Collaboration for Christmas

Much of my waking life is preoccupied at the moment with the future of the local authority and our public service partners in the face of the financial reductions that we all have to make. Collaboration with chiefs of other local authorities and police, fire, colleges and the voluntary sector is taking place every day as we think and plan a way ahead. 

Official opening of Hove Juniors Holland Road

So Monday afternoon’s official opening of Hove Juniors Holland Road site was a wonderful and welcome relief. Here, all the children of the new school and their teachers, parents, governors and a number of the local police came together to celebrate the transformation of Hove Police station into a state of the art school and a wonderful celebration it was too. The children sang; Janis Taylor, executive head, acknowledged the fantastic work with the council, the police and her own staff and we all left with a skip in our step seeing what excellent collaboration could do to improve the experience and life chances of our youngest citizens. One highlight for me was feedback that a survey of the children, regarding their first term in school, had come out with 100% satisfaction and delight. What I would give for a 100% satisfaction survey! 

Pupils at Hove Junior school Holland Road site

Pupils at Hove Junior school Holland Road site

Janice Taylor, headteacher at Hove Juniors

Inspector Jason Hazzard

New council candidates evening

On the same evening we hosted an open day for potential council candidates in next year’s elections. More than 30 people came to learn more about the role and responsibilities of a local authority councillor and while we didn’t get 100% feedback in our evaluation we very nearly did! I was grateful to Abraham, head of law, and Claire, elections manager, and Cian, my senior executive officer, for joining me in hosting and presenting to this session. We will be doing another session in January.

The Waterfront project

Tuesday saw a very significant decision taken by a Special Policy and Resources Committee which approved, in principle, the plans for the council to work together with Standard Life and Venue Ventures on the development of a scheme we are calling the Waterfront project. 

The Waterfront project

While final decisions have not yet been made, this initial decision gives the green light to detailed preparatory planning for a replacement conference centre and arena on the Black Rock site and an extension of Churchill Square shopping and entertainment centre down to the seafront.

The proposed new shopping area

The cross party support, for this significant investment of more than £540 million into the project and the intended results for our city, was extremely encouraging and testimony to an enormous amount of work that preceded the meeting. I would like to thank colleagues in the council and those in Standard Life and Venue Ventures for, again, another really fruitful collaboration. 

Inter-agency working

Tuesday was a very busy day and at lunch time Jason Kitcat, leader of the council and I met with Katy Bourne, the Police and Crime Commissioner, for one of our regular meetings. This time we focussed on the budget and future plans for both our organisations. We also covered a number of other issues including travellers, domestic violence and the high premium we put on effectively working together across the local authority and the police. 

Meeting with Katy Bourne, PCC

That evening the chief executives of West Sussex, East Sussex and myself plus our community safety managers met with Giles York, the chief constable, and a number of his senior officers to continue the theme of financial and service planning. We also heard early thoughts on what might be a new operating model for the police to respond to significant reductions in funding. That we are working closely together to try and ensure that our plans compliment and do not have perverse consequences, has got to be a good thing.  

At the Brighton & Hove Connected meeting on Tuesday afternoon the budget was, again, a key focus. Once again I found myself presenting both the challenge and the approach we are taking to prepare options for council members to decide in February. As you know, we are out for consultation on our budget and corporate plan. There will be difficult choices to make and it is inevitable that taking £26 million out of the council’s budget will have a knock on to both jobs and services. What we are trying to do, is to ensure that proposals are made in the context of further reductions that will be required in the next three to four years and the importance of prioritising our ability to provide civic leadership ensuring the continued health and wellbeing of our citizens, our environment and our economy.

More meetings

Wednesday is always a big meetings day and this week was no exception, with a Modernisation Board, an Informal Chairs meeting and Executive Leadership team meeting. All of these focussed on managing the here and now and managing the modernisation and development of the council as a public service business operating in a digital age with reducing funding.

