DOCSLIB.ORG

Minutes Document for Housing Committee, 22/01/2019 10:00

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Minutes Document for Housing Committee, 22/01/2019 10:00 MINUTES Meeting: Housing Committee Date: Tuesday 22 January 2019 Time: 10.00 am Place: Committee Room 5, City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2AA Copies of the minutes may be found at: www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/london-assembly/housing Present: Sian Berry AM (Chair) Tom Copley AM (Deputy Chair) Jennette Arnold OBE AM Andrew Boff AM Leonie Cooper AM David Kurten AM 1 Apologies for Absence and Chair's Announcements (Item 1) 1.1 Apologies for absence were received from Nicky Gavron AM, for whom Jennette Arnold OBE AM substituted, and Tony Devenish AM. 2 Declarations of Interests (Item 2) 2.1 The Committee received the report of the Executive Director of Secretariat. 2.2 Resolved: That the list of offices held by Assembly Members, as set out in the table at Agenda Item 2, be noted as disclosable pecuniary interests. City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA Enquiries: 020 7983 4100 minicom: 020 7983 4458 www.london.gov.uk Greater London Authority Housing Committee Tuesday 22 January 2019 3 Minutes (Item 3) 3.1 Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2018 be signed by the Chair as a correct record. 4 Summary List of Actions (Item 4) 4.1 The Committee received the report of the Executive Director of Secretariat. 4.2 Resolved: That the completed and outstanding actions arising from previous meetings of the Committee be noted. 5 Housing Monitoring Report (Item 5) 5.1 The Committee received the report of the Executive Director of Secretariat. 5.2 Resolved: That the Housing Monitoring Report be noted. 6 Temporary Accommodation in the Era of Welfare Reform (Item 6) 6.1 The Committee received the report of the Executive Director of Secretariat as background to putting questions on temporary accommodation in the era of welfare reform to the invited guests set out below. Panel A: Natalie Williamson, Senior Policy Officer, Residential Landlords Association (RLA); Lee Georgiou, Housing Needs Manager, London Borough of Lewisham; Julia Pitt, Director of Gateway Services, London Borough of Croydon; and Matt Campion, Chief Executive, Shepherd’s Bush Housing Group, and Member of Homes for Cathy. 2 Greater London Authority Housing Committee Tuesday 22 January 2019 Panel B: Deborah Halling, Senior Policy Officer for Homelessness, Housing and Land, Greater London Authority (GLA); Richard d’Souza, Head of Universal Credit Engagement Division, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); Sidonie Edey, Homelessness Policy Lead, DWP; and Mark Baigent, Director of PLACE Limited, Interim Divisional Director, Housing and Regeneration, London Borough of Tower Hamlets. 6.2 A transcript of the discussion with Panel A is attached at Appendix 1. A transcript of the discussion with Panel B is attached at Appendix 2. 6.3 Following a video being shown, interviewing a member of the public placed in temporary accommodation describing their experiences, a Member of the Committee requested that the right of reply be provided to the London Borough of Hackney, where the particular case was based. 6.4 During the course of the discussion Natalie Williams, Senior Policy Officer, RLA undertook to provide; RLA research reports on the impact of Universal Credit and other welfare benefit reforms on the Private Rented Sector letting to homeless tenants and benefit recipients; and Information on what would make RLA members more likely to rent to those who are homeless or on benefits. 6.5 During the course of the discussion, Julia Pitt, Director of Gateway, London Borough of Croydon and Lee Georgiou, Housing Needs Manager, London Borough of Lewisham, undertook to provide further information on the number of out-of-borough placements from other London Boroughs that are placed within the London Boroughs of Croydon and Lewisham, respectively. 6.6 Following the discussion regarding out-of-borough placements, Members of the Committee suggested that the Chair write to all London Boroughs to request information on the number of out-of-borough placements that have been placed in another London Borough, and to specify which London Borough the out-of-borough placements are located. 6.7 During the course of the discussions, Julia Pitt, Director of Gateway Services, London Borough of Croydon, undertook to provide further information as to the experience and process, from the perspective of a London Borough, of inputting landlords onto the rogue landlord database. 3 Greater London Authority Housing Committee Tuesday 22 January 2019 6.8 The Chair suggested writing to the DWP and Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) for more information on work taking place regarding the quality of temporary accommodation and selective landlord licensing. 