Bustard Ride, community recovery and Cabinet updates

Hello,

We’d like to start with a thank you to all of you so far who have donated to our Bustard Ride, which takes place next Thursday in aid of mental health charity Wiltshire MIND. So far we have raised around £1,000 and we would like to extend a huge thank you for your kind donations which act as a real incentive for us to complete this challenge!

If you haven’t seen the full list of staff taking part please visit our donations page – if you haven’t made a donation yet, we’d really appreciate it if you could support us and your colleagues. We’re all cycling a long way for a really great cause and we would be grateful for as much support as possible. Thank you. Our #EPIC team will also be involved on the day with exercise bikes at County Hall, Monkton Park, and Churchfields.

As you’ll have heard, Tuesday 12 June marked 100 days since the attack in Salisbury and Cabinet held its meeting in the city. It was also announced that The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will be visiting Salisbury next Friday (22 June) as part of the city’s recovery. Along with meeting members of the public and local businesses, Their Royal Highnesses will join a reception in the Guildhall to meet those who were the first responders at the incident and those who are helping deliver the recovery work to help the city get back to normal. It promises to be a really special day for Salisbury, helping to boost its profile, the local economy and restore confidence in this beautiful city that it is a great place to visit.

Cabinet discussed and approved a £9m spend on our digital programme, and as part of this we are working with Microsoft on a body of work that will ultimately improve the whole experience for customers. This means that all of us will need to work differently in the future and we’ll update more on what this will mean in future columns.

Cabinet also discussed an investment of £4m in housing to go some way towards meeting demand. It also discussed keeping the outdoor education centres at Oxenwood and Braeside open until the end of the year to allow time for proposals for future use of the buildings to be considered. The end of year budget position was also discussed and as a result of effective financial management we not only delivered a balanced budget in 2017/18, but also an underspend of £410,000.

Yesterday we held our regular forum with managers and heads of service and most of the meeting focused on ‘creating an EPIC workforce’. We always say that staff are our most important asset and we want to make sure that everyone is really engaged. There is clear evidence that the most engaged service areas are those that regularly report EPIC impressions and that complete the most e-learning, have the lowest sickness absences, highest take up of apprenticeships, and leadership and management courses. It was a good discussion, and there’s a lot for managers to think about, action, and discuss with all of you.

The positive work to further integrate partner agencies within our Support and Safeguarding Teams continues, with an Outreach Worker from Wiltshire Substance Misuse being aligned to the teams being confirmed this week. This builds on the Domestic Abuse Family Support Workers who have been within teams since April this year.  

Earlier this week we, along with a number of partners, took part in a Care Quality Commission Summit to discuss the recent targeted review of the local health and social care system, which was carried out earlier this year and published yesterday.

The review was commissioned because there are issues with how effectively the system works as a whole. The final report recognises the hard work and effort already being done by all staff and partners to improve the care and support for Wiltshire residents, and provides useful insight into the areas where we need to do more.

Some of the highlights include people who need care and support being kept safe, staff being recognised for their commitment and caring approach, and praise for our adult social care transformation. As always, what we really want to focus on in is the areas for improvement and we have already produced a detailed action plan to implement a single overarching strategy to address the following areas:

1. New Wiltshire health and social care model
2. A single overarching health and social care strategy, improving outcomes with a focus on prevention and early intervention
3. Strengthening joint commissioning across the whole system
4. Improving Wiltshire’s Health and Wellbeing Board effectiveness
5. Unifying and developing whole system governance arrangements
6. Developing a sustainable integrated workforce strategy
7. Implementing digital opportunities and information sharing across the system
8. Developing a single, integrated communications strategy

We’ll be talking about this a lot more over the next few weeks and months as this important programme of work develops. 

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Bustard Ride

Hello,

Two cycle rides of a quite different type this week…

Firstly, a huge thank you to the team who pulled together and delivered last week’s amazing OVO Energy Tour Series cycle race in Salisbury, which was held as part of the recovery programme.

