Well, it’s been a busy week (again) and I must confess to feeling a bit out of steam as I write this on the way down to London (for the 3rd time this week) to chair my penultimate PPMA Policy Board meeting as President…yes it’s actually gone that quickly! One more Board and then it’s the AGM and Annual Conference in Manchester.

This week a number of Board members met with LGE colleagues and facilitators Andy Cook, from Marshall-James HR, and Chris Johnson from Mercer (formerly at the Cabinet Office and a PPMA conference speaker in May). The session was a great opportunity for us to look at the PPMA/LGE working relationship and future arrangements. We all committed to taking a number of actions forward following this ‘Think Tank’.

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of speaking at the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) annual H R conference. PPMA member Martin Tiplady, the Met’s Director of HR, asked me to talk about my views on HR, the good, the bad and the future. Not being your shy and retiring type, I leapt at the chance to express some opinions - and had great fun at the Q and A session, where my workplace nickname of P.O.D. was ‘outed’. Yes, it’s true - I am the Prince of Darkness - or at least some colleagues think so! I’m pretty sure other HR colleagues will have equally interesting nicknames - some of which will no doubt be unprintable…

Following the Policy Board, I’ll do an update on issues/decisions made early next week.

Hope this post finds you well, have a great weekend.

Stephen

PS - Book your place for PPMA’s annual conference now on-line!

PPS - VP (Elect) Dean Shoesmith can be seen and read about in glorious technicolour in the current edition of People Management…two HR Heads in one VP (Elect) - good value I’d say!

Well, I’ve just attended one of the most sociable, informative and enjoyable conferences I’ve ever been at! The content was good, including: Prof. Cary Cooper; Grieg Aitkin (RBS Group and PPMA speaker this year) and Cllr. Pat Waters (President of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities - COSLA) amongst others. If Cllr. Waters and COSLA (LGA equivalent) didn’t give it away…I’ve been attending the SPDS (Society of Personnel Directors in Scotland) annual conference in St. Andrews.

Along with Dean Shoesmith, Anne Gibson and John Tonks, PPMA was well represented (including both Dean and I providing input as speakers on the programme - Dean provided an informative and challenging issue around the ’skills timebomb’). The details are due to emerge later this week, but I’m delighted to confirm that SDPS and PPMA have concluded a formal partnership agreement to bring the two organisations closer together - many thanks to SPDS President Murray MacFarlane and Past President Iris Wylie for their leadership and support to achieve this (I’m proud of being involved as a Scot as well!).

Scotland apart, this week sees a number of key activities, including a PPMA/LGE workshop session on pay and reward and the PPMA Policy Board on 14th November.

Final post - is that the much-awaited 2009 PPMA conference has arrived and what a conference it is! Apart from the great venue of Manchester, Gill Hibberd has put together a stellar programme, including no less a person the David Ulrich. This is a not to be missed opportunity, so economic climate in perspective folks this is a conference second to none, with the chance to select a range of masterclasses, skills workshops and to learn, share and network in a great location! A range of delegate packages means that this offers real value for money. Get booking your places now - I know that I am!

Best wishes

Stephen

P.S. I’d love to get your feedback on any of the topics discussed in this post - it’s very easy to join in the conversation and get your views heard, just click on ‘Leave a comment’ underneath the headline of this post and type away.   

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Jim Savege, PPMA Lead Officer for Pay & Reward has taken part in the first of a series of audio and video podcasts produced for the LGE. The podcasts are designed to inform the Local Government HR Community about the work being done to help resolve the difficult matter of Equal Pay.

Jim says “PPMA continues to work at a National and European level with LGE and other colleagues in seeking to address issues across equal pay and single status - and that whilst we are also wanting to make firm progress on a modern pay and reward agenda, for example on total reward, we are also continuing to support members in recognising that implementation of equal pay proof pay arrangements remains a priority across local government and the sector”.

To view the video, click in the middle of the screen below.

To hear more advice from Jim on the best ways to deal with Equal Pay, click the grey arrow on the media player below.

The summer has certainly been with us in force this week (at least in Cambridgeshire) and other than melting, I’ve had a week of relatively low key PPMA commitments. 

Yesterday, Jan Parkinson from the LGE kindly visited Cambridgeshire and we were able to talk about both PPMA/LGE business and a range of specific issues facing Cambridgeshire County Council - I can’t afford to forget my employer after all!  In particular, we were able to share intelligence about the concept of the public sector worker and some interest in this that appears to have been expressed by the Cabinet Office - something that from both a PPMA and Cambridgeshire perspective, I’ll be following up.  We also, of course, discussed the status of the local government pay award and the proposed “nothing ruled in, nothing ruled out” discussions with the trade unions, like you I await with interest the outcomes from the next round of discussions, which will involve Jim Savege, our lead officer on Pay and Reward.

Today I received an e-mail from the Director of HR at Communities and Local Government (CLG), Clive Norris. CLG’s Permanent Secretary, Peter Housden, has asked Clive if he could explore opportunities for the Communities Department to develop a more shared agenda across the public service - but specifically between the Department and local authorities, such as on matters of joint interest related to public service improvement or diversity for example. This sounds like a very positive opportunity to forge stronger links for the PPMA directly with CLG and is something I’ll be following up on in weeks to come.

Finally, I’m delighted to say that the ‘Edinburgh Summit’ with SPDS colleagues - previously mentioned in the blog has been agreed for 15th August. Both I and John Tonks, PPMA’s Executive Officer, will be heading to Edinburgh to discuss closer collaboration with our friends north of the border.

I hope this update finds everyone well - and if you haven’t already done so, get writing those applications PPMA Lead Officers in waiting!

Best wishes

Stephen