The English Candidates Committee (ECC) fulfills a key constitutional function and as a body is responsible for overseeing every stage of the candidates' process from application to approval and later selection.
ECC is made up of a combination of executive officers in the English Party, the 11 Regional Candidates Chairs, a rep from the Parliamentary Candidates Association and five directly elected English Council members. The committee works closely with the Candidates' Office team at Lib Dem HQ.
ECC is Chaired by the directly elected Chair. The Chair of the English Party is also invited to attend, in addition to each Regional Candidates Chair (RCC) and five directly elected members from the English Council.
Time Commitment
ECC holds 4 Saturday meetings per year, which normally run from 11.00am until 3.30pm. These occur once per Quarter, though extra meetings are regularly scheduled during busy periods. In addition ECC communicates heavily by email. The Candidates' process is very technical, and requires a deal of reading to fully understand the specific rules at each stage (application, approval and selection), which members of the committee should be familiar with.
Many of the key documents (such as the selection rules) can be found in the Member's section.
Essential Skills
Experience of the Candidates' process is beneficial. Alternatively a background in education, assessment, Human Resources or a similar fields will provide many of the relevant skills. Returning Officers are also warmly welcomed for their technical knowledge of the selection rules.
Support
As with all English Committees reasonable travel expenses above £15 can be claimed.
Chair - Margaret Joachim
Vice Chair - Dawn Davidson
Devon & Cornwall -Iain MacDonald
East Midlands - Robert Charlesworth
East of England - Josephine Hayes
London & Overseas - Dave Raval
North East -Ian Jones
North West - Val Jay
South Central - Alasdair Keay
South East - Dawn Davidson
West Midlands - Jennifer Gray
Western Counties - Guy Adams
Yorkshire & the Humber - Penny Robinson
Directly Elected - Callum Robertson
Directly Elected - Brian Orrell
Directly Elected - David Crowther