From start to finish the event was absolutely brilliant and particular thanks go to those staff who volunteered to work as marshalls and ensure the 8,000 or so people who lined the streets to watch the race were able to safely enjoy the event. 

If you didn’t manage to catch it, the race was shown on ITV4 and is available to watch here. As it is being broadcast in 100 countries, it showed to a worldwide audience what a great city Salisbury is and how it is getting back to normal.

We’re under no illusions that the second ride will draw slightly smaller crowds…our very own Tour de Wiltshire rolls off the starting line at County Hall on 21 June as we set off on a 130-mile bike ride around the county to raise money for the mental health charity, Wiltshire MIND.

The idea for the marathon cycle emerged from last year’s staff engagement forums after all three of us made the mistake of admitting that we are keen cyclists.

Quite a few of you challenged us to turn our passion for pedalling towards a useful purpose – and the Bustard Ride was born.

Our thanks go to Steve Manning, from the environmental health team, who came up with the idea and has put a considerable amount of his own time in to planning the ride.

From Trowbridge, we will cycle a scenic anti-clockwise route around all of our community areas, taking in Warminster, Salisbury, Amesbury, Marlborough, Devizes, Malmesbury, Chippenham and Melksham, before arriving back at the start.

We’ve all taken the day off to complete the challenge and we’ll be joined on the adventure by Chief Constable Kier Pritchard from Wiltshire Police and other colleagues in the organisation and our EPIC staff engagement group will also be supporting us – more details on their involvement will follow in our next update.

Kier’s presence will at least ensure we aren’t tempted to break any speed limits along the way!
Rather than setting any records, our focus is on completing what will be a gruelling nine or ten hour challenge. So it’s no coincidence we’ve picked the longest day of the year to do it!

Wiltshire MIND does an amazing job in campaigning to ensure that everyone experiencing a mental health problem can get the support and respect they deserve. It’s an organisation that is very close to all our hearts, and they need every penny they can get to continue their priceless work.

We’re keen to raise as much money as possible – if you’d like to support us, our JustGiving page can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bustard-ride-wiltshire

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Milestone in Salisbury recovery

Hello,

We reached a significant milestone in the recovery of Salisbury this week with the Maltings site area being handed back to the recovery coordinating group by Defra following extensive cleaning and testing by specialist teams.

Work will now be carried out to repair and clean the area ready for opening. Other potentially affected sites – including nearby Zizzi and The Mill pub – are being cleaned by specialist teams. Defra is overseeing the work based on expert advice, and with the support of specially trained MOD personnel.

We’re now just over a week away from the grand final of elite cycling's OVO Energy Tour Series which will take place in Salisbury. The race action will be shown in two hour-long highlight programmes on ITV4 in the UK, as well as in over 100 countries worldwide, showcasing Salisbury to an international audience. From our perspective, it isn’t just about cycling of course, and there will be a range of free fun activities taking place during the day, with something for everyone to enjoy in the city.

An update on the Salisbury recovery was given to members earlier today at Full Council by Jane Scott and Alistair, outlining the progress which has been made and the support we have given to businesses, and the city more widely. The update finished with a round of applause from members for a job really well done to the very wide range of people and organisations who have been involved in the recovery – a sentiment echoed by us. To keep up to date on Salisbury developments, follow Wiltshire Council on Twitter and visit our dedicated webpage at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/salisbury

Another milestone this week – this time in adult social care where the transformation programme entered another phase with a new structure model now in place which will underpin a number of changes that will gradually be introduced over the coming weeks and months. We believe these changes will significantly improve how we provide these care services. These include further developing our Help to Live at Home service, improving people’s first point of contact to the service, introducing an adult care Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) based on the model we have in place for children, creating and running a council reablement service, and continually developing how we commission services. We will keep you updated, but for more information on some of the work the team are doing, please visit The Wire.

