This week we
are meeting with each of the directors to talk through the financial pressures
and challenges in the services that they cover to consider where savings and
additional income can be delivered next year. It’s important that we all have a
clear understanding of the pressures and opportunities across the council as we
need to find around £30 million for 2018/19. Whilst this won’t be easy – it’s
about looking at new ways to deliver and every possible avenue to increase
income. We will be discussing the outcome of these meetings with cabinet
members on Thursday to agree which proposals we take forward and develop
further.
As we discussed
at the recent staff engagement forums, we’re keen for the work on the budget to
be as collaborative as possible. No-one knows the services better than those of
you who deliver them and it’s good to get a fresh perspective on the issues that
we face and to hear new ideas that will help to deliver what’s required.
In terms of the
national financial picture, the Chancellor delivered his budget last week and we
should hear on 11 December the financial settlement that will be getting from
government for next year. We know the broad picture but need the details to
clarify the savings that need to be made. Whilst we know the pressures - we need
to focus on how we make the best use of the money we do have, rather than what
we haven’t.
We completed
this year’s annual staff engagement forums in Chippenham and Salisbury last
week and we would like to extend our thanks to all of you who came along. We
enjoyed seeing you and it really gave us a sense of the mood of the
organisation. As with any big organisation we know there’s need for improvement
in some areas, but overall we were hugely encouraged and think we’re in a good
place as we work towards achieving what we have set out in the business plan.
The questions
and feedback received are being collated as we write this and will be on The
Wire as soon as we’ve had a chance to go through them and provide answers to all
of them. As a leadership team we heard that it’s important we are as visible
and more accessible. We will look at the possibility of visiting the hubs more
often.
Those who
attended the forums will have seen the highlights of 2017 video touching on
some of our many achievements so far this year. It is testament to all of you
that tough decisions were made in deciding what to include and leave out in the
final cut. We could have put together a video that was twice the length and
that’s a good problem to have. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here.
As well as the annual
highlights, every Monday we present a round-up of council-related activity from
the previous week to cabinet members at our regular meeting. As you know,
things move at quite a pace so we find it beneficial to take some time out to
talk about some of the work we’re doing and update cabinet on the vast number
of issues, meetings, events and milestones that happen on a weekly basis. We
thought that you might also find it interesting so we have published the
presentation on The Wire and will continue to do so weekly. This week’s update
included the Maltings redevelopment in Salisbury, the review of electoral
services and a speech Baroness Scott made to the Town and Country Planning
Association - to name just three.
The Association
of Electoral Administrators’ review of our election services focused on
performance, risk, resourcing, resilience, registration and legislative compliance
and interviews with teams who work closely with elections, including
communications, customer services and IT. Thanks to all who were involved. Take
a look here at all of last week’s highlights and achievements.
Protecting the
vulnerable is our top priority and one of the challenges we face is an
ever-increasing aging population and making sure there are services in place to
support them. The impact of elderly people on the emergency services was the
topic of last night’s ‘999 – What’s Your Emergency?’ episode on Channel 4. Whatever
you think about how the issue was portrayed in the programme, protecting the
vulnerable is key to not just us but all our public sector partners. More
people are living for longer and whilst that’s a good thing, last night’s
programme did highlight the issues that comes with ageing.
Today the
Boundary Review gets started with a series of briefings for officers and
members taking place. The review will look at the make-up of electoral wards
across the county and could well lead to some wide-ranging changes ahead of the
next local election. More on this issue will follow over the next few weeks and
months.
We are pleased
to confirm that this week Alan Stubbersfield joined us as the interim director
education and skills. Getting a fresh perspective and an external view will be beneficial,
and we’re looking forward to working with Alan.
Finally, Alison
was extremely sorry to miss the staff forums and wanted to let everyone know
that the adult social care transformation programme continues at pace.
More next week,
Alison, Alistair, Carlton and Terence
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