Registered Charity No:- 292786

THE BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY GUIDANCE NOTES FOR ELECTION TO COUNCIL DIRECTLY BY THE PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

GUIDANCE NOTES FOR MEMBERS SEEKING NOMINATION AS CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION TO COUNCIL BY THE PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

CONTENTS

1. Council Elections - general

2. About Council Council’s role, eligibility for election, responsibilities of Council members

3. Guidance notes for nomination

4. Guidance notes for Proposers and supporters

5. Council Terms of Reference

1. COUNCIL ELECTIONS - GENERAL

1.1 Elections to Council by the Professional Membership take place in accordance with Bye-law 48 (c) and Members’ Regulation 4.1.

1.2 The Council Elections results are formally announced at the Annual General Meeting each year. The voting actually takes place over a period of about 4-6 weeks (ending at least 48 hours prior to the AGM) by means of a ballot conducted on behalf of the Society by the Electoral Reform Services. Voting and candidates' details are usually circulated to Professional Members with the September issue of ITNOW.

1.3 Nominations open at the beginning of May each year. The closing date for receipt of nominations is Friday 4th July 2008. The actual date in any particular year is published in the 'Call for Nominations' for that year and is also printed on the Nomination Form.

1.4 Terms of office for Council members are three years, unless filling a casual vacancy in which case it is to the end of the original term in respect of which the vacancy arose. Terms of office start at the first Council meeting after the Society’s AGM1. If candidates are not elected at this AGM, it is possible that, should a casual vacancy arise during the year following the AGM, they will be invited to fill such casual vacancy until the end of the original term in respect of which the vacancy arose.

1 The first Council meeting after the AGM is normally scheduled for January.

Page 1 of 7 THE BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY GUIDANCE NOTES FOR ELECTION TO COUNCIL DIRECTLY BY THE PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

2. ABOUT COUNCIL

2.1 Council’s role and composition

The Council is a representative body of the membership that advises the Trustee Board on the direction and operation of the Society. It also has a constitutional role in electing the President, Deputy President, the Vice-Presidents and five more of its members to the governing Trustee Board of the Society. The Terms of Reference for Council are provided towards the end of this document.

In addition to the ex-officio members, it comprises 32 elected members:

6 elected by Branches Congress (the regional constituency) 6 elected by the SG Assembly (the Specialist Groups constituency) 6 elected from the Forum Strategic Panels, by the Professional Membership 2 elected by the young professionals constituency; and 12 elected by the general Professional Membership of the Society

The BCS public website has a list of all current Council members at http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.6026

Council meets up to three times a year, at the moment in January, May and September. The President chairs both Trustee Board and Council.

For an idea of the business conducted at Council meetings, the “Council Meeting Digests” are helpful. All BCS members have access to these digests which can be located in the Society Management Meetings folder on the “Members’ benefits and content” secure area of the web.

2.2 Eligibility for election

All members of the Society, except Students, are eligible for election (i.e. all AMBCS, Companions, MBCS and FBCS), providing that they are a paid up members of the Society (i.e. they do not owe any subscription or other fee).

2.3 Criteria for Proposers and supporters

The nomination must be supported by 4 Professional Members (MBCS or FBCS) who must be paid up members of the Society and must demonstrate that support by signing the nomination form.

The nomination may additionally be supported by any formally constituted grouping/committee/panel within the Society. Evidence of this support must be provided within the formal minute of such a committee/panel and must also be provided at the time of submitting the nomination forms.

2.4 Responsibilities of Council Members

Council Members must conduct themselves in accordance with the Council Regulations as set down from time to time and with the provisions of the Trustee Board Regulations schedule concerning “Responsibilities of BCS Officers”.

Members are expected to attend Council meetings regularly. If a Council member misses 3 meetings in succession (otherwise than through illness or other reasonable cause), membership of Council will cease2 if Council so resolves.

2.5 Reimbursement of expenses

All service on Council is voluntary. Only those direct out-of-pocket expenses wholly attributed to travel, accommodation or subsistence which are necessary for attending formal meetings of Council, and for which members cannot get help from their employers, will be reimbursed.

The Trustee Board issues guidelines on acceptable means of travel and levels of subsistence. These are printed on the back of the Society's standard expense claims form.

