Shortlink: http://wp.me/p5foE-2sb
The Register of All-Party Groups [As at 20 October 2009] is here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi01.htm
There are also links at the top of the Register for:
The Nature of All-Party Groups
Purpose and Form of the ‘Register of All-Party Groups’
Purpose and Form of the ‘Approved List’ of Groups
Administration of the Register and Approved List
Complaints about All-Party Groups
The APPG on ME’s current office holders and twenty qualifying members (made up of cross party MPs and members of the House of Lords) can be viewed here:
Register:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi01.htm
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi420.htm
Note that the Group details have not been updated since the AGM in July 2009.
The Office of Secretary to the APPG on ME became vacant following the standing down of Dr Ian Gibson from his seat for Norwich North, on 8 June 2009.
The Countess of Mar was elected to the Office of Secretary at the group’s AGM, on 8 July 2009.
Note also that the Chair, Dr Des Turner, MP, announced at the AGM that it was not his intention to stand at the next general election and that therefore a new Chair would need to be found at that point.
Guide to the Rules on All-Party Groups:
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/PCFSGroupsRules.pdf
Page 17
General elections
If your group is NOT on the Approved List: this section applies to your group.
5. Once a general election has been publicly announced we write to groups with information about what action they need to take after the election. In essence, unless the group reregisters within two calendar months from the date when parliament first meets after a general election, it is removed from the Groups’ Register, and from the Approved List (if it is on the latter).8 The purpose of this is to allow groups some continuity from parliament to parliament and to give them time to appoint new officers, enrol new members etc.
6. In order to re-register after a general election a group has to hold an inaugural election of officers (which counts as the group’s first AGM of the new parliament) then complete and return the ‘Application Forms for Cross-Party Groups’, within the 2 month period.
[8] The only exceptions are registered groups funded by Her Majesty’s Government (currently only the British- American Parliamentary Group); such group are not required to re-register.
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The APPG on ME website now has PDF copies of Minutes of APPG meetings going back to 31 January 2001 collated at: http://www.appgme.org.uk/minutes/mintues.html
Clarification regarding membership of the APPG on ME
There have been misunderstandings on some forums that AfME (Action for M.E.), the MEA (The ME Association), AYME (Association of Young People with ME), TYMES Trust (The Young ME Sufferers Trust), The 25% ME Group, ME Research UK, BRAME (Blue Ribbon for Awareness of ME) and RiME (Campaigning for Research into ME) are all members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on ME.
None of the above are members of the APPG on ME.
In the case of Associate Parliamentary groups, applications for membership may be accepted by the group’s officers from organisations, interest groups, commercial concerns and individuals other than MPs or Members of the House of Lords.
But the All-Party Parliamentary Group on ME is not constituted as an Associate Parliamentary Group and therefore only Members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords are permitted membership of the APPG on ME, and only Members of the House of Commons or Lords have voting rights at its meetings.
So the only members of the APPG on ME are parliamentarians.
From the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner:
“Groups are only required to register with us the names of their officers and of 20 ‘qualifying members’. The full membership list, including names over and above that, resides with the group and it is for them to ensure that it is comprehensive and up to date. [...] Any MP (ie not just signed up members of the group) is entitled to turn up at any meeting of the group, and to speak and vote at the meeting – unless a subscription is charged in which case voting may be restricted to paid-up members of the group.”
The APPG on ME group’s current office holders and the twenty qualifying members (made up of cross party MPs and members of the House of Lords) can be viewed at the link, below.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi417.htm
Under “BENEFITS RECEIVED BY GROUP FROM SOURCES OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT” Action for M.E. and The ME Association are listed as jointly providing the secretariat to the group.
“Action for ME and The ME Association both provides secretarial support (addressing and stuffing envelopes, taking minutes, photocopying).”
As joint secretariat, Action for M.E. and the ME Association undertake the circulation of minutes and agendas for these meetings but they are not members of the APPG Group and their status as organisations and that of their representatives in relation to the group is no different to that of any other organisation that sends a representative to attend these meetings.
Although APPG groups are not permitted to advertise their meetings as “Public Meetings”, meetings of the APPG on ME are held in House of Commons committee rooms and are open to members of the public, that is, national ME patient organisations, representatives of the committees of “local” and regional ME support groups and other interested parties; they are also open to individual members of the ME community and their carers, who can and do regularly attend and contribute to these meetings.
ME Research UK : a research organisation and a registered charity (Scotland), represented at APPG on ME meetings by Mrs Sue Waddle, a former trustee of Invest in ME.
BRAME : unregistered, non membership, run by Christine Harrison and her daughter, Tanya. Both Christine and Tanya attend APPG on ME meetings.
RiME : unregistered, non membership, run by Paul Davies. Paul Davies attends APPG on ME meetings, sometimes supported by other individuals.
A number of ME sufferers and carers of ME sufferers attend APPG on ME meetings and their names are listed as attendees in the minutes of meetings and their contributions to these meetings are minuted.
I hope this clarifies any misconceptions about policy and proceedings at these meetings and the status of the organisations and individuals who attend them.
