Judy McKnight's Napolog

Web log of Napo's general secretary

May 14, 2007

More Partnership, Less Dictat

Mike Mcclelland and I are currently representing Napo at the GFTU, (General Federation of Trade Unions), Biennial Conference in Belfast.

This morning we had a speech and a question and answer session with Peter Hain.

Peter had been invited as Secretary State for Northern Ireland, but spoke mainly as a Deputy Leader Candidate.

I asked him a question about public sector reform and referred to the way that the privatisation agenda was being rolled out in the Probation Service, with no evidence having been produced to show it would reduce re-offending. I asked what commitments he would give on how he would approach public sector reform and what action he would take to restore the morale of public sector workers.

His answer, was to recognise that the there should be limits set on the role of the private sector in delivering public services. He also said that in respect of the Probation Service reform, there should be, and I quote:

“a pause, a bit more partnership and a bit less dictat.”

That would certainly be a good starting point!

I will be quoting this when we meet Lord Falconer tomorrow afternoon to discuss our concerns on the OM Bill, among other things!

I think the next few weeks should be a good time to get extra promises from politicians. The test will be to hold them to account after 27 June!

Posted by jmcknight at May 14, 2007 05:33 PM