Friday 28 June 2013

This week has been exceptionally busy with a lot happening across the county. On Monday we announced an exciting partnership project that will deliver a new South Wiltshire University Technical College (UTC) in Salisbury in September 2014. The project, which is subject to planning permission and agreement of heads of terms, will mean the Police Crime Commissioner (PCC) granting a lease to Wiltshire Council - as the local education authority - for the use of the current Salisbury Police Station, at Wilton Road as a new UTC. The council will then sub-let the building to the UTC, for a minimal (peppercorn) rent. If agreed the UTC will take on the lease from this November (2013). It is proposed that the current police presence in Salisbury will be relocated to Wiltshire Council premises at the Bourne Hill offices, and they will also look at setting up a public access police point in Salisbury library. This would open ahead of Salisbury Police Station closing to ensure a smooth transition of this service. The UTC would provide specialist technical education in Science and Engineering for more than 600 14-18 year-olds, in a permanent fully refurbished building located in the city centre, avoiding the need to re-locate in temporary accommodation whilst a new facility is built, saving more than £3million. Given the current economic challenges that all public sector organisations face we have to look at how we can work differently and share buildings, facilities and resources to deliver improved services and make efficiencies and savings.

On Wednesday the Chancellor announced the spending review which takes effect from 2015. For us this will mean a further 10 percent reduction in the funding we will receive. Whilst this news was not a surprise for us, it does highlight the need to work more innovatively and with others to deliver services in a different way. It will mean that we need to continue to make some difficult decisions over the next four years and to continue to have clear priorities. Overview and Scrutiny committee met this week to discuss the first draft business plan for the next four years. Their input, particularly in relation to the key priorities and actions, will help to inform the plan and ensure that we are focusing on the right areas. The plan is not that different to the previous one and continues to focus on protecting the most vulnerable, boosting the local economy and really involving and empowering local communities so we can help them do more for themselves. It also promotes innovation and creating an environment where we embrace ideas and different approaches that deliver improved services and cost savings.

Talking of boosting the local economy, this week  work started on Phase 2 of the Castledown Business Park in Ludgershall.  More units will be developed at the park which will provide support for up-and-coming businesses creating jobs in the area. Working with the Army’s 43 (Wessex) Brigade and MoD’s Career Transition Partnership, with the support of the Swindon and Wiltshire Enterprise Partnership and Swindon Borough Council we also hosted a Living and Working in Wiltshire and Swindon jobs fair at Tidworth Leisure Centre on Wednesday to promote future career options for personnel who are leaving the military.

It was great to see the hundreds of people who visited the event and how the council, our partners and businesses all work together to support the many military leavers who want to remain in Wiltshire with their families. It’s vital that we offer the support they need.

On Wednesday afternoon I had the great pleasure of officially closing this year’s Chippenham Games Legacy Event. More than 500 children enjoyed the many activities which included blind football, a mini-marathon, indo-boarding (although I’m not entirely sure what indo-boarding is) and tri-golf. I was thrilled to take part in the Big Dance and I have to say that I am full of admiration for the energy and inspirational leadership of Young Leaders. They really are motivational. It’s fantastic to see events like this that build on the success of last year. It’s these events and the contribution and support of the leaders that is helping to ensure that the spirit of the London 2012 Olympic Games continues and that we build a lasting legacy here in Wiltshire. Well done to the Chippenham Partnership for organising such an inspirational event and to all the children for taking part and making it such an outstanding success.

At the end of the week I attended meetings in London. On Thursday I met Nick Clegg and Greg Clark at  Whitehall to discuss ideas and proposals on the city deal programme. We were asked to share our views on the negotiation and process for securing a deal, and; to discuss the ‘Heseltine’ single growth fund, its link with city deals and our thoughts on how the fund should be distributed and today I am attending a Systems Leadership - Local Vision Programme with Maggie, which is focusing on sharing best practice and experiences in both local government and public health. Leaders and senior staff will be encouraged to talk about their innovative approach to service challenges. Maggie and I are planning to talk about how we are managing the growth in demand for services for older people in Wiltshire and the help to live at home programme.

I’m looking forward to attending the curry and quiz event this evening in the atrium to raise funds to assist looked after children to take part in a world challenge. In August 2014 Kingdown Academy is sending 40 students to Tanzania to help build better communities as well as schools and houses. As a corporate parent we have agreed to support this fundraising and the more we can raise the better as it will provide a life changing opportunity for our looked after children. The evening promises to be a couple of hours of great fun and good food, and I’m really looking forward to taking part and testing my general knowledge!
Next week is the Local Government Association’s annual conference and the theme is Rewiring Local Government and what we need to do to involve people and keep democracy vibrant and meaningful...more on this next week...

