Friday 13 December 2013

Christmas has arrived!



Christmas has arrived! Across Wiltshire carol services have been taking place and it was wonderful to see so many staff at the hubs and with the community in the atrium at County Hall participating in the service this week. On Tuesday, the county’s civic carols by candlelight service was held at Malmesbury Abbey and it was the first time that Swindon Council and all our public sector partners joined together to celebrate Christmas. The evening was truly magical with the police band playing all the well-known carols and Christmas songs and the choirs of the Abbey and local Malmesbury primary school that sang their version of Walking in a Winter Wonderland and Hallelujah. Everyone enjoyed the event and it was both uplifting and a short quality space for some reflecting in the midst of busy diaries!

Yesterday (Thursday) Christmas came to the atrium as hundreds of people visited the annual Christmas Fayre. Over 40 businesses took part selling gifts and produce; these Wealth of Wiltshire Fayres are proving to be more and more popular with the demand for stalls far outweighing the space available. As you all know, I’m a great advocate of promoting the local economy and its always good to see small local businesses have the opportunity to market and sell their products. The Fayre was lively and a great event with local choirs and live reindeer and lots of activities for the younger visitors in the library. The atrium is such a good community space and it’s at its best on days like yesterday. I always had this vision that council buildings should be open to the community for everyone to enjoy and use and it is so good to see this vision become a reality.

It seems a long time since we became a unitary council and it was interesting to reflect on our journey at a round table discussion at the RSA (Royal Society for the Arts) in London with the Rt. Hon Lord Heseltine CH this week. The attendees included other local authorities, the Local Government Association, central government departments and leading policy researchers and developers. The focus was how local government can be reshaped to deliver economies of scale and promote growth and opportunities. Wiltshire was upheld as an example of delivering savings and improved services whilst working closely with local communities to enable and support them to do more for themselves. It will be interesting to see how local authorities tackle the continuing reduction in funding and how they will be forced to join up resources if they are to refrain from cutting services. Whilst we have challenges ahead we are in a much better place and our programme of transformation will continue to deliver savings and efficiencies into the future, which is a direct result of us becoming a unitary council.

This week I decided to speak to the press about the councillors allowances as I was becoming increasingly concerned that there was a lot of misleading and inaccurate information that was impacting on the council’s reputation and the great work that we do. The member’s allowances are recommended by an independent panel and were last looked at in 2009, when we became a new council. The panel admit that they got the allowances wrong at this time, and that the amount did not reflect or recompense for the level of responsibility that some councillors have. For example; at that time the area boards were new and the role to chair the boards was unknown. Four years on and the level of responsibility is much clearer and as such the allowance has been adjusted to reflect this. Similarly, four years ago the health reform had not taken place and there was no requirement to establish a Health and Wellbeing Board. The board is now established and is critical to delivering the integration of health and social care and ensuring that the health services that are required are provided across the county. It is anticipated that millions of pounds will come through the board to provide these critical services to meet the needs of people in Wiltshire, this is a huge responsibility and commitment for the post of chair. I am fully aware of some of the public’s perceptions surrounding this issue but I do feel strongly that we need to focus on the posts and the responsibilities and not the people currently in these posts. Full council approved the panel’s recommendations after considering their evidence and reasoning. I am of the view that if we are expected to be responsible for vital areas of work and to do what’s best for people we must ensure that this is fairly recompensed, especially if we want to encourage a diverse and representative council in the future. Can I just say thank you to the many of you who have been extremely supportive in what has been a difficult time.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your consistently hard work and unerring enthusiasm. It is your passion, energy, creativity and can-do attitude that makes my role so worthwhile. It’s your level of commitment that keeps us all focused on our vision and makes round table discussions – like yesterday – fill me with immense pride as I talk about the sheer scale of our achievements so far, and our plans to do even more in the future!

Thank you for all that you do…it is very much appreciated,

Jane


 Link to vine clip of Santa's reindeer




Friday 15 November 2013

Friday 15 November 2013

This week we held the first full council meeting in the newly refurbished chamber in the old County Hall building. It’s really impressive how technology has moved on since we vacated the building over a year ago - the chamber now has microphones that activate a camera and highlight who’s speaking on three large screens around the chamber, along with a clock that highlights how long each person is speaking. This new technology can do many things, and we will be using this more and more at future meetings, including possibly web streaming the meetings to make them more accessible and to hopefully engage a wider audience. I have to say though that it is slightly disconcerting seeing yourself on the big screens as you stand to make your contribution to the meeting and try to keep focused on the point your making and not on how you look that day! Full council was lively and long and we discussed a number of matters, including how we keep children safe in schools, whether there should be a levy on supermarkets for parking spaces, recommendations from an independent panel on members allowances, the allocation of seats on all the committees following the change in the number of Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors, and responding to more than sixty questions asked by councillors ahead of the meeting.

On the subject of new technology and access to meetings; the three corporate directors and I met more than a thousand staff at forums in Chippenham and Salisbury this week, and whilst it’s always good to see people face to face, we need to look at these meetings being available on web cast and play back in the future, for those staff who are unable to attend the face to face sessions. I have always valued these forums as an opportunity to keep everyone updated on our future plans and what’s happening in the organisation, as well as to hear your views and comments on how you see things; it’s always a good sense check. It became clear during this round of forums that we need to continue to support our managers and teams to work as flexibly as they can in the main hubs, and to recognise what this means in terms of home working, attending meetings, parking and feeling connected to what’s happening. We really do have to make the best use of the new technology we have. We will also be visiting all the depots soon to meet the teams and see how they are. Following this round of forums, I really would welcome your thoughts and ideas on how we can improve these in the future. We want to make sure that they are useful, informative and an opportunity to highlight the great work you all do; please do let me know your views and any ideas.

I mentioned last week a unique and moving exhibition in the atrium focusing on local Wiltshire soldiers who lost their lives in the Great War. The exhibition opened last Saturday (9 November) and in the first 4 hours more than 300 visitors walked through the “the Wiltshire trench”.  Next year marks 100 years since the start of the World War 1 in 1914 and Wiltshire lost more men in this terrible war than anywhere else in the country. Local historian and author Richard Broadhead has spent many years researching the impact that this war had on Wiltshire and he brings the history to life through exhibitions and films, including an award winning short film called Letters from a Small Town, which is based on the experiences of soldiers, their families and a nurse from Chippenham, who served their country in WW1. The exhibition, which has certainly set a benchmark for future exhibits in this atrium space, has been so popular that Richard has agreed to extend it for another week. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see it yet and you’re in County Hall it’s well worth a look. Next year the commemoration of WW1 will impact on our local communities and we are discussing how we can support a range of appropriate events that will help us all to remember and realise the huge sacrifice that was made for our country and freedom.

