Next week the budget for 2018/19 will be finalised following a thorough process. The proposals have been reviewed by Overview and Scrutiny and the committee’s considerations will be submitted to council members to include in their discussion and deliberations. Last week the Government announced additional funding for local authorities. We estimate that we will receive around £1.3m for adult social care services and £665,000 from the Rural Grants fund. This additional funding is welcome given the pressure to find £25m of savings.
As well as the budget, next week full council will discuss the boundary review and proposals which could have an impact on the number of elected members that will make up the council in the future. It will be an important meeting, and you can view it live on the web feed (Tuesday, 20 February) – it’s always good to see democracy in action and listen to members debating the issues that affect the council; particularly the allocation of funding for the services we deliver.
Talking of funding, each year we spend more on clearing up dropped litter. Currently it’s around £2.5m, which is totally avoidable. Phase 2 of the #CleanUpWilts campaign launched this week with roadshows taking place across the county. The aim is to raise awareness, achieve a shift in behaviour and reduce the amount of litter by encouraging people to dispose of litter responsibly. Thousands of people have signed up as part of a local community group to take part in the Great British Spring Clean in March to tackle hot spots in their area. Last week we were finalists in the Clean Up Britain national awards for the work that our local communities do to improve Wiltshire – a great accolade to all the volunteers who give their time and support.
We’re pleased to update that last week we appointed Helen Jones to the post of director for commissioning. Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm the recruitment of the director of education and skills. The post will be re-advertised and we will keep you updated.
Last week Terence, along with other directors for children’s services from around England, met with the children’s minister Nadhim Zahawi and civil servants to discuss the Government’s plans for schools, education and social care. It was a very useful and informative meeting.
We’re are big advocates of the coaching programme and we’re pleased to say there is an opportunity for six staff to become trained coaches within the council coaching pool. This will involve undertaking the ILM Level 5 qualification in coaching and mentoring and committing to coach council staff in addition to your current role. For further information and an application form please see Becoming a Coach on grow. The closing date for applications is Monday 19 February 2018. It’s a great opportunity, and for both the coach and those who are coached it’s very worthwhile.
Having just been through an Ofsted inspection that focused on our special educational needs & disabilities services (SEND), we’re expecting the draft letter from Ofsted in the next couple of weeks with the initial feedback. Starting next week another inspection is taking place, and a different area of our work will be looked at. Over the next 14 weeks the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will be reviewing the health and adult social care system in Wiltshire. CQC will send a team to visit us on two occasions and they will also be collecting an extensive amount of data and information as part of the process. It gives an opportunity for us and our health partners to show how effective our system is and how we are integrating these services.
As we always say, the feedback helps us to make improvements to the services we provide.
More next week.
Alistair, Carlton and Terence
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