Covering for the chief executive again

Earlier this week I went along to the Corporate Equalities Steering Group to talk about my role as the Equalities Champion. I gave some practical examples of what I do including:

• chairing the group that is overseeing the implementation of the findings of the review of race equality in employment by our expert advisors Global HPO that was completed last year
• promoting the work the council is doing to support Trans equality, for example I attended the Transgender Day of Remembrance alongside councillors from all parties
• making sure we are clear about the equalities impact of our budget decisions on service users and on staff; and
• participating in the council’s Diversity Mentoring Scheme.

I told the group that one of my personal priorities is to improve the quality of the customer information we hold about groups with protected characteristics. I talked about the work of the team in City Services who are responsible for the council’s discretionary funds for people who need emergency help, for example with housing costs. The team have thought really hard about what information to collect about who is applying for the funds, who we grant awards to and who we find isn’t eligible. As a result when we reviewed the schemes after a year of operation it was straightforward to undertake the Equalities Impact Assessment because the data was readily available. They were then able to suggest well informed changes to our approach to improve the experience for all customers. 

Our new LGBT workers forum logo

I really valued hearing more at that meeting about the equalities work we are doing in schools. Colleagues in the Education and Inclusion service have been working with schools, with support from Global HPO, to understand more about their workforce profile and the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff. I also learned about how quickly our school age population, particularly at primary level, is becoming more diverse, and the work we are doing to improve attainment across all age groups. 

I asked the group for feedback on what they’d like to see me do as Equalities Champion. They said to communicate more frequently about what I am doing and that blogging was a great way to do this. So this blog is part of my response!

Penny will be back on Monday and returning to her weekly blog writing. 

Catherine Vaughan

A Sunny Easter Break

While Penny continues to be on her well-earned leave I am pleased to be doing the Blog this week – My last was just after Christmas so I will really need to get better at sharing my thoughts more regularly.

This week there has been considerable media attention on admissions to primary school. There is now a national offer day, which this year unfortunately falls within the Easter school holiday period, when every council has to contact parents and carers to let them know the school their child has been allocated to. This can be a stressful time for families, most of whom want their children to go to a good local school. Many parents carefully research their local schools, talk to neighbours and friends with older children and also visit the schools before choosing their preferred option. The system that every council has to follow is very complicated indeed and our Admissions Team work hard to ensure that we make the best matches possible. Unfortunately it will never be the case that every parent will get their top choice but I’m pleased that this year 94% of children will be going to one of the schools that their family have chosen.

Scooter training at school

The increase in numbers within the city and the movement of families around the city can make predictions difficult and a lot of work has taken place over the last few years to increase our school capacity including building school extensions and off-site annexes, the most recent of which involves the conversion of the old police station on Holland Road. Our prediction is that this year and the next are likely to be the peak of the pupil growth and that in following years the overall numbers should start to gently reduce. However, primary age children in time grow up and require a secondary school – our next big challenge!

In the last few days, in addition to a huge number of meetings, emails and discussions about school admissions I’ve also managed to meet with the magistrates on the Youth Panel Bench, discuss the draft Youth Justice Strategy for the city, our developing plans for our New Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub and preparations for the refreshed Health & Wellbeing Board. In addition, I’m still waiting to exchange contracts on my new home in Brighton. It does feel like conveyancing will always find a way to do things slowly.

Most of you will be enjoying the long Easter weekend, perhaps in the promised sunshine of tomorrow and with family and friends. However as you crunch your way through the beach or relax with a long cool drink spare a moment for the many council staff who will be continuing to work over the period to ensure that everything in the city continues to work smoothly and that emergency arrangements are in place for when things don’t go as they should

Have a great weekend.

Pinaki Ghoshal

Covering for the chief executive

I am covering for Penny Thompson this week and I apologise to the non-sporty among you but this week’s blog has a very active theme! 

Like many others I was relieved last weekend that the weather forecasters were unduly pessimistic about the heavy rain predictions on Brighton Marathon day. The overcast conditions were welcomed by runners and then the sun shone in the early afternoon which was appreciated by the supporters and well-wishers. I was lucky to be at the finish line to see the winning Kenyans William Cherbor and Alice Milgo who burst through the tape held by the Mayor and Paula Radcliffe. Thanks to everyone who worked to make sure the event ran smoothly and helped with the clear up afterwards.

Have you entered a team in the Reaching Rio challenge? It’s not too late to get together a group of five together and take part, more than 70 teams from the council have already entered. Find out more on the Wave page. You earn “miles” to Rio for a whole range of physical activity from dance classes to cricket – and a new category of gardening has been introduced thanks to the enthusiasm of one of our teams. It gives more credit to those who are normally less active so don’t be put off if you think you can’t compete with marathon runners! 

I also wanted to mention our new development programme for managers – part of our culture change programme, Living our Values everyday, which is being introduced over the coming months. I’ve nearly finished the development part of the programme, and it’s been a powerful opportunity to reflect on my approach to performance management – of myself, of others and of my service. It’s made me reflect on how I can bring into the workplace some skills I have developed elsewhere. I really enjoy netball coaching and I think really hard about how to develop the skills of the players I coach individually and collectively of all ages towards a common team goal. I’m trying to put this thinking into practice as I work with colleagues to review our performance over the last year and plan for next year through our business planning and PDP processes. 


I hope you all have a good weekend, whether active or not! 

Catherine Vaughan