6.9 Following a discussion on the reduction in the number of acceptances under the main homelessness duty of people in priority need since the Homelessness Reduction Act came into force, Members suggested that clarification be sought on whether this was a concern for the DWP and the MHCLG. 6.10 During the course of the discussions, Richard d’Souza, Head of Universal Credit Engagement Division, DWP, and Sidonie Edey, Homelessness Policy Lead, DWP undertook to provide clarification on whether the work coach, provided under Universal Credit, remains the same if the individual moves to a different Borough and how continuing of support is provided. 6.11 During the course of the discussions, Deborah Halling, Senior Policy Officer for Homelessness, Housing and Land, GLA undertook to provide further information about Real Lettings and whether further funding would be provided under the current Affordable Homes programme. 6.12 At the end of the discussion the Chair thanked the guests for their attendance and helpful contributions. 6.13 Resolved: (a) That the report and discussion be noted; and (b) That authority be delegated to the Chair, in consultation with party Group Lead Members, to agree any output from the discussion. 7 Housing Committee Work Programme (Item 7) 7.1 The Committee received the report of the Executive Director of Secretariat. 7.2 Resolved: That the work programme for the remainder of the 2018/2019 Assembly year be agreed. 8 Date of Next Meeting (Item 8) 8.1 The next meeting of the Committee was scheduled for Tuesday, 26 February 2019 at 10.00 am in Committee Room 5, City Hall. 4 Greater London Authority Housing Committee Tuesday 22 January 2019 9 Any Other Business the Chair Considers Urgent (Item 9) 9.1 There were no items of business that the Chair considered to be urgent. 10 Close of Meeting 10.1 The meeting ended at 12.32pm. Chair Date Contact Officer: Jonathan Baker, Committee Officer; telephone: 020 7084 2825; email: [email protected]; minicom: 020 7983 4458 5 This page is intentionally left blank Appendix 1 London Assembly Housing Committee – Tuesday, 22 January 2019 Transcript of Item 6 – Panel A - Temporary Accommodation in the Era of Welfare Reform Sian Berry AM (Chair): We are moving on to our main item, which is our investigation into the effects of welfare reform on councils’ ability to provide temporary accommodation. We have a Members’ briefing, which has much more detail, and lots of questions for our guests, but before I introduce our guests we are going to show a short video of one of the cases that we have met in the course of our investigation, which is Sarah. (Video starts) Sian Berry AM (Chair): I’m Sian Berry. I’m Chair of the London Assembly Housing Committee and we’re investigating the impact of changes to welfare and changes to the housing market on councils’ ability to provide temporary accommodation and help to people who come to them in need of housing. I’m here today to speak to Sarah, who’s just one of many, many cases we’ve been hearing about. Sarah: So I was living in my new property in East Village, which I bid for with my first daughter, and we were only there for three months before we received the Section 21 [notice]. So I went back to the Council I was residing in to tell them I was getting evicted. They gave me other hostel-type emergency accommodation for about two weeks when they were doing investigations. Then they said I made myself intentionally homeless and I had to go back to the Council I bid from again. The only thing left that I haven’t really done is literally slept on the street with my kids, but we have literally had to, for one or two days, sleep in cars. This has been an ongoing situation for going on four years now. So I’ve been back and forth with Hackney Council for over three years, three different assessments, three different approaches, three different circumstances and even a greater need, and still been turned down. So they just handed me - just pushed on the table - a relocation package, but it just seems like a homelessness application form for Durham. They gave me one. It was about September [2018]. They handed me another one for Bradford. I then started, you know, learning about who to go to and where to get advice from because that was something else the social services weren’t giving me or letting me know exactly what organisations I can go to. It was just Shelter. Councils should assess people properly and very carefully with a fine-tooth comb instead of finding excuses for not housing them. My life’s been on hold for four years. (Video ends) Sian Berry AM (Chair): Thank you so much to Sarah for letting us -- Jennette Arnold OBE AM: A point of information. I am not being territorial here but I do represent Hackney, the borough mentioned.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Park Life: Ensuring Green Spaces Remain a Hit with Londoners
    EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY 5 JULY 1017, 5AM Park life: ensuring green spaces remain a hit with Londoners Environment Committee July 2017 EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY 5 JULY 1017, 5AM Holding the Mayor to account and investigating issues that matter to Londoners EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY 5 JULY 1017, 5AM Environment Committee Members Leonie Cooper AM Tony Arbour AM (Chair) Conservative Labour Caroline Russell AM Joanne McCartney (Deputy Chair) AM Green Labour Jennette Arnold OBE David Kurten AM AM UKIP Labour Shaun Bailey AM Conservative The Environment Committee examines all aspects of the capital’s environment by reviewing the Mayor’s strategies on air quality, water, waste, climate change and energy. Contact Grace Loseby, Assistant Scrutiny Mary Dolan, External Relations Manager Officer Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Telephone: 020 7983 4299 Telephone: 020 7983 4603 Follow us: @LondonAssembly #AssemblyEnv facebook.com/london.assembly EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY 5 JULY 1017, 5AM Contents Foreword ........................................................................... 4 Recommendations ............................................................. 7 1. Introduction ............................................................... 9 2. London’s green spaces ............................................. 11 3. Funding for London’s green spaces ......................... 17 4. Alternative delivery methods .................................. 23 5. Towards a greener London ...................................... 28
    [Show full text]
  • A Co-Operative Vision for South London's
    Party Support Mailing April 2012 NATIONAL NEWS Please find below the latest news from Parliament, our national campaigns, the Co-operative Councils Network and more. Please circulate to your members or include this in your local newsletters. You can find all the latest news and opinions from the Co-operative Party at www.party.coop. A Co-operative vision for South London’s libraries Labour & Co-operative councillor Timothy Godfrey, Secretary of the London Co-operative Party, contrasts the possibilities for library services offered by co-operative solutions and the cuts and closures threatened by Croydon’s Conservatives In Croydon, local Labour & Co-operative Councillors have proposed to the ruling Conservative Council that instead of privatising the library service to a large scale private provider or another local authority under contract, the Council exploits an example of efficiency and popularity on its doorstep. The Upper Norwood Joint Library, is an independent library authority funded and run by two South London Councils, Croydon Council and Lambeth Council. Croydon Council spends £8million running one central library and 12 branch libraries. If you allow a generous £1.2million to run the central library, and its £200,000 contribution to the Upper Norwood Library (Lambeth and Croydon both contribute half the budget), that leaves a cost per branch library in Croydon at a staggering £550,000 per year. That might be acceptable, if the branch libraries in Croydon were well staffed, open long hours and in large buildings. They are not. They are small, often only open 4 days a week. To add insult to injury, the Conservative run council cut half of all qualified librarians last year in a ‘cost cutting’ drive.
    [Show full text]
  • 2019-01-31-Making-The-Most-Of-Social-Media-To-Promote
    Making the most of Social Media to promote #CleanAirforChildren 1. Tips for using Twitter and Facebook at the Clean Air for Children London Question Time event ● Use our ‘How to find your elected representatives in England’ guide to identify your local representatives. Make a list of who you want to tweet at and share Facebook posts or messages with and search for them a few days before the event, these might include: ✓ Your MP ✓ Mayor of London - @MayorofLondon ✓ Your ward councillors ✓ Your Council Leader ✓ Your London Assembly Member ✓ Chairs/Deputy Chairs of the London Assembly’s Transport and Environment Committees ▪ Environment ▪ Chair: Caroline Russell - @CarolineRussell ▪ Deputy Chair: Leonie Cooper - @LeonieC ▪ Transport ▪ Chair: Caroline Pidgeon - @CarolinePidgeon ▪ Deputy Chair: Florence Eshalomi - @FloEshalomi ✓ Your borough council (search under the name of your borough and twitter, e.g., LB Camden Twitter, LB Hounslow Twitter) ● Keep your tone positive and respectful even if you are being challenging or critical. ● Use the hashtags #cleanairforchildren and #Llondon ● If you have enough characters remaining in your tweets, it might be good to add in #cleanair or #airpollution into your tweets so they are picked up and retweeted by a larger audience. ● Tag or retweet to the @ClientEarth and @lunguk Twitter accounts. ● If you are directing your tweet at somebody in particular, make sure that others can also see it by putting a full-stop before their Twitter account name to start the message, e.g.: “.@[yourMP] will you... “. ● If posting on Facebook, focusing on your ‘personal pollution story’ could win more likes and shares – write about how dirty air in your area affects you, your children and your community and why this has led you to call for action.
