Staff forums on the horizon

Book your place for the forums

We’re looking forward to seeing you all at this year’s staff engagement forums, which get underway next month.

The forums are one of the highlights of the year as it’s an opportunity to talk face to face on the direction of the organisation, the priorities and focus for the future and your role in achieving these. 

Every year we try and make the sessions as interactive as possible and your input and feedback will again be a major feature of the time we have together. So, if you haven’t already done so, please book a place at a venue closest to your usual hub, as places are booking up quickly.

A hub re-Bourne

It was good news to see Bourne Hill fully open to the public and staff on Monday.

We would like to thank everyone involved in the Bourne Hill decant for the professionalism they showed during the complicated process of moving offices whilst maintaining high standards of service to the public and we hope you all like the improvements that have been made.  

Alistair recently meeting staff at Bourne Hill

Employees Mark Murnane and Amanda George at Bourne Hill

Budget remains key focus

We are continuing to meet regularly with members and directors to discuss the budget; both this year’s and next year’s. You may recall a cabinet paper last month stated a projected overspend. Whilst this is not unusual at this point in the year, it does mean we have to review spend over the next few months, and look at how we deliver the savings that were approved when the budget was set in February.  While we have delivered a balanced budget in recent years, it is regularly monitoring that ensures we can plan and take action, where it’s needed.

Becky Hellard fills financial post

The director of finance keeps us all on track with the budget and we are currently in the process of recruiting a new director following Michael Hudson, who left the council earlier in the year. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ian Duncan who stepped into Michael’s shoes for an interim period at such a busy time. Ian will be leaving on 19 October and will be replaced by Becky Hellard on an interim basis. Becky is joining us at a particularly crucial part of the year and we’re looking forward to working with her alongside the cabinet as we look to set next year’s budget. We started the longlisting process of employing a permanent post this week and it was pleasing to see some strong candidates had applied.

Finance is a big challenge for local authorities right now and we look forward to appointing a new director that’s up to the challenge. We will keep you updated.

Taking care of care leavers

Cabinet took place this week and there was some good news for those young people who move from care into independent lives, as it was agreed that the council will waive council tax fees for them up to age 25. This forms part of a newly-created Care Leavers Covenant which we hope supports care leavers in a number of ways at this vital transition in their lives and gives them the opportunities to achieve what they want to.

The latest cabinet meeting took place on Tuesday in the Council Chamber

Meeting the people who matter

Terence will be visiting children’s services team in both Amesbury and Devizes this week. As with the staff engagement forums we mentioned earlier, quality face to face time with staff is always worthwhile, and to get direct feedback, rather than at second or third hand, is much more preferable.

We’ll be working with a number of internal and external colleagues later in the week at a FACT-organised systems leadership training event. The FACT programme brings together many partners and colleagues together, all whom have their own way of working, so this type of training should help ensure we’re working as consistently as possible – which ultimately will be to the benefit of the residents that use our services.

Carlton also attended the last in this recent run of adult social care staff forums, with around 150 people attending.  It was useful to update everyone on the progress of phase 1 of this programme, and to talk with them on what phase 2 will look like. They were all productive sessions so thanks to everyone who came along.

Government visiting Salisbury

And finally, Alistair will be hosting a visit with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on today (Thursday). The visit has a big tourism focus and the Secretary of State will be visiting some of the most popular spots in the city, including the cathedral. We will be implementing a long-term economic plan to ensure the city thrives, and support from the government with this important piece of work is most welcome. 

Salisbury's iconic cathedral 

Alistair, Carlton and Terence