NEC/Minutes/12th June 2011

From Pirate Party UK Wiki

Contents 1 Attendees 2 Apologies 3 Minutes of 29th May 2011 4 Actions 5 Matters arising from minutes 6 Management 6.1 4.1. Party Administration 6.1.1 What is the role of the NEC at the moment? 6.1.2 Some things don't have an NEC member responsible for them?! 6.1.3 Outbound communications a priority area 6.1.4 Future of DCO? 6.1.5 Press 6.2 4.2. RAOs 6.3 4.3. Membership policy 7 5. Finance update 7.1 5.1. Electoral commission 7.2 5.2. HMRC 8 6. Campaign strategy overview for 2011 8.1 6.1. Candidates & ratification 9 7. Inverclyde election 10 8. Policy 11 9. Press 12 10. AOB

Attendees

Loz Kaye (LK)

Andy Halsall (AH)

John Barron (JB)

Will Tovey (WT)

Peter Brett (PB)

Stephen Ogned (SO)

Gavin Meredith (GM)

Ed Tuoni (ET)

Miah Gregory (MG) (by phone link)

Apologies

None

Minutes of 29th May 2011

Last weeks minutes were approved and are to be uploaded to the wiki.

Actions

AH to upload previous meeting minutes to wiki.

PB to upload missing May minutes to wiki by Tuesday.

AH to send Board proposed amendment to change DCO to Party Secretary.

AH to send Board proposed amendment to remove RAOs.

JB to recruit deputy nominating officers.

AH to chase Finlay -- and then PB -- re Scotland 2011 campaign finance.

GM to file HMRC forms by Fri 17th May

NEC to issue authorisation letter to GM.

AH to e-mail NEC list with current campaign strategy.

AH to initiate candidate recruitment drive 10:00 Mon 13th May.

NEC to initiate policy process Friday 17th May.

ET to give AH any necessary Press Team access.

AH to communicate with WT re Press Team status quo.

AH to report back to NEC on state of Press Team by Sunday 19th May.

AH to provide additional press contact list to LK.

LK/ET to audit press-output mailing list.

AH to initiate press team leader recruitment Mon 13th May.

AH to set up VOIP system & send details to GM.

LK/AH to "make press good" in the short term.

[Done] GM to e-mail contact details to MG.

MG to put GM on bank account.

MG to take Pete Liddell off bank account.

PB to e-mail AH re [ Redacted ]

AH to e-mail board [Redacted ]

Matters arising from minutes

Minutes for May 8th & 18th -- PB has not uploaded, due Tue 14th June.

IT access for GM -- done

Disseminating minutes (GM) -- done

Membership rules update (GM) -- done

Treasurer forms to EC (GM) -- done.

Forum sign-up (ET)

• 3 people worked on it all week, problem with CAPTCHA/certificate error. Can only sign up with IE for now!

Meeting space (AH)

• Couldn't find one, but ET managed to organise.

Web site report (ET)

• Server is secure, running well, etc. Code is a complete mess, will be scrapped -- new website. Katy Bairstow will help set up Wordpress-based site. Good documentation / high bus number a priority. PB/JB emphasised importance of system for member votes (ET doesn't know).

ET/AH providing MCO cover -- done

Outbound comms analysis/review (LK) -- done

• Starting focus on Twitter -- good results in just 2 days. ppuk.eu / ppuk.it shortening domains up & running with analytics

Management

4.1. Party Administration

What is the role of the NEC at the moment?

• Treasurer:
  • Managing accounts
  • Changing party details
  • Process new members
  • EC returns
  • HMRC returns
  • Changing party details

• Nominating Officer
  • Ensure nomination forms for returning officers are correctly filled

in for candidates

• • Changing party details
  • Organising internal elections

• Campaigns Officer
  • Run / assist with campaigns for candidates
  • Make sure any necessary information gets back to treasurer / EC
  • Running / advising on ongoing campaigns

• Leader
  • Lead candidate
  • Outward farce of party to public at large
  • Leads formulation of policy

• Data Controller
  • ICO / DPA responsibilities
  • "General dogsbody"

Some things don't have an NEC member responsible for them?!

