Agenda

1. Chair’s Opening Remarks - Karen Bolger
2. Adoption of the agenda
3. Apologies
4. Appointment of tellers
5. AGM 2016 Record of decisions - agreed
6. Branch Annual Report to the 2017 AGM (follow the links below) - agreed
7. 2016 Finance Report - agreed
8. Branch nominations (agreed as below)
9. Home Office Group nominations (agreed as below)
10. PCS National nominations (agreed as below)
11. Motions for debate (agreed as below)
12. Other business
13. Branch Annual Report to the 2017 AGM

Part 1: Branch President's report

Part 2: Branch Secretary's report

Part 3: Finance & membership reports

Part 4: Communications report

Part 5: Health & Safety report

Part 6: Collective bargaining and campaigns January - June 2016

Part 7: Collective bargaining and campaigns July - December 2016

PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch Nominations

President - Karen Bolger

Vice President - Derek Mellor

Branch Secretary - Mike Richards

Assistant Secretary (4) - Dean Barron, Diane Burton, Emma Mooney, Simon Armstrong

Organiser - Phil Mount

Treasurer - Alan Saunders,

Branch Executive Committee members (13) - Tom Courtney, Denis Harty, Christine House, Sandra Lee-Boyd, Chris McDermott, Mark Quilliam, Liz Robinson, Mark Thompson, Toni Walsh-Shiel, Brian White (3 vacancies)

Auditor (2) - Dave Cain, Paul Darbyshire

PCS Home Office Group Nominations

Vice Presidents - James Cox

Assistant Group Secretary - Sharon Edwards, Lawrence Dunne, Chris Kelly, Malcolm Davey, Mike Richards

Group Executive Committee members - Fidel McLean, Malcolm Speechley, Owen Hughes, Denise Speakman, Dil Joshi, Mike Richards

PCS National Executive Committee nominations

President - Janice Godrich

Vice Presidents - Kevin McHugh, Zita Holbourne, Fran Heathcote, Paula Brown

National Executive Committee members - Ian Albert, Mark Baker, Clive Bryant, Martin Cavanagh, Harvey Crane, Alan Dennis, Lawrence Dunne, Mary Ferguson, Angela Grant, Jackie Green, Sam Hall, Austin Harney, John Jamieson, Mark Leopard, Neil License, Marion Lloyd, Dominic McFadden, John McInally, John Maguire, Lorna Merry, Chris Morrison, Marianne Owens, Clara Paillard, Ian Pope, Alison Roder, Candy Udwin, Karen Watts, Hector Wesley, Katrine Williams, Paul Williams

Motions

Motion 1 Carried

During the presidency of Donald Trump the world is currently witnessing a rise in right wing populism, underpinned by a media who incrementally normalise racism and prejudice against different faiths and ethnicities. It is telling that the focus of debate on EU membership, for example, was centred around immigration and not membership of the free market and trade.

The Home Office is supposed to be at the forefront of how we value and interact with different faiths and ethnicities. Yet increasing we see the Home Office moving towards an agenda of normalising hatred and distrust of ethnic minorities and different faiths as a means to divert attention away from the slashing of budgets and cuts in vital public services. This was most prevalent with the “go home vans’ that drove round our cities streets.

Conference, we ask how the media, adopting a racist narrative, is affecting our members in the workplace, and also ask how Home Office policy affects and influences the workers who enact and deliver its policies?

The aim of this motion is to analyse whether Home office policies supported by the normalisation of racism witnessed in the media is finding its way into the Home Office workplace.

Conference instructs the GEC that the lead for equality, to be aided by members of the GEC and branch leads in this area, completes an Equality analysis on race and ethnicity across all workplaces in the group, in the areas of:

• Recruitment
• Dismissals
• Recorded incidents of racial abuse, whether this be by staff or members of the public against staff.

All to be included in Groups equality report 2018 and any members’ briefings at the GEC’s discretion. Upon completion of this analysis the GEC should also consider taking any arising matters forward, as appropriate.

Motion 2 Carried

Conference notes that the Home Office continues to rely on casual labour in the form of Agency staff, namely from Brook Street. In many of our case working areas in UKVI we have seen the use of agency staff on an industrial scale with promises from Departmental heads that this was a ‘short term’ solution to what ever crisis was prevalent on this day. However, it would appear that the use of agency staff in major case working areas has become the norm and in some cases our agency staff members have been in the unit for over 4 ½ years. This is simply not an acceptable use of taxpayers money to line the pockets of Private Sector companies and more importantly on the individuals who are subjected to poor terms and conditions and a lack or job security.

Conference believes that the use of agency staffing needs to be eradicated entirely with a move towards the regularisation of these posts. Furthermore, it is clear that the Department needs a more defined and ridged policy in place if they may ever wish to use this type of casual labour in the future.

Conference therefore instructs the GEC to:

• Conduct analysis on the total number of agency staff in post across the Home Office, including HMPO.
• Obtain details on the length of time some of our agency colleagues have been in post.
• Review whether any legal avenue exists to exert pressures on the Department to review and regularise posts.
• To ascertain the total cost of the use of agency staff across the Home Office estate including any items such as overtime costs, bonuses, agency fees etc.
• To call upon the Home Office to regularise post as soon as practically possible, as applicable.
• To push for a robust mechanism if agency staff are to be used in the future in lieu of Civil Service posts.
• Publish an MB outlining the issue to members on progress made.

Motion 3 Carried

Conference notes that in our Department we have many working families and that provisions such as ‘term time’ working are a major help when it comes to childcare over school holidays. However, the veneer of the departments so called family friendly position is wearing thin and it is noted that the use of provisions such as ‘term time’ are being eroded.

Local Departments are now embarking on annual reviews of these polices due to perceived poor handling of this provision in the past. Whilst conference understands that a periodical review maybe required these are being used to review and remove this provision from our members, who are mainly women with children in the middle of their education. It is particularly noted that areas which are subject to high demand or significant backlogs members may find that the review and removal is even more aggressive and therefore consistency of approach is also a concern.

There are many poor examples of how units are treating members who use this provision, whether it be the removal of term time around public holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, to giving no reasons at all for doing so, against published the policy. Many areas are relying on phrases such as ‘business need’ or that they have refused ‘similar cases’ and using this as a comparable without any evidence being supplied.

This is leaving working families in an intolerable position.

Conference instructs the GEC to review this provision with the Department in order to protect our members interests and seek to devise a policy that fits with the Home Office’s perceived family friendly outlook.

Representatives from the PCS Credit Union will also be present at meeting for those who want to find out more about the services it offers.