Your Congress. Be the voice. Make a difference.

Transcription

1 Your Congress Be the voice. Make a difference.

2 Contents 1. Foreword Purpose of the Handbook What is Congress? How is the Congress set-up? Functional college Regional college Designated officers What does the Congress do? How does the Congress work? Development and establishment of the Congress Governance Documentation Conclusion... 9 Annex 1: Membership Data (01 January 2018) Annex 2: Regulation 1B The Congress and its Operation

3 1. Foreword The establishment of an IChemE Congress is an exciting development for member engagement at IChemE. We expect that the quality conversations taking place in Congress will lead to constructive challenge and debate between this entity and the Board of Trustees. The Congress will provide an opportunity for every member of IChemE regardless of grade or geography - to be represented. Role descriptions were made available to members to encourage nominations that opened on 3 Sep 2018 and elections at the end of September As per standard procedures for establishing a new committee, the newly-elected Board of Trustees will shortly approve Terms of Reference to guide the operations of the inaugural Congress. These were developed based on good practice amongst similar charitable organisations and member feedback on Interface IChemE s member-only online forum. Once fully established, Congress will have control over its own matters. Members of Congress will be fully accountable to their electorate and are expected to speak up on their behalf. The Institution will be doing a lot of listening and learning as the Congress gets up and running. The views of the members will be channelled via the Congress representatives, who will bring matters of importance to the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees, are expected to deliver on our charitable objects, such as Learned Society and Standards/Qualifications. They will use feedback from Congress to guide the direction of the Institution - in finding ways chemical engineers can make a difference, and what IChemE can do to support this. This modernised governance approach will engage chemical engineers to make a positive contribution to society and ensure that IChemE remains relevant in the 21st Century. The Board of Trustees have given a clear signal that significant change is underway, and that change is wholly consistent with our aspiration of being an Institution that is led by members, supports members and serves society. 2. Purpose of the Handbook This handbook sets out the background to the IChemE Congress. We hope that on reading it, this will encourage IChemE members to either join the Congress, or to engage with the Congress Members as peer-elected representatives. The IChemE Congress is designed in-line with good practice amongst other charitable institutions where member representative bodies have been created to assist the Board of Trustees in discharging their duties. This new IChemE structure will help modernise our governance and allow members to be more active in managing the Institution s affairs. The relevant changes to the Royal Charter and the By-laws were backed by over 90% of the Voting Members who participated in the ballot - concluded at the Annual General Meeting on 21 May These changes were formally approved by the Privy Council on 27 June The Board of Trustees is committed to commence the implementation of the changes necessary to create a member-elected advisory body as soon as practically possible. The newly elected Congress will liaise with the Board of Trustees on how Congress should operate to fulfil its duties. As with any new structure, it will take time to establish the preferred modus operandi. This will require constant review and adjustment to the operating procedures and frequent amendment to the relevant supporting documents. The first term of Congress will focus on developing the amendments to the Regulations to be proposed to the Board of Trustees. 2

4 3. What is Congress? The Congress is established as the member advisory body of the Institution comprising of up to 40 volunteer members. It will act as a sounding board and advise the Board of Trustees on matters of interest to IChemE and its members. The Congress was designed to be dynamic and reflect changes in the makeup of IChemE s membership: by geography or by grade How is the Congress set-up? The members of the Congress are nominated and elected by their peers within two electoral colleges: functional and regional. Each IChemE member receives an automated with the invitation to stand for a seat or seats that they are eligible to be nominated for. A member must choose a vacancy in one college only even if they are eligible to stand in both. The nomination should be supported by two members of good standing 1 that are eligible to vote in the constituency that the candidate is standing for. For example, if a member is standing as a Student Member, his or her nomination has to be supported by two Student Members. Once it has been established, the Congress members will be elected to serve a term of three years, commencing at the AGM. To ensure that the membership of Congress is dynamic and is able to contribute to long-term objectives of the Institution, a staggered approach is adopted with one third of the seats available for election every year. This will ensure continuity and succession planning. If during the term of office, a Congress member is no longer eligible for a seat that they have been elected to due to a change of member grade or residency, the candidate will step down in time for the next AGM. To ensure continuity, Student Members are excluded from this provision and need to meet eligibility criteria only at the time that they take up office. 1 A member in good standing is one that has complied with all of their explicit obligations, while not being subject to any form of sanction, suspension or disciplinary censure. 3

