Conference Agenda Oct 2021 PRINT - Flipbook - Page 21
as recorded in the minutes for items listed on the
agenda as for decision.
shall be open to Party members and advertised.
Minutes shall be taken of meetings.
•
There was a vote on whether to have a separate
Climate Change speaker, but no recorded vote
approving or accepting the paper. However GPEx,
following the meeting, established a committee to
carry out and complete the process of appointing
party speakers under the duty placed on it by
Constitution s.7(xi)(c).
5.7 Notice and minutes of each committee meeting
shall be circulated to all members of GPEx.
Committee convenors shall submit minutes
and provide a report on the activities of their
committees to the next GPEx meeting after the
committee meeting
•
The paper (Appendix 1 below) accepted as
establishing the committee, although referring to
the appointing panel as a ‘group’ makes it clear
that this is intended to be a formal committee
established under the power placed on GPEx by
constitution s.7(x), Any such committee shall
include at least one member of the Regional
Council” in that it clearly identifies the inclusion
of the GPEx Friend (of External Comms (Richard
Mallender)) as a member. It is in any case difficult
to determine what alternative is available to GPEx.
•
•
A consequence of the identification of this
‘group’ as a committee is that it places certain
constitutional requirements on GPEx under s.7(x):
Determination of “terms of reference, powers,
duration and composition” Under s.12(iii)“All
decision-making meetings of elected and
appointed Green Party bodies at national level
shall be minuted and reported to the appropriate
body” (with additional requirements). And under
s.12(v):“All meetings of Green Party bodies covered
by (iii) shall be open to members as observers”.
This requirement is subject to various limitations
noted in section 12(v) and extended in the Standing
orders of GPEx(s.4.3).
GPEx Standing Orders expand on these in Section
5 with:
5.3 GPEx shall agree Terms of Reference for each
committee which shall cover remit and the
specific powers delegated to the committee by a
decision of GPEx
5.4 The Terms of Reference shall specify the
composition of the committee, which shall have
a minimum of 2 voting members of GPEx. They
shall also provide that the convenor of each
committee be elected by and from GPEx. GPRC
shall be invited to nominate at least one member
of the committee.
5.6 The business of committee meetings shall be
in accordance with section 3 of these Standing
Orders. The quorum for meetings shall be at
least three members of the committee of whom
at least two shall be voting members. Meetings
5.8 The formation and role of committees and their
Terms of Reference shall be published on the
Members’ Website.”
•
In line with the proposal in the paper (Appendix 1
below) an advertisement was sent to the national
membership on the 3rdDecember 2020.
The points that SOC needed to determine were:
i. Did GPEx approve the formation of a committee to
establish a panel of Speakers for the Party(GPEx
SO 3.3, 3.7, 3.13)?
ii. Did GPEx establish the Terms of Reference etc of
the committee (Constitution 7(x)), GPExSO 5.3)?
iii. Were these details published on the Members
website (GPEx SO 5.8)?
iv. Did the Committee include a member of GPRC
(Constitution 7(x)) and were they invited to attend
(GPEx SO 5.4)
v. Did the committee as established include two
voting membersof GPEx, with the convenor a
member of GPEx (GPEx SO 5.4)?
vi. Were all decision-making meetings attended by
three members of the committee including two
voting members, to ensure quoracy (GPEx SO 5.6)?
vii. Were meetings open to all members and
advertised (GPEx SO 5.6, Constitution s.12(v))?
viii Were all meetings minuted (GPEx SO 5.6,
Constitution s.12(iii))?
ix. Were the minutes reported to the next meeting of
GPEx (GPEx SO 5.7, Constitution s.12(iii))?
SOC comments on the points (i) to (ix) above are:
This represents a construction of the sequence from
information and documents provided to SOC.
Re: (i)
GPEx SO 3.3 says: “All papers for meetings are to be
dated and attributed to one or more authors. Elements
within papers should also be clearly marked where there
is an issue for decision. Items submitted to the GPEx
agenda should clearly state whether they are for decision,
discussion or information, and should be taken in that
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