DEMOCRACY WORKING GROUP

Date: 11th November 2013 Time: 2.00pm Venue: CMA

Circulation: Catherine Holbrook, Olly Rice,Aidan Press,Rob Ankcorn,Andrew Thompson, Cat Turhan, Miguel Costa Matos, Isaac Leigh, Sam Fry, Charlie Hindhaugh, Jamie Day,

Present: Catherine Holbrook, Olly Rice, Aidan Press, Rob Ankcorn, Andrew Thomson (in part), Miguel Costa Matos, Isaac Leigh, Sam Fry, Charlie Hindhaugh, Jamie Day, Nat Shiers, Mike Towl, Jacquie Page

MINUTES

2.1 MATTERS ARISING

Olly Rice reported that the turnout for the ASM on Monday was less than the membership of Student Council whose members are mandated to attend. It is extremely important that we encourage engagement from members. It was felt that there was increased publicity against last year, publicity included Facebook posts, Posters, Banner and the use of the Screens, however, Jamie Day said she would not have known the meeting was taking place if she was not an Officer. It was noted that the motions during this ASM were non-controversial and there is no incentive to attend as motions are unable to be amended if the meeting quorum is not reached. All Student Meetings need to be inclusive and more students encouraged to attend, speeches should not be taken by the same two or three people all the time. ORwill raise the necessity for all Student Council members to attend All Student Meetings at the next meeting of Student Council.

2.2 SABBATICAL JOB ROLES

MMreported that the Sabbatical roles were last reviewed during the Democracy Review three years ago. An initial proposal would be to change the title and remit of the President to Development and External Affairs or Community Officer and to replace the responsibility for Campaigns from the Welfare Officer to the Democracy Officer. Consideration can be given to including Liberation or Community within the Welfare Officers remit.

Points raised:

  • I don’t like including liberation with Welfare.
  • Any Sabbatical Role review will include more than members of DWG, there would be research and consultation with interested groups. Wider discussions are needed.
  • This should not be rushed we need a timeline of more than one year. Any change requires agreement from Student Council.
  • All seven Sabbaticals should be here for these discussions.
  • It would not help having all the Sabbs in the room.
  • You would need to hire an HR Consultant to lead the process.
  • Professionals were consulted three years ago and the then Sabbatical did not agree with the recommendations.
  • Any consultant would have to have a full understand of what a Students Union is.
  • The combination of Democracy and Development would not appeal to many people they would either stand for development or democracy there are few who have the knowledge or interest in taking both those areas under one role.
  • Currently the Welfare Officer has little time for Campaigns and we have a member of staff to support campaigns.
  • Currently all Sabbaticals lead campaigns and there should not be one Sabbatical with that remit, it should be divided amongst the team.
  • Where would development sit if removed from Democracy and Development, we could be at a risk of losing seats on University Committees.
  • Other Universities elect to the seats of University Committees.
  • A lot of the University Committees require a representative with a developmental focus.
  • We should have another Sabbatical Officer to spread the workload.
  • We would not get funding for another Sabbatical Officer and practically there would not be office space.
  • Development includes Finance, Commercial Services and Marketing.
  • There are very few other Unions that have seven Sabbaticals.
  • It would not be practical to give additional work to Part-time Officer they have a full time degree to do, people would not stand for the positions.
  • Sabbaticals have full time staff members support Part-time Officers do not, if Sabbaticals took on more roles then more staff support may be required.
  • We may do things better than other Unions but we should not be complacent.

Following lengthy discussion it was agreed that a Resolution would be submitted to Student Council, Proposer Catherine Holbrook and Seconder Jamie Day, to propose a review of the Sabbatical roles.

Papers:

L:\Democracy\Democracy Working Group\2014-15\Meetings\T1W5\002 Hidden Course costs

2.3TO REVIEW THE ACTION LIST AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE DISCUSSIONS

Deferred

Papers:

DWG Action List.docx

2.4 DATE AND TIME OF THE NEXT MEETING

TBC