Judy McKnight's Napolog

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Web log of Napo's general secretary

March 29, 2007

Home Office Split for Purpose

According to the Guardian, this phrase is Ministers’ take on today’s announcement.

Interesting speculation here as well, that since the new Minister for the Ministry of Justice will need to be in the Commons, Charlie Faulkner will have to go and may replaced by Jack Straw or Harriet Harman. I have to say that they all sound a breath of fresh air after John Reid!

Below is the Press release that Napo issued today, broadly supportive of the split.

Interestingly we actually submitted a motion to the TUC in 2003 calling for a Ministry of Justice, and POA seconded the motion, which the TUC as a whole also agreed. The text of the motion is set out below.

PCS have also issued a statement. They are properly concerned about resources and the fact that DCA is currently proposing Regional Pay.

Continue reading "Home Office Split for Purpose"

Posted by jmcknight at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2007

Enough to make you Cynical?

Margaret Thatcher used to have a phrase, “Is he one of us?”

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that Gerry Sutcliffe on behalf of New Labour is as bad.

I’m perhaps more shocked that their tactics are so crude that they get caught out so easily!

Posted by jmcknight at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2007

Celebrating 100 Years

We had a great do at the House of Lords yesterday, hosted by Lord Ramsbotham, celebrating the Probation Centenary. It was organised jointly by the PBA, our employers, and Napo.

The invites went to a guest list drawn up by Napo and PBA which included friendly Lords and MPs as well as to a selection of those who have contributed to the Probation Service over the years, including those who contributed to our oral history of the Service, “Changing Lives”, as well to former Napo Officers and current Committee Chairs.

There were speeches from Lord Ramsbotham, Mike McClelland, John Raine, (PBA Chair), Harry Fletcher and myself.

The timing turned out to be very good, given that the OM Bill will be going to the Lords just after Easter.

It was heartening to hear the level of support we are receiving from people like Lord Ramsbotham.

I tried to attach a sound recording of the speeches to this blog, but the computer/(software) is telling me the file is too large. If I can find a way of breaking them up into different sections I'll post them here.

Here are some photos:

Posted by jmcknight at 07:44 PM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

TUC Womens Conference

Last week was the TUC Womens Conference at Scarborough.

There were some good debates and good speakers. Here is the write up I have done for Napo News.

Download file

Napo's delegates to the Conference:
(From the left) Angela Hands, Becky Shepherd, Judy McKnight, and Catherine Waldron.

Posted by jmcknight at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2007

Unlikely Allies

It is interesting that even the Economist and Julia Neuberger- not the usual suspects- have reservations about the OM Bill.

The Bill will be considered by the Lords in late March and we are still to get clarification on the full meaning of the concessions that the Government has made so far.

We still have everything to play for.

Posted by jmcknight at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)