Change and uncertainty

On a week of the Holocaust memorial day, the red poppy bought for my birthday from the Tower of London exhibition arrived at home.

A poppy from the Tower of London

It will soon join another poppy in our garden and will stand as a constant reminder of the horrors of war; the brutality of man’s inhumanity to man and the selfless humanity of those who stood up and were counted.

So the theme this week could be one of conflict and compassion but instead I want to talk about change and uncertainty. 

Changing times

In our  regular consultation meeting with the trade unions on Monday, these themes underpinned our discussion on the budget and the actions to change this organisation. Our drivers for change include: reduced finances resulting from austerity; the expectations of an increasingly tech savvy population; the needs of a minority of residents who are becoming poorer and more frail; and the opportunity to learn from best practice. 

Change is coming. And we are treating this as an opportunity to reconsider our purpose as a local authority and to focus on our core principles, values and priorities. These will be set out at a high level in our Corporate Plan when it is agreed in March and in the budget when it is set by councillors at the end of February. 

This is where uncertainty comes in. The work on budget options is underway and until decisions are taken, there cannot be certainty. All I can say to all of you is that I empathise with those who are under notice of redundancy or who are managing one of the number of service redesigns currently underway. 

I can’t take the uncertainty away but I can acknowledge it. Senior trade union colleagues understand the position very well and are doing their job representing their members and voicing concern regarding changes. I want to record here the importance of the work of the trade unions and to also reiterate my request that they work in partnership with us in coming up with the best approach to achieve a more modern, smaller and effective Brighton & Hove City Council in the future. 

Leading the change

Change and uncertainty needs to be led and well managed. And this is one of the reasons for the introduction of our management development programme part of our culture change programme, Living our values, every day.

I met with a number of managers who were completing the programme this week. I wanted to hear their feedback and to support and encourage them in their development. The focus of the programme is the management of self, others and service, with the best outcomes for citizens as its result. 

Meeting managers on the development course

At the heart of the programme is the importance of behaviour which are authentic and consistent with our values. I heard positive examples of new collaboration within the organisation. I also heard of challenges in terms of us being open and efficient. The benefits of such a development programme are often a slow burn rather than an immediate hit.

There was general appreciation that this investment in managers is really crucial at a time that when the demands of public service are changing and becoming more complicated and diverse. I very much hope that this programme will assist managers in leading through change in a time of uncertainty. 

Briefing potential election candidates

Change and uncertainty must certainly have been key themes for potential election candidates when they came to our briefing this week. We had a number of people who are considering standing for election and want to find out what the role of the local authority councillor will be. 

Prospective councillor briefing

It was a very positive session; and benefited from hearing from three current councillors who joined us. Their overwhelming theme was one of living our values and putting the city and its citizens first and foremost when conducting the business of the council. They all agreed that, once elected, the place for campaigning is not the council offices and committees. Their commitment and respectful preparedness to collaborate was impressive. I hope we left prospective candidates with a realistic view of the important role of councillors and the challenging circumstances that are faced both in term of resources and responsibilities.

Our purpose and ambition

So although we do not know who will be in government or indeed in administration of the council in May, we do know that our purpose and ambition will be to provide civic leadership, supporting the wellbeing and aspiration of our citizens and our city and its economy. We do know that we will need to be better managing the opportunities provided by our digital age, to enable citizens to connect and contact us remotely. And we will ensure that those who need face to face communication and support can access that easily. 

Our draft Corporate Plan

We do know that we will need to be sharing more services with other organisations including other councils, building on examples that already exist here. We do know that we need to be working openly with our citizens enabling them to do more for themselves and their communities. We know that we need to sustain our vibrant economy and continue to have an attractive offer for our 11 million visitors a year. And we do know that we have to do the things that prepare the ground for setting a sustainable budget for the next four years. 

That sustainable budget will require us to change, reduce, reimagine and manage uncertainly. For some of us change is exciting, for others it is daunting. I know many of you that work in this organisation would like there to be more certainty and I am only being open with you when I say there are some things that will remain uncertain for some time.

Let’s hold on to that which is certain, namely that we are here as public servants to work in the best interest of the city and all its citizens, particularly to those most vulnerable. Our purpose and our values of openness, respect, collaboration, creativity, efficiency and customer (citizen) focus must guide us.

Our apprentices

And now for a completely different take on change and uncertainty. A group of our current apprentices have made a film explaining why they took this route and what they are getting out of the experience. 

                  
                      Apprentices at Brighton & Hove City Council from SeeThat on Vimeo

All of them have made a change and all are enthusiastic and committed. I have worked with Ellie when she filmed me, and I have met some of the others. I think they are great ambassadors for apprenticeships and for Brighton & Hove City Council. So watch the film and feel the energy, it's less than three minutes long. 

Thank you, as always, for all you do.

Best wishes

Penny

Final paragraph edited Friday 30 January 3pm

Meetings of minds

It’s a  pleasure and a privilege to walk to work along the seafront. I think January is as fine a month as any. 

Sunrise on my way to work

And now I am writing this with the winter sun warming my back.

A buzzing MASH

I have to go back to last Friday afternoon to start this week’s blog. I spent the afternoon visiting our Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), guided by Clare Poyner the team manager. It was an uplifting afternoon of meeting a motivated multi-disciplinary team busy at their work who are pleased  that they have the systems to do the job. The atmosphere was buzzing, hardworking and purposeful. A number of staff told me how much they love their work and are finding the new MASH arrangements a really effective way of doing their job. Well done to everybody involved.

Clare Poyner, MASH team leader

In the MASH

Working together

Monday started again with a meeting with colleagues from our neighbouring counties of East Sussex and Surrey. We are exploring ways of working together to improve services and to make the most of efficient use of resources. It is early days, but this theme of sharing and working together is certainly upper most in my mind and activity. We are navigating the challenges of managing with a smaller budget, modernising our services; making best use of our digital age; improving our management performance, all with the clear purpose of better outcomes from our citizens. 

We don't want sympathy

On Monday evening I supported Jason Kitcat as he chaired the quarterly Corporate Parenting board. It was a really informative meeting and included a video made  by children in care about some of the activities they really enjoy. Their key message was ‘We don’t want sympathy’. One of our young people read a poem he had written and recorded inspired by the First World War called “Diary entry 21 October 1915”. 

We also scrutinised the report from Mark Storey, head teacher of the Virtual School. Mark’s role is to ensure the best possible deal and outcomes from the education system for our children in care.

Our Independent Visitors' service

Later on we met with the Independent Visitors’ service. Independent visitors are volunteers who are recruited, vetted and supported to develop a confidential long term one to one relationship with a child or young person in care. We have 44 independent visitors matched with children and young people, including eight who are matched with young people aged 18 or over. We are currently recruiting for independent visitors and we heard from two who enthused us about what a fulfilling and rewarding role this is. The benefits for young people were explained through case studies and we had a very uplifting discussion. 

Some of our independent visitors

Our award-winning legal team’s senior lawyer, Natasha Watson gave a briefing on the legal framework on how children and young people come into care.

Natasha Watson

The Senior Managers' Forum

Our Executive Leadership Team (ELT) meet with senior managers in a forum three times a year. Tuesday was the first session this year. I focused on updating senior colleagues on progress with our priorities – the budget, modernisation, improving our performance. We went on to consider, in some detail, the findings of the 2014 Staff Survey and to plan for actions to address those areas where we want to see improvement. 

