To receive Mayor’s Announcements.

The Mayor stated that as this was the first meeting of the Council since the sad news of the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, she would be holding a minute’s silence to mark the Council’s respect for our former sovereign.

The Mayor invited Councillor Lovelock to pay tribute  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

The Mayor to sign the Minutes of the proceedings of the previous Council Meeting.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

Questions in accordance with Standing Order 9.

(The full text of the questions and replies was made available on the Reading Borough Council website).

Questions in accordance with Standing Order 10.

Report by Executive Director of Resources

The Executive Director of Resources submitted a report, on the recommendation of the Personnel Committee, seeking Council approval to appoint Jackie Yates to the post of Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service.

The following motion was moved by Councillor Brock and seconded by Councillor Page and CARRIED:

Resolved –  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Report by Monitoring Officer

Further to Minute 3 of the Standards Committee held on 10 October 2022, the Monitoring Officer submitted a report recommending the adoption of amended versions of Article 9 (terms of reference of the Standards Committee), the Code of Conduct for Reading Borough Council, the Arrangements Document, the Policy for Unreasonable  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

Report by Monitoring Officer

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report seeking approval for the adoption of a revised Constitution for Reading Borough Council, which was appended to the report.  The overall objectives of the recommended changes to the Constitution wereto:

•               streamline and improve efficiency ofdecision-making;

•               simplify the Constitution and Delegations  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Councillor Rowland to move:

That this Council notes that:

• In 2019, more than 100,000 women had to attend a clinic that had been subject to anti-abortion protests. This figure represents more than half of all those who had an abortion that year.
• Since the Government last reviewed the issue in 2018, fifty clinics have been targeted by protesters in England and Wales, including the British Pregnancy Advice Service centre in Reading.

This Council believes that:

• Access to healthcare services must be understood as a universal right and must be protected.
• Women, whether in Reading or anywhere, have a right to make healthcare decisions privately and confidentially and that they should be able to access pregnancy advice and termination services without hindrance.

• The right to protest is legitimate and must also be protected, but this right must be balanced against the rights of women to access healthcare provision in confidence and without being subject to intimidation or other hinderance. Those who wish to campaign to restrict women’s reproductive choices should have ample opportunities to do so, and have locations in which to do so, without coming into conflict with the rights of others.
• Staff at all women’s health clinics should be protected from bullying and intimidation at their place of work.

Consequently, this Council resolves to:

• Support the British Pregnancy Advice Service’s ‘Back Off’ campaign for legislation to establish a buffer zone around relevant clinics in which protest is not permissible.
• Actively pursue a Public Space Protection Order to create a ‘designated protest zone’ and ‘protest exclusion zone’ should this become necessary in Reading to protect the right of access.

The following motion was moved by Councillor Rowland and seconded by Councillor Challenger and CARRIED:

Resolved –

That this Council notes that:

·     In 2019, more than 100,000 women had to attend a clinic that had been subject to anti-abortion protests. This figure represents more than half of all those who  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.