this consultation for their voice and concern to be heard because we hope for them to reach for best outcomes for their members. Thank you Trish for your question. Councillor Clark would you like to ask a supplementary question? You have two minutes. Thank you Councillor Safi Ngongo for your answer that you are monitoring the situation to ensure the continuity of service provision in relation to our adventure playground. Exlington Play Association's website states it is giving Exlington's children the space and freedom to play. Play is what happens when children are given the space to be themselves and explore the world, learning about what works and what doesn't in pursuit of their own intrinsic aims. My own children went to the Whittington Park adventure playground 40 years ago until it burned down. I am so proud that 40 years later and after years of Tory austerity, Islington still has 12 adventure playgrounds, 6 of them run by Islington Play Association. We have managed to keep these playgrounds going for 50 years and I am sure we can continue this excellent service and continue to employ staff on decent terms and conditions. The situation is now urgent as workers in our adventure playgrounds run by Islington Play Association are being asked to sign a new contract on the 27th of September asking them to take a 20% reduction in pay or lose their jobs. There is a cost of living crisis and rents are high. Workers that have worked for 22 years doing amazing work in our communities with many children, some with parents in prison for example get to be in a space where they have fun, play, grow and have opportunities to develop. Our playgrounds have won awards for best wildlife garden, best edible garden, best place to play in London. Whether our play workers are being asked to pay for the financial mismanagement of this service or not, it is not right that workers in organisations that we commission are being asked to take a 20% cut or lose their jobs. Deputy managers are being asked to lose their full time jobs and go sessional. We run the Council and I am asking that we step in before the 27th of September and ask Islington Play Association for an extension to the consultation period. Will you do this? Thank you Councillor Clark for your second question. I would like to just reiterate a bit to put everything in context here. Islington Play Association is an independent organisation. That means they do have a legal duty for their own employees. Even if we are commissioning them, that is the main reason they are going through consultation. That is the main reason when I said before, every single staff needs to approach and to work with their employees through their consultation because they need to raise those concerns. We are keeping engaged with them and we are doing everything we can to support the organisation. But because there is a consultation going on, we can't jeopardise the consultation. We urge every staff from Islington Play Association to carry on engaging through the consultation because their voice and concern matters before the outcome. Thank you very much Madam Mayor. Thank you, thank you for that. So the next question is question B from Councillor Heather to Councillor Safi Ngondo, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families. Councillor Safi Ngondo, please will you respond? You have three more minutes. Thank you Madam Mayor. Thank you Councillor Heather for your question. As you are aware about the situation of following school rules in Islington, that is also affecting our schools in Islington. Your question is about what are we doing with the caretaker when they have been involved. I'd like to reassure you we are following in detail the DFE process regarding school closures, including consultation with members. Caretakers, they are part of members. We are getting involved with them and also we listen to their concern. The decision about stripping a caretaker from one school to another school depends on the next school if they need a full-time caretaker because the schools are using different methods right now and some schools don't need a full-time caretaker. In our approach we do have clear policies for any caretakers who can't be around. They are receiving help and support from our HR services. Connecting with our housing team, they do have also clear policies how we can support everybody from our school premises. Because we do have a duty, we are a council who cares and we have to show our help and support no matter what. From caretakers to staff, parents and teachers, our HR is working in full collaboration to meet their needs and to provide them every single help and support they are doing. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Heather, would you like to ask a supplementary question? You have two minutes. Yes please, Madam Mayor. Thank you for your answer. As you will be aware, I raised the issue initially in relation to a school reorganisation in my ward about caretakers and about their employment rights and security and housing security and standards but then I proceeded to ask the question more broadly in the borough because it is an issue that is of concern to me. So thank you for your answer. I am aware of course because we have been in dialogue before this council meeting about this issue that you have been dealing with so thank you to you and all the council staff that work on this in very difficult circumstances. In what you have done, could you say what the major challenges are and has there been any lessons learned about dealing with those challenges in the future? Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Heather. Thank you for your question again. Yes, we are having a good opportunity to get learning. It's not an easy piece of work really for us to do school reorganisation. It's new to many of us because even we can see when Exminton did close a school we can say more than 20 years if I'm correct or even 22 years. That means what we are doing right now is new to ourselves as local current councillors. It's new to parents, new to many teachers. It does mean learning is the process and we are making sure in any step there is a room of learning and there is also a room of improvement. One lesson we are trying to do is for us to have a huge engagement event with Exminton people across our borough because we realise when we are engaging just with school communities, there are many people that get involved in that school. For example, there used to be a student in that school many years ago. They are not students anymore. They are still friends of that particular school. When we are closing, when we are engaging only with current parents, current teachers, they are missing out and sometimes we can see them asking us through the consultation which is also part of this exercise we are doing, there is also a public consultation. Sometimes we can see them question is coming from a good place because they are not having many detailed information why we are doing this and it's looking very difficult to connect with them through public consultation and engagement which we are planning to arrange. That means probably before the end of October just to bring people across Exminton, just to have a fair debate for them to understand why we are doing this, how can we do it together. Thank you very much for that Councillor Sapien-Gonger. I'm afraid you have reached the end of your time. Yes, thank you. Definitely done. So the next question, I did warn people I was going to cut people off. I even cut off the leader. So you know there is no bias here. Next question is question C from Councillor Convery to Councillor Chapman, Executive Member for Equalities, Communities and Inclusion. Councillor Chapman, please will you respond? You have three minutes also. Thanks very much for your question about voter suppression Paul. So to answer the first bit, 192, okay. 192 is the number of our residents, our registered voters who were turned away from our Islington Borough polling stations on the day of the general election. And of that 192, 56 did not go back to vote so that's almost 30% of those turned away were effectively disenfranchised because they didn't have photo ID that was deemed acceptable. Our residents, our neighbours. 