Parliamentary Fund donors asked how to redeploy their contributions
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is asking recent contributors to its Parliamentary fund how they would like their donations redeployed when the fund is wound up (see Official Notice, p799).
The fund is being discontinued because the Society believes that the
promotion of pharmacy in Parliament is better served by its ongoing public
affairs programme, including lobbying and work with the All Party Pharmacy
Group.
The fund was set up in 1942 following the election to Parliament of Sir
Hugh Linstead, the Society’s then Secretary and Registrar. Its
aim was to assist the election or re-election of pharmacists to the House
of Commons, irrespective of their political affiliations. Over the years,
grants have been awarded to a number of Parliamentary candidates, most
of whom had little, if any, chance of election. No further pharmacist
was elected to Parliament until 2000, when Sandra Gidley won the Romsey
by-election for the Liberal Democrats.
The Council’s decision to wind
up the fund was made in December
2003 (PJ, 13 December 2003, p825). The decision was made on the recommendation
of the corporate governance steering group, following advice from the
Society’s internal auditors.
The Council went on to agree that disposal of the fund should be subject
to the wishes of those donors who could be traced. The steering group
subsequently agreed that the Society’s current Parliamentary work
was the most appropriate recipient of the unclaimed donations to the
fund. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal