The following article features PPMA President Gill Hibberd:
I had the pleasure of attending a CIPD Dinner with Jackie Orme this week on the issue of next generation HR leaders. A fascinating discussion took place about where the next leaders will be coming from and what role the CIPD will play in attracting and developing such talent. As well as our very own Stephen Moir, other people attending included Alex Wilson from BT, Stephen Dando from Thomson Reuters and Lucy Adams from the BBC.
Stephen and I were both supportive of the CIPD targeting fast track development at people entering the profession and in developing a high quality programme aimed at developing future leaders. The report from the CIPD on ‘Next Generation HR’ is certainly worth a read.
This week also saw the release of the long awaited Audit Commission report on CEO severance – ‘By Mutual Agreement’. The document is downloadable from the Audit Commission website and is a very interesting read. The trade press picked it up very quickly and I’ve been making comments that the recommendations on transparency are to be welcomed.
Finally, I’m now busy planning my conference itinerary for next week. I send my very best wishes to Dean for a successful event and given the tremendous energy and effort he has put into it I’m sure it will be a fantastic event.
For anyone out there who has been reading my blog please do come over and say hello if you are at the conference – I would love to meet you.
Gill
I’ve had a hectic week covering both Bucks CC work and PPMA work, so I’m relieved that the week is now over and I can go home to relax (with a glass of wine!).
On Tuesday, I attended a Solace/Alace seminar on the proposed changes to senior officers’ pensions taxation. The consultation paper on the changes makes radical proposals that will impact heavily on senior officers.
My suggestions for those who haven’t yet picked this up are to bring it to the attention of your senior team, suggest that anyone concerned obtains actuarial valuations of their pensions, arrange a seminar on the changes via your pensions administrator and if possible enable senior officers to get access to independent financial advice.
Last night I was lucky enough to attend the annual Association of County Chief Executives (ACCE) dinner in my capacity as President of PPMA. The dinner was held at The Grove (infamous for the leaked England Football Team tapes last week) which also happens to be a couple of miles from my home in Hertfordshire so also very convenient for me. It was a great networking event and I was able to speak to Rob Whiteman the incoming Chief Executive of the IDeA.
I have arranged to set up a meeting with him before he starts his new role in May to talk through PPMA priorities and how we work with the IDeA. I also saw Mike Burton from The MJ who tells me that the PPMA Focus is just about to go to the printers for the conference edition.
So, only 2 weeks to go before I hand over the reigns to Dean and counting down from here!
Have a great weekend.
Gill
The following article features PPMA President Gill Hibberd:
The following article features PPMA President Gill Hibberd:
Last Friday, on the day of the PPMA Policy Board, there were headlines in The Independent newspaper about the loss of at least 20,000 jobs in local government up and down the country. As we lead up to a general election all parties are talking about cut backs in the public sector and we know that because of the nature of our business that means less people employed so the numbers could be higher than those reported.
The board discussed this very serious issue and agreed that we should send out a note asking members what they would like to see from the PPMA by way of professional support. The topics could range from the technical, e.g. how do you downsize? through to planning for the future. The range of issues could potentially be quite wide, so feedback as to what people are seeing as pressing needs will be helpful.
Responses will be circulated to the board, which includes the regional chairs, and we will have to decide on how best we can add value at this difficult and stressful time.
Best wishes
Gill
The following article features PPMA President Gill Hibberd:
I’ve just chaired my last Board meeting as President of PPMA before I hand over the reigns to Dean Shoesmith at the AGM in March. The meeting on Friday was full of ‘meaty’ issues. It was also a meeting with a number of new faces some of whom have recently taken over Lead officers roles and some who were covering for Regional Chairs.
We had a couple of guest speakers at the meeting. The first was Anne Macdonald who runs the national Social Work Task Force Chaired by Moira Gibb from Camden. Anne updated us on the final report of the task force and the work that is now being done on implementation. The Task Force received vital evidence from PPMA and we had a full and frank discussion with Anne about our willingness to be a key contributor going forward into the implementation phase. We look forward to building a strong relationship with the Task Force team over the coming months. A big thank you to Andreas Ghosh for arranging the session.
Next we had a great presentation from Chris Johnson from Mercer. Chris has been working on the next phase of the PPMA’s vision for the future of reward in the public sector. He has developed a set of data that shows trends and facts about public and private sector reward. PPMA will be using this information to start ‘A Big Discussion’ across the regions over the coming weeks about what the data tells you and what you would like to see in the future reward model. This will be an exciting piece of engagement with Members across the Country and an opportunity for you to shape our policy direction for the future. Watch this space!
Finally, the Board also agreed to appoint a new Managing Director for PPMA on an interim basis initially. The post will be responsible for developing the future commercial strategy for PPMA, setting up a national PPMA office and delivering a new Member offering. This is an opportunity for PPMA to really up its game and become a leading commercial and sustainable member association for the future. If you have any views on what we are trying to do please let me know through the blog. I look forward to hearing your comments.
Finally, for all those Facebook addicts out there, PPMA now has its very own Facebook page. Sign up as a fan to link up with other PPMA members and find out the latest on what’s going on in PPMA.
Best wishes
Gill
The following articles feature PPMA President Gill Hibberd:
You may have picked up in the media that the CIPD have recently issued a paper entitled ‘Building Productive Public Sector Workplaces’. The document highlights the inevitable and lengthy period of public sector transformation that we are going through and positions effective people management as an essential prerequisite for success.
The paper goes on to make a number of recommendations for improvement in people management practice across the sector. For those that haven’t seen the document I have arranged for a link to be sent directly to PPMA members in the next couple of days. Although the paper is, in my view, positioned as a policy and lobbying paper by the CIPD, it has unfortunately been translated into a negative portrayal of public sector people management practice by some parts of the media.
Dean Shoesmith was busy responding to media calls with the PPMA view yesterday but we are also interested in hearing your views on the document. Let us know by commenting in the blog if you agree or disagree with the recommendations? Does it represent a fair and balanced commentary on the sector or not?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Gill
