Time travel explained

Having queried here in the past the process whereby the November meeting of the UNISON National Executive Council (NEC) Development and Organisation (D&O) Committee received - as recommendations supported by the UNISON National Community and Voluntary Sector (CVS) Forum - some proposals for the future Community Service Group which were in fact approved by the Forum at a meeting on the same day as the D&O meeting (and which started after the D&O meeting) it is only fair that I should report the answer which I was given when I put the question formally in the run up to last Wednesday's NEC meeting;

Community brought forward proposals to the NEC D&O new structures working group and subsequently D&O Committee as follows:
i) Following the decision of NDC, the Chair of the National CVS Forum asked officers to prepare initial analysis and recommendations for the Forum’s meeting on 9th July.
ii) A detailed paper, presenting options but also making clear recommendations, was put to the Forum meeting on 9th July. It covered member transition, scheme of branch representation, timing of conference, composition of SGE, election of SGE, SGE meetings, and sectors. The Forum had a lengthy debate about the paper, endorsed all of the recommendations, made some additional requests for inclusion, and asked officers to prepare more detailed papers on those decisions.
iii) Following this, two separate papers were prepared, one on SGE and the other on Conference. As a result of facility time and summer holiday issues it was agreed not to hold a physical meeting, but to conduct extensive consultation with the Forum through email and telephone.
iv) Extensive comments were sent back regarding these two papers. None were contradictory and so all were taken on board. Regular conversations took place with the Forum’s Chair, who led this whole process.
v) Final papers were sent to Forum members for comment and/or approval; approval was received.
vi) Some minor changes were subsequently made following this, after consultation with the Chair.
vii) The draft proposals were presented in detail to the NEC D&O new structures on 6 October 2009 working group on prior to the full D&O Committee on 11 November 2009.

This is the official explanation for why the meeting of the Committee on 11 November was advised that the recommendations before them, which were later also endorsed by the Forum at a meeting on 11 November starting after the Committee meeting, had already previously been approved by the Forum.