Having Scope and doing little about it

Scope is a leading UK disability organisation with more than 50 years experience in providing support to disabled people to increase their employment opportunities. The Welsh Assembly Government is a devolved government with nearly 10 years experience of falling short as an employer in the area of equal opportunities.

The development of the Leadership Recruitment Programme by Scope promotes awareness of staff diversity and the contribution disabled people can make to the workplace. It also aims to ensure that disabled people of graduate calibre achieve equality and are valued in society, rather than being overlooked.

Last month the programme marked a year since ending its first 12-month trial of running in the Welsh Assembly Government, who was one of many high-profile employers taking part.

Not a bad ongoing gesture from an organisation that seems to fail in this area, and needs to show a vast improvement when it comes to equal opportunities.

Welsh Assembly Government: Money for old rope

Couldn't help but post on news that has proved me, and many others right when posting back in October 2008.

The new civil service layer of Director General civil servants have now been appointed in the Welsh Assembly Government. As previously mentioned, this is part of the new Permanent Secretary's [Gillian Morgan] managment structure, which does have some merits and has seen some backing of those higher up and lower down in the Cathays Park food chain.

But of these new posts that bring an ample award of around £130,000 a year, three have rather strangely (hint of sarcasm identified) gone to internal candidates, some of who it has to be said are not exactly showered in management praise and glory. For some unknown reason a £55,000 + recruitment exercise has ended up employing three people already employed internally at the next grade down in the senior civil service [Head of Department].

One appointment does disturb me slightly.

Civil Servants are not perfect, but to appoint a man who has masterminded and single-handedly steered the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government towards a largely disappointing performance management system; the ASPB merger which led to unequal status among civil servants of the same grade; not to mention equal opportunities and other fiascos (take your pick), is largely a disgraceful act.

It is generally agreed among staff that Human Resources policy has been a disaster and particularly since 2006 - in short, a disaster since appointment. If this was a newspaper headline it would read, "Overall Head of Recruitment Gets Recruited". Surprise!

If it wasn't for my planned family holiday, this unwelcome news of neo-nepotism would have me sick to my Welsh core.

The Welsh Assembly Government has announced the appointment of new Director Generals and a Non Executive Director to its new senior management board - known as the Strategic Delivery and Performance Board.

Clive Bates (aged 47) is currently Head of the United Nations Environment Programme in Sudan and has been appointed Director General for Sustainable Futures.

Christine Daws is being promoted from her current post as Director of Finance to the Welsh Assembly Government to the new Finance Director General position.

Emyr Roberts will take up the post of Director General for Public Services and Local Government Delivery. He is currently Director of the Department for Social Justice and Local Government and has extensive experience which includes a period as Chief Executive of the Welsh European Funding Office.

Bernard Galton has been appointed as Director General for People, Places and Corporate Services following five years as Director of HR at the Welsh Assembly Government and a long career as an HR professional, primarily within the Ministry of Defence.

James Turner will replace Sir Adrian Webb as a Non Executive Director. Mr Turner has had an international business career and joined the Welsh Development Agency in the mid 1990’s as International Managing Director. Ten years ago, he established his own consultancy business undertaking board-level interim assignments and in this capacity was interim Chief Executive at the Arts Council of Wales during 2007. An experienced Non Executive Director, James Turner has served on the boards of a number of private companies and public sector organisations.

The appointments follow a tough recruitment process involving external assessors and complete the new, smaller and more focused Strategic Delivery and Performance Board which Permanent Secretary Dame Gillian Morgan announced in October 2008.

Gill Morgan said:
I’m really pleased to have completed recruitment to this new, smaller Board with the appointment of very high calibre people. I believe a smaller senior team will help us reduce complexity in the organisation and make it easier for us to join up across portfolios. Now more than ever we need to be able to support Ministers in tackling the things that make the most difference to the people of Wales.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said:
My warmest congratulations to Emyr and Bernard. Their appointments complete a line-up of strong management serving the Welsh Assembly Government through the challenging times we face.

The new Board will be in place by the beginning of April. Chaired by the Permanent Secretary, the Board will include six Director Generals (DGs), together with the Chief Executive of the NHS.

The changes will be accomplished within existing resources and there will be no additional cost to the organisation's running cost budget.

A possible return to blogging and keyword activity fun

All bloggers need to take a break from time to time. Have you noticed? I've enjoyed mine and will continue to do so until I feel the compulsive urge to get back into the swing of things and post on a regular basis again.

All main contributors haven't posted for a while by mutual agreement. This has left some thinking that the blog is dead to the world, including the shy and retiring Assembly types (Lol... not dead, but resting). However, there has been a lot of interest lately in one particular post thanks to a link from Betsan Powys of the BBC.

