Managing our performance and celebrating our volunteers

Hello everybody

Our Performance Management Framework

I know you might think I am rather sad, but I was really excited this week to read my papers for the Executive Leadership Team for Wednesday and to see our Performance Management Framework set out diagrammatically, as the context for our performance report. This week has seen me in meetings and discussions on most of the eight aspects of our framework.

Our Performance Management Framework diagram

Business planning and risk management

On Monday, after diary planning with the leader, Councillor Warren Morgan, I met with the City Management Board finance leads from our public service partners in the city (universities, fire, police, health) and we continued on our quest to develop more ways of working together, producing better value for public money and improving services. This virtuous and challenging ambition is one that is already bearing fruit whether you look at the multi-agency safeguarding hub for children (MASH) developed jointly with the police, or our joint commissioning with health, or innumerable other examples. The risk management aspect of the framework was considered by the Leader's Group on Monday afternoon and they were properly seeking assurance that risk management is a living activity and not just a bureaucratic process. Indeed, that is the case; it is living and it’s action orientated.

That evening the leaving do for one of our long standing and well respected colleagues, Martin Randall, who has headed up planning for many years in the city was a valuing and celebratory affair and we wish Martin well.

Health & safety performance

Tuesday morning saw the health & safety aspect of our Performance Management Framework in action when I chaired the quarterly Corporate Health & Safety Board. Again we were reviewing performance over the year and noting that while the number of health & safety incidents has remained quite stable and the causes consistent (slips, trips and falls being the biggest cause) the number of days lost in sickness has dramatically increased. We agreed a number of actions to both investigate and seek to change this.

Performance and modernisation

My meeting with Rima Desai to consider performance and modernisation was an uplifting and reassuring session. The work that Rima has been leading on was considered in full and detail by the Executive Leadership Team and the Corporate Modernisation Board on Wednesday. We will be reporting to Policy & Resources on performance on 9 July.

Meeting with Rima Desai, Head of Performance Improvement and Programmes

A performance indicator for parenting was achieved by me this week when out of the blue I received a bunch of flowers through the post from my daughter who has recently started in full time work. How delightful and thoughtful.

Thoughtful flowers from my daughter

You may think that performance management is a crusty subject and you will now know that I don’t.

Celebrating our volunteers

On Wednesday evening at Brighton Museum it was a privilege to meet the many volunteers who carry out all sorts of functions for the city, and to celebrate their contribution. Last year, over 500 volunteers contributed 20,000 hours work with a value of £151,000. They volunteer in the Royal Pavilion and museums, our library service, healthwalks, City Parks, the Volks Railway and as City Greeters. More than 150 of them came to the celebration at Brighton Museum and I had the opportunity to meet a few of them.

Staff and volunteers at Brighton Museum

Claire Morgan, Parks Project Officer, who both volunteers, and works with Volunteers at The Level

I also met Peter Craske, Park Ranger with his stand showing conservation, planting and downland volunteer opportunities. I also heard a new word, “lookerers”. Lookerers are volunteer shepherds who walk around our conservation grazing flock.

Peter Craske, Park Ranger with his stand showing conservation, planting and  down land volunteer opportunities 

Councillor Gill Mitchell, Deputy Leader of the Council, joined me and Nicholas Owen in saying a few words of thanks to more than 150 volunteers gathered in the museum. We stood in front of a Wesley Emmett machine; he was the creative mind behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and his magical machines are being shown at our museums across the city.

With Councillor Gill Mitchell and Nicholas Owen next to one of Wesley Emmett's machine

Nicholas Owen is a great friend to the museum and the city, and is himself a volunteer for the Volks Railway. It was a delight to meet Nicholas and to hear from Stuart Strong, who manages the Volks Railway, what an important contribution volunteers make.

Nicholas Owen and Stuart Strong

During my visit I also met Jools Stone who is blogger in residence at the Royal Pavilion and museums. I have no doubt that he will be penning a few words on the event and we gained some positive and welcome publicity.

Jools Stone, blogger in residence at the Royal Pavilion

More volunteers will be helping out and providing sports and activities during our two-week TAKEPART festival at the end of June. Have a look at our website to find out more.

Active citizenship is already important in the city and will play a key role in the future as resources become ever more constrained, while needs and expectations increase. We know that volunteering is good for people as well as providing a wonderful public services. Don’t forget what Dr Tom Scanlon tells us about health and happiness coming from CLANG (being connected, learning, being active, noticing and giving) - volunteering ticks just about all of those boxes.

Delivering in our new administration

And so to delivery of our corporate plan and budget under the new administration. At Thursday’s six monthly Senior Managers Forum the top 200 or so managers in the authority had the opportunity to hear Councillor Warren Morgan, Leader of the Council, address them and answer questions on the new administration and its plans for Brighton & Hove.

At the Senior Managers Forum

Councillor Warren Morgan began by thanking everybody for the work that they do and acknowledging the challenges of the financial situation. His key message was that this authority will seek to learn from the good practice of co-operative councils and to draw on the good thinking of staff and managers in addressing the challenges of doing better with less. He gave particular emphasis to the failures of “trickle down” and the importance of tackling poverty, reminding us that one in six children in the city live in poverty, and one in three in his own ward. So tackling inequality and promoting fairness will be the watch words of this administration, and Warren went on to give examples of how this will be approached, particularly with the advent of the new Neighbourhood, Communities & Equalities Committee and the advent of the Fairness Commission.

Councillor Warren Morgan, Leader of the Council speaking at the Senior Managers Forum

Despite the challenging agenda we all face I was struck, as ever, by the positive engagement from managers and their preparedness to work together to continue to deliver on our purpose to provide civic leadership to the wellbeing and aspiration of our city and to gauge our progress by ensuring; a good life, a well run city, a modern council and a vibrant economy that everyone can benefit from.

Sunny weekend ahead

So the week ends with brighter skies than at its beginning and with a great deal of work to do but a spirit of endeavour and learning. Have a replenishing weekend.

Sunny Friday sky

Best wishes
Penny

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