Being prepared

Penny is on leave this week so I'm covering for her. 

Fire on the roof

It's been a week of some drama. The fire on the roof of Hove Town Hall brought home the importance of regularly practicing our evacuation and fire drill procedures. Thankfully no-one was harmed. Our teams, working closely with the emergency services, quickly brought the situation quickly under control. Alongside our Health and Safety teams, they are supporting the investigation into the causes of the fire and debriefing on the lessons to be drawn for the future. 

Hove Town Hall on fire

In the era of smart phone news, the communications team quickly swung into action and Tom Scanlon, director of Public Health, got the message across that the situation was under control and that staff were able to get back to work within a remarkably short period of time. A vote of great thanks to all affected.

Upcoming elections

Talking of votes, the Electoral Services team are well into making their final electoral preparations for national and local elections on 7 May. It’s a major logistical exercise requiring the support of a large number of people, many of whom have volunteered to support the team and the election process. Yesterday evening I attended the training sessions for count supervisors. 
Brighton & Hove always attracts national media interest and we are home to a very vibrant political community, so no pressure on those organising the electoral process! 

The planning going into the election event and count for both our MPs and local ward councillors is extensive and intense. While all the voting for parliamentary and local elections takes place on Thursday 7 May, the count of votes for Parliamentary candidates will start after the polls close and will be declared in the early hours of Friday morning. The count of votes for the local council elections will start early on Saturday 9 May. So not only a major logistical exercise but also something of an endurance experience for all those involved over this period.  Spare a thought for Claire Wardle, Valerie Pearce, Abraham Ghebre-Ghiorghis, their teams and all those who have volunteered.

Reviewing and planning

Last month Full Council signed off the 2015-16 Budget and the Corporate Plan. Since then management teams with support from finance, performance and HR business partners have been compiling the end of year statistics on how we did during the whole of 2014-15. 

This information will help us evaluate what went well and also the lessons from what didn’t go so well. Service and personal performance evaluation is at the heart of the discussion I have been having recently with Penny, as my manager, and my conversations with my managers. It is a conversation that has always helped me focus in what I need to do for the year ahead. 

Yesterday the Environment, Development and Housing directorate management team took time out to review our business plans for the coming year and to think carefully about how we will prepare for the next administration.  We discussed preparations to support the induction of new councillors and how we might quickly form a strong working relationship with whoever is elected to be our political leaders.  

Support for Children's Services

Of course we don’t always get the luxury of time to prepare. As my colleague Pinaki Ghoshal has blogged about already, Children's Services are in the middle of an Ofsted Review. The team know they can be subject to unannounced reviews and inspections at almost any time, so being on top of their work and being able to account for often difficult decisions in demanding circumstances is critical. Many people appreciate the spotlight that has been thrown on social care teams dealing with vulnerable people. In recognition of this, Pinaki received a small token of support for the team from the last authority receiving an Ofsted visit – sweets, headache pills...  

Pinaki with the team's gifts

The team are working their socks off to give a an open and honest account of their work and we all wish them well.  

Like a good many people involved with elections, they will be taking a well-earned rest after 8 May when they receive the results of the inspection.

Geoff
(Executive director Environment, Development and Housing) 

Me - Geoff Raw