    [Show full text]
  • Minutes Template
    DRAFT MINUTES LONDON FIRE & EMERGENCY PLANNING AUTHORITY DATE Thursday 26 January 2017 TIME 2.00 pm VENUE City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2ALL Minutes of the proceedings of the meeting of London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority held in City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2ALL, on Thursday 26 January 2017 Present: Dr Fiona Twycross AM (Chair) Councillor Leonie Cooper AM Councillor Oonagh Moulton Councillor Tony Arbour JP, AM Councillor Emma Dent Coad Councillor Martin Whelton Gareth Bacon AM Councillor Florence Eshalomi (Vice-Chair) Councillor Fiona Colley AM David Kurten AM 1. Apologies for Absence Apologies for absence were received from Andrew Dismore AM, Councillor Susan Hall, Councillor Sarah Hayward, Councillor Jack Hopkins, Councillor Mehboob Khan, Caroline Russell AM and Councillor Amy Whitelock Gibbs. 2. Minutes The motion was made by the Chair – that the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 24 November 2016 be signed as a correct record. The motion was seconded by the Vice Chair, put and agreed. Resolved – accordingly. The minutes were thereupon signed by the Chair. 3. Special Announcements by the Chair and reports by the Chair or the Clerk to the Authority of any Communications The Chair announced that on 2 December 2016 at the Excellence in Fire Service Awards, AC Peter Cowup was awarded the International Fire Professional of the year for being the Project Sponsor for Exercise Unified Response. Innovation of the Year went to the Brigade’s Information Management Department for the Electronic Premises Information Plates, and Project of the Year went to the London Fire Brigade, also for Exercise Unified Response.
    [Show full text]
  • Questions to the Mayor PDF 1 MB
    Questions to the Mayor 27 May, 2021 ALL QUESTIONS LIST Report No: 4 Subject: Questions to the Mayor Report of: Executive Director of Secretariat Violence in London Question No: 2021/1947 Keith Prince Following the terrible murder of schoolboy Daniel Laskos in Harold Wood, I have been contacted by constituents who are deeply concerned about violence in London. I see that the MPS have recently been awarded £8 million to tackle serious violence. How will this be used in Havering? Delivering London’s Transport Strategy Question No: 2021/1484 Siân Berry Are you confident you can find the funding to deliver your Transport Strategy? Delivering Manifesto Commitments and the GLA Budget Question No: 2021/1781 Len Duvall OBE What are your key priorities for the next three years? Building Safety on Public Land Question No: 2021/1400 Hina Bokhari What do you consider to be your responsibility to Londoners living in unsafe buildings? TfL’s Extraordinary Funding and Financing Agreement Question No: 2021/1541 Elly Baker Please provide an update on the Extraordinary Funding and Financing Agreement for Transport for London that was due to come into effect on 19 May 2021? Edmonton Incinerator Question No: 2021/1919 Emma Best Will the Mayor meet with a cross party delegation of Members of Parliament who are calling for a pause and review of the new Edmonton Incinerator scheme? London Cancer Hub, Sutton Question No: 2021/2017 Neil Garratt Would you be willing to work with me to support the major regeneration, scientific and economic opportunity at The London Cancer Hub in Sutton? Violence reduction Question No: 2021/1743 Unmesh Desai Since the easing of lockdown measures, there has tragically been a spate of violent murders across London.
    [Show full text]
  • Waste: Energy from Waste
    Holding the Mayor to account and investigating issues that matter to Londoners Environment Committee Waste: Energy from Waste February 2018 EMBARGOED UNTIL THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018, 06.00AM Key findings • Despite efforts to cut waste and increase recycling, more than half of London’s waste ends up being incinerated. The amount of waste sent for incineration (known as “Energy from Waste”) has more than doubled in the last decade, reaching nearly two million tonnes in 2017. • Burning waste takes materials out of the circular economy, releases carbon into the atmosphere and may have negative health effects. • But it also generates electricity, can provide heat for local homes and businesses, and reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill. • Energy from waste technology (EfW) is here to stay, at least in the medium term. • But while London has the EfW capacity to meet demand, it currently exports approximately over half a million tonnes of waste for incineration a year. • London needs to become self-sufficient in managing the waste it generates, reducing waste sent to EfW as population grows. • The Mayor intends to regulate London’s energy from waste sector by This report completes the London Assembly Environment Committee’s limiting its carbon emissions and maximising the energy benefits it can investigation into waste management. Previous reports in 2017 generate. considered the circular economy and household recycling and all three • London must begin to limit not only the amount but also the type of topics will be launched as a final report in spring 2018, with waste it sends to EfW.
