Motion #22
Membership
From the Autumn Conference 2023 the membership of the ADRC has been as
follows:
Paul Beswick (co-opted in late 2021, elected 2023), Steve Hancox (co-opted February 2021, elected 2021), Jan King (elected 2020), Ron Meldrum (elected 2023), Eddy Canfor-Dumas (elected 2023), Anja Jungmayr (co-opted May 2023, elected 2023), Vivien Lichtenstein (elected 2023)
Anja Jungmayr and Vivien Lichtenstein resigned from the committee in September 2024 due to other commitments.
It is understood that Jo Sergeant was elected to the committee at the Autumn Conference 2024 but at the date of writing the ADRC has not had official confirmation of this or any contact with Jo.
Marisa Johnson stood down from the committee in 2023 as she was not eligible to stand for election after completion of 6 years’ service. The ADRC is grateful for her continued assistance as mediator and adviser.
Edward Green was co-opted following the Spring Conference 2023 but did not stand for election in October 2023.
GPRC Friend
During the last year the ADRC has been assisted by our GPRC friends Ash Routh and recently Lesley Grahame.
Officers
Jan King and Steve Hancox have shared the formal role of coordinator, although all members have shared the work of the committee and chaired the monthly meetings. We do not have a budget and so no treasurer.
Standing orders
Some further tidying up of our Standing Orders has been approved following improvements made by Eddy, Vivien & Paul.
Cases Undertaken
Cases since the last report in September 2023
Direct Referrals - 15
Referrals from Disputes & Complaints Referral Group (DCRG) – 1
Total cases - 16
6 were enquiries for information from local parties or special interest groups experiencing internal conflicts
In 4 cases (including the referral from the DCRG) the respondent to the complaint declined to engage.
2 cases concluded with a joint mediation meeting.
4 cases are continuing
Once again, in the majority of cases we could not secure both parties’ agreement to go ahead with mediation, although often the conversations we held with each party were judged by them to be beneficial.
The trend of self-referrals from groups of people (groups for or against a particular policy, local parties experiencing internal conflict, tensions among groups of councillors) continues. We are always happy to try and offer facilitated conversations, but where there are many individuals involved there are issues of power dynamics and practicalities such as availability that can make it quite difficult to make arrangements. In most cases the group has not followed up on the offer of support.
Other Work
ADRC continues to contribute to the Code of Conduct working group.
We have offered to help with the Toolkit for healing party divisions that was approved at Spring Conference 2023.
We are aware that the party is currently undergoing a comprehensive review of its disciplinary processes including the use of no-fault suspensions pending investigation of complaints. Some thoughts have been offered informally, but the ADRC would welcome further engagement in this work.
The ADRC is also concerned about the fractious atmosphere within the party. We have discussed whether there is anything we could do to help bring about some culture change
• to a more ‘restorative just and learning culture’
https://www.merseycare.nhs.uk/restorative-just-learning-culture; or
• a culture of ‘kindness and compassion’ https://www.acas.org.uk/research-
and-commentary/early-resolution-in-east-lancashire-hospitals-NHS-trust/report
We are, however, aware that this may overlap with other work (e.g. the ‘Toolkit’). It would also be a substantial piece of work and would be ineffective unless endorsed and promoted by the leadership of the party.
Last updated on 2024-11-02 at 12:44