5 Functional college As defined by the By-laws, only Fellows and Chartered Members are able to vote at the AGM on the proposals by the Board. To create a mechanism for greater member engagement in the Board s decisionmaking, all members including Associate Fellows, Associate Members, Affiliate Members, Technician Members and Student Members will be able to vote for a functional seat in Congress. The Congress functional college consists of up to 15 representatives to broadly reflect IChemE s membership. Specific eligibility criteria have been designed to ensure Congress members are those who are actively working in the field of chemical engineering or in pursuit of such activity. Members who are eligible to vote or nominate for a functional seat should be currently, or most recently, at a similar career stage as the candidate. They are therefore competent to assess the suitability of their peers. For example, Associate Fellows will be able to nominate and vote for candidates who are Fellows but are not eligible to stand for that seat. One functional seat is reserved to be allocated without changing the Regulations if there are any significant changes in the membership grade breakdown. 4

6 Regional college The regional college consists of up to 25 representatives to reflect the geographical footprint of the membership. The Congress will review the seat allocations ahead of each electoral cycle to ensure it broadly reflects the geographical membership breakdown as at 1 January each year. The membership data from 1 January 2018 is used for the first Congress seat allocation. It can be found in Annex 1. Chartered Members and Fellows are eligible to stand, vote and nominate for the regional representative seats based on their primary registered address within the current regional and branch boundaries. Given the variation in population sizes, vacancies are allocated in three tiers based on the number of Fellows and Chartered Members whose registered address lies within that boundary. The regions that have over 1000 Chartered Members and Fellows are allocated 2 seats; those with less than 1000 and more than 100 Chartered Members and Fellow are allocated 1 seat; and 2 seats are shared by all other regions that have less than 100 Chartered Members and Fellows. One regional seat is reserved to be allocated if there are significant enough increase in the number of Chartered Members and Fellows registered in the regions to move the region in the next tier. * Rest of the World region includes Angola, Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Grenada, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 5

7 Designated officers The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Congress are elected by their peer Congress members to hold office for a period of one year, renewable to a maximum of three years. Any Congress member can put themselves forward for the position of Chair. If more than one candidate comes forward, a ballot amongst the Congress members will be held. The candidate with the second highest vote will become the Vice-Chair. If no ballot is held, the Chair may nominate a Vice-Chair who is appointed by a majority vote. The officers are responsible for ensuring that the views of IChemE members are channelled to the Board of Trustees in a timely and coherent manner. To ensure alignment between the Institution s strategy and the issues that Congress discusses or puts forward, a clear link between the Congress, the Board of Trustees and the staff will be established. The Chair may be asked to attend a part of the Board of Trustees meeting to represent Congress. Furthermore, the Chair, Vice-Chair, the Chief Executive and the designated Trustee will form a Steering Group of the Congress. The Chief Executive is able to provide guidance on the existing rules and procedures and available resource. The lead Trustee will provide insight on the ongoing or planned activity of the Trustees to inform the decisions by the Chair and Vice-Chair. The Chair and Vice-Chair, with advice from the Chief Executive, will set session agendas, times, and expected outputs. They are also responsible for encouraging continuous engagement by all Congress members and resolving any disputes What does the Congress do? The Congress members should act as a voice of the membership and represent interests of their constituencies and the wider IChemE membership. The Congress will therefore use its experience and expertise to provide joint and collective advice to the Board of Trustees to inform their decision-making for the benefit of society. 6

