Collaboration, learning and equality

Hello everybody,

A wet bank holiday Monday was an opportunity to recover from the long day that had been election count Sunday. I am pleased to say that we delivered a free, fair and safe election and results in good time to the South East Returning Officer at Southampton. I am grateful to all of the staff who worked so hard on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

On the seafront with Toni Manuel - Seafront Development Manager

Beach Clean-Up/Don’t be a tosser!

When it came to the beach clear up on Tuesday, organised by the Argus with the council and a good number of other companies and bodies, the bad weather did mean that there was not much serious littering on the beach to clear up. That said, 60 or 70 of us got going with our litter pickers and did good work, particularly picking up cigarette butts and other horrible detritus. The spirit was great and it was good to see councillors from all of the parties donning their gloves and working well together. I do think that we need a litter campaign that is more hard hitting than perhaps in the past and I am rather taken with the campaign I saw in Sydney in Australia which went something along the lines of “Don’t be a tosser”. I think Max and Nick who gave us our equipment and our safety briefing would agree that we’ve got to do more to encourage citizens and visitors to dispose of their litter in bins and not leave it on the beach and the promenade and our streets and parks.

Nick James - central driver with Max Murray beach - charge hand 

Learning Organisations

This week I have been involved in three learning exercises. Firstly, we received some really affirming and useful feedback from an informal equality review that was held last week. This is to help us prepare and mark our progress towards reaccreditation against the Equality Framework for local government. Secondly, we have been preparing our self-assessment and presentation for a Local Government Association corporate peer challenge which takes place next week. Here we are asking a panel of councillors and officers led by another local authority’s chief executive to provide critical friendship gauging the progress we are making as a local authority, both in terms of leading our city, achieving our priorities and rising to the challenge of reducing financial support from government. We very much hope that this peer challenge will add value to the modernisation journey that we’re on and will encourage us in our quest to become a high performing organisation which is living its values every day. The third learning event took place today, Friday, and saw me being part of a panel of senior colleagues providing challenge to the organisations that make up the local safeguarding children’s board and their self assessment of the progress they’re making in terms of their organisational safeguarding arrangements. This was a really open and reflective discussion with lots of good ideas and a consensus developing that we have to aim for a culture of safeguarding across all our organisations, and indeed the city as a whole. The right actions are being taken to assure ourselves that safeguarding is being taken seriously and is prioritised; yet there is no room for complacency and we concluded that multi-agency working and learning together as well as even better information sharing are all necessary. 

Graham Barlett, -Chair LSCB, Leighe Rogers - Director of Probation, and
Paul Furnell - Head of Public Prosecution at Sussex Police 

Maggie Baker, Cllr Sue Shanks and  Ellen Thulvihill

Working together

One of our key partners is the police and this week I have had a catch up with Nev Kemp, our Chief Superintendent in the city, as well as a regular meeting with the Police and Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne, involving as well, Jason Kitcat, Leader of the Council. In both those conversations community safety, the importance of domestic abuse and the vital process that is underway for recruitment of a new Chief Constable were all discussed. I am pleased to say that we and other organisations in the city have played our part in that recruitment process, albeit in an informal consultative capacity. I look forward to a really sound appointment being made and working well with the new Chief Constable of Sussex Police.

 Walking on Sunshine

In the only sunshine this week Jason Kitcat council leader and I chose to conduct part of our “one to one” walking along the seafront, reviewing progress. In particular we noticed the new inviting recycling bins and reflected on the quality of craftsmanship of the work on the arches. We also noted that the seafront lifeguard service is now back in position on the beach, which was still gleaming from the beach clean and our conscientious, regular CityClean regime.

