Chief Executive Blog - September 2016
Colleagues
During the course of the year I accept invitations to a wide variety of events which allows me to see the tremendous amount of good work that goes on across Moray but which quite often does not get the recognition it deserves.
I attended one such event the other week and I am delighted to say it was held in well-deserved recognition of a local charity, the Elgin and district branch of Enable.
Formed 55 years ago by a group of parents whose children had learning disabilities, it is still going strong and continuing its sterling work.
I had the pleasure of being there to see the branch presented with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service by the Lord Lieutenant, Lt Col Grenville Johnston.
The award is the highest accolade for voluntary groups in the UK and I can think of no worthier cause than Enable.
I was delighted to meet not only some of the hard working volunteers who have carried on the legacy of those founder members, but also some of the 100 or so people of all ages whom they support.
All of them are a credit to the charity and the Queen’s Award is testament to that.
Back in the office, engaging with the public on next year’s budget has been high on the agenda and the use of social media has certainly generated a large volume of feedback.
Staff too have been taking the opportunity to put forward their suggestions via Bright Ideas and in Team Talks and responses from all the different channels of communication will be fed into the upcoming budget deliberations.
Full council last month also approved the incorporation of the council’s financial plan into its corporate plan, which lays out the council’s vision and priorities for the years ahead.
With financial planning at the heart of almost everything the council does in these straitened times, it makes sense to have the financial plan at the heart of the corporate plan.
At the same council meeting, elected members also approved a model and action plan to help put the council in a better position to face up to the many challenges that lie ahead in terms of leadership and its capability to deliver on the changes which will be necessary to meet those challenges.
Meanwhile, staff continue to be involved in the inspection of Moray Community Planning Partnership children’s services, led by the Care Inspectorate, and my thanks go to them for the tremendous amount of work they have undertaken both in preparing for the inspection team’s visit and during the inspection itself.
The past month has seen me attend meetings of Cosla and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives in Edinburgh and I also met with Campbell Thomson, head of Police Scotland in the north-east; VisitScotland chief executive Malcolm Roughead and Alastair Kennedy, chairman of the Joint Community Councils in Moray.
Social events, meanwhile, have taken me to Speyside, which is always a pleasure. I was invited to Aberlour for the formal handover of the old station building to the local community, I attended the annual ceilidh hosted by Cabrach Estate and I was also a guest at a reception at Glenfiddich Distillery.
Later this week I will be among the spectators as the military march along Elgin High Street as part of the build-up to the Highland Tattoo and later in the month I will be at the first of the three employee conferences at which I am looking forward to seeing some of you and discussing the conference theme, which this year is Shaping The Future.