Conference 2000

The following Report was prepared by our Branch Chairman and representative at Conference, Terry Whittles:

INTRODUCTION

The 1998 Poppy Appeal closed at £17,520,827. At the time of conference the 1999 Appeal (closing on 31 May 2000) had raised £18,603,697 with a few outstanding items to be added (including the Conference "bucket collection" which amounted to £1264.90).

The main thrust of advertising for this year will be two-pronged, looking at both remembrance and the future, using the slogans "Forget me Not" and "Always and Forever". The major event (which caused some laughter in the conference hall!) will be a day long spectacular in conjunction with the New Millennium Experience Company at the Millennium Dome on 11^th November. The climax of the event being 2000 children circling the inside of the dome holding hands.

For the statisticians amongst you, delegates attending Conference numbered as follows:

Time	Voting	Non-Voting
Saturday	635	52
Sunday 0930	631	51
Sunday 1215	644	52
Sunday 1420	620	52
Monday 1000	624	49

Lieutenant General Sir Roderick Cordy-Simpson, KBE, CB was unanimously elected as the new National President.

Tony Griffith (Chairman of Leicester County) was elected on to the national Council.

Venues for future Conferences are: 2001 Bournemouth; 2002 Bridlington; 2003 Cardiff; 2004 Scarborough.

There were two presentations from Project Groups:

Royal Charter Review

Currently the Royal Charter and Schedule of Rules is the Legion 'bible'. Changes to it have to go through a number of bodies, ending with permission being granted by the Privy Council. The aim is to split the Royal Charter into two - the first being the Royal Charter of Incorporation and the second being the Legion Rules which could be amended by appropriate means within the Legion. Permission in principle to follow this path has been given by the Privy Council.

All Legion formations will be consulted along the way, culminating in a presentation to Annual Conference in 2002.

Annual Conference Review

This Group is examining all aspects of Annual Conference (cost, agenda, who attends, frequency, venues, elections, administration, motions, ceremonial and social). Annual Conference 2000 received an interim report (available to anybody requiring it). A full report will be passed to Branches by the end of September 2000 for consideration.

· Cutting delegates to 180 based on the County structure (another reason for National Branches to act in concert)

· Shortening Conference to 2 days and dealing with business items only (i.e. not ceremonial/social)

For completeness I have included all motions and, where appropriate, appended notes. Please note that "starred" motions (marked by *) are Legion policy.

1. * This Conference requests the national Council to press HM Government to pay Age Allowance to all War pensioners who have 20% War Disablement Pension on reaching the qualifying age of 65 years old.

2. * This Conference requests the National Council to make representations to HM Government for the introduction of a 100% statutory disregard for War Disablement pensions and War Widows Pensions in respect of Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Refund and remove the burden from local authorities to that of Central Government.

Carried. A statement from the National Council showed that virtually all local authorities in England and Wales now give a 100% disregard. The only ones not to are:

Chester-le-Street, South Tyneside, Easington, Wear Valley, Gateshead, Redcar and Manchester.

3. * This Conference requests that the National Council makes representation to HM Government for the equalisation of service Pensions; the system where people of equal time served and equal rank demobilised after the 1973 Pensions review get approximately three times more that those demobilised before the 1973 Pensions Review.

4. This Conference recommends that ticket prices for the evening performance of the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall be increased from £3 to £5.

5. This Conference strongly recommends that Associate Members be granted the same rights as Ordinary and Life Members to the allocation of tickets for the evening performance of the annual Festival of Remembrance ceremony.

6. This Conference requests that the National Council makes representation to HM Government that at the annual Remembrance Day Parade at Whitehall the VIPs attending the ceremony be asked to remain and watch the march past the Cenotaph.

7. This Conference requests that when the names of the fallen are read at Remembrance Services, there should be reference made to all those who died or suffered as a result of hostilities.

8. This Conference calls upon the National Council to instigate a National Publicity Campaign for the recruitment and retention of members supported by publicity material for action at Branch level.

9. This Conference resolves that the amount allowed for hospital and housebound gifts be increased from £4 to £10 per month.

Lost. Proposer tried to withdraw following speakers against indicating that the purpose of this activity was the visit, not the gift.