Another key transformation programme is digital, which is helping to improve how we will deliver our services more efficiently and effectively into the future. Part of this is making it as easy as possible for members of the public to report issues and so we’ve given the web version of My Wiltshire a fresh new look which will hopefully improve the overall experience for the user. The system is now a well-established means for people to contact the council about a range of issues at a time it suits them, and overall it has helped us become a much more efficient and responsive organisation. You can find out about all the changes on our website, and we should point out that the app version of the system won’t be changing just yet.

Finally, we joined with the rest of the organisation in joining in the minute’s silence held today to mark the first anniversary of the Manchester Arena attack. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this terrible incident.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Planning for the future

Hello,

Cabinet took place earlier today and discussed a couple of really important issues which will shape our county over the next few years – special schools and housing.

These are both subjects which really engage people, and the council chamber was packed for the meeting.

Cabinet agreed to begin a consultation to assess how best to meet the requirements for special school provision in Wiltshire into the future. We need an additional 220 places by 2026 for children and young people with special needs and/or disabilities. It’s really important that children with special educational needs are given high quality local placements, and in a large county likes ours it’s essential that these are provided in the right places geographically, with a balance between the north and the south. It’s not just about providing the right number of spaces, but about providing inspiring, state-of-the-art special schools which offer excellence in both education and outcomes for all pupils.

There was a good deal of discussion and questions about the draft Housing Site Allocations Plan which sets out how we will plan for growth and meet housing needs up to 2026, and this debate will continue when the issue comes back to Cabinet and Full Council before the summer.

Last week in Salisbury we welcomed the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Robert Wood "Woody" Johnson IV, who came to see how the city is recovering following the incident in March. The Ambassador took in some of the sights of the city before visiting the area in which the incident on 4 March took place. He was positive about the city and its recovery, and also praised the community’s resilience. The decontamination work carries on and we are continuing to support businesses and residents. The changes to free car parking took effect on Monday and we will monitor the impact this has.

Fostering Fortnight began yesterday and to coincide with this we’ve put out a call for more people who can offer a foster home to a child to come forward. We need to find 120 foster families over the next three years to cope with the demand, and we need 36 of those this year. You can find out more at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/fostering

We’re always keen to celebrate success – so well done to the team who were highly commended recently at the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport Annual Presidents Dinner for the pothole spotter trial. This pioneering project, jointly conducted with York City Council and Thurrock Borough Council, uses high definition cameras attached to our waste vehicles to monitor and scan Wiltshire’s roads to identify potential potholes. The data gathered can then be used to help inform decision-making about road repairs. A great example of cross-service working to deliver real improvements.

Looking ahead, if you’re going to be watching the Royal Wedding and want to do so in a unique way, why not head to Salisbury to join BBC Wiltshire’s party where the ceremony will be broadcast on 50ft screens outside Salisbury Cathedral. The event takes place from 9am-4pm, and they’ll be family friendly entertainment, live music performances and more. 

You can see our latest highlights presentation on The Wire.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Salisbury shortlisted for Armed Forces Day

Hello,

We hope you all managed to enjoy at least some of the brilliant sunshine over the long weekend (it doesn’t seem all that long ago we were talking about snow!) and are back to work feeling refreshed. Our thanks go to those staff who worked or were on call over the Bank Holiday.

Some really positive news – our joint bid, submitted alongside Salisbury City Council, for the city of Salisbury to host the Armed Forces Day National Event next year has been shortlisted and goes through to the next assessment stage.

This is a huge event in the calendar, and if we are ultimately successful it will be a tremendous boost to the city and a fitting way to thank the military personnel and emergency services that have supported the recovery programme.

The clean up operation in Salisbury continues and last week, eye-catching displays were put up to help promote businesses and direct visitors to the city’s attractions. Having discussed with businesses the impact of free parking in Salisbury, we are taking some steps to increase the turnover of spaces for shoppers and visitors. From next Monday parking will be free from midday on weekdays and all day on weekends. Park and ride sites will remain free, and we’ll continue to monitor the impact of how these measures are supporting the local economy.

