On 9 July, the ME Association published the membership list for the reformed APPG on ME:

09 July 2010

On Wednesday 7 July David Amess MP chaired the inaugural meeting in Westminster of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for M.E.

We are pleased to report that the decision was taken to re-register as an approved APPG and that the mandatory 20 qualifying names of Parliamentarians were obtained to enable this to happen.

For further information, including the names of the office holders, you can find the minutes of the meeting here:

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT WHO HAVE JOINED THE APPG FOR ME

1. David Amess MP (Conservative, Southend West)
2. Graham Brady MP (Conservative, Altrincham and Sale West)
3. Laurence Robertson MP (Conservative, Tewkesbury)
4. Adrian Sanders MP (Liberal Democrat, Torbay)
5. Peter Bottomley MP (Conservatve, Worthing West)
6. John McDonnell MP (Labour, Hayes and Harlington)
7. Russell Brown MP (Labour, Dumfries and Galloway)
8. Nigel Evans MP (Conservative, Ribble Balley)
9. Iain Liddell-Grainger MP (Conservative, Bridgwater and West Somerset)
10. Annette Brooke MP (Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset and North Poole)
11. Sharon Hodgson MP (Labour, Washington and Sunderland West)
12. John Leech MP (Liberal Democrat, Manchester Withington)
13. Kerry McCarthy MP (Labour, Bristol East)
14. Kelvin Hopkins MP (Labour, Luton North)
15. Jim Dowd MP (Labour, Lewisham West and Penge)
16. Mark Garnier MP (Conservative, Wyre Forest)
17. Dave Anderson MP (Labour, Blaydon)
18. Harriett Baldwin MP (Conservative, West Worcestershire)
19. Richard Burden MP (Labour, Birmingham Northfield)
20. Countess of Mar (Cross-bencher, House of Lords; chair of the ‘Forward ME’ Group)
21. Tony Baldry MP (Conservative, Banbury)
22. Sajid Javid MP (Conservative, Bromsgrove)
23. Hywel Williams MP (Plaid Cyrmu, Arfon)
24. Peter Aldous MP (Conservative, Waveney)
25. Nigel Dodds MP (Democratic Unionist, Belfast North)
26. Lord Puttnam (Labour, House of Lords)
27. Martin Vickers MP (Conservative, Cleethorpes)

All Party Parliamentary Group on M.E.

Minutes of a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on M.E.

Chair: David Amess
Vice-Chair: Annette Brooke MP
Secretary: John Leech MP
Treasurer: Martin Vickers MP

Minutes of a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on M.E.

held at 11am, Wednesday 7 July 2010

Room B, 1 Parliament Street London

Present

Parliamentarians

David Amess MP – chair of this meeting
Annette Brook MP
John Leech MP
Martin Vickers MP

Parliamentary office representatives in attendance

Joanna Ashworth, office of David Amess MP
Richard Crossick, office of John Leech MP

Secretariat in attendance

Sir Peter Spencer (Action for M.E.)
Charles Shepherd (MEA)

Apologies:

Harriet Baldwin MP
Tony Baldry MP

1.Welcome

David Amess welcomed his fellow MPs and explained that the meeting had been called to see if the APPG for M.E. should be formed again in the new Parliament and re-registered on the approved list. He had agreed to sponsor this inaugural meeting because he was the only remaining officer from the APPG on M.E. in the previous Parliament still able to participate.

2. Election of Officers

The meeting was quorate and elected the following officers:

Chair – David Amess MP
Vice-Chair – Annette Brooke MP
Secretary – John Leech MP
Treasurer – Martin Vickers MP

David Amess explained that he would act as chair on an interim basis only because of the volume of his other commitments. He had found a fellow MP who would be very suitable as chair and hoped that this member would come forward for election to the post before too long. Meanwhile he would hold the fort.

3. Registration

The meeting decided to apply for re-registration on the list of approved APPGs. The secretariat confirmed that the criteria for qualifying members had been met with a list of 20 parliamentarians of the required party mix. David Amess and John Leech signed the application form. This will now be delivered to The Office of the Parliamentary commissioner of Standards ahead of the 13 July deadline.

4. Date of Next meeting

It was decided that the next meeting of the APPG would be held in November 2010. This would be preceded by an informal planning meeting in September to discuss the future agenda and decide how the group will operate in this Parliament.

5. AOB

The secretariat distributed copies of the legacy paper which was produced by the previous APPG and of the “Turner” paper on the APPG inquiry into NHS Service Provision for M.E./CFS.