192 is the number of people we know who showed up and were turned away. What we don't know is the number of people who never went to the polling station at all because these rules, this voter suppression attempt had put them off from going to vote at all. And look, you can imagine as the Executive Member who leads on equalities, I'm really concerned about the impacts of voter ID on already marginalised and disenfranchised communities. This voter ID, it's an illiberal solution to honestly a non-existent problem of voter fraud which just isn't a thing. Even Jacob Rees-Mogg said that the Government was trying to gerrymander the electoral system. But I do wonder if the tide is beginning to turn. So you might be interested to know that just last week actually the Electoral Commission published some recommendations for the UK Government. It said look at the list of accepted ID to identify additional documents. So we could look at Jobcentre plus travel discount card, the 18 plus student oyster card, the veteran's card maybe. You'll remember from the election veterans being turned away because they didn't have ID. The Electoral Commission also suggested that the Government should undertake and publish a review of the voter authority certificate and consider whether it could be issued digitally and that might encourage greater take-up. And also an idea to allow people to vouch for others so that if you're a registered voter and with acceptable ID you can make an attestation at your polling station on behalf of someone who doesn't have acceptable ID. I mean all good news but really I suppose we shouldn't be having any kind of barriers to people exercising their democratic rights at all. So maybe in good news we know that Keir Starmer in opposition suggested that he was going to review mandatory voter ID and also actually mentioned that Labour would roll out automatic voter registration and extend the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds. So look I would welcome that. It's absolutely critical that all of our neighbours, friends, residents can vote and particularly those who are most disadvantaged in every way. So what we will be doing as a Labour Council is working with the Labour Government to make sure that these barriers to democratic expression of will are removed as soon as possible. Thanks again for your question Paul. Thank you very much indeed Sheila. I'm grateful for that really very comprehensive reply and very positive approach that we've taken in Islington to ensuring that the voter suppression project of the now departed Tory government was not a success here in Islington. I have to say that on the numbers you've given it sounds to me like a total barely 0.15% of all the people that cast their votes in the general election were denied a vote and in a way I think that speaks to the commendable work of the electoral returning officer and all of our staff, the comms campaign which alerted voters in Islington to the requirement to have photo ID. So well done indeed. I want to ask a supplementary question. It does seem to me one thing that we did notice in the general election in Islington throughout the country in fact was there was a decline in turnout. It was about 11% in south, it was about 4% in Islington north. These were quite exciting elections and it does seem to me that reduced voter turnout comes on top of projects like voter suppression that the Tories tried. And it comes on top of years in which public confidence in the electoral process and political institutions and systems was deliberately degraded by the last Tory government. The rule of law was ignored, institutions were belittled and you know in the phrase of Keir Starmer the Tories took voters for mugs. Well the mugs won in the end and the Tories were kicked out but it does seem to me, I hope you agree with this, that it is part of our role as a local institution to try and rebuild confidence, public confidence in political systems, these institutions, in the role of voting in that process and to go further to make sure that our citizens are actively engaged in the decision taking of the lives of our neighbourhoods and this borough. And I wonder if there are things that we can do as a borough that you're thinking of that activate citizens to be more involved in the political processes of this authority. Did you just ask that you get to a question? There was a question there at the end. There was a question mark at the end. Thanks Paul for that extremely long question. Look, all of us who were knocking on doors for the general election know that it was an awful environment, people are absolutely jaded, disenchanted, they're fed up with politicians, they feel we can't do anything, they feel we're all the same so number one that's our job to show that's not the case. There's lots of stuff we can do as a Labour council now as we've heard several times as part of a Labour government to show people that we can make a difference. My portfolio of qualities, communities and inclusion, look day one of a new Labour government we said we're not putting people on barges anymore, we said we're not sending people to Rwanda anymore. So I feel like that's something, we've heard Angela Rayner say we're going to get rid of the right to buy. These are things that make people feel actually do you know what, it has made a difference. And I think we've had our youth councillors here today, I think that's a really positive way of getting young people interested in the political process and let's have 16 and 17 year olds at polling stations at the ballot box is really important. And I'm going to give a plug for a community cohesion event that I'm convening on the 1st of October you've heard about. Look that's another opportunity to say to refugees, to migrants, to people from marginalised communities, we are here, we're in the town hall, we're listening to you and it can make a difference. Thanks Paul. Thank you very much for that. The next question is question D from Councillor Russell to Councillor O'Hara. Councillor O'Hara please will you respond, you have three minutes. Thank you Councillor Russell for your question. We aim to restore lift service as quickly as possible. In the few cases it is clear lifts will be out for several days. We alert our housing tenancy with support and provide support to tenants. Assistance is variable and differs depending on the block, design, residents vulnerability and the outrage, the outed period. It may range from welfare checks, assistance by caretakers with going upstairs or getting shopping. In extreme, very extreme cases, temporary defence and these I can assure you are very rare. The team initially check on vulnerable residents but as the outrage continues we check all tenants. If ward cancers are aware of anyone struggling, alert the out of hours team so they can provide assistance. It's really helpful as we don't always have people's vulnerabilities on file. This may be due to temporary or new and they haven't informed us. But our new tenancy audit will provide, improve our knowledge of the supports to our tenants that are needed. Our housing team are constantly monitoring vulnerabilities reported to the council by staff, councillors and tenants. Thank you for that. Councillor Russell would you like to ask a supplementary question? You have two minutes. I would indeed, yes and thank you very much for that comprehensive answer. It is incredibly worrying that our lifts are, so many of our lifts are in a state where you are having to do these workarounds of very occasional decants and needing to get your tenancy teams kind of understanding where the most vulnerable people are so they can get in and out of their homes when their lifts are out of order for these kind of needs. For these kind of amounts of time. Now I understand that, because I checked in with officers, that lift parts, many of the lift parts are obsolete, many are, you are ending up having to build up stores of spares from decommissioned lifts. And the, and many, you know, you've got a situation where many of these lifts are beyond their serviceable life. So I'm just wondering why there was, why we've ended up in this situation where rather than recommissioning new lifts as time passes, why we've ended up in a situation where we have so many lifts that are beyond their serviceable life and I'm wondering if it was a deliberate decision to end up here with these lifts in this state being passed their serviceable life or was it poor planning? How did we end up here? I can assure you Caroline, I can assure you Caroline, it was not poor planning if you've looked at the last cuts that we've had as a council. Our lifts are very aging, we have a list register and all our blocks, you're right, some are parts of our commission, but we've just invested like the 30 million on the Harvest Estate, St Luke's Estate, we have a program. But if we haven't got the money to do the lifts, this is the problem. But we haven't, it wasn't a decision, leave all the lifts. We were, you know, our lifts are insured as well so we had lifts monitoring, you know, with companies and things and it's just an aging stock. And lifts, like you say, it costs a lot of money to replace lifts but we have a plan but we have to do it in bite size. We've got fire safety, we've got the HRA, we've had the rent caps as well as the cuts. If I had the money I'd love to do every one of those lifts in the borough but we have to take