At the Senior Managers Forum

Geoff Raw and Angela Dymott in discussion

First we noted that we had the highest response rate that we had for a Staff Survey; 55% which is above average for public sector organisations. We also acknowledged that the results showed staff feel we are Living the values every day. We also had high scores on understanding of the needs of our citizens, our own job roles and the work we do. However the most of the discussion focused on our three themes for 2015 which are: Leading, managing and supporting change in an open way; Giving even more attention to staff engagement and involvement and Providing a clearer understanding of the sense of direction in the organisation. We agreed that we will work together to improve our scores for the next survey  and we are under no illusion as to the scale of the challenge given the budget situation and increasing expectations and needs of our citizens.

Me with Richard Butcher Tuset

Joining up

Also on Tuesday we held a very positive and constructive cross party pre meeting for the Health and Wellbeing board and Children’s committees, which will take place together on the 3 February. This ground breaking meeting will receive reviews of services for children with special educational needs and disabilities and adults with learning difficulties.  We hope that there will be agreement to work on programmes that will see fundamental modernisation and improvement. We will build on the fantastic commitment of staff and the evidence of best practice. This work will be combined with a clear understanding of the wishes and feelings of service users.

A visit to Stonewall

On Thursday, Nicky Cambridge, policy officer and I met with Ruth Hunt chief executive of Stonewall. This meeting acknowledged our high rating Stonewall Index (12th for all organisations and 1st for local authorities). However the majority of the meeting was spent looking to the future and how we can improve the lot of Trans citizens and indeed all protected groups, something very close to our hearts. We were able to tell Ruth about the work that has resulted  from the Trans scrutiny two years ago and Nicky gave her a copy of a progress report which is going to the Scrutiny committee next week.

Ruth Hunt with me and Nicky

One Voice

At the Policy & Resources committee, Jason Kitcat commended the work that is being undertaken by the One Voice group. This is an organically developed meeting of multi faith representatives seeking to prevent the radicalisation of our young people. I raise this here to recognise the courage and commitment of members of our faith communities who want to work together on our shared One Voice agenda. I also mention it as the national threat level has been raised this week in respect of both the police and the Jewish community. 

I want to end by reminding us to take care, be vigilant and to be the eyes and ears of the city. Our One Voice approach is peaceful, tolerant, kind  and these are the characteristics that we value for our city and its citizens. 

And finally, here's a beautiful picture of the seafront at sunset featuring Ross Empson one of our seafront officers last weekend.

I hope you enjoy a crisp winter’s weekend.
All the best
Penny

Good news during a busy week

I start this blog with some trepidation because last week one of my local twitter followers took me to task for the use of jargon. What I did say in response is that this blog is primarily written for people who work for Brighton & Hove City Council. It's very gratifying that it's of interest to local people and other followers from across the country and even a few abroad. So, I will try to ensure that it’s equally understandable but forgive me if I slip into a little jargon in the pursuit of pithiness and a recognition that colleagues will know what I am talking about!

Top ranked council

In a week of big skies, wet and windy days and nights and distressing international news, it was good to have something to celebrate mid-week. 

Big sky in Hove

On Wednesday we found out that we had come 12th in the Stonewall Employers Index and indeed first amongst local authorities. This is testament to years of commitment and hard work. I am pleased and proud for all our LGB staff, citizens and those colleagues who worked hard to demonstrate to Stonewall how we do things around here. I am doubly pleased that we have achieved this recognition this year after the disappointment and consternation of last year when we didn’t make it into the 100. Next week I am meeting Ruth Hunt (chief executive of Stonewall). I hope the focus of our conversation will be very much on making sure that our Trans colleagues and citizens get a fair deal. I will be re-emphasising the importance for us of equality for all and having a fair and equal approach to all protected groups, age, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality and disability.

Ruth Hunt with Richard Butcher Tuset

Management development

I began Tuesday by meeting the 10th cohort of our management development programme. Our development programme focuses on how managers address the performance of themselves, others and their service. It was interesting, as it always is, to hear from colleagues about the benefits of the programme.  I was pleased to learn how our managers have been challenging one another in the interest of improving services to our citizens.

