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