Annual Conference 2018 will be on 13-14 October in the Grand Hotel, Bristol.  Registration for delegates will open online very soon – look out for a special mailing with details.

The NEC Policy Sub Committee met in February to review the progress of the member-led policy process and other developments.

Members and local Parties still have until June 30 to make submissions to the policy consultation on Brexit and the Economy.

Labour have launched a new unit to look at Community Wealth Building, exploring the ideas set out in the ‘Six Steps’ pamphlet published by the Co-operative Party last year, and we will be working closely with them on this.

We have commissioned an independent report from the New Economics Foundation to look at how the next Labour and Co-operative Government will double the size of the sector.  Leading practitioners across the movement, including our subscribing societies will be invited to contribute to this work.

The NEC welcomed the launch of the Co-operative Party’s Modern Slavery Charter for Councils with Jeremy Corbyn MP on 23 March.  You can read more about this campaign on the website.

Alongside our campaigning work, the NEC agreed the Party’s own Modern Slavery Statement, which makes clear what we will do as an organisation to ensure that the goods and services we use do not support exploitation.  This will be available soon in the Officer Handbook.

The NEC received a verbal report from Anna Turley MP, Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Group and Lord Kennedy on recent meetings and activity.  This included hosting the launch of the Mutual Housing Associations’ recent report.

Questions and interventions have been made on the Social Value Act, Community Energy, Community Banking, housing co-op support, employees on boards,  profit sharing, mutual train companies, community transport, Modern Slavery and Treasury support for the co-operative sector.

There have also been meetings with the Financial Inclusion Minister to discuss credit union support and with the Chief Executive of the Co-operative Group, the Joint Chief Exec. of East of England Society and the NFU.

Members of the Parliamentary Group also attended many events in support of Fairtrade Fortnight.

The Party ended 2017 with a record membership of 11,021 (2016: 10,127).

Since then, we have had the third highest recruitment in a single month (January), with recruitment in February close behind.

This is a fantastic achievement and the NEC extends a warm welcome to all new members.

Recruitment of women is lower than that of men, and we would like to address this in 2018.  If your branch or party has best practice to share, please get in touch.

Claire McCarthy reported on the Party’s work since the last meeting towards to the Party’s Strategic Objectives.

Enable the delivery of co-operative solutions locally, regionally and nationally

This work has included launch of ’12 Ideas for Local Manifestos’ and the work with our MPs (see above)

Inspire, educate and inform the public and decision makers about co-operation

We have been working with the Scottish Party and the new Scottish Labour leader on plans for a more co-operative an democratic Scottish economy.

We will be working closely with Labour’s Community Wealth Building Unit, set up to provide councils with advice and practical support on the model set out in our ‘6 steps to build community wealth’

We also contributed to Labour’s Alternative Models of Ownership Conference in February, with our MPs, NEC & General Secretary chairing sessions and speaking.

Support the election of co-operators at all levels of government

We have been supporting the election of co-operators across England and have the largest ever number of candidates in some councils, including across London.  See the Local Government Hub for more information and resources, including the ’12 ideas for local manifestos’.

We have made two selections for official Labour and Co-operative parliamentary candidates, with local parties being encouraged to make other nominations.

Be valued by our members

At the strategy weekend in November, the NEC placed particular emphasis on valuing and supporting members’ roles in the Party.

We are working with local parties to support regional conferences, starting with starting with ‘Ideas to Change the North West’ in Liverpool.  Others will follow in the South East and East Midlands.

We have also launched a new Membership Hub and Officer Hub on the website, with everything members need to get active in one place.

Close work with our societies has continued, with a particular emphasis so far this year on supporting their work on modern day slavery and loneliness as well as Fairtrade Fortnight.

The Party meets regularly with the subscribing societies and has discussed a range of issues including violence against staff and plastic waste.

Making the Party Financially Sustainable

The Party’s individual membership has continued to grow, through recruitment and increased retention.  Individual membership income is therefore increasing in real terms and as a percentage of our total income.  We are however also working to increase our number of affiliates.

The Co-operative Party has made submissions to each stage of the Labour Party’s Democracy Review to ensure that we can continue to meet our joint objectives as set out in the National Agreement.

We will also issue a briefing to local Parties and Co-operative Party CLP delegates.

The NEC is undertaking a complete review of the Party’s Rule Book in 2018.  Following several meetings of the Rules Sub Committee, the NEC confirmed the objectives for the review:

• that the rules should be redrafted and restructured to make them as clear and simple as possible
• that the focus for change should be on the membership and disciplinary rules

The Rule Sub Committee will now look in detail at proposed changes prior to the next meeting in June, following which these will be circulated to local Parties and Societies.

You can find the current rules on the website.

Contact Karen Wilkie if you would like to know more about the process or make suggestions for changes to the rules.

The NEC reviewed the actions the Party need to take to prepare for GDPR from 25 May.

We will be updating our guidance on data protection for Party Officers – look out for this.  It will also be published in the Officer Handbook.

The Party’s Auditor presented her report on the 2017 Accounts.  These were agreed and signed by the NEC, and will be presented to members at the AGM in October.

Despite an unusual year, with the Centenary programme and an unscheduled General Election, the audit was straightforward.

The NEC had budgeted for a deficit,  utilising the surplus brought forward from 2016 to fund the Centenary programme, but the success of Annual Conference and the strong support of our Societies, local Parties and members for the centenary programme and election appeal meant that this wasn’t necessary.

The NEC will meet in Luton on Sunday 10 June, following the Local Government Conference in London the day before.

You can contact your NEC member at initial.surname@nec.party.coop