SCOTTISH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The Scottish POA conference was held at Peebles Hydro again this year, a venue that has been host to us now for four years and always achieves excellent standards as far as guests and delegates are concerned.

JOE SIMPSON

The conference itself opened with a tribute to the late Joe Simpson, our Deputy General Secretary, who died just a few weeks earlier. Joe was a regular at Scottish conference. Both he and Emma have been here most years and were always very warmly welcomed, thanks to the friendships they have built with so many of us.

Joe was deeply respected as a Deputy General Secretary and as a trade unionist, someone whose knowledge and commitment were highly regarded by branch and national officials alike. To some of us, he was much more than that. We regarded him as a good and loyal friend who always had time for us. He was incredibly supportive and just great fun to be around. He had a very warm and generous nature and cared deeply about people, particularly the underdog. He was your fiercest ally when needed. He was made to be a trade union official because he instinctively cared about people. He wanted you to be happy and content in work and in life, Phil Fairlie, Assistant General Secretary, reports on the Scottish Conference and he would give you his last if he thought it would help.

Joe was a big strapping guy, but the biggest part of him was his heart and he will be sadly missed by so many of us here in Scotland. He became a feature of the conference throughout as people came to the podium to talk about him. National Chair Mark Fairhurst and General Secretary Steve Gillan both spoke very warmly and movingly about Joe and Emma, echoing the thoughts of us all.

CONFERENCE AGENDA

The conference itself had an agenda of 80 motions to discuss and debate, many of which covered areas and topics that are hardy annuals on the POA agenda, including pay, terms and conditions. We are in the final year of a three-year deal so, inevitably, the motions were about looking to the next set of pay talks, which should be just around the corner.

There were many motions that looked to debate or reflect on the performance of SPS policies and at the performance of agencies such as the DWP, and the impact this has on our members. Staff compliments were a feature, as were recruitment, staff training, staff safety and the wider health and safety issues that were spread across many of the debates. Overcrowding and its impact, as well as the need to keep moving forward in the refurbishment and rebuild of the prisons’ estate, also featured in several motions. It was good to see so many new delegates attending for the first time, and to see some of them get up to join in those debates. We were particularly pleased to welcome, for the first time, our two delegates from HMP Kilmarnock, who were attending following their transfer into the public sector prison system earlier this year. It has been a long road securing their transfer from the private sector, and credit was paid to the Scottish government for delivering on that commitment. Adam and Jonathan both seemed to enjoy their first experience, and they represented their branch membership admirably. We look forward to their contributions in future conferences.

GUEST SPEAKERS

We were also joined by two guest speakers at conference this year. Cecilia McClure from the Charity for Civil Servants did a presentation on the Wednesday afternoon outlining the valuable work of the charity, as well as the constant need for fundraising to provide continuous support and services to members.

We were joined on the Thursday morning by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Angela Constance, who was with us for her second year in the role. She spoke at length about the issues of overcrowding and committed to that being her priority while in office. She also talked about the need to continue with the rebuilds at Barlinnie and Inverness, as well as referencing the threat to staff from organised crime gangs and drugs within prisons. She took the opportunity to pass on her and the government’s thanks and recognition to staff within the SPS for the hard work and commitment they provide throughout the year.

We also heard from National Chair Mark Fairhurst and General Secretary Steve Gillan, who both took the opportunity to update us on matters affecting the association more broadly, and to address the pressing issues concerning our colleagues in England and Wales. Not surprisingly, those issues were easily identified and understood by the delegates at conference, given they are going through the same challenges, albeit, in some areas at least, on a different scale. Delegates welcomed hearing from both of them and thanked them for their contribution to the conference.

GUESTS

Every year, an important part of our conference is having the opportunity to meet up again with our guests, given that it is one of the few events that have us all in the one place at the same time. Top of that list is always our honorary life members, those who have given so much to the association over the year, and it is our opportunity to mark that contribution and give back to them. The absence of those HLM’s who, for a variety of reasons, were unable to attend this year was sorely felt by many of us. We hope to see them all back in their rightful places again at next year’s conference. We include Bob Riddell, and Sandy and Sheila Henderson, who have been stalwarts of conference for more years than I can remember and are always the perfect guests.

