|
|
About the FDA
|
The FDA has over 11,000 members working in civil service departments and agencies, quangos, public bodies and the National Health Service. In addition, the FDA represents 650 senior diplomats who are members of the Diplomatic Service Association, which is affiliated to the FDA.
Like most trade unions the FDA has a federal structure consisting of branches, which represent particular workplaces, and sections which represent particular professional groups. There is also a national executive committee, president and general secretary. The FDA has a staff of around 18 people based in offices near New Scotland Yard in Westminster.
Like all trade unions, the FDA is a democratic organisation. Members elect representatives to sit on the FDA's ruling executive committee as well as the general secretary and the president. Overall policy is controlled by the Annual Delegate Conference which meets every year in May. All FDA branches are entitled to send delegates to the conference.
To find out more about the FDA's structure and its membership, browse the sections below. If you have any further questions, please contact FDA head office. More information on the FDA's policy positions can be found in the A-Z of issues, the FDA in action, and the press release sections.
Branches
Branches are the basic unit of FDA organisation. Most departments and public bodies employing FDA members have their own branch, although some small workplaces are amalgamated into a single branch. Most members in executive agencies are in a common branch with colleagues from the parent department.
Each branch is run by a small committee and has an elected convenor (chair) and secretary. Many routine negotiations and personal cases are handled by branch officials, but each branch has a designated negotiator at head office who handles more serious cases and generally advises the branch on professional and employment issues.
Branches send delegates to the FDA's Annual Delegate Conference but do not elect members of the executive committee, who are chosen on a section-wide basis. Each branch has a 'link person' on the committee.
Sections
Sections group together FDA members in similar professional groups. The FDA's sections are:
- USRO (Inland Revenue section)
- Crown Prosecution Service
- Culture (includes museums, galleries and libraries)
- Legal
- HMI England (Ofsted - schools inspectors)
- HMI Scotland (schools inspectors)
- HMI Wales (Estyn - schools inspectors)
- NHS Managers
- Northern Ireland Senior Officers
- Procurator Fiscal Service (Scottish crown prosecutors)
USRO (Union of Senior Revenue Officials), as well as being a section of the FDA, is a union in its own right and has its own elected president and executive committee. The FDA general secretary serves as general secretary of USRO.
Executive committee
The FDA's 25-strong executive committee runs the union between conferences. It meets once a month to oversee the work of the union, set priorities and determine union policy. But it must work within the policies set by the Annual Delegate Conference and is bound by the decisions of conference.
Head office
The general secretary is the most senior member of the FDA's staff and is effectively the union's chief executive. The general secretary is elected by the whole membership and serves for a five-year term. The general secretary is responsible to the executive committee for FDA head office and the day-to-day business of the union. He or she is also the 'public face' of the FDA and represents the union's interests at the most senior level. As well as the general secretary, the FDA has around 18 staff based in its head office in Westminster.
Affiliations and links
The FDA is affiliated to the following organisations:
Also:
The following organisations are affiliated to the FDA:
- Diplomatic Service Association
The FDA membership
- Approximately 64.6 per cent of the FDA's members are men and 35.4 per cent women.
- About 2.3 per cent of FDA members are identified as Black or Asian.
- Around 40 per cent of FDA members work in the London area. Other large concentrations of FDA members are found in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.
- 8 per cent work in Scotland, 5.3 per cent in Wales, 2.6 per cent in Northern Ireland, and 0.6 per cent overseas.
FDA members by job function:
- Administrators/managers/policy advisers 27.1%
- Tax inspectors & Revenue officials 21.6%
- Crown Prosecutors/Procurator Fiscals 17.4%
- Government legal advisers 10.3%
- NHS Managers 9.7%
- Statisticians 4.0%
- Schools Inspectors 4.3%
- Economists 2.8%
- Museum curators and managers 2.7%
- Northern Ireland Senior Officers 1.9%
- Accountants 0.9%
The fastest growing section of the FDA is the NHS managers section. Membership has increased from around 250 to 1,000 since the FDA launched a major recruitment drive in the autumn of 1996.
(Figures are as at December 2001)
|
 |
|
|
|
