Why does the Federal Executive spend time discussing policy?

Why does the Federal Executive spend time discussing policy when (a) there’s a Federal Policy Committee and (b) it often runs out of time to discuss things within its remit at its meetings?

That was the question prompted in my mind when reading Chris White’s useful write-up of the last Federal Executive meeting over on Lib Dem Voice.

Here’s the exchange we had in the comments:

Mark Pack
I’m interested by the reference to the FE discussing the party’s views on devolution. As that’s a policy matter, it doesn’t immediately sound to me a good use of the FE’s time. I say this not because of any sort of turf fight with the Federal Policy Committee but rather because policy does have another route for debate in the party, but issues which only the FE can/should decide on often seem to get squeezed out without being given enough time at FE meetings. So is it a good use of the FE’s time to discuss policy like this?

It’d be interesting to know more about what the FE discussed and how it was made relevant to the FE’s remit?

Chris White
Mark: it was a curious one. FE receives a current political update which is often Nick talking about what’s been happening in the Commons or behind the scenes which may be of interest or concern. At such meetings the general Party concerns about being too close to the Tory agenda were raised in the past – some might argue to good effect. It’s important that FE does this. It isn’t, by contrast, really that important that we look at devolution.

Your broader point is spot on. We have got to stop cramming everything in to a 3 hour meeting on a Monday night. I would prefer more task and finish groups and two or three weekend meetings where we can really stretch out and do the key job of setting the strategy, considering the longer term budget and so forth.

We also need to stop the practice of on the night presentations. A number of us have a hinterland (mine is the local government family) and can’t report back properly or get briefings if some of the key documentation is not available. This is a bad practice imported from the private sector.