Napo General Secretary Ian Lawrence opened the joint Napo and UNISON Cymru event today focusing on the future of Probation in Wales .
Ian said: 'Welcome to everyone here today its always a privilege to visit a neighbouring country to England.
Firstly, thanks to UNISON and Napo Cymru colleagues for hosting this joint event and Su and colleagues in the Wales Centre for Crime and Social Justice for organising it . This is another example of the need for the Probation Unions to strengthen our joint campaigning work in areas such as the future of Probation , pay and workloads, and I hope that everyone here will have welcomed the launch of Operation Protect on Monday and that we may be able to organise a collective photo opportunity later today.
Colleagues, the future of the Probation Service in Wales and England is at its most critical point since those tumultuous days in 2013/14 which saw the eventual implementation of Chris Graylings disastrous privatisation programme known as TR.
It's now history that we eventually defeated this flagship policy and saw the welcome reunification of Probation back to where it belongs as a publicly owned service accountable to the Taxpayer some 2 years ago, but its nowhere near the finished article. With many problems still to be solved.
Coming to Wales reminds me of the loyalty and commitment of Napo and UNISON members during those dark days of our campaign against TR , and how I would return home from trying to do business with the dreadful Working Links CRC inspired by the resistance shown by our union members in Wales. And by the way that's no reflection of the work undertaken by members employed there. It was just a case of Lions being led by Donkeys.
The fact that Working Links CRC became the catalyst for the eventual decision by governent to start the reversal of TR and the first step to reunification which saw sentence management work first return to Wales, is testimony to your collective efforts.
Anyway enough from me by way of introduction, because we have an array of top line speakers waiting to address you and its my pleasure to call the first of these
A politician who, as First Minister for Wales has led the Nation with dignity and a calm head as befits a former Probation Practitioner, and someone who commands respect right across the Political Spectrum.
The First Minister - Mark Drakeford...