If women ruled the world

Last night I participated in a Brighton Fringe event as part of a panel discussing with a very large and lively audience this rather odd proposition. We started by watching a film, ‘30% - Women and Politics in SierraLeone’ and heard from its director, Anna Cady. The subject of the film was the challenging quest by three feisty women politicians to achieve 30% women members in the parliament. We went on to discuss the issue of women in power, noting along the way that in the UK that just over 20% of MP's in parliament are women and just 369 women have been elected to UK parliament since 1918. Joined by Andrea Cornwall, Head of School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex, Melissa Leach, Director of the Institute of Development Studies, Ifrah Hassan, Outreach Worker, Integrate Bristol and Muna Hassan at Intergrate Bristol and Caroline Lucas MP we discussed a wide ranging number of topics related to women in power and politics. Interestingly an early consensus was achieved that it would be better to aspire to equality rather than world dominance by women. The session was live streamed and you can watch it if you are interested. I think the themes of education, empowerment, role modelling, support from families and organisational cultures which support equality and the value of women were all themes that emerged.  It was encouraging that there were a number of transgender women in the audience who gave an interesting challenge to gender as a fixed notion and indeed the relationship of sexuality to gender. 

The panel at 'If women ruled the world' 

So on the themes of collaboration, learning and equality, I’ll sign off this week’s blog and hope that we perhaps see a little more sun this weekend.

All the best,

Penny

Care and collaboration

Last Sunday was a wonderfully warm day and I interrupted a walk with my elderly father to meet Kevin Watts, jet washer and graffiti remover who was cleaning one of our beach shelters. I was caring for my Dad and Kevin was caring for our wonderful city and keeping it bright and clean.

Kevin Watts

The theme of caring was very present when I visited the Child Development and Disability Service on Monday morning and met a range of health, education and social care staff and two of the parents whose children they work with. Reza Ataie and Debbie Collins both powerfully told their stories of coming to terms with children with profound disabilities and needing to turn to specialist services to support and help them provide a quality of life for their children and their families. 

Reza could not speak too highly of the care that his family is now receiving from their social work resource officer, Matthew Howson, from Downs View School and the services based at Seaside View, our Child Development and Disability Service. He spoke of ‘good services, friendly advice’ and gave this recommendation to others who need to turn for help: ask politely, know what you want, don’t take no for an answer. Turning to Matthew he told me: “this young chap has been instrumental in our family turning the corner”. What a fantastic testimony.  

Reza Ataie and Matthew Howson

Equally Debbie spoke so positively of Seaside View and the support which she received. In particular she mentioned the voluntary organisation Extra Time, who she described as brilliant. She said: “what made the difference was the overnight break away from home, where my daughter received amazing care. This has transformed our lives” Debbie told me.  

Debbie Collins

At the end of our morning we all heard about the disability review which is being launched to look at both improving services to families and also making value for money savings. The review is ambitious in its scope and everyone in the room was enthusiastic about making further improvements, engaging young people and families. The review gets underway in June and is expected to report in December of this year.  

From hearing and being inspired by this caring and collaboration I went straight over to Sussex County Cricket Club to participate in the signing of an agreement to work together between Brighton University and the cricket club. 

Sussex Sharks mascot and Pete the Panter, Brighton University's mascot

Mascots with vice chancellor of Brighton Univeristy, Julian Crampton
and SCCC chief executive, Zac Toumazi

Tuesday saw the inaugural meeting of the Greater Brighton Economic Board which has been formed to deliver the aspirations of our City Deal and economic development projects across the Greater Brighton area. The meeting was held against the backdrop of Brighton & Hove Albion football stadium.  Once again Brighton University was round the table, with leaders from Adur, Worthing, Lewes, Mid Sussex District and of course Brighton & Hove City Council.  Our leader, Jason Kitcat, chaired the meeting.  This ambitious board is going to oversee the delivery of millions of pounds of projects across the Greater Brighton area. It has a forward plan which will look at the visitor economy, the economic outlook, travel to work and travel to learn, training our people, learning from key cities, inward investment and other topics.

That night I returned to caring responsibilities and met my sons in London.  I thought you would enjoy the glorious views of South Bank from the Golden Jubilee bridge.

