Motion #01

Reforming the party’s Annual General Meeting

Synopsis

Our current process for the Annual General Meeting is confusing and ill-defined, leading to a situation where the required business frequently dominates Autumn Conference to the exclusion of other important motions. This organisational motion seeks to clearly separate AGM business from other Conference business and clarify the processes involved.

Motion

SOC note: This motion will require a 2/3 majority to pass.

In the Constitution, delete paragraphs i and ii of clause 10, which read:
10. CONFERENCES

i) The Party shall hold an Annual Conference each Autumn which shall be the supreme forum of the Party. Its procedure shall be governed by Standing Orders. All paid up members of the Green Party shall be eligible to attend and vote at Conference.

ii) The Party shall hold a Spring Conference each year, finishing at least 5 weeks before the local government elections unless the Annual Conference the preceding Autumn decides otherwise. The Spring Conference shall be governed by the same Standing Orders and have the same powers as the Annual Conference, except that:

a. it shall be required to receive reports only from the Standing Orders Committee, Policy Development Committee, and the Dispute Resolution Committee;

b. it shall hold elections only for vacant posts, not those still filled by members elected by the Annual Conference;

c. its powers may be limited and its priorities may be specified by a resolution of the Annual Conference the preceding Autumn.

e. a total amount of time equivalent to one full day of the conference, and always offering a choice of other activities, will be devoted to training workshops on local party organisation, campaigns, media, policy, electoral activism and other spheres of Green Party activity. GPEX members will be responsible for co-ordinating events in their respective areas of responsibility as appropriate.

and replace with the re-written paragraphs i and ii below, then insert a new clause 11 “Annual General Meeting” as set out below, renumbering subsequent sections.

So that it reads:
10. CONFERENCES

i) The Party shall hold an Annual Conference each Autumn and will usually hold an additional Conference each spring; Conference shall be the supreme forum of the Party. The procedure of the Conference shall be governed by Standing Orders. All paid up members of the Green Party shall be eligible to attend and vote at Conference.

ii) Where the Party holds a Spring Conference it must finish at least 5 weeks before the local government elections unless the preceding Autumn Conference decides otherwise. The Spring Conference shall be governed by the same Standing Orders and have the same powers as the Autumn Conference, except that:

a) it shall be required to receive reports only from the leadership team (as per clause 8 (vii) of the constitution, the Leader or Co-leaders and the Deputy Leader (s) will report alongside the Wales Leader); Standing Orders Committee, Green Party Regional Council, Policy Development Committee, Disciplinary Committee and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee; these will be interim reports covering the period since the last Conference, and a dedicated online forum may be established to augment the Conference discussion;

b) it shall hold elections only for vacant posts, not those still filled by members elected by the preceding Autumn Conference;

c) its powers may be limited and its priorities may be specified by a resolution of the preceding Autumn Conference;

e) a total amount of time equivalent to one full day of the Conference, and always offering a choice of other activities, will be devoted to training workshops on local party organisation, campaigns, media, policy, electoral activism and other spheres of Green Party activity. GPEx members will be responsible for co-ordinating events in their respective areas of responsibility as appropriate.
11. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

i) The Party shall hold an Annual General Meeting, ordinarily this will be held in conjunction with Autumn Conference but no more than 18 months after the previous Annual General Meeting.

ii) The procedure for the Annual General Meeting shall be governed by Standing Orders. All paid up members of the Green Party shall be eligible to attend and vote at the Annual General Meeting.

iii) In the interests of openness and accountability, the Annual General Meeting shall be open to all members of the Party and - in principle - be free to attend though it is acknowledged that financial constraints may not always permit this.

iv) The Annual General Meeting shall receive reports from:

a. The leadership team. As per clause 8 (vii) of the constitution, The Leader or Co-leaders and The Deputy Leader (s) will report alongside the Wales Leader.

b. All elected committees in the Party. This will include:

Green Party Executive and subcommittees

Green Party Regional Council

Standing Orders Committee

Policy Development Committee

Disciplinary Committee

Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee

International Committee

Green World Editorial Board

Equalities and Diversity Committee

Campaigns Committee

Conferences Committee

c. All recognised internal groups

Groups of members in common as set out in clause 5 (xii) of the constitution and recognised via the process defined in bye-law 3 referred to in clause 5 (xii) of the constitution will report.