The local government finance settlement

Thursday’s local government finance settlement was announced and it’s to the great credit of our finance colleagues that the forecast that we had been working on was correct to an incredible level of detail. So while there was no good news, the situation is no worse than we are planning for.  

A visit from the Ministry of Justice

A morning of internal meetings was followed by a valuable and much appreciated visit from Ursula Brennan who is Permanent Secretary (ie the head of) the Ministry of Justice. Ursula and I have been working as “buddies” for more than a year looking to learn from each other and cement connections between local and central government. I hosted a lunch time meeting involving the police, probation and community safety leads as well as the Abraham, head of law, and we reflected on changes to the court system, the probation service and offered feedback on how arrangements are playing out locally.  

Inspire project 

From this, Ursula and I went to visit Brighton Women’s Centre to hear more about the Inspire project, a collaborative third sector service commissioned to work with women offenders. The testimony of one courageous service user really brought the value of the scheme to life and it was an excellent session, again reflecting the importance of collaboration and diversity in our city’s provision of public services.

Coldean Community Corner

You may remember that I wrote a few weeks ago about a visit to Coldean Community Corner. The project featured on Latest TV this week; a nice positive project in the community that I'm proud we're part of. 

Christmas wishes

I’d like to end this week’s blog with a picture of Tuesday’s sunrise as I walked to work and a message of peace and hope that all of you enjoy a wonderful Christmas and that you find time for some well earned rest and fun with family and friends.  

These are tough times for public services, there is an enormous amount of need, high expectations and ever reducing resources and it requires all of us to be creative, collaborative and resourceful. 

Can I finally end by congratulating the Adult Social Care team for surpassing themselves in their wonderfully decorated Christmas theme?

Kings House room G31 

One of the ASC Christmas displays

I will leave you with that festive picture and wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Penny

The Christmas season gets underway

Well winter is truly upon us and I don’t think you have to be religious to appreciate the advent beach huts. 

Hove seafront

Last Sunday night, our dog Merry and I took a look at the display for the 7th and found the Holly and the Ivy. 

Beach Huts advent calendar

Primary school Christmas concert

Staying on the Christmas theme, I along with a number of colleagues, many councillors and a Brighton Centre full of parents and children, enjoyed the annual primary school Christmas concert. Yet again, Peter Chivers and his team pulled off a stunning show where literally hundreds of young people from all of our primary schools across the city came together as one city children’s choir.

Primary school concert at the Brighton Centre

They entertained us with songs that we knew and songs that were being played in public for the first time. We heard two original singing compositions and one original percussion piece. As ever, the children were enthusiastic and singing heartily while behaving impeccably. A wonderful night was had by all.

Another beautiful sky

Walking to an early meeting

The next day the morning sky, as I walked to an early meeting in Brighton, was fantastic. Not for the first time I reflected  on how lucky I am to live in this beautiful city and enjoy  the visions of the sea and the sky as the sun came up. 

The West Pier

City Management Board

The City Management Board I was chairing that day is attended by the most senior managers at both universities, the police, hospital, CCG, probation and the fire service. We had a valuable meeting reflecting on the performance of the city and the ways in which we can work together better to improve the lives and wellbeing of our citizens. The board’s annual report will be shared with Brighton & Hove Connected next week. 

Health and Wellbeing Board

At the Health & Wellbeing Board on Tuesday, we agreed with health partners on the commissioning intensions of the Clinical Commissioning Group; our crisis care concordat, outlining an effective response to those with a mental health crisis; and we discussed the important issue of access to GPs and the role of primary care. 

Health and Wellbeing Board

Our commitment to personalisation and prevention is written through our Better Care Fund plan which was reported as approved by the Department of Health. 

Health and Wellbeing board

Goodbye to Catherine

Straight after the meeting we hot footed it to Catherine Vaughan’s leaving do where her 13 years’ service to the council and the city was celebrated and recognised in good style. We wish her every bit of luck and success for the future.

