{"id":137022,"date":"2024-09-18T09:11:11","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T09:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/18\/worcester-council-calls-for-video-meetings-for-carers-and-parents\/"},"modified":"2024-09-18T09:11:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T09:11:11","slug":"worcester-council-calls-for-video-meetings-for-carers-and-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/18\/worcester-council-calls-for-video-meetings-for-carers-and-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Worcester Council calls for video meetings for carers and parents"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Worcester<\/div>


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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Liberal Democrat city councillor Jessie Jagger is expecting a baby daughter in January<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Politicians who are also parents or caregivers should be allowed to participate and vote remotely, according to a pregnant city councillor in Worcester.<\/p>\n

Liberal Democrat Jessie Jagger said the flexibility would help attract a more diverse range of people into local politics, including those with disabilities or full-time jobs.<\/p>\n

A legal requirement for councillors to attend meetings in person was dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic, but was reintroduced in May 2021. <\/p>\n

At a meeting on Tuesday, city councillors unanimously backed her request for the issue to be raised in Parliament. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Being a parent is a big undertaking, but I don’t think it should come at the cost of being unable to represent the people who elected me,” said Jagger, who argued parents faced practical challenges under the current rules.<\/p>\n

“I was told I could bring my baby into the council chamber,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But then I started thinking, what if it cries, what if I can’t get it to settle?”<\/p>\n

“I could watch remotely, but I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t vote… I realised there are some real barriers, which could be very easily solved,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Worcester<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Worcester City Council meetings have been streamed live on YouTube since 2021, but rules dictate councillors must attend in-person to vote and participate<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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At present, the 1972 Local Government Act does not permit councillors to participate unless they attend in person.<\/p>\n

But Jagger argued the legislation could easily be amended, to give councils the flexibility to meet councillors’ specific needs.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just something that benefits me. People with disabilities, people who have full-time jobs… who don’t normally run for council because of these constraints,” she said.<\/p>\n

The Liberal Democrat councillor’s motion called for Worcester’s Labour MP Tom Collins to raise the issue in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal politics needs to represent and reflect the experiences of communities that it serves,” said Green city councillor and mother of two Katie Collier.<\/p>\n

“Too often women – particularly those with children – are overlooked. I\u2019m proud to second this motion.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Katie<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Green city councillor and mother Katie Collier backed the call for remote participation<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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“It’s not just about looking after children, we have responsibilities to older people as well,” added Green city councillor Andrew Cross.<\/p>\n

“My mum down in Devon is 85… she had a fall and I was only just able to make it back to council in time for a meeting. If we were able to do remote meetings, there wouldn’t be the pressure to have to return,” he said.<\/p>\n

While the Liberal Democrat motion was backed by all parties on the city council, some councillors raised concerns a return to remote meetings could be open to abuse.<\/p>\n

Conservative city councillor Alan Amos warned virtual participation should only be allowed in exceptional circumstances.<\/p>\n

“We do know from the Covid era that remote meetings do lack the proper cut and thrust required in this political arena”, he said.<\/p>\n

“People might be on holiday abroad, and this wouldn’t stop them being part of the council meeting.<\/p>\n

“Is that the right decision?”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Andrew<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Green city councillor Andrew Cross helps care for his elderly mother<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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In response, Jagger argued an amendment to legislation would allow councils to decide what circumstances were appropriate.<\/p>\n

Last month, the minister for local government Jim McMahon MP indicated Labour would be open to reform.<\/p>\n

“We are keen to break down barriers that prevent people from seeking to serve their communities,” he said in answer to a written question by deputy Liberal Democrat leader Daisy Cooper MP.<\/p>\n

“Allowing hybrid meetings could be a helpful step in doing that and we are keen to work with the sector to have an evidence based discussion about its merits,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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BBC Liberal Democrat city councillor Jessie Jagger is expecting a baby daughter in January Politicians who are also parents or caregivers should be allowed to participate and vote remotely, according to a pregnant city councillor in Worcester. Liberal Democrat Jessie Jagger said the flexibility would help attract a more diverse range of people into local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[1187,29635,3483,11459,78,404,107268],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137022"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137024,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137022\/revisions\/137024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}