In case you weren’t aware this week is Carers Week and I was privileged to go and meet some carers and professionals at the carers event at Brighthelm centre on Wednesday. The new Mayor was also there. I heard from carers about their appreciation for the Carers Centre and carers services which support them to maintain loved ones at home, even when in very difficult circumstances.  For this event all sorts of professionals were taking an hour or two out of their busy working days to just go and listen to the stories of carers. Those I spoke to found it a moving and valuable learning experience to be the listeners. The carers I spoke to very much appreciated being listened to, being valued and having somewhere to turn to. 

New mayor Brian Fitch with a resident

On Wednesday evening Sajid Javid MP, Minister for Culture Media and Sports, came to visit Brighton Festival and the Pavilion and I was asked to come and be part of the walk around.

Andrew Comben, Sajid Javid with our guides

The Minister took a real interest in the Royal Pavilion and benefited from a very informative tour from one of the resident guides.  The journalist Polly Toynbee, who is chair of the Brighton Festival & Dome, Andrew Comben, its chief executive, and I were able to tell the Minister about our vision for a reunited Royal Pavilion, Dome and gardens providing the beating heart at the centre of our fabulous city. Once again the themes of collaboration and caring shone through this visit.  

As this is also European elections week, I am writing this while the ballot boxes are being returned to Hove Town Hall for safe storage. We will verify the number of votes cast on Friday morning before counting the votes on Sunday afternoon. This evening I visited some of our polling stations and was universally greeted by enthusiastic polling staff who reported that they had been kept quite busy through the day. The team at Hove Library were happy to be photographed and you see here Sue Coleman, presiding officer and Claire Penfold, polling clerk.  

Claire Penfold and Sue Coleman

Clare Wardle, electoral services manager

At St Philip’s church hall I met a mother with her young daughter. The mother was telling her daughter about the suffragettes  and how women had won the vote and the importance of using the opportunity to vote. I couldn’t agree more.

Finally then, just a word of thanks to those of you who responded to my call for suggestions on improving recycling. I can assure you that the service is already discussing your ideas and I am particularly grateful to one of our street cleaners who sent me a long and very constructive email which I really appreciated and have followed up on. 

All the best
Penny

A clean city, a conference and Annual Council

Keeping the city clean 

In my view, getting the right people for the right  jobs is utterly important. Monday started with interviews for a vital post of Head of Cityclean and City Parks – within Geoff Raw’s directorate. Four candidates had been shortlisted and two came through the challenging assessment centre. Richard Bradley was successful and I really look forward to him joining us later in the summer. Richard is making the big move from the wonderful North East to the sizzling South coast, and I hope everyone will give him a warm welcome. 

Richard Bradley

On Tuesday I had a conversation with two of our Cityclean staff as they emptied the communal recycling bins at the bottom of Grand Avenue. The aptly named Dave Binns has been with us for nine years and his youthful colleague Rob Reid for 25 years. Both think that the communal recycling bins will help us increase our recycling rates, and make it easier for citizens to recycle. I think the evidence is that we need to do more to nudge people towards recycling and to make littering completely unacceptable. We are currently working up some plans for this. Any ideas from you will be most welcome.

Dave Binns and Rob Reid

Recognising the role of Adult Social Care 

I know only too well the challenges of recognising and responding to the needs of our ageing population and the important minority of our citizens who are vulnerable and challenged through poor health, disability, addictions or homelessness. People of all ages and social situations can also be rendered unsafe and in need of protection from those around them. All of this, and more, is the day to day work of colleagues in Adults and Children’s Services. For many years I was a social worker, and then a manager, trying to make a difference to improving lives, as our colleagues do now. And on Wednesday, I joined a great many staff, and partners from other organisations, for their development conference. 

At the Adult Social Care conference

It began with two carers telling their stories and underlining the value they put on the assessment and support they have received from our ASC colleagues. It is enabling them to support their disabled, needy loved ones at home, and to have some quality of life themselves. Carers save our country billions of pounds. The conference also featured the filmed testimony of two adults who had benefitted from our safeguarding practice. Later case studies were worked on together. In the week that the Care Bill became an Act, and the role of professional Social Work is regaining its proper place, it was an honour to address the conference alongside our assistant director Brian Doughty, executive director Denise D’Souza, and lead member Rob Jarrett.  

