Friday 9 October 2009

First of all my apologies for not writing last week. I was out of the office for a couple of days at the end of the week and so didn't have the chance to write.

The Resources team day on September 29 went very well - thank you to all those who worked so hard preparing for the event. Six hundred plus members of the team attended and we hade some lively questions and answers, mainly around the important subjects of the medium to long term plans for the team, harmonisation of terms and conditions, SAP, the budget prospects moving forward as well as some more light hearted moments too. It was great to see so many people. For those who couldn't attend, because they were keeping the services running, the event was filmed and this will be available on the web shortly.

I chaired the Procurement & Commissioning Board earlier this week. We are making steady progress towards our procurement savings this year - £2.5m has been confirmed to date, mainly from Transport, Environment & Leisure (TEL) which will help tremendously in balancing next years budget. Work continues in all other areas.

We held the initial Resources budget challenge meeting yesterday to outline next years budget. We are seeking to reduce our overall expenditure by 3% next year versus this year. This appears to be achievable in all services areas except ICT where investment may be required to meet our service commitments. A lot of work has gone into achieving this initial position so thanks to everybody involved.

Just a reminder that next week we have the hub management meetings taking place. Details are on the intranet. It would be great to see managers at those sessions to meet with the corporate leadership team to exchange views on what needs to be improved to ensure the smooth running of our business.

Thanks for reading. Talk again next week.

Carlton