8 To do that, Congress will undertake the following activities: debate matters that are of interest to the wider membership offer or provide member view as and when required liaise with the designated Trustee as a representative of the Board of the Trustees when needed nominate three members for the Nominations Committee review Congress seat allocation on annual basis to reflect the membership make-up provide comment and feedback to the Board on any Strategy and Business Plans as a part of the drafting process review and provide comment on IChemE s formal governance documentation, as part of the desire to make these living documents that evolve on an annual basis note and comment on the Institution s Annual Report and Accounts submit and present its own Annual Report on activity of Congress to the Institution s Annual General Meeting hold a ballot amongst Congress members if necessary form working groups to deliver task-and-finish work if necessary Reports produced by the Congress will be published on Interface, member-only forum How does the Congress work? The Congress will hold up to six sessions per year. Five of which will be held as online open forums using a dedicated platform provided by IChemE. These sessions will last up to 30 days. The Congress members can use forum discussions, upload and share documents and vote if required. Once a year, the Congress members may choose to have a physical meeting. The virtual nature of most Congress sessions will allow members to contribute to the debates at their convenience both within working hours and in evenings/weekends. As with any volunteering position, IChemE aspires to have continuously high engagement of all Congress members but it is understandable that individual contributions will vary depending on other commitments and topics being debated. Collectively, the IChemE Congress, Board of Trustees and staff are channels through which members can propose agenda items for Congress. The agenda for each session will be set by the Chair in consultation with the Steering Group. They will discuss and prioritise the issues tabled. A Congress member, the Board of Trustees or the Chief Executive can submit proposals to the Chair of issues they wish to raise in the upcoming Congress sessions. The best delivery format to fulfil the tasks set out in the agenda is decided by the Congress and agreed by the Chair in consultation with Steering Group. Upon completion of a session, the Congress will deliver a summary session report to the Board of Trustees and share it on the Interface for all members to access. One Trustee will lead engagement with the Congress where needed. The lead Trustee can engage in the discussions, feedback to the Board in a timely manner and identify where consultation with the Congress will inform Trustees decision-making at any stage of Congress session. The lead Trustee may be assisted by other Trustees if required. Unless otherwise agreed, Trustees are able to attend any meeting of Congress and contribute to the virtual discussions. They do not have a vote if a ballot is called. The Chief Executive or his delegated staff will provide support and input as required and will maintain the dedicated online platform and provide reasonable support associated with running of the Congress. 7

9 4. Development and establishment of the Congress The proposed governance reforms were developed by reference to good practice elsewhere and outcomes of consultation and engagement with members. The key objective of IChemE s governance reform was to keep the Institution close to its members whilst enabling dynamic debate to take place that will inform the professionalism that underpins our service to society. The concept of Congress was designed to modernise the governance of the Institution, encourage member engagement, enable the Board of Trustees to be more informed by the member views in their decision-making, and provide a channel of communication with the wider membership. To move forward and involve members in confirming the way the Congress is set up, it is proposed that an extraordinary election process is to be conducted as soon as practically possible, following the Privy Council s formal approval on 27 June The members who are elected during that election will form the first Congress. As part of the establishment of the inaugural Congress, the staggered allocation of seats to the first candidates will be done within both colleges whereby the term in office continues for two, three or four years starting at the AGM This will enable an even succession once the next election cycle begins and allow the candidates to serve the term that is closest to the ordinary term of three years as possible. Therefore, some terms will be extraordinarily extended beyond the ordinary three-year term but no Congress member elected in 2018 will exceed the maximum six-year limit. The length of the terms of the first Congress members will be broadly defined by the percentage of the votes secured in the respective categories whereby the most successful candidate receives the longest term. If the seat was not contested and no ballot was held, the shortest possible term will be allocated to account for the even succession. The Trustees recognise that the first iteration of Congress, and the Regulations and supporting documentation which governs it, will require further refinement and revision as Congress develops its identity and operating practices. The first Congress will operate within the principles outlined in draft governance documentation. To ensure the member input in the way the Congress is set up, the first Congress is given the remit to confirm the modus operandi of the body. 8