Denise D'Souza and Brian Doughty

Mayor making

Another part of my role is to advise the Mayor as she or he chairs Full Council – sometimes quite a challenging role for them. Sitting at the front of the meeting I gain a particular view of proceedings. 

And this week was our Annual Council, where the outgoing Mayor is thanked and the in-coming Mayor is formally elected. This took place on Thursday and saw Cllr Denise Cobb make an emotional speech about what her Mayoral year had meant to her as she handed over the red robes and mayoral chains to Cllr Brian Fitch, the new Mayor and first citizen of Brighton and Hove. He introduced his wife, Norah, as Mayoress, and also  spoke of his aspirations for this mayoralty which he intends to be characterised by  themes of peace and harmony.

I am now going into today’s meetings on various topics: European elections planning; schools and achievement; refuse and recycling and a follow up session with a city businesswoman who heard me speak at the 'How Women Lead' event a while back. 

And I just hope that after all that, the glorious and warming sun that’s streaming in on me now continues over the weekend as promised. 

Best wishes
Penny 

If any staff member would like to comment on this blog, please go to the News page on the Wave.

Brighton Festival launches across the city

Fiesta in Brighton

Andrew Comben, festival chief exec and Hofesh
Shechter, guest director at the start of the Parade

Looking out at the fierce sea, following the driving rain earlier this week, it’s hard to imagine that only a few days ago, on Saturday, I was standing on a crowded balcony of the Theatre Royal in blazing sunshine watching the Children’s Parade that marks the start of the May fiesta and the Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe. There were plenty of wonderful creations on view including a number of shoes, goats and innumerable brightly coloured costumes. Eighty three schools participated in the parade and 5,000 children were involved. The creativity, the enthusiasm, the music and artistry on display were truly a delight to see.  

         

Art and culture for all
And from there, we popped into Brighton Museum to see the sculptural art installation, British Library, by Yinke Shonibare who is the lead artist for this year's "House" exhibition. His characteristic use of fabulous fabrics and colour has produced a stunning library of books whose spines reflect the names of hundreds of figures with immigrant backgrounds who have become household names and contributed to the rich culture of this country. Do go and see it when you are in town; you will be uplifted.

             


On Saturday evening I was again fortunate to attend two stunning productions on the first day of the Festival. One, Opus 7, was a dance music theatre piece that almost defies description but which poignantly brought home to the audience the impact of torture and exclusion of the Jews. In the second half, the production completely shifted and focused on the difficult relationship of the composer, Stravinsky, to the communist Russian state in which he lived. The performers used puppetry, music, battling bashing pianos and much more. Later in the evening I saw the spectacular dance and choreography of Hofesh Shecter’s troupe performing “Sun”. A number of members of the Arts Council attended this performance and its chair, Peter Bazalgette, paid tribute not only to the artists and our city for hosting the Festival but also to the local authority for recognising the importance of arts and culture as part of the life blood of the city and its citizens.

Keeping the city running
While scores of actors, musicians and entertainers were putting on the early events of the Festival, it’s important to remember that the weekend was also a working time for many others in the city, including numbers of council staff. I am always conscious of our colleagues in social care who work throughout the weekends and evenings and play such a contribution in keeping our more vulnerable citizens safe and well. I am also very conscious that colleagues from Cityclean were working on Monday to fulfil our residents’ service guarantee and to keep refuse and recycling collections going. Our household, like so many others in the city, benefited from the service on Monday and I am delighted that it is now in place.

Summer in the rain
Then yesterday morning, on my way to work, I bumped into Summer, one of our seafront street cleaning team, who was battling the elements to pick up the litter and ensure a sparkling seafront. Despite the terrible weather she was incredibly positive and cheery and was happy for me to take her photograph, and encourage her to come and get her “dinner” at 9am in Kings House canteen. So here's a picture of Summer in the rain, although the weather's looking better today.