Like Betsan, I was disappointed to hear that Christopher Glamorgan had pulled out of the tribunal against the Welsh Ministers/Welsh Assembly Government. I'm sure he had his reasons, but I can't help thinking that we've missed something special and even I was hoping to attend the hearing as a member of the public. Christopher has yet to answer my email and concern for his case, but I'll keep you posted when I return. Remember Christopher, the offer still stands and I'm sure that Matt Wardman also supports my view on this.

I got slightly bored of blogging and if I'm honest, of Welsh politics, although ongoing fiascos and the reckless should inspire posting if I had the time. Family has always been important, and also making a success of business. After all, as a self-employed person no one else is going to support me - right??

Following the large number of hits to the one post, it got me curious about blog stats, so I decided to take a look for myself. Most interest on the Christopher Glamorgan post came from the Assembly itself which was to be expected, and from local government. A look at 'visitor paths' also made me realise how widely read Betsan's blog is in the UK, which was surprising considering the topic of Welsh politics. This must be testament to the blog being hosted by the BBC and Betsan's writing style.

Another blog stat that caught my attention was that of 'keyword activity' and the interesting, sometimes strange, and frankly bizarre search terms used. One slightly controversial search term was 'Tomos Livingstone bias' and made by someone in the office of HSO Trinity Mirror Group.

These are some of the Internet search terms used (in no particular order) which ended up with the inquiring minds clicking on a link to this blog. Some are obvious. Some are amusing. Others are simply mind boggling.

1. Miss Wagstaff
2. Cardiff political issues
3. Pippa Wagstaff
4. One Wales Government
5. Gareth Hall Welsh Assembly Government
6. Leadership of Welsh political party
7. Mike German Jane Hutt affair
8. Biggest wastes of public money
9. Chocolate cheese Switzerland
10. Jolly roger
11. Office relationships
12. Welsh Labour communications officer
13. Jonathan Evans Julie Morgan
14. Cornock Steve Morgan campaign
15. Welsh Assembly Llandudno jobs
16. Swiss known for
17. Welsh civil servant
18. Paul Murphy sentenced Pontypridd
19. 32% of welsh women prefer to do after 18:00
20. Mistress Services Wales
21. Ellis, luke amss carwyn jones
22. Ellis, luke (amss carwyn jones)
23. Carwyn jones luke ellis
24. Carwyn jones luke ellis
25. Petite welsh woman 60
26. Matt Withers surfing
27. Civil service dress code uk foreign office
28. Cocks that don't fit
29. Top ten reasons to limit debate with a troll
30. Martyn Williams Miss Wagstaff
31. Welsh Labour Europe nonentity
32. Jane Wagstaff porn
33. Jane Hutt quote
34. Tomos Livingstone bias
35. Alun Davies AM blog
36. Human Resources email Welsh Assembly
37. Rhodri Morgan dress sense
38. Sacked civil servant
39. Facebook farce blog
40. Failing Welsh civil service

All I can say is keep blogging. At best, we all find it fun and informative, at its very worst... you can guess the rest.

The knock-on effect of recruitment

As previously mentioned, it seems that once again a ripple emerges and internal candidates rush forth for the glory of [self] promotion...

Assembly Commission Jobs
The National Assembly for Wales has the following opportunities. All these posts are permanent and pensionable, and are based in Cardiff Bay. Part time working or job share arrangements will be considered.

Permanent positions
Senior Research Officer (Band E)
Research Officer - Finance and Statistics (Band C)
Head of Assembly Estates and ICT (Band G)
Head of Assembly Resources (Band G)

The final two should make a few people blush.

Assembly IT: Surf's up for staff

Senior management of the Welsh Assembly Government are taking an increasingly harsh approach to abuses of the Assembly IT system; and even to information put up on the internet by staff in their own time or at home.

Throughout 2007 many staff have received final warnings for forwarding risque pictures by e-mail, and already this year PCS is supporting members facing disciplinary actions due to their use of IT. Management aren't interested in debating what is an inappropriate image. When it comes to IT they are the reincarnation of the Puritans. Understandably, they want to avoid what happened in the DVLA, where explicit images were circulated, leading to 18 sackings and another 148 staff being disciplined following a huge amount of negative media coverage.

Assembly Minister Brian Gibbons' act of online listening to 'The Archers' during a Senedd debate would have landed him with a disciplinary - were he an Assembly member of staff.

One of the biggest online developments in recent years has been the growth of social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook. Here people create online profiles of themselves, exchange public messages and post photos and videos online. PCS strongly advise members not to declare that they work for the Assembly, especially if their members post compromising photos of themselves or make political statements.

