Agenda item

Resolved that:

(i)            The work of the Local Government Association (LGA) on the Debate note Hate Campaign be noted, and that future updates be provided by the monitoring officer on the campaign and civility in public life programme;

(ii)          It be Recommended to the council meeting on 25 January 2024, that the Leader of the Council signs the Debate Not Hate Public Statement on behalf of the council and commit and accept the following:

·         To support the ‘Debate Not Hate’ campaign and accept the recommendations in principal;

·         To work together, across the political groups to promote and uphold high standards of civil behaviour in public and political debate;

·         To establish a reporting mechanism to record and monitor incidents of harassment and abuse;

·         To work with officers to ensure that support is provided to councillors who are experiencing intimidation and abuse;

·         the Democracy and Standards Committee will review this on an annual basis and will work with the monitoring officer to address and challenge ongoing issues and key concerns.

The circulated report of the Chief Lawyer was received to update and inform members of the committee of the Local Government Association’s ‘Debate Not Hate’: The impact of Abuse of Local Democracy’ report and campaign.

Appended to the report was a copy of the LGA’s report which summarised the findings.

Mrs Coulson-Patel presented her report and informed committee that in 2021, the LGA had launched a ‘Call for Evidence on Abuse and Intimidation of Councillors’, as part of the civility in public life programme. 

The findings were used to produce a report and a campaign calling for support from councillors, MPs and organisations to sign the public statement to show support for the ‘Debate Not Hate’ campaign.

The report of the Chief Lawyer, detailed the findings, themes and a series of recommendations produced by the LGA.  It also detailed the local picture making reference to recommendation seven, requesting councillors to sign a public statement.

Members discussed the report and considered that this was a very important campaign. They shared their personal experiences and concerns around their accessibility, and that of their families, to the public with concern around home addresses being available, photographs and personal information. Whilst accepting that there was a need to publicise their roles and the work they did.

Other comments related to the public perception of a councillor, who would always work in the best interest of their constituent, as there appeared to be a trust and respect issue which needed to be improved. 

Reference was made to the Seven Principles of Public Life, also known as the Nolan Principles, of Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership, which members took seriously.

Comments were also made that in some cases, particularly at council meetings that behaviour could be poor, sometimes due to passionate debate. The member code of conduct needed to be adhered to and further training could be provided on this.

Some threats could be serious and intimidating and some members considered that when complaints were made to the police, little was done.  There was also an issue with so called ‘keyboard warriors’ who would post untrue and harmful accusations on social media, often in ignorance of what was being dealt with or discussed and how such intimidation could affect a councillor’s decision making.

Members also raised issues over additional security and the need for ‘on call’ contact details of officers, who they could ring if they felt they were in danger at a given time and asked if they could have a list of addresses that they should not attend alone. It was also suggested that a generic telephone number be provided for each ward with the caller then pressing a number to get through to one of the ward councillors and that this should not be a link to a private phone number and that members should potentially be issued with council phones.  

Reference was also made to the safety of town and parish clerks who were not employed by NNC. This is something that would be raised at a future forum.

The Chief Lawyer and monitoring officer noted the comments made and points of concern raised and stressed that if anyone was in immediate danger they should always call the Police immediately and not contact council officers.  Where possible it was also advisable to visit anywhere with a fellow ward councillor and let someone know where you are going.

It was proposed by Councillor Lawman that the wording of the recommendation be slightly amended to read as follows:

3.1.2.2 ‘To commit and accept the following:’ and that at point a) the following be added ‘To support the ‘Debate Not Hate’ campaign and accept the LGA’s recommendations, in principle’.

This was seconded by Councillor Coleman and on being put to the vote this was approved.

The recommendation within the report, with the addition of the above, was put to the vote and declared carried.

Resolved that:

(i)            The work of the Local Government Association (LGA) on the Debate note Hate Campaign be noted, and that future updates be provided by the monitoring officer on the campaign and civility in public life programme;

(ii)          It be Recommended to the council meeting on 25 January 2024, that the Leader of the Council signs the Debate Not Hate Public Statement on behalf of the council and commit and accept the following:

·         To support the ‘Debate Not Hate’ campaign and accept the recommendations in principal;

·         To work together, across the political groups to promote and uphold high standards of civil behaviour in public and political debate;

·         To establish a reporting mechanism to record and monitor incidents of harassment and abuse;

·         To work with officers to ensure that support is provided to councillors who are experiencing intimidation and abuse;

·         the Democracy and Standards Committee will review this on an annual basis and will work with the monitoring officer to address and challenge ongoing issues and key concerns.