Looking ahead to the peer review next week and ownership of gypsy and traveller sites

Hello,

Next week the peer review will take place and we’ve been preparing for this over the last few weeks. The invited reviewers will be looking at a number of areas including our leadership (political and management), our financial planning, governance and whether we are using our resources in the most effective way. We would like to say thank you to all of you that have been involved in the preparation next week, and to those of you who will be part of the review in meetings and focus groups. The peer review team will take on the role of critical friends and we look forward to their challenge and feedback on areas where we know we need to do more, including transformation of adult care services, offering more digital options and becoming more commercial in how we do business and deliver services.

Yesterday we had a good meeting with cabinet members discussing next week’s cabinet meeting which will be held in the Council Chamber due to the expected high level of attendance by members of the public for the discussion on special schools provision and for the feedback from service users on our adult social care services. 

The special schools provision involves us working with the schools to establish how we can meet the future needs of children and young people with special educational needs. We need to find around 220 additional places for those aged five to 16 by 2026, and as you can imagine this will be quite a challenge. We are working with schools to find a practical solution that avoids having to send children to schools outside of the county, or across the county. We are proposing that cabinet approves launching an extensive consultation on the options to meet the demand. This will conclude next year and see a report on the feedback to cabinet in March 2018.

Whilst these two reports will be of public interest, cabinet will also be reviewing the council’s assets sold and still available for sale. Some of these assets may be considered as community asset transfers to local town or parish councils. We have always been clear that we will rationalise our estate to deliver capital receipts that can be reinvested where needed.

Yesterday we also discussed gypsy and traveller sites and the need to review how the sites in our ownership will be managed in the future. There are a number of options that could be considered and we will look into these in more detail before making recommendations to cabinet.

The development of the Boscombe MOD site, which will be a key site for economic growth and investment, was also discussed, as this site will need the right infrastructure including roads investment if we are to maximise its use. Cabinet will consider what’s required for this site in December.

The budget remains at the forefront of our discussions with CLT. Yesterday we talked through the need to make around £45 million savings over the next three years, and, more importantly, how we intend to do this. As well as delivering savings, we also need to focus on the opportunities to generate more income. All the directors will be expected to look at both of these, and, with their heads of service provide ideas and an update to us at budget summit meetings in the next few weeks. We will talk about the budget and our plans for delivering the savings and more income at the upcoming staff forums. 

This week we are meeting with groups of staff to update on the adult social care transformation programme. This is a really ambitious programme that aims to improve service delivery for users, reduce demand and reduce costs. You can find out more in the latest newsletter.

999 – What’s Your Emergency featuring Wiltshire’s emergency services returned to channel 4 last night. This week’s episode looked at crimes against woman; particularly sex crimes and harassment. Next week focuses on the military. Our concern remains how Wiltshire as a place is portrayed, and that the crime and matters featured are set in context reminding viewers that our county is still one of the safest in the country and that we work in partnership to support those who are most vulnerable. 

Have a good week.

Alison, Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Forthcoming peer review and looking ahead to cabinet next month

It’s half term week, which means along with many others, Carlton and Terence are enjoying a well-earned break, although Terence did come in for an important item at cabinet liaison on Monday.

We met with cabinet members yesterday morning to talk about the forthcoming peer review, which takes place week commencing 6 November. The arrangements for meetings and the timetable for that week were discussed, as well as the information that’s required for the peers to read up on us prior to their arrival. The peers will assess how we are doing and where we can improve to ensure that we can deliver what we need to in the next few years. These reviews are always really useful and we are looking forward to welcoming the team to County Hall and the opportunity of hearing their views and feedback.

We also discussed the cabinet meeting on 7 November, which will include special school provision, service user engagement on our adult social care services, a paper on the transformation of adult care including the proposed changes to improve the service, and how we will work with partners to continue to safeguard those who are most vulnerable. There will also be a revision to the existing Community Asset Transfer (CAT) policy to speed up the way we work with town and parish councils to transfer services and facilities that are best delivered at local level. This revision reflects the huge amount of work undertaken in Salisbury to transfer a wide range of services and assets to the city council.

We are expecting quite a lot of members of the public at the cabinet meeting, so in this instance it will be held in the council chamber.

At our corporate leadership team meeting yesterday afternoon we discussed what’s coming up in December: new policies and decisions for cabinet including finalising the approved campus programme (first approved in 2012), to include the Melksham House site, and Cricklade and Calne and the outdoor education provision.

