Foreword | 5
FOREWORD
by Air Vice-Marshal Chris Elliot CBE MA BSC RAF
Chief of Staff Personnel and Air Secretary
As Iwrite this we have been enjoying arun of beautiful weather and Ihope thatmanyofyou enjoyedabreak over the Summer period, and perhapsothersare looking forward to some winter sun. It has continued to be abusyyear for the RAF, with the RAF100 celebrations, continued supporttooperations all over the world, and the ongoing development and introduction of awide rangeofpeople initiatives, manyofwhich youwill have read about in previous editions.
We all have different needs and priorities and those needs change as we live our lives as part of our Service, as servicemen and women, as partners or spouses, as children or those in the wider RAF
family.Inrecognition, my team and Icontinue to engage with arange of wider Defence and external agencies to ensure we develop people policies and initiatives that will increase choice, recognise changing societal expectations and allow us to focus on individuals, as well as the RAF as awhole -and Iinclude the wider RAF family very much in that. As aService, we need to be responsive to our serving regular and reserve personnel, the changing make-up of our Service families, our Civil Service colleagues, our industry partners and our charitable partners. We need to be flexible, offer choice, take advantage of modern technology and maintain value for money.Wemust be efficient but we must also be effective.
Iknow many serving personnel have welcomed the Enhanced Career Management initiative and we are preparing for the introduction of Flexible Service next
year.You also might be interested in an article in this edition explaining the support available as our Service people transition out of the RAF.Iamlooking forward
to the findings of the Families Federation’s project, which is researching how to broaden this support to the whole
family.Since Ilast spoke to Envoy,work has continued to seek to address areas of concern such as childcare, schooling and accommodation. However,these remain complicated and challenging areas for us all, both as individuals and families, and as aService.
Throughout all this change, the RAF Families Federation is akey source of information, advice, practical support and challenge. Its AF Covenant Managers continue to help with issues ranging from NHS waiting lists and school places to advice on bidding for AF Covenant funding. The RAF Families Federation also serves as an important, independent and influential voice advocating for our personnel and their families. But your help is needed. Much of the supporting evidence for this, and for the Federation’s research projects, comes from surveys -I know we often suffer from survey fatigue but the greater the returns, the more impact the findings have. Ilook forward to continue working with the RAF Families Federation as we look to develop policies and practical initiatives that support the whole RAF family today and into the future.
raf-ff.org.uk |Autumn 2018 | ENVOY
©Crown Copyright.
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