Cohort 10 of the management training

Audit and Standards committee

I explained the importance of management and leadership development later this week, when I was reporting to our Audit and Standards committee on our modernisation programme. This is our agenda for improving the Value for Money of our services, changing how we do things and reducing costs, while improving what we do for citizens. Change is scary. It can be difficult for some and exciting and stimulating for others. As I have often said, change is not optional when we are facing rising demand together with reducing resources. And we need to make the most of key opportunities that are provided by the digital age in which we live.

South East 7

Also, on Tuesday I also attended the meeting of the SE7 (South East 7) chief executives and leaders. One agreed outcome was that we would write a joint letter to the Secretary of State and Local Government Association and others. We will try to re-address some of the misinformation in the press about the ‘crisis’ in A & E and where responsibility and solutions lie. We want to explain that the whole system of Health and Social care (from GPs to A & E) is having to manage increasing expectations, and increasing frailty of our ageing population. We are responding by working hard together in a joined up, planned and committed way, and blaming parts of the system doesn't help.

Wednesday leadership meeting

On Wednesday, the focus of my meetings were the budget and forthcoming agenda for the Health & Wellbeing board. In the afternoon, it was the weekly meeting of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). We agreed reports for Policy & Resources next month and reviewed progress. After a heavy day of meetings it was a joy to go and relax and listen to some jazz at Smalls Jazz club. It takes place underneath the Caxton Arms and Scott Hamilton and the Smalls House band were playing.

Scott Hamilton at the Caxton Arms

A heady mix

Thursday’s activities ranged from meeting with trade unions, The Arts Council, a former colleague who specialises in digital and democracy and a Health and Wellbeing meeting and ending with preparation for the Staff Consultation Forum next week.

Today began with our regular council and health chief executive’s meeting, followed by the first monthly meeting of this year with the three political leaders of the council. Now I'm off to visit our Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) where the council and the police work together to manage our child protection concerns and seek to keep our most vulnerable children safe from harm.

That’s it for a snapshot of the life of a local authority chief executive this week. As you see I move from the big strategic issues like planning the future purpose and functions of the organisation to important individual issues such as complaints that come into my office.

Once again, well done to everyone who worked on our Stonewall submission and have a good weekend.

All the best
Penny

It's 2015 and winter's here

Winter is upon us now. Cold mornings, wet mornings, glorious sunsets and on the news, an awful lot of coverage of the NHS and the crisis in our Accident and Emergency departments up and down the country.  

Winter in the city

Demand on Accident and Emergency departments

My week began with an emergency conference call about Accident and Emergency departments across the whole of Sussex. There was an acknowledgement that locally we are working extremely hard and well together, with the minimum of delays. However, the stand out fact is that more and more people are going to Accident and Emergency and more and more people are requiring hospital admission at a time when public service resources are more and more constrained. So warm thanks and congratulations to those in the council, in the health service and in the private and voluntary sector for the work that they are doing.  The CCG locally has been promoting an awareness campaign to divert people from using Accident and Emergency except in cases of life and limb emergency. 

Our Better Care Fund plan, developed with health colleagues, has a particular focus on improving health and care support in the community and joining up with primary care. I very much hope that over the coming year this will play its part in helping to address and divert what seems to be unending demand on A&E.  

Planning for the elections

On Tuesday I put on my Returning Officer hat and met with colleagues who had visited Sunderland to learn how they manage their elections and how they complete the count in record time. Not all of the actions that Sunderland take are replicable here, but it was fascinating to be debriefed from the visit and again it reminded me of the generosity of local government with a preparedness to share learning. Before long we will be seeking applications from staff who want to participate in the election as polling and count staff and I hope that we get a good response. The election on 7 May will produce two counts, one on Thursday night for the General Election and one on Saturday morning for the local elections.

Planning ahead

Wednesday was an Awayday for the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) when we spent time reviewing the work we have done on our forward planning. We also worked on the way ahead for the local authority up to 2020. 