10. This Conference requests the National Council to examine the costs of running the Legion residential homes and to consider the effectiveness of selling those homes to a private company with the proviso that a certain number of rooms are retained for the benefit of ex-Service personnel.

11. This Conference refers to the submission made to the European Parliament Committee of Petitions No: 1036/95 by the National Chairman on behalf of the 1995 Annual Conference and now requests the National Council to provide a written report of the action taken to date and proposed future action taken to ensure success.

Lost. This is regarding payment of DSS allowances. It was a dispute between Branches in Spain and the National Council about whether full information had been disclosed.

12. This Conference proposes that the Royal Charter and Schedule of Rules be separated and should now be known as The Royal Charter of Incorporation. A separate book be known as The Bye-Laws of The Royal Charter.

Withdrawn. There is a working group report on the future of the Royal Charter.

13. This Conference resolves that the annual affiliation fee for Ordinary and Associate Members be increased to £xx with effect from 1 October 2000. (Note: there were a number of motion amendments varying the £xx amount from £10 to £5.80).

14. This Conference resolves that the annual affiliation fee for Ordinary, Associate and Youth Associate Members of The Royal British Legion shall only be adjusted in line with the annual rate of inflation each year.

15. This Conference considers the termination of The Royal British Legion Magazine as an option to reduce the financial impact on the membership.

16. This Conference deplores the cost of the Clubs Department being borne by all the members. It requests that this cost be met entirely by RBL Clubs, so that Clubs are not subsidised by members of Branches without Clubs.

17. This Conference is concerned that a proportion of every member's affiliation fee is being used to subsidise the Clubs Advisory Department, and asks that the National Council and Finance Department ascertain the need for a Clubs Advisory Department.

18. This Conference deplores the practice of not having County and Branch Standard Bearers on parade when the National Standard is presented at the end of Conference.

19. This Conference requests the National Council to co-opt one from each of the three Armed Services on to the National Council.

20. This Conference recommends that the National Council makes strong representations to the Officers Association, otherwise known as the Officers Benevolent Department of the Royal British Legion, to amalgamate with the Royal British Legion under one Royal Charter.

21. This Conference considers that all members of the Gurkha Forces should receive equal pay, pensions and other conditions as afforded to all British Forces and requests the National Council to support this view.

22. This Conference requests the National Council to take action for more co-operation and more publicity with other ex-service organisations and old age pensioner groups to press the Government for a better financial deal for all old age pensioners, many of who are ex-service.

23. This Conference requests that HM Government be approached with the request that the maintenance of all War Memorials be placed under the control of the Heritage Committee and funded by Central Government.

24. This Conference deplores the Ministry of Defence ruling that compassionate leave granted during 1939 – 45 breaks continuous service and therefore deprives those who served in the Armed Forces during WWII of the Defence Medal. National Council is urged to take up the matter with HM Government with the view to rescinding the rule.

25. This Conference requests the National Council to make representation to all authorities concerned to obtain exemption for the Royal British Legion from charges made by police and other authorities in connection with the closure of streets etc. for the purpose of holding Remembrance and other parades.

26. This Conference requests the National Council to use their influence through the Department of the Environment and by Her Majesty's command, that the Union Flag be hoisted on Government and public buildings together with Royal British Legion establishments on the 11^th November each year, as well as on Remembrance Sunday.

27. This Conference requests that the national Council do all in its power to ensure that the ex-Service community receives a fair share of the monies distributed by the National Lottery.

28. This Conference calls upon the National Council to take issue with HM Government to amend the War Memorials Act 1923 with regard to local government by deleting the phrase "may incur" and insert the phrase "will incur".

There was one formal appeal, from District South Spain, allowed by Conference Committee as follows:

"This conference records a vote of no confidence in the action of the national Council in implementing the infrastructure development proposals in addition to C.O.S.W.O.P. without prior consultation with or taking cognisance of Annual Conference as required by Rule 28."

This year's Conference seemed more purposeful and focused than some have been in the past, with fewer guest speakers and more discussion of issues.

REPORT FROM ANNUAL CONFERENCE

HELD AT THE OPERA HOUSE THEATRE, THE WINTER GARDENS, BLACKPOOL - 27th to 29th May, 2000

INTRODUCTION

There were two presentations from Project Groups:

Royal Charter Review

Annual Conference Review