Later today we are officially opening ‘Rothermere’, a combined innovative treatment hub and alcohol treatment service in Trowbridge, which we’ve worked in partnership to deliver. The ground floor will be an operational drug and alcohol treatment service, run by Turning Point, with the first floor a self-contained five-bedroom flat, with communal kitchen and bathroom, managed by Julian House. Tenants will go through the drug and alcohol treatment service and get support from both Turning Point and Julian House following their rehabilitation. It’s the first of its kind in the county and will make a real difference to the lives of those who need the support. 

The Staff Voices Conference takes place tomorrow in celebration of the National Day for Staff Networks. Staff Voices is the banner name for our staff networks (BME, LGBT+ and Carers and Disability) who are co-ordinated and work together. We are firmly committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion, not just in the way we delivery our services but also the kind of workplace we are. 

And finally – our annual Big Pledge campaign launches on Monday. This year it’s called Beat the Clock and encourages people to make personal pledges to get more active. The campaign runs from 14 May to 8 July and you can find out more about how you can get involved by visiting the website or watching this short video.

Our latest highlights presentation can be found on the intranet.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Televised cycle event coming to Salisbury

Hello,

In Salisbury, the clean up of affected sites continues, alongside our work with partners on the recovery plan for the city. As part of this, we announced at the end of last week that the city will host the Grand Final of the OVO Energy Tour Cycle series on 31 May. As a milestone in the cycling calendar, this is a real coup for the city and it will also bring a huge number of people in to the area who we hope will have a look around the city and see for themselves how Salisbury is recovering. The action will be shown on ITV4, along with more than 100 countries worldwide.

We are putting a call out for your support as we need marshals to assist with the delivery of the event, which will attract a large number of spectators. You would be required on site in Salisbury city centre from 3:30pm to 10pm approx.

If you would like to be part of the team and help to deliver this exciting event, please contact events@wiltshire.gov.uk by Friday 4 May.

We attended this year's South Wilts Business Expo at the Guildhall in Salisbury on Wednesday, which was a great opportunity to let residents know about lots of exciting entertainment and activities coming up in the city. This includes BBC Wiltshire’s forthcoming live screening of the Royal Wedding at Salisbury Cathedral.

On Thursday we met with leaders from right across the health and social care system in Wiltshire, to look at how we could work better together. It was agreed by everyone that there is a great deal of excellent work taking place, but that we could actually deliver more benefits for our residents if this work was more integrated. All agencies committed to a single overarching strategy to provide more effective prevention, health and social care outcomes for the population.

As part of this we will strengthen the arrangements of the health and wellbeing board, develop an integrated workforce strategy, and develop and review governance. We also reaffirmed our commitment to appoint a joint Corporate Director/Accountable Officer post for the council and the clinical commissioning group this year. There’s a lot of exciting work ahead – and we’ll keep you updated along the way.

The Ofsted Annual Conversation also took place last week. The name, of course, doesn’t reflect how often we interact with Ofsted, and this meeting - a formal discussion which enables critical self-evaluation - is part of our ongoing dialogue with them. We discussed with Ofsted our social care self-assessment, education and skills performance, and our future transformation plans. The initial feedback we received was positive, with formal feedback expected in the next two weeks. We’ll share this when we have it.

This week we’ll be launching a month-long campaign to encourage 11,000 people to sign on to the electoral roll ahead of the annual electoral canvass later in the summer. The more work and preparation we do now, the better shape we’ll be ahead of the summer. You have to be registered to vote to have your say in any local or national election, and although there is no major election on the horizon, by-elections regularly take place throughout the county along with other local referendums. If you want to have a say on development in your area, such as neighbourhood plan referendums, you need to be on the electoral register.

The regular Coaching Network meeting takes place this week in Trowbridge, with a talk on ‘stillness in coaching’ by guest speaker Penny Gundry. We always say that our people are our greatest asset and we’re committed to the continuous personal and professional development of our staff. We fully endorse coaching as a tool – it provides a confidential environment for staff to explore themes affecting their daily working lives and ways to move forward positively in their roles. If you haven’t considered coaching before, we’d highly recommend a conversation with your manager about it.