Draft corporate plan

As we know, we will have a smaller budget, fewer staff, more shared services and be more of an enabler and a proactive partner with other public services, community and voluntary sector and private and independent businesses. In essence, we see the role of the council going forward being one of civic leadership of the wellbeing and aspiration of the city, its citizens and its economy.  

We were discussing the future, in terms of being a modern council and how we work in a digital age. We need to be operating in a joined up fashion, without silos, and be true to our values and our shared work objectives. The day was useful for agreeing some ground rules for service redesigns and we agreed the main areas of focus out of the recent staff survey.

Working at a clear desk

Thursday found me based  in my freshly cleared up room with my almost clear desk following work during new year week. 

Me and my (almost) clear desk

I met with Jason Kitcat, leader of the council and monitoring officer for our regular 1-1 meetings. Later, with colleagues we planned a forthcoming Corporate Parenting Board, where we look at how we are fulfilling our responsibilities to children and young people in our care.

Key Cities

Today I am travelling to London for a regular meeting of the Key Cities group. As previously, we will be working with other medium sized cities of the country on sharing our best learning, developing our economies, seeking devolution of powers where that’s useful and supporting one another in the face of the challenges that we all share in local government.  

Enjoying Twitter

Finally just a word about engaging with social media. One of the joys of my life is the learning I gain from twitter and the enjoyment, particularly from tweets by the East London group.

Those of you who follow me on twitter will know that my twitter timeline has plenty of paintings in it, as well as sharing academic and other references, and indeed some more light hearted exchanges. I am finding that twitter is a really useful way of connecting with colleagues far and wide, keeping on top of what’s going on and gaining some cultural nourishment.  Clearly there are some basic rules that need to be followed when engaging with twitter, particularly with a professional or managerial hat on. However, I very much hope that staff and managers will do so and gain the benefits that I am already experiencing.

I think that’s quite enough for now.

All the best
Penny

New year blog

Hello everybody and a very happy new year!

The last sunrise of 2014

Like so many I have spent some time this week reflecting on the year just passed looking to find some highlights and delights, and some learning for planning the year ahead. 

Looking back at the year online

In March 2014 I took my weekly blog online. The thinking behind this was I wanted to be truly accessible to everyone who works for the council and indeed available to those interested in public services, locally and further afield. That first public blog marked the setting of the budget, the agreement to the i360 project and also saw me recounting details of lovemaking turtles whilst I spoke at the opening ceremony for the Brighton Festival Fringe!

Artist's impression of the i360

The following week saw the sign off of our City Deal and the birth of the Greater Brighton Economic Board involving Adur and Worthing, Lewes, Mid Sussex and more recently West Sussex. At the end of March we hosted one of the first gay marriages at a minute past midnight on the 29th of the month. Since then Brighton has become one of the most sought after places in which gay people want to marry and what a wonderful backdrop the city can provide to these heart warming events.

Neil and Andrew were the first same sex couple to get married, at the Royal Pavilion on 29 March 2014

At the beginning of May it was a joy to bear witness to the children’s parade marking the start of the Brighton Festival. Here my photo taking for the blog really took off!

June saw the launch of our internal management development programme focusing on equipping managers to get the best out of themselves, their teams and their services. This developmental programme is rolling out for all managers across the council and provides a really valuable opportunity to improve our management capability and our learning and collaboration across the organisation. Members of ELT and CMT are now sponsoring the individual cohorts and I am pleased to be sponsoring two of them myself. June also saw the annual Chattri service and a service for the commemoration of the D-Day landings in a year that is full of remembrance for those who lost their lives in the service of their country. 

The formal opening of The Level in June was another moment to mark the great developments that are taking place in our city to make it a fantastic place to live, work and visit.

At the opening of The Level in June

An inspirational morning was spent in July with our Senior Managers Forum being addressed by the writer and business woman Margaret Heffernan, whose books on wilful blindness and collaboration have certainly given me excellent food for thought. Margaret’s message very much reinforced the values we are seeking to live in the city council and the passion we feel for ensuring we provide excellent leadership to the city and are at the heart of sound public services.