Jane

Friday 21 June 2013

Today is the longest day of the year although I have to say everyday at the moment feels like a long day! In a good way...

This week started with my cabinet members and the corporate directors spending the day together focusing on developing the council’s business plan for the next four years. We discussed our priorities and the outcomes we want to deliver; and what will be different in four years. Although the plan is still very much a draft it is beginning to take shape and I will be extremely interested to receive the feedback from overview and scrutiny which will consider the draft at their meeting on the 25 June. The plan needs a lot more work but I am keen that it clearly sets out what we need to do, why we need to do it and what actions we will take to make a difference. If you are interested in seeing the first draft of the business plan you can view it on the Wiltshire Council website.

At cabinet on Tuesday, we discussed several items including the financial outturn for last year’s budget, which showed an under spend for the year. I would like to thank the team for ensuring we took the necessary steps we take to manage the budget throughout the year. The councillors induction programme was reviewed and we agreed that as part of members ongoing development that we will offer additional training sessions in some key areas. The recommendations from the overview and scrutiny task group that looked at the issues surrounding the safeguarding of children in Wiltshire, was discussed, and you may of heard or seen this in the local media. I have to thank Jon Hubbard, who chaired the group, for this constructive and helpful review that places vulnerable children – rather than targets – at the heart. All the recommendations made have been included in the improvement plan published following the Ofsted inspection more than 15 months ago. Whilst we still have a lot to do; many improvements have been made.

Yesterday (Thursday) we held the Wiltshire Business EXPO event in Trowbridge. This was the first time we’ve hosted such an event and I was delighted that it was oversubscribed with more than 85 local businesses taking the opportunity to exhibit and showcase their products and services. This clearly highlighted that there is a need for focused and interactive business events like EXPO and all the businesses took the opportunity to attend one of the many seminars on offer and hear the advice of business experts, as well as the thoughts and views of the key note speakers including David Bradley, the chief executive of the Longleat Estate, Paul Johnson, chair of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Jade Nash, a finalist in last year’s BBC Apprentice. The initial feedback has been extremely positive and  I look forward to discussing with the legacy board what more we can do to help boost the local economy.

It was great to see so many businesses sign up to take part in the sporting dinner, which I launched at yesterday’s event. It is scheduled to take place on Friday, 25 October. The aim of the dinner is to connect businesses with local Wiltshire athletes to support them in their journey to Rio in 2016. Businesses can adopt an Olympian or Paralympian and benefit by being promoted nationally and internationally. We are planning to secure a celebrity after dinner speaker and hope to announce this soon.

After a great day networking with local businesses and business leaders, I headed off to see Rod Stewart at the NEC in Birmingham – I’ve never missed a concert! Now that’s what a call a great end to a good long day...

Jane.

Friday 14 June 2013

It’s extremely satisfying to know that what we’re doing in Wiltshire is in tune with central government. This week it was announced that there will be free concerts across the country this summer to mark the legacy following the success of 2012. The intention is to  provide an opportunity to bring people and communities together, which is close to our hearts in Wiltshire. We recognised early on the need to capitalise on the success of 2012. At this week’s The Legacy Steering Board meeting we discussed the huge programme of activities and events that are scheduled for this year to continue to boost the local economy, get people more active and bring our communities together.  Next week’s Wiltshire Business Expo event in Trowbridge (20 June) is already oversubscribed and highlights the interest and enthusiasm for local companies to promote their services and products. The event includes a host of top speakers and seminars and I will be taking the opportunity to welcome everyone and to launch a special sporting dinner, which will take place in the atrium at County Hall this autumn. The focus of the dinner will be to encourage local businesses to adopt and support a future Wiltshire Olympian or Paralympian in readiness for the Olympic Games in Rio.

It was also really good this week to be recognised for being innovative and doing things differently. I was delighted to welcome several other local authorities to Wiltshire to share our approach to helping older people live in their own homes for longer. Our Help to Live at Home programme is seen as forward thinking and a way to manage the challenge of providing services to a growing older population – and, as we know in Wiltshire we have 15 per cent more older people than the national average and this is growing. We spent the day (Wednesday) talking through how we have transformed services for older people and we hosted several workshops to share what we have learnt so far and the challenges that all local authorities will face in the future. The feedback was extremely positive and I have no doubt we will be asked to run another conference.