This weekend I’m heading up to Chester with the three corporate directors for the County Council Network (CCN) annual conference. These events are always a good opportunity to hear how other authorities are managing the challenges we all face and to share ideas. Whilst we have a lot to do in the next four years and not all of it will be easy, as the peer review team said; “Wiltshire Council is in a good place and it is going in the right direction.”

Have a good weekend,

Jane

Friday 8 November 2013

Wiltshire is unique

Has it really been a year since we moved out of the old County Hall offices whilst they underwent a refurbishment? I can’t believe how the time has flown and how much the way we work has changed as a result of changing the offices into open, airy, modern space. The days of musty corridors and closed cellular offices seems like a life time ago now! All our main hubs will be open plan, encouraging more flexible working, less paper and better working relationships. And, I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine how we managed without the atrium space and the great cafĂ© and restaurant facilities that we now have. This space is always buzzing and with such a mix of people; young mums, toddlers, visitors, staff, elected members and partners using the space for meetings, events and refreshments. I have moved back to the old building and it is so different and I am really looking forward to hosting our first full council meeting in the chamber next week.

On the subject of new buildings, last week I attended the opening of the new Garrison Theatre in Tidworth, which can host up to 750 people. The facility, which is located in the heart of the community, to help integrate military personnel with the local community, will be the venue for the next Wiltshire Assembly (2 December) which will focus on Wiltshire as a military county and the impact that the growth in the number of military personnel that will be based in our county, both now and in the next few years, will have on the local economy and communities in the future.

Wiltshire is unique as we have the largest military settlement in the country and by 2020 we will host half of the British Army. This Sunday (10 November) is Remembrance Day and this will be extremely poignant for many of our local communities. I will be attending services in Wilton in the morning and Malmesbury in the afternoon to reflect and remember those who sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom and help others to find theirs.

On Monday (11 November) it is Armistice Day and we will be hosting a unique and moving exhibition in the atrium that will focus on local Wiltshire soldiers who lost their lives in the Great War. Next year marks 100 years since the start of the World War 1 and Wiltshire lost more men in this terrible war than anywhere else in the country. The exhibition will officially open on Monday at 5pm with tea and Anzac cakes (baked to a recipe from 1914!), please join us, or take some time to view this extraordinary exhibition, which is the work of local historian and author Richard Broadhead.

This week saw the start of the staff forums and it was so good to see more than 700 of you at the Civic Hall yesterday (Thursday). It’s been a year since we hosted the last round of forums so there was a lot to discuss and to reflect on. It’s good to look back and just recall our achievements and successes; and we’ve had lots and this is testament to your hard work, enthusiasm and commitment. I look forward to seeing many of you next week in Chippenham and Salisbury and as always I welcome your views, ideas and questions.

Have a good weekend,

Jane

Friday 1 November 2013

Friday 1 November 2013


I hope you weren't too affected by the weekend's storm. I am aware that many of you worked around the clock to clear hundreds of fallen trees and keep people updated on flooding, power cuts and other problems that the storm caused and I’d like to say a huge thank you for your hard work and commitment. We'll soon be moving into winter and this storm shows how our highways and streetscene teams deal with issues that adverse weather can cause. It also demonstrates how services across the council pull together to keep Wiltshire safe and minimising the impact in adverse conditions and emergencies.

Aside from the storm, last week was an interesting week, particularly for Trowbridge. The town saw its long-awaited cinema open on Friday. People often don't realise just how much behind-the-scenes work goes into securing investment and appropriate development in our communities. This is an example of how, again teams from across the council including economic development and planning, worked together so that Trowbridge, in this instance, benefited from major investment that has created jobs and will boost the local economy. I've spoken to lots of people who are delighted that the town now has an Odeon Cinema, and will soon have new restaurants and a hotel. Investment generates further investment and if this year is anything to go by Trowbridge's future is looking pretty good!

Speaking of investment and the economy Vince Cable MP – Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was the key note speaker at the Wessex Chamber of Commerce Business Breakfast last Friday. He stressed that the time for investment is when the economic climate is not so buoyant and that there are lots of businesses looking to invest and help drive the future economy. He was particularly interested in Wiltshire as we are delivering significant investment across many of our towns and in Salisbury. Following the breakfast I discussed the future Science Park at Porton, which the government has agreed to support; recognising the impact and need for science and engineering skills and businesses in the national economy.

Continuing on the economy theme – I was on BBC Wiltshire on Wednesday morning discussing the Wilton Business Event that I attended. Some people perceive that there is less support for the economy and businesses in the south of the county compared with the north. I have to say I don't hold with this view although I was keen to hear the views of business representatives in Wilton. In the south we have recently opened Castledown Business Park and The Enterprise Network which is supporting start up and small businesses that are looking to grow, Salisbury's Market Place, the Maltings and Central Car Park in the city are currently being redeveloped, a new University Technical College providing training in science and engineering will open in 2015 and Porton Science Park, as I mentioned above – are just a few examples of investment and development that are taking place in the south of the county.  When it comes to the economy there are no geographical boundaries within Wiltshire. What matters to me is that the county as a whole benefits from entrepreneurs being supported to start-up companies, small businesses can grow and expand, large companies are attracted to invest in suitable areas and that we help to create and safeguard jobs to ensure we keep unemployment low and Wiltshire has a thriving and buoyant economy.

Yesterday (Thursday 31 October) and today I am on military duty; tomorrow I will be attending the welcome home parade in Malmesbury for the 9 Regiment RLC following their service in Afghanistan. It is always moving and emotional to see our troops come back home to Wiltshire and to recognise their challenging role in rebuilding and safeguarding people in war torn countries. On Friday I will be in Tidworth at the official opening of the new Tidworth Garrison Theatre, which replaces the old theatre that was located behind the wire in the garrison. The new facility is outside the wire and reflects the integration of the military and community. I am looking forward to seeing the new theatre, that I understand can host up to 700 people, and I am delighted that the first major event in this new building will be the Wiltshire Assembly on 2 December which will focus on military integration – more about this soon…

Jane

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Wednesday 23 October 2013

It’s been a busy couple of weeks so my apologies for not updating my blog sooner. I spent some time out of the office last week as my husband Ron had an operation and my main priority was his care and recovery and I am pleased to say he’s on the mend, although now I need a break!

