www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Wiltshire Magazine - Spring 2008 edition - News
News
- Project to save £millions
- Young people take control
- Love food, hate waste!
- Making One Council a success
- Pupils better than ever
- News in Brief
- We’re maintaining our services…
- Council receives new rating
- New care home part of ‘care campus’
- We love our library!
- It’s academic
- First choice offers for primary places
- ‘No Barriers’ as Wiltshire celebrates the International Day for disabled people
- Patients prescibed self-help books
- Spring Sudoku
Project to save £millions
WILTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL is working on a project to carry out ‘behind-the-scenes’ operations much more efficiently – and save it millions of pounds.
The business management programme will simplify the way processes such as invoicing, payroll and human resources are carried out. It will do this through the re-organisation of services and a powerful new computer system.
The move will potentially save the new One Council for Wiltshire between £9m and £11m a year after the initial investment of £8m is repaid. The computer system will ensure all financial and human resources information is stored in one place – giving managers access to much better information about how the council is performing.
Staff from across the five district and county councils who work in the teams currently doing this work will transfer into a single Shared Services Team that will deliver support services for the whole of the new authority when it goes live in April 2009.
The project is a partnership between the county council and Logica.
Young people take control
On November 23 last year teenagers were given the chance to take the top jobs at County Hall and experience an insider’s view of local government. Wiltshire County Council invited 40 young people to take over officers’ roles in a range of services, as well as shadowing leading politicians.
The special event was part of the first ever 11 Million Takeover Day. It was an opportunity for the 11 million young people in England to take over from adults for the day and allowed organisations to demonstrate their commitment to young people.
Love food, hate waste!
Did you know that a third of household bin rubbish in Wiltshire is food waste? Recycle for Wiltshire has joined a national campaign called Love Food, Hate Waste to encourage people to throw out less food. Roadshows across the county have given common-sense tips on how to shop smarter, cook more imaginatively and store food better.
Celebrity chef Peter Vaughan, who is from Devizes, has supported the campaign, offering a competition prize for winners to attend his cookery school. The campaign also has the backing of the county’s Women’s Institute.
Find out more about food at http://www.recycleforwiltshire.com
We serve 449,000 people
We look after 330 vulnerable children
We manage 2,738 miles of roads
We have an annual budget
Making One Council a success
Good communications and improved services are the keys to the success for One Council, county and district councillors have agreed.
Representatives of the county’s five councils get together regularly to discuss plans for Wiltshire’s new unitary authority. They have agreed that keeping in touch with customers and communities is the top priority as the county moves towards establishing the new authority. Improving service delivery and making it easier for everyone to get the services they need were also agreed as key areas of work. There are 17 councillors who make up the Implementation Executive and they meet monthly. The Implementation Executive is responsible for making decisions about all aspects of the journey to become one council. Among the items on its agenda are the new unitary councillors, how Community Boards will operate, budgets, access to services and the role of town and parish councils. Find out more at http://www.onecouncilforwiltshire.co.uk
Pupils better than ever
Primary school pupils in Wiltshire are doing better than ever in their Key Stage 2 exams, which are taken in their final year. Overall, 81 per cent of children achieved the expected levels in English, 76 per cent in mathematics and 89 per cent in science. Results in English and Science are better than the national average.
Meanwhile, the number of pupils getting five or more A*–C grades (including English and mathematics), at GCSE level in 2007 rose to 49.6 per cent, three per cent higher than the national average. Pupils’ performance at A-level is also above the national average.
News in Brief
Parking responsibility changes hands
From 16 June responsibility for parking enforcement throughout west Wiltshire will transfer from the police to the county council and will be enforced by district council civil enforcement officers.
This brings the district in line with the rest of the county and will enable a more efficient and co-coordinated approach to parking enforcement.
Domestic violence awareness cards launched
New cards to raise awareness of domestic violence have been launched in Wiltshire, through the Safer Wiltshire Partnership.
The cards are designed to provide support and advice on domestic violence to family members, friends and work colleagues, as well as victims.
Cards will be available through GP surgeries, healthcare centres, dental practices, hairdressers and beauty parlours across Wiltshire as part of a targeted campaign.
Police and libraries in new partnership
From April, all full-time libraries in Wiltshire will offer a Police Information Point Service in a new partnership with the county’s police force.
Library staff will be able to handle information inquiries, handle lost and found property and have a dedicated, non-emergency phone line.
