Francis Maude’s announcement to scrap the code of practice on workforce matters, which protects workers on outsourced public sector contracts from having different pay and conditions to colleagues working alongside them is a regressive step taking us back ten years prior to when the code was negotiated through the social partners forum which I was involved in for APSE.
A senior central government figure recently asked me what a transformed council should look like in four or five years’ time. Whilst this is a fairly obvious question to ask, then a fairly obvious answer to give is that it depends on what you want it to look like.
It’s APSE’s annual performance networks seminar at Blackpool and despite the horrendous weather most of the delegates appear to have made it.
At Pannone public sector summit in Manchester today and a healthy turnout despite the weather, have a quick look on the delegate list and there’s more consultants and lawyers than local government people. However the speaker line up is first class.
Dubious about introduction from Pannone speaker who says George Osborne has played a blinder so far in shaping the debate on shifting services from the public to the private sector!