The documents provided to the attendees for this meeting of the full council show that it will include questions from members of the public, the Youth Council and the Council, as well as five notices of motion covering a range of topics. The meeting will consider a report on the political balance in the Council chamber, a report proposing amendments to the Council's constitution and an appointments report. It will also consider a report on the Council's capital programme and a monitoring report.

Proposed amendment to the Constitution

The Council will consider a report on a proposed amendment to the Council's constitution to reflect the formation of a new opposition group in the Council. The Constitution Update V3 - September 2024 report proposes to:

amend the Constitution to reflect that there can be multiple opposition groups.

The report also states that it will include details of proposed constitution amendments to create a new Special Responsibility Allowance for the Leader of the second largest opposition group, and to increase the number of members of the Licensing Regulatory Committee by one.

Capital programme 2024/25 - quarter 1 budget changes

The Council will consider a report on the Council's capital programme which proposes changes exceeding £1m to the projects that the Council will be spending money on. A significant proposed change is to remove £12.852m from the programme that had been earmarked for match-funding to unlock grant funding to pay for decarbonisation works to Council buildings. The report states:

Since that time the cost to complete these works has increased but not the grant funding available. This has made the schemes unviable and unaffordable to the council at this time.

The Capital Programme 24-25 Q1 Budget Changes - post CMT 27082024 report also seeks approval for a number of other changes to the Capital Programme:

• New River College SEND/Elthorne: Removal of £1.192m of borrowing previously allocated to the project after work was paused when it was decided the school would no longer return to the site in May 2024.
• Future Work Phase 2: Addition of £1.790m to the budget for the scheme, funded by borrowing, to reflect a technical accounting adjustment to capitalise existing expenditure.
• Disabled Facilities Grant: Addition of £3.366m to the budget for the grant, funded by grant funding, to reflect a technical accounting adjustment to capitalise existing expenditure.
• Elmore Street & Lindsey Mews: Removal of £2.267m from the project budget after it was determined that the scheme would not deliver value for money.

Care Leavers as a Protected Characteristic

A notice of motion to be considered by the Council asks the Council to agree that people who are 'care experienced' should be considered as a protected characteristic by Islington Council. The motion, proposed by Councillor Michelline Safi-Ngongo and seconded by Councillor Claire Zammit, also asks the Council to review its equalities impact assessment approach to consider the needs of care experienced people, and to continue seeking out the voices of care experienced people when developing new policies.

The Motions to Council - 19 September 2024 document states that the motion has been proposed because:

society too often does not take their needs into account with care experienced people having poorer outcomes.

Stop fatalities from Catastrophic Bleeding

Another notice of motion to be considered by the Council, proposed by Councillor John Woolf and seconded by Councillor Hannah McHugh, notes the importance of the first few minutes after a serious injury that leads to catastrophic bleeding. It asks the Council to work with community stakeholders to find more locations for Bleed Control Kits to be installed across the borough.

A Safer Nighttime Economy

A notice of motion proposed by Councillor Angelo Weekes and seconded by Councillor Heather Staff highlights the crime of spiking and asks the Council to write to the UK Government to seek clarification on proposed changes to the law that would make spiking a specific criminal offence. The motion also asks the Council to continue to support initiatives that challenge the cultural attitudes that have led to sexual assault and harassment being normalised and to work with trade unions to protect entertainers and performers from spiking.

The motion states:

musicians and DJs, [are] at risk of becoming a victim of spiking and [this has] effects on their job security and wellbeing in the workplace.

Standing together against racism and fascism

The Council will also consider a motion, proposed by Councillor Sheila Chapman and seconded by Councillor Benali Hamdache, which condemns the recent fatal stabbing of three young girls and the subsequent racist violence and disorder across the UK, including attacks on mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers. The motion asks the Council to support calls for tech companies to review their role in enabling hate speech and misinformation, urge the Government to crack down on instigators of hate speech and continue to promote the work of Islington's Hate Crime Prevention Champions.

The motion states:

nearly 40% of Islington’s population are people who were born outside of the UK, and that this diversity is our strength.

Play in Islington

Councillor Ernestas Jegorovas-Armstong and Councillor Caroline Russell have proposed a notice of motion calling for the Council to continue to promote play across the borough and invest in physical activity, protect and grow funding for adventure playgrounds and recognise the achievements of the playworker workforce. The motion also asks the Council to continue celebrating Playday and to start celebrating the UN's International Day of Play.

