PPD Staff Meeting 18 May PPD Staff Meeting (18 May 2011) Norman McCubbin (Please don’t read anything into absence of usual STFC logo on slides: purely a technical problem with powerpoint versions… )

PPD Staff Meeting 18 May Aim of meeting…. Not a “full” staff meeting, but chance to explain and discuss the situation on last week’s redundancy notice and , and update you on PPD future.. Leave as much time as possible for Q+A. (I just spent a day and a bit at Royal Society meeting on LHC. What an achievement! )

PPD Staff Meeting 18 May Redundancy Notice (1) Last week’s STFC General Notice was a call for volunteers for redundancy across the whole organisation....and formally paves the way for a subsequent round of compulsory redundancy, if that proves necessary. PP was one of the areas identified (more on that later) as likely to be “at risk” in any such compulsory round.

PPD Staff Meeting 18 May Redundancy Notice (2) We have had VR calls before, and my general advice remains the same: if you have been waiting for an opportunity to go and do something else or something completely different, then do consider it. A VR application (by June 3) commits neither the applicant to go, nor management to accept, and there is no “stigma” attached to applying. Please note: –if you have less than 18 years’ reckonable service, then the CR terms are BETTER, taking into account the payment of 6 months’ notice under CR (and assuming zero notice period under VR, as in the notice); –However, under VR departure date is by “mutual agreement”, and management will want to be sensible and flexible about that.

PPD Staff Meeting 18 May Redundancy Notice (3) If a CR round becomes necessary (and I suspect it will, though we all hope it won’t), then the concept of “at risk” areas is crucial. These have not been finalised, but the concept is clear: –Example: STFC cannot and will not identify “PAs in PPD” as “at risk”. Rather, as all PAs at RAL do essentially the same kind of work, the “at risk” group would have to be “All PAs at RAL”. –And similarly for all other “interchangeable” work areas. –Obviously “interchangeable” is a matter of judgement: PAs are “interchangeable” in this sense, laser physicists and particle physicists are not. However, please note also that CR details require agreement with TU side, and those discussions are still in progress.

PPD Staff Meeting 18 May PPD Future (1) What about PPD? Obviously we are in the VR round, like everybody else. And, as stated in the notice and in my last week, areas of PP are likely to be “at risk”. However, numbers like “up to 25” should not be viewed as “what they really mean is 25”. Rather, there is agreement by Executive Board (Richard W is a member) that the right approach is to start by reviewing what a future PP activity in STFC is going to do, and what resources are needed to do it, This review should also consider how the future PP centre should be overseen ( “governance” ) and how the top-sliced funding would work. Then one looks at redeployment, retirement, and redundancy, as necessary. This approach is advocated and supported by RW and WJW and is being pursued. There is much important detail to agree, and there is pressure on timescale (year 1 restructuring money in year 1; upcoming PP grants round), but it is much better than a semi-arbitrary number.

PPD Staff Meeting 18 May PPD Future (2) What about me? As I’ve been explaining, I am sticking to my latest (third!) retirement date – actually July 8 th. But.. I expect to be around significantly after that date a) to clear my office (!), and b) to transfer “knowledge and experience”, as needed, and obviously it will be. We will not have clarified the shape of the future PP activity by this time, and so an interim arrangement will be required. There will need to be a designated acting/interim Director, with Div Heads Meeting acting as a “management team”, as now. It is recognised that clarity on this is needed VERY SOON!