UK: All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on ME news, 2020 onward

Minutes for the 2023 AGM. The minutes for the regular meeting that followed the AGM will be published once they are approved at the June APPG meeting.

 

Also available on the APPG website, https://appgme.co.uk/meetings/annual-general-meeting-2023/

and also available via AfME's website, which also has a template email for inviting MPs to the next meeting, https://www.actionforme.org.uk/news/invite-your-mp-to-the-next-appg-on-m.e.-meeting/

 

Connect Public Affairs, who attended, did that recent FOI research for AfME. It wasn’t greeted here with unqualified praise.

 

I didn't know that they outsourced it. This seems like the sort of work that could be done in-house, especially if your org has 25+ staff.

 

They contacted 162 orgs, of which 109 responded, so I agree it doesn’t look like a hideous job. Connect would likely have a database of foi emails for public bodies, though, which would save some of the admin work.

If the analysis had been cleaner, the outsourcing would be justifiable.

 

Draft minutes available for the meeting 14th June 2023 here, https://appgme.co.uk/meetings/severe-me-appg-meeting-14th-june-2023/

 

Just adding a note here regarding the future of the APPG and by extension Forward ME. The APPG as a matter of course will be dissolved at the next General Election which must happen within the next 18 months, creation of a new APPG will depend on the make up of the new Parliament. With the febrile nature of UK politics there is now a prospect that MPs who might have expected to be easily re-elected may not be, one of those is Carol Monaghan see: A new opinion poll has found that support for the SNP and Electoral Calculus With Monaghan's position on Forward closely linked to her role as MP the next election might see her no longer involved in ME advocacy, or at least not outside Scotland.

Also on the APPG whose electoral future is looking unsteady are Jason McCartney, Deidre Brock, and James Davies whose seats are affected by boundary changes as well as shifts in voter support, while Hywel Williams is not standing again. On an already thin APPG membership it will be important for PwME to let all candidates for the next parliament know that we expect our elected representatives to stand up for PwME's interests.

 

"The next APPG on M.E. meeting with take place on Wednesday, 15 November 2023 from 1.30-2.30pm and we would be grateful if you could invite your MP to attend. The more MPs at these meetings the better the chance of raising awareness of key issues and lobbying for positive change."

https://meassociation.org.uk/2023/1...all-party-parliamentary-group-meeting-on-m-e/

 

Merged thread

Ministers must address the inequalities experienced by those living with ME: - Carol Monaghan

https://www.politics.co.uk/mp-comme...ualities-experienced-by-those-living-with-me/

 

3.3 billion per annum is for the UK alone?

 

So if they'd spend a couple billions to get us fully healthy it'd actually be a great return on investment, fiscally speaking...

 

"Second-rate treatment"? Ha! As if.

Second-rate is way, way up there from where things are right now.

 

No treatment hardly qualifies as second rate ( that would imply there actually is treatment) ...

 

Carol Monaghan, in a short video, reporting on the latest APPG

Facebook link in case the Twitter one doesn't work for you, https://fb.watch/olZplYjOy1/

 

And these minutes have now been approved.