I did, however, manage to attend a round table discussion with other council leaders and representatives from the LGA to discuss how we rewire and reinvigorate local government. Everyone recognises the need to take action to make local democracy more interesting and important. After all the decisions we take directly impact on local communities and people’s lives and it’s vital that they can influence these and get involved.

I also attended the South West Wiltshire Area Board meeting and was invited to update on the council’s plans for the next four years. I focused on our priorities and key actions including the investment in highways which continues to be a local priority for all area boards and was a key matter for discussion at this week’s cabinet meeting. I also updated on plans to host the Elite Cycle Race in Wilton and the surrounding area next May. This will be a huge opportunity attracting visitors and boosting the local economy and we know these Elite events are supported by national TV. I will update more on this event over the coming months as work is underway to ensure all the key representatives are involved in its delivery. It’s always good to get out to the area boards and listen to what matters to communities. Over the next few months I’m hoping to attend all the board meetings to update on our work to deliver a legacy for Wiltshire.

On the matter of legacy, following consultation with our key sponsors we have decided to reschedule the Legacy Sporting Dinner to Thursday 13 March 2014. The decision to reschedule from the original date of 25 October (next week) allows more time for Wiltshire’s future sporting stars hoping to represent their country at the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio in 2016 to bid for support from the Future Funding scheme and attend this unique event that will connect them to local Wiltshire businesses. Several leading local businesses have already pledged their support through sponsorship and attendance at the dinner. The objective is to generate as much funding as possible to assist future sporting stars in their journey. Even the smallest amount can make a huge difference and the evening will feature rising stars and professional athletes as well as celebrity and motivational guest speakers. The revised date also provides the opportunity for businesses, which were precluded by the timing of the event in October, to attend the rescheduled dinner next March. The evening will take place in the Atrium at County Hall, Trowbridge and promises to be an exceptional event. One-off experiences will be auctioned, as part of the evening, including the opportunity to cycle with Paralympic Gold medallist Mark Colbourne MBE at the velodrome in London and a swimming session with Paralympic Gold medallist Stephanie Millward, plus many other experiences which you just can’t buy. I hope some of you may want to be part of this event and I know many of you will be involved in making it a real success.

From cycling to road improvements – I know how problematic damaged roads can be to cyclists and motorists alike which is why my cabinet and I are determined to ensure our roads are as safe as possible. At Tuesday's (October 22) cabinet meeting  we agreed to invest £52million over the next six years to tackle the backlog in highways maintenance. This is good news and it means we can repair the roads that need it the most. We will be working with communities through the area boards to ensure this funding is prioritised to the most damaged and well-used roads. This investment isn't about fixing individual potholes – that work will continue – along with the work we do to continually monitor and repair the roads throughout the year – it's about major repair works which will improve hundreds of miles of our highways network for the next thirty years.  

At Tuesday’s meeting we also agreed to sign the memorandum of understanding for the university technology college (UTC) in Salisbury. This an important step forward for us and our partners in moving this project forward. The plans would see the police station in Wilton Road relocating and the building transformed into  a UTC, which  would open in 2015 and  specialise in science and engineering. Again, good news for young people - this is a facility which would invest in the future of this county.

And, finally can I just take this opportunity to say thank you and good bye to those staff who are leaving the council having taken voluntary redundancy. Many of them have been with Wiltshire Council and with the former county or district councils for many years and will be missed. Can I just wish them all the very best for their futures and thank them for their hard work and commitment and the huge contribution they made to making Wiltshire a better place.


Jane

Thursday 10 October 2013

Thursday 10 October 2013


At the end of last week we celebrated the huge success of our Wiltshire Apprenticeship scheme.  Wiltshire apprentices and the businesses that provided them with the opportunity to kick-start or re-start their careers were invited to a special business breakfast in Salisbury. Former winner of The Apprentice, Tim Campbell was the key note speaker sharing his personal experiences. He was a real inspiration and great orator keeping over a hundred people engaged and captivated by sharing his vision and message that we need to invest in young people – all young people including those not in education, employment or training – as everyone has something to offer and can make a real difference to the local economy. I am passionate about helping young people to access training, work and the help they need to get them started and the apprenticeships have been key to helping with this. In July last year working with the National Apprenticeship Service, Wiltshire College and a number of other training providers and business representative groups, we pledged to create 1,000 new or additional apprenticeships in Wiltshire and I am delighted that we have surpassed this figure and show no sign of stopping! By 31st of July we had reached well over the 1,000 target with 1,130 apprenticeship starts.

Wiltshire is currently in the top five areas nationally for business investment and we want to ensure that we can offer the skills needed for current and future businesses so that they can grow and thrive.  We need to make sure that we have the right education and training in the county. The new university technology college, which will be located in Salisbury, will specialise in science and engineering helping to skill young people for work opportunities at places such as the new Porton Down science park.  The new college, which is due to open in 2015, will be discussed at this month’s cabinet meeting, when we are updated on its progress. Next Tuesday the local media are invited to a pre-cabinet briefing where I will talk through the reports that cabinet will consider on 22 October. As well as progress on the new university technical college, cabinet will discuss proposals for investment into our roads. This is one of 12 key actions in the new business plan and is always a key priority for local people.

Yesterday and today (9/10 October) I’m participating in a major incident training exercise, which aims to test our major incident plan and how we work with our partners should a major incident occur in Wiltshire.  These training days are always a good opportunity to see how we would respond in the event of a major incident and how we would manage the media and, in particular, social media. It’s frightening the speed that news becomes public these days. We all know that any incident is likely to hit the news literally minutes after it’s happened and that there is an expectation that we (all partners) will respond and update and know what’s happening!

Next week I’ve been invited to join a round table discussion with other council leaders and LGC to discuss how we rewire and reinvigorate local government to make it interesting and engaging to the public as well as sustainable into the future; the decreasing funding combined with the increasing demand makes this a big challenge! This is a huge topic and one that I am really keen to be involved in. We need to radically change how local democracy is seen and how we can build trust with local communities and tax payers. If we want communities to do more for themselves we have to build stronger relationships and work together to achieve this. We need to look at how we stimulate people to get involved and to care about what happens in their local area. Whilst we have built some strong foundations I’m keen to explore what more we can do and to hear how others view this. More on the round table discussion next week…

And finally, in my blog last week I talked about the 28 Wiltshire veterans who were invited to County Hall last Friday afternoon to recognise their service on the Arctic Convoys and those who served as aircrew of Bomber Command in World War Two to receive their Arctic Star medal or Bomber Command Clasp as a mark of their valour, gallantry and contribution to their country. I apologise if the way this was worded last week caused any confusion. The ceremony was long overdue and I was delighted to be part of honouring these brave and gallant gentlemen.
Chair of the council, Christine Crisp, presented medals to veterans

Jane

Thursday 3 October 2013

Thursday 3 October 2013

I had fully intended to update my blog last week, publishing it on Monday with a focus on the week ahead. My best laid plans, however, were totally derailed due to last week being one of the busiest I can recall in a while – I know every week is busy but last week really was an exception!

