Agenda item

To consider the under-mentioned Notice of Motion standing in the names of:

A. Morgan, M. Webber, L. Addiscott, M. D. Ashford, J. Barton. D. R. Bevan, J. Bonetto, S. Bradwick, J. Brencher, G. Caple, J. Cook, A. Crimmings, S. J. Davies, R. Davis, V. Dunn, E. L. Dunning, J. Edwards, J. A. Elliott, L. Ellis, S. Emanuel, R. Evans, A. S. Fox, R. Harris, S. Hickman, G. Holmes, G. Hopkins, W. Hughes, G. Jones, G. O. Jones, R. R. Lewis, W. Lewis, C. Leyshon, M. Maohoub, C. Middle, N. H. Morgan, S. Morgans, M. A. Norris, D. Owen-Jones, D. Parkin, S. Powderhill, C. Preedy, S. Rees, A. Roberts, J. Smith, G. Stacey, L. A. Tomkinson, W. Treeby, J. Turner, G. L. Warren, K. Webb, D. Williams, G. E. Williams, R. Williams, T. Williams, R. Yeo:

Unite is running the ‘Get me Home safely’ campaign to ensure safe home transport is widely available for the night-time economy and shift workers who often struggle to find and pay for transport home after midnight.  You can read more about the campaign Get ME Home Safely | Make Our Communities & Workplaces Safer (unitetheunion.org) 

Councils have a key role to play in working with businesses and community safety partners  to ensure that people working and living within their local community can get home safely.

This Council notes that:

• Shift work is widespread in many industries, particularly hospitality as well as health and care workers, retail, cleaning, security and porter staff and can often entail late night working.
• Many workers, especially women are increasingly worried about their safety travelling to and from work at night.

• While employers may feel that their duty of care to staff ends when an employee finishes a shift, they also need to take into consideration journeys home, especially during unsocial hours.
• Information from Unite indicates the weakness of enforcement of the law against sexual assault, including up-skirting, on public transport is appalling and it is understood that only 2% of victims go onto report sexual harassment on public transport.
• Unite, the Union’s Get me Home Safely campaign which calls on all employers to take all reasonable steps to ensure workers are able to get home safely from work at night is greatly needed and should be supported.
• Greater numbers of public transport staff trained in how to identify and report sexual harassment  and stronger enforcement of the law against sexual assault and harassment on public transport are urgently needed.

This Council will:

• Support Unite, the Trade Union’s Get Me Home Safely Campaign. 
• Reaffirm its commitment to taking positive action to prevent violence against women and girls and ensuring that people feel safe in public areas across all areas of RCT. This Council will continue to actively contribute to achieving the goals of the Welsh Government Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy 2022-2026.
• Continue to work with the licensed trade to operate a safe night time economy in line with our Licensing Policy Objectives, working with licencees, employers, the Police and Community Safety partners to ensure our communities are safe places late at night.
• Work with our late night premises and organisations employing shift workers to promote the safety of workers and encourage licensees and employers to consider staff transport as an integral part of operating a safe and sustainable business, helping to ensure workers in these sectors are valued This will significantly benefit the safety and wellbeing of hospitality workers, particularly women, who often cannot afford or access safe transport options late at night and benefit our community and the business through improved staff recruitment and retention.
• Continue to work with Welsh Government and the WLGA to bring forward Welsh Government’s commitment to reforming the national minimum standards for taxis and private hire and how the legislative framework operates in Wales.

The following Notice of Motion was received standing in the names of:

A. Morgan, M. Webber, L. Addiscott, M. D. Ashford, J. Barton. D. R. Bevan, J. Bonetto, S. Bradwick, J. Brencher, G. Caple, J. Cook, A. Crimmings, S. J. Davies, R. Davis, V. Dunn, E. L. Dunning, J. Edwards, J. A. Elliott, L. Ellis, S. Emanuel, R. Evans, A. S. Fox, R. Harris, S. Hickman, G. Holmes, G. Hopkins, W. Hughes, G. Jones, G. O. Jones, R. R. Lewis, W. Lewis, C. Leyshon, M. Maohoub, C. Middle, N. H. Morgan, S. Morgans, M. A. Norris, D. Owen-Jones, D. Parkin, S. Powderhill, C. Preedy, S. Rees, A. Roberts, J. Smith, G. Stacey, L. A. Tomkinson, W. Treeby, J. Turner, G. L. Warren, K. Webb, D. Williams, G. E. Williams, R. Williams, T. Williams, R. Yeo:

Unite is running the ‘Get me Home safely’ campaign to ensure safe home transport is widely available for the night-time economy and shift workers who often struggle to find and pay for transport home after midnight.  You can read more about the campaign Get ME Home Safely | Make Our Communities & Workplaces Safer (unitetheunion.org) 

Councils have a key role to play in working with businesses and community safety partners  to ensure that people working and living within their local community can get home safely.

This Council notes that:

• Shift work is widespread in many industries, particularly hospitality as well as health and care workers, retail, cleaning, security and porter staff and can often entail late night working.
• Many workers, especially women are increasingly worried about their safety travelling to and from work at night.

• While employers may feel that their duty of care to staff ends when an employee finishes a shift, they also need to take into consideration journeys home, especially during unsocial hours.
• Information from Unite indicates the weakness of enforcement of the law against sexual assault, including up-skirting, on public transport is appalling and it is understood that only 2% of victims go onto report sexual harassment on public transport.
• Unite, the Union’s Get me Home Safely campaign which calls on all employers to take all reasonable steps to ensure workers are able to get home safely from work at night is greatly needed and should be supported.
• Greater numbers of public transport staff trained in how to identify and report sexual harassment  and stronger enforcement of the law against sexual assault and harassment on public transport are urgently needed.

This Council will:

• Support Unite, the Trade Union’s Get Me Home Safely Campaign. 
• Reaffirm its commitment to taking positive action to prevent violence against women and girls and ensuring that people feel safe in public areas across all areas of RCT. This Council will continue to actively contribute to achieving the goals of the Welsh Government Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy 2022-2026.
• Continue to work with the licensed trade to operate a safe night time economy in line with our Licensing Policy Objectives, working with licencees, employers, the Police and Community Safety partners to ensure our communities are safe places late at night.
• Work with our late night premises and organisations employing shift workers to promote the safety of workers and encourage licensees and employers to consider staff transport as an integral part of operating a safe and sustainable business, helping to ensure workers in these sectors are valued This will significantly benefit the safety and wellbeing of hospitality workers, particularly women, who often cannot afford or access safe transport options late at night and benefit our community and the business through improved staff recruitment and retention.
• Continue to work with Welsh Government and the WLGA to bring forward Welsh Government’s commitment to reforming the national minimum standards for taxis and private hire and how the legislative framework operates in Wales.

Following discussion, it was RESOLVED to adopt the Notice of Motion.