In Parliament ‘ginger’ groups exist to promote specific subjects in which MPs and peers might take a particular interest. They are known as All Party Parliamentary Groups, or APPGs. They follow rules set down by the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards and these are enforced by the Ways and Means Office under the stewardship of the Deputy Speaker.
There rules concern the number of members of both houses required for a meeting to be quorate, and financial reporting for funds received to promote the objectives of the group.
Much of the that financial reporting concerns ‘benefits in kind’ because many APPGs are supported by a ‘secretariat’ in the form of a charity with objectives that overlap with that of the APPG.
Clearly, when meetings are organised by an APPG with an interesting speaker or round-table,
members of the group will want to extend the opportunity to other peers and MPs. Equally, the secretariat will send out invitations. Often, the secretariat will email their supporters throughout the country enclosing a link which, if activated, will send their MP a standard letter asking them to attend the meeting.
When Parliament is sitting, I will receive some twenty such invitations per day, sometimes many more.
As I write, Parliament is in recess until September, and it is a Saturday, and I have received three invites to APPG meetings for the first couple of days that we get back in September. All three are from groups that promote the interests of sufferers of a different disease.
I’ve not counted, but my prejudice is that there are more disease related APPGs than any other kind. Whilst there is a cancer APPG, there are also APPGs for almost all specific forms of cancer. It’s almost as if there is an APPG for every medical condition known to man, perhaps with the exception of rigor mortis.
I might be invited to ‘drop-in’ to a committee room for just a few minutes to collect some briefing material , including an estimate of the number of sufferers in my constituency’; then sign the collective letter to the minister, have a photo for social media in front of a banner, whilst holding a board carrying a slogan. And then quickly on to my next assignment.
Alternatively, I might be asked to the Terrace Pavilion to quaff champagne and canapes whilst listening to speeches, all with a rather greater investment of time.
Why do I so rarely go?
The simple fact is that there are just so many other demands on my time. Equally, what is the benefit for me as a legislator, going along to hear about the latest treatment for a particular disease and to sign an open letter to the minister demanding that more resources be deployed for the new treatment?
To be blunt, I believe that there are better ways to distribute NHS resources and to determine clinical priorities than to badger MPs, so that they can, in turn, badger ministers about it.
I will be travelling overseas for the next fortnight. So, this column will not reappear until September.