Early Monday morning we welcomed the peer review team to County Hall to assess how we do things and where we can continue to make improvements in the future. Their focus was on how we empower communities to do more for themselves; what more we can do working with our key partners and our plans to manage change and transformation over the next four years. I know many of you took part in meetings and forums to feedback your views on how we work now and what we plan to do in the future. I would just like to say thank you for your contribution as this really helped the team to build a picture of our organisation and our culture.  Whilst the final report will be sent shortly, which will help us to agree actions to deliver improvements, their initial feedback was very positive and the reviewers were struck by our can-do approach and how well we work with our partners and communities. I will talk more about their feedback in future blogs as there is a lot to cover and the whole process was extremely useful. It’s always good to gain an external view of how we’re doing.

Cabinet met on Tuesday and launched the new Business Plan in a user friendly public version, and  a young people's version as well as a keepsake bookmark that sets out our vision, priorities and 12 key actions for the next four years. The bookmark will be inserted into Your Wiltshire magazine, which will be distributed to all households in November.  The Public Health Annual Report  was also presented at the meeting and for the first time the average life expectancy of men in Wiltshire is over 80 years and almost 83 years for women. This can present opportunities for our communities as many older people want to be active, either by volunteering or organising local events and activities, and we can help them to do this.


On the subject of volunteering, on Tuesday evening we hosted the Wiltshire and Swindon Sports Awards in the atrium to recognise and celebrate the many volunteers who give their time to coach or run clubs helping to develop sporting skills across the county. The centre piece for this event was a round stage with runways up to it and a huge backdrop screen. The layout was perfect for demonstrations by Laura Halford the current British champion in rhythmic gymnastics. One of the highlights of the evening was the guest speaker Mark Colbourne, Silver and a Gold medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games for cycling.  Mark broke his back in a near fatal paragliding accident in 2009 and he took us on his rollercoaster ride to become the successful athlete that he is. His talk was one of the most inspirational and motivational that I have ever heard. He had  such a positive impact on everyone attending, especially our future Wiltshire Olympians and Paralympians, and I really hope that I have the opportunity to hear him speak again. At the end of the evening he presented me with a wonderful picture that will have pride of place in the atrium at County Hall for everyone to enjoy.

We certainly have a wealth of talent and people who actively contribute to make a difference to the communities in Wiltshire. Over the last few weeks we have celebrated and recognised those who give up their time and share their enthusiasm to make our county a better place. The adult care awards showcased the huge amount of work being carried out to support older people and to improve the quality of life for so many. Last night the community and voluntary awards celebrated local community groups which are taking action to improve where they live and both the volunteer and young volunteer of the year, who carry out amazing work insert link to find out more.

Back to updating you on the events of last week which was  National Purple Flag week. We’re very proud to have a purple flag in Salisbury, which was awarded to the city a year ago. The flag is in recognition of the safe night time economy and sends a positive message to visitors and tourists to the city. To celebrate we co-hosted with Salisbury City Council a vintage market on the newly refurbished Guildhall Square, which included live music into the evening, encouraging people to stay in the centre. The event was a huge success and highlighted the potential for making full use of the Market Place to boost tourism and the local economy by staging events.

And finally, 28 Wiltshire veterans who served on the arctic convoys Bomber Command 70 years ago were invited to County Hall last Friday afternoon to receive their Arctic Star medals as a mark of their valour, gallantry and contribution to their country. The journey they undertook demanded huge bravery and courage and Winston Churchill called it ‘the worst journey in the world’. Their resilience and determination is an example to us all and should never be forgotten and I was honoured to be part of this unique ceremony. The medals, which have been well publicised, were presented by the local Wiltshire MPs. The Lord Lieutenant for Wiltshire and representative from the Russian Embassy also attended the event. Following the medal presentation, the veteran sailors were invited to splice the mainbrace with a tot of rum, which they all participated in!

By the end of last week I too was ready to splice the mainbrace!

On that note; I fully appreciate how busy this year has been – and it’s only October! You all continue to deliver a huge amount of work whilst staff structures are reviewed, and in some cases, reduced. Your commitment to making Wiltshire a better place is evident and has also been recognised by the peer review team. As a token of appreciation and as a thank you, I have agreed that the council offices will be closed all day on Christmas Eve (Tuesday 24 December 2013). I realise that some front line staff will be providing vital services over the Christmas period and it has been agreed that they will be able to take an alternative day off in recognition of their contribution. Thank you everyone for all that you do – it is very much appreciated.

Jane






Friday 13 September 2013

Friday 13 September 2013


I mentioned last week that we had a familiarisation visit planned for the peer review team, who will be with us week commencing 23 September, to assess how we’re doing things and to advise where we can do things better. The team arrived early on Tuesday morning at County Hall for a tour of the building to see the open plan working environment, the library and the atrium. The building definitely has that wow factor and is quite unlike other local authority buildings. I was pleased that the fencing and hoardings had by pure coincidence been taken down from the front of the old County Hall building, revealing the refurbishment and renovation works – which I have to say from the outside the building looks great and I’m looking forward to seeing the inside very soon.

We took the team on a coach tour to showcase the county; its geography, communities and challenges. We visited the Monkton Park offices to discuss and demonstrate how we are sharing buildings and resources with the police and the integration of Chippenham Police Station in these offices. This arrangement is still unique nationally and generated a lot of interest from the reviewers. We also visited the new business incubation units at Ludgershall where a number of start up businesses met the team to hear how we are actively supporting ex army personnel to make the transition into the civilian workplace and retain their skills in Wiltshire.  Brigadier Piers Hankinson of 43 Brigade at Tidworth Barracks hosted lunch for the team and representatives from the Wiltshire 100 businesses. He provided a good overview of the military in the county and the challenges and opportunities that this brings. By 2020 we will have the largest army settlement in the country based in Wiltshire and this will mean a programme of integration and providing the infrastructure to support this growth around Salisbury Plain.

In the afternoon we visited Salisbury to highlight the regeneration work taking place in the Market Place; which although the work is not complete, what has been done looks fantastic and there is huge potential for this space to be used to boost the local economy and deliver events and entertainment making it a better offer for visitors to the city. We have a good working relationship with the city council and this was evident to the reviewers. Our journey back to Trowbridge went past the Stonehenge and the new visitor centre, which is still under construction. Visitor numbers to the stones has increased by almost 30 per cent following last year’s Olympic Torch events; the iconic shots of Michael Johnson running with the Torch around the monument, being broadcast worldwide have clearly had an impact!

