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Terms of Reference as amended on 25th February 2005
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The role of the National Needle Exchange Forum is:
To actively promote and support the provision of high quality,
comprehensive needle exchange services as a key part of the United
Kingdom drugs strategy.
The aims of the Forum are:
- To identify and promote good practice in the development and
delivery of needle exchange services.
- To influence policy-makers and partner agencies, in order to
ensure that the philosophy of harm reduction remains central to
public health policy in the United Kingdom.
- To raise awareness and promote understanding of the role of
needle exchange.
- To establish and maintain a communication network for members
of the Forum.
- To initiate and facilitate open, informed discussion and debate.
- To provide expert advice on issues related to needle exchange
and injecting drug use.
- To promote and support links with relevant national and international
organisations.
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Membership
Membership is free of charge. Full membership is open to:
a) Any individual whose work involves the provision or development
of needle exchange services;
b) Representatives of needle exchange user groups;
c) Non-commercial organisations which have a professional interest
in needle exchange, and which support the role and purpose of the
Forum.
In addition, commercial organisations may apply for associate membership,
which will be subject to the agreement of the Planning Group. Associate
members will be entitled to attend meetings of the Forum. They will
not have the right to vote, and their representatives may not hold
office in the Forum.
Members who neither attend, nor send apologies to, three consecutive
meetings of the Forum will be assumed to have resigned, and will
be removed from the mailing list.
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Constitution
The Forum will meet at least twice a year. It is desirable that
at least one of these meetings should be held outside of London.
An Annual General Meeting will be held once every calendar year.
This may be held as part of one of the regular meetings. Members
will be given at least one calendar month's notice of the Annual
General Meeting.
These Terms of Reference shall be subject to a formal annual review
by the Planning Group. Any amendments to the Terms of Reference
must be approved by an Annual General Meeting.
Whenever possible, decisions of the Forum will be made by consensus.
If opinion is divided a vote may be taken, and a motion will normally
be carried by a simple majority of those attending and voting. At
the discretion of the Chair, a vote by post or e-mail may be called
of all the full members who are on the current mailing list.
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Secretariat
Drugscope will act as the Forum Secretariat. This will include
taking minutes of meetings, and distributing minutes, agendas and
other papers to the members. The Forum membership list will remain
the property of the NNEF.
Election of Forum Officers
Chair, Deputy Chair and Treasurer will be elected by Forum members.
An election of these Officers will be held once every three years,
or sooner if required by resignation or other exceptional circumstances,
and will take place at the Annual General Meeting. Each individual
and organisational member (excluding associate members) will be
entitled to one vote.
Nominations for election will be invited from the Forum membership,
not less than two weeks prior to the AGM. In the event of a contest
for any post, voting will be by show of hands among those members
attending the AGM.
During their term of office, the Officers will be expected to report
to the membership as a whole on any activities they carry out on
behalf of the Forum. Any Officer may be removed by a vote of no
confidence, a written resolution for which, signed by not less than
ten full members, must be deposited with the Secretariat not less
that four weeks before the next scheduled meeting of the Forum.
Any full member may instigate a vote of no confidence.
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Forum Planning Group
The Forum Planning Group will consist of the three elected officers,
together with a further six members. As far as possible, these additional
members should represent different geographical areas. There will
not be a formal election for these positions, but all members of
the Planning Group must be approved by a meeting of the Forum, and
their names recorded in the minutes.
The role of the Planning Group will be to carry forward the aims
of the Forum between meetings. It will seek to represent the views
and interests of the membership as a whole. Decisions taken by the
Planning Group will be reported to the membership at the next full
meeting of the Forum.
Other members of the Forum may volunteer, or be invited by the Planning
Group, to contribute to the work of the Forum on specific issues.
Commercial Organisations
The Forum welcomes sponsorship of its activities by appropriate
commercial organisations. The Forum will facilitate and promote
a dialogue with companies in the field, in order to improve the
availability of suitable products for use by needle exchanges.
As described above, commercial organisations may apply for associate
membership of the Forum.
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