NAPO OFFERS HARSH TRUTHS TO THE JUSTICE SELECT COMMITTEE

To say it’s been an interesting and full on week for Napo is a bit of an understatement. We have some important news to announce for NPS members shortly about the conclusion of the negotiations on the Maternity policy and harmonisation package which are now with the Probation Negotiating Committee for their views.

On Tuesday I gave oral evidence to the Justice Select Committee (JSC) hearing into Transforming Rehabilitation along with Unison, which was the second slot in a session which also featured the Probation Institute and witnesses from the DTV and Thames Valley CRCs.

Here is the link: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/983b297c-d01b-4870-a5e2-421200242fbb (you can skip to the union slot at about 10:11 in the stream).

As I have found during previous appearances before this and other Committees such as the Treasury Select and Public Accounts, you can prepare all that you want but there are always ‘curve ball’ questions waiting to happen.

Our members will judge for yourselves as to how effective the unions were in getting the key points across, but the feedback has been extremely positive, and of course I will be writing to Committee Chair Bob Neill to follow up on our contribution which was the culmination of our considerable efforts to engage with as many of the individual JSC members as possible over the past few months.

We now await the publication of the Probation Service Review and it’s hoped that the JSC will want to delve into the recommendations that will come with this. More news about this soon.

Given that Brexit and the aftermath of last week’s atrocity in Westminster dominated the news it was welcome to see the Daily Mirror manage to give the JSC some coverage along with yet another story about G4s and their dodgy electronic tags.

Here is the link to that and the Ministerial statement

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/g4s-recalls-more-100-prisoners-10113398

Statement to Parliament: Justice update

Goodbye NOMS

It will take some time for the new HMPPS logo to become established but as from next week NOMS will officially no longer exist.

All conventional wisdom suggests that the original concept of NOMS has failed to bring about the wholesale reform to the prisons and probation components of the criminal justice system that it was created for. We all live in hope that the Ministerial commitments to do something about the prisons crisis and the state that Grayling has left Probation in are real, and don’t just join the pile of meaningless waffle that have come from countless former Secretaries of State.

Pay problem in MTC Novo

Dean Rogers and Yvonne Pattison responded quickly to a number of enquiries from worried members this morning Friday that they had not been paid this month.

I am assured that the issue is being addressed with some urgency by senior MTC management who have assured us that they will be contacting all staff to update them and that support will be offered.

Napo’s experience from supporting members in similar situations elsewhere has been that banks and building societies are much more understanding if organisations fail to pay staff than may have historically been the case, nevertheless we expect the situation to be resolved quickly.

What’s Napo doing?

Another excellent edition of our online Journal Napo Quarterly can be accessed through this link

If our current members and those who are thinking about joining or re-joining want to see a comprehensive digest of the various things we are trying to do across the 24 employers then this is as good a summary as it gets.

Lots going on even as I write this so do look out for more news on a host of issues over the course of next week.