Napo's voice in the E3 debate

Some weeks ago I described the NOMS E3 project as the operational structure that ought to have been designed well before the actual pre- TR split of the probation workforce took place.

Everything that I have seen since convinces me that our decision to engage with the programme was correct; and this has been borne out by the tremendous contributions that many of our members have made in the fields of job design workshops and evaluation panels, attendance at engagement events and, via our Professional Committee, offering an expert critique on the E3 Blueprint.

I cannot thank everyone who has been involved enough, for pulling together with us at this crucial time.

Negotiations underway

All of this has helped shape our future negotiating agenda, and we are receiving further feedback from individual members and Napo branches that we are already acting upon in what so far have been some encouraging meetings with senior NOMS management. We are also in the process of pulling the many written contributions together into a formal response from Napo, and we will share this with members once it has gone across to NOMS.

E3 is split into a number of specific work streams, all of which are generating a myriad of complex issues with the attendant pressures that they inevitably bring. Our team at Chivalry Road along with your Officer group are working very hard to manage these as well as undertake the increasing challenges posed by CRC staff cuts and the huge financial threat to Napo brought about by the removal of check off.

By way of example some of the key issues in E3 that up for discussion include:

Mobility, pay protection, job evaluation outcome for all grades, quality assurance, learning and development, custody policy, offender management review and role boundaries, support for victims and the future operational structure, the tiering model policy within community supervision, the YOS framework and the standard operating model for Approved Premises.

None of this includes the thorny issue of Court work, and the expectations by NOMS that members should readily embrace the endemic  ‘more for less’ culture that has permeated the MoJ as they close premises and expect increased turnaround times for written and oral reports.

Last, but not least, comes the wholesale review of management structures that will be needed to deliver change of this magnitude and anyone ought to be able to see that we kind of have our hands full.

FCS already underway with the re-engagement strategy

As we start to engage with Napo Branches on how we can maximise our approach to this vital exercise for all Napo members, it was great to hear from Jay Barlow at this week’s meeting of your Officers and Officials Group, that the Family Court Section has already got off the mark and is linking the publicity for the next Family Court Conference (Thursday 26^th May in Birmingham) with its recruitment strategy. The focus this year will be around forced marriages, child sexual abuse and domestic abuse.

I also see that the excellent Family Court Journal has just been published and it was noted that the Family Court Editorial Board is meeting with the Cafcass HR director to work out how the Journal can be promoted on the Cafcass website.

A full Campaign Bulletin for FCS members is also in production as I write, and should be with you all sometime next week

Planning for now and the future

One of the principle changes that I have been pleased to have helped bring about since being elected as General Secretary, has been the approach we make to our forward planning and how that process can be enhanced by the involvement of Napo staff (your employees).

This is why the Officer Group agreed to fund a high quality staff development and leadership training package which is very close to completion. This has generated some progressive ideas and opened up avenues for employee engagement that will be of great benefit to Napo going forward.

This activity has already been utilised in the design of the re-engagement strategy and the direct debit switchover campaign, but just as importantly, our training programme has allowed Napo staff to bring their latent skill sets into play and help us shape some (at times radical) ideas about our future operational structures. It has been an extremely useful exercise and the outcomes will be reported to the employer and NEC in due course. I am confident in saying it has been money well spent and will bring about improvements in the way that we operate on behalf of our members as we move forward.

News about a few other things

Work continues on our budget profiling for the coming year in what is an extremely challenging financial climate and the NEC finance Sub Committee will meet again soon and provide a further report.

The sign over rate to Direct Debit at this stage of the campaign is promising, but there is no room for complacency and we need members to make that switch if you have not already done so!

Napo staff have undertaken some excellent ‘mapping’ work for the re-engagement strategy which we will be sharing with branches

Officers and Officials are exploring ways of using advanced technology to improve internal communications in Napo and how this could contribute to future cost savings.

We are also looking into our current membership service provision and hope to have something positive to say about this soon.

That’s about it for this week, but lots more to talk about in the next blog including our work with the Labour party in advance of a major opposition day debate on Prisons and Probation that is scheduled to take place later this month and more news on our campaigns against the CRC staff cuts that we are grappling with alongside our local Napo activists.

Have a good weekend; I think winter has finally arrived.