CTSI Council spring meeting 2017 In this feature l council member changes l policy updates l conference venues Driving us forward Brian stone summarises the key messages from the spring CTSI Council meeting in London I n the spirit of making savings on the governance budget, Council met at the City of London offices a free venue for CTSI for its one-day meeting on 30 March. This restricted timescale resulted in a greater focus on the business, and the meeting was extremely well managed by the chair, Sara Barry. Full details are available on the CTSI website; I highlight just a few matters below. People Brexit discussions centred on options for a think tank on the issue and CTSIs role For several long-standing members of council John Hillier, John Paddock, Tim Keohane and Alex Connell this was their last meeting, because of the rules concerning how long members can serve. This flagged up a matter for attention about whether the deputy council representatives time in post counts as time on Council. This means that, having gained experience of Council and then stepping up to the representative role, their time in post is limited. Eleanor Lake is resigning because she has been called to the bar and is leaving the trading standards profession. Carol Brady, chair of the board, is also stepping down, so this was her last Council, too. They were all thanked for their contributions to Council and CTSI during their time in post. For some, this was an opportunity to meet Craig McClue the newly appointed lead officer and policy executive for the first time. Council welcomed non-executive board member Julie Simpson to her first meeting, to see what Council does and how we work. She comes from a commercial and human resources background, so it was refreshing to hear her comments, challenges and views on a range of matters discussed during the day. We discussed the roles of the president and vice-presidents and the types of people needed for the roles and provided a steer on seeking potential nominations. Council approved a vice-president nomination for Carolyn Harris MP, an Honorary membership for Jonathan Kirk QC, and a Life membership for Stephanie Hudson. Policy We discussed, and were updated on, several policy areas, including: Qualifications framework: following on from decisions made at our last meeting, lots of work has been done and more needs to be done but were on track National Audit Office (NAO) and green paper: CTSI response for the NAO and three key messages Government accountability for consumer protection; Larger strategic units; and Core funding linked to outcomes are being used consistently to respond to issues, including the green paper Brexit: discussion centred on options for a think tank on Brexit and CTSIs role. It was agreed that we need to set parameters to keep the work focused for the professional think tank, accepting that the wider debate will result in CTSI being involved anyway, along with a wide range of partners Places The CTSI Conference sub-committee reported back on its discussion and recommendations to the executive about a set of guiding principles for the choice of future conference venues. Its main points were: no compulsory charges to member delegates; venues to be accessible by public transport; and a wide range of accommodation available at or close to the venue. A number of branches offered to host CTSIs annual general meeting (AGM) in September. With the need to guarantee attendance of at least 30 members to be quorate, the decision was taken after Council. The AGM will be hosted by the East Midlands branch, at De Vere East Midlands Conference Centre on 5 September. Full details of the agenda, minutes and papers are available on the CtSI website. Credits Brian Stone is a nationally elected CTSI Council member. Images: iStock.com/urbancow To share this page, in the toolbar click on You might also like Reporting back December 2016