    [Show full text]
  • MGLA190719-8032 12 August 2019 Dear Mr Hai Thank You for Further
    Abdul Hai (via WhatDoTheyKnow.com) Our Ref: MGLA190719-8032 12 August 2019 Dear Mr Hai Thank you for further email of confirming that you would like to see copies of the media monitoring reports held by the Greater London Authority (GLA) as provided to the GLA by Kantar. Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please find attached the information we hold within the scope of your request. As we mentioned in our previous reply, the GLA only retains these summaries for approximately one calendar month. The links in the summaries do not directly link to the newspaper websites themselves, only to Kantar Media’s online platform. The daily summaries include articles related to the work of the GLA group including the Mayor, the London Assembly, TfL, Crossrail and the Met Police – there is no single ‘GLA list’. We are releasing the information that we hold in full, but we have made some minor redactions to remove third-party personal data in accordance with the provisions of section 40(2) of the Act. If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact me, quoting the reference MGLA190719-8032. Yours sincerely Ruth Phillips Information Governance Officer If you are unhappy with the way the GLA has handled your request, you may complain using the GLA’s FOI complaints and internal review procedure, available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/governance-and-spending/sharing-our- information/freedom-information Police base set to close Barnet and Potters Bar Times, 18/07/2019, p.3, Simon
    [Show full text]
  • SPECIAL BRIEFING: LONDON MAYORAL and ASSEMBLY ELECTION RESULTS 2016 7 May 2016 Khan Storms Into City Hall
    SPECIAL BRIEFING: LONDON MAYORAL AND ASSEMBLY ELECTION RESULTS 2016 7 May 2016 Khan storms into City Hall Robert Gordon Clark Executive Chairman Sadiq Khan has been elected as Mayor of London with a comprehensive 57%-43% victory over Conservative Zac Goldsmith after second preference votes. He also returned the biggest ever first preference vote (1,148,716) for a mayoral candidate against the highest ever mayoral election turnout (45.6%). For Khan, the uber-campaigner who managed Labour’s success in London local elections in 2014 and in the capital’s 73 seats at the General Election last year, this is the pinnacle of his electoral achievements to date and confirmation should anyone need it that London is now a solidly left leaning city and one at ease with electing a first Muslim Mayor. Meanwhile the race for third was as tight as predicted with the Green Party’s Sian Berry repeating the party’s third place of 2012 with 6% of first preference votes, narrowly ahead of the Lib Dems’ Caroline Pidgeon on 5%. UKIP’s Peter Whittle was fifth with 4% followed by Sophie Walker of the Women’s Equality Party on 2%. Khan’s energy and enthusiasm for the mayoralty was evident right from the start of Labour’s selection contest where he overcame frontrunner Tessa Jowell. Hustings victory then morphed seamlessly into a mayoral campaign where he was much quicker than Goldsmith in activating party supporters and hitting the streets and airwaves with his vision for London. He also zoomed in on parts of the capital and communities where predecessor Ken Livingstone struggled in 2008 and 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • Mayor's Question Time
    Appendix 2 London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) – 20 February 2017 Transcript of Agenda Item 4b – Final Draft Consolidated Budget 2017/18: Questions to the Mayor Tony Arbour AM (Chairman): Members will now put questions to the Mayor seeking an update or clarification on matters relating to the Final Draft Consolidated Budget. Tom Copley AM: Mr Mayor, good morning. My question relates to the Mayor’s Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund. There was a significant underspend in that fund under your predecessor. Could you tell me how you intend to accelerate the delivery of supported housing in turning around this underspend? Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London): Thanks for raising this, Assembly Member Copley. There are undoubtedly significant challenges to the delivery of supported housing, including - if we are candid - through uncertain treatment through welfare reform, shrinking levels of revenue subsidy from local authorities and rising costs of development and management. These factors are largely outside of my control, but delivery has not been helped by inflexible programme rules and a passive approach of waiting for partners to bid for schemes. I am addressing both of these concerns by looking to fund supported housing from my main affordable housing programme. This more flexible approach, which could see schemes funded that do not fit within rules of other Government programmes, should increase delivery, which I know you are keen to see. I also wish to adopt a more proactive approach to commissioning supported housing schemes to meet known needs. In order to support this, I have adjusted responsibilities so that it now sits within the team that commissions my pan-London services to tackle rough sleeping.
