Annual Conference 2023: Preliminary Agenda

Following a strategic review in November 2022 by the Co-operative Party NEC, 2023 sees the start of a new two-year rolling programme of online then in-person Annual Conferences. With in-person Regional, Scotland, Wales and North Ireland conferences taking place in the alternate years.

Below is the proposed programme as of July 2023.  Do note that this is subject to revision and timings are approximate at this stage

 w/c 18 September: on ZOOM @ 6.30pm

• Monday 18: Westminster Parliamentary Report
• Tuesday 19: Holyrood Parliamentary Report
• Wednesday 20: Cardiff Bay Senedd Report
• Thursday 21: Fringe event with FairGame

Saturday 23 September:

DAY 1: Livestream on Co-operative Party website www.party.coop from 10.30am to 2pm, including:

• Chair’s address
• Policy platform for the next General Election
• Showcase: includes keynote addresses from prominent politicians, panel debates and case studies focusing on
  • Co-op Growth
  • Community Energy
  • Community Power

Sunday 24 September:

DAY 2: Zoom Click Here to Register from 10.30am to 2pm, including:

• Policy debate on Housing, followed by response from Chair NEC Policy Sub-Committee
• Policy discussions examining the Co-operative Party’s work on:
  • Social justice
  • Fairer economy
• Update to Conference: Equalities at the Heart of Co-operation Conference – summary of online conference held on Saturday 9 September 2023:
• Business of Conference:
  • 2024 members subscription
  • Rule Change
  • Emergency Motions (if any). Do note: no organisational motions were received by the date determined by CAC.

w/c 25 September: daily on Zoom @ either 1pm or 6.30pm

• Chair’s reports from member-led Equality Networks

Votes:

Votes will take place on

• Housing policy
• Members subscription
• Rule Change
• Emergency motions
• CAC Election

Procedure for Voting:

• Lead delegates will be able to vote via codes sent to individuals after Conference closes.  This will be open for 1-week.
• Each delegate will be sent a voting code to be able to take part in the CAC election, if applicable.

Registering Delegates

All Party Councils and Subscribing Societies are asked to Register Your Delegates Here.  Please also specify your lead delegate who will be responsible for card votes.

Delegation meet ups

In order to discuss your delegation voting position, it is advised that Party Council and Subscribing Societies Secretaries arrange a Zoom meeting for their delegation in advance of Conference.  It is suggested to do this week commencing 18th September (after 7.30pm).  If you need assistance with arranging this, please contact mail@party.coop

Accessibility

The Conference will be live captioned.  If you have any other accessibility requirements, please email events@party.coop

Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC)

CAC governs the procedure of the business of Conference.  The CAC is composed of five persons: two elected by ballot at each Annual Conference (one to serve for 3 years and one to serve for 1 year) and a fifth member from the NEC. These are currently Theresa Vaughan – chair, Lis Telcs, Jackie Jones and Chris Wilson (NEC representative), with staff CAC Secretary Issy Oozeerally. Theresa Vaughan’s term of office ends in 2023 and there is one vacant space.

Please contact Issy Oozeerally, Events Co-ordinator at events@party.coop if you require a CAC candidate nomination form. Nominations should be received no later than 1st September. No more than one representative can be elected from any one region, so members in Wales or England South will not be eligible to stand this year.

Achievement awards

Our Recognition Awards are a small way that we can say thank you to those members who have played a big part in helping developing the Co-operative Party. The Awards are open to all members, recognising those who have made a lifetime of contribution to the movement, as well as those who may have joined more recently but have made a big impact already. You can nominate any member, officer, councillor or elected representative.  Please click here to nominate.

Policy submissions

The deadline for policy submissions is now past.  This is now with the NEC Policy-Sub Committee, with papers for consultation to be published online on Friday 1st September in advance of Conference.

Organisational and emergency motions

No organisation motions have been received.  Emergency motions must be received in writing and seconded by the Lead Delegate of no fewer than two organisations represented at Conference.  Please refer to the Rule Book page 23 for more information.

Rule change

There is one rule change.  See here: Rule Change

Membership subscription

Details will be circulated with the final agenda, 2 weeks in advance of Conference.

Networks Conference

This year to expand on the amazing work of our member-led Equality Networks, we are hosting our Networks Conference online on Saturday 9th September. Further information will follow shortly.

Deadlines and dates for your diary

September

• Friday 1st : Deadline for responses to Rule Changes; CAC candidate nominations and award nominations
• Friday 8th: Deadline for registration of Conference Delegates.
• Saturday 9th: Co-operative Party Networks Conference (online)
• Saturday 23rd: Annual Conference Day 1 (www.party.coop) – 10am to 2pm
• Sunday 24th: Annual Conference Day 2 (Zoom) – 9.30am to 1pm

Issy Oozeerally 
Events Officer & CAC Secretary