With Margaret Heffernan at the Senior managers forum in July

At the beginning of August I blogged about Trans Pride and Pride, and then about the shock floods that we were struck by which meant that we had to evacuate Kings House. All that seems so long ago, sitting now in the crisp bright days of the final week of the year.

Our LGBT Workers' Forum float at Pride in August

September was disappointingly disrupted by industrial action from Refuse & Recycling drivers and a return to the disruption which has such a direct effect on residents with an accompanying negative impact on the council’s reputation. I truly hope that we can avoid a return to this as we co-produce a service redesign with business-like sustainability at its core.

In October I highlighted our corporate membership of the College of Social Work and we were delighted to have its Chief Executive, Annie Hudson, come and address social workers gathered up at the racecourse. In the same month we learnt that we had been successful in our bid to the Arts Council for essential works as part of our ambitious plans for a reimagined Dome and Pavilion estate. At the end of the year our delight was enormous when the Heritage Lottery Fund also provided funding to ensure that this project can happen breathing new life into the heart of our city. 

With Erin on Takeover Day in November

In November I was very pleased to be accompanied on Takeover Day by Erin from Dorothy Stringer and she joined me in a fascinating tour of our housing provision across the city.

December saw me presenting on our budget to colleagues from the business community organised by the Economic Partnership. On a  lighter and more uplifting note, I attended the annual schools Christmas concert, it was an utter joy to hear the children from schools across the city come together to sing and celebrate the beginning of Christmas festivities.

Primary Schools concert at the Brighton Centre in December

During the year I have made a significant number of service visits, presented Big Difference awards, met wonderful teachers and young people in some of our schools and celebrated the opening of the Holland Road building which is now part of Hove Juniors.

Hove Juniors building at Holland Road

Along the way I have been touched by the commitment, enthusiasm and creativity of our staff and managers, citizens and partner organisations in public, private and community and voluntary services. Despite the pressure on revenue budgets and the requirement to continue to make significant savings we have, as a city, continued to grow and develop with a number of significant schemes being announced or started through the year. Perhaps the most significant of these will turn out to be the Waterfront project which got the go ahead in a Special Policy & Resources Committee at the end of December.

Looking ahead to 2015

So looking to 2015, where will I be putting my efforts?

Well it will continue to be on providing visible open leadership to the council’s managers and staff. I will also seek to continue to work closely and well with all our politicians on the council as they provide governance to the plans we are implementing and as they agree a budget and a corporate plan for the next year. The planning is also well underway for my Returning Officer duties on the 7 May and that will be a busy weekend when I hope a number of you will apply to work on the election, either at polling stations or at the counts; assisting me in ensuring free, fair elections take place in the city providing us with our Members of Parliament for the next five years and our councillors for the next four. I mustn’t forget the Rottingdean Parish Council election as well.

Over the next year I anticipate that the work of the City Management Board involving our leading police, health, fire service, university and college executives will continue to work together on ensuring the city continues to thrive and function well despite the impact of austerity. I expect that the Health and Wellbeing Board will become an increasingly significant force in its leadership of the health and social care system from cradle to grave. I trust that schools will continue to respond to the challenge of ensuring the best possible education for our children with improvements being made particularly in the secondary offer.
 

All of this will be done against a backcloth of implementing our challenging budget and corporate plan making the council a smaller organisation focused on doing less directly whilst at the same time being evermore open and ever a better partner to citizens and other organisations we work with. So this is going to be another year of challenge and change with the prize being the health and wellbeing of our city, its environment, economy and its citizens, especially the most vulnerable.

Beach huts in front of Kings House

And finally, the last sunset of 2014

Once again I wish you a happy and successful 2015 and look forward to working with you in a spirit of learning and collaboration.

Best wishes

Penny