our time and we have to have a plan and we have a plan. But it isn't just someone sat there and thought oh let's not leave the lifts, that's not it. The housing's always had a 30 year plan and lifts and capital works, we've done more capital works in the last year than in the last probably five or ten years. With all the fire safety we've had more investment but we don't talk about that, we're not, they're talking about the lifts and the program and it is very small amount of lift breakdowns. Some blocks have two lifts and people, one lift is broke down and we're not saying lifts don't ever break down but we didn't just sit here on our laurels and think oh well the lifts are not important. Of course it's important, do you think we want anyone to be on the top floor or on the fourth floor and carrying butts shopping up but we get out there and we're out there straight away. Thank you for that and the next question is question E from Councillor Hamdash to Councillor Champion. Thanks for this question Benali, so I want to start by saying this because it's really important okay, everyone should have the opportunity of a decent home that meets their needs and this includes local gypsies, Roma and travellers who need sites to accommodate their caravans. That's why in our manifesto Islington Labour made a firm commitment to finding sites for gypsy and Roma people and I'm pleased to report that we're making good progress on that task and we're going to try and tell you sort of what we've done, where we are and where we need to go. It's fairly complicated because it's planning but we'll do our best. So Islington has got a local plan, it was adopted about a year ago and you'll know the local plan that kind of sets the foundation for our planning decisions and our decisions around future development. When the planning inspectors were looking at this plan being formulated, sites have been put forward, proposed for gypsy, Roma and traveller people, they were found to not be satisfactory because this is a small borough with densely packed in, the sites proposed weren't right, they were too close to roads, they weren't too close to railways and so on. So the planning inspectors agreed with the council, adopt the plan and then you, Islington, go away, start an early review of the planning policy and address the housing needs of gypsy and Roma people and travellers. That review has started. The initial formal step which is called the scope of review paper was consulted on in March of this year and what's happening now is that planning officers are working with consultants to develop some pieces of technical evidence that are going to support the initial draft of this policy. The next bit will be this call for sites and engagement on a draft site search criteria and methodology so we'll come up with a methodology that will say this is how we're going to find sites and we'll consult on that methodology. Hopefully in spring of next year, spring of 2025, there'll be a consultation on the initial draft policy and the potential site allocations and it's anticipated then that the consultation on a final draft policy and proposed site allocations will take place towards the end of 2025. The last stage is going to be for the draft policy and the site allocations to go to the planning inspector for independent examinations. So what I want to do, so you see where we are and you see where we've got to the steps we've got to go through so what I want to do is to reaffirm my commitment and this labour led council's commitment to finding sites for gypsy, Roma and traveller people. Thanks once again for your important question. Council Hamdash, would you like to ask a supplementary? You have two minutes please. Great, thank you. I have a family in Highbury Ward who I bump into regularly who are waiting for the outcome of this local plan. They're currently in a housing association property after having been driven out of their site by violence from neighbours which is utterly, utterly horrifying. We've had an obligation as a local council for 20 years to find a site for families like that and we've had a labour administration for 14 years ahead of any local plan. Do we owe families like that an apology for waiting for so long? We've got 15,000 people on our housing list and as you will know and as all of us members know many of them are in absolutely dire straits and as you well know that's the fault of 14 years of austerity and Tory cuts that have not allowed us to build the homes people need. For that I am profoundly sorry and profoundly grateful that we're a Labour council with a Labour government and we're going to start tackling that problem. I fully understand. I absolutely sympathise with the family you referred to who are living in traditional housing and I know that that does not meet with their culture and their way of life which is why as I've said we're absolutely committed to finding sites for gypsy, Roma and traveller people so they don't have to live in traditional homes so that they can live as they choose to live. I've outlined the plan. You will appreciate this. It's a difficult project when you're talking about the most densely populated constituency in the whole country to find sites. We don't want to wedge people in next to railways in dangerous settings. We want to do this right and we will do our best for the families you mentioned who are waiting for culturally appropriate housing and for the 15,000 people who are our friends, our neighbours, our residents who desperately need safe, secure and decent housing. That's your question. Thank you very much for that. We have three minutes left so we can start the next question but we will run out of time. So, basically, let's yeah let's go with this Councillor Safi Ngongo, please will you respond to the question asked by Councillor Pandle. If it's okay, Councillor Safi Ngongo has allowed me to answer this question. Is that okay? Yes, that's fine. Thank you so much Councillor Pandle for this really important question. Councillor Safi Ngongo has kindly let me answer this question because she knows how much it sparks joy in my heart. Our youth justice service supports some of the most vulnerable children in our borough. It supports children who have become involved in the youth justice system but who have also experienced a high level of trauma and adversity in their own lives. Our youth justice inspection in May this year from His Majesty's inspection on probation saw us go from requires improvement to outstanding which is the highest rating. I believe out of 36 points we got 34. Our rating alone doesn't say anything about the impact that this is going to have on children, that we're having on children's lives. Our own performance indicators saw that Islington has reduced the number of children entering the youth justice system for the first time by 50% from 2016 to 2023. The rate of children sent to custody reduced from being the highest in the country as recently as 2018 and 2019 to being below the national average. And our reoffending rate for children being supported by this service is the lowest in 10 local authorities in the most recent published quarter. And I have to say, when I was executive member for children and young people, our youth court sat for three days seeing children from Camden, Islington. It now sits for half a day. We are making a real impact on the lives of our most vulnerable children. So thank you for your questions, Councillor Pandal. Okay, well, I'm afraid we have actually now run out of time. So any questions that haven't reached the full end will be answered and receive a written response from executive members. We will now move to item nine, which is actually the interval. So meeting will be adjourned for a short break. Please return to the chamber at 9.30. See you all very shortly. So we will now move to item 10, the Constitution report. Councillor Craig, please, we can move the recommendation. Formerly, Madam Mayor. Would any of the councillors like to speak? I'd like to remind everybody to come through me as Madam Mayor. I want to keep control of everything this evening. Nobody's indicating, but am I missing something? Okay, well, in that case, we will now vote on the recommendations in the report. All those in favour. It's going to be another marvellous night. All those against. And any abstentions. Yes, Claire, Councillor Jeeps and Councillor Heather. Okay. Is that everybody? I believe so. Okay, well, in which case, I think the recommendation is carried. We will now move to item 11, which is political balance and proportionality. Councillor Craig, please, would you move recommendations? Yes, formerly Madam Mayor. Would any of the councillors like to speak? Okay, well, in that case, we will now vote on the recommendations in the report. All those in favour. All those against. And any