Resourcing the Regions – What does it all mean?
Friday 21st August 2015Colleagues may have read the motion in the name of the Scotland Regional Committee in the last Gazette referring to the Brigade Executive’s discussions on ‘Resourcing the Regions.’ Many will have wondered what the background to this was.
With very few exceptions, local Companies in all parts of the Brigade belong to a Battalion. Until the 1990s Districts (groupings of Battalions) elected representatives to the Brigade Executive. Members of the Brigade Executive are the trustees of The Boys’ Brigade and are responsible for the management of the organisation in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
That changed when the Brigade created a structure whereby committees were created for 5 “Regions” of the Brigade (England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales). Under this setup, Electoral Areas (Districts or former Districts) now elect representatives (including young people) to a Regional Committee and Regional Committees elect members to the Brigade Executive. Certain functions are also devolved to the Regional Committees.
In all parts of the UK and RoI (except England) the Region now covers the same area as the District. In England, there are several Districts which make up the Region. In the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales there is only one committee – acting, in effect, as both the “District Executive” and the Regional Committee. In fact, since there is only one Battalion in Wales and the Republic of Ireland, the District and Regional committee effectively acts as the “Battalion Executive” as well.
Some Regions attract support from local or devolved government whereas others are not so fortunate. Some Regions have well-developed work plans whereas others have not. Some have locally employed staff whereas other are assisted by staff employed by the Brigade centrally. Where there are locally employed staff, the Brigade makes a contribution by way of a grant (or rebate) of subscriptions (except in Wales where there is no such support).
At a meeting of the Brigade Executive in June 2014, the Chairman (Matthew Smith) circulated a paper entitled ‘Resourcing the Regions’ which raised a number of questions about the existing structure. The Executive agreed that a Group under my Chairmanship should be set up to consider the issues.
That Group consists of one member from each of the 5 Regions, together with the Brigade Treasurer, Brigade Secretary, Chair of Executive, and myself.
The first meeting was held on 9th December 2014 and a second meeting took place on 27th January 2015. The role of the members is to consider the issues in the best interests of the Brigade as a whole, and not to act as delegates from their particular Region. At its meetings the Group considered the relative strength and weakness of the different Regions and at what level required functions were best carried out.
The broad consensus which arose as a result of this exercise was that we should be asking the question “WHAT ARE THE BEST SUPPORT STRUCTURES FOR LOCAL BB WORK?”
The Regional Directors have been asked to carry out a scoping exercise which seeks to understand how Area Groups, Districts and Battalions are governed and what resources are available to them.
As a result of our discussions, a consultation paper for the Brigade has been prepared. A copy of the consultation document is available at boys-brigade.org.uk/rtr.htm. It draws on some work done by the England Committee which looks at how Companies can be best supported by reference to their geographical spread and the motorway network. A copy of the map can be viewed by following the above link.
In particular, Regional Committees and members of the Brigade have been asked to discuss three questions.
a. Do you agree with the proposed division of functions as between Headquarters and a more local source of support for Companies?
b. Do you agree that local support for Companies is best provided at District (or in England, ‘hub’) level?
c. Do you agree that resources for Districts (or in England, ‘hubs’) are best raised locally?
There will also be a discussion of these questions, and the related issues, at the Brigade Conference in Wolverhampton on 5th September 2015. The next meeting of the Resourcing the Regions Group will be in late September. The deadline for all consultation responses is 15th September 2015 so please do express your views before then by writing to BB Headquarters.
You can also send responses to enquiries@boys-brigade.org.uk
Perry Donaldson Brigade Vice President
IMPORTANT! Motion to Council from the Scotland Regional Committee
In the previous edition of the Gazette, notice was given of a motion which the Scotland Regional Committee intended to propose at Brigade Council. That motion was formulated before the consultation paper circulated by the Resourcing the Regions Group had been prepared. In order to allow for that consultation process to proceed, the Scotland Regional Committee will not propose the motion at the meeting this September. Where a motion is not proposed and seconded at Council itself, the meeting will simply move on to the next business. No vote will be taken and postal and proxy votes will not be counted. Although the motion has been printed in the voting papers (as it must once notice of it has been given), since the motion will not in fact be proposed at the Council meeting, there will be no vote.
