Meeting Procedures

Council meets four times a year, typically in January, March, June and October with the dates for the year set by the June meeting.

Full meetings are held in January, March and October. The June meeting is traditionally a short one that follows the AGM (after a short break).

This schedule has evolved around the need to meet Constitutional requirements for the AGM, as well as avoiding “difficult” times of the year, such as August (holidays), December (Christmas) and September (Hidden Earth).

1 month before: Secretary to request Reports and Agenda items by e-mail.

2 weeks before: Council Members to submit additional Agenda Items to Secretary, including details of any potentially large items to be raised under the Standing Items (for details see Written Reports section below). Secretary to distribute the Agenda and Draft Minutes of Last Meeting to Council Members by e-mail.

1 week before: Council Members to submit Written Reports to Secretary. Secretary to collate and then distribute Reports to Council Members by e-mail.

1 month after: Secretary to publish Draft Minutes (for details see section below). ===== Agenda Items ===== A sample Agenda with standing tiems can be found [[http://british-caving.org.uk/wiki2/Documents/Council_Agenda.docx|here. The Agenda is typically published two weeks prior to the meeting and Council Members should, where possible, inform the Secretary in advance this if they wish to raise something that is not a standing item. This will then usually be added as an item under AOB before distribution. It should be noted, though, that although this does not prevent matters being raised at the meeting itself, the meeting is more likely to defer judgement until a future meeting if the various Representatives have not had time to refer back to their organisations. See the role of the representatives for more information.

The June meeting is shorter and typically makes Council's annual appointments, and sets the meeting dates for the year ahead. If necessary, it will also formally record a resolution needed to change bank mandates. A sample Agenda for the June meeting can be found here. Urgent items that cannot reasonably be held off until October can also be dealt with. As above, ideally these will have been notified two weeks in advance of the meeting.

To ensure the efficient running of the meeting, and most importantly, to allow representatives to be fully prepared for the decisions they may be required to make, Officers and appointees are expected to provide written reports 7 days prior to the meeting. These are collated and distributed by the Secretary.

Reports should typically include:

• an update on progress since the last report;
• proposals for Council's consideration, including the necessary background and any recommendations of the Committee;

as well as anything that may:

• constitute a material change to the Terms of Reference and business of the committee;
• involve other Association Committees or members;
• have legal implications for the Association;
• have financial implications for the Association beyond those already agreed;
• involve the Association in a change to established policies or require the Association to agree a new policy or procedure.

Should any of these latter points be included, then it is expected that papers shall be sent to the Secretary a minimum of two weeks before the date of the meeting to allow representatives sufficient time for consultation. In this situation the attendance of the Convenor or other committee member would generally be required at the National Council Meeting.

Should this process not be followed, then the Chairman may well decide to postpone discussion of the item until the following meeting.

Committees will be formally advised of decisions reached or policies instituted or amended via the Minutes of the relevant National Council Meeting.

The Membership Administrator is empowered to provisionally accept new Club Members provided they meet our criteria for a properly constituted Club. The Club will then become a Member once we have received their membership fee, but this is provisional pending acceptance by the next Council Meeting (or AGM, whichever comes first). At each meeting the Membership Administrator should make Council (or the AGM) aware of clubs that have been provisionally accepted since the previous meeting so that any concerns can be raised. Council (or the AGM) should then vote on whether or not to accept the Club as a full BCA Member Club.

Once the meeting has finished discussing the contents of an Officer's Report, and is happy with everything reported that has not discussed, the Chairman should ask if everyone present is happy to accept the report? Anyone with anything further to add should raise it at that point. If not, then the Chairman will move to the next Report. In the interests of a smooth meeting, it is not necessary to formally propose and second each acceptance. It is important to note that in accepting a Report, Council is indicating its agreement with everything mentioned that has not been separately discussed.

Minutes of meetings should include:

• details of those present
• apologies for absence
• any matters arising from previous minutes
• reports to Council from Executive, Officers and appointees (which should be attached to the minutes)
• details of discussions on specific issues, points raised and decisions taken including, where appropriate, records of votes for and votes against.
• a means of indicating actions to be taken outside of the meeting, such as an “Action Log”.

Minutes and other papers should be distributed as soon as practical after meetings. In the interests of effective communication, it is considered good practice to distribute Draft Minutes, before they are accepted by the next meeting, rather than waiting for fully Approved Minutes. Before publication the full Draft Minutes should be agreed by each of the Executive. However, in the event that this is not possible within one month of the meeting, the Secretary should ask another Council Member, or Members, to check them before publishing.

On publishing Draft Minutes the Secretary should send them to:

• all members of National Council
• any other person or organisation the Secretary or another Council Member feels may have an interest. Currently this includes: the Secretaries of the Regional Councils and Constituent Bodies, plus the FODCCAG Secretary.

A copy of all Draft Minutes should also be added to the relevant section of the BCA website, ensuring that any Draft Minutes are clearly marked as such, both in the document itself and on the website.

Only in the event of significant changes being made at the following Meeting, should approved Minutes also be distributed as above, although they should always be updated on the BCA Website.