Posted by Jos Gallacher
Each year the Party consults its members on policies for the future manifesto. The consultation for 2018 has just been opened and CLPs, branches, members and other stakeholders are invited to contribute by 24 June.
This year there are eight consultation documents each addressing a specific are of policy:
- Towards a National Education Service
- The future of work
- A greener Britain
- Tackling health inequalities
- Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
- Protecting our communities and turning lives around
- Addressing in-work poverty and working-age inequalities
- Giving people the power to shape their local communities
Given all the constraints of working to achieve agreement among members spread across the world LICC have agreed a process that allows branches and members to contribute to a policy statement that reflects the view of the CLP.
The documents are available here:
https://www.policyforum.labour.org.uk/consultation2018
The process involves 4 steps:
- For each topic we wish to make a submission we need a volunteer as “rapporteur”, or a small group of co-rapporteurs;
- The rapporteur prepares a first draft of the LI response by a deadline. Members may submit ideas directly to the rapporteur.
- The draft is then circulated to LI members who may discuss it in branches and send comments to the rapporteur either collectively or individually.
- A final draft is then circulated before submission to the Policy Forum through its website.
Timetable
| Process agreed in LICC | 1 April |
| Volunteers to draft submissions identified | 21 April |
| First draft circulated | End April |
| Responses sent to rapporteur | 21 May |
| Possible Zoom meeting(s) to discuss drafts | 26 May/2 June/9 June |
| Final draft to LICC Secretary for submission | 17 June |
Role of Rapporteurs
Each rapporteur should study the consultation document and other guidance on the NPF website. Each consultation document covers several aspects of the issue and poses a number of questions. It is not necessary to answer every question or address every topic. Submissions are most effective when they are focussed and make a few clear points.
The rapporteur should identify which questions they wish to concentrate on based on where we have something to contribute. Experience on the NPF shows that relatively short documents get most attention (up to 1 page). In addition, party members are familiar with the form of resolutions and this would provide a good model to use.
The rapporteur should provide a first draft by the deadline. She or he then takes responsibility for including comments from members in subsequent drafts. Because of the difficulty of organising votes the rapporteur’s aim should be to find consensus.
Coordination
Volunteers should make contact with me on npf@labourinternational.net. As we make progress, each new document will be posted on the NPF page of the LI website. More reports will be included in the newsletter.
Jos Gallacher