Agenda item

“Reject Antisemitism and uphold the “working definition of antisemitism” as adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance” Motion

“This Council notes:

·                     HM Government adopted the “working definition of antisemitism” in December 2016.

·                     Harrow Council Adopted the “working definition of antisemitism” in February 2017.

·                     The Labour Party’s rejection of the full “working definition of antisemitism” and omission of “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” from their own definition of antisemitism.

This Council believes:

·                     The “working definition of antisemitism”, as adopted by the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and HM Government is the correct definition of antisemitism.

·                     Antisemitism is fundamentally wrong and should not be tolerated.

·                     Rejection of any part of the “working definition of antisemitism” is deplorable, particularly by any mainstream Political Party, including the questioning of Israel’s right to exist.

This Council resolves:

·                     To reaffirm our adoption of the “working definition of antisemitism” and our support of the “Harrow Council recognises working definition of anti-Semitism Motion” which was adopted at the Full Council meeting on 23^rd February 2017.

·                     To instruct the Interim Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council to write to the Leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, calling upon him to deplore any rejection of the “working definition of antisemitism” and asking him as Leader of the Labour Party to immediately fully adopt and support this definition.”

A tabled amendment was received. This was further amended upon the Mayor’s ruling that one element of the amendment must be withdrawn as its effect was to introduce a new proposal in contravention of Council Procedure Rule 17.6.1.

Upon the meeting moving to a vote upon the tabled amendment to the Motion, as further amended by the Mayor’s ruling, ten Members rose and requested a Roll Call vote.  The amendment was carried.   The voting on the tabled amendment was as follows:

Roll Call Vote: In Favour (of the Tabled Amendment):  Councillors Ghazanfar Ali, Dan Anderson, Jeff Anderson, Sue Anderson, Peymana Assad, Michael Borio, Sarah Butterworth, Simon Brown, Niraj Dattani, Keith Ferry, Dean Gilligan, Pamela Fitzpatrick, Graham Henson, Maxine Henson, Honey Jamie, James Lee, Ajay Maru, Jerry Miles, Angella Murphy-Strachan, Philip O’Dell, Nitin Parekh, Primesh Patel, Natasha Proctor, David Perry, Kiran Ramchandani, Christine Robson, Mrs Rekha Shah, Sachin Shah, Chloe Smith, Krishna Suresh, Sasikala Suresh, Adam Swersky and Antonio Weiss.

Against (the Tabled Amendment):  Councillors Richard Almond, Marilyn Ashton, Camilla Bath, Christopher Baxter, Philip Benjamin, Kam Chana, Ramji Chauhan, Stephen Greek, Chetna Halai, Susan Hall, John Hinkley, Nitesh Hirani, Ameet Jogia, Jean Lammiman, Dr Lesline Lewinson, Vina Mithani, Amir Moshenson, Chris Mote, Janet Mote, Paul Osborn, Mina Parmar, Anjana Patel, Pritesh Patel, Kanti Rabadia, Lynda Seymour, Norman Stevenson, Bharat Thakker and Stephen Wright.

Abstain (on the Tabled Amendment): The Worshipful the Mayor, Councillor Kareema Kairul Marikar.

Upon a vote, the substantive Motion was agreed as follows:

“This Council notes:

·          HM Government adopted the “working definition of antisemitism” in December 2016.

·          Harrow Council Adopted the “working definition of antisemitism” in February 2017.

This Council believes:

·           The “working definition of antisemitism”, as adopted by the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and HM Government is the correct definition of antisemitism.

·           Antisemitism is fundamentally wrong and should not be tolerated.

·          Rejection of any part of the “working definition of antisemitism” is deplorable.

This Council resolves:

·           To reaffirm our adoption of the “working definition of antisemitism” and our support of the “Harrow Council recognises working definition of anti-Semitism Motion” which was adopted at the Full Council meeting on 23^rd February 2017.”

RESOLVED:  That the motion as amended and set out above be adopted. 

