Motion #02
Policy development committee report Vix Lowthion
Committee membership Policy Development Committee (PDC) currently has annual elections for the 5 positions, and (at the time of writing this report) there should now be 5 newly elected committee members. Welcome! According to the constitution, PDC will now begin the process of co-opting up to 5 additional members (to improve the skills, experience and diversity of the committee) and anyone who is interested is welcome to contact us at policy@greenparty.org.uk for a link to an application form.
A huge thank you to the outgoing members of the committee, including Emily Bond (co-opted) and Nick Cox (elected) who have been an asset for Policy Working Groups and Policy Fest whose terms of office have come to an end. Policy Development for our party relies on volunteers giving their time, so we are indebted to you for your hard work. The committee meets on Zoom, usually on the second Thursday every month (minutes and notification of the meetings are posted on Green Spaces). Any members are welcome to come and observe.
Priorities and strategy
Update on the focus which PDC set itself at the start of 2022: i. Councillors – we aim to work with elected Greens who are putting policies into practice to support the development of pragmatic policies in areas where our elected Greens can have influence. We are always looking for members with principal authority experience to join PDC and build these links, in particular as the next manifesto is being developed. ii. Communication – to prioritise clarity and support for Policy Working Groups and develop the support from the Digital Team to improve the policy sections of the website (members and public facing). This is ongoing! iii. Strategy – to work with the Political Committee and the leadership team to identify the key areas where policy development would be most advantageous for the party. PDC met with the leadership team in July to identify and address these areas, and we plan to meet again in the Autumn. So far we have identified some policy areas for development/ clarification including but not limited to those policy areas which have enabling motions in this conference agenda.
Accreditation
Accredited motions can be found in the C Section of this agenda. Seven applications were received and were successful in meeting the criteria that full consultation, both within and outwith the party has taken place, that high quality supporting evidence has been provided, the motion is endorsed by a Policy Working Group or other recognised body within the party, and the motion is consistent with the Party’s strategic political objectives as advised by relevant bodies within the party. Application forms for accreditation and the relevant deadline for next conference can be found on the members’ website. The successful motions all had excellent background papers with evidence of research and consultation, and we thank applicants for such a high standard of evidence.
Fast tracking PDC has recommended fast-tracking of a number of enabling motions for policy chapters to ensure that our Policies for a Sustainable Society are robust and up to date. Fast tracking ensures that in a packed conference agenda, particularly with all the A Reports at Autumn Conference, important policy motions can be agreed. A reminder that fast tracking is only appropriate for “motions which are not contentious, do not require expenditure in excess of £100, are consistent with already existing party policy and will potentially not get heard due to their position in the agenda.” Ten or more members can vote against the fast tracking of a motion during the A reports. If passed we will be looking for members to join these Policy Working Groups to bring new policies back to conference by 2024.
Website updates The policy.greenparty.org.uk website was updated by PDC and the Digital Team after Spring Conference 2022 and all the Policy Chapters should now be up to date. The Record of Policy Statements (RoPS) have also been reviewed by the current PDC and recommendations for deleting and archiving were made to GPRC, who referred to the PDC report from 2018 with similar recommendations (which had not been evidence on the website) which included having a clearly identified archive area. PDC are to action this legacy report, and then address the RoPS section on the website to ensure that it is up to date.
Minor amendments We have received a variety of correspondence at the policy@greenparty.org.uk email account which have flagged up some areas of policy where PDC would like to recommend minor amendments: a. Replacing all reference to Welsh Parliament in policy with Senedd Cymru b. Removing some problematic language from CJ500 so that it reads: CJ500 Licensing A single rigorous licensing process will be put in place based on considerations of public safety rather than the convenience of shooters. Subject to relevant criteria, licenses will be issued for permitted shotguns and rifles, all lethal airguns and permitted deactivated guns. Users of firearms for sporting or agricultural purposes will be required to demonstrate their competence in handling firearms and satisfy the authorities via appropriate background checks. c. Beginning the process to ensure that published policy is inclusive with gender neutral language where appropriate. PDC will be contacting the Policy Working Groups to look at this, with a view to reporting back at Spring Conference 2023.
Summer Policy Fest Huge THANK YOU to committee members, Policy Working Groups, elected Greens and the conference team for ensuring that Summer Policy Fest 12th-14th June could go ahead online. Discussions included: global security, minimum wage, preparing the manifesto, land use voting paper and much more. Policy Working Groups also met during the event, and it is planned that a Winter Policy Fest will also be held online at the start of 2023.
Actions from Spring Conference PDC has met regularly to ensure that tasks agreed at Conference have been actioned. With a view to this, the passing of D02 ‘Consultation and Right of Reply for Liberation Groups’ motion from Spring Conference 2022 has resulted in a workshop at Autumn Conference 2022 where members are welcome to discuss developing a voting paper for next conference. Rapid and Interim Policy and Processes Between conferences, Policy Statements may be required - often for a public statement or press release - that expand, extend or extrapolate existing policy . PDC supports GPRC in clarifying existing policy and whether this is suitable for a policy statement and after GPRC has approved them, they are place in the Record of Policy Statements, which is reviewed every 2 years by PDC If there is no relevant policy and GPRC consider the situation urgent, interim policy can be agreed by GPRC. Because such policy will not have gone through conference, SOC have now set up a dedicated Interim Policy Forum which works in the same way as the pre-agenda forum and enables members to make comments and suggest amendments to the interim policy. PDC will then ensure that motions are brought to conference for ratifying (or amending or negating) by members. There have been a number of such policy statements drafted and agreed in the last year or so, but they have not all gone through this formal process and the forum had not been created. PDC is working with GPRC to ensure that these processes are followed, and that conference approves any interim or rapid policy statements. Until conference makes that decision, these statements have the status of party policy.
Manifesto work Preparations for the next General Election are underway, and the task of writing the next party manifesto is ongoing. PDC is working with GPRC, elected Greens and Policy Working Groups to identify key priorities with regards to policy, to inform those involved in the process and try and get ahead of any last minute rush.