Catherine saying goodbye

Catherine's leaving do

Discussed by ELT

On Wednesday, at our weekly ELT (Executive Leadership Team) meeting, I was pleased to have an extensive discussion about Our Business Strategy for a Digital Age. I hope that we will soon be making very explicit some of the developments underway to improve access to services for our citizens and their ability to do much of their business with us online, if that suits them. I very much hope we will be able to pull together our contact centre arrangements and I look forward to all of us who live in the city being able to have a ‘My Account’ making dealing with the council easier. Also, at ELT, we discussed the results of the staff survey. We are working hard both to make sense of the key messages and more importantly to firm up on actions that need to be prioritised and communicated clearly, just as we did last year.

Christmas Trees

Finally for those in Kings House, you may have seen the rather strange construction that is our Christmas tree, made from rubbish found on the beach. It rather took me by surprise as I thought we were doing a Christmas tree based on a theme of moving away from paper files as part of our Workstyles initiative. Indeed I gather such a construction will be at Barts House on Monday. It’s always the little things that attract attention and become talking points. Let’s try to focus on recycling, anti-littering and working smartly in a digital age.

Kings House christmas tree

Beach rubbish being reused

 

Sharing learning

This morning I am speaking at Brighton & Hove’s Policing Leadership Forum sharing some of my learning and my approach to managerial leadership. This afternoon, Jason Kitcat the leader, and I will be in public scrutiny on the council’s budget proposals. 



Penny with colleagues from the police

Keep warm and keep well over these chilly days.

Best wishes
Penny

Edited 12 December at 1.15pm to add picture from Policing Leadership Forum

 

A challenging winter lies ahead

Winter is here

Well winter really is with us and we are getting some fantastic skies, this was the sky last Friday evening at sunset. With winter comes winter planning and work to ensure that the city keeps moving and the most vulnerable are supported. To this end, the Health and Wellbeing Board will receive a comprehensive report next week on the way in which the city is planning to cope with winter. In advance, let me thank everybody whose efforts will contribute to the wellbeing of our city and its residents over the colder and shorter days in the coming weeks and months.

Winter sunset last Friday

The heart and lungs of the city

On Monday morning I caught up with Jim Mayor and Emma Friedlander who took me through the plan for the redevelopment of the Valley Gardens. Over the next two and a half years, we will see the lungs of the city transformed with a changed traffic flow, landscaping and other developments to return this to become a key city park rather than a glorified traffic island. This is just one initiative among several which will contribute to the continuing evolution to the heart and lungs of our city.
 
The recent excellent news about heritage lottery funding alongside Arts Council funding , will allow the reimagining of the Dome and Royal Pavilion Estate, which will also play a significant part in these exciting developments. As you may know from recent publicity, we are also at an early stage of discussion and negotiations about extending Churchill Square down to the seafront and creating a state of the art conference centre and arena at Black Rock. All of these are future based plans, drawn up to continue to keep the city developing in a positive way for our residents as well as keeping us on the visitor map and one of the best loved places in the country.

Jim Mayor and Emma Friedlander

An evening of celebration and commemoration

On Monday evening it was an honour and pleasure to participate in the 40 years anniversary celebrations of the Brighton Women’s Centre and to hear its President, Baroness Joyce Gould speak of its history and the valuable work that the centre has done and continues to do in the city.

From this celebration, I walked swiftly down to New Steine Gardens where a substantial and moving crowd commemorated the lives lost to Aids. Monday was World Aids Day and I was one of the almost 30 speakers who read out the names of local victims of the Aids virus and held commemorative candles in their memory. The fight against this pernicious disease has made fantastic strides but there is no room for complacency nor should we forget.

At the council’s quarterly Health and Safety Committee this week, I noted again that acts of violence and aggression are the top cause of hazards to staff closely following trips and falls. I would like to remind everybody that we do have training and development to support staff who work in our more challenging areas of service. I would encourage everybody to report any incidents so that we can prevent, respond and learn.

