Dear Members,
Since my last message to you (following my appointment as the CPF National Director) things have been moving very quickly indeed. At the end of January, we will be producing our first policy paper (within the subject area of Housing) and I have been working hard to ensure that everything is in place to re-establish the CPF as a strong and vibrant movement within our party.
Last week the Board approved my business plan for the next three years which sets out a clear plan of action for the CPF and aims to give our members a stronger voice and a greater influence in Conservative Party policy-making.
The key points are as follows:
1. Rebooting and creating new CPF Groups – In the New Year, a CPF pack will be sent to all Conservative Associations within the UK containing guidance on matters such as setting up groups and arranging CPF functions. It will also contain pro forma documents for use by groups e.g. policy paper comment forms.
2. Formalising membership of the CPF and registration of groups – To give the CPF a formal identity and create a sense of belonging to the CPF, members will now need to formally join to participate and groups will need to formally register and be approved (by the regional CPF coordinators). The join up facility online gives members the opportunity to suggest topic areas for the CPF to consider in future papers, so please do encourage people to use it.
3. Increasing Participation – The website and twitter pages have been updated and are in use and we hope to create a Facebook presence. We will be creating a secure facility for people to comment on papers online and will be sending a monthly online newsletter to CPF members. We will be working with regions to help create a National programme of regular formal and informal CPF events. We will also be creating power point presentations to accompany policy papers for CPF Groups.
4. Inclusivity and effective outreach – To ensure that contributions to our work are made from as wide an audience as possible (including those in higher education) we will be advertising (on the website before Christmas) for new outreach/youth officers to be co-opted onto the Management Committee. Hopefully, these officers will be geographically placed to ensure effective engagement though out the UK.
5. Profile-raising – The CPF must be taken seriously and recognised as our voice. We will be raising that profile through social media, merchandising and branding and within Party Conference.
6. Campaigning – Those interested in policy can be a huge asset to campaigning during elections – whether that be through online, telephone or door to door campaigning. We will be focusing on establishing the CPF as a campaigning policy forum, encouraging its members (with their knowledge and interest in policy) to help campaigns through engaging with voters.
Hopefully after reading this message you will see that our plans for the CPF moving forward are ambitious and extremely exciting! I know that working together we can really grow the CPF – building a stronger voluntary party and in turn, a stronger Conservative Party. As always I would encourage you please to feedback your comments (via e-mail or through the website) on any aspect of the CPF.
Finally, I would like to thank you for all your hard work for the CPF and to wish you all season’s greetings and best wishes for a very happy New Year.
I look forward to working with you all in 2016!
Kind regards,
Hannah
Hannah David, LLB (Hons.) MSc.
National Director – Conservative Policy Forum