It’s good to share best practice and to hear feedback and ideas and I always enjoy meeting other local authorities and our staff. This week I met more than forty new staff at the induction session which shows that where it’s business critical we are still recruiting. The variety of the posts illustrated the diverse range of services we provide and I was pleased to welcome questions about the council and how we work.

Next week I will be spending time with my cabinet members and the corporate directors to develop the council’s business plan for the next four years. The plan will set out our priorities and the outcomes we want to deliver. I’m looking forward to shaping this plan and hearing the views of overview and scrutiny members who will review the first draft at their meeting on the 25 June. At next week’s cabinet we will be discussing several papers including the financial outturn for last year’s budget, the councillors' induction programme following the election in May and the recommendations from the overview and scrutiny task group that looked at the issues surrounding the safeguarding of children in Wiltshire. Their thorough review led to more than forty recommendations which focused on improvement and placed people – rather than targets – at the heart. All the recommendations are being implemented and cabinet will have an opportunity to acknowledge and thank the task group for this invaluable piece of work that addresses one of our top priorities; to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.

And finally where does time go? I celebrated becoming a year older this week but I can honestly say that in my head I’m still thirty something charging around, juggling and always focused on getting things done! Maybe it’s the challenge and diversity of my role at the council that keeps me feeling that way.....and, on that note I’m off to a media briefing and tour of Salisbury Market Place this morning to see the progress on the refurbishment that will revitalise our beautiful City Centre.

Jane.

PS - could I encourage you, if you haven’t already signed up, to take part in a quiz and curry night on Friday 28 June in the atrium. The evening is to raise funds to assist looked after children to take part in a world challenge. In August 2014 Kingdown Academy is sending 40 students to Tanzania to help build better communities as well as schools and houses. As a corporate parent we have agreed to support this fundraising and the more we can raise the better as it will provide a life changing opportunity for our looked after children. The evening will be a couple of hours of great fun and good food, and I’m really looking forward to taking part.  

Friday 7 June 2013

At last summer has arrived and Wiltshire is even more beautiful when it’s sunny. It’s a reminder as I drive around the county in glorious sunshine just how lucky we are to live and work in such a place. Having spent some time in London this week where the pace and environment couldn’t be more of a contrast to Wiltshire it makes you appreciate what we have to offer. The trip to London was to attend a meeting with Public Health England to discuss the future of their site at Porton Down.

It’s always valuable to meet with national agencies and this week we also met with members of the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) at County Hall to discuss how we might work more closely with them to influence future national policy and positively challenge central government thinking when the impact is at local level. It was also useful to discuss how we do things in Wiltshire and how, in many ways, we are so different to many other local councils as how our approach to transformation is quite unique and outside the scope of others.  We agreed that there is an opportunity to get a round table discussion with the others to explore how we keep local democracy vibrant, engaging and really meaningful. Our approach to being big and efficient whilst delivering locally was seen as a good start point for this debate. I look forward to taking this further!

This week we also had a great response to the launch of a new cycling programme coming to Wiltshire called Sky Ride. This is a national programme which starts later this month. Following the 2012 events we want to create a legacy that keeps people fit and healthy and cycling is the perfect, fun activity to help with that and the sunny weather is a great incentive. Talking of which I am trying to walk as many steps as possible as part of the walking challenge – although I admit to sometimes forgetting to attach my pedometer! We discussed these great initiatives and lots more as this week’s Legacy Steering Board – which is now a huge programme of activity and events. Plans are well underway for the EXPO business event later this month, which is at full capacity attracting businesses to exhibit from across the county. We will be launching the sporting dinner at this event to attract businesses to sign up to a taking a table and support a future Olympian or Paralympian in readiness for Rio. Fingers crossed we will secure a high profile famous speaker for this event as we have a few lined up and are just awaiting confirmation. The dinner will be held in the atrium and be another great opportunity to showcase County Hall and its potential use for future big events of this type.

What became clear at the board meeting was the programme of events into next year and 2015 will have a major impact on communities. Next year marks the commemoration of the First World War and this will be big for us as Wiltshire played a significant role in this War training soldiers. Already a steering group is working with the Imperial War Museum to deliver education programmes and events to mark the commemoration. 2015 marks 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 – and, as many of you will know, a copy of this is displayed in Salisbury Cathedral.  Working with June Osbourne, the Dean of the Cathedral we will look at a programme of events to mark democracy through the ages and just how much it has changed. It will be another good opportunity to bring our communities together and to support them with activities and events. Last year proved how vital this is for building networks and relationships and how, by doing this, we can help to improve the quality of life for many people in our local communities.

Enjoy what promises to be a sunny warm weekend,

Jane