It was a little frustrating that we were not able to provide some of the detail contained in the NPS pay offer that we will be recommending to members in a ballot after the AGM.
Our wholesale opposition to the calamitous decision by David Gauke to retender the shortened CRC contracts, and offer new ones within a reconfigured 10 region structure was again reinforced in our submission to the ‘Strengthen Probation Building Confidence’ consultation last week.
My experience of many sets of pay negotiations over the years is that a delicate balance is required between keeping members up to date with news of progress whilst maintaining the necessary confidentiality.
The position as I write, is that we are now into the final few days of exchanges with the employer as the substantive negotiations which shape the basis of a pay offer and which require all parties to be present are pretty much exhausted.
This week's Blog comes to you live from Manchester Central. At last weeks meeting of the Napo NEC your delegates to the 2018 Trade Union Congress, Yvonne Pattison and myself were given approval to vote in favour of the General Council Statement on the current situation relating to Brexit.
Europe - in or out? It's been one of those taboo subjects that Napo does not have a policy position on. It is up there alongside Electoral Reform as one of those issues that we never seem to get around to discussing. That’s an observation not a criticism and given our own pressures and priorities it's hardly surprising.
News that HMP Birmingham is to revert back into state control will come as no surprise given the events that have found their way into the national spotlight over the last few months. Urgent notification for HMP Birmingham
We have issued a great deal of material on ViSOR vetting over the past few months but these last two or three weeks have seen a much bigger than usual flow of incoming concerns from members.
The root cause of the problem is the insistence by the NPS that Offender Managers must have access to the system, but one that has created a number of problems for staff who have failed the vetting process along with those who are fearful of being in the same position.
The report of how Napo managed to lobby the participants prior to one of last week’s ‘Probation Marketisation’ events, sets out clearly what we think of the whole exercise. Anyone who believes that the announcement of an eight-week consultation period on the ‘Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence’ blueprint is going to be taken notice of by this Government will be disappointed.
“Unfollow Me” is an unlikely name for a campaign that has secured over 150,000 petitioners in support of the creation of a register for those convicted of a stalking offence.
As practitioners will know, even if many members of the British public still do not, the National Stalking Advocacy Service Paladin https://paladinservice.co.uk/ describes this sinister practice as: “A pattern of unwanted, fixated and obsessive behaviour which is intrusive and causes fear of violence or serious alarm or distress”
News broke earlier today that the long awaited £3.5 million Female Offender Community Investments Fund competition is being launched as part of the MoJ Female Offender Strategy. The media release from the Ministry claims that this is a new programme of work to improve outcomes for female offenders and make society safer by tackling the underlying causes of offending.