Questions from the Youth Council

The documents also show that members of the Islington Youth Council are scheduled to ask questions of a number of the Council's Executive members, including:

• A question to Councillor Kaya Comer-Schwartz, the Leader of the Council, on how Islington Council is working with the new UK government to improve the lives of young people.
• A question to Councillor John Woolf, the Executive Member for Community Safety, about how the Council is supporting and reassuring young people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds to feel safe in Islington in light of the racist marches and riots that have taken place across the country during the summer.
• A question to Councillor Una O'Halloran, the Executive Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, about what support systems are in place for young people experiencing poverty and homelessness and what preventative measures are in place.
• A question to Councillor Santiago Bell-Bradford, the Executive Member for Inclusive Economy, Culture and Jobs, about what the Council is doing to ensure that Islington continues to have a vibrant cultural offer for young people in light of concerns about cultural organisations moving out of the borough.

Questions from the Public

Members of the public are scheduled to ask questions of the Executive, including:

• Sheridan Kates will ask Councillor Diarmaid Ward, the Executive Member for Finance and Performance, what percentage of Islington pensioners known to be eligible for Pension Credit are claiming it.
• Rona Topaz will ask Councillor O'Halloran why there appears to be a two-tier system for access to a residents' lounge at Holloway Park, a Peabody Housing development, where private tenants have automatic access but social housing tenants have to opt-in and pay an additional fee.
• Pete Gillman will ask Councillor Comer-Schwartz whether Islington will combine with other councils to press the new government for the restoration of powers that have been taken away from local authorities since the 1980s.
• David Harrison will ask Councillor Rowena Champion, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Transport, what plans the council has to further promote walking in the borough, following recent improvements to Clerkenwell Green and the opening of The New Green Link Walk.

Questions from Councillors

Councillors are scheduled to ask questions of members of the Executive, including:

• Councillor Nick Clarke will ask Councillor Michelline Safi-Ngongo, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families, for assurances that Islington's adventure playgrounds and the working conditions of staff employed by the Islington Play Association at these playgrounds will be protected.
• Councillor Heather Staff will ask Councillor Safi-Ngongo for assurances that the job security of caretakers is not being compromised as part of school reorganisations, and that their housing security and standards will be protected.
• Councillor Paul Convery will ask Councillor Sheila Chapman, the Executive Member for Equalities, Communities and Inclusion, for data from the General Election held on 4th July 2024 showing the number of electors turned away from polling stations in Islington for not having photo ID, how many of those people returned to vote later, and how many did not return to vote. This relates to the Elections Act 2022, which came into force in May 2023, and requires voters in Great Britain to show photo ID when voting at polling stations in some elections.
• Councillor Caroline Russell will ask Councillor O'Halloran how the Council ensures that vulnerable residents affected by multi-day lift outages on housing estates in Highbury are able to get in and out of their homes.
• Councillor Benali Hamdache will ask Councillor Chapman for an update on progress finding spaces for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller sites in Islington.
• Councillor Saiqa Pandor will ask Councillor Safi-Ngongo what measurable impact Islington's Youth Justice Service has had on improving outcomes for children and their families.
• Councillor Tricia Clarke will ask Councillor Champion what impact the climate emergency is having on Islington residents and how the Council is preparing for these impacts, especially for those residents who will be most affected.
• Councillor Nurullah Turan will ask Councillor Chapman for assurances that Islington will remain on the front foot in reassuring its diverse communities in light of a series of riots against ethnic minorities and asylum seekers over the summer.
• Councillor Rakhia Ismail will ask Councillor O'Halloran for assurances that the Council and its developers are not using any of the corporations deemed responsible for making Grenfell Tower unsafe and that new and existing council homes will meet the highest standards in building safety.
• Councillor Ernestas Jegorovas-Armstrong will ask Councillor Safi-Ngongo if the Council will stop using Ofsted's single word judgements to summarise the overall performance of its schools.

Monitoring Report

A monitoring report to be considered by the Council notes that the Corporate Director of Community Wealth Building made a decision to authorise the surrender of leases on two office blocks at 45-69 Old Street using urgency procedures in July 2024. The Monitoring Report Council September 2024 report states that the decision was made under urgency procedures because:

If the Council did not accept the surrender of the leases, the principal leaseholder stated it would place the company which holds the leases into administration promptly.

The decision report attached to the monitoring report notes that the Council would have incurred significant losses if it had not agreed to the surrender of the leases.

Appointments report

An appointments report to be considered by the Council proposes a number of new appointments to Council committees and other roles. The Appointments Report - 19 September 2024 report proposes the following appointments:

• Councillor Hayes as Vice Chair of Environment, Climate and Transport Scrutiny Committee
• Councillor McHugh as Vice Chair of Homes and Communities Scrutiny Committee
• Councillor Turan as a member of the Licensing Regulatory Committee and as Vice Chair
• Councillor Nanda as a member of the Planning Committee
• Councillor Khondoker as a member of the Grievance Appeal Committee
• Councillor Clarke as Reading Champion
• Ian Ship as an Employer Representative on the Pensions Board

The report also proposes extending the terms of office of the Independent Persons appointed for Standards matters and the Independent Co-Opted Members of the Audit and Risk Committee until 31 December 2024, to allow for a full recruitment process to be carried out.