10 5. Governance Documentation The Congress, as with any other aspect of IChemE s governance structure, can be traced back to the Institution s Royal Charter. More detail is provided in the By-laws. Royal Charter extract as voted on at the AGM; formally approved by Privy Council on 27 June 2018: 14. There shall be a Congress which may advise the Board on any such matters that are of interest to the Institution and shall have such other rights, duties and responsibilities as are prescribed in this Our Charter and the By-laws and Regulations of the Institution. The Congress shall consist of such number of members with such qualifications and shall be elected or constituted in such manner and shall hold Office for such period and on such terms as to re-election and otherwise as the By-laws prescribe. By-laws extract as voted on at the AGM; formally approved by Privy Council on 27 June 2018: 1. The Congress means the committee elected to advise the Board of Trustees. 16. The membership of Congress and the method of appointment and election of its members shall be governed by the Regulations, and such Regulations may only be amended with a two-thirds majority agreement of the Congress. 17. The frequency and conduct of meetings shall be as decided by the Congress from time to time. Further operational detail is provided by the Regulation 1B Congress and its Operation (Annex 2). The following documents have been developed to support the operations of the first Congress: Role Description for Congress member, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Congress. Congress Terms of Reference. As per standard process, the supporting documents for a new committee will be approved by the newly elected Board of Trustees. The first Congress is tasked with the review of these documents to ensure they are suited for the first election cycle to be held ahead of the AGM in The conduct of the Congress members is guided by Member s Code of Conduct and Code of Conduct for Volunteers which is currently being developed by the Board. 6. Conclusion Trustees look forward to working with members of the Congress to aid in decision-making. Member engagement is critical for the Congress to reach its full potential. The Congress is an essential component of the governance mechanism that will deliver an Institution that is led by members, supports members and serves society. 9

11 Annex 1: Membership Data (01 January 2018) The regional college consists of up to 25 representatives to reflect the geographical footprint of the membership. Chartered Members and Fellows are eligible to stand as regional representative based on their registered address within the current regional and branch boundaries. Given the variation in population sizes, vacancies are allocated in three tiers based on the number of Fellows and Chartered Members whose registered address lies within that boundary and as follows: Seat Allocation Guide 1000 or over 2 Seats Seat Below seats (Shared by all other regions) The Congress will review the seat allocations according to the tiers above ahead of each electoral cycle to ensure it broadly reflects the geographical membership breakdown as at 1 January each year. The below breakdown of the regional network in the UK and Ireland was used to allocate seats on the inaugural Congress. The map represents areas by postcode. The exact numbers of members in each region are provided in the table below. The data reflects the membership composition on 1 January

12 Regions Chartered Members Fellows Grand total Seats South East (UK&IRE) North West & North Wales (UK&IRE) Australia North East (UK&IRE) South Central (UK&IRE) South Scotland (UK&IRE) North Scotland (UK&IRE) Midlands (UK&IRE) South West (UK&IRE) United States of America Eastern (UK&IRE) Malaysia South Africa All Ireland (UK&IRE) South Wales (UK&IRE) New Zealand Canada Netherlands Singapore Rest of the World region 2 United Arab Emirates India Hong Kong France Switzerland Nigeria Qatar Norway Saudi Arabia Germany Trinidad and Tobago Spain Belgium Oman Thailand China Brunei Darussalam Egypt Pakistan Denmark Azerbaijan Greece Italy Bahrain Sri Lanka Cyprus Japan South Korea Indonesia

13 Russia Austria Kuwait Zimbabwe 7 7 Luxembourg Philippines 5 5 Israel Brazil 4 4 Kazakhstan Poland 3 3 Botswana Portugal 3 3 Sweden 3 3 Hungary Vietnam Colombia 3 3 Angola 2 2 Kenya Barbados Monaco Zambia 2 2 Gabon 2 2 Mexico 2 2 Georgia 2 2 Jamaica 2 2 Uganda 1 1 Grenada 1 1 Uzbekistan 1 1 Iran 1 1 Argentina 1 1 Iraq 1 1 Namibia 1 1 Bulgaria 1 1 Finland 1 1 Czech Republic 1 1 Peru 1 1 Papua New Guinea 1 1 Romania 1 1 Ghana 1 1 Equatorial Guinea 1 1 Jordan 1 1 Uruguay 1 1 Gibraltar 1 1 Venezuela 1 1 Puerto Rico 1 1 Cayman Islands 1 1 Bermuda 1 1 Lebanon 1 1 Lithuania 1 1 Grand Total

