F e d e r a t i o n N e w s
our belt, it is has been too early to provide anything but general comment on emerging themes so far.
However, as part of the Command Paper work mentioned above, Dawn has already met with the Minister for Armed Forces and, where appropriate, examples of issues impacting on RAF families have been cited to support the evidence being gathered during this very high level study.
So, if you have an issue and you think it merits inclusion in our database, you know what to do! Write to us, e-mail us via the website, call us on the hot-line or come and see us during a liaison visit to your unit. We would love to hear from you – without you, it’s a pretty meaningless existence!!
THE FIRST UNIT LIAISON VISIT
T
he new RAF Families Federation has undertaken its first official liaison visit to RAF Lyneham.
Why Lyneham first, you may ask. Well, blame their WO Welfare, Chris Kimber, who heard the Federation Chairman speak at the annual Community Support Conference and promptly invited her to visit the unit.
This gave a perfect opportunity to launch the programme of unit visits that will see the Federation visiting as many units as possible this year..
Dawn and Jenny arrived at Lyneham to be hosted to supper by key unit welfare staffs including OC Base Support Wing, OC PMS, WO Welfare and, a surprise but welcome addition, Christine Neville, wife of the new Station Commander. Staying in an Officers’ Mess was a new experience for Jenny and, once she had got used to the idea of toddling down the corridor to the shared ablutions and the lack of home comforts in a standard transit room, she declared herself quite adequately compensated by the price of beer at the bar!
The next day started with a windscreen tour of the unit so that Dawn and Jenny could get a feel for the type and condition of the SFA available to Lyneham families. The team then set up for a presentation in the HIVE and were pleased to meet a small (but vocal!) group of family members who were interested to hear what the Federation intended to do on their behalf. Not surprisingly, there was a healthy dose of scepticism and it was quite clear that the
F e d e r a t i o n N e w s
Dawn McCafferty briefing a group of family members in the HIVE
families at Lyneham certainly had a range of issues they want to see represented at the very top.
Dawn and Jenny met the new Station Commander, Group Captain Mike Neville, and were able to brief him on day 3 of his command tour – talk about catching the poor chap at his most vulnerable! Nevertheless, he was extremely enthusiastic about the Federation and was keen to establish close links between the Federation and the unit welfare and community support staffs.
Then it was off to visit an airman’s quarter, to provide a more detailed insight into the condition of some of the Lyneham SFA. This visit was particularly eye-opening and resulted in some high-level correspondence between the Federation, Modern Housing Solutions and Defence Estates Housing staffs once the team got back to base.
It was then time to brief the Station Executives and other members of the Community Support staff. Again, the audience was interested in the concept of the Federation, supportive of the Federation’s efforts to date but challenging in their desire to see real results. The Federation were left in no doubt that the families expect to see progress on a wide range of issues and we left Lyneham all the more convinced of the need for a ‘light blue’ voice to represent the concerns of RAF families to the policy staffs at the very top.
To arrange a visit, please call Jenny Ward on 01780 781650 or e-mail us via the website:
www.raf-families-federation.org.uk
MEETING WITH THE MINISTER
I
n early February the Federation’s Chairman joined the chairmen of the Army and Naval Families Federations
to meet with Derek Twigg, MP, the Under Secretary of State for Defence.
This 6-monthly Family Forum is a unique opportunity for the Families Federations to report their concerns direct to the Minister and, whilst the senior Service policy staffs are present, including the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel), the floor definitely belongs to the families’ representatives and we devoted over 1½ hours to updating the Minister on our concerns.
Although the RAF FF database is still in its infancy, the Chairman was able to highlight housing as a significant area of concern, particularly emerging evidence of the inconsistent performance of DE HICs. She also mentioned evidence of career management concerns amongst those serving and reported that, to date, over 60% of calls to the Federation have been from those in uniform. The Minister was pleased to see the progress the Federation had made and reassured the Chairman that the Families Forum was an extremely important medium by which RAF families could make their voices heard. Other areas discussed with the Minister included: the negative impact of adverse media coverage of military issues on family members; the review of CEA (Board) being undertaken as part of the Strategic Remuneration Review; the impact of “stream-lining” within the Personnel Policy field (reductions of up to 38% of personnel staffs in MOD and the potential impact of this on the quality of service provided); communications between the Services and their families; affordable child-care; additional salary sacrifice schemes; adult education for Service families; and progress on the Command Paper (covered elsewhere in this edition).
Finally, on the day of the Family Forum, the 2008 Pay Award was announced and we were able to provide direct feedback to the Minister. The Federation Chairmen advised that the award was seen as “reasonable” in the current climate of public sector pay awards (the best to date) and were particularly pleased to see an increase in X-Factor, since the families had contributed evidence to that review. However, the point was made that an increase in accommodation charges, whilst graduated depending on the grade, would not be welcomed since personnel were yet to be convinced that real improvements in the quality of Service accommodation had been delivered.
Spring 2008 1717
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