Agenda

·         the ordinary Council meeting held on 17 October 2017.

To receive the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel together with the cover report of the Chief Executive.

On 27 October, the Governance & Audit and Standards Committee met for the exclusive purpose of confirming that it is satisfied with the way the Independent Remuneration Panel undertook the review.  The Panel's recommendations are attached (minute 62 refers).

Standing Order (32(d)) requires a vote by members before each motion to determine whether or not the motion is to be debated at the meeting or stand referred to the Cabinet or relevant Committee (including Scrutiny) to report back to a future meeting.

Proposed Councillor Will Purvis

Seconded Councillor Robert New

This Council notes the recent activities of anti-abortion protestors outside the main entrance of the St Mary’s Hospital Health Campus in Milton, the location of the British Pregnancy Advice Service clinic.

This Council also recognises the concerns of staff and those seeking treatment at the clinic, for example one patient said “It made an extremely difficult decision even more horrendous than it could/should have been… I suffer from mental health problems and I felt the comments made by protesters significantly increased my anxiety... No one should ever have to deal with that.”

This motion is explicitly not one for or against abortion, which is available in Great Britain in the circumstances laid out in the Abortion Act 1967. This Council believes that all individuals should be protected from harassment and intimidation when accessing legally existing health services, and that local residents should not to be exposed to related disruption and distress on a daily basis.

The right to protest needs to be balanced with the right of pregnant women to choose and to obtain advice and treatment in confidence and free from intimidation. Those who wish to campaign against abortion have plenty of opportunities and locations in which to do so. The area outside a clinic need not and should not be one of them.

This Council asks the Cabinet to do all within its powers to prevent anti-abortion protestors from intimidating and harassing women outside the St Mary’s Hospital, and its entrances.

The Council also notes the steps taken by Ealing Council to pursue a Public Space Protection Order to prevent harassment of women accessing pregnancy advice services in their Borough.

This Council therefore requests that a report be brought to the Cabinet Member for Community Safety fully exploring every possible option, including the use of a Public Spaces Protection Order, to create a ‘buffer zone’ around this location to provide the necessary reassurance and security that all women need and deserve as they make their own personal decision about their pregnancy.

Proposed by Councillor Donna Jones

Seconded by Councillor Lee Mason

Cities across the world benefit from the cultural and economic prosperity that twinning and associated working can bring.  Portsmouth City Council is fortunate to have twinning and friendship links with cities around the world from Japan and Australia to the United States of America.

Thirty years ago Portsmouth and Caen agreed a formal twinning link.  The agreement was signed by Councillors in the Guildhall on 5^th June 1987 under the then Leader of the council Councillor Ian Gibson and Lord Mayor Councillor Jim Lodge.

Over the years the city of Portsmouth has hosted councillors, Mayors, businesses, tourists, and historians who have celebrated the significance of the two cities. With companies such as Brittany Ferries prospering as the friendship grows and the two cultures sharing their common history of the significance of the D Day landings this Chamber is pleased to celebrate this active and successful link.

The Council therefore resolves that the Leader of the Council formally present an official letter commemorating the special relationship between the two cities to the Mayor of Caen, Mayor Joël Bruneau, to thank him on behalf of the City of Portsmouth for the 30 years of friendship our cities have enjoyed when they meet at the end of November.”