3. GUIDANCE NOTES FOR NOMINATION

3.1 If you wish to apply for election to Council, please complete the nomination form, together with the nominee’s statement. Each section of the form, except that concerned with committee support, must be completed. The section concerned with committee support is optional. If you wish to record the formal support of a committee/panel, please ensure you obtain this at an early date and ensure that the relevant section on the form is duly completed before you send it to the Registrar department.

3.2 You should make sure that your supporters understand the requirements set out below. It is in your interest to make sure that all of those who sign your nomination form are eligible to do so (i.e. are Professional Members (MBCS or FBCS) in good standing, have not signed and do not intend to sign anyone else's nomination form). You should bring to their attention the information set out in the section of these guidelines headed 'Guidance notes for Proposers and supporters'.

3.3 The nomination form, together with the nominee’s statement, must be returned to the Registrar department as soon as possible but in any event not later than noon on the closing date for nominations, as given on the nomination form3. You must sign and date the nomination form and nominee’s statement yourself as confirmation that you consent to be nominated as a candidate and thereby agree to serve as a member of Council if so elected.

3.4 You may complete and return your nomination form and statement electronically, in which case we accept that you will simply provide your name in the consent section. If you intend completing and returning your form electronically please do so from the e-mail address that you have registered with the Society.

3.5 If you are not able to contact your proposer and supporters easily for completion of the nomination form, you may for convenience send a separate photocopy or electronic copy of your nomination form to them individually and ask them to return their signed copy direct to the Registrar department, by post, fax or from the email address they have registered with the Society by no later than noon on 4th July 2008. However, if you choose to use this option, you should make sure:

a) that you have completed all your relevant sections first, including the names of all your supporters in the appropriate section

2 Council is, however, the arbiter of this and will take the fellow Council member’s circumstances into account before resolving to cease his/her membership of Council. 3 i.e. 4 July 2008

b) that you return to the Registrar department your own original (as copied to your supporters), by post or fax or from the e-mail address that you have registered with the Society.

3.6 Your completed nomination form and nominee’s statement must be received at the Society headquarters by noon on the closing date. If you fax your form, the fax process puts date and time stamps on the document and gives the total time for transmitting the entire document on the control slip so that it is easy to verify whether or not the complete document has been received by the closing time (i.e. do not start the transmission at 12.00 noon). Similarly, if you e-mail your form, your nomination form will not be valid if the receipt time stated on the Society’s e-mail system is after noon.

3.7 If, on receipt of the completed nomination form, it is found to be invalid for any reason then the nomination will be declared null and void.

3.8 It is the responsibility of the intended candidate to ensure that all the conditions have been met.

3.9 No alterations of any description can or will be made to the form after the closing date.

3.10 Nominee’s statement

3.10.1 The personal details section should be used to describe yourself and the statement section used to set out your manifesto. Please remember that these 2 sections together may total only 200 words. To avoid any misinterpretation, you should ensure that:-

a) your document is legible b) you stay inside the 200 word count limit

The section on availability will not be published, and will not form part of the word count.

3.11.2 The nominee’s statement itself should contain a résumé of personal details and a statement of objectives in standing for Council which together should not exceed the 200 words. For this purpose, any recognised group of characters (e.g. BSc, 1992,) will count as a word. A web link will also be counted as one word. Please structure the information carefully. It will be published verbatim.

3.12.2 Please ensure the post-nominal letters given in your nominee’s statement are correct and are how you wish to see them published. They will not count towards the 200 word limit.

3.13.3 Neither BCS nor The Electoral Reform Services will attempt any editing of an over-long personal details section. The text will be curtailed after the 200 word limit.

3.14.4 Please include a passport-size photograph with your nomination form and nominee’s statement. Candidates’ details on the web and in any leaflet sent to the voting membership will include this photograph, unless you request that we do not publish a photograph.

3.15.5 Availability of Council members for other Society committee activity

In addition to attending the meetings of Council, Council members are encouraged to be (or remain) active in other areas of the Society's work. There are now 7 Boards, and about 20 major committees/panels of the Society in addition to those associated with individual Branch or Specialist Groups.

Many of these Society committees meet during the normal working day. Boards meet on average 4 times a year, normally anytime between 10.30am and 4.30pm. Committee and panel meetings are much more variable both in frequency and length, much depending on their particular role. If you wish to indicate which areas of this work you would have a particular interest in, please do so under the 'availability' section of the form. As mentioned above, this information will not form part of the published statement.