Remembering Srebrenica Motion

“This Council:

·                     Notes that 2018 is the twenty-third anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which saw over 8,000 Muslim men and boys killed by Serbian nationalist forces.

·                     Notes that in 2009 the European Parliament passed a resolution that 11 July should be recognised as the day of commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide all over the EU; and in 2015 urged the development of educational and cultural programmes that promote an understanding of the causes of such atrocities and raise awareness about the need to nurture peace and to promote human rights and interreligious tolerance. All UK political parties have supported the work of Remembering Srebrenica in this regard. 

·                     Applauds the work of those involved in the pursuit of justice for the victims and their surviving relatives, including the International Commission of Missing People (ICMP) and the Mothers of Srebrenica, whose courage and humility in the face of unthinkable horror is an inspiration to us all.

·                     Commends the work of the charity, Remembering Srebrenica, in raising awareness of this tragic and preventable genocide and working in communities across Britain to help them learn the lessons of Srebrenica.

The Council resolves to:

·                     Offer support to Remembering Srebrenica delegates from Harrow who visited Bosnia on the ‘Lessons from Srebrenica’ education programme and have been working tirelessly in the community to raise awareness of the genocide and learn the lessons of Srebrenica.

·                     Support Srebrenica memorial events in July each year throughout Harrow as part of the UK-wide Remembering Srebrenica Memorial Week.

·                     Support the work of Remembering Srebrenica in communities across Harrow to learn the lessons from Srebrenica to tackle hatred and intolerance to help build a better, safer and more cohesive society for everyone.

·                     Support the work of schools and education providers to bring the lessons of Srebrenica to young people across Harrow.”

RESOLVED:  That the Motion set out at (ii) above be adopted. 

Children’s Citizenship Motion

“In the UK today, there are significant numbers of children who do not currently have British citizenship but have rights to register as British citizens. Many of these children were born in the UK, and others have lived here from a young age, been raised here, educated here, and have never known any other home.

Without access to their citizenship rights, children may find themselves denied opportunities extended to their peers, such as the chance to participate in a school trip or to be eligible for funding so they can undertake higher education.

There are a number of barriers to children registering their citizenship. Registration can be a complex process of prohibitive cost.

Children are charged £1,012 for a process whose administrative cost is published at £372, meaning government is making a profit of £640 from every child who claims their rights.

No child should be denied their citizenship rights by reason of a fee.  There is no substitute for citizenship, which is vital to future security and sense of belonging.

Harrow Council values the borough’s diverse population and is alarmed that any children in the borough could be denied their citizenship rights because of their economic status.

The Council is also concerned that for children in care, it is local authorities, rather than central government, that are responsible for paying these exorbitant administrative costs.  This effectively amounts to an unjustified transfer of funds from local to central government.

This Council recognises:

•                    That the profit-making element of the fee to register citizenship discourages the best outcomes for many of the UKs children

•                    Because of their duties as corporate parents, the fee for children to register will fall on Councils in the many cases where looked after children qualify for citizenship

•                    The fee puts Councils in the unacceptable position of having to weigh the benefits of citizenship to a child in their care against the cost to the Council of assisting a child in claiming that right.

This Council therefore resolves:

•                    To write to the Minister of Immigration demanding that the fee for children to register as British citizens is reduced to the administrative cost and that looked after children are exempted from the fee in its entirety.

•                    To identify children in their care who are entitled to citizenship, and make sure they are aware of their rights and supported to claim them.”

An amendment was received and, upon the substantive motion being put to the vote, was carried. 

RESOLVED:  That the motion set out at (iii) above be adopted, subject to the addition of the following wording at the end of the first bullet point under “The Council therefore resolves;…”: 

“…; the letter to include reference to the entitlement to a refund in respect of Power of Attorney documents.”

Adult Social Care Motion

“Recent analysis by AgeUK has found that a record 1.4 million people in the UK aged over 65 now have some level of unmet social care need. AgeUK blamed this on a “catastrophic lack of government funding for social care”. This analysis has been echoed by the head of the CQC who said that support available for older people was “now so threadbare that Britain’s status as a civilised society was diminished.”