I would just like to say a huge thank you to all those involved with the familiarisation visit. The review team was impressed and found the day extremely useful providing a perspective on the county, its geography and challenges. I’m looking forward to their visit in two weeks as it’s good to have an external opinion on our work and what more we can do to work with our partners and communities.

On Tuesday evening, following the day with the peer review team, I attended Chippenham area board, not as leader of the council, but as the local member representing the views of the local people that I represent. The well publicised matter of a skatepark for the town was on the agenda. This matter has been discussed and debated for many years and has generated a lot of interest and polarised views. The issue has been where to locate the park; I have supported and promoted Monkton Park; a large, open community space, as an obvious location. I am pleased to say that following a good discussion, the decision was made that the area board would support a skatepark located in Monkton Park, as part of the planning process.

As a local member, I also attended a planning meeting this week to discuss plans for solar panels to be located on land in my local ward. Solar energy is highly topical and again there are mixed views on this. The challenge is balancing this with the impact on local communities. In my view we need to consider modern methods to generate energy and solar farms are my preferred option and one that has less impact on the local landscape and communities.  But, we must make sure that they are sited in areas that do not have a negative impact on our beautiful countryside.  As a local council we have to promote energy efficiency and support local initiatives, wherever possible. I think we have the balance right on this matter but it will get tougher as the expectation for generating natural energy grows.

And finally, I chaired the first Health and Well Being board at Salisbury Hospital yesterday.  The Board is made up of representatives from the new Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which replaces the old PCT, NHS Wiltshire and England, the council, Police and Crime Commissioner, Healthwatch (the patients voice) and the local hospitals. This new Board recognises the benefits of working closely together and we discussed and agreed a joint strategy that promotes health and well being; based on public feedback and opinion. It’s focus will be to help people live healthier and more independently for longer, look at early intervention to prevent ill health, safeguard those who are most vulnerable and ensure that children get the best start in life, eat well, get enough exercise and have positive emotional well being. This is a great start and we agreed to publish our plan and priorities in a user friendly, easy to read version.

Next week I’m looking forward to recognising the exceptional work of those delivering adults care services and welcoming everyone to the Adult Care Awards ceremony in the atrium at County Hall. More about the winners next week. And, we will also be hosting a ministerial visit; Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice Damian Green is visiting Monkton Park in Chippenham on Wednesday 18 September to see firsthand how we are working with Wiltshire Police in a shared building.

Have a great weekend,

Jane

Friday 6 September 2013

Friday 6 September 2013

Making decisions is part and parcel of leading a big organisation and each decision debated and made has an impact on the lives of people in Wiltshire. This week has been no exception, and has been a week of agreeing some big decisions that will steer our focus and how we do things for the next four years.

At full council on Tuesday, councillors agreed our business plan and priorities for the next four years.  These priorities will help us to deliver the vision; to create stronger and more resilient communities, which is a shared vision with all our partners. Our aim is to make Wiltshire an even better place to live, work and visit and to continue to protect those who are most vulnerable in our communities. We also need to do all we can to keep boosting the local economy – creating more jobs and helping local businesses to grow and securing new business investment as we are not out of the recession yet. And, we need to continue to encourage and help communities to come together and support them to do more for themselves. The stronger our communities the more able they are to resolve local issues and help those who are most vulnerable and in need of some help.

The business plan sets out our commitment to deliver 12 key actions in the next four years. These are:

1.    To invest additional money between 2014 – 17 to reduce the historic backlog in highways maintenance
2.    To stimulate economic growth and create additional jobs in partnership with the local enterprise partnership
3.    To further enhance the role of area boards by developing innovative community led approaches to designing and delivering services
4.    To provide opportunities for every child and young person to improve their attainment and skills so they can achieve their full potential
5.    To continue to improve our safeguarding services to protect the most vulnerable in our communities
6.    To invest in refurbishing our council housing and encourage the development of new affordable homes, including supported living in rural areas
7.    To build on the work of the military civilian integration partnership and maximise on the benefits arising from the army basing plan
8.    To delegate cost neutral packages of land, services and assets to town and parish councils
9.    To create a campus opportunity in each community area
10.    To integrate public health at the heart of all public services
11.    To ensure we do things differently to enable us to realign £120 million over the next four years to deliver our priorities
12.    To develop the knowledge, skills, behaviours and leadership of our workforce, managers and councillors

We know the next four years we be challenging. The funding we receive from central government will reduce by £22 million and with the predicted increase in service demand, combined with inflation costs, we will face financial pressures of around £100 million. As a result, the plan outlines how we will work innovatively to find the £22 million savings and to realign around £100m so that we can deliver our priorities and the 12 actions I have highlighted. I have asked that we produce the business plan in an easy to read and understand version, including a succinct and clear summary that sets out what we will prioritise and deliver in the next four years that will be available for all our staff, members, local communities, stakeholders and a version for young people.

Some of you may have read or heard the media publicity this week following the decision of the staffing policy committee, which met on Wednesday, to bring the pay of senior managers in line with our policy to pay at the median level. The media headlines of pay rises for individual senior managers of £20,000 are both inaccurate and misleading. This is not the case and I would like to set out the accurate position regarding this matter. The current position is that senior managers are being paid below the median level, which is a breach of our agreed policy. This is not the case with all staff in the organisation.

The committee had a lengthy discussion and agreed to adhere to our current policy to pay at the median level. Any consideration by the committee to adjust this policy and potentially agree to pay at the lower level on the pay scale, would have had an extremely negative impact on the majority of staff employed by the organisation. I am pleased that the committee agreed to adhere to our current policy and to listen to the advice of the external body of professional advisors which reviewed our pay levels. It is important we have the right salary scale in order to be able to recruit and retain high calibre staff with the right skills, aptitude and expertise to deliver the business plan.

I have always advocated that our priority is to try and maintain the delivery of our frontline services, and I have been clear that if this means a reduction in the number of senior managers at the top of the organisation then so be it. Since 2009, the senior management structure has reduced from 33 senior managers at a cost of around £3.5 million, to 21 senior managers, which has delivered a significant saving of almost £1.2 million. We are now proposing to further reduce this number to align responsibilities to the priorities and actions set out in the new business plan. Consultation on these proposals starts next week and, if approved, this will save up to £500,000, in addition to the £1.2 million already saved. I recognise we need strong, experienced people who can lead and manage and deliver the priorities that will make Wiltshire an even better place and that sometimes tough decisions need to be made so that we can deliver our vision.