The Aids memorial at New Steine Gardens

Planning for our future

On Tuesday evening, I addressed the city’s Economic Partnership, which had invited the business community to come and hear about the council's budget and to participate in a question and answer session. It was with no delight that I outlined the very challenging position that faces us in line with the wider family of local government and indeed all public services. I gave a high level outline of the scale of our challenge and the approach we are taking which is one of modernising, prioritising and adapting to become a council in the digital age. It seems to me that our key purpose, as a smaller organisation, is going to be one of providing civic leadership to the health and wellbeing of our most vulnerable citizens, to the environment in which we live and to the economy. Our approach is going to be one of collaborating with citizens and partners in all sectors and harnessing the power of the internet, social media and other developments.  During the evening, there was a very constructive discussion, and I was pleased to be supported by Geoff Raw, executive director Environment, Development and Housing and Nick Hibberd, head of City Regeneration, in answering the helpful incisive questions that were put. The event was televised by Latest TV. I had a real sense that the business community wants to play its positive part in supporting our quest to manage change in challenging times.

Seated at the table from left: Nick Hibberd, Penny Thompson and Geoff Raw answering questions from the business community.

Policy and Resources discussed the draft budget report yesterday evening (Thursday) and it will go to Full Council on the 11 December. Then the budget proposals enter the consultation phase which runs until Thursday 26 February 2015, when Full Budget Council should take a decision. This year we are publishing the draft corporate plan and medium term financial strategy at the same time as the budget, in a clear wish to ensure our financial and service planning are joined up and that we have a longer term horizon for  developing the finances of  the council. The Stop, Start, Change initiative continues and ideas have already fed into proposals and will continue to inform the consultation phase.

Great response from staff

I want to thank everyone who was involved in managing the effects of a fire that broke out at the Princess Royal Hospital yesterday afternoon.  Many staff worked tirelessly to arrange for patients to be discharged, and colleagues in the independent sector made a number of beds in nursing homes available to us. It was an outstanding example of public service and partnership working - going the extra mile and keeping people safe.  Special thanks to our staff Grace Hanley, Marion Joslin and Marcus Brooks. Also thanks to Paul Burns in the independent sector and one of his managers, Sharon McNamara.

Just this morning

Panel at the Adult Safeguarding conference from left to right: Claire Crawley, Senior Policy Manager at the Department of Health, Denise D'souza, and Penny Thompson

This morning (Friday) I opened the Annual Adult Safeguarding Conference. I was pleased to see so many colleagues across the city’s organisations who contribute to the safety and wellbeing of adults in Brighton & Hove. It was extremely encouraging to see the commitment to learning and improving our working together as we step up to the challenge of the new Care Act which will put adult safeguarding on a statuary basis.

Also this morning you may have read in the media that our interim executive director of Finance and Resources has started and a thorough handover is underway. The next budget will be extremely challenging as we need to save up to £26 million pounds and this role is pivotal. Rachel Musson’s appointment was a cross party decision and the agency fee is the market rate for the expertise we need.  We would not have been able to fill this role at this level on a permanent basis immediately. Rachel is passionate about the wellbeing of this city and will be working hard with ELT to ensure we achieve the best possible outcomes for Brighton & Hove.

I should end by acknowledging that these are challenging times for staff, managers and citizens alike and I very much appreciate that the change that we are going through is not easy. That said, I am determined to approach our challenges as opportunities and to seek to continue to improve as a council and a city by working together. Thanks for all you do.

 

Best wishes,

 

Penny

Learning about housing, recycling, our staff survey results and more

Hello everybody

I am writing this at the end of a very busy week, struggling with a cold which that I think is affecting quite a number of us at the moment.