The Information Points will be rolled out to part-time libraries by September this year enabling all Wiltshire libraries to offer this new community service.
We’re maintaining our services…
More money is going towards maintaining the county’s road network as part of the 2008/09 £250m budget. The budget aims to maintain existing levels of service despite increasing demands and rising costs due to Government targets and the landfill tax increases. The county council’s share of the council tax bill has risen 4.8 per cent. This means a band D property pays £1,020.59 for county council services, up by less than £1 a week.
Council receives new rating
The county council has been rated a three-star authority by the Audit Commission. The watchdog concluded that services were good and the council was improving adequately. The council was rated as providing excellent environmental services, good cultural services, making good use of money and providing adequate adult social care and services for children and young people.
New care home part of ‘care campus’
A new 80-bed care home in Malmesbury will provide a better quality of life for older people.
It is part of a £20m ‘care campus’ on the site of the former Malmesbury Community Hospital in a development led by Wiltshire Primary Care Trust and the Gable House GP Practice and undertaken by The Orders of St John Care Trust in partnership with Brackley Investments.
In addition to the care home the campus will include a GP practice, pharmacy, daycentre and extra care accommodation. The new care home replaces Burnham House which is not up to modern standards. It is due to open in June, with the campus complete by the end of the year.
We love our library!
Melksham residents are enjoying their revamped library. Among the improvements are new displays and layout, a café-style area and better wheelchair and buggy access. A Headspace area with facilities for young people is being created with help from National Lottery funding and £20,000 has been spent on new books. It is part of an ongoing programme of library upgrades across the county.
Melksham library is open 10am to 7pm on Monday; 9am to 5pm on Tuesday and Friday; 9am to 7pm on Thursday and 9am to 4pm on Saturday. It is closed on Sundays and Wednesdays.
It’s academic
Proposals for two new academies offer exciting opportunities for young people in Wiltshire.
In Laverstock, the Salisbury Diocese and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton are working in partnership with Wiltshire County Council for a single academy for students aged 11 to 19. This new academy would replace St Edmunds Church of England Girls’ School, St Joseph’s Catholic School and Wyvern College. Meanwhile Castledown School in Ludgershall will be turned into an academy in a groundbreaking link-up with independent school, Wellington College. Wellington Academy will cater for 1,150 pupils. The option to have boarding at the school is being explored. The academy is planned to open in 2009 and any new buildings required should be ready by 2010.
First choice offers for primary places
More than 94 per cent of applications for a primary school place in Wiltshire were offered their first choice.
There were just over 5,000 applications for September. To make the process easier, the county council again offered an online application form. The system is increasingly popular with 42 per cent of applications being made on the web.
Applicants were asked to nominate three preferences. More than 98 per cent received an offer to one of their choices. Only 87 (1.7%) of those children who live in Wiltshire did not receive an offer to one of their preferences. Those Wiltshire residents were all allocated places at alternative schools.
‘No Barriers’ as Wiltshire celebrates the International Day for disabled people
International day for Disabled People was recently marked with a series of events across Wiltshire under the banner No Barriers.Initiated and co-ordinated by Wiltshire County Council, it focused on promoting disability equality and breaking down the barriers faced by disabled people. These barriers are not just physical; they are more often hidden barriers, about communication and about people’s attitudes and prejudices.
The huge variety of events involved community groups, schools, businesses, councils and other public organisations.Audrey Ekström, from the county council’s equalities team, said: “We all need to continue working together to promote disability equality. When barriers are identified, actions need to be taken to remove them.”
The 2008 International Day of Disabled Persons is on December 3 and a No Barriers event is planned for that day, too.
Suggestions are welcome on what that might involve and they can be emailed to equalities@wiltshire.gov.uk or telephone 01225 713000 and ask for Audrey Ekström.
Patients prescibed self-help books
Thanks to a new scheme, patients are being prescribed self-help books by GPs to complement more traditional treatments.
Books on Prescription is a partnership between Wiltshire County Council and Wiltshire Primary Care Trust. It is designed to help patients cope with common difficulties such as anxiety, depression and stress.
The self-help books have been chosen by experts from those which have proved useful in similar schemes. The doctor issues a ‘prescription’ for the book, which the patient then takes to their local library.
As one user said: “I am reading again, something I’ve been unable to do for a long time. Thank you for an excellent tool on the road to recovery.”
Contact Details
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Corporate Communications
Wiltshire County Council
County
Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
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8JN
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communications@wiltshire.gov.uk
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01225 713110 / 713003
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