abstentions. Councillor. And Councillor Jeeps. Okay, thank you. So the recommendations are carried. We will now move to item 12, appointments report. Councillor Craig, please, would you move recommendations? Formerly Madam Mayor. Would any other councillors like to speak? Okay, I'm not seeing anybody, so we will now vote on the recommendations in the report. All those in favour. And all those against. And any abstentions. Okay, well, the recommendations are carried. We now move to item 13, which is the capital programme for 24, 25, quarter one budget changes. Councillor Ward, please, will you move recommendations? Formerly Madam Mayor. And would any of the councillors like to speak? Councillor Hamdas. Great, thank you. I just want to note that I think it's sadly very devastating that the council are having to hand back almost 13 million pounds of money that would have been dedicated to decarbonising our estates. I understand that the fiscal situation we're in has made the spending much harder, but I will reflect that we now have a Labour government and a Labour council. So I would urge our colleagues to get in touch with the government as soon as possible to make sure that we are decarbonising our estates as quickly as possible during that much needed funding because we can't afford to lose 13 million. Councillor Ward, do you have the right to reply? Three minutes, please. Thank you, Madam Mayor. We're very, very proud of our capital programme, but we cannot today reverse 14 years of Tory austerity. And we cannot right now in this chamber reverse Liz Truss's disastrous mini budget, sending this whole economy into freefall and calling these twin evils of inflation and interest rates, making it really, really difficult to build absolutely anything in our borough. We are fighting so hard to build the infrastructure that we need for this borough. Councillor O'Hara told you all about her buybacks earlier on. We're very, very proud to have a new build council programme. We've had to make hard choices, concentrate on the big ticket items, but we're very, very proud that that continues despite the awful economic climate in the construction industry. As Councillor Comer Schwartz said earlier on, Angela Rayner and the team at the Department for Local Government are actively engaging with this council. Councillor O'Halloran has been on a call with the Department for Local Government about how they can help, how this new Labour government can help to get construction going again, to build the homes and the infrastructure and the green homes that we need. And I really look forward to working with this new Labour government. Thank you, Madam Mayor. [Applause] Thank you, Councillor Ward. We will now vote on the recommendations in the report. All those in favour? All those against? And any abstentions? I believe that the recommendations are carried. [Applause] Okay, we will now move to item 14, which is the monitoring report. Councillor Craig, please, would you move the recommendations? Formerly, Madam Mayor. And are there any other councillors that would like to speak? Nope. Okay. Well, in which case, we will now vote on the recommendations in the report. All those in favour? And all those against? And any abstentions? The recommendations are carried. We will now move on to item 15, the notices of motion. The first motion we received earlier, so that was the childcare care leavers, which was amazing. So we'll move on to motion two, stop fatalities from catastrophic bleeding. Councillor Wolfe, please move the motion. You have five minutes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. As a council, we know the importance of early intervention and prevention. We know the importance of a community response to safety, where we don't see safety as a siloed sphere of activity, but recognise that we all have a role in creating a safer Islington. And we know the importance of taking a public health approach to violence reduction, which considers a response in the short, medium and long term and ensures that we are constantly data led. We also know, as I said earlier, that we can never be complacent. That's why I'm proposing this motion to stop fatalities from catastrophic bleeding, whether that be from knife crime, car accidents and or work related injuries. We note in the motion the roll out of 22 community held bleed control kits and a borough wide strategy to ensure their effectiveness. We're one of the first London boroughs to launch such a strategy based on some key principles regarding partnership work, Intel led placement, official registration, effective training, communication, maintenance and responsibility. These bleed control kits have been developed in response to a pilot initiated by Islington Council and by the hard work of parents and families who have lost loved ones to knife crime. We're grateful to all of those who have lobbied, financed and installed bleed control kits in our borough. And preventative action is key, especially as we stand amid the rubble of 14 years of Tory austerity. And I'm incredibly proud of this Labour run council, the promises we promoted on the manifesto we were elected to implement, the work we are doing to create a safer Islington and crucially to promote a culture of care in our borough, whether that be through our bleed kit controls, whether that be through defibrillators, whether that be through our safe haven policy, whether that be through the changes we're making to our response to antisocial behaviour, whether that be through our hate crime prevention champion scheme. Across the board, we're seeking to instil the values of care and compassion with safety at its core, recognising that we're safer together. And so this motion is just one of the ways in which we're working towards creating a care in Islington as a proudly Labour administration, supporting our residents to help each other in times of need as we seek to build a safer and fairer Islington. I understand that Councillor McHugh would like to second. You have three minutes. Thank you. Madam Mayor, I am proud to be seconding this motion that will protect our community by stopping fatalities from catastrophic bleeding. Bleeding from serious injuries like knife or traffic incidents can be fatal in as little as three minutes. In many tragic cases, these deaths are preventable. Lynn Bed so sadly learnt this in July 2017 when her son Daniel lost his life. Lynn woke up to the awful reality that Daniel had been stabbed and the cruel news that if someone who knew what to do in the case of a severe bleed was there, or if there had been the right equipment at the scene, the outcome for Daniel might have been very different. Islington Council owes a huge debt of thanks to Lynn, who, despite her trauma, has fought hard to ensure others will not suffer as she has. We thank Lynn for the countless lives that have been saved as a result of her successful campaigning for bleed control kits. We're all fortunate to be welcoming these kits in Islington. Knife crime is falling in Islington, but any stabbing, any fatality, is a painful loss to our whole community, which I know everyone in this room feels very personally. Community safety is at the heart of what Islington Council's work and I'm proud of our strategic work, which focuses on early intervention and prevention, aims to stop violence happening, minimises the impact where violence sadly occurs, supports victims, diverts offenders, and crucially puts power in the hands of our residents. I believe that politics is fundamentally about empowering people. Islington's bleed control kit strategy starts from the principle that we believe in empowering our residents and communities to support each other. In an unpredictable world, we rely on a sense of community cohesion. Bleed control kits foster that sense of collective responsibility and mutual aid, and I'm confident that this sense of collective care is in the spirit of our Islington community. Madam Mayor, Islington is a compassionate local authority that represents a compassionate place where neighbours look out for each other. I hope that Islington's culture of care, now bolstered with access to bleed control kits, will be inspirational to our neighbouring boroughs and that Islington can, as ever, lead the way in London. Bleed control kits should be readily available in the same way that defibrillators are across London if we really are serious about tackling tragic and preventable fatalities. I am delighted that Islington is working with local communities to place these kits where they're most needed. Madam Mayor, I'm proud to second this motion, rolling out 22 community-held bleed control kits across Islington. Thank you. Would any other councillors like to speak? Councillor Russell, sorry. Don't worry, thank you very much, Madam Mayor, and I just wanted to thank Councillors Wolf and McHugh for bringing this really important motion. We all know that early intervention and investment in youth services is the way that we support our young people and make sure that they are not affected by violence. But when young people are affected by violence, then having bleed control kits nearby at the scene of a catastrophic situation and injury, that can make an absolute difference. And I think the Green Group is going to be voting, obviously, in favour of this motion and we're very grateful to you for bringing it. So, Councillor Wolf, you have the right to reply. You have three minutes. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and yes, thank you, Caroline, for that as well. I've really always privileged the fact that we kind of step across party politics to put safety at the core of our responses. And so I thank you for the work that we've done together on this. I think as well it's part of a broader approach to ensuring that we all recognise, as Councillor McHugh said, our stake in creating a safer Islington. And a key part of my job is to ensure that all of the relevant agents, whether that's with the police, whether that's survivors, whether that's schools, whether that's residents, faith communities, that we're all working together. Because we know that although we are seeing a reduction in knife crime and other serious violence in Islington, we can never ever be complacent and we all have to work together. It would be remiss of me to say that as a council alone, we can solve the problem. We have to work in partnership and I'm very proud of the partnership work that we do with the police on this as well. I've always been very clear in the chamber that our relationship with the police is very much based as critical friends that we call out those things that we disagree with. Even at the last full council we were very clear where we stood on live facial recognition, for example, but also that I will stand up and celebrate and support the good work that the police do and the good work that we do in partnership. And we see that on a daily basis where council officers sit with the police to go through incidents that happened the night before so as a partnership we can be responsive. We see that on a weekly basis through our hot spot tasking meetings where six calls within a two week period designates an area or a hot spot. The police, the council officers from different spheres get together to devise interventions within a particular area. So we see it on a weekly basis too. We see it on a seasonal basis too. I was very grateful for the youth councillors and their question to me around what we do over the summer period. We have very specific summer safety plans, again worked up in partnership to ensure a safer Islington. And then we also think in the long term as well of our five year violence reduction strategy based on six key pillars. So in that partnership response we know we are stronger and it's crucial that as a council in partnership with the police we're doing things with the community, not to the community. And I think bleed control kits feed in that desire to listen and work with our community. So I'm very pleased to be supporting this motion. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Heather. Yeah, thank you Madam Mayor. I'll be very quick. When I was the Mayor last year I attended a function at the Green Man Pub in Offetics Road there. And I met Michelle. Her son was murdered, JJ, in 2017. And that was one of the appeals there was that we actually step up the work on the bleed kits. That was a campaign that she was running. And it was good going to that meeting. It was sombre. But the other people I met there were a group called Street Fathers. And Street Fathers are about people that reach out to people that may be beginning to get involved in knife crime as well. And that was heartwarming as well to think that there are people that are in a position to do that. They were black men. They were a particular ethnic group that were in a good position to do that, not to say they were too confined to that. But I just felt I wanted to say that it was an honour to be at that meeting and when I went there I did say that when I was the Mayor then, I did say that whenever I got the opportunity I would speak up about this and support it. So that's why I'm making this contribution. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Heather. We will now vote on the motion. All those in favour of the motion? Okay. All those against? And any abstentions? The motion is carried. The second motion this evening is Motion 3, a safer night-time economy. Councillor Eaks, please would you move this motion? You have five minutes. Madam Mayor, I'm proud to be moving this motion this evening. One of the main reasons I stood to be Chair of Licensing and Community was because I was passionate about a safer night-time economy and protecting women and girls from violence. So as a licensing authority, residents and businesses to Islington trust us to keep them safe through licensing regime. As the Chair of Licensing Committee, I've had the opportunity to visit some of Islington's wonderful venues, but I'm always aware of the dangers that women face in certain spaces and want to ensure that businesses are doing all they can to protect people. Violence against women and girls is for everyone to tackle and licensing is very key to that. There is a very real threat of revoking a licence if premises do not take it seriously. I co-wrote the foreword to the new licensing policy 23/27 with Councillor Wharfe that stated as a labour-run council, we are determined to ensure that fairness, inclusivity, accessibility and safety permeate through our policies and our borough and we approach all applications through the prism of these principles and objectives. Duty bound to promote the licensing objectives as we work towards a safer and more equal Islington. So Madam Mayor, again, for us it's not enough for us to say we care. I'm saying there's lots of representatives in Islington. We need to take action and enough that our licensing regime must act because a worrying rise in spiking is taking place. I'm pleased our new Labour government realises urgency which was shown in announcement in the King's Speech. Here in Islington, I'm pleased we have already been engaged in the council on this, promoting Met Police operations and engaging with venues ourselves. So we pride ourselves on thriving nightlife but work is incomplete until all women and girls feel safe in our borough when engaging in nightlife. So what we'll continue to do is keep championing training for venue staff including the Los Angeles scheme, other training and encourage women to sign up to the Women's Night Safety Charter. So I'll do all I can with the support of colleagues like Councillor Staff to ensure Islington is safe and all licensed venues ensure Islington's day and night time economy is safely enhanced. Thank you. Councillor Staff, please would you second? You have three minutes. Thank you Madam Mayor and thank you Councillor Weeks for your remarks. Yesterday I learned that a very good friend of mine and a former parliamentarian in Albania suddenly died aged 44. With this tragic news in mind I'm reminded of some words he gave to me when I was elected. Elected office is always a privilege. We seek to make a difference no matter how small a step may seem or how small a motion can be. Our job is to be mindful to protect the dignity of those that we represent. So Madam Mayor this motion was born out of concern to uphold the safety and dignity of those in our borough. And as a member of the Musicians Union myself I have great concern for the gaps that are in protections for those performing in our venues and I'm pleased like Councillor Weeks to see legislation coming that would make spiking a specific offence. As a local authority we have a duty of protection for our residents and people visiting Islington. Whether that's for work or pleasure and we've always shared responsibility to look after each other. Everybody has a right to feel safe and as a licensing authority we must take every step we possibly can to ensure that venues are not only safe for the people visiting them but also for people who are working in venues. Whether that's entertainers, bar staff or security. Madam Mayor if I may to protect a friend's anonymity I will simply refer to them as DJ. You see when DJ went to perform a regular set at a club their mind was not on testing a drink handed to them by someone they thought they knew. And their mind was not on stopping to check that that drink given to them would not lead to months of distress. And their mind was not on having to relive a moment to just try and get people to take what happened seriously. They went to do a job that they loved. They were a DJ. The morning they woke up confused, concerned