Improving our housing assets

I’ll start by taking you back to last Friday when, in the afternoon and accompanied by Erin who was on her Takeover day from Dorothy Stringer School, I embarked on a Housing Tour guided by Simon Pickles. The purpose of the tour was to demonstrate housing assets working for people and communities, and it did just that. Improvements at Puffin Nursery at the Millwood Centre; external insulation, cladding and rendering at the Bristol Estate; improvements to East Moulsecoomb shopping parade; the development of Coldean Community Corner and finally the Evelyn Court show flat in Portslade were all evidence of improvements being undertaken in the interest of residents and communities. They’re a good example of working together across the council and with partners. The visit was so riveting that I completely forgot to take photos but here’s one from our Homing In magazine feature about Coldean Community Corner. 

Stephania at a workshop in Coldean Community Centre

Bristol Estate - cladded and rended

Budget meetings

A number of budget meetings and mid-year performance reviews with members of ELT don’t make terrific reading, but have been a very important part of my week. Budget papers will be out by the time you read this and will give councillors and the city an opportunity to look at the challenge we face and the options for meeting that challenge. Final decisions on the budget won’t be taken until February.

Developing our management capability 

On Tuesday morning I started the day by dropping in on cohort 10 of the ‘Living our values, every day” management development programme. This programme is really important to me in helping us to steer our culture change and performance agenda. Overwhelmingly, the feedback from the programme is positive and is contributing to improving our management capability. All our managers will take part in the programme and I am delighted that some of our managers who have been through the programme are now supporting it by facilitating. 


I had a feedback session with a number of early participants in the programme and it’s through this sort of event that we can listen, learn and improve future cohorts. The programme’s focus is the management of self, others and service and it draws on a coaching methodology and a good deal of sound research to underpin the experiential learning. At its heart is the expectation that we will all work hard to behave in line with our organisational values and will all deliver on the objectives set in our PDPs. 

Meeting some of the managers from the development course

My mid-year review this week with Jason Kitcat, leader of the council, addressed progress against my objectives and I am pleased that numbers were on track and some exceeded, and some at this stage of the year only partly met.

I hope by now that everybody is recognising how our values can help to create a new culture in the organisation. Openness is increasingly recognised and again this week we have a very  sobering example of how a whistleblowing has led to serious action.

Newhaven Energy Recovery Facility

On Tuesday I visited the Newhaven Energy Recovery Facility and learnt a great deal about how it works. Over half of all of our waste is recycled and most of rest goes to create electricity  feeding into the national grid. The tour was fascinating and the building is certainly an impressive piece of kit, most of it sunk underground. 

Newhaven Energy Recovery Facility

At the control centre

I learnt a great deal and this time I did take a number of photos. One particular fact that stuck with me is that the least recyclable item which we all use is the mattress. It surprises me that when tens of thousands of  mattresses are discarded and replaced every year (particularly in this tourist city), there isn’t a recyclable mattress readily available on the market.  There’s a Dragon’s Den business opportunity for somebody!

Down in the depths of the facility

Burning the rubblish

CMT awayday

On Wednesday the Corporate Management Team were at Portslade Town Hall at an awayday. Our purpose was to work on future planning, thinking beyond next year and was also to receive feedback from this year’s Staff Survey. The headlines from the Staff Survey show that the living our values, everyday management development programme is having an impact which is terrific news. Clearly there is more to do and there was also chastening information in the survey. Less than half of the organisation is really ready for the changes that are facing us and this is something we have got to make progress with. And only a quarter of the participants of the survey believe that we will do anything about it and even fewer think that we did something about last year’s survey. 

CMT awayday in Portslade

This really is a huge disappointment to me because, as we said, in the roadshows a good deal of attention was given to the survey last year  and indeed to actions to address it. Over the last year we have been very consciously working on improving communications, addressing management capability and providing opportunities to improve resilience of staff. Anyway I won’t be downcast and can assure you that again we will  study the survey at a council wide level, within directorates and services, and looking to respond to what we learn. The council is us, it’s not them, and we want it to be serving our residents and supporting and developing our staff as well as can be. Thank you for all that took time to complete the survey and to contribute to the free text; it is all being read and analysed. We’ll publish an overview of the results next week.