4. GUIDANCE NOTES FOR PROPOSERS AND SUPPORTERS

4.1 Notes for individual Proposers and supporters of the nomination

4.1.1 For your formal proposal or support of the nomination to be valid please observe all of the following points:

a) You must be a Professional member (i.e. a Member (MBCS) or a Fellow (FBCS)) of the Society.

b) You must be a paid up member of the Society (i.e. do not owe any subscription or other fee).

c) Your support of the nomination must be undivided and unequivocal. You may not formally propose or support the nomination of more than one candidate. If you do sign the nomination form in support of more than one intending candidate, this may lead to all the nominations you sign being declared invalid.

d) Your completed proposal must be received at the Society headquarters by noon on the closing date. See also paragraphs 3.5 and 3.6 above.

4.2 Notes for formal groups/committees/ panels supporting the nomination

Anyone seeking to stand for election may, in addition to the required support of 4 individual Professional Members, show support from any formally constituted group of members – a committee or a panel. To be valid, the support must be given in the name of the committee/panel as a whole and be recorded as such in the minutes of the committee/panel. The chair of that committee/panel should complete the relevant section of the nomination form. No one committee/panel may support the nomination of more than one candidate.

4.3 Evidence of above support must be provided at the time of submitting the nomination forms.

4.4 Canvassing/Campaigning for support of individuals

Whilst the current procedures do not prevent campaigning, the spirit and the intention is that the procedure as it stands is open and fair to all, and that there should be no additional campaigns.

5. COUNCIL TERMS OF REFERENCE - EXTRACT FROM MEMBERS' REGULATIONS

1. The Council

The Terms of Reference and Constitution of the Council shall be as follows:

1.1 Terms of Reference

The Council is a representative body of the membership. Its powers are to elect the President, Deputy President, the Vice Presidents, and five more of its members to the Trustee Board of the Society.

It provides advice to the Trustee Board on the direction and operation of the Society; in particular it is consulted on strategic plans and the annual budget.

1.2 Constitution

1.2.1 Ex Officio Members

The following are ex officio members of the Council

President Deputy President The Vice-Presidents Chief Executive Immediate past President Past President

1.2.2 Elected Members

The elected membership of the Council shall be as follows:

6 elected by the regional constituency 6 elected by the Specialist Group constituency 6 elected by the Forum constituency 2 elected by the young professionals constituency 12 elected by the Professional Membership

1.3 Meetings and Quorum

The Council shall meet at least two times per year, and the quorum for any meeting shall be 18, of which at least 6 shall be elected members. The President and failing him or her the Deputy President shall preside at Council meetings, and if the Deputy President is unable or unwilling to do so, the Council members shall appoint one of their number to preside at that meeting.

1.4 Terms of Office

Ex officio members shall be members of Council for as long as they hold the office which qualified them, except that the immediate past President shall be a member of Council for one year after ceasing to be President, and the past President for one year after ceasing to be the immediate past President.

The term of office for elected members of the Council shall be three years, unless filling a casual vacancy in which case it shall be to the end of the original term in respect of which the vacancy arose.

1.5 Eligibility for Elected Membership of the Council

Eligibility for election to the Council shall be:

Paid up membership of the Society in any grade except Student.

1.6 Cessation of Membership of the Council

Any ex officio member shall cease to be a member of the Council if they cease to hold office for any reason as set out in Bye-law 43 (d)

An elected member shall cease to be an elected member of the Council if:

▪ 1.6.1 they cease to be a member of the Society;

▪ 1.6.2 they resign from office;

▪ 1.6.3 they become incapable by reason of mental disorder within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1959 or the corresponding provision of any Act replacing it;

▪ 1.6.4 the Trustee Board resolve that they have been guilty of dishonourable or unprofessional conduct or a breach of the Laws of the Society;

▪ 1.6.5 in relation to such a member a receiving order in bankruptcy is made or any arrangement or composition with creditors;

▪ 1.6.6 they fail to attend three consecutive meetings of the Council (otherwise than through illness or other reasonable cause) and the Council resolves that membership of the Council should cease;

▪ 1.6.7 the members in General Meeting resolve by a simple majority that they be removed from membership of the Council; or

▪ 1.6.8 they become an ex officio member of the Council

Mandy Bryer Registrar The British Computer Society, Block D, North Star House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1FA email: [email protected] fax: 01793 417444.

Page 7 of 7