Minutes:
1.1 Councillor Headley moved the following motion:
“The Council notes the recent announcements made by Public Health Minister, Jane Ellison MP of planned measures to combat the threat of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
In light of these announcements and comments made by the Minister in a recent London Evening Standard interview regarding her “determination to prevent child abuse that was leaving victims to face life-long physical and mental pain”.
This Council instructs the Cabinet members for Children & Young People and Community Well Being and Public Health to do the following:
1. Support the Minister’s position on FGM
2. Publicly declare that FGM will not be tolerated
3. Find out the extent of this problem in Enfield.
This Council agrees to work in a non-adversarial and collaborative manner to investigate FGM in Enfield and how it is affecting our community and instructs the Cabinet Members for Community Well Being and Public Health and Wellbeing Board, the opposition lead on Health and Education and the Elders and Leaders in the affected communities, to find a mechanism to better understand the issue and how we can prevent any Enfield child enduring the procedure.”
Once the original motion had been moved, Councillor Hamilton immediately moved and Councillor Orhan seconded the following amendment:
To delete and replace all wording after the first paragraph in the original motion with the following:
“The Council also notes that 25th November was White Ribbon Day and that Enfield Council was the first London Council to be awarded White Ribbon status for our work in tackling violence against women and girls.
FGM is a serious issue this Council will not tolerate. The statement from the public health Minister reflects the view held by this Council and the work it is already progressing to tackle FGM in Enfield. This includes the following:
· A recent public event was held for residents and communities by “Forward UK”, a national charity that challenges the practice of FGM. This was a well-attended event with numerous communities contributing to discussions and both men and women challenging the acceptance of this abuse.
· The Enfield Safeguarding Children’s Board has set up a task force which will be exploring FGM from January 2014. Details of this can be found on their website which is for practitioners, parents and young people.
· There is on-going discussion with health partners in respect of FGM. These are in relation to the practice, identification and reporting of this issue.
· A number of voluntary services operate in Enfield including Samafal, which provides information, support and advice on FGM and where to access help. This is both if someone is concerned about a future procedure or requires medical attention for any practice to her.
This council agrees to continue to build on the work already underway in order to stamp out this child abuse to ensure that no child in Enfield endures this procedure.
Moreover, to support the campaign against violence to women and girls, this Council calls on the coalition government to introduce statutory provisions to make personal, social and health education include a zero tolerance approach to violence and abuse in relationships.”
During the debate on the amendment a second amendment was moved by Councillor Lamprecht and seconded by Councillor Jukes to add at the end of the wording for the proposed amendment:
“In addition Enfield Council supports the Mayor of London’s call for hospitals to share more information on the victims of FGM with police and social services.”
This was agreed as an addition to the original amendmen(without a vote).
Following a lengthy debate on this motion the Mayor advised the Council that in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8 (page 4-8 – Part 4), the meeting was due to end at 10:15pm. As there were still a number of members from both Groups who had indicated they would like to speak on the item the Leader advised that he was minded to recommend an extension to the time of the meeting in order to allow the debate to be concluded.
Councillor Taylor therefore moved and Councillor Waterhouse seconded a procedural motion under Council Procedure Rule 8 to extend the time of the meeting for an additional period of 30 minutes. This was put to the vote and agreed, with the following result:
For: 29
Against: 1
The debate then continued and at the end of the extended time period the amendments to the motion were put to the vote and agreed, with the following result:
For: 33
Against: 13
Abstentions:0
The substantive motion (as amended and detailed below) was then agreed unanimously, without further debate:
“This Council notes the recent announcements made by Public Health Minister, Jane Ellison MP of planned measures to combat the threat of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
The Council also notes that 25th November was White Ribbon Day and that Enfield Council was the first London Council to be awarded White Ribbon status for our work in tackling violence against women and girls.
FGM is a serious issue this Council will not tolerate. The statement from the public health Minister reflects the view held by this Council and the work it is already progressing to tackle FGM in Enfield. This includes the following:
· A recent public event was held for residents and communities by “Forward UK”, a national charity that challenges the practice of FGM. This was a well-attended event with numerous communities contributing to discussions and both men and women challenging the acceptance of this abuse.
· The Enfield Safeguarding Children’s Board has set up a task force which will be exploring FGM from January 2014. Details of this can be found on their website which is for practitioners, parents and young people.
· There is on-going discussion with health partners in respect of FGM. These are in relation to the practice, identification and reporting of this issue.
· A number of voluntary services operate in Enfield including Samafal, which provides information, support and advice on FGM and where to access help. This is both if someone is concerned about a future procedure or requires medical attention for any practice to her.
This council agrees to continue to build on the work already underway in order to stamp out this child abuse to ensure that no child in Enfield endures this procedure.
Moreover, to support the campaign against violence to women and girls, this Council calls on the coalition government to introduce statutory provisions to make personal, social and health education include a zero tolerance approach to violence and abuse in relationships.
In addition Enfield Council supports the Mayor of London’s call for hospitals to share more information on the victims of FGM with police and social services.”