An evening with Allsorts

On Tuesday evening Allsorts the local charity supporting LGBT Young people held its AGM and 15th anniversary celebration. It was fascinating to hear how Allsorts came into being steered by Jess, who is still there. The event was lively, informative and value of Allsorts was clear for all to see and feel.

Jess from Allsorts

Health and Wellbeing Partnership

On Thursday afternoon the Health and Wellbeing Partnership Event was held. It involved as many stakeholders in the city’s health and wellbeing system as could attend. Together, in Hove Town hall, we considered progress against the previous Health and Wellbeing Strategy and looked at what might be the key priorities for the next four years. Tackling inequality; ensuring resilient communities; making this a city where young and old can flourish, where those from different backgrounds and all abilities are valued and have their place were all themes of the conversation.

Health and Wellbeing Partnership Event

 The direction of travel is one of promoting positive health and wellbeing and preventing a need for high end care. The approach we are taking to the Health and Wellbeing Board in partnership with the Clinical Commissioning Group and with the  involvement of health and care providers and citizens in the wider system seemed perfectly accepted by those in the room.

Carers’ Summit

And this morning, it was a privilege to be the keynote speaker at the Carers’ Summit held at the Metropole hotel.  I was pleased to thank carers, and staff from the council and the Carers Centre, for their work to support carers who play such a vital role in our health and social care arrangements in looking after people in their homes.  I met a number of individuals whose powerful stories underlined the challenge and rewards of being a carer. I left them to continue with a day of information and fun. 

Speaking at the Carers' Summit

In today’s press

You may have read in the local press today about plans with Standard Life Investments for the Brighton Centre and Black Rock. I had planned to talk about this later in December but as the information is now in the press, I want to share the exciting possibilities that are being worked on to extend Churchill Square, making more of the seafront and develop a state of the art arena and conference centre at Black Rock. This is a scheme with potential to  bring huge investment and  numbers of jobs into the city.  Plans will go to P and R committee for a decision on 16 December. 

So as the initial budget proposals are published and we all see that we are going to have to work differently with less, I hope that we work together holding to our values and making best use of the enormous ability and commitment in the council and the wider city, to continue to make this a fantastic place to live, work and visit.

All the best
Penny

Awards galore and being taken over

Aren’t I lucky walking to work and seeing scenes like this on Monday?

West Hove beach early Monday morning

Looking towards West Pier and Brighton

Interim executive director of finance and resources appointed

This week we were joined at the Modernisation Board, which I chair, by Rachel Musson who has been appointed Interim executive director of finance & resources to take the reins from Catherine Vaughan when she leaves in mid- December. I am pleased that Rachel was able to join us for a day this week and will be joining us from next Monday to ensure a really thorough handover with Catherine. We wish both of them well with their new futures, and thank Catherine for her significant contribution to Brighton & Hove.

A modern council

At the Modernisation Board, we considered updates on developments in Children’s Services, Adult Services, Refuse & Recycling and City Parks and our Cultural Services to name but four.  We also discussed a scoping exercise currently underway for the future of support services. I think there is an increasing recognition that the scale of the budget savings that we have to find this coming year, and the subsequent four years, really does mean wholesale change for the council and indeed our work with partners and citizens.  I do understand that this is unsettling for many, though stimulating for some. Be assured that, as we work on service redesigns, we are looking at making the most of the powers and opportunities available to local authorities and the models of best practice that exist around the country to enable us to operate as a modern and effective council. To help us in that, a group of CMT members had the benefit of a presentation from Judith Barnes, a senior lawyer and an expert in the field of modern local government operating powers and models, which was an enjoyable and stimulating session.  

