(a)  To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor P. Leaver

DEBATE NOT HATE

“The intimidation and abuse of councillors and council officers, in person or otherwise, undermines democracy; preventing elected members from representing the communities they serve, deterring individuals from standing for election, and undermining public life in democratic processes.

North Devon Council notes that increasing levels of toxicity in public and political discourse is having a detrimental impact on local democracy, and that prevention, support and responses to abuse and intimidation of local politicians must improve to ensure councillors feel safe and able to continue representing their residents.

North Devon Council therefore commits to challenge the normalisation of abuse against councillors and officers and uphold exemplary standards of public and political debate in all it does.

North Devon Council further agrees to sign up to the LGA’s Debate Not Hate campaign. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in local communities, encourage healthy debate and improve the response to and support those in public life facing abuse and intimidation.

In addition, this council resolves to:

·       Write to the local Member of Parliament to ask them to support the campaign.

·       Write to the Government to ask them to work with the Local Government Association to develop and implement a plan to address abuse and intimidation of politicians and council officers at every level.

·       Ensure that North Devon Council has a clear reporting mechanism which can be used to monitor and record incidents of harassment and abuse of councillors and officers.

·       Regularly review the support available to Councillors in relation to abuse and intimidation and councillor safety.

·       Work with the local police to ensure there is a clear and joined-up mechanism for reporting threats and other concerns about the safety of councillors and their families and discuss the need to take a preventative approach that accounts for the specific risks that councillors face, as they do with other high-risk individuals, like MP’s.

·       Take a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of councillors and officers.”

(a)  To receive the following notice of motion from Councillor P. Leaver

Councillor P. Leaver presented his notice of motion to Council.

It was moved by Councillor P. Leaver and seconded by Councillor Haworth-Booth “that the notice of motion be adopted”.

The Chief Executive advised Council of the support that the Council already had in place for Councillors.  In terms of the point raised regarding “Ensure that North Devon Council has a clear reporting mechanism which can be used to monitor and record incidents of harassment and abuse of councillors and officers”, a Health and Safety, Personal Safety and Lone working guidance had been produced for Councillors following the District Council elections in May 2023 along with the incident reporting form.  This had been provided to all Councillors in their welcome pack and was also referred to in the Health and Safety training.  The recording of this training could be provided to Councillors as a refresher if required.  All Councillors were provided with a paper copy of the Social Media Guide for Councillors following the Election and further copies could be provided if required.  The Council had signed up to alerts from the Local Government Association (LGA) who regularly held webinars on Personal Safety, handling online abuse and intimidation.  Details of these webinars were shared with Councillors.  The Council also shared the LGA’s guidance on personal safety with Councillors.  In relation to the point “Work with the local police to ensure there is a clear and joined-up mechanism for reporting threats and other concerns about the safety of councillors and their families and discuss the need to take a preventative approach that accounts for the specific risks that councillors face, as they do with other high-risk individuals, like MP’s”, the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner had been in contact with monitoring officers across Devon and Cornwall with a draft proposal about setting up a procedure and a potential single point of contact at the police under a specific as yet unnamed Operation for escalation of crime where the crime was suspected to have occurred due to an elected member’s public role (having already been reported to the police through the usual channels by the member).  There was a meeting scheduled for 16 April 2024 when this will be discussed between the police and monitoring officers with proposals about how this could work and the resultant proposed procedure would be fed back to councillors as appropriate.

RESOLVED that the Council:

(a)   Notes that increasing levels of toxicity in public and political discourse is having a detrimental impact on local democracy, and that prevention, support and responses to abuse and intimidation of local politicians must improve to ensure councillors feel safe and able to continue representing their residents;

(b)   Signs up to the LGA’s Debate Not Hate campaign;

(c)   Write to the local Member of Parliament to ask them to support the campaign;

(d)   Write to the Government to ask them to work with the Local Government Association to develop and implement a plan to address abuse and intimidation of politicians and council officers at every level;

(e)   Ensure that it has a clear reporting mechanism which can be used to monitor and record incidents of harassment and abuse of councillors and officers;

(f)    Regularly review the support available to Councillors in relation to abuse and intimidation and councillor safety;

(g)   Work with the local police to ensure there is a clear and joined-up mechanism for reporting threats and other concerns about the safety of councillors and their families and discuss the need to take a preventative approach that accounts for the specific risks that councillors face, as they do with other high-risk individuals, like MP’s;

(h)   Take a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of councillors and officers.