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The NPF held its first meeting in Nottingham in January, to agree the work programmes for each policy commission over the coming year, as well as electing NPF officers. So our reports each cover a different area. As education is being so closely debated, our first report is from Duncan Enright, who sits on the Education Policy Commission.
Education – Involving the Community
By Duncan Enright
Obviously the top priority of the Commission is to stimulate debate on the Education White Paper and synthesise the input from party members. If you or your CLP have any comments on the White Paper, please send them to duncan.enright@ntlworld.com.
The Education Policy Commission is now starting to produce a document for debate by the party. This year we will be working on special educational needs, skills and lifelong learning, childcare, healthy schools and school sport, and staying-on rates. If you know of any interesting visits the Commission can make to see good practice locally thenplease get in touch.
One new element of the Forum meeting at Nottingham was the introduction of a session with community leaders, who also sat in with us to discuss a wide range of issues with Tony Blair after his speech. Our Nottingham base gave East Midlands the chance to set the scene.
The education session included a number of heads and leaders from local schools. Forum members were able to explore the ideas in the White Paper and measure their own opinions against those of people on the front line of providing education.
The attitude, ideas and enthusiasm of these leaders were nothing short of inspirational, and the session was a success. The Education policy Commission will follow up with a visit to one or more groups of schools as a result of this highly successful meeting.
The clear priority of the Forum this year is to encourage more "Big Conversation" style consultations around the country with party members meeting with local interested groups on topics of interest, like governors and teachers on education or health and social care professionals on health policy, or even local businesses on the economy.
A new, improved NPF
By Deborah Gardiner
This NPF was the first one working under the changes agreed by Annual Conference in a report that reviewed the whole PIP process. As a result the whole NPF had a chance to discuss the work programmes that would be considered by Commissions. This gave NPF members an opportunity to feed into the work programmes all the issues that CLPs had raised with CLP representatives and SE members were very active in the debates.
If anyone would like specific details about the debates that took place on the documents please do email me and I will be happy to provide the information. The work programmes are being re-written to take into account the NPF discussions and they should be with CLPs in the near future. I hope members will take part in the web-based debates with Ministers as these are a key way in which we can talk about contemporary issues rather than the “forward plan”. Again, please let me know if you have suggestions as to how these could be improved.
A new member’s view
By Beth Breeze
Beth was elected to the NPF for the first time at our Annual
Conference in Brighton - here’s her view of her first NPF meeting
There I was, packing my bag before heading off to Nottingham for my first National Policy Forum weekend conference. Full set of policy documents? Check. Questions to ask the many attending ministers? Check. Ideas from local party members to raise with ministers? Check. Nappy wipes? Check. You see, as both a newly elected NPF rep and a new mum, baby had to come too!
The event began with a barnstorming speech from the prime minister who explained how the next stage of public service reform is essential to ensure that the poor and disadvantaged in our society get as much choice and high quality healthcare and education as the rich. After taking a good number of questions, answered with a surprising degree of candour, Tony Blair left us to our deliberations.
First up was the inaugural ‘community policy seminar’ which worked well with input from many local party members, public servants, charity workers and business people. This range of experience and expertise meant we could tackle meaty questions about front-line delivery of policy, though most of us felt we needed at least twice as long as the allotted time to make more progress.
Most of the weekend was spent in six smaller groups, each containing a mix of 20 or so members from all sections of the NPF, and looking in turn at the NPF’s six policy areas. Up to three government ministers briefly spoke on their department’s policy plans. This is our chance to influence policy directly and now I know how seriously the process is taken, I want every member to take up the chance to feed their ideas and concerns into our team of reps.
After two hectic and enjoyable days I returned home to unpack my now rather tatty policy documents, to read over my notes on conversations with the people running our country and to reflect on the fact that my 18 week old son was now a true Blair’s babe!
The debate on health
By Martin Phillips
The reforms to the NPF meant that our first meeting, on health, was open to members of the East Midlands community. Our group included representatives of the NHS staff and management, as well as NHS patient groups. Unlike many party meetings, there was no long speech from the minister – we were quickly into comments, and there were a lot!
It was useful to get so many different viewpoints and to hear a different set of priorities from the ones we usually hear in Labour Party debates. I was not surprised at the range of subjects raised, as health covers so many different areas. What did surprise me was how many people talked about the problems being caused by the quality of some NHS senior management (which was raised even by NHS managers themselves). The word “accountability” came up several times, and many agreed that there are still too many NHS managers who do not take responsibility for their departments. One member of the public suggested an academy for NHS managers, which was a great idea and written down very quickly!
In the main meeting with health ministers, there was a great focus on health issues beyond hospitals, such as community health programmes and especially the care of people passing from the NHS into other agencies. As my family has several elderly members, I have seen these problems firsthand, so I was pleased that we agreed to give a high priority to discussing the integration of social care and the health service, to make things smoother.
I have heard so much cynicism about the NPF, but I felt that we made real progress in the first meeting, and with the health white paper bringing so much debate, I am sure that there will be a lot more work to do.
Congratulations to Simon Burgess
One of the first tasks of the NPF was to vote for its senior positions. One of our SE reps, Simon Burgess, was elected as one of the vice-chairs. Here is his report:
I'm delighted and grateful to have been elected vice-chair of the NPF, I feel I was elected because I'm known as someone who is keen to make the process work as well as possible - for all its members. I won't have more say on policy than other NPF members, but I am serious about greatly improving communication, especially feedback on submissions.
Since the NPF at Nottingham, I have attended my first Joint Policy Committee (JPC - which overseas the work of the NPF) where we checked that the policy commission work programmes had been updated following NPF members suggestions at Nottingham. It was impressive to see the Prime Minister and Trade Union leaders treat CLP representatives, such as myself, as equals in a thorough meeting.
Just as importantly I attended a Horsham CLP meeting where we discussed the workings of the NPF - please do invite us, your representatives, along to your CLP meetings so that we can help you to make the most of the Partnership in Power process. We are only representatives because of your support - make use of us."
The National Policy Forum - What happens next?
By Olivia Bailey
You are probably wondering what will be happening next in the NPF process – when will you be receiving documents, for example.
The 6 policy commissions now have work plans agreed by the whole NPF. These outline the topics that each commission will discuss over the next year. But just as important, each commission will produce their parts of the first NPF report. This will be sent to all CLPs later this year. Unlike previous years, the document will be written in what we hope is a more readable and practical document for debates, like the Big Conversation documents.
In the meantime, you can always organise your own forum debates on any subject you like, and the outcome of your meetings can be sent to the NPF commissions for inclusion in their discussions. Don’t wait for the NPF document, but start debates now. What do you think about the Education White Paper or the proposed NHS reforms.
We can help you with your forums, whether in organising debates, acting as speakers or facilitators. We can represent you best if we know your views. So invite us along, and send us copies of your submissions, so that we can follow them up. Our contact details are on the back page of this report, as well as the email addresses for submissions to the commissions.