and scared. It took them a massive amount of courage to talk to me and more courage to talk to Councillor Weeks, our great licensing authority and the police. Their dignity, their safety was taken by simply accepting a drink from somebody they thought they knew. Madam Mayor why DJ is okay now but their space was changed forever. Their trust was broken so as Councillor Weeks mentioned we must continue to work with the police to reduce drink spiking, work on those training sessions. And as this motion notes promote awareness amongst venues for working with performers to find ways to stop this ever happening again. We must continue to speak loudly and proudly about this and protecting our residents. This motion is a small step but as my friend once said, a small step may uphold the dignity and safety of any individual. And for us that includes our residents and to all those who visit and perform at our licensed venues. Thank you Madam Mayor and I'm proud to second this motion. Thank you Councillor Staff. Would any other Councillors like to speak on this? Councillor Russell. Thank you very much Madam Mayor and I'll be very very brief in the interest of getting to the end of the meeting. But I just wanted to thank both Councillor Weeks and - not McHugh, sorry - Staff, thank you, sorry, end of the evening. For bringing such a practical motion based on a resident's lived experience that with such a sensible call about changing for what sounds like quite a simple change in the law but it could make a real difference to people's lives. So we'll be supporting it. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Russell. Councillor Weeks, you have three minutes the right to reply to the motion on the motion and you have three minutes. Up to three minutes. I'd just like to say thank you to the second largest opposition for their support on this. Thank you. Wonderful. Okay we will now vote on the motion. All those in favour? All those against? And any abstentions? No? Motion, my friends, is carried. So the next motion this evening is motion 4, standing together against racism and fascism. This is a cross party motion. Councillor Chapman, please move the motion. You have five minutes. Yeah, thanks very much Madam Mayor. It is a cross party motion and I'm very pleased that colleagues across the Chamber have been able to put political differences aside to put forward this motion. Obviously very much saddened that it's under these awful circumstances and our deepest condolences to the families and the friends of the three young girls who died during the Southport attack. Let's hear their names in the Chamber. Bibi King, Elsie Dot Stankham and Alistair Silva Arguia. As you know, over the summer we witnessed right wing fascists use social media platforms to whip up Islamophobic anti-migrant and racist hate. And that violence that swept through the country was the worst we've seen in the UK for over a decade. And as we heard earlier this evening, Islington moved swiftly to ensure the safety of our diverse communities. We undertook community impact assessment with our police partners, reassurance patrols, we engaged with our key stakeholders, we made calls and visits to mosques, to community centres. Our leader stood in solidarity at an anti-racist rally outside the Fintech Park mosque. We were pleased to release a cross party statement alongside our opposition colleagues, our MPs, our community partners, as well as a statement from this administration reaffirming our commitment to tackling racism and injustice. Because as we've heard, there is no place for hate in Islington. We will always root it out wherever we see it. A plug again for the community cohesion event on the 1st of October. You're all invited, please come. This is a timely and important motion. What does it do? Well look, it highlights what we need from the government. What do we need? We need a real review of the role of tech companies so they can't just look the other way when hatred and illegality proliferate on social media platforms. And actually we need recognition from the new government. This rise in far right extremism, it actually can't all be laid at the door of social media. Fourteen years of austerity has contributed to the creation of a culture of hate and blame and we need to turn the tide on that. But this motion isn't just about what we want from the government, it's also about what we need to recommit ourselves to doing as a local authority. So this motion calls on the council to redouble efforts to promote the work of the hate crime prevention champions to work to engage residents to lead on and importantly to take ownership and support our drive to tackle hate crime in Islington. This motion calls on us to continue our very active work with our faith organisations and our diverse communities across Islington to celebrate the borough's diversity and support community cohesion. And I am very much looking forward over the coming months to celebrating Black History Month, Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah, Holocaust Memorial Day. And finally this motion calls on us all to think about being purposeful and explicit in our council communications. That's important because we don't just want to be against, we want to be an anti-racist organisation. That's a positive thing. We want to make sure that we call the riots this August what they were, racist and Islamophobic. So before I move this motion, I just want to do something. I want to ask everyone in this room who was born outside of the UK or who's one or who both parents were born outside the UK to put your hands in the air, okay? Put your hands in the air. My hands in the air because my dad was from India. So great. Look around. This is powerful. Thanks, thanks friends. Really powerful, right? This shows who we are. We are Islington and it shows that this motion goes to the heart of everything we are, everything we stand for here and I urge you all to support it. Thank you. Thank you for that, Councillor Chapman. Councillor Handash, please would you second? You have three minutes. So to start, I think we all stand in solidarity and our thoughts and prayers are so much with those families in Southport who've been bereaved at an awful, awful moment. But then to see what happened afterwards was even worse. To see the fabric of this country coming apart, there were so many feelings, horror, despair and I think many people felt shock. But I think for many communities of colour, sadly these things weren't surprising and they had been shadowed and foretold in too many incidents before. I think about my own personal experience. I'm half Algerian, I'm half English. I sound like this. But for the last ten years I've felt increasingly othered and increasingly brown and increasingly vulnerable in some ways, whether that's the time I was spat on the bus, whether that's the time after the Brexit referendum when witnessing a racially abused two year old child because she was black. I can think of just too many instances that have proliferated in the last ten years and we have to be really clear about where we're laying the blame at the door of that. The fact is for the last fourteen years the bankers bonus crash has been balanced on the backs of the poorest and services that people have been in desperate need of have been pulled away. And so the fabrics of our community have been torn apart. Simultaneously we had a government that while it was doing that, it was blaming the most vulnerable for causing it, whether that's migrants, asylum seekers, communities of colour. They played culture wars and they played with fire and the fires burned across communities in an awful, awful way. Now I was again really proud to come together, colleagues speaking at French Park Mosque and I was proud of Islington that was on display that day. United, diverse, proud. And like I said then, so many times these far right politicians mock and degrade Islington because they fear Islington. We are a happy collective community and actually Islington represents the future of many more places. These far right voices are the past and Islington and places like it are the future. So, really important motion, hopefully a model for lots of other places and I do want to capture that last point. I think it's really important that we are really purposeful with our comms and we do talk about these riots being racist and far right. Because a lot of communities of colour have felt really disappointed when they see and our government not use those words. [Applause] Thank you, Councillor Hamdash. I believe Councillor Sincaonan would like to speak. Do you have three minutes? Thank you. Hopefully this speech will be better than my first one. I am very proud to be jointly on this motion. It is very important. What happened as a parent I don't even think I can imagine the pain