Next week we welcome the peer review team which will be visiting on Tuesday to familiarise themselves with Wiltshire. Their day will include a tour of County Hall, Monkton Park and visit to the newly established business incubation units at Ludgershall, lunch at Tidworth barracks to hear about the Army rebasing plans and then a visit to Salisbury to see the developments in the city. The actual peer review starts on 23 September and I look forward to an external appraisal of how we do things and where we can continue to make improvements.

Looks as though our Indian summer has left us for this weekend but fingers crossed for its return next week.

Jane

Friday 30 August 2013

Friday 30 August 2013

As we move into September, summer is coming to an end and I hope lots of you had a break over the last couple of months and managed to recharge your batteries.

My priority at the moment is the business plan which will go before  next week’s (September 3) Extraordinary Council meeting . The only main agenda item due to be discussed is the plan which sets out our priorities, vision and direction for the next four years. We know there will be a continued reduction in the funding we receive from Central Government so our plan has to be flexible to deal with any changes that come our way. The plan outlines our three key priorities that must underpin all the work we do. They are: to protect the most vulnerable within Wiltshire, to boost the local economy – creating and safeguarding jobs – and to support and empower communities so they are able to do more for themselves. If we focus on these I am confident that we will deliver our vision to create stronger and more resilient communities.

There’s no doubt about it, this is a challenging time to work in local government: it is fast-moving and ever-changing and we have to meet the needs of local communities with limited funding. This means making savings and looking at how we can do things differently; working with partner organisations, sharing resources and removing waste and bureaucracy. Our business plan has been developed with that in mind.

Looking back on this week, yesterday I met with the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson and Leader of Swindon Borough Council David Renard. We hold this meeting on a regular basis as a lot of our work has an impact on each others’ organisations.  It’s always good to meet face-to-face and have these conversations.

Did any of you watch the BBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ programme this week? As part of his research Nick Hewer from The Apprentice visited our very own Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre to find out more about his ancestors. This led to further research and a trip to several locations in Wiltshire, including Lacock Abbey. There were also some lovely camera shots of the Marlborough Downs. It is also likely that the Marlborough Downs will  be featuring on the BBC’s ‘Britain’s Big Wildlife Revival’ on September 15 so keep a look out for it. It is always lovely to see Wiltshire highlighted like this as it shows thousands of people from across Britain  just how beautiful this county is. 

It’s nice to be back in Wiltshire as I’ve been away for much of this week looking after my grandchildren. I’m tempted to say that next week will be relaxing by comparison but looking at what is in my diary that’s far from true!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Jane.

Friday 23 August 2013

Friday 23 August 2013

Firstly I’d like to say well done to all our hard-working young people who received their GCSE results this week. Wiltshire’s results have shown an improvement overall which is great news. I want to thank everyone who has supported the county’s young people throughout their studies.

On Tuesday I met with Nick Hurd MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Charities, Social Enterprise and Volunteering. He was very interested to hear about our youth services and also our work with volunteers and the opportunities available. Keeping central government updated on the work we are carrying out is important so our experiences can help shape government policy. An example of one of our many  achievements is how we have kept all our libraries open including our mobile services with the help of volunteers – this was a major success and one we should be proud to share.

On Wednesday evening I attended the Northern Area Planning Committee. I was pleased that approval was given to the application for an institute for education at Hartham Park in Corsham.  Some of you may not know that Bath Spa already has a postgraduate facility in Corsham and this development  means that 600 post graduates will be training as teachers in our county every year. It will be a wonderful resource for schools and I’m pleased that we’re able to support this.

I’d like to say well done to everyone who took part in this year’s Wiltshire Challenge. I have to admit that I signed up for the walking challenge but my pedometer went through the washing machine and broke – am I the only one who has done this?! On a serious note, the challenge, which is part of our A Legacy for Wiltshire programme, encouraged people of all ages to take part in a sporting challenge between June and July.  Like last year, we had lots of people taking part and an awards ceremony took place in the Atrium last night (Thursday) to celebrate their achievements. Aaron Moores,  London 2012 Paralympic silver medallist and 2013 World Champion bronze medallist presented the achievers with their medals and certificate.

I hope everyone has a lovely bank holiday Monday and, as ever, I’d like to say thanks to everyone in the council who is working on the Monday to deliver the vital services our communities rely on.

Jane

Friday 16 August 2013

Friday 16 August 2013

This week has highlighted just what can be achieved by working in partnership.  A new South Wiltshire University Technical College (UTC) will open in Salisbury, providing new education and training opportunities for young people (aged 13 -18 years). The UTC approached us, as the local education authority, regarding a possible site for a new college.  We were aware that Wiltshire Police were looking to vacate their current police station site on Wilton Road in the next two years, which would tie in with the timing for the new community campus, and this presented an opportunity for a new college that would meet the needs for education for young people in the area.

All partners agreed that this was a good and pragmatic solution that would make best use of a public building, deliver opportunities for young people to gain skills for the workplace and re-provide police services in the city centre. The bid for a UTC was made to central government with a planned opening date for next September (2014). This meant a tight time frame for the police to relocate services and having had the opportunity to review the final arrangements the chief constable raised concern that they would not be able to continue to provide the level of police service that the public in Salisbury currently receive and asked all the partners to discuss the possibility of delaying the move out of Wilton Road Police Station.

Working with Salisbury MP John Glen, we have agreement from the government to open the UTC in September 2015. The revised date will allow extra time for Wiltshire Police to ensure robust plans are in place for future police services in the area. This will include a fully agreed plan for police custody arrangements to be in place before the police vacate the Wilton Road Police Station in autumn 2014. Whilst the delay will disappoint some of the students who were hoping to join the UTC in 2014, the UTC will work with them and their parents to ensure that their long-term ambitions can be supported. The partners all supported the chief constable recognising that public safety is a top priority and we are all pleased that the UTC will go ahead and provide vital training for young people in the field of science and engineering.

Today, I am pleased to announce that our child protection services have been rated as ‘adequate’ by Ofsted.  This as a significant step on our journey of improvement after a similar inspection early last year rated our services as ‘inadequate’, but  we are not, and will never be, complacent.  We will continue to ensure that we improve so children in Wiltshire are as safe as they possibly can be. We would like to thank all staff involved in these services for their hard work; it’s your dedication that will continue to help us improve. To view the report visit the Ofsted website.

