Friday 30 August 2013

It’s been a while since my last blog as I have been away on holiday for  a couple of weeks. It was great to get away and spend some timing swimming, cycling and eating with Tracy and the boys. Back on my diet now though! To those of you returning from holiday I hope you had a great time too. To those of you about to go, have fun.

Next Tuesday full Council will meet to debate, amend and approve the new business plan for Wiltshire Council 2013-17. This document sets out what we seek to achieve over the next four years and importantly how we will go about delivering it. I’m looking forward to hearing the debate from all sides of the chamber. When drafting the plan, we have strived to incorporate members priorities and policies, especially those which emerged from the election in May as well as feedback from citizens, clients, customers, businesses and visitors to Wiltshire. It’s always tricky to balance these.

I have summarised the key policy aspects of the plan here. Subject to Council next week, these will be our 12 priority areas for action in the county.
 
1.    Invest additional money between 2014-17 to reduce the historic backlog in highways maintenance
2.    Stimulate economic growth, including tourism, and create additional jobs in partnership with the LEP
3.    Further enhance the role of area boards, developing innovative community-led approaches to designing and delivering services
4.    Provide opportunities for every child and young person to improve their attainment and skills so they can achieve their full potential
5.    Continue to improve our safeguarding services to protect the most vulnerable in our communities
6.    Invest to refurbish council housing and encourage the development of new affordable homes, including supported living in rural areas
7.    Build on the work of the Military Civilian Integration Partnership and maximise the benefits of the Army Rebasing Plan
8.    Delegate cost neutral packages of land, services and assets to town and parish councils
9.    Create a campus opportunity in each community area
10.    Integrate public health at the heart of all public services
11.    Working innovatively to deliver at least £120m budget cost reductions over the next four years
12.    Develop the knowledge, skills, behaviours & leadership of our workforce, managers and councillors

For me , the how we go about delivering the above is just as important. Next week I’ll share some thinking about how we go about delivering what is an exciting agenda during some tough financial times in the public sector.

For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Carlton

Friday 2 August 2013

Not a good day yesterday in the third ashes test (unless you are Australian of course). Fingers crossed for a better day today for our bowlers.

I thought I would update you on the thinking behind last week’s announcement of a strategic partnership between Wiltshire Police and Wiltshire Council. I know there are numerous views, rumours and assumptions being made about this so perhaps I can give my views and thinking.

When I speak with residents, customers, businesses and communities across Wiltshire they tell me that joining up public sector services is a priority. They describe being “handed off” between different agencies, services, having to visit multiple buildings to secure services for themselves and their families. They describe this as bureaucratic and wasteful – both in terms of their time and their taxes which fund it.

The partnership with the Police is a first step to join up some of these services and facilities around our shared customers and service users. The overarching vision from the elected leaders of both organisations, Jane Scott and Angus Macpherson is to improve services whilst reducing costs. It is not a merger of the organisations, a takeover or indeed anything else. The Chief Constable, Pat Geenty and I are clear that we will only share services where there are clear data and evidence from our systems thinking reviews to demonstrate that sharing will deliver improved performance and reduced cost. The shared Police/Council facility at Monkton Park is working very well, and is evidence of what can be achieved when we think differently and take some careful risks.

I think this partnership is very exciting. For both organisations to continue to deliver great service during a time when our funding is being cut dramatically requires different thinking and greater innovation. And that’s what this is all about. I’m sure it will work well if we approach it with creativity and disciplined thinking but I’m also sure that we will make the odd mistake. This happens when you try new things. But we will learn quickly and develop the right approach for Wiltshire’s residents, businesses and communities. 

For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Thanks for reading and talk again in a few days. Only a week to go until my holiday...

Carlton