that those people went through. What followed though was something that we've seen come rising for a long time. We've heard rhetoric from politicians constantly of belittling immigrants and blaming others that do not look like them for everything from being poor, from not being able to get their jobs. I am very proud of Islington. I am very proud that we are a community where we embrace. We are a borough sanctuary. We have always looked out for the other. So I am very happy as the opposition to be standing together with you on this motion. The last thing that I want to say is that we should call this out for what it is. It's not just simply racist. It's not just simply far right. This is a rise in domestic terrorism. If you are a person of colour you are not safe. By people looking at you differently you are constantly blamed for everything that goes wrong. When the reality is it's not just 14 years of austerity. It's poverty. It is now poverty. So we really need to look around us and really need to look at our neighbour and ask are you okay? So I wish to call all of you to join us for a counter demonstration against Tommy Robinson on the 26th of October. We need to show that Islington is not racist. Islington is a unified borough that has no hate and therefore we should join together and go on this demonstration. And thank you very much for allowing us to support this motion. I'll just check if any other councillors would like to speak. Councillor Ibrahim please. Thank you Madam Mayor. I wasn't intending to speak today but I think as a Muslim and as someone who was born and raised in Islington I was both very proud of where I am from and both very disappointed. I'm proud of my heritage as a black working class Muslim but I was also very saddened that the country that I call home, the neighbours that I call neighbours would feel that we are the other. And no matter what they do they can never take away the fact that we don't just tolerate our differences in this borough, in this city and in this country. We embrace them, we celebrate them and we will never apologise for existing. And I am going to clarify something, you know this is a cross party motion but the Prime Minister did in fact end up calling the riots racist and he was right to do so. I will agree with Ben Ali that we need to be very deliberate in our language and he will note that Councillor Chapman did say that we will always call this what it is. And it was Islamophobic and it was racist but what I take sucker from, not just this cross party motion where we can put our political differences aside and we speak with one voice from this chamber on a matter that is so important. But I take sucker in the fact that we did not see the division spill out onto the streets of Islington and we did not see the division spill out onto the streets of London because London is the greatest city in the world. Where you can be someone who grew up on free school meals and a son of a bus driver and be the Mayor of London. Or you can be someone who can wear a double breasted suit, walk in late to a full Council meeting and make comments on the feet. So thank you for allowing me to speak Madam Mayor and thank you all for backing this motion as I know you all will. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you Madam Mayor. And I'm really grateful for everyone speaking on behalf of this motion it's really important and it's very pertinent as well. And I just want to stress today I've got my show races in the red card you can't see it but it's here on my lapel and I wear it with pride. It's something that our Council spoke about when they were talking about their motion about how we champion the things of Islington and I think we do really well here. And especially when we look at our children and young people it's about what we have in our libraries and around our advertisements etc. And I think it's really important that we champion that we are anti-racist and that we will continue to speak out whenever racism turns its ugly head. But it's a call to action and I heard a Councillor on the independence bench talk about Tommy Robinson. And it's funny because I remember years ago being in a protest and there was not many of us but there is that chant isn't there that we have many many more than you. And there is something about solidarity and about when you see your brother and I heard Councillor Bannali speak about his experience and to be witness to what happened as well. And also about Councillor Bashir talking about how we come together as a Council and I just want to call to action that on October 18th show is in the red card. And we all across the United Kingdom will have a day of wearing red and I'd like the Council and we have our Chief Exec here so it will be really nice and our leader and deputy to a call of action that we all wear red within the Council and in our place of work. And so we stand in solidarity that whenever racism shows its ugly head that we are united and we will call it out. Thank you Madam Mayor. Thank you. I believe that Councillor Hyde indicated and then followed by Councillor Graham. Thank you. I wasn't going to speak on this motion either but I'm sure we will find the events over the summer incredibly moving and distressing and I know for many colleagues here. It was full of a summer full of fear. My mother's from Southport, and so events impacted me in a slightly different way because of that geographical connection, and I felt it was really important, not only to hear from Muslim councils from black councils this evening but as a white woman to stand in full solidarity with you and call out what a disgrace and racist disgrace those rights were, and thank you for the use of language. I think our solidarity here is incredibly important. And I just want to say a word about listening in this country. There's a malaise. These events didn't come from anywhere as people have said anyone who's been watching and learning and listening. It's a problem for us as politicians to think through how we meet people's deep fears entrenched and exacerbated by poverty, and how, what can we offer people that are writing what we offer people that are racist writing, there's going to give hope and communities together. That is a real and complex problem. And that is why solidarity matters because I understand why. But, you know, especially for for Muslim councils the councils of color, they may not want to spend time and energy on that because how that's such a massive ask, you know, solidarity in this space really matters we are with you. We will think this through together. I want to read a Nick Cave quote because why not. I want to be really clear about this because those rights are the fruit of cynicism, as well, just like it can't be different, we've got to smash it up to make it better. And he says hopefulness is not a neutral position. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. And this is the important bit friends, each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like, keeps the devil down in the hole. It says the world and its inhabitants, all of them. The world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. I just want to say, Islington residents, Islington councillors, people that were most affected by those riots and those families in Southport, we believe in you. We believe in you and we believe that politics can bring change. We believe politics can bring change for the common good in solidarity. So thank you for this motion. Thank you. Councillor Hyde and Councillor Graham, please. Yeah, I was going to speak on this, but as you know, I've been away for a while. I'd just suggest, Councillor Graham, that you sit down. It's not, you don't need to stand. I want to stand up. Are you sure? Perfect. As you know, I've been away for a while, but a lot of that time was spent up in the Northeast. And during these riots, I saw the devastation in Middlesbrough. I saw the streets where Indian families live, having their windows and their cars smashed up systematically. These weren't by people from Middlesbrough. These weren't by people from the Northeast. These were people who were called in on social media to commit these acts of terrorism. And that's what they are. And what we need from our government, and I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to point this out to the Labour government, they need to be stronger. They need to come out and say this is fascism. We will not stand for it. We will not allow it in our streets. And if you want to know why it's not wanted, look at the response in Middlesbrough. After the riots, the day after, the very next morning, all the residents were out sweeping up, cleaning up, making sure everybody was safe. And on the night of the demonstration by the fascist assholes, they were there opposing them. So let's make sure we're always