Friday 31 May 2013

Hello everyone

I hope you all enjoyed the bank holiday weekend and wasn’t it so good to see some sunshine after all! As well as council business this week I’ve also been shearing sheep – it’s a busy time of year for farmers up and down the country.

Last week I mentioned that we had a visit from Guardian journalist Peter Hetherington. It was an interesting interview and I must admit I was shocked to see just how big the piece was in the paper. His article talks about our plans for the future as well as the benefits of becoming a unitary. I’ve been interviewed countless times over the years by reporters but it’s always interesting to read their take on things and our transformation plans have been well portrayed in this article.

The Councillor Induction Programme 2013 is drawing to a close and on Wednesday we had a really interesting session that focussed on the roles and responsibilities around public health. It included a film, case studies and details of who holds statutory responsibilities within the council. The session, which was very well attended, generated lots of lively discussion and interesting questions and ideas. Councillors were very interested to talk to members of the public health team and a number took the opportunity to have a health check, and I’m pleased to say that all had a clean bill of health!

While I’m on the subject of health I’ve signed up to the Wiltshire Challenge.   I’ve chosen to take part in the Walking Challenge which starts on June 1 – you can also choose the sports challenge and the swimming challenge if walking isn’t your cup of tea. I need to walk more than 224 000 steps by July 27 and I’ll be making sure I’ll always have my pedometer attached to make sure every step counts!

Today the Wiltshire Online team and I will meet representatives from BT to discuss the roll out of Superfast broadband. This is an incredibly important ongoing project for Wiltshire that will help to boost the local economy – as a rural county many companies depend on the internet to sell their products alongside running their businesses from shops on our high streets. It’s also important for people in our very rural communities, who use the internet and rely on a speedy connection, to keep in touch with people and access services. All of Wiltshire’s MPs have also been invited to the meeting so that they are up to date on the progress of the roll out.

On the subject of boosting the economy, it was great that Hitachi Capital started work on its  new £7 million HQ in Trowbridge yesterday. This will create a further 60 jobs at the site and is a real boost for the county's economy.  On a smaller but still vital scale, I hope some of you had the opportunity to visit the Wealth of Wiltshire market in the atrium yesterday, and purchased some local products including the delicious and popular cup cakes and homemade fudge. This market was the second one held in the atrium – following the successful Christmas fayre – providing an opportunity for small local suppliers to promote and sell their products. We made a commitment to continue to build on the success of last year and boost the local economy. These markets are proving extremely popular and more are planned throughout the year.

I’m going to start walking this weekend and clock up some of the steps towards my challenge target...update you on how I get on next week.

Jane

Friday 24 May 2013

Well this week started with one of the best Mondays as I had the honour of meeting both Prince Harry and Price William when they officially opened Tedworth House in Tidworth. Tedworth House is one of four recovery units set up by Help for Heroes for injured soldiers, helping with their recovery and rehabilitation following life changing events. The support and empathy the princes have for the charity’s work was clear to everyone attending and I was delighted to be there to join them. I have been fortunate enough to be involved in Tedworth house since its conception and I am so pleased that we have supported the plans and aspirations of Bryn and Emma Parry. We have seen this amazing grade 2 listed building transformed into the most remarkable sanctuary and centre for rehabilitation to help give our soldiers their lives back. This is a real achievement for all those involved. And, for the record, the princes were lovely!

On Tuesday we held the first meeting of the new cabinet and I was pleased that a lot of councillors attended including some newly elected members. We discussed a number of reports ranging from the new transport plan and government funding for various schemes across the county to the proposal from the three corporate directors to implement a voluntary redundancy programme. As you are probably aware we agreed to their proposal on the basis that this will avoid putting staff at risk. We have to find around £27 million of savings in this year's budget, and this programme will help to deliver around £4 million of those savings. Whilst I recognise this could be unsettling for some staff it allows people to decide for their future for themselves. It goes without saying that the corporate directors will assess applications and make a judgement based on the need to continue to provide vital front line services, particularly to those who are most vulnerable.
On Wednesday I was really pleased to welcome Peter Hetherington a journalist for the Guardian newspaper to Trowbridge. He was extremely keen to find out more about our transformation programme; how we are creating three main hubs, implementing flexible working, improving access to our services and our work with communities through the campus development and our area boards. He said he was impressed with County Hall and with the innovative way that we are approaching the financial challenges that we face. He also visited Corsham to see the campus development and find out more about how communities are influencing service delivery at local level. It's always good to get national interest and recognition for our forward-thinking approach.

Later in the day I also chaired the first meeting of the Public Services Board since the new council was elected. The meeting focused on future priorities and provided an opportunity to share a very early draft of our business plan for the next four years. Our plan is underpinned by partnership working and the realisation that in the current economic climate we have to do more with others; particularly our key partners. I can see more and more services, facilities and buildings will need to be shared if we are to meet the financial challenges ahead. It's great that in many ways we are already doing this and our work with the police is a good example, but we need to do more and all our partners who sit on the board agreed. 

Yesterday I chaired the Military Civilian Integration Partnership board meeting. As we look forward to troop numbers in the county increasing in the years ahead, the work of the partnership is more important than ever and this was a good opportunity for us to look ahead and make sure that the work we do ensures the best outcomes for all of our residents and our military personnel.

Today I’m at the Civic Centre in Trowbridge talking to councillors, as part of the induction programme, about our transformation programme, the work we have done over the last four years and looking at what’s to come in the next four.  Thank you to all of you who have helped to organise and run the councillor inductions sessions, I know how much these have been appreciated by councillors.

