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Motion #D03
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.
in the Constitution, delete the title and the first and second paragraphs of Section 10, which read:
1) 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.
2) 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:
it shall be required to receive reports only from the Standing Orders Committee, Policy Development Committee, and the Dispute Resolution Committee;
it shall hold elections only for vacant posts, not those still filled by members elected by the Annual Conference;
its powers may be limited and its priorities may be specified by a resolution of the Annual Conference the preceding Autumn.
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 following Section title and text, renumbering subsequent paragraphs:
CONFERENCES AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
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.
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 AGM. Its procedure 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.
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.
The Annual General Meeting shall receive reports from the leadership team, all elected committees in the Party and from all recognised internal groups; these reports shall be made available to all members of the Party.
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. Where the AGM is held in conjunction with the Annual Conference, business of the AGM will be timetabled separately from other conference business. 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. 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.
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:
i) it shall be required to receive reports only from the Standing Orders Committee, Green Party Regional Council, Policy Development Committee, and the 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;
ii) it shall hold elections only for vacant posts, not those still filled by members elected by the preceding Autumn Conference;
iii) its powers may be limited and its priorities may be specified by a resolution of the preceding Autumn Conference;
iv) 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.
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.