Motion #04
Membership
There has been a significant degree of change in the Green Party Regional Council (GPRC) this term with seven new members elected. We would like to thank those members whose term has ended for their hard work on behalf of the party, we will miss their experience. Special thanks go to Adrian Spurrell for his work as Secretary and Co-Chair and Andrew Bradbury as Secretary and Chair of Appeals.
Martha James was re-elected as Co-Chair and is joined by Richard Bradley.
Anne Gayfer and Eve Allsopp have been elected as job share for Secretary.
Judy Maciejowska and Anne Gayfer have been elected as job share Chair of Appeals. Anne Gayfer was re-elected as treasurer.
Having a high proportion of new members does bring a freshness to GPRC, as well as a number of challenges. We have arranged a team building/coaching session for early January to foster team spirit, group working and collective responsibility.
GPRC Priorities for 2023 The agreed priorities for GPRC in 2023 are :-
GPRC Working Groups
Constitution and Party Structure Working Group
The working group has been refreshed with the addition of new members to GPRC and continues to be supported by subject matter experts (SMEs) and members of the party with an active interest in the constitutional working of the party.
The working group submitted a number of motions to Autumn Conference based on the party wide consultations held in 2022 however they didn’t feature high enough in the prioritisation ballot to be heard. The motions were subject to scrutiny and debate in the conference workshops and have been amended based on the feedback received and resubmitted to Spring Conference.
These motions are constitutional changes that will simplify and clarify decision making in the party with GPEx responsible for operational management and the Council responsible for political direction and are important steps towards incorporation of the party as directed by the membership.
GPEx motion – reduces the size of the Green Party Executive to a Chair, treasurer and seven directly elected members as well as the Leader plus Deputy Leader(s) or Co-Leaders, Wales Green Party Leader and the two co-chairs of the Young Greens as a job share.
GPRC motion – replaces the Green Party Regional Council with a Green Party Council which shall be responsible for managing the Party’s culture, creating the political strategy, and directing the political direction of the Party in between conferences. The Council will consist of 36 members elected in thirds by single transferable vote.
SOC motion – replaces the current Standing Orders Committee with two new bodies. The Constitution Interpretation Committee which shall be the final authority for the interpretation of the Constitution and Standing Orders for all parts of the Party, and the Conference Business Committee which will be responsible for the order of business of Conference, including the order in which motions are taken, subject to the approval of Conference.
Green World motion – resolves a constitutional anomaly by removing the requirement for Green World from the constitution. It passes no comment on the benefits of Green World or the desirability to have a journal.
The Constitution and Party Structure Working Group will continue working towards the aims derived from the party wide consultations. Details of the surveys and minutes of the meetings can be found at https://spaces.greenparty.org.uk/s/party-structureworking-group-gorc-group/
Equality, Inclusivity and Ethics Working Group.
The Equality, Inclusivity and Ethics Working Group (E,I&E WG) has continued to support the Core Team of the Rights and Responsibilities Policy Working Group [R&RPWG] in line with their Terms of Reference. We were delighted that their motion to update the ‘Humans in Society’ element of the Philosophical Basis was passed overwhelmingly at Autumn Conference 2022, and the Core Team is now moving into a phase of serious work towards a Draft Voting Paper for Autumn Conference 2023. There is ongoing work to support this group, in particular to recruit an Acting Co-Convenor as one of the appointed Co-Convenors is currently unable to fulfil this responsibility.
The E,I&E WG produced a report on the proposal to adopt an addendum to the All Party Parliamentary Group definition of Islamophobia. This was passed at the GPRC AGM and will be adopted into the Framework for Ethics and Conduct.
The E,I&E WG produced guidance on the issue of bringing the party into disrepute. This will be adopted into the Framework and a cross-reference is added into the GPRC Handbook.
Internal Elections Working Group
GPRC is mandated to set up this working group under 6iii of the GPEW constitution, as the body responsible for agreed democratic procedures in the party. The purpose of the GPRC Internal Elections working group is to audit and review how GPEW wide, and internal groups within GPEW run their internal elections, and to make recommendations for improvements.
The aim of the working group is to investigate and consider, but not be limited to, the following:
Provide recommendations of the necessary changes that are required to the implementation of policy, guidance and/or rules to increase membership engagement in internal elections,
Investigate whether GPEW-wide internal elections have been robust in terms of process and practice, including whether groups are regularly holding internal elections and the ways that participation is encouraged. This investigation could include liberation/inclusion and special interest groups and Young Greens, according to the time that working group members can commit.
Investigate and consider the current engagement of GPEW members in GPEW-wide internal elections, this investigation could include liberation/inclusion and special interest groups and Young Greens.
Investigate the experience of staff in regard to Internal elections and seek opinions as to how internal elections can be improved.
Provide recommendations on the improvements to policy, guidance and/or rules on the internal election processes and procedures, including rules around STV, how to break ties, and when groups can opt to use a different method in elections.
Provide GPRC with recommendations in a final report as part of the working group’s work. Initial discussions of this group have recognised the size and scope of the task and are focussed on breaking down the work in to manageable chunks.
Political Strategy Working Group
GPRC are mandated to set up this new working group following instruction from conference. The purpose of the working group is to review and review and challenge colleagues on how well the Party is implementing the political strategy.
GPRC are the custodians of the Political Strategy. The purpose of this working group is for gprc to act as a critical friend supporting the implementation of the Political Strategy that has been agreed by conference. The need for some group has been highlighted by a need to agree a process for what we will do when:
• Specific targets have not been met (e.g. failure to achieve the Senedd seat); or • When plans appear to not be structured to achieve set targets (e.g. 900 councillors). The intent is not for the strategy to be continuously reviewed, but to ensure that sufficient creativity and challenge has been applied in setting out and implementing our plans to deliver the Strategy.
The terms of reference for this working group were agreed at the GPRC AGM in December 2022 and work will commence early 2023.
Other business
Members of GPRC are working with the Disciplinary Committee (DC) and other relevant members of the party to build on the work of the complaints review team and have been involved in a process mapping exercise.
GPRC Co-Chairs have also spoken to DC with regard to rewriting the Standing Orders for Party Discipline and will feed in to their work.
Martha James has been attending the code of conduct oversight body meeting to draft a shorter, simpler and easier to understand code of conduct. The aim is that the new code of conduct will have guidance documents within the framework to give members assistance in appropriate behaviours. The revised Code of Conduct will go to the party for consultation in Spring 2023 prior to being brought to the AGM for approval.
GPRC have voted to approve the following minor additions to GPRC Standing Orders. 3.4.1 A separate meeting of GPRC can be arranged within 7 days either side of a scheduled full meeting of GPRC. The purpose of this meeting will be to review current No Fault Suspensions.
3.11.1 If the Co-Chairs and On-Call councillors determine that a No Fault Suspension request has potentially serious consequences for the party they may decide to refer the request to GPRC (minus appeals). An emergency meeting of GPRC will be convened at the earliest opportunity to discuss and vote on the NFS request. Attachments
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YbrJkUVrL7WeQuGM_sd7p2MuN5U5D544/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=102052901507649114473&rtpof=true&sd=true
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J4bn066SJtOVvJmKfa6Qceu1SGclugcU/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=102052901507649114473&rtpof=true&sd=true
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yn3gQzWSYt62J4iY73AQBuwRfKHuHuk0/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=102052901507649114473&rtpof=true&sd=true