www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Members Update – 20th December 2007
On the 4th December, Senior Managers from across all five organisations met at the Corn Exchange in Devizes. At the event, staff were asked to consider the most important things that the new council should concentrate on in relation to offering high quality customer service and being a great place for staff to work. Staff then voted electronically for their top three priorities in six key areas. The voting exercise worked very well andthe issues raised will be taken forward by Keith Robinson withdistrict colleagues and we will ensure that members and staff are involved in the next steps in taking this forward across all our organisations.
The implementation orders for the new Wiltshire Council will hopefully be put before Parliament before Christmas, and be in place by the end of January 2008. The DCLG are working on the various council regulations, which should be in place in March 2008.
George Batten
Transition Programme Director
Dates
- The next Implementation Executive will take place on 16th January 2008
- The members seminar on Area Boards and Area Partnerships will take place on Monday 21st January 6pm-8.30pm (more details will follow nearer the date)
Joint Scrutiny Board
A very positive meeting of the Joint Scrutiny Board took place on the 14th December. Members from each authority were in attendance - a further meeting is likely to be held in the middle of January followed by regular monthly meetings.
Workstream news…..
Equality Impact Assessment Training sessions are being held for key workstream staff. Their purpose is to ensure that we fully take into account any equality and diversity issues that relate to our customers and staff when redesigning any services. More information on EIA’s can be found at: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/jobs-and-careers/equalities/equality-and-diversity/equality-impact-assessment-guidance-notes.htm
Resources Workstream:
Lead officer appointments have been made to most of the service areas now and contact details for those officers can be found on the extranet.
Lead officers are currently working within their service areas to complete a "Service Discovery" document for consideration by the Resources Workstream Board in January. Services will need to consider the advantages or disadvantages oftransitioning early or forming virtual teams, which will be different for each service. This will mean each service considers the major issues and risks facing the service and the requirements for ensuring services are running properly in April 2009.
Frontline Services Workstream:
Laurie Bell, Deputy Chief Executive from North Wiltshire District Council, has been appointed as workstream owner for the Frontline Services workstream.
The Joint Implementation Team have considered the schedule of service redesign activities i.e. what we should do first, and their views have been passed on to Laurie who will discuss them further with board members. It is hoped that a provisional schedule of service reviews will be published early in the New Year.
Community Leadership and Governance (CL&G):
As part of theOne Council submission to the Department for Communities and Local Government the County Council undertook to ask the Boundary Committee to review ourelectoral arrangements in preparation for the new Council.
The Boundary Review Working Party met for the first time on Thursday 13th December. Terms of Reference were drafted and Jane Scott was appointed as chair. It was agreed that further detailed work will take place with district councils and local members. An update of progress will be sent to Town and Parish Councils in their January newsletter highlighting the fact that further work will need to take place with specific town councils in relation to warding arrangements. The draft submission to the Boundary Committee will need to be agreed by full Council around February/March 2008. Updates will follow in future newsletters.
If you have any queries relating to the Boundary Review please contact John Quinton – 01225 713054 – johnquinton@wiltshire.gov.uk
Customer Focus:
The next two meetings of the Customer Focus Board will be on 18 December and 1 February; subsequent meetings have also been scheduled.
At the next two meetings the project consultants, CDW, will discuss with the board their findings to date and their plan for January to April 2008. In addition, at the first of the two meetings, the board will be briefed on the progress of the Customer Focus Lead appointment process, and board members will be invited to join the interview panel.
Updates on workstream progress will be placed on the Extranet as soon as possible.
Contact Details
By Post
Programme Office
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN
By Email:
By Telephone:
01225 713017
Notes:This is a communication from the Towards One Council Joint Implementation Team on behalf of Kennet District Council, North Wiltshire District Council, Salisbury District Council, West Wiltshire District Council and Wiltshire County Council. Minutes of the Towards One Council Joint Implementation Board are available on the extranet or by contacting us at the Programme Office.
