96


John Lewis Partnership plc Annual Report and Accounts 2015


The Partnership Council report


OUR ACTIONS AND DECISION- MAKING THIS YEAR WERE ACCOMPANIED BY LIVELY DEBATE ON PAY, PENSIONS AND SYSTEMS AND LED TO SOME LANDMARK CHANGES IN PENSIONS.


Jane Burgess Partners’ Counsellor


Council members


Partnership Council


Chairman


Partnership Board


In this section:


partner opinion holding to account influencing policy making decisions


The Partnership Council split


John Lewis 25


Waitrose 38


Elected


Directors 15


Appointed by the


Chairman 3


Partnership Services


1


Group 2


President 1


The Partnership Council currently consists of 66 elected members (38 Waitrose, 25 John Lewis, two Group, one Partnership Services), a President, three members appointed by the Chairman and the 15 members of the Board, who are automatically members. Over the past year, there have been 16 by-elections and Council attendance averaged 95% of elected councillors.


66 Partner Opinion


Since the Partnership is owned in trust for Partners – past, present and future – sovereign authority ultimately lies in Partner opinion. Yet whilst all three governing authorities therefore have a duty to ensure that Partner opinion is paramount, the Partnership Council is where this is most vividly brought to life. Every Partner has a responsibility, as outlined in the Constitution, to contribute to the success and well-being of the Partnership in order to share in the rewards of profit, knowledge and power.


The two key ways in which Partners fulfil that responsibility are by voicing their opinion and by carefully selecting representatives to carry that opinion forward at every level of our democratic structure, culminating in it being formally brought to bear at Partnership Council meetings.


Partnership Council actions Elected members of Council


Meetings and attendance The Constitution requires that the Partnership Council meets at least twice a year.


Role of the Council


Partnership Council is central to the business’ co-ownership structure, and its role is set out in the Constitution. As the most senior representative body of the members of the Partnership, it entrusts management of the business to the Partnership Board, which delegates its management authority to the Chairman (Rule 3). It is one of the Partnership’s three governing authorities, along with the Chairman and the Partnership Board. All three are ultimately responsible for the success and wellbeing of the Partnership.


This year has seen a leap forward in the Partnership Council’s ability to gather and hone Partner opinion through the introduction of Google communities and the issuing of iPads to all Councillors in the autumn. As a result, every Councillor is now more easily able to access emails, the intranet and a newly designed Partnership Council site, complete with links to all agendas, supporting papers, presentations and summaries, both for the full Council and for its Specialist Groups. We are hopeful, too, that the development of webinar facilities will further enhance Councillors’ ability to share opinion and be briefed on topics.


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