Summer in the rain

Stronger Families 
Today with senior colleagues from Police and Probation, we launched a working together and learning event for dozens of our frontline staff across Brighton & Hove who are part of the "Stronger Families, Stronger Communities" service. An impressive array of family workers from across our public service and voluntary organisations in the city came together to learn and share, all intent on achieving the purpose of the programme which is to ensure joined up effective help that really makes a difference to families who are struggling. Collaboration and creativity are vital to this programme. Forging strong purposeful relationships between professional staff is an essential starting point for effective relationships and work with troubled families.

A selfie! Leighe Rogers Probation Director, Helen West
Police Inspectorand me at the Stronger Families launch

Dementia Friends
Finally, you may have noticed a fantastic national initiative that started this week - Dementia Friends. Its premise is simple. With increasing numbers of people living longer and developing dementia, there is a real need to spread understanding of the condition and to encourage behaviours of tolerance and care which will be of such assistance to those affected, and their families and friends. There's an excellent video that is well worth watching and then the sign up procedure to become a dementia friend is easy. Please go for it. 

That’s more than enough for this week, I'm sure.
Best wishes
Penny

Listening to feedback

Well believe it or not I really am pleased to be back after my enjoyable and adventurous holiday down under. I am particularly grateful for the effective leadership provided by my colleagues on ELT in my absence, and I’m very impressed by the number of blogs that have been written. It was entirely gratifying to have feedback from the Jason Kitcat, the council’s leader, on my return that the organisation had continued to be well led and managed in my absence even with a number of key events and a hole in the road to deal with. So thanks to everybody, the feedback was both encouraging and useful.

Feedback is really essential for us as individuals and as an organisation. Another example of feedback informing progress came on Monday evening when we held our Corporate Parenting Board. This is the meeting where councillors and senior officers assure themselves that our 450 children in care are being properly looked after, and that we are doing for them as we would want to do for our own children. Over the last months we have directly involved young people from the Children in Care Council in these meetings. After a couple of times we received feedback that while they appreciated our intent to involve them, they actually found the meetings rather boring and intimidating! So they requested that we change the way we work together and that instead of them coming to the meeting, some of us go and attend their meetings. This is what we are going to do. We have respected their feedback and I hope that they will find the next experiment in working with them is more enjoyable. It was useful to share the final copy of our pledge to children in care on Monday and I very much hope that you will all have opportunities to see it either in hard copy or electronically. It is a really good document worked on by young people themselves and reflecting both the content and the design that they wanted to see. At the same meeting, we talked about complaints from young people and discussed how we can better receive feedback from young people. We all agreed that we don’t only want to hear complaints but also comments and compliments and that indeed feedback has got to be viewed as something absolutely essential to a well-run system.

Walking home the same evening I bumped in to one of our road sweepers on the seafront. She was pleased to have a conversation and was incredibly engaging and positive. When I asked her how she found her job, she told me that not only did she love it; she also receives tremendous amounts of appreciation from members of the public who stop her just as I did. This really gave me a spring in my step as I walked home understanding that she receives positive feedback; that indeed the council was receiving positive feedback; and that this member of staff found her job satisfying, and on a sunny evening she couldn’t think of better work to be doing.

Feedback on how we are doing as an organisation, on what’s happening elsewhere, on how we are achieving in our jobs is all vital stuff, and I hope that through your PDPs you’ve received some valuable feedback and will be acting on it in the year ahead.

Finally then, let me give a plug for the Brighton Festival which I experienced first hand last year as being a really exciting and exhilarating time in the calendar. Following excellent feedback on the children’s parade I will be going there tomorrow before taking in two performances in the Dome in the evening. I hope you are able to join in with the festival fun in May. We should be really proud of having the second biggest festival after Edinburgh in the UK. I hope you have a good bank holiday weekend. For those who are working – thank you, and for those of you who want to get some rest and relaxation, I hope the sun shines.

Best wishes
Penny