You can find out more about our coaching offer on the intranet.

Finally, booking has opened for the second #EPIC Talk which takes place at the end of the month – sign up now to hear RUH cardiologist Dr Ali Khavandiv talk about how to improve our health, blood pressure, cholesterol and weight through contemporary evidence-based dietary interventions. Further details are available on our website.

You can see our latest highlights presentation on the Wire.


Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Bourne Hill update and today's cabinet meeting

Hello,

We would like to start this week’s blog by saying a huge thank you to all the teams that have relocated in the Bourne Hill offices. Your positive contribution to the move has ensured that any disruption to service provision and users has been kept to a minimum. Our thanks also go to all those involved in making the move happen so swiftly and efficiently.

As you may be aware the front-facing customer services staff (including housing and benefits) has remained at Bourne Hill and is now located to the old part of the building, the Registry office.

Wiltshire Police contact centre is now located in Salisbury Library. The move was required to enable work to clean up the locations potentially contaminated. This work by the specialist team gets underway this week.

Last week the fourth community recovery meeting was held in Salisbury and focused on updating local people on the decontamination and clean-up work. You can see the presentation on our Supporting Salisbury page or watch the meeting on Youtube or Facebook. More than 3,300 people have watched the footage of this meeting.

Although a considerable amount of time is, quite rightly, being spent on the recovery programme for Salisbury, we are also doing all we can to maintain business as usual and there is a huge amount of work taking place.

At today’s cabinet meeting members discussed a number of diverse issues, including the learning disabilities in-house respite services, the A303 tunnel, the future management of King George V Park in Melksham and a strategy for sexual health and blood borne viruses.

Tomorrow (Weds) the Ofsted Annual Conversation takes place with a visit to children and education. This is part of the new approach by Ofsted which involves an annual conversation between Ofsted and the local authority. This formal discussion, alongside self-evaluation, means we can critically evaluate our own performance and articulate what we think is working well for children in Wiltshire. It will also form part of the intelligence Ofsted use to decide where and when to inspect families and children’s services.

Health and social care continues to integrate more closely but clearly this is something that can’t be done in isolation – on Thursday we’ll be meeting with partners across the health and social care spectrum for a strategic planning session. This will be a key meeting when all partners will work together and adopt a whole system approach to delivering improvement. We’ll update more on this work next week.

Carlton is giving the welcome address at the next BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) staff network event tomorrow. This is a network which staff can choose to join and it offers mutual support, raises awareness and gives advice on specific equality issues as well as acting as a consultative voice to the council. Also speaking will be Cllr Darren Henry, who will give an insight in to his journey to becoming a councillor, and we’ll hear an update on our response to the government's consultation on the integrated communities’ strategy. And there is a performance by local up-and-coming poet Saili Katebe. The meeting takes place on 25 April at 3pm - 5pm in the Cotswold Space at County Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend - to register please email Wali Rahman.

The quarterly staff awards ceremony, the Achieving Excellence Awards, takes place on Thursday afternoon to recognise those staff who have gone above and beyond in the work that they do. Please come along and support your colleagues from 4pm on the first floor balcony at County Hall. Full details of the winners will be announced in this Friday’s Electric Wire.

On the theme of recognition, our community hub programme has been recognised at a number of award ceremonies recently, and on Wednesday night we will find out if we have been successful in the Public Finance Innovation Awards, where the programme has been shortlisted in the community engagement category.

Finally, we’re pleased to announce that Simon Hindey will be joining us as director housing and commercial at the end of July. Simon, who is currently the chief officer for housing at Bracknell Forest Brough Council, has a wealth of experience in housing across a number of local authorities and we look forward to him joining the team.

You can see our latest highlights presentation on the Wire.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Salisbury update and some recent success stories

Hello,

Welcome back to those of you who took leave during the Easter holidays and we hope you have come back feeling refreshed.

