Well this is my final blog of 2009. I would just like to wish every body a happy Christmas and peaceful 2010, and thank you all for the tremendous effort and success that you have all delivered for the council over the past year. I appreciate it greatly.
Talk again in 2010...
Carlton
Friday, 18 December 2009
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Thursday 10 December 2009
This week Cabinet and CLT met for a full day together. We spent time revisiting the members' vision and their priorities for the next three years. We looked at the external constraints that we all face, the recession and the impact on public sector spending and considered how we factor these into our plans for the political term of the council. More importantly we explored how we will work together, in terms of the time that we need to spend together and also the key leadership issues around setting the right culture, communication, trust and us being clear about our values. It was good to spend some quality time together and we committed to repeating this regularly.
Today John Noeken, Resources Portfolio Holder and I are welcoming Cornwall Council to Trowbridge. Key Cabinet and Scrutiny members, including their leader are visiting us to understand and see how we have delivered Shared Services and SAP coupled with the cost reductions that we have achieved. It's always good to meet other councils and show case what we have achieved - much as we did a few years ago when we visited others who had already delivered their change programmes. The reason they are visiting us is down to all of you and the incredible change that you have all delivered this year.
We have been working this week on preparing a balanced budget for members. We are almost balanced, and in the next few weeks, we should be complete for 20010-11. The Chancellor's Pre-Budget Statement (PBS) yesterday echoed many of the actions that Finance have been predicting in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, so there were no real surprises for us in terms of the impact on our finances. The news of rises in National Insurance and the cap on public sector pay was expected but will hit individuals hard!
Thanks for reading and talk again next week.
Carlton
Today John Noeken, Resources Portfolio Holder and I are welcoming Cornwall Council to Trowbridge. Key Cabinet and Scrutiny members, including their leader are visiting us to understand and see how we have delivered Shared Services and SAP coupled with the cost reductions that we have achieved. It's always good to meet other councils and show case what we have achieved - much as we did a few years ago when we visited others who had already delivered their change programmes. The reason they are visiting us is down to all of you and the incredible change that you have all delivered this year.
We have been working this week on preparing a balanced budget for members. We are almost balanced, and in the next few weeks, we should be complete for 20010-11. The Chancellor's Pre-Budget Statement (PBS) yesterday echoed many of the actions that Finance have been predicting in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, so there were no real surprises for us in terms of the impact on our finances. The news of rises in National Insurance and the cap on public sector pay was expected but will hit individuals hard!
Thanks for reading and talk again next week.
Carlton
Friday, 4 December 2009
Friday 4 December 2009
It's getting very close to Christmas now so I thought I'd better take Monday off with Tracy and do some shopping. We managed to get most of it done in Bath which was completely empty versus its normal heaving self. In the pub by 1pm was a result from my perspective!
The Corporate Leadership Team met with Andrew Kerr, our new Chief Executive on Wednesday evening for dinner. It was a good opportunity to get to know him informally out side of the work environment. He starts with us in the second week of February. On Thursday I met him again for our first one-to-one where we discussed the major issues facing Resources at present; harmonisation of pay and conditions, the budget and efficiency, service performance and how we will develop quickly the community and customer agenda. It was a good discussion. My overarching impression of him so far was the need for pace - faster delivery of our vision and what we want to improve, as well as a shift in focus from internal improvement to external delivery. These both fit well with where I think we need to be moving.
Moving on from the strategic to the tactical, here is some news that I've been asked to include relating to our new contract for office stationery. We have a new supplier "Lyreco" for all stationery orders now live. The Lyreco stationery catalogue is now accessible via Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) on SAP. There will be a number of road shows on this week moving around hubs, to explain the new setup and explain how to order. The road shows are aimed at requisitioners but others are most welcome - book via Employee Self Service on SAP. The key driver for this change is improved value for money, quality and service.
Have a great weekend and talk again next week.
Carlton
The Corporate Leadership Team met with Andrew Kerr, our new Chief Executive on Wednesday evening for dinner. It was a good opportunity to get to know him informally out side of the work environment. He starts with us in the second week of February. On Thursday I met him again for our first one-to-one where we discussed the major issues facing Resources at present; harmonisation of pay and conditions, the budget and efficiency, service performance and how we will develop quickly the community and customer agenda. It was a good discussion. My overarching impression of him so far was the need for pace - faster delivery of our vision and what we want to improve, as well as a shift in focus from internal improvement to external delivery. These both fit well with where I think we need to be moving.
Moving on from the strategic to the tactical, here is some news that I've been asked to include relating to our new contract for office stationery. We have a new supplier "Lyreco" for all stationery orders now live. The Lyreco stationery catalogue is now accessible via Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) on SAP. There will be a number of road shows on this week moving around hubs, to explain the new setup and explain how to order. The road shows are aimed at requisitioners but others are most welcome - book via Employee Self Service on SAP. The key driver for this change is improved value for money, quality and service.
Have a great weekend and talk again next week.
Carlton
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