Dear {contact.first_name},
Many thanks to all of you who attending the recent Board meeting in London. It was great to see so many of you there and your contribution was much appreciated. Please find attached the minutes and powerpoint from the meeting and the preceding Business Committee meeting.
EUROPEAN SOCIAL SERVICES CONFERENCE, COPENHAGEN
Since the Board meeting I am delighted to announce that Commissioner László Andor has confirmed his attendance at this year’s conference in Copenhagen. This is significant for us and I hope it may become a regular feature as was with Commissioner Spidla.
We thank you for your help in promoting the conference so far. If you have not already added the conference logo to your organisation’s website and events page, please help us to get the message out to your members and wider contacts in government and other partner organisations. Your support and endorsement is key!
ANNUAL REVIEW 2011
Our 2011 Annual Review has now been printed and will be disseminated in the coming weeks. The review incorporates a new visual style and we are extremely happy with the result. We hope you enjoy reading it. Please let us know how many copies you would like and we will be happy to send these to you.
MANAGING CHANGE IN COMMUNITY CARE
Session 2 of ESN’s training programme on Developing Community Care took place in Prague on 12-13th March. The session was interactive and lively and included visits to an institution that is being closed and community-based services. Initial feedback is positive and we intend to use delegates’ input to shape the future of the programme. The High Level Advisory Committee meets on 30th March in Brighton.
DUBLIN VISIT
I made another 2 day visit to Dublin this week to strengthen networks around next year’s conference but also meeting with speakers for Copenhagen. We are having positive discussions with the European Foundation in Dublin about their support for 2013 and Curam Software, who were recently bought by IBM, have agreed to double sponsorship (to 30,000 euro per annum). They regard meeting with directors, from time to time, as very useful and I shall be in touch with you as to how you can help us in this regard.
SPRING SEMINAR, ROME
Interest in the meeting on young people in transition has been strong (19 countries to date) and closes today. Thank you for disseminating this amongst your members.
HUMAN RESOURCES
As Dorota’s last day was last friday we are in the process of recruiting a new Policy Officer. We have had a strong response so far with a good number of high-quality candidates. Interviews are expected to take place in late April.
We shall next week welcome Stella Vidisdottir Director of Social Services of Reykjavik in Iceland will be living in Brighton for the next few months to improve her English and will be joining the team to help us strenghthen our Nordic relationships in the run up to Copenhagen.
MEMBERSHIP
The Board is asked to confirm the membership of Leeds University, Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities who requested membership this week.
Best wishes, and a happy Easter from the Secretariat
John Halloran
Chief Executive