There continues to be a large amount of focus on the Salisbury community recovery and last week we held our third community update, with well over 300 people attending City Hall to hear the latest developments and ask questions. We also broadcast this meeting online and, to date, this video has been seen more than 5,500 times, which shows the huge amount of interest in the issue - and also highlights how using this kind of digital technology can help us engage with even more people.

To find out the latest updates on the ongoing situation, visit our dedicated web pages at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/salisbury

Now for a few success stories…

• Congratulations to our Youth Offending team who, after a two year process of improvements and continual assessment, have just been awarded the Achievement for All Quality Mark by the Department of Education for the support they give eight to 17-year-olds who encounter the youth justice system.

• Last week we hosted the latest stage of the Local Government Challenge, which seeks the best and brightest local government officers to compete in a series of real-life challenges around the country. Senior corporate support officer Kartar Singh is among those taking part this year – although there are a few more challenges to go before the winner is chosen, being selected to take part is a great achievement in itself.

• Congratulations to our #EPIC staff engagement group, whose work has just been shortlisted in two categories at the HR Excellence Awards. Their work was shortlisted in the ‘Outstanding employee engagement strategy’ category, while the way we’ve used existing technology for #EPIC engagement was shortlisted in the ‘Most innovative deployment of HR technology’ category. We’ll find out in June if the team have been successful.

Earlier this week the #EPIC group provided an update on their work at our regular forum with Heads of Service and managers. We also discussed the recent health and wellbeing staff survey results, and our digital programme.

Finally, our recruitment to Tier 2 continues. We are currently out to advert for three director roles – finance and procurement, learning disabilities and mental health, and education and skills. We have also offered the role of Director Housing and Commercial to a candidate and will update you on this when we are able to.

You can see our latest highlights presentation here. 

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Salisbury recovery and positive Ofsted review

Hello,

Hope you all had a nice Easter break, and our thanks goes to everyone who was on call, or had to work over the long weekend.

As a council, our top priority continues to be the recovery of Salisbury and ensuring the city begins to thrive again. A big part of this work is to encourage people to visit the city and support those local businesses who have been so badly affected by recent events. We’re doing everything in our power to provide the city with what it needs and through our #LoveSalisbury campaign, promoting all the many activities that are taking place in the city, particularly over the busy half-term period.

Despite the weather not being on our side over the Easter weekend there’s still plenty of the school holidays left and we hope the many measures we have taken so far, including introducing free parking, will continue to pay dividends and get more and more people into the city and enjoying everything it has to offer. Although it has slightly receded, the national media spotlight continues to be on Salisbury and the work we’re doing, and it has been an incredibly busy and intense time. Thanks again to everyone who continues to support all the Salisbury work and all those affected by it, as it is having a knock-on effect on much of the ‘business as usual’ work we carry out. However, this work with partners will be ongoing for quite some time and we can’t over-stress the importance for us to get this right and ensure that long-term, Salisbury doesn’t suffer.

Last week we were pleased to get the official verdict on our recent Ofsted/Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection into the services to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. We’re delighted to say that overall the report is overwhelmingly positive and that’s testament to all of you who have a role to play ensuring children and young people with SEND get the effective support they need. Some of the highlights include that SEND children achieve well in their early users, there is a strong partnership with parent carers, and that young people are well supported as they move into adult life with integrated teams working closely together. We won’t be complacent though and understand there are areas to develop further and we are working hard to continually make improvements.

We had a glimpse over the weekend just how suddenly we can get the kind of rainfall in Wiltshire that can cause some problems. We had some flood warnings in place and experienced some minor flood-related issues over the course of the weekend and as a precaution the barriers were raised in Bradford on Avon. We know too well the devastation that can be caused by flooding and since 2013/14, when the county was badly affected, we have continued to work with the Environment Agency and local communities to ensure we are as prepared as possible should it happen to that scale again. The weather is extremely unpredictable but with robust detailed flood plans in place, the reaction of ourselves and our communities will be anything but.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

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