there to oppose fascism wherever it rears its head, wherever it comes through. And if one of our own politicians, if one of our independent politicians turns around and says something fascist, we'll bloody call them out. And I expect every other party to do the same. So let's get together. I'm delighted we're doing this motion here and fully supporting. Thank you, Councillor Graham. I would just like to remind everybody that we are we keep our language. In the council chamber. So, Councillor Chapman, you have the right to reply on the motion. You have three minutes. Oh, no, I've got somebody else. Actually, sorry. Councillor McKee, please, I didn't see you before. Thank you. I thought I'd speak as a qualities champion. I've been very moved by all of the different things I've heard here. In an era where social media can fuel the very worst ideas in online communities, we need to be so clear that we should nourish and care for the communities that we live around and that we see and that we speak to in our lives and in our roles as councillors. We need to be vocal and we need to be clear that our values are pluralist values and that Islington is a home for people of all colours and of all creeds. We can't let rioters silence or threaten our voices and those values. Extreme views are just that, they're extreme, but these extreme views have been too often mainstreamed by the dog whistle politics of a succession of Tory governments. Normalising far right rhetoric and language at the centre of politics has very real consequences and we came to see those real consequences this summer. We need to be sure to call that out and we need to be sure to take action, which is an antidote to that kind of action, that kind of language. The heartening stories that we've all known, seen and worked with here in Islington of Ukrainian resettlement, Afghan resettlement, this kind of work, this kind of action is an antidote to those ideas which have those very, very real consequences. The riot this summer and increasing incidents of hate crime, whether it's Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, the varied challenges we've seen over the last years have really made me reflect on what is the role of a local councillor and of a local council. One of those roles surely is representation, surely it's speaking up and making very clear the sentiments and the values that we hold, but the other is actually being responsive and embedding yourself in the community with those who need your help the most. Being reliable, turning up, showing solidarity through your actions and not just through your words. And I'm very proud to be part of a council which practises that across a broad range of representatives from the different communities who are at home here in Islington. So, solidarity, thank you. Okay, let me just check if there's anybody else that would like to speak. Oh, Councillor Gilden, please. Yeah, I'd like to say, because it is getting late, there's also Nigel Farage, who stokes up racism, the kind of polite media type, beer-swelling media, always on every channel and that's where it all gets kind of respectable and that drives the racism. Also, we've got to think about the links with, you know, the refugees, the escaping war, the escaping famine, the way they're stereotyped, the way the boat people and the Tory policy that went with it and Miranda. All these are interlinked, interlinked with racism and, you know, we have got another great city just across the water in Dublin. Dublin also faced riots, but there was a good fight back and there was a great poster there of, outside the Unite building, outside the centre of Dublin, near O'Connell Street and it had a massive picture of Phil Leiner. And basically it was saying, we stand together, you know, this is our history, you know, and Dublin's got a great track record, just like London has, you know, of fighting racism. I mean, we're coming up to another anniversary, next month will be the anniversary of Cable Street, so, you know, in a couple of years' time it'll be the big one where we have a big march for Cable Street. We remember all this, it's our history, we all remember it. So, yeah, solidarity and, you know, fight racism. [Applause] Okay, anybody else? Councillor Chapman, over to you. Three minutes, thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Wasn't that lovely? So many people standing up and saying, well, I wasn't going to speak, but I have to, so thank you for that. I'm going to use your first names because we're elected members, but we are friends and comrades, so thank you for your words. Banali, Bash, Ilkay, Val, Sara, Phil, Hannah and Mick, really moving and important. And, Banali, you talked about feeling othered and feeling alone and that struck a chord and it's important for us to say here, you're not alone in Islington, no one is. I'm reflecting on an event that Councillor Staff and I went to last week, organised by Muslim Welfare House. It was a listening event for migrants, refugees, those seeking asylum, people who are destitute. I would say over 200 people came, we talked for two and a half hours, we listened, we heard from people in lots of languages, we heard from people from Eritrea, Sudan, we heard from a gentleman from the Democratic Republic of Congo who bent over and showed us the bullet wound in the top of his head, and he spoke in French and Tufik, who's the CEO of Muslim Welfare House, who speaks Arabic and English, translated from the French into English for the rest of us. And that was a very profound day because we did what we should be doing, we were listening, we were standing in solidarity, but crucially we offered practical help and that's what we need to do. We need to take people's problems, listen to them and offer them practical help and let their lived experience inform our work. So within my portfolio as lead member is this sort of weird acronym, NRPF, people with no recourse to public funds, quite cold acronym, what does that mean? When you look about what it means, it says it means people are destitute, and I thought about that word destitute, what does that mean? You look it up and it says people who can't support themselves, people who are abandoned, and I thought right, that's the nub of this, and nobody must be abandoned here in Islington, and around this room our colleagues over there, I know we all agree with that, the events of the summer were racist, they were Islamophobic, they were domestic terrorism, they were abomination and we must not allow a return to the days when my father came here in the late 50s of overt, horrifying racism that went unchecked. Mick reminds us rightly of people standing together in Cable Street and they shall not pass, Mick, you're absolutely right. So I totally hear your calls for us to stand in solidarity, Val, I like your idea of the show Racism, the red card solidarity event, I for one am always a huge fan of red, and I will be wearing top to toe red on that day. So thank you friends for coming together around this motion, which I commend to you. [Applause] Thank you everybody, that was actually just really marvellous to hear from so many of you, like just talking about how Islington's just so wonderful and we're just so strong here, our spirit is so strong and yeah I feel quite moved and yes I also like red, Val, but you know that could be like because I'm like loving the Madame Mayor thing, or you know let's not pretend that I'm not a Liverpool fan, but you know I understand other football teams are available. Anyway, we will now vote on the motion, all those in favour of the motion? All those against? And any abstentions? The marvellous motion is carried. [Applause] Councillors, because we have reached the end of the time allowed for this meeting, in accordance with procedure rules 18.1 and 18.2, I must now move the remaining matters on the agenda as deemed formally moved and I will put them to the vote. No speeches are allowed. So, motion 5, the play motion. All those in favour of the motion? Wonderful. All those against? And any abstentions? I'm happy to say the motion as amended is carried. Oh, it was not amended actually. Sorry, sorry. It is carried, the motion is carried. Okay, so the next motion is motion 6, two child benefit limit. And we've had, do we vote on the amendment? Right, so we'll vote first on the proposed amendment. All those in favour of the amendment? And all those against? Okay, well the amendment is carried. We will now vote on the motion as amended. All those in favour of the amended motion? All those against? Any abstentions? No. Wonderful, wonderful, the motion is carried. Thank you everyone, that concludes the business for the evening. All councillors and officers are welcome to join me for refreshments in the, not in the mayor's parlour, because that's not very big, in Committee Room 1. Thank you.