These reports shall be made available to all members of the Party.

v) The order of business for the Annual General Meeting shall be decided by Standing Orders Committee in consultation with Conferences Committee, taking account of legal requirements and any other relevant factors.

vi) The agenda for the Annual Meeting shall be compiled and published by Standing Orders Committee but it shall not form part of their report to the Annual General Meeting which will appear as a separate report in the agenda.

a) The Standing Orders Committee report to the Annual General Meeting shall include matters of record and recommendation that do not directly pertain to arrangements for Conference (such as the Final Agenda and ordering of motions) and shall note all rulings requested and made since the previous Annual General Meeting. It is expected that rulings will be published to members as they occur, and that the Standing Orders Committee report to the Annual General Meeting will draw together the formal record of these rulings.

vii) Where the Annual General Meeting is held in conjunction with the Annual Conference, business of the Annual General Meeting will be timetabled separately from other conference business.

viii) No speeches are expected either for or against the AGM reports, other than to formally move the motion to accept the report and any amendments which have been properly submitted by the published deadline.

ix) Questions may be taken on each report at the discretion of the Chair, and a dedicated online forum may be established where the author of the report is unable to attend the AGM and/or where volume of questions exceeds the time available for full discussion: the relevant party officer will be expected to answer questions posed in that forum.

In the Constitution, delete the italicised wording in each of the following sub-clauses and insert text in square brackets:

4 vi) GPEW will carry out equalities monitoring of members, candidates, officers and office holders. The aggregated anonymised data will be presented to conference [the AGM] as part of the Equality and Diversity coordinator’s report. This section of the report will include national, regional and local actions to address issues of underrepresentation.

5 xviii) A report on the gender balance of candidates and elected members will be included in the [Election Co-ordinator’s element of the] Gpex report to [the AGM and may also be reported to the Spring] conference [if it falls after a relevant election].

6 xiv) The Regional Council shall keep records of its business, which it shall provide to the Green Party Executive and make available to the membership of the Party, and shall present a written report to the [AGM and Spring] Annual Conference.

7 xvi) The responsibilities of the Party Executive shall include the following at the national level: (a) to implement the decisions of the Annual Conference; (b) to ensure the proper expenditure, administration, and raising of the funds of the Party; (c) to act as the Green Party’s employer of Green Party staff. (d) to keep records of its business, which it shall provide to the Regional Council and make available to the membership of the Party; (e) to present a full written report on its activities and on the financial state of the Party to the Annual Conference [AGM]

8 x) The Leader and Deputy Leader(s) or Co-Leaders will present an Annual Report to [the AGM and Spring] Conference alongside other Executive members.

10 xv) The Conferences Committee shall provide a report to each Annual [AGM and Spring] Conference [and also any Extraordinary Conference].

13 i) There shall be a Green Party Policy Development Committee (hereinafter referred to as the PDC) which shall be convened by the Policy Development Coordinator and which shall be responsible for providing for consideration by the Party the best available policy options consistent with the Philosophical Basis. The Policy Development Committee shall include five members elected by ballot of the entire membership, usually at the same time as the ballot for the membership of the Executive is held. Up to an additional five non-voting members may be co-opted by the elected Committee. This co-option shall take place after an annual skills audit carried out immediately following the election of the elected members, and will take account of:

• the views of Equality and Diversity Committee
• the views of relevant special interest groups within the party
• views of the Association of Green Councillors,
• and should ensure that at least two members of the Committee have direct experience of serving as a principal authority councillor.

This Committee shall be responsible for enabling, co-ordinating and promoting policy formulation for the Green party. The PDC shall submit a written report to each [AGM and Spring] Conference.

13 iv) Policy Development Committee is empowered to make minor changes to Policies for a Sustainable Society between [AGMs and] conferences, such as updating out-of-date terminology (for instance, mention of organisations which no longer exist) and ensuring that Acts of Parliament referred to are current. All such changes will be reported to [the AGM and Spring] Conference through the Policy Development Committee report, so that an opportunity is provided to challenge each change and, if [the AGM or] Conference so decides, reverse it.

