FOREWORD FOREWORD BY
AIR COMMODORE NIGEL BEET ASSISTANT CHIEF OF STAFF PERSONNEL POLICY
I
was delighted to be invited to write the foreword for Envoy Magazine so early into my new appointment as Assistant Chief of Staff Personnel Policy. This wide ranging
job includes responsibility for the RAF’s Pay & Allowances; Employment Policy; Personnel Strategy; and Community Support. All these elements play a key role in shaping our support priorities and, through the Community Support Team at HQ Air Command, have close links with the RAF Families Federation and their role in representing the issues that affect our Families.
I am very grateful to the Families Federation for their important work in bringing greater focus to the issues which challenge our Service Family. Their on-line opinion polls and workshops on a range of topical issues provide invaluable evidential data to underpin our work. Together with the Continuous Attitude Surveys and AMP’s Briefing Team’s visits, this work is helping to inform our arguments with policy makers at the highest levels.
In the current economic climate, it is easy to concentrate on cuts to public spending and the personal implications of the pay freeze and reductions in our allowances. However, at this time we should not forget the considerable benefit we gain from our links to Service charities who are doing much to improve the delivery of welfare. The RAF Benevolent Fund, the RAF Association and the RAF Charitable Trust have all provided excellent support to a wide range of projects. In addition, the RAF Sports Board has contributed over £2M to benefit RAF Sport and the Nuffield Trust has made grants to units totalling £410,000. In total, the RAF has recently benefitted from over £17M of charitable grants aimed at providing direct and tangible welfare benefit for our personnel and families. Clearly this is a significant amount, but the good news is that more financial support is available from our very supportive charity partners and also from RAF non-public funds. Work is now on-going to collate an RAF-wide Community Needs Analysis in
order to identify gaps in our welfare provision and produce a coherent plan for the future. I would welcome your help with this activity and I ask you to send your ideas to unit Community staffs, or direct to the RAF Community Support Team at HQ Air.
I must also mention the recent announcement of the Armed Forces Covenant. The Covenant is clear recognition of the Government’s ongoing commitment to the Service Community and sets the tone for policies which are aimed at improving the support available for the Armed Forces and to ensure that they are treated fairly. Through her appointment as Chairman of the RAF Families Federation, Dawn McCafferty has been a member of the Armed Forces Covenant External Reference Group and has been able to represent your views at Ministerial level.
As we face the challenges and hard choices ahead, your engagement with the Families Federation is perhaps more important than ever, so I encourage you to participate with Dawn and her team to ensure that they are aware of the issues that concern you. As ever, my team and those specialist staffs at your units stand ready to assist and I would welcome your feedback.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
Envoy Summer 2011
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