Motion #13
Green Party regional Council report Martha James, Adrian Spurrell
Membership
We would like to thank all members of the party who stood in Green Party Regional Council (GPRC) for the past year, and for all their hard work. Adrian Spurrell and Martha James were re-elected cochairs. Andrew Bradbury was re-elected secretary and elected Chair of Appeals. GPRC priorities for the last year have been:
Political Strategy GPRC are in the process of setting up a political strategy working group, to act as a critical friend supporting the implementation of the Political Strategy agreed by conference. The need for some group has been highlighted to agree a process for what we will do when:
We are conscious of the many hours of work put in by Party volunteers and activists across the country that have helped us deliver such amazing results to date.
We know we can do better and will continue to work to ensure that the Party is a safe and inclusive space that welcomes all our members and helps them focus their energies in pursuit of our political strategy.
Disputes Complaints and Disciplinary working group (DCD) GPRC have now closed the Disciplinary Complaints and Disputes working group, (DCD) as the Complaints review has taken over this work. We thank all of the GPRC representatives – including appeals – who have been involved in the complaints review. The complaints review will take on board the comments within the Diverse Matters report as well as an external review, to make improvements to the complaints process.
An early first step has been the Disciplinary Committee’s (DC) motion to increase the number of people on the committee. This is crucial. Without enough active volunteers we get bottlenecks and cases aren’t heard quickly enough which is not a healthy situation for the Party. Sadly the motion fell a few votes short at Spring conference. Please support it this conference.
DCD have written a set of model procedures for local parties and the regions/Wales to help them set up complaints systems. These are available from your regional representatives on GPRC. To find out who they are: https://members.greenparty.org.uk/gprc
Culture working group
The culture working group has not met since Spring conference, but conversations with member groups about the culture in the party has continued. GPRC would like to thank all members who were involved in these culture groups, they have really helped us better understand members’ experiences. There has been an on-going discussion about whether the culture working group has been superseded by the Diverse Matters report, and whether this group should amalgamate with the work of GPEx’s Equality Diversity and Inclusivity Diverse Matters working group, and the bullying and harassment working group. GPRC will consider this in its next meeting in September.
Equalities, Inclusivity and Ethics -
Values and Process Working Group This Working Group has been running for over two years under a slightly different title (we have recently added ‘Ethics’) and it has primarily focused on helping to get work underway to revise the Rights and Responsibilities Policy chapter through supporting the Rights and Responsibilities Policy Working Group [R&RPWG]. The R&RPWG has recently recruited some new members to its Core Team, including two new coconvenors, and they are bringing a motion to this conference to update the Philosophical Basis in order to allow the party’s political policy to have more nuance and to express a better understanding of the concepts of equity and equality.
The Working Group has recently taken on responsibility for the Framework for Ethics & Conduct, so we have changed its title and updated its terms of Reference. The Working Group has created a process for accessioning documents to the framework and is currently taking the first proposal through this process.
Constitution
GPRC have set up a working group called Party Structure Working Group, to work on a revised constitution. We have been supported in this working group, with the subject matter experts (SMEs), who are members of the party with specialist skills, or an active interest in the constitutional working of the Party. GPRC would like to thank the subject matter experts in helping us with this project. We have held a series of party wide consultations since the Spring conference, and this has helped frame the motions that we have submitted for this conference. A majority of members who replied to our surveys have said:
More details of the results of the surveys and minutes of our meetings, can be found here: https://spaces.greenparty.org.uk/s/party-structureworking-group-gprc-group/ As well as focusing on our key priorities we have also put in hand the following: Internal elections working group
GPRC have set up an internal elections working group. The aim of this working group is to audit and review how Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) wide, and internal groups within GPEW, run their internal elections, and to make recommendations for improvements. We are especially keen to see participation in the Annual ballot increase.
Green World
GPRC co-chair Martha James has written a bi-monthly spotlight article for Green World, to help improve transparency of the working of GPRC. Working with Green Party Executive (GPEx)
We continue to work closely with GPEx. GPRC are involved in a number of GPEx sub-committees, as well as GPRC members fulfilling their constitutional role in standing GPEx sub-committees. GPRC also have provided a “friend” role to offer support to individual GPEx members, as part of our role in caring and wellbeing of the party.
As well as working closely with our colleagues in GPEx, we also meet regularly as a group with our peers, CEO and Caroline Lucas’ office to maximise cross party alignment. We would like to thank our GPEx colleagues , peers and staff, Caroline and her office, and our CEO and all staff for their hard work and commitment.
No Fault Suspensions
GPRC every month are asked to make no-fault suspensions, as part of the complaint system. GPRC consider risk when making these decisions, risk to the party, body or individual. GPRC do not investigate the complaint itself, as that is the role of disciplinary committee. A no-fault suspension is not a disciplinary sanction. GPRC review all no-fault suspensions quarterly, and if the risk has passed, we remove the no fault suspension.
Between 1st August 2021 and 30th June 2022 GPRC has considered 50 requests for no-fault suspensions. 9 members’ requests have been granted a no-fault suspension.
GPRC take all requests for no-fault suspensions seriously, and find it a challenging thing to do. We recognise there are times when the actions of individuals put the party at risk and we have to take action. The backlog in the Disciplinary Committee means that some members have been on no-fault suspensions too long, we are working with the Disciplinary Committee address this.
Appeals Committee
Appeals is a permanent subcommittee of five members of GPRC which nominates its Chair for approval by GPRC. We were sorry to see Jackie Tait stand down from the Committee at our AGM. Andrew Bradbury has been the Chair this year during which the Committee has dealt with several complex cases to high standards and all within the targeted time limits.
Members standing or campaigning against properly selected Green party candidates. When members stand or campaign against properly selected Green party candidates during general, local or by-elections, they automatically cancel their membership; this is contained within 4. vii of the GPEW constitution. When a member campaigns or stands against a properly selected candidate, GPRC can decide whether they can re-join - this is contained with 4. viii of the GPEW constitution.
During the last year GPRC has sadly blocked 4 people’s membership due to this. GPRC fully support the aims in the political strategy, and members standing as independents, or as members of another political party, significantly affect our chances of meeting our aims of getting MPs and 900 Councillors elected. Where a Green candidate is standing it is vital that all members support their campaign and do not ‘help’ other candidates as this undermines efforts across the party.
Whistleblowing As part of party transparency, the prescribed people for our whistleblowing policy have summarised below the whistleblowing report for the party. The prescribed people are: the CEO, the chair of GPEx and the co-chairs of GPRC.
Since 1st August 2021 to 30th June 2022, the party has received 3 whistleblowing allegations. The prescribed persons identified one party matter as a whistleblowing allegation, which is currently being investigated externally.
Two whistleblowing allegations are currently under investigation. One is closed. One apology was sent to a member.
Amendment passed
After
“the Complaints review has taken over this work”,
insert:
“We acknowledge the Disciplinary Committee for detailing their concerns with the complaints system in a statement sent at the beginning of June 2021, and for persisting with their request for an independent external review.”
So that it reads: “GPRC have now closed the Disciplinary Complaints and Disputes working group, (DCD) as the Complaints review has taken over this work. We acknowledge the Disciplinary Committee for detailing their concerns with the complaints system in a statement sent at the beginning of June 2021, and for persisting with their request for an independent external review. We thank all of the GPRC representatives – including appeals – who have been involved in the complaints review. The complaints review will take on board the comments within the Diverse Matters report as well as an external review, to make improvements to the complaints process.”