An enjoyable session

Judith Barnes with me

Our draft Corporate Plan, budget proposals and options for members will be published next week and considered for consultation following the Policy & Resources committee on 4 December. #BHBudget Stop, Start, Change continues if you have ideas to assist us with our budget challenge. 

Award-winning work

As well as considering opportunities for entrepreneurial public service, there have been a number of awards to report on. Recently, Brighton Housing Trust won a prestigious housing award in the ‘innovation of the year’ category. Dubbed the Housing Oscars, the 24housing 2014 Awards were given BHT for the container homes project at Richardson’s Yard in Brighton which was developed in partnership with developer QED Property Ltd.  

Andy Winter, BHT chief executive said: “Brighton & Hove City Council should share this award because it provided political support and its planners were willing to agree to something so different. We need more imagination and innovation if we are to tackle the housing crisis in Britain, I am delighted that a Brighton scheme has been recognised in this way”. It’s gratifying that one of our community sector partners has been recognised in this way and had the generosity to site the role of the council so positively.

BHT's innovative container homes

At the UK Bus Awards, the Transport team achieved a bronze award for Lewes Road; congratulations to them too!  

Making a Big Difference

On Thursday, I had the pleasure of hosting the Big Difference Awards and, from a shortlist of four, was able to present the team and individual awards. The team award went to the Cityclean Contact Centre and the Corporate Support team who had made it possible for the recent dispute which produced so many calls from residents to be responded to effectively. There had been three separate nominations for this team and they were delighted to be the winners. The Project Team at Mears were runners up and were worthy nominees. 

Team winners: Ethan Mackintosh, Gerry Francis, Sara McMillan, Annie Heath 

The individual award went to Sam Rouse from Environmental Health, now within Public Health, for the work that he did to develop a scheme to retrofit 30 taxis with selective catalytic reduction technology to reduce N02 levels (nitric oxide). Sam’s award was collected by Annie Sparks since he was at a conference talking about this successful initiative which is making a contribution to our emissions reductions. Paul Diplock, who is Clerk of Works was runner up in the individual category for the effective way he dealt with a particular repair for a disabled resident.  

Annie Sparks receiving the individual award on Sam's behalf

Inaugural hotel awards

Also this week, I was a guest of the organisers of the first Brighton & Hove Hotel Awards. At an excellently organised and attended ceremony at the Brighton Metropole, many hotels were awarded prizes for their effectiveness and cleanliness, customer service and innovation. That our hotels work together in an association to focus on quality and to sustain the high standards of this important industry to Brighton & Hove is really commendable. 

Hotel awards

No Bystanders

This week is Anti-Bullying week and I, like many others, have made my pledge to the ‘No Bystanders’ campaign. The importance of not ignoring name calling and unkindness is one that I am constantly aware of, especially when I meet individuals who have indeed suffered from bullying or harassment at some stage in their lives. Which brings me to a reminder that on Sunday we mark Trans Remembrance Day. Unfortunately, I can’t go to the event and am grateful that Richard Tuset will represent me there.

Taking over

Today (Friday) I am participating in Takeover Day. This is an initiative by the Children’s Commissioner office which sees young people from the city taking the opportunity to takeover from someone in the exercise of their role. Erin has been ‘taking over’ as chief executive and Iona ‘taking over’ from Jason Kitcat, the Leader. Other young people are taking over roles of managers across the council. The opportunity for them to experience our working life should be valuable to them as well as providing feedback to us and I hope that they have an interesting and effective time. I will let you know when it is all over! 

Erin from Dorothy Stringer school taking over today

Receiving feedback

Finally, today I also met with a number of managers who have participated in our management development programme, part of our living our values every day culture change programme. My purpose was to receive feedback and to discuss how we continue our programme of culture change and improvement in the performance of self, service and others. It was a valuable and open session. 

 

Managers feedback session 

I think that’s enough for now, enjoy the weekend and the coming week.