    [Show full text]
  • Questions to the Mayor PDF 719 KB
    Questions to the Mayor 24 June, 2021 ALL QUESTIONS LIST Report No: 5 Subject: Questions to the Mayor Report of: Executive Director of Secretariat TfL’s Extraordinary Funding and Financing Agreement Question No: 2021/2475 Elly Baker Is the 1 June 2021 Extraordinary Funding and Financing Agreement between Transport for London and the Department for Transport a good deal for London? Silvertown Road Tunnel scrutiny Question No: 2021/2299 Zack Polanski Do you feel that the Silvertown Road Tunnel has had enough public and democratic scrutiny? ULEZ Question No: 2021/2411 Peter Fortune What plans do you have to reopen TfL’s suspended ULEZ scrappage schemes? Met Recruitment and Conduct Question No: 2021/2211 Caroline Pidgeon Do you have confidence in the Metropolitan Police Service’s recruitment processes for police officers? Deputy Mayor’s Views Question No: 2021/2339 Keith Prince In October 2020 your Deputy Mayor for Transport stated that she could not “see how it’s right to charge people £15 to drive a mile from Wandsworth to Clapham, or Catford to Lewisham from October next year.” Do you agree with your Deputy Mayor? London’s retail and hospitality sector Question No: 2021/2538 Krupesh Hirani How are you supporting London’s retail and hospitality sectors this summer? EU Londoners Question No: 2021/2451 Marina Ahmad Has the Government listened to your concerns regarding the backlog in applications for the EU Settlement Scheme and the evidence indicating that the most vulnerable in society are in the greatest danger of slipping through the cracks
    [Show full text]
  • MINUTES Meeting: London Assembly (Plenary) Date: Thursday 2 November 2017 Time: 10.00 Am Place: Chamber, City Hall, the Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2AA
    MINUTES Meeting: London Assembly (Plenary) Date: Thursday 2 November 2017 Time: 10.00 am Place: Chamber, City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2AA Copies of the minutes may be found at: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/london- assembly/whole-assembly Present: Jennette Arnold OBE AM (Chair) Nicky Gavron AM Tony Arbour AM (Deputy Chairman) David Kurten AM Gareth Bacon AM Joanne McCartney AM Shaun Bailey AM Steve O'Connell AM Sian Berry AM Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM Andrew Boff AM Keith Prince AM Leonie Cooper AM Caroline Russell AM Tom Copley AM Dr Onkar Sahota AM Unmesh Desai AM Navin Shah AM Tony Devenish AM Peter Whittle AM Len Duvall AM City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA Enquiries: 020 7983 4100 minicom: 020 7983 4458 www.london.gov.uk Greater London Authority London Assembly (Plenary) Thursday 2 November 2017 1 Apologies for Absence and Chair's Announcements (Item 1) 1.1 Apologies for absence were received from Andrew Dismore AM, Florence Eshalomi AM, Susan Hall AM and Fiona Twycross AM. 1.2 During the course of the meeting the Chair welcomed to the public gallery students from the Edinburgh Primary School in Waltham Forest. 1.3 The Chair highlighted some of the Assembly’s recent work, including the publication of the Assembly’s second “Brexit Directive” and the Assembly campaign to encourage Members of Parliament to support the concept of a Register for Domestic Abusers. 2 Declarations of Interests (Item 2) 3.1 The Assembly received the report of the Executive Director of Secretariat.
    [Show full text]
  • Letter to Wendy Nichols
    City Hall LONDONASSEMBLYLABOUR Queen’s Walk London SE1 2AA Switchboard: 020 7983 4380 Wendy Nichols Mincom: 020 7983 4458 Chair of the National Executive Committee Web: www.london.gov.uk 17 July 2019 Dear Wendy, We welcome Jeremy Corbyn’s statement that Anti-Semitism is vile and a poison in our society and is unacceptable in any form. We need urgent and appropriate action and do not think this should, or needs to, wait for the investigation by the EHRC, or hold a lengthy internal investigation, for us to put the Labour house in order. We would refer you to the IHRA statement on a Working Definition of Antisemitism (May 2016), adopted by the Labour Party, which clearly sets out illustrations and examples of antisemitism. As members of the London Assembly Labour Group, we wish to express our concern at the continued failure of the Labour Party to address the serious allegations of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party as outlined in last week’s BBC Panorama. We should be ashamed that we, the Labour Party, have let ourselves down in dealing with complaints about anti-Semitism appropriately. We need to deal with the backlog of existing complaints – review those sanctions that have been applied previously to ensure that appropriately strong action has taken place. Between us, London Assembly Labour Group members represent all Londoners, irrespective of what faith they hold, or none. We are concerned that the apparent continued reluctance of some of our most senior Labour Party representatives and officials to take this seriously is damaging our claim to be an anti-racist party.
    [Show full text]