Along with Carolyn, we also said farewell to James Cawley and Julia Cramp last week. They both worked extremely hard on behalf of the organisation, and we wish them well in for the future.

And, before anyone spots the deliberate mistake, we will be updating our blog picture next week, just in case you don’t know what we all look like.

Have a great rest of the week…

Alison and Alistair
(Carlton and Terence are on leave)

Update on Full Council and a fond farewell to a great friend

Hello,

We’ve decided to publish a blog at the start of the working week focusing on what’s coming up and to highlight some of the updates and decision from our meeting with cabinet members and as a leadership team. 

Monday mornings we meet with the political leadership - the cabinet members. These cabinet liaison meetings are a key opportunity for us to discuss key issues, strategy and policy changes that will be tabled at formal cabinet meetings for decisions. The liaison meetings are informal and not open to the public, but we thought it may be helpful for you to view a short clip.

At this week’s meeting we discussed the forthcoming peer review and the statement we have prepared for the peer review team that sets out an overview of Wiltshire and the council including our plans, priorities and areas of focus.  We also discussed the next cabinet meeting (6 November) and the items that will be discussed at this meeting, including a revised policy for the devolution of services and assets to town and parish councils. This is a vital policy that enables more to be devolved and delivered at local level. It has been drafted on the back of the recent success of the transfer of many assets and services to Salisbury City Council.

Mondays are always really busy. Following a morning with cabinet members, in the afternoon we meet with the wider team of directors. This meeting is time to discuss updates on key programmes of work, review any areas of new policy and update on progress on delivery of the business plan actions. Here’s a short clip of yesterday’s meeting. 

This week we focused on a range of items including establishing a traded services model offering a range of services to schools across Wiltshire and neighbouring authorities. This is potentially big business for us generating income and supporting school’s to improve and attain even better results.

Yesterday was Full Council. Members received a progress update from the Chief Fire Officer from Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service relating to the performance of the recently merged service and its focus on prevention and awareness, which is not dissimilar to our approach in some services; particularly those who are most vulnerable. We also heard some very powerful personal accounts from refugees who are now established Wiltshire residents. The welcome they received and the account of their lives since coming to the county was both moving and heart-warming and united everyone present in the chamber recognising that the council has played a huge role in helping many refugees to rebuild their lives and belong to a community that they now feel a part of.

If you’ve never seen full council, you can watch online, or we’ve attached a short clip to give you a flavour.

Other meetings this week include the SEND improvement board, the children’s services integration programme board, and the senior officers’ employment sub-committee to begin the process to implement the new senior management structure. This week, Terence has a number of key meetings with partner organisations. These include a meeting with governors and head teachers of Wiltshire’s Special Schools to consult on the future of delivery of education for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.  This collaborative working with partners in schools will ensure the best outcomes for some of the most vulnerable children in our society. Terence is also meeting with Ofsted; this is one of a set of regular meetings which allows us to share information, concerns, and strengthens the relationship between the local authority and Ofsted.  

Have a good rest of the week…

Alistair, Carlton, Carolyn and Terence (Alison is on leave)

And finally…

Full Council started with members saying farewell to Carolyn Godfrey, whose last day is this Friday. Members from across the political sphere highlighted Carolyn’s incredible capacity for work and her commitment to improving outcomes from children, adults and families in Wiltshire. A special leaving ceremony to mark Carolyn’s retirement took place yesterday with many invited guests.

Carolyn will be missed by all of us, and I’m sure you will join us in wishing her all the very best for the future.

Alistair, Carlton, and Terence

Preparing to say goodbye to a fantastic colleague

Written this week by Carlton

Hello,

I’ve taken up the mantle of writing the blog this week as Alison and Alistair are on holiday and Terence is at the children’s services conference in Bournemouth.

Sadly (for me but maybe not her), Carolyn is about to enter her last week at the council before she retires next Friday. We will be celebrating Carolyn’s 11 years at Wiltshire as a corporate director next week but I wanted to say how much I have enjoyed working with her. Not only has she taught me so much, she has always been there for advice, perspective and a passion for doing the right thing for Wiltshire, its residents and most importantly its children and young people. Her leadership style is a great mix of authenticity, humility, and dedication coupled to outstanding political management skills and a deep technical knowledge. A very tough act to follow and I will miss her a lot.

It’s been another really busy week, so my apologies for covering some of the following key issues in such brevity…

We had a great update at our corporate leadership team meeting on Monday about the children’s services integration (CSI) programme.