Finally, I am delighted to announce the full list of cabinet members and portfolio holders:

Cabinet Members	Title	Portfolio Holders
Jane Scott OBE	Leader of the Council with responsibility for Communications, Customer Care and Systems Thinking
John Thomson	Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet member for Highways and Broadband	Philip Whitehead (highways contract)
Richard (Dick) Tonge	Cabinet member for Finance, Performance, Risk, Procurement and Welfare Reform
Laura Mayes	Cabinet member for Childrens’ Services	Richard Gamble (schools, skills and youth) Alan Macrae (safeguarding)
Keith Humphries	Cabinet member for Adult Care, Public Health & Protection and Housing	Jemima Milton (adult care and public health) Richard Clewer (housing)
Fleur de Rhe Philipe	Cabinet member for Economic Development, Skills and Strategic Transport
Toby Sturgis	Cabinet member for Planning (strategic and development management), Property, Waste and Strategic Housing	Linda Conley (waste) Fred Westmoreland (planning)
Stuart Wheeler	Cabinet member for Hubs, Heritage & Arts, Governance (including information management), Support Services (HR, legal, ICT, business services, democratic services)	Allison Bucknell (staffing equalities, customer care and systems thinking)
Jonathon Seed	Cabinet member for Campuses, Area Boards, Libraries, Leisure and Flooding	Chris Williams (area boards and libraries) Jerry Kunkler (leisure and sport)

I hope you enjoy your bank holiday weekend and we get some sunshine!
More next week,

Jane

Friday 17 May 2013

I was delighted to be re-appointed as the leader of Wiltshire Council this week and consider it a real privilege to lead our organisation and work with all of you for the next four years.  It will be four years of challenge and opportunity and one thing for sure is we will need to be innovative and forward thinking to ensure we can continue to provide critical front line services.

It’s also great to be writing my blog again and to have the opportunity to update on the key events and happenings in the county.

On Tuesday I announced my new cabinet and their areas of responsibility. John Thomson will continue as my deputy leader and Toby Sturgis, Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Dick Tonge, Stuart Wheeler and Keith Humphries will be joined by two new members; former portfolio holder (children’s services) Laura Mayes and Jonathon Seed. You can find out more information on the responsibilities of cabinet members and their work on the Wire.

The new cabinet meets for the first time next week (Tuesday 21 May). We will discuss and make decisions on a number of items including the recommendation from the three corporate directors to implement a voluntary redundancy (VR) programme. Whilst I realise that this proposal may have caused some concern; particularly as it has hit the media this week, we have to find £27 million of savings this year. It was always planned to find £4 million by reducing the number of posts across the organisation.  The proposal for a VR programme will help to deliver the savings and avoid placing staff at risk of redundancy.  I will update more on the first cabinet meeting in my blog next week.

The new cabinet has also started work on producing a business plan that will set out our priorities and key actions for the next four years. One of our priorities will be how we continue to boost the local economy and keep Wiltshire buoyant. On Thursday I attended a meeting of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).  The focus of the meeting was looking ahead at what’s really important in the local economy and the actions that need to be delivered. It’s vital that we make our local economy stronger and more resilient.

Today I attended a sub-group meeting of the LEP chaired by Sir Christopher Benson to discuss the South Wiltshire Life Sciences Cluster Consortium in Salisbury. As you are aware it is planned to deliver a £60 million science park at Porton, which will support the development of life science businesses in the region and create jobs for local people. We have made a bid for £10 million to central government to support this initiative and hope to have more news on this next week.

To help councillors in their new role as community leaders we have been running an excellent induction programme. The programme has included sessions on safeguarding, licensing, development, law and governance, and area boards. I have attended many of the sessions and was pleased to see how well attended they have been by both returning and new councillors. I would urge all councillors to sign up for the workshops running over the next two weeks.

As the cabinet member responsible for communications and reputation management, I attended a workshop yesterday aimed at helping councillors gain a better insight into communications, the use of social media channels, and as local community leaders the importance of managing your reputation. I know the feedback from the session was really positive and some councillors have requested further training on handling communications and managing the media. I will ensure these sessions are organised.

I know many councillors attended a service fair, hosted by the corporate directors in the atrium at County Hall. It was a great opportunity to meet the senior team and gain an understanding of the range of services we deliver.  I would like to thank everyone involved in making the fair so informative and lively. The public health team offered the opportunity to have a health check; testing cholesterol and blood pressure. I took the opportunity and thankfully, despite the full council meeting, my blood pressure proved quite healthy!

I am really looking forward to another four years of working with so many committed, hardworking and talented people. 

More next week

Jane

Friday 3 May 2013

By the time you’re reading this the polling stations will have closed and the votes will have been cast for who will represent Wiltshire Council as a unitary councillor as well as the local city, parish and town councillors.

The counts and election of candidates will take place this afternoon (3 May) and we will know the makeup of the council for the next four years. Whatever the outcome, I would just like to take this opportunity to say thank you.  A huge, heartfelt and personal thank you for the most incredible, challenging and inspirational four years.

As a new unitary council we have achieved so much; delivering significant savings, investing in key services, transforming how we work and where we work from; and, delivering the most forward thinking and innovative nationally acclaimed projects and programmes of work.

The council is well placed for the future and whilst there is still a lot to do, and many challenges ahead, the past four years have shown me that nothing is insurmountable, and by working together and with others we can, and have, achieved so much.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with all of you and have found my role as leader both a privilege and an inspiration. I hope you don’t mind me taking this opportunity to acknowledge the great work you do and to say thank you for your unerring enthusiasm, hard work and commitment to delivering services that have improved the quality of life for so many in Wiltshire.

Jane.