All-Party Parliamentary Group for Writers Annual General Meeting Minutes

Annual General Meeting Minutes

Tuesday 19 March 2024

From 14.50

Dining Room B, House of Commons, London

Quorum: Five APPG members (from either House)

Electoral procedure:

• Voting will be by a show of hands.
• The group will allow a prospective officer to be elected in absentia.

Notetaker: Jonathan England (c/o Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society)

Attendees: Giles Watling MP (Con), Baron Hunt (Con), Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench), Baron Alderdice (Lib Dem), Lord Balfe (Con), Chris Evans MP

(Lab), Dean Russell MP (Con), Baroness Blackstone (Lab)

**Arrived during or late for the AGM but attended meeting: Baroness Bonham-Carte (Lib Dem), Lord Truscott, Baron Woodley, Viscount Colville (X), Lord Don Foster (Lib Dem), Lord Taylor, Lord Dubs (Lab), Pete Wishart MP (SNP), Baroness Featherstone (Lib Dem)

1. Welcome from the Chair of the APPG for Writers, Giles Watling MP.

Giles Watling brought the meeting to order at 14:55.

1. 2. Election of APPG Officers and Members (in accordance with new APPG rules)
      1. Election of Chair.

Giles Watling MP was proposed as Chair again and was voted through unanimously by show of hands by those members present (eight).

1. Election of co/Vice Chair

Chris Evans MP was proposed as Vice Chair and was voted through unanimously by show of hands by those members present (eight).

1. Election of other Officers (up to four)

The Earl of Clancarty and Lord Clement-Jones (in absentia) were proposed as final two Vice Chairs and were voted through was voted unanimously by show of hands by those members present (eight).

1. Final Results:

3. Approval of income and expenditure statement (2023-24) – PAPER B

The group approved the income and expenditure statement for the group.*

4. Declaration of benefits-in-kind for 2024-25 – PAPER C

The group approved the benefits-in-kind from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society for Secretariat support in year ahead.*

5. Approval of the Annual Report of the APPG for Writers (2023-24) – PAPER D*

Re-elected Chair, Giles Watling MP, invited Jonathan England to present the review of the year which featured the launch of the Freelancer Commissioner campaign as well as the ongoing work of the APWG for a smart fund and roundup of the campaign meetings and receptions hosted in association with the group.

Priorities of the group for the next year:

Re-elected Chair, Giles Watling MP, invited Jonathan England to present the priorities of the group for next year before opening the conversation to the group and inviting questions on the report or financial statements.

The Chair of the APWG anticipates the focus in the coming year will be on:

• Continuing to campaign for greater creator engagement with government through a dedicated freelancer commissioner.
• Ensuring authors are fairly compensated for the use of their work in the platform economy. 
• Continuing to monitor AI technologies and their impact on authors, campaigning for protection of their interests and for licensing solutions to secure fair remuneration where their works are used.

In addition to these areas of focus, ongoing policy concerns for writers will include: 

• The creation of a ‘Smart Fund’ to pay authors for uses of their work and also deliver targeted support to creative communities across the country with funds raised from sales of technical devices to compensate authors for the copying of their works such devices enable.
• Protect and promote the UK’s effective copyright system, as the IPO has not made a final decision on the status of the UK’s copyright exhaustion regime
• Remove VAT on audiobooks to resolve an ongoing unfairness, where other formats of books are VAT free.
• Campaign for an increase in the Public Lending Right pot for authors to better remunerate them for the contribution they make to libraries, the Public Lending Right fund has not been increased in over ten years

For more details on the below, please visit www.alcs.co.uk/about-us/campaining

• A Manifesto for Writers
• AI Principles Paper
• Freelancer Commissioner
• The Smart Fund

The CREATe research into Freelance Journalism can be found at www.alcs.co.uk/research

* the full financial statement and year review report were circulated to members prior to the meeting and can be requested by emailing advocacy@alcs.co.uk

**please note the APWG website will be updated to include these papers.