• Press
  • Developing media relationships
  • Media training
• Web team
• Media production
  • member-produced stuff - templates and guidance
  • campaign-related (naturally falls within CO remit?)
• Fundraising / donations
• Specific membership retention activities (CO / Treasurer?)
• Candidate development / campaign development
• Candidate attraction / recruitment
• Organising volunteers (not members)
• Relationships with external organisations (political, e.g. ORG)
• Supplier relationships
• Training (media / candidate / other)

Outbound communications a priority area

• Must be coherent
• Must have synergy between different routes of communication
• We pick stuff up and run with it (okay), and then drop it (bad).

Future of DCO?

• PB: Some roles go well together (training / volunteers / retention)
• JB: Dogsbody role is useful!
  • Internal communication
  • Keeping track of what's going on inside the party
• Change to "Party secretary" role -- amendment to board (ACTION: AH)
  • PB: "Responsible for party infrastructure"?
• Miah wants to step down -- election 8th July

Press

• Give to Party Leader (outward facing, practicality)

4.2. RAOs

Roles and responsibilities

• Originally a nominating role
• Now something different
• Should retain nominating role -- not administrative any more

Long term, replace RAOs with deputy nominating officers (for nominating role)

• Other roles should be carried out by candidates
• Clarity is essential
• Remove RAOs from constitution -- amendment to board (ACTION: AH)
• Recruit deputy nominating officers (ACTION: JB)

4.3. Membership policy

Reduce administrative burden

• No longer require members to be registered to vote
• No age limit
• EC registration check only on donation limits

PB query about eligibility to vote in internal elections. JB suggested retaining requirement for members to provide a UK address to avoid need to amend constitution.

5. Finance update

5.1. Electoral commission

• EC notified of new treasurer and will process in 5 days
• 2010 accounts update outstanding
  • All information needed available
• Otherwise up-to-date

5.2. HMRC

• Miah will pay fine immediately (£100)
• 2009 return will be filed by Friday 17th (ACTION: GM)
• NEC will provide authorisation letter for Gavin for bank accounts

(ACTION: NEC)

6. Campaign strategy overview for 2011

AH to e-mail NEC list with current campaign strategy (ACTION: AH)

• Start ratifying candidates immediately (local/Westminster/list)
• Ongoing candidate development/training (LK will help)
• Run two national "issue campaigns" -- these will ramp up over time
• Candidates will help draw up broader policy
  • WT willing to help with briefing candidates on current law
• New manifestos -- target 3 months (Sep 2011)

Prerequisites:

• Functioning web presence
• Coherent outbound comms strategy

6.1. Candidates & ratification

Candidate drive to begin Monday 13th June (ACTION: AH) Resources to support candidates will pull in over time By Friday 17th June policy process will kick off (ACTION: NEC)

7. Inverclyde election

No response from Scottish pirates before deadline: no campaign. Candidate will be picked up by candidate process.

8. Policy

• 2011 manifesto a disappointment, not saleable to public.
• When we talk to people, they like our policies
• To get votes, need to address the things people care about

Policy process will start Friday 17th June.

• Interested in what candidates' own policies actually are
• 3 months timeline

WT has a neat mindmap of legal/legislative/regulatory processes affecting Internet freedom/freedom of speech etc.

9. Press

• There have been more pressing needs.
• There are some fundamental question.
• PB: Putting out a press release from having text takes 45-60 mins
• Press part of website is broken

Some jobs:

• Give AH full access to press-related IT resources (ACTION: ET).
• AH needs to get update from WT on current press team situation (ACTION: AH).
• Update on press team situation to NEC for Sunday 19th June (ACTION: AH).
• Audit press-output mailing list: (ACTION: LK, ET).

Stories develop throughout the day -- get requests during the day e.g. "Interview at 4 pm?"

Press team:

• VOIP / phone list for team
• Awareness of candidate availability etc
• Need to recruit head of press team -- put out request on Monday 13th

June (ACTION: AH)

Forward strategy vs. instant reaction (much harder). Really helps to have personal contacts with media.

• For now LK will be person to pick up during the day, but other

candidates needed

• When VOIP is up and running Andy will help.
• Set up VOIP & pass details to GM (ACTION: AH)

Build relationships with journalists -- place output more effectively

LK and AH to "make press good" to begin with (ACTION: LK, AH)

10. AOB

Board/Pete Liddell

[ Redacted ]