F e d e r a t i o n N e w s Federation Your Say on Pay T
hank you to the 1,242 of you out there who filled in our survey on pay and
remuneration. The RAF Families Federation will be invited to contribute evidence to the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB) as part of their research to influence the military pay award for 2009 and your answers and views will help us enormously to give a full and comprehensive view.
We will provide a full report on the survey in the next edition of Envoy and we promise to represent your views at the highest levels.
The Federation’s Work with Defence Estates
W
e have previously reported on the strong working relationship we have
managed to develop between the Federation and MHS and how we believe that has helped us influence MHS-related issues impacting on RAF families living in SFA. We have been a little quieter on the Defence Estates (DE) side of the house, mainly because, quite frankly, we didn’t feel we were managing to engage with them in the same way.
The good news is that we have recently detected a shift in emphasis on the DE side and a greater willingness to engage with the Families Federations, the Housing Colonels and the chain of command to try to agree common goals and priorities.
The first sign of this was an invitation to the Chairman of the RAF FF to meet with Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, Chief Executive (CE) of DE. He was well aware of the concerns being expressed by Service families. The CE was acutely aware that the positive statistics being produced by DE
16 Autumn 2008
NEWS
do not match the anecdotal evidence being provided and he was keen to understand why and to close the gap between perception and fact.
The next positive sign was an invitation to a 3-hour meeting chaired by the new Director of Housing Ops, Air Commodore Elaine West. Present were the 3 Service’s Housing Colonels, the Chairmen of the 3 Families Federations, senior staff from DE, and the CE of MHS. The meeting allowed all parties to air their concerns and to identify ways of working better together to deliver enhanced accommodation services.
Further meetings are planned and it is hoped this will lead to greater transparency of DE processes and a better understanding of the constraints under which they operate – mostly financial. On the families’ side of the equation, such engagement allows the Federations greater opportunities to flag up just where DE are getting it wrong and to provide a customer focus to influence DE’s work, particularly at Housing Information Centre (HIC) level and in the area of allocations and entitlement policy.
Another positive development is the decision by DE to involve the Federations in visits to all 7 HICs to identify best practice and to learn from their experiences at the coal face. Again, the aim is for the Federation representatives to provide the customer perspective, representing the needs of ordinary families trying to live their lives in SFA. Chris Taylor, Deputy Chairman of the RAF FF, was a willing volunteer (!) and will report back in the next edition of Envoy.
Finally, a further meeting between the Under Secretary of State, Derek Twigg MP, the CE of DE and the 3 Chairmen of the 3 Service Families Federations was held in July 2008 to again focus on DE issues from a family perspective. It has now been agreed to meet quarterly to discuss housing priorities and to monitor DE progress. Such regular and high level engagement can only be good news for RAF occupants of Service-
provided accommodation and we encourage all personnel to provide the evidence you want the Federation to present at such meetings so that we truly provide you with an independent voice.
“ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST SPECTACULAR DISASTER”
T
his year, the RAF FF Chairman was invited to the MOD Welfare Conference to receive updates on
tri-Service welfare issues. The event was hosted by the US of S, Derek Twigg MP. Attendance was at a very senior level with the Air Member for Personnel, Chief of Staff, Personnel and their Army and Naval equivalents giving up the entire day to focus on welfare, in the presence of senior policy staffs and the leaders of ex- Service charities.
Presentations included updates on casualty support, the military patient tracking system, the work of the British Forces Foundation (website:
www.bff.org.uk) a thought- provoking presentation by the Chairman of the Confederation of British Service and Ex Service Organisations (COBSEO), and an equally interesting brief on veterans’ Mental Health by the Professor in charge of the Medical Assessment Programme.
Whilst it was reassuring to learn that some significant progress had been made in the provision of welfare support to the military family, there was certainly no sign of complacency amongst the senior staffs. Indeed, General Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, perhaps summed it up best by saying that “You are only as good as your last spectacular disaster” and he conceded that the MOD and supporting Government Departments were still failing to deliver appropriate support to all who need it and urged all present to keep moving forward
www.raf-families-federation.org.uk
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