Cronin House
245 Church Street
London
N9 9HW
Telephone: 020 8803 0255
Membership enquiries: membership@poauk.org.uk
General enquiries:
general@poauk.org.uk
After months of planning, the day of the workshop finally arrived. Being the first of this type, none of us really knew how it would go but, with a packed agenda, we kicked off.
Mark Fairhurst, National Chair, and Joe Simpson, Deputy General Secretary and POA Chair of Equalities, opened the workshop explaining how it had come about and expressing their support. General Secretary Steve Gillan joined later and explained why he was backing the event.
It would be amiss of me not to mention the help given by HMPPS Head of Employee Relations Francis Stuart who, from the onset, supported the workshop by ensuring attendees were given facility time and agreeing to pay travel and subsistence for all the HMPPS delegates and representatives. Delegates included members from England, Wales and Northern Ireland plus Tracey Varela, HMPPS HRBP and Dawn Orchard HMPPS Employee Relations. Not all those in attendance were branch officials, as the workshop was open to all female members.
Anyone who has ever been on a course will know about the dreaded, creeping death icebreaker, where you have to introduce yourself. We were determined that no delegate would dread being at the workshop so, for fun, we all interviewed the person next to us, found out three facts about them and then introduced each other. The ‘three facts’ bit was very entertaining and I think, between us, we could have opened a zoo and set up a brass band with a singer who’d previously been on Top of the Pops.
Our first speaker was Clare Mellor, Chief Executive of Thompsons Solicitors, the first woman to hold that position in 100 years. Thompsons work with the POA across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Clare spoke about domestic abuse and sexual harassment, what constitutes sexual harassment and the law around it. Clare’s input into the workshop was very informative. The second speaker was Kudsia Batool, TUC Head of Equalities and Strategy. Kudsia was very animated and made some of the delegates gasp with facts and figures she revealed that related to female issues.
Members of the HMPPS Tackling Unacceptable Behaviour Unit (TUBU) attended. They divided the delegates into two groups and explained the work they carry out.
Dawn Orchard HMPPS, Employee Relations, told us of her career history, including experiences in the forces, private and public sector. Dawn explained the role that Employee Relations has working with recognised trade unions and shared some of the ways issues are raised and discussed at a national level.
The final speaker was Tracey Varela HMPPS, HRBP and the HMPPS lead- SWIM (Supporting the Workplace in Menopause Network) who gave a full and concise update on the work being done to raise awareness on the impact menopause can have and in developing the support available in the workplace.
Tracey also facilitated a session on supporting carers in the workplace and gave an overview of the help currently available and the work under way to make further developments.
Between speakers, we discussed many other female-related issues including why more women aren’t involving themselves and joining local committees.
During the workshop many heartfelt experiences were shared and I’d like to thank all those who attended for their participation.
Cronin House
245 Church Street
London
N9 9HW
Telephone: 020 8803 0255
Membership enquiries: membership@poauk.org.uk
General enquiries:
general@poauk.org.uk
Representing over 30,000 Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers, the POA is the largest UK Union in this sector, able to trace its roots back more than 100 years.