ilawrence@napo.org.uk's blog

Just trying to clear the decks as best I can before some leave, and it's been another crazy day at the ranch and outside of it too with meetings on Measures where we have since heard of a bit of a kafuffle over facilities time (which we are trying to reach an agreement on), which someone, somewhere in the Noms Labyrinth decides that they would issue a Probation Instruction about. It's started to cause even more confusion if that were at all possible, but I have left word that I expect this to be sorted very soon, or we may have to invite our friends in ACAS to get involved.

I have been to so many, so called 'high level' meetings with senior management across the public and private sectors over the years that I thought I had seen and heard everything. You will appreciate that I don't have the same licence as others to use inappropriate language in written publications but if I did, this report would be riddled with expletives deleted.

A week after a strike that showed there is still considerable life in the Napo Campaign we are now planning the next stages which will help us to maintain pressure on the coalition.

Another significant (and frenetic) week in our campaign as we head for the strike alongside the Justice Alliance.

Its highlights have included some extraordinary exchanges between the Justice Committee and Jeremy Wright. We also took another important step forward in our continuing quest for Judicial Review, and met with the Probation Negotiating Committee (PNC) to report progress on the campaign and other important work. We also linked up with Penal Reform International, who seemed very interested in exploring how we might work together to promote our respective causes.