Agenda item

QUESTION BY COUNCILLOR JEFF EDMUNDS TO COUNCILLOR EMLYN DOLE, LEADER OF THE COUNCIL

“On the 1st September there was an event held at Llanelli town hall to welcome a family to Carmarthenshire. A number of guests attended including executive board members along with a representation from the police (PCSO). Why wasn't the chair of our council invited to attend as it is the role of the chair to represent our council at such an event.”

 

Minutes:

“On the 1st September there was an event held at Llanelli Town Hall to welcome a family to Carmarthenshire. A number of guests attended including executive board members along with as representation from the Police (PCSO). Why wasn’t the Chair of our Council invited to attend as it is the role of the Chair to represent our Council at such an event”.

 

Response by Councillor Emlyn Dole, Leader of the Council:

 

It’s the role of the Chair to represent this Council at civic occasions and events. When I put the Motion on Notice to Council last summer on welcoming Syrian refugees I asked that we go above and beyond that. That process has been put in place by a task force, chaired by Councillor Pam Palmer. It’s been a long process and I’ve said this on the media and national news that that process was essential to ensure that when they arrived everything was in place and would work perfectly for them. That wasn’t for one family, it was for three families. I called that meeting, not the Chair. It was an afternoon tea, held in Llanelli Town Hall, not in the Chairman’s chamber, and was not a civic occasion or civic event. I didn’t invite any councillors, the invitees were the team putting in place the process to ensure the welcome was the right one and that it worked on all levels and across the services they required. The purpose of that meeting was to meet them informally as the Leader, to ensure that welcome was there and to also enquire if they had any additional needs. The PCSO’s also attended. There were no cameras, except those of the families themselves who wanted to take pictures with the PCSO’s and the team who had done such a wonderful job to ensure their arrival had been safe and secure. There was no slight to the Chair. It wasn’t a civic event or occasion. It was low key, no press, no pictures. It was about welcoming them and asking what their further needs were.

 

Councillor Jeff Edmunds asked the following supplementary question:

 

“My question is around the constitution of the Council and in view of the fact voluntary people were also at that event, there was a member of Council, apart from two Executive Board Members and yourself who were also at the event, there were members of the public at that event as well as the family and obviously that to me is a civic form of duty however secrecy might have been kept but under the constitution I feel that the constitution wasn’t followed. The question is on my understanding of the constitution reading the roles of yourself and the Chair, that the constitution was not followed”.

 

Response by Councillor Emlyn Dole, Leader of the Council:

 

“The Constitution was absolutely followed. It was not a civic occasion, I’ve tried to explain that in my first answer. It was anything but that. It was meant not to intimidate these people who’d just arrived from camps in Jordan and on the border with Syria. It was low key, purposely low key, and the invitees were the people who were involved with the process to welcome them.

 

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