Northern Ireland

Chair - Sharon Currans
Tel: 028 4066 0600
Email: sharon.currans@banbridge.gov.uk

Secretary - Linda Leahy
Tel: 02890 313200
Email: linda.leahy@lgsc.org.uk

Annual Report 2009

A busy year once again for the Northern Ireland Region and we are continuing to meet on a monthly basis with other ad hoc working groups meeting to look at areas such as RPA implementation and pensions as and when required.

Single Status implementation and the major ongoing roller coaster ride of the Review of Public Administration (RPA) has remained the major focus of the Region’s attention. The Region has been acknowledged by the Department of Environment as a key consultee in the momentous change process that lies ahead and as the Review picks up momentum PPMA have currently seven members sitting on a variety of working groups feeding into the decision making process.

PPMA continue to sit on the Employers side of the Northern Ireland Joint Consultative Committee as a nomination from SOLACE and on the Local Government Training Group.

Membership levels have continued to improve with corporate membership becoming increasingly popular. Our membership currently stands at 46. We have continued to strengthen the important links with our colleagues in England and Wales and we are most willing to discuss hosting any Region that would like to visit Northern Ireland.

Our meetings are well attended and focussed on meeting members’ needs and expectations whether those are strategic or operational. This year we have utilised the existing talents and experience within our network in conjunction with forging partnerships to increase the overall capacity of the region. An example of this approach was a meeting held early in the year at which members shared their knowledge of equal pay audits which was both informative and thought provoking. This raised issues which we addressed through an event in December run in partnership with our colleagues in the North East Region, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) and the Local Government Staff Commission. This sell out event was attended by Human Resources Practitioners and Heads of Finance and other senior officers and after a welcome by Chair of PPMA the opening address was given by Bob Collins, Chief Commissioner of the ECNI. This was a highly successful event which raised much needed funds for our region and was another opportunity for PPMA to showcase the useful resource it provides to Local Government in Northern Ireland.

Another successful event PPMA partnered with LGST, LGTG and Croner, was a one day TUPE training programme for senior Human Resource practitioners in the local councils in anticipation of RPA staff transfers etc. This event has been run on three days due to high demand and SOLACE has requested a session specifically for Chief Executives.

Although this is a challenging year financially for most Councils in Northern Ireland we look forward to sending a record number of delegates to Conference in Manchester as our fund raising during the year has made increased sponsorship possible.

As always we wish to record our thanks to the national officers and the Local Government Staff Commission who provide support and encouragement throughout the year, and would like to say a special thank you to Mick Brodie who provided much support throughout the year in particular in the organization of our Equal Pay event.

March 2009