Friday 12 February 2010

This week seems to have flown by as usual. I've been in Salisbury four times in the last seven days and at Monkton Park once so it's been a week out on the road; hub briefings, staff "face to faces", housing inspections and the like. It's been good to meet so many staff and talk with them about the big issues that we're all working on this year. Harmonisation of staff terms and conditions and work place transformation are the big issues of the day! ICT improvement is too and we're well advanced with all three.

I have also spent time with the new Chief Exec. this week discussing the budget for this year. It went to Cabinet yesterday and went through smoothly. Next week we take it to Scrutiny which will be a lively debate I think and then it goes to Council on February 23 for final approval. The Finance teams and departments have done a great job this year in preparing the budget; both the process to develop it and the final report are the best I've seen since I came to Wiltshire.

Preparations for our spring Resources Team Day are now well underway (March 3). The morning session is now full - with just over 300 people coming and we have around 220 booked in the afternoon. If you haven't signed up then please do so; it's a great opportunity for us all to pause and reflect on the work we have completed during the last 6 months and what we've learned. It's also a great opportunity to talk about the challenges ahead that we face. I look forward to seeing you all there.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend - and half term for those of you on holiday next week. Speak again next week.

Carlton