Moreover, the LGA has estimated that by the 2019/20 financial year, local authorities will be facing a funding shortfall for adult social care of £2.6 billion.

The knock-on effects of this are significant: delayed discharges due to a lack of social care support, cost the NHS £289.1 million annually, not the mention the suffering caused to patients who are forced to spend additional days in hospital.

In Harrow, we have the highest number of over 65s in North-West London, while, due to demographic factors, the borough has the third-highest level of diabetes in the country. Moreover, the proportion of those over 80s within the borough is forecast to continue to rise. All of this will have the cumulative effect of significantly increasing the social care burden on the Harrow Council and further exacerbating funding shortfalls.

Harrow Council recognises:

·                     That the funding crisis enveloping adult social care amounts to a dereliction of duty by central government, putting thousands of adults at risk across the country.

·                     Local authorities have been put under unacceptable levels pressure to deliver on their statutory obligations to provide care, without being given adequate levels of funding to do so.

Harrow Council, therefore, agrees to:

·                     Write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, demanding that one of his first actions in his new post should be to take the positive action required to find an urgent resolution to the emerging crisis in adult social care funding in Harrow and other local authorities.

·                     Write to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and request a cash injection so that Harrow Council is able to provide for the increasing demand for council services, including adult social care.

·                     Continue to work with the CCG, GPs, acute and mental health trusts, and other partners in the local health economy, as well as the local voluntary and community organisations, to ensure that the needs of Harrow residents continue to be met, regardless of whether central government takes the steps which all agree are necessary.”

A tabled amendment was received and, upon being put to the vote, was carried.  A second tabled amendment was received and, upon being put to the vote, was carried. 

Upon being put to the vote, the substantive motion was agreed.

Adult Social Care Motion

“Recent analysis by AgeUK has found that a record 1.4 million people in the UK aged over 65 now have some level of unmet social care need.  AgeUK blamed this on a “catastrophic lack of government funding for social care”.  This analysis has been echoed by the head of the CQC who said that support available for older people was “now so threadbare that Britain’s status as a civilised society was diminished.”

Moreover, the LGA has estimated that by the 2019/20 financial year, local authorities will be facing a funding shortfall for adult social care of £2.6 billion.

The knock-on effects of this are significant: delayed discharges due to a lack of social care support, cost the NHS £289.1 million annually, not the mention the suffering caused to patients who are forced to spend additional days in hospital.

In Harrow, we have the highest number of over 65s in North-West London, while, the borough has the third-highest level of diabetes in the country.  Moreover, the proportion of those over 80s within the borough is forecast to continue to rise.  All of this will have the cumulative effect of significantly increasing the social care burden on the Harrow Council and further exacerbating funding shortfalls.

Harrow Council recognises:

·                     That there has been a failure by successive governments to deal with the funding crisis enveloping adult social care, putting thousands of adults at risk across the country and that there will be the best chance of achieving an enduring resolution if one can be agreed cross-party in Parliament

·                     Local authorities have been put under unacceptable levels pressure to deliver on their statutory obligations to provide care, without being given adequate levels of funding to do so.

Harrow Council, therefore, agrees to:

·                     Write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, demanding that one of his first actions in his new post should be to take the positive actions, including making an early announcement regarding a publication date for the delayed Green Paper on Care and Support for Older Paper, so that local authorities in England may have some clarity on future funding arrangements for social care

·                     Write to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and request a cash injection so that Harrow Council is able to provide for the increasing demand for adult social care.

·                     Continue to work with the CCG, GPs, acute and mental health trusts, and other partners in the local health economy, as well as the local voluntary and community organisations, to ensure that the needs of Harrow residents for adult social care continue to be met, regardless of whether central government takes the steps which all agree are necessary.”

RESOLVED:  That the motion as amended and set out above be adopted.