13 ix) Policies included in RoPS may be amended or deleted by the approval of a motion to Conference. In addition, all policies in RoPS should be reviewed by Policy Development Committee two years after their adoption and at regular intervals thereafter. If the Committee considers that all or part of any of the policies therein are now outdated they can propose their amendment, archiving to a dedicated area of the members’ website or deletion by a subsequent meeting of Regional Council. Archived RoPS entries will remain in force as policy statements, but will not be actively promoted through the public policy website. All decisions to alter, archive and/or delete RoPS entries will be reported to [the AGM or Spring] Conference through the Policy Development Committee report.

14 iii) The Campaigns Committee shall submit a written report to each Annual Conference [AGM].

15 v) The role and organisation of the International Committee shall be set out in the International Committee Standing Orders, which shall be prepared by the Committee and subject to the approval of the Executive. [The International Committee shall be required to report to each AGM.]

16 v) The role of the editorial board shall be to ensure that Green World fulfils its aim, in accordance with the Standing Orders for the editorial board. [The editorial board shall be required to report to each AGM.]

18 iii) The role and organisation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee shall be set out in the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee Standing Orders agreed from time to time by Conference. [The Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee shall be required to report to each AGM and Spring Conference.]

19 iv) The Equalities & Diversity Committee shall provide a report to each Annual Conference [AGM].

20 v) Where errors arise within the numbering, lettering and references within The Constitution, Standing Orders Committee are permitted to correct and republish them without recourse to conference for prior approval. All corrections made by Standing Orders Committee outside of conference will be reported to the next [AGM or Spring] conference as part of the Standing Orders Committee report.

In the bye laws for Clause 5 xvii) Selection of Candidates for the House of Commons
1. GPEW will set targets for the proportion of candidates and proportion of target candidates in respect to self-identified gender, race, disability, socio-economic status, age, and sexual orientation based on their respective proportion of the England and Wales population. The Elections Coordinator will report on this to [the AGM and may also be report to the Spring] conference [if it falls after a relevant election]. If targets are not met, the Elections Coordinator will present actions to meet them as part of their report to [the AGM or] Spring conference [as appropriate according to the timing of the election].

In Standing Orders for Conduct of Conference, in section F6 SOC Report, delete the wording ‘any other matters or recommendations that do not affect the running of conference; rulings requested and made since the previous conference’ that occurs at F6.1.

This currently reads:

F6.1 SOC shall submit a Report with the Final Agenda. This Report shall be divided into sections covering:

The Final Agenda and Ordering of Motions for Conference; a notification of how many motions and amendments have been ruled out of order and where these are published; a report on SOC’s participation in the Agenda process including any motions or amendments that SOC is submitting to conference; timetabling, chairing and other procedural matters affecting conference including elections to be held at conference, with the recommendations of SOC; the report of the RO; a report by SOC of any changes that they have adopted to their Standing Orders; progress on Organisational Statements; any other matters or recommendations that do not affect the running of conference; rulings requested and made since the previous conference.

So that it reads:

F6.1 SOC shall submit a Report with the Final Agenda. This Report shall be divided into sections covering:

The Final Agenda and Ordering of Motions for Conference; a notification of how many motions and amendments have been ruled out of order and where these are published; a report on SOC’s participation in the Agenda process including any motions or amendments that SOC is submitting to conference; timetabling, chairing and other procedural matters affecting conference including elections to be held at conference, with the recommendations of SOC; the report of the RO; a report by SOC of any changes that they have adopted to their Standing Orders; progress on Organisational Statements.

In Standing Orders for Conduct of Conference, in section I Elections at Conference, delete the wording ‘AGM’ that occurs at I g) and replace it with the word ‘Conference’.

This currently reads:

g) Members of SOC and Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee shall take office at the end of the AGM at which they were elected.

So that it reads:

g) Members of SOC and Alternative Disputes Resolution Committee shall take office at the end of the Conference at which they were elected.