An update on Salisbury and business as usual

Hello,

While the eyes of the world’s media remain very much focused on Salisbury, we are continuing to work with local and national partners to do everything possible to help the city recover.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Michael Gove visited Salisbury on Friday and met with Jane Scott, Alistair, John Glen MP and several local business representatives.

To support the businesses and to encourage visitors, along with free park and ride we agreed to introduce free parking in all our city car parks. This has had an immediate and positive impact with a notable increase in shoppers and visitors over the weekend – let’s hope that continues.

This morning at the cabinet meeting, which was held in City Hall, Salisbury, an update on the recovery programme was provided to the local community and attendees; including media representatives.

There is understandably a huge amount of interest in what is being done to support the city, particularly from businesses, and we have launched a new web portal to provide information and advice on the support that’s available and what’s happening to help the city return to normal at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/salisbury

While the developments in Salisbury are an extraordinary situation, our council business as usual continues.

Among the items discussed at Cabinet today was the report produced and feedback following the peer challenge last year by senior local authority representatives from across the UK.

The team told us they observed:

• a solid track record of financial management
• strong and accessible political leadership which sets a clear direction
• good working relationships with stakeholders
• an ambitious agenda for the next 10 years and a resolute focus on ‘strong communities’ 
• a committed workforce - all staff that the team met told them that Wiltshire Council is a great place to work; that they feel valued, are developed to undertake their roles and feel supported to progress their careers
• evidence of a very impressive approach to staff engagement throughout the organisation from frontline staff to senior leaders
• a very good recovery in children’s services.

While this is great feedback, our focus as always is on how we can use what we’ve been told to continue to improve.

We’ll be taking the same approach with the feedback we’ve received following a joint Ofsted/Care Quality Commission review of the local area’s provision for young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in January.

The inspection team praised the effective partnerships and the ambition to deliver the very best outcomes for Wiltshire’s children and young people and recognising our effective partnerships across education, health and social care. The inspection has confirmed that the strategic plans we have in place will deliver our ambitions.

Over the weekend, our community engagement managers helped to facilitate more than 70 litter picks across Wiltshire as part of the postponed Great British Spring Clean. Thanks to everyone involved in helping to tidy up our county and remove around 7.5 tonnes of rubbish!

Finally, last night saw the first of a series of #EPIC Talks – and the bar was set very high with the first speaker, Dr Charles Kriel. Dr Kriel was recently appointed as the Specialist Advisor to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on Fake News at the House of Commons, advising on issues surrounding influence campaigning, personality profiling, and micro-targeting social media audiences.

This was a really topical issue for the first talk, a new initiative which has come from our EPIC staff engagement group. More talks are already being planned and we’d encourage you to try to get along to one if you can.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Another great team effort

Hello,

It’s hard to believe we’re talking about snow again! We thought we’d seen the last of the extreme weather two weeks ago, but last weekend the mini beast from the east returned and caused disruption across the county, albeit a little less than the last snowfall.

Our emergency planning team was in touch with the MET Office and we were able to put in place a number of measures to ensure that services could be maintained and the roads could be accessed.

Thanks to all those involved in managing the response to the weather; in particular our highways team who spread over 1,000 tonnes of salt on primary and secondary routes throughout the county. However, please heed the advice and take care when driving as some roads are untreated and the low temperatures will mean ice patches and black ice.

You may be aware that at last week’s Salisbury Area Board an update on the ongoing situation in the city and the recovery plan that is being put in place, was delivered by us and our partners. The recovery plan involves many local and national partner agencies working together to help the city over the next few months. While the investigation continues, the recovery group – led by us - is focused on what it can do to support the community and local businesses; particularly those directly affected by the incident.

We have introduced free park and ride at all the city’s five sites free until Easter Monday when the impact will be reviewed. The aim is to encourage visitors and shoppers to the city.

Next week’s Cabinet meeting will be held in Salisbury City Hall and a further update on the recovery plan will be an additional item on the agenda. It’s vital that the local community is kept informed and has the opportunity to raise questions and matters of concern. Cabinet members will also talk to local businesses, visit Bourne Hill and other locations in the city following the meeting.

A large number of individuals and teams across the council are working with partners on the recovery plan and our thanks go to everyone involved – it is a big and challenging programme and will take some time to help the city to recover. It is extremely important that we do everything we can to support Salisbury.

Whilst we recognise the spotlight is on Salisbury and the scale of the work required, we also have to manage business as usual in the council.

Last week the Care Quality Commission visited as part of their review of the health and social care system. The team spoke to a large number of staff and partners and we will wait to see what their feedback is so that we can take whatever action is necessary to ensure people in Wiltshire receive the best possible service. Thanks to everyone who was involved.