On Thursday I was pleased to launch a business sporting dinner that will take place in the atrium on 25 October. This unique event will link sport and businesses, which is part of our ‘A Legacy for Wiltshire’ programme. We were treated to a visit and demonstration from some of the county’s most successful athletes – Pole Vault 2012 South West Champion Hannah Grubb, Fencing former Junior World Champion Phillip Marsh and Judo British U20 Champion, Jemima Duxberry – who helped us launch the dinner. This event, which will host 250 business representatives and sports stars, will secure funding to support our Wiltshire athletes on their journey to Rio in 2016. Even a small amount of funding can make a huge difference.

The event itself is a Gala Dinner and will be hosted by former England Rugby Captain, Phil de Glanville and the special celebrity guest speaker is TV presenter, adventurer, journalist and double Olympic gold medallist and  seven time world champion, James Cracknell OBE. I am so pleased that James has agreed to join us for the evening as he is a charismatic character with great stories from his time as an elite athlete as well as from his adventures since his retirement. I really am looking forward to hearing him speak.

I must just extend our congratulations to Stephanie Millward and Aaron Moore on their medal wins at the IPC World Swimming Championships this week.

Lastly, I’d like to say huge congratulations to all of Wiltshire’s young people who picked up their A Level results yesterday. More Wiltshire students have achieved the top grades of A* to B and 5 percent more students are achieving three or more A levels than in 2012. I know many of you will have been involved in supporting young people through these challenging times in your role as a parent or in your professional capacity and I’d  like to congratulate you too for this great achievement.


Jane

Friday 9 August 2013

Friday 9 August 2013

I seem to recall that some years ago August was always a quiet month when the council had a recess period with virtually no meetings arranged – how times have changed! We’re only a week into August and there’s a lot happening. I spent Tuesday morning in Salisbury with around thirty new staff attending the induction course. I always thoroughly enjoy these sessions and welcome the questions and comments about the council and how we work. This week’s session was really interesting as we discussed how services will be delivered in the future in community campuses and how we can integrate leisure, police services, health, youth and other key services to benefit local communities. It was good to have input from three police staff who transferred into the programme office in April and hear their views on how policing is about being part of the community. We know that co-locating with the police makes sense and we have seen the positive impact of this at our Monkton Park offices.

In the afternoon I met Bill Browne, the editor of the Salisbury Journal for a regular catch up and to talk through how we can continue to work together. We discussed Purple Flag week which takes place 21-27 September and marks the first anniversary of the flag being awarded to Salisbury for it’s safe and successful night time economy. The week will see us co-hosting a number of activities with the city council,  including a vintage market in the newly refurbished Guildhall Square with live entertainment and a reception for local businesses. We also talked about the huge programme of activities and events scheduled as part of creating a legacy for Wiltshire. Bill was interested in the forthcoming business sports dinner and the elite cycle race that will take place in Wilton next May (2014). We agreed to look at how we can work together on new projects with local communities; more about this as we develop these...

On Wednesday, I met the High Sheriff, William Wyldebore-Smith and was pleased that he would like to use the atrium to host an event on his year’s including work with the public and voluntary sector how we can all best support disadvantaged  children next February. He was impressed with the recent Wiltshire Assembly and how well the atrium space worked for this type of event. I have asked our events team to look at how we can support this event.


Have a great weekend everyone!

Jane

Friday 2 August 2013

Friday 2 August 2013

Last week I mentioned that it was 1 year since the London Olympic Games opened and to mark this anniversary Gamesmakers across the country were invited to attend the Anniversary Games in recognition of the valuable role that they played as volunteers in making last year’s Games such a unique and extraordinary event.  The focus nationally and here in Wiltshire is the ongoing impact since last year, and on Friday morning (last week) I was invited to talk about our legacy work on BBC radio as part of a panel with Swindon Borough Council and Swindon and Wiltshire Sports Partnership. It’s interesting and not surprising that in Wiltshire an additional 6000 people have volunteered to support events, activities and services in their local communities following the success of last year. We’ve always been fortunate to have a huge number of volunteers in the county; 109,000 people (28 per cent of our population) regularly support services but we need to make sure that this number continues to grow as their support and capacity will help to maintain the delivery of key front line services and make communities stronger in the future.

Last year demonstrated that when local communities are provided with a “hook”, people are only too eager to come together and resolve issues, deliver events and participate in activities in their local community and, we know that there is a strong correlation between people who feel a sense of belonging and connected to each other and how happy and healthy they are; so the more we can encourage communities to come together the better it is for everyone.

With this in mind, we know that next year (2014) marks the centenary of World War 1 and we are aware that many communities want to come together and actively commemorate this huge historical event. We are looking at how we can support them and assist with the education and living history, which is vital to remembering the sacrifice made by so many; particularly in Wiltshire which has immense military history. Today I am meeting with the Brigadier Piers Hankinson at Tidworth to discuss how we can work together and support communities with the commemoration which starts next year.

Last Friday evening, I accompanied Maggie Rae, Keith Humphries and Jemima Milton on a visit to the renowned WOMAD festival, which is held at Charlton Park near Malmesbury. The event was in full flow and it was great to see so many families and all ages enjoying the music and atmosphere and we were all really impressed that the organisers had focused on making the event as accessible as possible and it was so great to see disabled and able-bodied people of all ages celebrate music from around the world. It’s a big event that helps to boost our local economy and bring thousands of visitors to Wiltshire.

This week I had three days in Kent undertaking “Gran Gran” duties babysitting which is always extremely satisfying albeit hard work! Yesterday I was back in the office and spent the day catching up with a number of people including meeting with the Police Crime Commissioner, Angus Macpherson and the Chief Constable, Patrick Geenty. These meetings are always really useful; particularly as we develop how we work together and consider the resources and buildings that we may share in the future. The need to work smarter and more efficiently has never been greater as the financial pressures continue to increase. We have do work differently and adopt a can-do approach to everything we do.

I mentioned earlier that I am in Tidworth today meeting the Brigadier to discuss next year, but we are also discussing the plans for the Army Basing project that will see 14,800 military personnel based in our county by 2016. It means Wiltshire will have the largest settlement of military personnel in the country and will house a quarter of the entire British Army. Not only does this make Wiltshire unique, but it means we have to plan to deliver services infrastructure and housing that will be needed and look at how we integrate the military and civilian communities to create a strong and vibrant local area around Salisbury Plain.

Finally, I’m looking forward to officially launching the Legacy business dinner next week. The dinner, which will be hosted by Phil De Glanville – former Bath and England Rugby Union Captain, takes place on 25 October in the Atrium will bring future Olympians and Paralympians together with businesses. More than 250 people will have a  unique opportunity to hear from a celebrity speaker; to be announced next week at the launch, and to have the opportunity to “adopt” an athlete and support their journey to Rio in 2016.

