Motion #02
Committee membership
Since Autumn Conference 2022, Policy Development Committee (PDC) have co-opted 5 additional members onto the committee to improve the skills, experience and diversity of the committee. We are pleased to say that over 20 members applied to join us, which was incredible, and Tony Cooke, Amerjit Kaur-Dhaliwal, Ian Wellard, Rupert George and Adrian Spurrell agreed to join the group. These additional members are already making a difference to the work of the committee, as without any policy staff all the functions of PDC are done by committee members who are volunteers.
They join the elected members of the committee – Edward Gildea, Martin Blake, Debra Cooper and Skye Pepier and Barry Edwards. We hope that conference will pass the motion to extend the membership of PDC from 1 to 2 years so that there can be consistency in membership. Anyone who is interested in PDC is welcome to find out more by emailing us at policy@greenparty.org.uk or observing our committee meetings on Zoom. We meet on the 2nd Thursday of each month, and the link and agenda are put on Green Spaces. Any members are welcome to come and observe.
Priorities and strategy
In 2022, PDC set ourselves a focus to increase the involvement of councillors in policy, improve the website and work with PolCom on being more strategic in terms of addressing any policy gaps. These issues remain ongoing! The website has moved over to a new system, and therefore updating the policies should now be more straightforward.
This new PDC committee has a strong Wales Green Party membership, so it is likely to be a focus for us in 2023 – in particular to ensure that Green Party of England and Wales policies reflect the needs and requirements of both nations. In addition, 2023 will see a focus on drafting the manifesto for the next General Election. More on that below.
Accreditation
Accredited motions can be found in the C Section of this agenda. Only 2 applications were received this time – from the European Policy working Group – and they met the criteria for accreditation. Accredited motions should show evidence 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.
In addition, PDC accredited the ‘Interim Policy Positions’ which had gone through the process outside of conference to ensure that our leaders and spokespeople have policies to meet the demands of events. These motions were drafted with members of Policy Working Groups, Pol Com, Regional Council and Policy Development Committee and in order to be formally adopted at policy, are presented to conference to debate and vote upon. They have been accredited because it is important that conference has its say on these motions in a timely manner. 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. We welcome members applying for accreditation and look forward to more motions coming to conference in the Autumn.
Fast tracking
PDC can recommend fast tracking of motions to Standing Orders Committee, which ensures that in a packed conference agenda, important non-controversial policy motions can be agreed quicker at the start of conference, leaving more time for debate surrounding other motions. 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. Website updates
The policy.greenparty.org.uk website was updated by PDC and the Digital Team after Spring Conference 2022 and by the time of this Conference all the Autumn motions should be up there too. 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 still to action this legacy report – and a PDC task group should be actioned to deal with RoPS. The list of Policy Working Groups and contacts is uptodate and on the website.
Winter Policy Fest 2023
Seven days of policy discussions were had online, from 15th-21st January. A massive THANK YOU to everyone who helped Policy Fest to go ahead – PDC members, Policy Working Groups, elected Greens, Conference Committee and external speakers contributed to over 30 sessions. If you missed it, you missed out! Policy Fest is now firmly in the calendar as a fun and useful way for PWGs and members to discuss and learn from each other. In addition to Policy Working Group meetings there were workshops to support policies coming to this conference. Policy Fest is online and Free to members. We are hoping to build on this, and return with other Policy Events later in 2023.
Actions from Conference (RoOS)
PDC were tasked at Spring Conference 2022 (D02 ‘Consultation and Right of Reply for Liberation Groups’) to hold a workshop at Autumn Conference where members are attended to discuss developing a voting paper. PDC are continuing this work and should bring a paper to next conference.
Rapid and Interim Policy and Processes
Interim Policy Proposals are included in this agenda, for conference to debate, discuss and vote upon. As discussed above, these policies have been drafted and agreed by GPRC outside of conference time due to the need for the party to make a public statement or press release. For this conference, SOC set up a dedicated Interim Policy Forum which worked in the same way as the pre-agenda forum and enabled members to make comments and suggest amendments to the interim policy. PDC ensured that they were brought to this conference, but the process has not been smooth! We are hoping to work with Regional Council to improve the procedure in the future.
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, Elections Co-ordinator on GPEX, spokespeople, staff 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. The manifesto working group is now meeting on a monthly basis. PDC and the Elections Co-ordinator hosted a consultation meeting with members at Winter Policy Fest, and a report of this session was shared for discussion with members of the manifesto group.