Proposed Fabian Society rule changes

The Fabian Society has been enormously influential throughout its long history. More recently, while in government and in opposition, the Fabian Society’s significance to the Labour party endures. We now have a new General Secretary and senior staff. The Society needs an Executive Committee that can contribute to its success and this necessarily requires it to be more effective than at present.

It has been clear for some time that the governance arrangements of the Fabian Society are lacking and we need to strengthen them. There should be a clear distinction between the roles of the staff, who are responsible for tactics, operations and delivery, and the role of the members of the Executive Committee which focus on strategy and oversight. It is important not to confuse these roles. The staff should be more accountable to the elected members of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee should be more accountable to the members of the Society

In September 2011, the Executive Committee agreed to the formation of a Governance Sub-Committee. It has worked since that time to develop recommendations to modernise the governance structures of the Society. The Executive Committee has made some changes already in the areas that require only its approval. We now propose several Rule changes in order to modernise the function of the Executive Committee and also some word changes to bring the Rules up to date. We now seek the approval of the AGM for these much needed changes.

Rule changes
Following its review of governance arrangements, the Executive Committee has spent a year reviewing the Society’s rules and proposes a number of amendments. The key proposals are:

• Increase in term of elected executive committee members from one to two years
• Reduction in the size of the Executive Committee to a maximum of 22, with the president and vice-presidents no longer members
• Creation of a new ex-officio executive committee place for the Fabian Women’s Network
• Limit of five Westminster parliamentarians on the Executive Committee
• Power for Executive Committee to suspend or expel members in certain circumstances
• Power for Executive Committee to intervene in the affairs of a local Fabian Society in the event of unacceptable practice

The following resolutions will be voted on at the Annual General Meeting on 17^th November 2012, full details of which can be found on page 32:

Resolution 1 – Proposed by the Executive Committee
(Requires a 75 per cent majority at a General Meeting)

The following rules shall be amended:

Rule 2 (objectives)
The word ‘disability’ shall be added to the existing list of grounds upon which the Society shall not discriminate: race, gender, sexual orientation, age or creed

Rule 4 (membership)
The following sentence will be inserted at the end of the first paragraph of rule 4: ‘The executive committee may suspend or expel a member for reasons including being ineligible for membership of the Labour Party, being suspended or expelled from the Labour Party, or unacceptable conduct.’

The term ‘associate’ shall be replaced by the term ‘associate member’

The following sentence will be added as a new final paragraph: ‘Libraries, commercial organisations and similar may take a publication subscription, with no associated membership rights.’

Resolution 2 – Proposed by the Executive Committee

(Requires a simple majority at a General Meeting)
The following rules shall be amended:

Rule 9 (executive committee membership)
The first paragraph of rule 9 shall be replaced with: ‘The executive committee shall comprise: (a) the Honorary Treasurer, who shall be elected as provided in rule 11 following; (b) 10 other members elected as provided in rule 11 following; (c) three members elected to represent local Fabian societies as provided in rule 11 following; (d) one member elected to represent the Society in Scotland and one member elected to represent the Society in Wales as provided in rule 11 following; (e) one member who shall be an employee of the Society and who shall be elected to hold office for one year by the employees excluding the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary who may neither stand nor vote; (f) one member who shall be appointed by the Young Fabian executive; (g) one member who shall be appointed by the Fabian Women Network executive; (h) members co-opted by the executive committee provided that the membership of the committee does not at any time exceed 22 in number.’

The first sentence of the second paragraph of rule 9 shall be replaced with: ‘The executive shall have the right to fill casual vacancies other than the employees’ rep­resentative who shall be elected by the employees, and the Young Fabian, Fabian Women’s Network, Scottish Fabian and Welsh Fabian repre­sentatives who shall be appointed by their respective executives’

The first sentence of the third paragraph of rule 9 shall be replaced with: ‘The executive committee shall elect such officers for the year as it thinks necessary, including a Chair and at least one Vice Chair.’

The fourth paragraph shall be replaced with: ‘Any member absent from three meetings of the executive committee (excluding meetings where apologies are accepted for a satisfactory explanation) shall be deemed to have vacated his or her seat.’

Rule 11 (executive committee elections)
The first sentence of rule 11 shall be replaced with: ‘Before every second annual meeting (in odd-numbered years), the Society shall elect by ballot an honorary treasurer and 10 other members of the executive committee to hold office for two years.’

The following sentence shall be added to the end of the first paragraph of rule 11: ‘No more than 5 of the 10 other members elected shall be Members of the House of Commons or House of Lords.’

In the second paragraph of Rule 11 the number four shall be replaced by the number three.

The following sentence shall be added to the end of the first paragraph of rule 11: ‘None of the members elected shall be Members of the House of Commons or House of Lords.’

The following sentence shall be moved from the second paragraph of rule 11 to become a freestanding third paragraph: ‘A statement from each of these candidates and biographical details shall be circulated with the ballot paper.’

The current fourth paragraph of rule 11 shall be replaced with: ‘Elections may be held using secure paper or electronic methods. All votes must be cast within a period to be determined by the executive com­mittee, which shall be not less than 28 days and not more than 56 days after the day the ballot opens. Scrutineers shall be appointed by the executive committee, whose duty it shall be to oversee the accuracy of the vote, and to certify to the General Secretary the results. In the event of a tie the chair of the society shall have the casting vote.’

The words ‘annual postal’ shall be deleted from the current fifth paragraph of rule 11.

New rule (President and vice-presidents)
The following rule shall be inserted between rule 9 and rule 10: ‘The President and Vice Presidents of the society, if any, may be elected at an annual or special general meeting on the nomination of the executive committee. They shall not be members of the executive committee.’

Rule 12 (executive committee responsibilities
The first paragraph of rule 12 shall be replaced with: ‘The executive committee shall conduct the general business of the Society; appoint such paid employees as it deems necessary, including a General Secretary; create such sub-committees and groups as are considered desirable from time to time; oversee research and editorial strategy; and appoint all delegates to represent the Society. It shall delegate its responsibilities to sub-committees or to the General Secretary as it sees fit.’

In the second paragraph of rule 12 the phrase ‘and on the society’s website’ shall be inserted after the words ‘Fabian Review’.

Rule 13 (supervision of editorial content)
The first sentence of Rule 13 shall be replaced with: ‘No article, essay, book, pamphlet or tract submitted to the Society shall be published unless approved as of a suitable standard according to rules made by the executive committee.’

Rule 14 (subscriptions)
In the second paragraph the phrase ‘subscription for libraries’ shall be replaced by the term ‘publication subscriptions’.

The rates for subscribing bodies shall be amended to:

Constituency Labour Parties – £38
up to 2,500 members – £150
2,501-100,000 – £495
100,001-500,000 – £995
over 500,000 – £1,700

Rule 15 (local societies)
The following paragraph shall be added at the end of rule 15: ‘The executive shall have the power to intervene in the running of a local society, amend its rules or de-recognise it in the event of unacceptable practice which brings the national society into disrepute.’