| The purpose of this section is to list some of the questions and answers that come up in relation to the BUC Session. |
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| What is the "constituency" of the BUC? |
| Why does the Welsh Mission get eight delegates but my big church only gets two? |
| This year the Nominating Committee met by Zoom. Was that constitutional? |
| When does the BUC Session actually start? |
| Was there ever a time when we had 600 delegates at a BUC Session? |
| Is it true that the delegate cap, and the preliminary meetings, came in for financial reasons? |
| The proposed new constitution allows the General Conference to call a BUC Session. Is this something new? |
| Could the BUC Session be held virtually - by Zoom or something? |
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| What is the "constituency" of the BUC? |
| "Constituency" means the constituent parts or the member units that make up the whole. In the case of the BUC these are defined in Article 4 (a). They are: the two conferences, and the three missions. So the BUC is made up of just five member units: the Irish Mission, the North England Conference, the Scottish Mission, the South England Conference, and the Welsh Mission. Each of these five member units must be represented at a "constituency meeting" or session as we sometimes call it. |
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| Why does the Welsh Mission get eight delegates but my big church only gets two? |
| This concern is based on a misunderstanding of the constituency of the BUC. Churches do not get any delegates to the BUC Session, only the two conferences and three missions have delegates. It is up to the conferences and missions to decide how they will choose the delegates to best represent them at the constituency meeting. They may consult with the churches and take recommendations from them, but they make the final choice, taking into account the balance of age, gender, experience, etc. There is a quota for the number of delegates from each member unit and it is defined in Article 6 (a) (ii). This is how it worked out for the current session: |
| Member Unit | Members | Fixed Allocation | Percentage of Total Membership | Delegates Based on Membership | Total Regular Delegates | | Irish Mission | 1,036 | 3 | 2.60% | 7 | 10 | | North England Conference | 11,615 | 3 | 29.14% | 83 | 86 | | Scottish Mission | 705 | 3 | 1.77% | 5 | 8 | | South England Conference | 25,820 | 3 | 64.78% | 185 | 188 | | Welsh Mission | 683 | 3 | 1.71% | 5 | 8 | | Totals: | 39,859 | 15 | 100% | 285 | 300 |
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| This year the Nominating Committee met by Zoom. Was that constitutional? |
| Yes. The Nominating Committee meeting is one of the preliminary meetings which has to be held prior to the session. Article 16 (g) of the current constitution says, "In this constitution the expression 'meeting' includes, except where inconsistent with any legal obligation: (i) a physical meeting; (ii) a video conference, an internet video facility or similar electronic method allowing simultaneous visual and audio participation; and (iii) telephone conferencing." |
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| When does the BUC Session actually start? |
| A question which was first raised following the report of the Nominating Committee is, when does the BUC Session actually start? Is it when the delegates meet in session, or some time before? For a detailed answer please read the article When Does the Session Start? You may also be interested in the article Don't Blame the Constitution! |
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| Was there ever a time when we had 600 delegates at a BUC Session? |
| No, the highest number of delegates at a BUC Session was reached at the 26-30 July 2006 Session, which was held at the Central Hall, York University. The maximum possible number of delegates to this session was 546, though only 493 were recorded as having attended. At the start of the session, only 399 had registered. This was the session where the decision was taken "almost unanimously" to cap the number of regular delegates to 400. This was reduced to 300 at the special session in May 2009. The figure of 600 probably comes from a confusion with the SEC constitution, which sets a cap on the total number of delegates of 600. |
| Read this article to see how many delegates are needed for a really big Union session. |
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| Is it true that the delegate cap, and the preliminary meetings, came in for financial reasons? |
| While the spiraling costs of the session were certainly a consideration, the minutes of the 2009 session state, "the emphasis ... was not on finance but on finding and recommending a process that would be most effective in conducting the business of the church. This had as much to do with the preparation for the session, in terms of setting up committees before the session, as the session itself." |
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| The proposed new constitution allows the General Conference to call a BUC Session. Is this something new? |
| Yes and no. The current constitution, in Article 5 (a), says, "In the event that the Union Executive Committee fails to call a regular session within the five-year period, the Trans-European Division Executive Committee may give notice for such a meeting and designate the time and place." This is virtually identical with the proposed new constitution Article 5 (a), which says, "In the event that the Executive Committee fails to call a regular constituency meeting within the quinquennial period, the executive committee of the Trans-European Division may give notice for such a meeting and designate the time and place." |
| In relation to a special session, the current constitution, in Article 5 (d) says, "The Executive Committee may call a special session of this Union Conference at such a time and place as it deems proper, by a like notice as for regular sessions when: ... (iv) it is requested by the Trans-European Division or General Conference Executive Committees.". This is very similar to Article 5 (b) (i) (4) of the proposed new constitution, which says, "The Executive Committee shall call a special constituency meeting when: ... It is voted for by the executive committee of the Trans-European Division or the executive committee of the General Conference." |
| However, the proposed new BUC constitution adds another clause, Article 5 (b) (ii) as follows: "In the absence of a response within 45 days by the Executive Committee to paragraphs 2 to 4 in 5 (b) (i) above, the executive committee of the Trans-European Division or the executive committee of the General Conference may call a special constituency meeting of this Union Conference and designate the time and place for such a meeting." The reason for this addition is to make provision for a case where the BUC Executive Committee may be either unwilling or unable to call a session itself, despite having been requested to do so by the TED or GC. In this case the TED or GC may need to call the session themselves. |
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| Could the BUC Session be held virtually - by Zoom or something? |
| This is becoming a very interesting question. We used to say no, because of just two words in Article 7 (b) of the current (2016) constitution. It says, "All delegates must be present in person at any session in order to be eligible to vote. There shall be no
voting by proxy." |
| We have previously understood "in person" to mean physically present, but the words are increasingly being used to include presence by virtual means, like Zoom. The context of Article 7 (b) suggests that the main reason for its inclusion is to preclude the use of a "proxy", that is, another person standing in for you and voting on your behalf. |
| There is further evidence within the current constitution to suggest that a virtual session could be allowed. Article 16 (g) says, "In this constitution the expression 'meeting' includes, except where inconsistent with any legal obligation: (i) a physical meeting; (ii) a video conference, an internet video facility or similar electronic method allowing simultaneous visual and audio participation; and (iii) telephone conferencing." Then, in two articles, 5 and 8, the session is described as a "meeting". So, putting these two points together we can infer that a virtual session could be allowed by the current constitution. However, this is not an option we are keen to pursue. |
| Note that even if there were no provision for a virtual session in our constitution, the Charity Commission is taking a lenient view where such a course of action is taken for the sake of good governance. See their advice here. |