This week saw us publish the Department of Resources Delivery Plan 2010-14. This plan details how we will be delivering the objectives outlined in the recently approved Corporate Plan. The plan will be subject to a Scrutiny Review over the next few months so that members can investigate what we will be doing, why and how we plan these actions. There is a lot of detail but we've tried to write it in a short, succinct way to make is easy to read and understand. I would greatly appreciate any feedback on the content and style from anybody in the organisation. You can find it on the intranet at:
http://thewire.wiltshire.council/index/councillors-area/departmental-delivery-plans.htm
The budget on Tuesday announced reduced public sector spending of 25% over the next 4 years. This amounts to a 6.25% reduction per year for four years. We are well placed in Wiltshire to meet this challenge moving forward. Our new unitary organisation - with all local government services now in one place, our work on procurement and commissioning coupled with our national recognition for business transformation using systems thinking principles all stand us in good stead.
CLT met this week for two days to plan how we will achieve this task. It was an excellent session where we developed a comprehensive response plan to not only meet these challenges but also to deliver all of the political objectives in the Corporate Plan. We will share the options with the elected members over the next few days and weeks and once they have decided on an approach we will communicate this widely. Please keep an eye out for comms on The Wire around this whole subject area.
Thanks for reading. Talk again next week.
Carlton
Friday, 25 June 2010
Friday, 18 June 2010
Friday 18 June 2010
England World Cup day two tonight. More despair probably but hey let's be positive for tonight's game. I must admit I'm not big on football but I do get caught up in the excitement of the World Cup - the two boys do too which is fun.
Today I'm attending the third Human Resources / Organisational Development Learning & Development Conference in Devizes. The whole team are getting together to do some learning and development focused on the journey ahead that we have. I would encourage other teams to do the same - learning and development is so important for an organisation that faces the challenges that we face over the next few years.
I've been asked a series of questions by the team which I thought I'd share with you in this week's blog - some are a bit of fun I think, while others are more serious.
Q1. Can we actually quantify the savings made through lean systems? Yes is the short answer. In each intervention, the team quantify precisely what the current system delivers in terms of performance (and what it costs) and with the knowledge gained through the process in respect of the levels of waste, redesign the system to deliver new levels of performance at reduced cost. Adult care have removed more than £2m of cost by using this approach.
Q2. What three things would you change if you had the power to change them tomorrow? This sounds like a Miss World question from the 1970s! I would want world peace, unlimited money for Wiltshire Council to do innovative things for our citizens and England to win the world cup!
Q3. What is the best part of my job? Leading an inspirational team and achieving big changes in our organisation to better serve people in Wiltshire
Q4. Is there an update on the car parking issues at County Hall? Not that I'm aware of but I'll find out.
Q5. In the coalition governments programme, it states that "we will promote radical devolution of power and financial autonomy to local government. This will include a review of local government finance". What does this mean and is it good or bad for us? I think it means that government will reduce the amount of central control on what we spend our money on (so called reductions in ring-fencing, i.e. prescribing how we spend our money from Whitehall). The quid pro quo of this will be that central government will reduce its funding to us by about 20%. This is good and bad for us. More control is good, less money is bad. We will have to be very innovative to continue with what we wish to do over the next few years with this sort of cut in income.
Q6. The coalition government have announced that they will cut government inspection and abolish the Comprehensive Area Assessment. Will this help our current situation? No not really. The removal of CAA will place less burden on us and will save a bit of money - but not a lot in the overall scheme of things. I also believe that many parts of the inspection were a good test and challenge to us as a team in terms of our performance management of the business. So we'll continue with some elements of these inspections for ourselves.
Thanks for reading and enjoy tonight's match!
Carlton
Today I'm attending the third Human Resources / Organisational Development Learning & Development Conference in Devizes. The whole team are getting together to do some learning and development focused on the journey ahead that we have. I would encourage other teams to do the same - learning and development is so important for an organisation that faces the challenges that we face over the next few years.