Good wishes,

Penny

A week of reflection

This week’s blog starts with a bang! On Saturday night I enjoyed the fantastic fireworks supported by booming music up at the Nevill Road playing fields to celebrate bonfire night. Well supported by the community and enjoyed by all despite damp conditions, this display has become an annual treat and I am rather proud of the pictures taken on my phone. 

Fireworks at Nevill Road

Fireworks at Nevill Road

Remembrance Sunday

Sunday saw the annual remembrance events around the city and for me the ceremony at the Old Steine was properly poignant, on this centenary anniversary of the start of the First World War. Particularly striking was the number of young people in the parade; the solemnity, and appreciation for the sacrifice of our forefathers and mothers, was moving.

Rememberance Sunday at the Steine. ©Tony Mould: My Brighton and Hove

Rememberance Sunday at the Steine. ©Tony Mould: My Brighton and Hove

Q and A with apprentices 

Monday morning started with an uplifting interview session with two of our council apprentices who are working in HR. They wanted to interview me about the role of coaching in management and leadership as part of a project they are doing for their college work. Their incisive questions and appreciation of the opportunities afforded them by their apprenticeship were really impressive. As you know, I do think coaching has an enormous part to play in delivering an effective learning organisation, which lives its values every day and achieves its purpose on behalf of citizens, business and visitors. I wish Kelly and Lucy really well in their careers as public servants.

Kelly Butler and Lucy Strutt with me

Kelly and Lucy 

One Voice

On Tuesday evening I chaired one the most moving and difficult meetings. This was our One Voice meeting with leading individuals from our Black and Minority Ethnic communities across the city. It was the third meeting of its kind and we came together to discuss how we can work to prevent young people going to Syria and meeting the same fate as three young men from Brighton & Hove have already done. 

There were senior colleagues from the council and our local police chiefs at the meeting, which was cordial, respectful and sad. The key point I took away was the extent of dislocation that some of our local people from BME communities feel as they grow up in the city. There are too many incidents of racism and bullying. We learnt that one of the drivers for radicalisation was the search for meaning and self-worth. 

The feedback from the meeting was positive. People were able to share their concerns and we agreed to move forward with some very practical actions supported by a colleague from a national organisation called Faith Matters. 

I must pay tribute to our community safety, the police and our children services, who have been working well together.  They have been identifing young people at risk and to support individuals and their families to prevent further harm. And also to learn from those instances where young people have gone abroad to Syria. Our One Voice meetings will continue. 

Participants in our One Voice meeting

Proud of our regeneration work

On Thursday, Sir Bob Kerslake, the Permanent Secretary for Department of Communities and Local Government came to visit the city. He came to see first hand some of the regeneration work that is underway and the plans that we have for the future. The well organised tour took in work around the Brighton Station gateway, plans for Circus Street and Preston Barracks, the i360 and the seafront. It was encouraging to be supported by colleagues from the universities, Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership and local businesses and we received some useful live feedback on our plans. 

Sir Bob Kerslake with Phil Jones from Wired Sussex

Julian Crampton, Nick Hibberd, Sir Bob Kerslake and Phil Jones 

Planning for our future

What these highlights from the week don’t include are the many management meetings and conversations that have taken place. We've been focussed on developing and delivering our challenging budget and our corporate plan for the coming years, and discussions with members about the least worst options for balancing our books. These will continue and you can still contribute to the #BHBudget Stop, Start, Change conversation online or in your team meetings.

From a roadshow

I have heard that one of the questions asked at a roadshow last month was: ‘What is the point of Penny’s blog?’ For me, the point is this.  As the chief executive of an organisation of almost 5000 people delivering over 800 services across the city, I can’t possibly connect with everybody on a face to face basis. So through the blog I share some highlights of my week and spotlight some of our work with our important partners. I try give just a flavour of local government and public service. I hope you find it interesting, I'm always keen to hear from colleagues, either through the Wave blog comments or by email.

Have a good and perhaps a drier weekend.

Penny