What is a Working Party?
Once the Council has identified a major ethical issue, it establishes a Working Party to examine and report on the issue. Each Working Party consists of an independent Chair and seven to 14 members appointed by the Council. Members are chosen to represent a range of specialist experience and skills and the Council tries to ensure that they cover a wide range of views. The Chair is co-opted as a member of the Council during the course of the Working Party, to help communication between the Working Party and the Council.
Producing a Report typically takes eighteen months to two years, during which time the Working Party will have up to twelve meetings to examine issues, consider and develop arguments, and draft the Report. The Working Party will also conduct a public consultation exercise, mainly by letters and via the Internet. Typically more than 100 responses are received, and the results have proved extremely useful, providing a wide range of views on almost all the issues of concern. In addition, a number of fact-finding meetings are arranged on specialist topics. Working Parties are supported by the Secretariat, with a senior member serving as Secretary to the group.
A Working Party meeting
The Working Party produces their Report in consultation with the Council. The Council reviews drafts of each Report before it is submitted for peer review and then approves the final Report prior to publication. External experts, chosen by the Working Party and members of Council, carry out the peer review. These experts are selected to represent a spectrum of opinion and expected to provide constructive criticism. Once a Report is approved by the Council, it becomes the Report of the Council.
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Last Updated Fri, 1 December 2006