We’re really pleased to say that last week’s Business and Sports Annual Gala Dinner was the most successful one we’ve ever had with more than £55,000 raised by local businesses for future Olympians and Paralympians. It’s the fifth time we’ve held the event and it continues to go from strength to strength. Grants were awarded to ten elite athletes on the night, and we know that this money makes a real difference to the recipients in helping them to fulfil their potential.

Finally, good luck to the team behind our community hub programme who will be visiting London to find out if we have won in the Best Service Delivery category at the Local Government Chronicle Awards. Having picked up the silver award at the iESE Public Sector Transformation Awards for this programme a couple of weeks ago, we’re hoping we can go one better this time around!

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Thanks for your support during this unsettling time

Hello,

We’d like to start this blog with a big thank you to all of those staff at Bourne Hill whose working arrangements have been affected by the ongoing police activity in Salisbury and to all the staff that are now actively involved in supporting the multi-agency group with the work that’s required.

Carlton visited Bourne Hill yesterday and said it was good to see and speak with staff from customer services, registration, revenues and benefits, planning, adult care, children’s services, police colleagues and FM.

We're aware that other staff have also been affected - a number of meeting rooms at County Hall are now being used, and we took the decision to remove the IT facility from mobile phones and iPads as a security measure at the end of last week.

This is an unprecedented situation and we appreciate that it is an unsettling time; particularly given the ongoing investigation and extensive media coverage. Thank you for your continued support.

This has been an extraordinary incident and we recognise that it is an unsettling time for local residents and businesses. Whilst the investigation into the incident continues, we are working with our partners and local and central government agencies to set out plans for what’s required to help Salisbury return to normality as we move into the recovery phase that follows a major incident.

Local residents, businesses and the city’s national and international visitors will be reassured that Salisbury is a vibrant and safe place to live, work and to visit. Cabinet has decided to hold its next meeting on 27 March (2018) in Salisbury and to include an update on the multi-agency recovery plan and provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions.

Working together with our local and national partners we will take action to assist those affected as a result of the incident. A priority is to provide the support that’s needed to help the city return to business as usual and to promote its attractions and wide range of activities that it has to offer. As this recovery process is implemented we will keep you updated.

This week has also seen a number of staff involved with the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) visit. This is part of a review of the effectiveness of the health and social care system in Wiltshire. This week’s visit is only one part of the review and there will be extensive data gathering which will enable the CQC to understand the system, how it works, and, most importantly identify any areas for improvement.

Finally, our biggest event of the year; the Business and Sports Annual Gala Dinner takes place this Thursday evening in the Atrium. Now in its fifth year, this event, which raises money for Funding Wiltshire’s future Olympians and Paralympians Foundation, is a firmly established fixture in both the sporting and business calendars. Last year businesses raised almost £50,000 for our up and coming sports stars. Our challenge this year is to beat that total! We’ll let you know how it goes next week.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Great teamwork showed by all

Hello,

We have to start by acknowledging that the last few days have been exceptionally busy for many teams across the council as a result of the most extreme weather we’ve seen for years, which resulted in a major incident being declared for Wiltshire.

The teamwork, both internally and with partners, has been nothing short of outstanding and demonstrated that we did everything possible to keep people in Wiltshire safe and the services running smoothly, given what we faced.

Our thanks go to everyone for doing such a fantastic job in some of the most challenging circumstances we faced for many years.

Being able to respond in the way we did doesn’t happen by chance. It’s a result of being prepared and our Emergency Planning and Highways teams who did an exceptional job, not just in coordinating activity over the last few days, but also ensuring we had the training and business continuity plans in place to be able to manage the situation effectively.

We recognise that it will take some time for services to get back to normal due to the disruption caused and the backlog in some cases but we are now officially back to business as usual.

Although… some of you may be aware that another major incident was declared yesterday (Monday) following an incident in Salisbury where two people were exposed to an unknown substance. While the details of exactly what happened and the impact is still not clear we are working with other agencies including the police and health partners, to ensure people are protected and safe. Whilst this incident has been widely covered by the national media, we will keep you updated of the position as more information is available.

On a separate and hopefully more positive note, tonight we will find out if our community hub programme has been successful in the Community Focus category of the iESE Public Sector Transformation Awards. Baroness Scott, John Thomson and Laurie Bell are attending the event and while we are really pleased to make the final shortlist for this national award, it would be great if they come back with the winner’s trophy!

Finally, this week is Women’s Health Week and we hope all our female colleagues will engage with at least one of the many events taking place this week. Yesterday a webinar took place with a discussion about the menopause, breast and gynaecological cancers, screening and mental health, among other things. Today some of our female staff will share their own personal experiences in the Council Chamber, and throughout the week at each hub female health MOTs will be taking place. Please get involved in what is a really great initiative, and follows the successful Men’s Health Week held last year.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence