- About us
- About colleges
-
Corporate services
- Corporate services
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Data Protection/GDPR
-
Employment Services - college workforce
- Employment Services - college workforce
- Employment: How we support members
- Introduction & Employment Helpline
- Absence & Sickness Management
- Contracts and T&Cs
- Disciplinary, Capability, Grievance & Harassment
- Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
- General Employee Relations & HR Issues
- Holiday/annual leave related
- Industrial Relations
- ONS reclassification related guidance
- Pay & Pensions
- Recruitment
- Redundancy, Restructuring & TUPE
- Safeguarding/Prevent
- Workforce Benchmarking, Surveys & Research
-
Governance
- Governance
- Governance: How we support members
- Governance Timeline
- Representation
- AoC National Chairs' Council
- National Governance Professionals' Group
- Code of Good Governance
- External Board Reviews
- Resources
- Governors Inductions
- Student Governor Inductions
- Student Governor Support Hub
- Guidance
- Hot Topics
- Governance Briefings
- Archive
-
Projects
- Projects
- Get Involved!
- Resources
- Contact the Projects Team
- Apprenticeship Workforce Development (AWD) Programme
- Creating a Greener London – Sustainable Construction Skills
- The 5Rs Approach to GCSE Maths Resits
- Creative Arts in FE 2024 – developing student voice through creativity
- DfE Multiply Capability Support Programme
- Digital Roles Across Non-digital Industries
- GCSE Resits Hub Project
- Pears Foundation Youth Social Action Programme: Phase 2
- T Level and T Level Foundation Year Provider Support Programme
- T Level Professional Development (TLPD) Offer
- The Valuing Enrichment Project
- Film London - Metro London Skills Cluster
- Resources/Guidance
- Sustainability & Climate Action Hub
- Partnerships
- Honours Nomination
- Brexit
- Ofsted Inspection Support
- Recruitment and consultancy
-
Events and training
- Events and training
- Events
- AoC Annual Conference and Exhibition 2024
- T Level and T Level Foundation Year Events
- Events and training: How we support members
- Network Meetings
- Previous Events and Webinars
- In-House Training
- Senior Leadership Development Programme
- Early Career and Experienced Managers' Programme
- Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities
- Funding and finance
-
Policy
- Policy
- Meet the Policy Team
- Policy: How we support members
- Policy Areas
- Policy Briefings
- Submissions
- Policy Papers & Reports
- AoC Strategy Groups
-
AoC Reference Groups
- AoC Reference Groups
- 14-16 Reference Group
- 16-18 Reference Group
- Adults (inc. ESOL) Reference Group
- Apprenticeship Reference Group
- EDI Reference Group
- HE Reference Group
- HR Reference Group
- International Reference Group
- Mental Health Reference Group
- SEND Reference Group
- Sustainability & Climate Change Reference Group
- Technology Reference Group
- WorldSkills Reference Group
- Opportunity England
- Research unit
-
News, campaigns and parliament
- News, campaigns and parliament
- Post-election hub
- General and mayoral election resources
-
Comms advice and resources for colleges
- Comms advice and resources for colleges
- Media relations: 10 ways to build effective relationships with the media
- How to choose a PR agency
- Legal considerations for communications and media work
- How to plan for a new build
- Crisis communications: your go-to guide
- How to handle photo consent for media and marketing
- How to evaluate a PR and media campaign
- How to react to regulation, funding and restructuring issues
- How to react quickly and effectively to the media
- Working with the media: a complete guide
- How to write a compelling case study
- How to write for the web
- Communications, marketing and campaigns community
- AoC Newsroom
- AoC Blogs
- Work in Parliament
- AoC Campaigns
- Briefings
- Communications, media, marketing and research: How we support members
-
Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Equality, diversity and inclusion blogs
- AoC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Charter
- AoC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Charter for further education sector organisations
- AoC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Charter signatories
- Diversity in Leadership
- Black FE Leadership Group and AoC partnership agreement
- AoC's Equity Exchange
- Equality, diversity and inclusion: how we support members
- Equality, diversity and inclusion case studies
- ETF Inclusive Leadership Coaching Programme
- Equality, diversity and inclusion briefings
- Home
- Meeting your MP
Meeting your MP
One of the best ways to get your message and ask across, is to meet with your MP in person. Virtual meetings have become increasingly popular since the pandemic, so this is an option as well. If you’ve written requesting a meeting and don’t get a reply, it’s a good idea to follow up with a phone call to their office. If your MP is a Minister for the Treasury or the Department for Education, chair or member of a select committee for education or public accounts please get in touch with us to help you support these critical MPs, as we may have an existing relationship. Once you have a meeting, preparation is key.
- Find the latest policy asks from AoC in our regular communications or email public_affairs@aoc.co.uk and we can provide a briefing with the top policy asks
- Think about who should be at the meeting. You might also want to ask a student, union representative, or local business stakeholder to join
- Find out about your MP. Do they have a Ministerial position, are they a member of a committee which may be relevant, what are their areas of interest? A quick google search reveals a lot. The public affairs team can provide you a written briefing on the person and their personal interests to help, email public_affairs@aoc.co.uk to request
- Plan what you want to say before the meeting and what outcome you’re hoping for
- Gather your evidence on the issue and any other key information that back up your asks
- Prepare an agenda in advance to make sure you cover everything you want to discuss
- Have a clear ask for your MP.
Your MP can:
- Write to the Minister who is responsible for the issue
- Ask Parliamentary Questions to find out what’s going on with the issue
- Table a motion, which is a statement that other MPs sign up to if they agree with it
- Contact local agencies such as the local council to raise concerns on your behalf.
- Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer to a question in the meeting. You can let them know you’ll look it up afterwards and follow up with them
- Make notes during the meeting so there’s a record of what is agreed
- Don’t worry if you don’t get the result you wanted from your meeting. You could always arrange to meet again another time to discuss in the issue in more detail. You could also consider a different tactic to help raise awareness – possibly something more public
- Follow up with a letter or email thanking them for their time, reminding them of the key points you made and any agreed actions, and including any further reference material you agreed to provide
- Ask them to join the All Party Parliamentary Group on Further Education & Lifelong Learning. AoC provides the secretariat to this informal group of parliamentarians which aims to promote and develop the interests of the further education, adult learning and skills sectors. We’re keen to grow the group so welcome all new MPs who want to join and get involved in campaigning with us in Parliament.