Napo and ABPO - rekindling the relationship

It was a real pleasure to be invited to speak at the Association of Black Probation Officers Conference in Newbold Revel yesterday. I returned to London seriously fired up after hearing a quite fabulous contribution from Viv Ahmun from Choices Consortium (one amongst many I ought to add, but sadly, many competing pressures only afforded me the opportunity for a brief visit on this occasion).

Viv talked about Black History Month and its place in building confidence and encouraging individuals from traditionally under represented groups to come forward and challenge for leadership positions. but it was his obvious passion for the contribution that can be made by the BAME community for the betterment of society (and how he, and his organisation have worked with many young people to help prevent them simply sliding off the social landscape into a life of hopelessness), which gave everyone who was there a highly entertaining and emotionally gripping experience.

I hope that I get the chance to meet Viv again soon, but there again I feel quite comfortable saying that about all of the people with whom I was fortunate to get a chance to speak with on Friday. It is clear to me that the cordial and mutually respectful relationship between ABPO and Napo which has flowed from the forward looking joint protocol agreed between Napo and all of the Staff Associations back in 2008, is at the stage where it is in need of a positive injection of fresh ideas and objectives so that we can maximise the mutual benefits.

The theme of my address (and special thanks to ABPO for billing me as the first General Secretary with a  BAME background since goodness knows when) aside from the obvious update on the anti TR campaign, was to outline the practical support that Napo is able to offer ABPO to implement the jointly commissioned Research Action Plan between us and NILE the diversity group focusing on staff within the prison estate, which seeks to identify and quantify the disproportionate impact of the imposed staff split on members of the BAME probation community.

Unfortunately, I arrived during the Q&A session immediately after Colin Allars speech, but it was clear that Noms and the Moj have some work to do to convince a lot of people that they have covered all the required angles in terms of equality and diversity within the TR agenda.

I do not doubt Colin's personal commitment to ensuring that there is fairness of treatment and open access to such opportunities that TR might deliver for staff, but the contributions and serious questions which included: the scarcely believable statistics relating to the failure of BAME applicants to attain promotion to ACO posts, and the sheer absence of confidence in the TR assignment process, were quite frankly shocking.

The defiant title of the ABPO conference: 'Still I rise', might usually have included the addition: 'no matter how you seek to knock us down'. It kind of sets the right note for our own event in Scarborough next week.

Not too late to get to the AGM!

The draconian interpretation of Cabinet Office guidelines on facilities and the deliberate undermining of the Joint Secretarial circular to the NPS and CRC's has caused a lot of grief to Napo reps and members alike in terms of attendance at the AGM, and it was one of the issues that led to the fractious exchanges at the National Negotiating Council that I reported in the week. Of course we have done all that we can to try and convince Noms to also factor in the professional elements of our AGM but people are just not listening.

Members are nevertheless doing all they can to get to Scarborough by all means possible, and by so doing are showing what they think of this clearly deliberate attempt to disrupt Napo's democratic processes.

So there is still time of course to register for the AGM in advance and to even turn up early on Friday for some especially important business that will be taking place. This year we have a massive choice of fringe meetings and special thanks go to Steve Cavalier and Thompsons Solicitors for their generous sponsorship.

Among those speaking and seeking your support at conference will be: Lucy Reed at the Family Court Professional Session, 'Show Racism the Red Card' the community organisation that seeks to combat racism and encourage inclusivity through the medium of football; the anti-stalking and anti -Domestic Violence charity "Paladin', and those tireless campaigners against Rupert Murdoch's degradingly sexist offerings, 'No more Page 3.' 

I look forward to seeing you all as we enter the next critically important phase of campaigning.