14 Annex 2: Regulation 1B The Congress and its Operation Charter references 14 By-law reference 1, The Congress 1. The Congress is established in accordance with Article 14 of the Royal Charter and By-laws 16 and 17. The Congress is the member advisory body of the Institution and will consist of up to 40 members elected as described in this Regulation. 2. The overriding purpose of the Congress is to advise the Board on such matters that are of interest to the Institution and it shall have such other rights, duties and responsibilities as are prescribed in these Regulations. Inaugural Congress 3. The Board shall be responsible for establishing the inaugural Congress. 4. The Board shall set the terms of office for the first members of Congress to allow for a staggered succession. The terms of office shall commence upon completion of the election process in Congress Regulations 5. The Board shall be responsible for drafting amendments to this Regulation but will require the support of a two-thirds majority of the members of Congress present and voting before any such amendment may take effect. The Congress may request changes to this Regulation, and the Board must consider and respond to such requests. Responses by the Board may include: a. accepting the request without amendment; b. offering minor amendment; c. offering alternate proposals; or d. advising Congress to maintain the status quo. Where the Board is unable to accept the request without amendment, it will provide a full written explanation. Activity 6. As a part of the Institution s business cycle, the Congress will be asked to review and provide comments to the Board on any Strategy and Business Plans as a part of the drafting process. The Congress will also be asked to note and comment on the Institution s Annual Report and Accounts. 7. Congress will provide its own Annual Report to the Institution s Annual General Meeting. 8. This should be based on Congress s view of the Institutions performance using a methodology that is established and maintained through dialogue with the Board. 9. Congress may form working groups to undertake activity on its behalf. Such groups will generally be temporary in nature and will disband upon completion of the task that has been set. Election of Members 10. Congress will consist of up to 40 Members from two electoral colleges as follows: 13

15 a. Membership by grade. This will include up to 15 members elected as follows: i. Four Fellows nominated and elected by the Fellows and Associate Fellows. ii. Four Chartered Members nominated and elected by the Chartered Members. iii. Four early career members nominated and elected by the Associate Members, Affiliate Members and Technician Members. Early career is defined as members in these grades with less than nine years in full or part-time employment (self-declared). Members with more than nine years in full or part-time employment will be able to nominate and vote in this category but will not eligible to stand for election. iv. Two Student Members nominated and elected by the Student Members. v. One seat is reserved to be appointed by Congress, in consultation with the Congress Steering Group, should there be a significant shift in the composition of the Institution s membership base by grade. The allocation of this seat shall require the support of two-thirds majority of the members of Congress present and voting. b. Membership by location. Up to 25 geographical vacancies are reserved for Chartered Members and Fellows and are allocated based on current regional and branch boundaries based on the number of Fellows and Chartered Members whose registered address lies within that boundary. Given the variation in population sizes, vacancies are allocated in three tiers as follows: i. Tier 1: Each region or branch with 1000 or more Fellows and Chartered Members will be allocated two vacancies, nominated and elected by the Fellows and Chartered Members of that region or branch. ii. Tier 2: Each region or branch with 100 or more and less than 1000 Fellows and Chartered Members will be allocated one vacancy, nominated and elected by the Fellows and Chartered Members of that region or branch. iii. Tier 3: Regions and branches with less than 100 Fellows and Chartered Members will collectively be allocated two vacancies to share, nominated and elected by the Fellows and Chartered Members in all those regions or branches. iv. The allocation of geographical seats shall be reviewed annually by the Congress Steering Group to ensure that it reflects the composition of the Institution s membership base by geographical region. Amendments to the allocation of geographical seats shall require the support of two-thirds majority of the members of Congress present and voting. 11. Terms of office will normally be for a period of three years renewable up to a maximum total of six years after which there shall be at least a two-year gap before a further term can be served. 12. Terms shall commence at the end of the AGM in the year of election. The Congress Steering Group with advice from the Nominations Committee shall arrange an even succession such that one third of the elected posts shall become vacant each year. Exceptionally terms may be varied by up to a year to ensure orderly succession respecting the overall six-year limit at all times. In this Regulation a year means the period from the end of one AGM to the next. 13. Nominations for election of members to Congress shall be made as follows. For each vacancy, any two members in good standing, who are in the constituency that may vote for that vacancy, may nominate any duly qualified member in good standing as a candidate for any such vacancy, by delivering either physically or electronically to the Chief Executive within three weeks after the date of publication of the list of vacancies on the Institution s website, a nomination in writing duly signed by the nominators together with the written consent to act if elected of the person nominated but each such nominator shall be debarred from nominating any other person for the same election. No person shall be eligible to fill any vacancy by election at the Annual General Meeting pursuant to these Regulations unless nominated for the same in compliance with this Regulation. 14. Provided that candidates nominated for any class of vacancy are not more in number than the vacancies in that class, the persons so nominated shall be deemed to be duly elected and there shall be no ballot in respect of that class of vacancy. 14

