Congress Voting Review Board Presentation Congress Voting Review Group

Background u Group set up in 2005 to review voting arrangements at Congress in light of the outcomes of the Professional Membership Structure project u Aim had been to put a revised Constitution and Rules to 2008 Congress u Deferred to 2009 Congress because reporting arrangements for Forums are still being finalised

Members of Group u Jason WarrinerCongress Chair u Andy McGovernAgenda Committee u Tracey BuddingCouncil u Hamish KempUK Stewards u Chichi OnyeukwuUK Learning Reps u Gail BrooksUK Health & Safety Rep u Sonia VannerANS u Paul WainwrightForum Chairs

Actions agreed from 2006 Consultation u That Congress should remain a representative body u To develop a vision statement to help explain the purpose of Congress to the wider membership u To identify ways of consulting the wider membership on issues to be discussed at Congress and to think about how these views might be fed into Congress without undermining the voting at Congress u To implement a communications plan to explain to members the purpose of Congress, the way it works and why it is still relevant to the wider membership

Changes agreed and implemented u Vision statement agreed and being used in 2008 Congress documentation “RCN Congress is where RCN Members meet to learn, develop professionally and share excellent nursing practice. It is also where members inform the RCN agenda and influence nursing and health policies through debate”

Changes agreed and implemented u On-line polls introduced in 2008 and outcomes being reported at the end of all debates this week u Consultation on proposed changes to be used as an opportunity to explain the way Congress works u The review to be used to explain why Congress is still an appropriate way of representing the views of members

New timeline u Congress Voting Review Group agreed proposals for consultation – March 2008 u Criteria for the review to be discussed by Members at Congress – April 2008 u Consultation on proposals – May to September 2008 u Congress Voting Review Group to finalise its proposals in light of feedback – end of September u Proposals to Council for Approval – October 2008 u Congress votes on revised Constitution and Rules– April 2009 u New arrangements in place – April 2010

Revised brief u To submit to Congress in April 2009 a revised Congress Constitution and Rules: - having reviewed the purpose of Congress submitting entities voting entities and voting arrangements funding of attendance at Congress

Revised brief -and taken into account the outcomes of the review of the professional membership structure the branch review and proposed branch boundaries reviews the RCN’s legal structure and governance arrangements

Criteria for the review u The component parts of the representative structure will be the same u Future arrangements should ensure all parts are represented fairly u Congress voting and funding arrangements should not affect the outcomes of the work to review branch boundaries and rationalise the number of forums u The voting arrangements for Congress should reflect the different roles of the governance and representative structure

Criteria for the review u In accordance with good corporate governance principles funding should not be allocated by those who would benefit from the decisions u Congress attendance should be more representative of the membership at large u Funding arrangements should support members who want to attend for the first time

What does this mean? u Numbers of votes should be calculated at Country/Regional/function level Option 1 based on 1 vote per 750 members. Option 2 based on 1 vote per 1000 members / Funded places based on 1 per 750 members First choices only for forums but no maximum number of places u Submitting entities should remain as now with addition of Healthcare Support Workers Committee and the Forums Coordinating Committee u Only Branches and Forums should be voting entities and can nominate candidates for the elections of the Chair and Vice Chair of Congress and the Agenda Committee u Decisions about funding should be taken by Boards in consultation with Branch Committees, Nursing Development Committee in the case of Forum Steering Committees in accordance with agreed criteria u Members of Council, Boards and National Committee will be funded to attend Congress as set out in the expenses policy

Funding criteria for funded places u members from a Country/Region/Function should represent the breadth and depth of the RCN’s work, the widest possible range of skills and experience, geographical spread and a broad spectrum of its membership u support as many members as possible to attend Congress for the first time

Next Steps u Consultation on proposals through governance and representative structure u Proposals to Council in October 2008 u Revised Constitution and Rules to Congress in 2009 for approval