We were also joined by Keith, Mark and Peter, our colleagues from the POA in ROI, as well as Ivor and Darren from NIPS. We are always incredibly grateful that they take time out to come to our conferences and they are an important part of our guest list each year.

We were joined by Adam and Rachel from the SPS who, again, are very welcome each year. As well as giving them the opportunity to listen to the debates at conference and get an insight into the issues of the day, we always take the chance to use the time away from the conference hall to progress other pertinent matters to the association and the SPS.

We always have guests from the Police Federation at our conference, and this year we were joined by David Kennedy for the first time in his capacity as general secretary of the Police Federation here in Scotland. Some of us have known David a long time and have collaborated with him on a variety of mutual interest issues over the years. It was great to have him join us. Things took a bit of a downturn during the raffle though, when he was invited to draw the first ticket as our guest and promptly drew out his own to claim the star prize! There was an emergency motion to conference the following morning calling for VAR to be introduced to conference raffles in future.

CHARITY RAFFLE AND FOODBANK COLLECTION

Joking aside, a long-established and really important part of our conference each year is the charity raffle. We are always blown away by the generosity of those in attendance for the tickets and envelopes they buy on the night. We are equally delighted with the contributions the delegates bring in support of the raffle from envelopes they sell to members in the local branches. It is not lost on us that, on top of all that, the delegates are the ones who bring lots of the prizes too, and are buying tickets on the night to invariably win back an item they brought with them in the first place.

We choose a different charity each year and this year we chose Dementia Scotland, in tribute to the late Margaret Stephen, who died earlier this year. Margaret, the wife of our HLM Bill Stephen, was always a regular at our conference. Margaret and Bill’s absence was sorely felt by those of us who have known them both for many years.

We were pleased then, to have raised £3,585, including a contribution from our General Secretary, Steve Gillan, on behalf of the finance committee. That is a tremendous sum of money from a conference our size and Dementia Scotland will be delighted.

We also organised a collection for the local foodbank in Peebles, which was a huge success at last year’s conference and again this year, with guests and delegates turning up laden with bags of food, toiletries and sundries. We also made a financial contribution. The foodbank was blown away by the contribution and generosity of the POA and took to social media to thank and praise the trade union for its contribution at a very important time of the year.

In total, we have donated more than 900kg of items to the foodbank which, again, is quite incredible, given the size of our conference.

The most important part of conference is always the agenda, and setting the policies going forward for the next year. It is also so important for us as a conference of trade unionists to take the opportunity of having us all together in one place to do something collectively to help others in a time of need. I am proud of the POA in that we do that so successfully each year, thanks to the kindness and generosity of our delegates, guests and wider membership.

THANKS

As ever, the organisation and facilitation of conference this year was second to none. The venue is one that seems to suit our delegates and guests, and the hotel management and staff take care of all in attendance very well. We are grateful to them all for accommodating us over the time we are there.

The biggest thanks though go to Kathryn and Peggy. The organisation for conference isn’t something that happens in the couple of weeks or so ahead of it taking place. It is an ongoing and constant process. The work involved behind the scenes is enormous and takes a significant amount of time and planning, on things that the vast majority of us never have to give a second thought to. For Kathryn and Peggy, it is a huge undertaking that they simply fit into their daily workload of administering the POA in Scotland. Kathryn has been doing that role for so many years it looks effortless to those who benefit from the organisation and effort needed to make it happen. Those of us a bit closer to this process know it is anything but. On behalf of the SNC, our delegates and guests at conference, and even those who were unable to attend this year but were not forgotten by Kathryn and Peggy, we all owe you both a huge debt of gratitude for yet another successful and professional conference. Such is the consistent high standard, we have come to expect nothing less.

Thank you both, on behalf of us all.