Chief Executive Blog - February/March 2014
Dear Colleagues,
Gosh … where has February gone? Its only seems a short time since we came back from the festive break, yet here we are with the spring break period and Easter fast approaching.
“Overtime has become institutional”
“Moray school meals shock”
Already during this first quarter of 2014 there have been some headlines that have appeared in the local media relating directly to Council business and I suspect that there are likely to be many more over the next 12 months as we continue to shape and change the way Council services are delivered to the local community.
Feedback from a number of sources tells me how much you are affected by negative media reports and that there is a sense of frustration with the fact that there is no ready forum for defence. We do work hard to focus on ‘good’ news stories whether that is a positive school inspection report, or new initiatives that have been developed to enhance opportunities or activity for a particular group within or across the community and I hope that these go some way to counter-balance the negative connotations stemming from the difficult decisions that have to be made.
Despite the somewhat negative perceptions surrounding local press coverage, also coming through from a number of sources such as the employee survey, service learning visits with front-line staff and listening meetings with service managers is the distinct message that people still have a strong sense of civic pride in working for the Council with the majority of staff willing to go the ‘extra mile’ and we are working hard to put things in place that will help to continue to foster and spread such an engaged approach across the workforce.
Moving on to regular business, the review of management and staffing structures reported to Council during February and work continues on both the budget and the Community Planning Partnership where we are currently setting out the governance arrangements.
Locally, I have had the opportunity to visit the Glenlivet Visitor Centre, in an official capacity so no imbibing of the golden nectar I hasten to add. Other events attended include the inaugural meeting of the Grampian Local Resilience Partnership (LRP), a Training and Exercising Capability Group, also for the LRP and a Freedom of Information Roadshow in Aberdeen.
Of particular interest was a Business Breakfast at which Diageo announced support for a three year programme with Career Academies UK where students from eight schools across Moray will be helped on the path to career success. This is an excellent example of positive partnership working demonstrating our commitment to ensuring our young people leave school with appropriate skills for leaning, life and work.
I also attended the COSLA Leaders’ meeting in Edinburgh and the Highlands and Islands Leaders’ Group because as I have mentioned before, I strongly believe it is of paramount importance that Moray Council is regularly represented at strategic meetings such as the Leaders’ meetings in order to be able to showcase and demonstrate the good work being done across the Council and ensure Moray’s voice is heard at a national level.
My final point - I have not yet decided what my next ‘keep fit and stay healthy’ challenge will be - I am still mulling over my options….