Have a good weekend and hope the sunshine holds out...

Jane

Friday 26 July 2013

Friday 26 July 2013

I have to start by saying it’s good to be back! I thoroughly enjoyed my family break on the Devon coast, which was hotter than abroad, and it was nice to spend time with my grandchildren and to be away from the office. Saying that, I was pleased to be back, to what has been a really busy week.

On Monday we hosted the Wiltshire Assembly in the atrium and it was a great event that focused on Wiltshire’s next generation and we discussed the opportunities for education, training or work. It was really good to see lots of young people attending and hear them talk about their experiences and what it has meant to have the opportunity to have apprenticeships and other initiatives to get into the work place. The feedback so far has been excellent and our partners and the businesses that attended were asked to pledge their commitment to what they can do to help young people.

On Tuesday my cabinet met and discussed a number of important items including our draft business plan for 2013-17. The plan had been considered by Overview and Scrutiny and its Select Committees, and the chairs of these committees provided us with some valuable feedback at the meeting, most of which we have agreed to incorporate. The revised draft incorporating this feedback is available on our website. This new business plan is vital as it sets out our priorities, vision and direction for the next four years and how we will manage the challenges of the significant reduction in central Government funding - which we know will be at least £120 million – and the increasing demand for many of our key services. We will have to do things differently and adopt an innovative and can-do approach to everything we do. We will continue to be flexible to adapt to an ever changing national picture. Along with the draft business plan we also discussed and agreed that the three corporate directors will review the senior management structure to reflect the new plan. The draft business plan will be discussed and agreed at full council on 3 September and will then be designed to ensure it’s easy to read and understand.

We also discussed a paper on our developing partnership with Wiltshire Police. The partnership will provide value for money as a result of us sharing resources and buildings and it will help us to cut out duplication and share vital information quickly and efficiently. Working together makes sense and the results so far have been really positive. The next stage will see us looking to merge support services which may include IT, HR, fleet, finance, payroll, property and estates, legal and communications. This approach is unique and ground breaking and we will be a model that others will be watching to see the outcomes we achieve. I think this is a great example of being innovative and doing things differently so that we can protect vital front line public services.

Our future waste service was also an agenda item and we agreed that officers should now test the market. Currently the service we provide is a mix of in-house and outsourced and we need to look at the best option for the future. We recognise that this is the one service that every household uses and is probably the service that most people associate with the council and what they pay council tax for. It’s important that we get this one right for the future; particularly as most people have very high satisfaction with the existing service.

On Wednesday I chaired the Legacy Steering Board and as ever was quite overwhelmed by the volume of activity and events that we and our communities have delivered, and what is planned to be delivered, since we formed the legacy board following last year’s events. It doesn’t seem like a year ago this week that we were watching the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games and that this would be the start of more people being inspired to get more active and take up sport and activities; an additional 6,000 people in Wiltshire have signed up to participate in sport and activities and the local economy continues to be boosted as a result of the wealth of Wiltshire markets and the recent Big Business and EXPO events.

I also attended a meeting with the military to discuss the future and the additional military personnel that be based in Wiltshire. By 2020 there will be 14,800 personnel based around Salisbury Plain, which is 25 percent of the British Army, making our county the largest settlement area for military personnel in the country. Discussions are focused on what will be needed to best manage this growth.

This week, I have had a further meeting with our health partners to discuss how we can deliver a joined up service for health and social care. This matter continues to be discussed nationally as the growth in the number of older people is a huge challenge across the whole country. More on this subject in the future.

In the meantime, for those of you just off on your annual break have a wonderful time and come back refreshed and raring to go!

Jane.

Friday 12 July 2013

Friday 12 July 2013

Just to update that I’m on my hols and thoroughly enjoying some quality time with my gorgeous grandchildren on the very hot and sunny Devon coast. Makes you always want to holiday in this country when it’s like this. I was just remembering last summer and this time last year when we hosted the Olympic Torch and how lucky we were to avoid the constant rain (that saw many events being cancelled) and the thousands of people who came to Hudson’s Field to enjoy the atmosphere, the Torch arriving and the outdoor concert – was it really only a year ago? I just wonder if the weather had been like this, how many more people would of attended!

I hope you all have the opportunity to enjoy this glorious weather and the forecast says it’s set to continue...

I will be back a week on Monday and look forward to seeing you all then.

Jane

Friday 5 July 2013

Friday 5 July 2013

This week I’ve been based in Manchester – not to see my revered Man United team this time, but to network and talk to the great and good in local government at the Local Government Association (LGA) annual conference. I was pleased to be invited to speak at the opening of the conference and was part of a panel with Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, Graham Allen MP for Nottingham North and Michael Burton, the editor of the MJ  . We were asked to voice our thoughts on a new publication and campaign launched by the LGA Chairman Sir Merrick Cockrell called Rewiring Public Services’.

'Rewiring Public Services' sets out 10 big ideas to improve public services, save money and boost Britain's economy. To find out more about you can visit the LGA’s dedicated webpage or watch the campaign video.

I focused on how we have been rewiring public services since 2009 when we became a unitary council, and how we grasped the opportunities to work differently and make significant savings by working more efficiently. I advocated that it’s about being brave, taking risk and embracing innovation and that working differently with communities is the key. Local authorities need to let go of the control and enable communities to do more influencing the services they need, where they want them and how they will be delivered; in other words, our campus programme.

The clear message is that the next few years will continue to be challenging for local government and we have no choice other than to rewire our thinking and delivery. It certainly stimulated debate as did a session later in the afternoon on the future role of chief executives in local government.  I was asked to comment and this was covered the next day (Wednesday) in the Guardian . I stated that councils are politically led; politicians should lead and the officers should deliver what the politicians want and that’s what makes a successful partnership.

Economic growth was also the subject of Lord Heseltine's speech on Wednesday afternoon, in which he challenged local authorities to seize the opportunities written into his 'No stone unturned' review, where we are featured as an example that unitary councils lead to significant savings and efficiencies.

The problems inherent in the existing disconnect between health and social care and the growth in demand for services for older people was a key feature of the conference. On Thursday the RSA launched the LGA’s Demand Management Publication - which included a case study from us which features our Help to Live at Home Programme and how this is taking an innovative approach to managing this increasing demand.

It was a week of networking and profiling our council and I was pleased that we are gaining recognition for our innovative approach to meeting service demand and doing things in a different way with our partners and communities.

Jane