16 15. The Chief Executive shall, not later than twenty-eight days before the Annual General Meeting, send to each member eligible to vote, a ballot paper which may be in electronic form containing the names of all persons duly nominated to fill the vacancies referred to in these Regulations, stating the names of the nominators and being in all other respects in such form as the Congress shall prescribe. Voting will open fourteen days after the ballot paper has been issued in order to allow candidates the opportunity to campaign. 16. The ballot papers shall contain a requirement that they are to be returned so as to reach the Principal Office of the Institution not later than fourteen working days before the Annual General Meeting. Votes on any ballot papers not so returned shall not be counted. The Chief Executive may make provision for voting to be in electronic form in addition to, or in place of, a postal ballot subject to its being satisfied as to the security of the method of electronic voting. 17. Scrutineers shall be appointed by the Board in accordance with the By-laws to oversee the counting of votes in all concurrent ballots and the production of the election reports. A report of the Congress election results shall be produced in a format that is consistent with requirements set out in the By-laws for that which is produced for trustee elections. 18. Any vacancy that remains unfilled at the end of the election process shall remain unfilled until the following year. 19. A member of Congress will resign if Congress resolves by a two-thirds majority vote of the members voting and present that their Office be vacated by reason of conduct which, in the opinion of the Congress, is, or is likely to be, materially prejudicial to the reputation of the Institution. This may include failure to participate in the business of Congress for three or more sessions. 20. A member of Congress who no longer meets the eligibility requirements for the seat they were elected to shall inform the Congress Chair immediately and vacate the seat at the following AGM irrespective of their remaining term of office. The Student Member representatives are only required to meet the eligibility criteria at the point of taking up office and will complete a three-year term regardless if the change of their membership grade occurs during their term of office. Congress Chair 21. The Chair of the Congress shall have a one-year term of office, renewable to a maximum of three years. The Chair s term of office shall begin and end at the AGM. 22. Any member of Congress may put him/herself forward for the position of Chair. Candidates may submit a statement of not more than 200 words to the Chief Executive for circulation to other members of Congress in support of their application but shall not otherwise canvass for support among members. If more than one application is received a ballot shall be conducted by the Chief Executive on a closed, single transferable vote basis. 23. The candidate with the second highest percentage of votes shall become the Vice-Chair. 24. In the event that only one candidate stands for the position of Chair, the new Chair shall nominate a Vice-Chair who shall require the approval by a majority of the Congress present and voting. 25. The Vice-Chair shall have a one-year term of office, renewable to a maximum of three years. The Vice-Chair s term of office shall begin and end at the AGM. 26. The Vice-Chair may deputise for the Chair where the Chair is unavailable for periods up to 30 days. Should the Chair resign or become unavailable for more than 30 days for any reason, then the Vice-Chair shall take over as Chair until the election process for a new Chair can be completed. Congress Steering Group 27. There shall be a Congress Steering Group responsible for the oversight and facilitation of the conduct of the Congress and the engagement of the Congress members. 15

17 28. The Congress Steering Group shall consist of the Chair and Vice-Chair of Congress, the Chief Executive and the designated Trustee lead. Congress Meetings 29. The Congress shall for the most part operate virtually, utilising an online discussion tool provided by the Institution. Congress shall sit for up to six sessions each year. Each online session will last for up to 30 days and there will be a gap of up to 60 days between sessions. In addition, once each year, Congress will have the opportunity to meet for one session physically. Where practicable, physical meetings will be held in the same place and on the same date (but not at the same time) as meetings of the Board. The Chair in discussion with the Chief Executive will agree the format for recording the output from each session. 30. Any decision of Congress shall be valid so long as over half the currently elected members have participated and the decision has been confirmed by a simple majority vote of the members voting and present unless a different majority is set out in these Regulations or has been agreed in advance. 31. The agenda for Congress shall be determined by the Chair in consultation with the Congress Steering Group. 32. The designated Trustee lead shall facilitate any dialogue between the Board and Congress. 33. The President may attend any meeting of Congress as an observer. 16