Although clearly children-focused, CSI is a programme which cuts across a number of different areas of the organisation – including finance, HR, digital, property/assets, and also the community.

The programme aims to improve the services we provide for children and young people in Wiltshire; to keep them safe and help them achieve positive outcomes. We are building on the considerable progress already made, seeking to improve how we work internally, across services and with our partners. Currently there are different processes or assessments undertaken and different agencies or services involved – this means families experience multiple assessments and workers. For example a child who has special educational needs, mental health difficulties and poor school attendance will be assessed three times and there may be one, two, or three plans as a result.

The programme aims to reduce that sort of duplication and also reduce demand and spend, provide earlier intervention, deliver community based services and, most importantly, improve outcomes for children and families in Wiltshire. It’s a great piece of work which seeks to improve the overall experience and deliver a service fit for purpose that families and children say has helped them to become more resilient and is future-proof.

Cabinet met on Tuesday and discussed some big issues including our housing site allocations policy, our core strategy and some of the brilliant work being done to integrate military and civilian communities. This discussion took place the morning after our team had been presented with the MOD's Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award in London from Prince Harry and Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon. This is the highest badge of honour for organisations that have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and demonstrated outstanding support for those who serve and have served.

 

The Devizes Community Hub and Library was officially opened on Tuesday by John Thomson. It was a very busy afternoon with lots of activities for children and performances by local choirs and others. The building looks incredible and is already being well-used by the community, who can now access customer services, registrations and library services all under one roof.

 

You’ll have no doubt seen the national news this week that BAE Systems is to cut nearly 2,000 jobs – it goes without saying that this is a huge blow to the manufacturing sector and we will wait to see the impact on Wiltshire but discussions around the Boscombe site are ongoing.

Finally, many thanks to those of you who provided feedback on the proposed tier two management structure. We considered each and every one of the comments we received and the final structure has now been finalised and will be implemented in early November. You can find out more and see the updated structure chart here – please do take a look.

And finally alongside Jane Scott I was delighted to present ILM Level 5 certificates in coaching and mentoring to Judith Vanderpump and Theo Biney at the regular coaching network session in County Hall. Congratulations to both on a really well deserved achievement. 

 Have a great weekend,

Carlton

Taking a moment to recognise some great work

It was great to recognise the hard work of staff at Tuesday’s Achieving Excellence awards. These awards, and initiatives like the recently launched EPIC impressions, are all about giving people a platform to say thanks to their colleagues for their work. It’s a simple gesture, but has a positive impact on morale and makes people feel really valued in their role. As always, those who were nominated and won an award on Tuesday are a credit to the council, and you can find out more in this week’s Electric Wire. 

 If you’ve haven’t seen the message sent round earlier in the week about the proposed tier two management structure please do read it. These proposals are being put forward as we feel they will give us the best opportunity to successfully deliver our ambitious business plan. We really want to hear from you though, so if you think what we’re proposing isn’t quite right or there’s another way of doing things, please let us know. Even if you’re not a manager these proposals will change the way we do things, so please take a look. If you wish to comment on what’s being put forward please email orgdesign@wiltshire.gov.uk with your views. The deadline for staff and members to provide feedback is midday on Tuesday 10 October 2017.

 These plans, and much more, will be discussed in more detail at the upcoming staff engagement forums so please make sure you book onto a session. It will be our first chance to speak to you since our new team was formed and we’re looking forward to it.

One of the top priorities in the previously mentioned business plan is to protect the vulnerable and this week we launched a new approach to how we work with families and children – the Support and Safeguarding Service.  We think this new way of working, which involves creating new posts to provide consistency to the service we provide families, will help improve workflow and reduce bureaucracy. This has been brought in following extensive planning and feedback from families, partners, staff and other authorities. We’ll be further developing this service as we go forward but we firmly believe it will go a long way to help us provide high quality support and care.

The Wiltshire Parent Carer Council conference took place in Devizes and discussed the important issue of transition from children into adulthood for children with special educational issues. This was very well attended and supported.

We were pleased to have the council participate in the local authority South West Challenge 2017. This provides a great opportunity for aspiring managers to test themselves and step a little out of their comfort zone and see what it’s like to be a senior manager. It’s great for development but good fun too and it involves working with partners across other authorities – which is always useful and eye opening. Hopefully those who took part haven’t been put off management!

 Finally, a short video has been put together to encourage people to respond to the election canvass. Have you responded yet? Take a look to see why it's important that you do.

Alison, Alistair, Carlton, Carolyn and Terence