Some companies even check peoples' online profiles, to vet if they are suitable for employment; and once an online profile has been set up it can be very difficult to remove. PCS urge members to be very careful as to what they say online, as some of their members have run into trouble and been subjected to disciplinary proceedings following comments made on blogs.

[Source: PCS Wales]

Welsh Assembly Government Recruitment

Having worked in Human Resources, I always take a keen interest in what still goes on in the world of recruitment. Given that this is a blog about Welsh politics, thought I'd show you what a generic Welsh Assembly Government recruitment advertisement looks like.

Different people.
Same values.

Aiming to be the best public sector organisation in Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government lives by its values of delivering results, valuing people and achieving excellence by mainstreaming equality and embracing difference through a diverse workforce. We are particularly committed to improving representation of women, people from ethnic minorities and disabled people at every level of the organisation and would welcome applications from all sections of the community so that we can be more representative of the people whom we serve.

When vacancies arise they will be posted on our website www.wales.gov.uk/recruitment or visit your local job centre. Alternatively contact the Recruitment Team on 02920 821580.

We welcome applications from under-represented groups.

In reality, most of the vacancies that arise cover the lower end of the job market, are Welsh-speaking, or are technical in nature, which is a far cry from reaching out to all sections of the community.

The opening paragraph also raises eyebrows to a higher-level than usual. Does anyone remember the following posts?

1. Inequality at the Assembly
2. Pay and pension can be a lottery
3. Merthyr Tydfil Office: First Anniversary Propaganda
4. Assembly Senior Civil Servant Accused
5. AMs Question Internal Inquiry by the Civil Service
6. Assembly Government: A bad week in the life of those in charge
7. Fresh Review by Assembly's Top Civil Servant
8. Assembly civil servant resigns, but what about the inquiry?
9. A mild form of state control
10. No Dignity at Work: procedures were reasonable under the circumstance

Assembly Commission: What price... democracy?

The Assembly elections in May 2007, not only brought in many changes for the Assembly as an institution, and for its politicians, but also for its staff i.e. the Assembly Parliamentary Service (APS). The election heralded a new beginning for the staff as the split between 'The Executive' and 'The legislature' meant that former APS staff would no longer be civil servants.

The election ended their civil servant status, however, there was a popular option advised by the PCS Union - having the right to revert to their civil servant status and 'move over' to the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government [The Executive] during this period. That deadline arrived this month!!!

The Union were hopeful that the working lives of staff [approximately 300] would be positive, with the possibility of more flexible working patterns and conditions being negotiated once the commission had autonomy to make changes to existing staff terms.

Management have encouraged staff to remain with the Assembly Commission, but with possible limited career opportunities the decision remained at th eforeground to staff thoughts.

In reality, staff have been trickling back to the civil service [Welsh Assembly Government] since May 2007, which has given rise to many 'easy' promotions for existing staff that remained with the commission. This is why there's been a steady flow of new vacancies at the commission. Problem sorted!

Why not join? There could be an interesting opportunity for you.

No Dignity at Work: procedures were reasonable under the circumstance

The latest twist in the tale of how the Welsh Assembly Government deals with internal matters takes a turn into the predictable. This post now brings to a conclusion past posts on this blog.

A sexual harassment case investigation has recommended that the Welsh Assembly Government's "Dignity at Work" policy is scrapped.

The inquiry began when a manager was found in county court to have harassed a female colleague, after he had been cleared by an assembly investigation.

It emerged last month that Mr Evans had resigned from his job. The legal review concluded there was no evidence that any assembly government officials tried to cover up the allegations by Mrs Davies.

.

It also concluded the decision they came to on the basis of evidence was reasonable.
But it recommended the Dignity at Work procedures should be suspended or even scrapped, and disciplinary or grievance procedures employed instead.
.

Sir Jon Shortridge, the outgoing top civil servant in the assembly and who commissioned the investigation said:

It identifies certain deficiencies in the process we followed but concludes robustly that the conclusions reached through our Dignity at Work procedures were reasonable under the circumstance.

The main conclusion I take from the report is that it is essential for staff working for the assembly government to conduct themselves properly at all times and treat their colleagues appropriately.

This case has shown that where members of staff fall below this standard they create problems for themselves, their colleagues and for the organisation.

Instead of passing the blame solely on to certain undesirable members of staff, Sir Jon, as the outgoing Permanent Secretary responsible for nearly 7000 staff, should accept such responsibility at the top.

.

What he should be doing, is apologising for having such inefficient procedures, on behalf of his management of the organisation and that of its Human Resources Department. Top-level civil servants need to show a little humility and accept blame, not shirking responsibility when faced with difficult issues. Pretending there is no problem with current policies, or simply leaving it for a successor to deal with does no good in the long run.

.

It comes to no surprise how little the world changes.