E d i t o r / C h a i r m a n
From the EDITOR
H W 2
ow time flies, I cannot believe it was only three months ago that I last penned a few words for Envoy. We
once again have a packed edition, thank you very much to all who submitted items for inclusion. In this issue we have a letters page, finally someone, or rather three people, have written to us! Do read the page as there is a bit of controversy regarding one of the articles in the last issue
and we would love to hear your view on the subject. Also a lovely letter from someone totally unconnected to the Services offering the RAF their support.
Just a word about our readers offers. We have had a less than expected take up of these wonderful offers. There is no catch to these, honest. They are just give- aways from generous companies who like the RAF. The only thing we might do is use your email address to send a
Federation monthly e-newsletter, a new initiative we will have up and running this month, but you can ‘unsubscribe’ on first contact, never to receive one again if you choose. And don’t forget our other generous offer to send, free to your home, a copy of Envoy. Again no catches here, we would just like you and your family to leaf through it.
Good reading The Editor
From the Chairman
here does the time go? I can’t believe that Envoy, edition 3 is already due and
that the Federation has already been operational for 7 months. So much has happened in the interim and, if there is one thing that has really struck me since we launched, it’s the high level contact the Federation has had with senior staffs, particularly Ministers. OK, when I first drafted the contract bid, my simple schematic diagram showed that the Federation would have access to government ministers. But, to be honest, I felt this would be fairly infrequent and touched with tokenism when it happened.
Well, nothing could be further from the truth. We have been able to represent, in person, RAF family views to: the Armed Forces Pay Review Body; the Minister for Armed Forces, the Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP; the Under Secretary of State for Defence, Derek Twigg MP; Quentin Davies MP, as part of
Summer 2008
his National Recognition Study and, most significantly, to the House of Commons Defence Committee which was also given over an hour's airtime on BBC television on the Parliamentary Programme.
This latter contact involved the submission of written evidence and then appearing in front of a panel of Ministers to answer questions about the impact of military life on families and, in turn, the impact of families on recruitment and retention. This was quite a scary experience and the scale of the responsibility being placed on the shoulders of the Families Federations and other key witnesses was clearly evident as the Ministers asked their questions and sought evidence to inform their Inquiry.
The joy of providing evidence to such influential bodies is the lack of staffing required simply because we sit outside the chain of command. Unlike my colleagues who are still in uniform and therefore required to staff everything through layers and layers of bureaucracy, once we had gathered our evidence from the families, we were able to
man submit it direct to the House of Commons.
I certainly never enjoyed such freedom as a mere group captain administrator so the benefits of losing my rank are suddenly crystal clear and confirm that the non-uniformed and independent nature of the Federation delivers a distinct advantage for the families we now represent. Obviously, we keep the RAF staffs informed of our activities as we want to work in partnership with them wherever possible for the benefit of RAF personnel and their families. However, the ability to represent families’ views, ‘warts and all’ is a unique position to be in and we are careful to protect our independence since that is what makes us unique and what empowers RAF families in getting their voices heard.
You will find information about the various studies in this edition of Envoy and we hope you find the feedback useful and informative. If you think we’ve got the message wrong, you know what to do! Call us, e-mail us, have your say or report an issue via the website or attend a unit liaison visit to give us your perspective on family life in the RAF.
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