I've been asked a series of questions by the team which I thought I'd share with you in this week's blog - some are a bit of fun I think, while others are more serious.
Q1. Can we actually quantify the savings made through lean systems? Yes is the short answer. In each intervention, the team quantify precisely what the current system delivers in terms of performance (and what it costs) and with the knowledge gained through the process in respect of the levels of waste, redesign the system to deliver new levels of performance at reduced cost. Adult care have removed more than £2m of cost by using this approach.
Q2. What three things would you change if you had the power to change them tomorrow? This sounds like a Miss World question from the 1970s! I would want world peace, unlimited money for Wiltshire Council to do innovative things for our citizens and England to win the world cup!
Q3. What is the best part of my job? Leading an inspirational team and achieving big changes in our organisation to better serve people in Wiltshire
Q4. Is there an update on the car parking issues at County Hall? Not that I'm aware of but I'll find out.
Q5. In the coalition governments programme, it states that "we will promote radical devolution of power and financial autonomy to local government. This will include a review of local government finance". What does this mean and is it good or bad for us? I think it means that government will reduce the amount of central control on what we spend our money on (so called reductions in ring-fencing, i.e. prescribing how we spend our money from Whitehall). The quid pro quo of this will be that central government will reduce its funding to us by about 20%. This is good and bad for us. More control is good, less money is bad. We will have to be very innovative to continue with what we wish to do over the next few years with this sort of cut in income.
Q6. The coalition government have announced that they will cut government inspection and abolish the Comprehensive Area Assessment. Will this help our current situation? No not really. The removal of CAA will place less burden on us and will save a bit of money - but not a lot in the overall scheme of things. I also believe that many parts of the inspection were a good test and challenge to us as a team in terms of our performance management of the business. So we'll continue with some elements of these inspections for ourselves.
Thanks for reading and enjoy tonight's match!
Carlton
Friday, 11 June 2010
Friday 11 June 2010
Back to work with a vengeance this week, complete with sun burn from the Bath & West show. We had a great week off touring the numerous summer events in the West Country and also managed a trip to Legoland which I always enjoy!
This week has all been about Thursday's staff and members tour of Bourne Hill complete with partial installed furniture and all new ICT. The day was brilliant; the building looked tremendous and the kit installed really demonstrated what Work Place Transformation is all about. 300 or so staff attended the event and many whom I talked with mentioned the culture change that this type of building will drive and said how impressed they were with the facilities, decor and kit that they will have. We will try and get some Trowbridge based staff around the building over the next few months so they can experience what the County Hall refurbishment will be like. I'd like to thank all of the team who prepared for the day and those on duty who made yesterday run so smoothly. Truly inspirational!
The other big news this week has been the government announcing where this years reductions in council expenditure will be made. Wiltshire Council will need to make savings of £2.7million revenue (0.7% of our total grant from central government) plus a further £1.5 million in capital. This information was posted on the CLG website just last night, so we will be considering this over the next few days to develop plans for members to meet these requirements. More of this next week.
Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend and talk again next week.
Carlton
This week has all been about Thursday's staff and members tour of Bourne Hill complete with partial installed furniture and all new ICT. The day was brilliant; the building looked tremendous and the kit installed really demonstrated what Work Place Transformation is all about. 300 or so staff attended the event and many whom I talked with mentioned the culture change that this type of building will drive and said how impressed they were with the facilities, decor and kit that they will have. We will try and get some Trowbridge based staff around the building over the next few months so they can experience what the County Hall refurbishment will be like. I'd like to thank all of the team who prepared for the day and those on duty who made yesterday run so smoothly. Truly inspirational!
The other big news this week has been the government announcing where this years reductions in council expenditure will be made. Wiltshire Council will need to make savings of £2.7million revenue (0.7% of our total grant from central government) plus a further £1.5 million in capital. This information was posted on the CLG website just last night, so we will be considering this over the next few days to develop plans for members to meet these requirements. More of this next week.
Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend and talk again next week.
Carlton
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