Agenda item

Cabinet, subject to recommendation at its meeting on 22 March 2022, and any updates provided by Cabinet,

RECOMMENDS THAT COUNCIL  

Adopt the Member Parental Leave Policy as set out in the appendix to the report.  

Council 

Agreed          To adopt the Member Parental Leave Policy as set out in the appendix to the report.

Councillor John Williams introduced the report, which recommended a new Member Parental Leave policy granting all councillors the right to take extended leave for reasons of maternity, paternity, adoption, or shared parental leave whilst continuing to receive their allowances. He urged Council to agree the recommendation and join the other 40 councils who had adopted a similar policy.

Councillor Deborah Roberts stated that councillors had chosen to seek elected office and she expressed concern that elected members, who had then chosen to have children, would be paid for doing nothing for more than six months.

The Leader explained that councillors continued to support their residents when not attending meetings and that it was unfair that members looking after a baby would lose their seats because they were unable to travel to the Council offices to attend meetings. She asserted that the policy would encourage more younger people to become councillors, which would lead to a more diverse membership that better reflected the demographics of the residents they represented.

Councillor Alex Malyon supported this proposal, as someone who had given birth during her current term of office. She explained that this would protect new parents who inevitably found it difficult to attend meetings but continued to support their residents. She thanked officers who had consulted with her when drafting this policy.

Councillor Dr Tumi Hawkins stated that the Council needed more young councillors from ethnic minorities and this policy would help to achieve this. Councillor Judith Rippeth read out a statement from Councillor Sarah Cheung-Johnson supporting the proposal which would help to make the Council more diverse. Councillor Nigel Cathcart reported that when he first joined the Council 32 years ago it was totally unrepresentative of the District’s population and he supported the new policy as the authority would hear more alternative views if it had a wider membership.

Councillor Heather Williams stated that she was on maternity leave when she was first elected and she supported this policy as it would allow new parents to continue to be councillors. She added that it was important to ensure that the Council had facilities to allow new mothers to come to the office. Councillor Graham Cone also supported the policy as it gave councillors the choice of being able to continue as a member as a new parent.

Councillor Steve Hunt stated that he would have welcomed having this policy when he was considering whether to stand for office. He concluded that it was important that the Council attracted all people of all ages to become councillors.

Councillor Shrobona Bhattacharya suggested that the Council was not doing enough to promote diversity as none of the 350 or more events that she had organised to tackle inequality had been promoted by the Council or included in South Cambs magazine, although it had been covered by the external media.

Councillor Dr Claire Daunton thanked the HR Advisor and the Head of Transformation, HR and Corporate Services for their work in drafting this policy, which she endorsed.

The Chair, Councillor Anna Bradnam, supported the recommendation in the report, which would encourage potential parents to become councillors.

Councillor John Williams proposed and the Chair seconded the recommendation. A vote was taken and by affirmation, with the exception of Councillor Deborah Roberts who voted against,

Council 

Agreed          To adopt the Member Parental Leave Policy as set out in the appendix to the report.