[My highlighting in brown]
https://www.parliament.uk/globalass...l-party-groups/advice-notes/advice-note-7.pdf
ADVICE NOTE 7: Coronavirus and APPGs – Advice Effective from 15 September 2020
Email sent to all APPG chairs on 15 September from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards:
Virtual meetings and elections for APPGs
This email updates you on the rules for formal meetings by APPGs. Formal meetings must be virtual and not face to face until the end of the parliamentary session (which we expect to be in early May 2021, unless unforeseen events intervene).
Since 8 June 2020, APPGs have been required to hold their formal meetings virtually. Formal meetings include inaugurals, and meetings involving decision taking and elections. It is unlikely that you need to hold an AGM in 2020, but if you do hold such a meeting before the end of the session, this too must be virtual. (For most groups their reporting year will end in early 2021, and an AGM would need to take place within the 4 months after the end of that reporting year. To check the date of your reporting year please see your register entry.)
We ask you to avoid holding face to face APPG meetings on the estate, whether formal or informal, even if some members participate remotely. To hold a virtual formal meeting, you must:
1. Advertise it at least one week in advance on the All-Party Notices. Your notice must give
• the date and time of the meeting, whether it is an Inaugural, AGM or EGM or other meeting, and if it involves an election. It must be on a day when both Houses are sitting;
• the time of any voting (if different);
• the deadline for registering to attend the meeting, which should normally be no later than 6pm on the day before the election;
• contact details for someone with a parliamentary email address who will act as administrator for the meeting and the voting. They must provide the log in details (if needed), and send out and receive any ballot papers (if used).
2. Advertise the meeting on your group’s website if it has one. You may also want to send details to all parliamentary members of your group. But do not send mass emails to all parliamentarians.
3. Check that the meeting is quorate. The quorum is set out at paragraphs 20 d and e of Guide to the Rules for APPGs.
4. After any vote, arrange a count. You must count only votes which come from parliamentary email addresses and are from current members of the House of Commons or House of Lords.
5. Prepare minutes of the meeting in the usual way, and include the result of any voting. These do not have to include the names of those who voted. In accordance with paragraph 27 of the Guide to the Rules for APPGs, your group must publish the minutes on its website if it has one. If your group has no website it must keep copies of the minutes and provide them to enquirers on request.
We do not prescribe how elections are to be conducted, or what software to use for votes. However, if it is to be a single yes/no decision you may find it easy to use Outlook voting buttons.
We hope that these new rules will help APPGs to carry out their work while keeping meetings on the parliamentary estate to a minimum.
If you need more information, the Registrar (Heather Wood) and the Assistant Registrar (Philippa Wainwright) are happy to help and advise. Please do feel free to contact them (via
groupsregister@parliament.uk or on 0207 219 3277 or 0401).
Kind regards
Kathryn Stone OBE
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
Useful links
•
Guidance on using MS Teams (via Sharepoint on the parliamentary intranet)
•
Guidance on using MS Outlook voting buttons
•
Registration form for group’s Inaugural Meeting
