Strong debate expected at LDC Conference
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- Published: Wednesday, 07 June 2017 07:33
- Written by News Editor
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This year’s LDC Conference takes place on June 8/9 in Birmingham and is chaired by Alisdair McKendrick. Central to all LDC conferencs are the motions which have been condensed to 25 from the 70 orginally submitted. This should allow fuller debate and the three below should spark interest, with the BDA/GDPC being forced to defend itself.
Northamptonshire LDC have put forward a motion that may well spark debate. They say that they consider the GDPC ‘as little more than a talking shop’. And they call for a radical update of the GDPC’s working processes ‘to make them more effective’.
Every year the GDPC responds to the previous year’s Conference motions and the GDPC chair is held to account for the decisions made. But the motion goes beyond this, by calling for reform of the committee’s working processes. It will be interesting to see if practical suggestions are made and how the GDPC executive responds.
More women at the top?
Northamptonshire LDC also puts forward this motion expressing shock at ‘the completely unrepresentative number of women in dental leadership roles.’ It calls on the conference ‘to institute affirmative action to elect more women to BDA PEC and GDPC’.
Conference this year is held on the day of the General Election where the proportion of women standing was the highest on record (965 in total – 29%). The chair and vice-chairs of the GDPC are men and in the recent BDA PEC elections a woman member lost out to a man. No doubt some will say that this is what happens with a democratic process, but this is an opportunity for the Conference to express its views.
Legal costs
Birmingham LDC calls upon Local Dental Committees to ‘fund legal challenges taken by the BDA on a 50/50 payment basis’. Again, this is likely to be a controversial motion. Some will see the funding of legal challenges as part of the BDA’s Trades Union function and they should therefore bear the full cost. Others will say that the LDCs should make a contribution. But again, many will point to difficulties LDCs have in collecting levies from dentists. Which way would you want your representatives to vote?
To see Conference papers go to:
http://www.ldcuk.org/documents/current-year/179-2017-ldc-conference-papers/file
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