Conference Agenda Oct 2021 PRINT - Flipbook - Page 32
A04
GREEN PARTY REGIONAL
COUNCIL (GPRC)
we can see further proposed changes to SOPD to
support ongoing improvement.
•
Martha James, Adrian Spurrell (Co-Chairs)
[SOC note: RooS for GPRC are in Appendix 3]
Motion text: To accept the following report
Membership
Training
•
A key focus in relation to complaints and the
party’s culture has been to ensure that the training
required both in the constitution and in various
Standing Orders has been carried out. This has
included training on safeguarding, anti-Semitism,
safe spaces, autism awareness and the equalities
act.
•
The work has in particular focussed on those
members of the Party who sit on the Disciplinary
Committee, DCRG and on Appeals.
•
Completion of required training has now been
added as a measure on the new draft scorecard
that GPEx are trialling.
We would like to thank all members of the Party who
have stood in GPRC during the last year and for all their
hard work. We are pleased to advise that following recent
elections we now have a full complement of 20 members
of The Council.
Adrian Spurrell and Martha James were elected co-chairs
on an interim basis in November and then confirmed in role
in our first meeting of 2021.
DCD working group
For some years now GPRC have been working to improve
the complaints system. This has been a long and difficult
process and was detailed as one of our priorities when we
took over co-chairing GPRC in November last year. Since
then we have cleared backlogs with the Disputes and
Complaints Referral Group and are now working with the
new chair of Disciplinary Committee Vivien Lichtenstein as
well as the Coordinator of Disputes Resolution Committee,
Wendy Armour, to further enhance our processes to create
a process in which all members can have confidence and
that delivers effective resolution of complaints, disputes
and disagreements.
We have split the work in three parts:
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Firstly, to apply our current process correctly and to
that end we have created new guidance including
the vexatious policy, which DCRG are applying
to complaints. We also have a new complaint
feedback form that will be going live shortly, and
a new complaints form. We are working on new
guidance for the GPRC team on-calls and also for
the GPRC representative on DCRG.
Secondly, to make ongoing amendments to the
system, so for example we have renamed CRG, to
recognise that a large number of matters that come
to DCRG are disputes, rather than just complaints.
We want to bring the whole process closer in line
with our philosophical values. At this conference
Finally, to completely review our systems and
processes. We are hoping to arrange a meeting
shortly between the chairs of DC, DRC, GPRC
and GPEx and their deputies, with the Complaints
Manager, to discuss how this can best be achieved
to reduce pressure on the volunteers working in
the system, and to create a better more supportive
complaints process for our members and
volunteers.
Political Strategy
Spring Conference this year voted through the Political
Strategy. Since then we have attended a number of
regional conferences to talk through the strategy and
explore how regions can best implement and weave it’s
intent into regional and local activities, through ward
and candidate selection, for example, to build the green
clusters that will support bids for target ward status – not
just for any election that may happen in 2032/4 but the
following election in 2028/9. Moving from a year to year
approach to one that looks to the next general election
demands that we start to think differently about how and
where we invest our time and energy to maximise our
electoral success, building on our ability to win council
elections to deliver more breakthroughs in General
Elections.
We have also been working with GPEx, to support the
creation and implementation of the supporting mediumterm plans that are referred to in the strategy, that will
drive the day to day actions to support local parties up and
down the country.
Constitution
In 2019 GPRC undertook to bring forward a motion based
on the Holistic Review to conference and formed a working
group drawing on members of the Holistic Review, the