Friday 28 March 2013

The 2013 unitary and parish elections are in full swing now. We’re in the middle of the nomination process – accepting nomination forms from potential candidates for May 2nd. There could be over 2,000 candidates contesting over 400 election – the second largest elections in the UK, so it’s a very big challenge for the team. All going well so far but as Returning Officer it’s a little unnerving!


I have just been interviewed by Mark O’Donnell on BBC radio about how we as an employer encourage people with disabilities into the work place. This is a very important issue for me because we need to attract and retain the very best people in the organisation. With 17% of the population having a disability, we need to reach out and ensure we recruit from this large pool of talent. At present only 2.3% of our staff declare themselves as having a disability so we have some work to do.

Earlier this week we had another in a series of staff engagement events at Monkton park aimed at explaining the changes that we plan to refurbish the building between May and December this year. This will affect the 300 staff based there and a further 200 who will be moving in. Key highlights are; desk to staff ratio of 1:2, paper-less office space, flexible meeting space, hot desking and flexible IT enabling staff to work anywhere – especially out in our communities with our customers and clients. This is all about improving service performance and dramatically reducing the costs to the business of the many buildings we have. I am also pleased that we will share the building with our police partners – enabling us to join up our services with them.

Finally I wish you all a happy Easter holiday – if you’re staying at home or going away, stay safe, relax and have fun. Don’t eat too much chocolate either (40Ibs lost so far...).

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Thanks for reading and we’ll talk again in a couple of weeks.


Carlton