Dear Brother/Sister
Order of Business Conference 2022: Executive Council’s Reports 2020, 2021 and 2022
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Conference 2022 is the first physical meeting of Conference to be held since Conference 2019. Each year the Executive Council provides an Annual Report to the membership to be scrutinised and agreed on behalf of Fire Brigades Union members by the rank-and-file delegates they elect to attend Conference on their behalf. Each year the Annual Report is made available to the membership of the union via hard copy which is sent to every branch and a digital version is also uploaded to the Fire Brigade Union website.
The Executive Council’s Report reports to the membership the Union’s activities for the previous year under sections such as; Pay and Conditions, Fire and Rescue Service Policy, Legal Report, Organisation and Membership, Government Policy and Legislation etc. Each Section is broken down into subsections referred to by Conference as ‘Paragraphs’.
A large section of the Executive Council’s Annual Report to Conference is the Financial Accounts section. This section provides specific financial information in relation to how members’ subscriptions are used to enable the union to function in providing the services that our members require and expect. This section details all of the income and outgoings of the union including legal fees, Accident, Injury and Death Benefit Fund (AIF), Officials allowances and expenses, printing costs, political donations, trade union leave fees, building costs and investments to name a few. The financial accounts of the union are audited by a Senior Statutory Auditor for BDO LLP UK prior to them being put to Conference for agreement.
Conference this year is unusual as the Conference delegates will be asked to agree three Annual Reports over the four days of Conference as the 2020 and 2021 Annual Reports still require formal agreement through a physical meeting of Conference.
It is intended (with the agreement of Conference) to take the 2020 and the 2021 Annual Reports as the first business of Conference and then to take the 2022 Annual Report over the course of Conference in the usual manner over the four days of Conference, asking for the 2022 Annual Report to be agreed in the final session of Conference as is the norm.
The 2020 and 2021 Annual Reports will not simply be taken as a whole document for Conference to agree. In order to comply with the Standing Orders of Conference the President will introduce each Annual Report by year starting with the 2020 Annual Report and will then call out each of the relevant Sections and Paragraphs within that report in sequential order. Once the President has called out all of the Sections, inclusive of the Paragraphs contained within them, for the 2020 report, he will then put the report to conference for agreement.
The President will then repeat the same process for the 2021 Annual Report.
Once the 2020 and 2021 Annual Reports are agreed the President will then proceed with the 2022 Annual Report over the course of our four-day Conference in the usual manner.
In order to assist with the smooth running of Conference, and in order to utilise Conference time efficiently, this circular seeks in advance the names of any delegates wishing to speak on any of the Paragraphs contained within the 2020 and 2021 Annual Reports. Those delegates wishing to speak specifically on any of the Paragraphs contained within the 2020 or 2021 Annual Report should identify the Section and specific Paragraph they wish to speak under to Mark Rowe (Secretary to Standing Orders Committee) [email protected] prior to the start of Conference. This, of course, does not preclude delegates from raising something should they wish to do so on the day.
Please note that the Executive Council’s Report to Conference 2022 contains the same Section and Paragraph headings as contained in the 2020 and 2021 Annual Reports.
Delegates are asked to be aware that they will have the opportunity to raise any of the issues they wish to raise under the relevant Section and Paragraphs of the 2022 Annual Report as Conference progresses and as those Paragraphs are called by the President over the four days of Conference.
The Executive Council’s Reports to Conference 2020, 2021 and 2022 can be found below, hard copies of all three reports have previously been sent to branches:
https://www.fbu.org.uk/publications/executive-councils-annual-report-2020
https://www.fbu.org.uk/publications/executive-councils-report-2021
https://www.fbu.org.uk/publications/executive-councils-annual-report-2022
Yours in unity
Mark Rowe
National Officer
(Secretary to Standing Orders Committee)
