Public and Commercial Services Union

A candidates’ question time meeting is where candidates standing in an election are invited to express their views and outline their policies prior to the vote.

As part of the MYVC campaign, PCS is encouraging branches to ‘challenge the candidates’ standing in elections about the issues faced in our workplaces – job cuts and delivering quality public services, privatisation, pay and defending our pensions. The election provides an opportunity to invite candidates to speak to members and outline where they stand on these issues.

When to hold the meeting

As elections generally take place in May we would suggest any candidates’ question time events are held in April so you have enough time to build for the event, but you also have enough time to collate responses from candidates so they can be circulated to members and non-members who did not attend.

Candidates will generally declare their intention to stand in the election at least four weeks in advance, check with the local returning office for details of candidates. However, you can hold candidates’ question time events at any time up to the day before the election.

Please remember childcare issues when considering the timing of your meeting. Lunchtime meetings may be more accessible and therefore better attended by members.

Candidates are also likely to be able to attend during the day. Don’t forget about access for disabled members; ensure your meeting venue is suitable for the members in your branch (e.g. not in a pub if you have Muslim members). Visit the PCS equality pages for more information about booking accessible meetings.

Who to invite

You do not have to invite all the candidates standing, but it is usual to invite the candidates from the main political parties (Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats and where standing Plaid Cymru). You may wish to invite other parties standing in your area, such as Respect, the Green Party and any independents, however we insist you do not invite parties of the far right.

If you have concerns about who should be invited please contact your regional MYVC co-ordinator for advice and support.

You might also want to invite other trade unions in the area to participate in the event, this will involve setting up a series of planning meetings to ensure everyone is agreed on the timing, format and advertising of the event.

Once these are agreed make sure you assign tasks with specific deadlines, these should be reviewed at the planning meetings to ensure that they have been completed before the event.

How to advertise the meeting

Advertising the meeting will depend on whether you want to organise a public or private meeting. A public meeting can be advertised using posters, leaflets and in the press – however, this can be expensive.

A private meeting can be advertised to members and potential members through normal workplace communication methods – face-to-face contact with members and potential members, email, posters, flyers, website, Facebook or Twitter; large branches or groups of branches in a town may wish to hold joint events. Journalists can be invited to both public and private candidates’ question time events.

How to attract press attention for the event

A sample press release will be available on these pages in the coming weeks.

It is worth ensuring that one person has the responsibility for sending the letter or press release out so the information is clear and consistent and the press then have one contact to deal with.

For more information on dealing with the media please contact Richard Simcox, PCS press officer on 020 7801 2747.

What questions to ask

Challenge the candidates to support our public service pledges.

Please use these as a guide and tailor them to the issues you face in your local area. Ensure you also ask about issues relevant to your branch.

Your regional MYVC co-ordinator can provide you with support to set up a candidates’ question time event. This includes obtaining funding and advice on how to build and publicise the event.

Candidates’ question time checklist

As part of the Make Your Vote Count campaign we are encouraging branches to work together and organise candidates’ question time events to allow members and potential members to hear first hand what their candidates say about our national campaign to defend jobs, conditions and services.

This checklist gives you practical tips on how to organise candidates’ question time events to ensure they are successful.

Format of your candidates’ question time event

The format of your candidates’ question time event will depend on your nation/region and the workplace issues that have been raised during the campaign.

Ensure you are clear about the format of your event before you invite candidates along so they are clear about what will happen on the day, for instance should they open with a statement, should candidates be given pre-notified questions, should questions be taken from the floor and also what the length of time is allowed for each response.

Checklist

Planning the event

• Ensure the venue is accessible (wheelchair access and also does not exclude different faiths).
• Get microphone/public address system if room is large.
• Pick the best time and day for members (remember shift and part-time workers).
• Get other PCS branches and trade unions in the area on board.
• Invite other trade unions and the trades councils along.
• If you need funding provisionally book a room and contact your regional co-ordinator with estimated costs immediately, if the branch can’t fund the event they can agree funds from the national campaigns budget.
• Invite speakers – by letter/fax/e-mail and follow up by phone.
• Chase up when you have other speakers confirmed use this as leverage to get other speakers.
• Publicise the event with members and potential members– face-to-face, flyers, posters or the PCS website and on Facebook and Twitter.
• Media release – copy in national press officer Richard Simcox (richard@pcs.org.uk).
• Once speakers are agreed ensure a written briefing on the issues goes out to them about two days before the event.
• To ensure there are questions on the day, ask branches to submit some three days before the event – ensure questions are relevant to candidates.
• Sift the received questions, if notifying candidates before the event, send them about one-two days before along with reminder about the event including timing and venue.
• A day or two before the event do a reminder leaflet drop with members.
• Ensure you have a chair for the meeting and make sure they are briefed about the format of the event, the candidates’ who have agreed to come along and the issues and questions that will be asked.
• Ensure you have a note-taker for the event.
• Send details to your regional MYVC co-ordinator to put onto the PCS website.

On the day

• Get there early to prepare the room.
• Make sure it has a top table and seats for however many candidates have agreed to come and space for the meeting chair.
• Ensure PA equipment is working if booked.
• Contact press again to remind them of the event.
• Ensure note-taker and chair of the meeting arrives.
• Chair should brief candidates when they arrive about the format of the event (see above).
• Set a limit on time for each question – you want to ensure you take as many questions as possible.
• Get note-taker to type responses up ASAP.

Next day

• Send responses to members/publish a report on your website
• Write thank you letters/e-mail/fax to the candidates.
• Write up a short report about the lessons learnt should you do an event like this again – send it to your regional MYVC co-ordinator.
• Send the invoice once received to Laura Cockram, Campaigns, PCS HQ, 160 Falcon Road, London SW11 2LN.
• Press release candidates’ responses (if appropriate) – copy in national press officer Richard Simcox.

After the election

• Hold the successful candidates to account for what they’ve said.