The Chairman will mention a range of recent items of news which may be of interest to Members
Minutes:
Charity Music Show in aid of Help for Heroes – Council Chamber, Friday 26 November 2010
The Chairman extended her thanks to those members who supported her chosen charity, Help for Heroes, by attending the Charity Music show in the Council Chamber on 26 November. The event raised approximately £2,000 for Help for Heroes.
National Training Awards
Members were informed that the County Council’s Management Development Team were presented with a Regional Training Award at this year’s National Training Awards. The Award was in recognition of the Team’s “Optimising Team Performance” course which had been attended by more than 750 of the Council’s managers. Evidence had shown that managers who had been through the course had made changes which had resulted in, on average, £20,000 worth of cost savings in their areas.
Association for Public Service Excellence Awards
The Chairman informed Members that the Council’s Cleaning Services Unit had recently been recognised at the prestigious Association for Public Service Excellence Awards. The Unit scooped the title of best service team for building and facilities cleaning.
RSPCA award for protecting farm animals during floods
Members noted that the Council’s Animal Health Team had received the Innovator Award in the RSPCA’s Community Animal Welfare Footprints (CAWF) scheme for its pioneering work to protect farm livestock from the threats of flooding. The work involved identifying all farms in the county that were at risk of flooding, establishing a contact database to warn farmers of impending flood conditions, and providing information and support to all farmers on how to protect their animals from floods.
Guardian Public Servant of the Year 2010 Award
The Chairman informed Members that the Council’s Parents' Commissioner, Charlotte Bailey, was named as a runner-up in the Guardian Public Servant of the Year 2010 award in recognition of her work in producing a Parenting Strategy. Charlotte had consulted with more than 2,000 parents across Staffordshire to produce the Strategy. Through this work, she realised that the County Council needed to improve the way it engaged with parents when designing and delivering services. As a result she went on to develop a Parent and Carer Toolkit that included consistent standards for effective consultation. This free web based toolkit could be used by any service to assess and develop ways to work with children, young people and families.
The County Council's Dementia Navigator Scheme in North Staffordshire was also revealed to be a runner up in the 'Service Delivery' category, under sub category 'Families and Communities'. The service provided information to sufferers' carers and families including local support networks and opportunities for activities.
Children and Young People Now Awards
The County Council scooped two awards and was shortlisted for a further four at the recent Children and Young People Now awards ceremony in London.
The Staffordshire Young People's Service Bumps and Babies group, which helped young mothers gain advice and new skills, won the Early Years Award. The Staffordshire Moorlands Community and Learning Partnership's Lads and Dads group won top prize in the Parenting Awards, as well as being highly recommended in the Extended School Awards.
In addition, Burntwood Community and Learning Partnership's “Hit the Ground Crawling” young fathers' initiative was shortlisted for the Early Years Award, the Wombourne Youth Action Team Multi-Use Games Area was shortlisted for the Extended Schools Award and Stone Community and Learning Partnership's Right Stuff project was shortlisted for the Third Sector Award.
Chartered Institute of Waste Management’s Ben Heath Award for Outstanding Presentations in 2010
Members were informed that Ian Benson from the Council’s Waste Management Service had recently been awarded the Chartered Institute of Waste Management’s Ben Heath Award for Outstanding Presentations in 2010 for his presentation based on the work of Project W2R to procure a new waste facility through the PFI regime.
Great West Midland Care Awards
Members noted that Social Care Assessor, Glenys Robinson, had won the 'Outstanding Contribution to Social Care' award at the Great West Midlands Care Awards. The awards recognised the achievements of Britain's care workers, co-ordinators, care managers and innovators.
Brighton House Resource Centre also won the “Dignity in Care” category of the Awards for their efforts in ensuring that people received an individualised and personalised service. Brighton House were also runners up in the “Putting People First” category of the Award.
Best Tourist Board 2010
“Destination Staffordshire” had recently been awarded Best Tourist Board by readers of Group Leisure Magazine and were also named runners up in the Best Group Travel Website category.
Society of Procurement Officers - “Outstanding Achievement in Procurement”
The Chairman informed Members that the Council’s Procurement Team won the “Outstanding Achievement in Procurement” category at the Society of Procurement Officers Awards. The award recognised the team’s work in ensuring that local businesses were supported when purchasing food for the school meals service whilst, at the same time, ensuring compliance with complex European legislation. The Team’s work had resulted in over £8 million more staying in the local economy, less food miles travelled and savings to the Council of over £200,000.
Chartered Institute of Public Relations Awards
Members noted that the county council’s Marketing and Communications team had recently won two awards at the Midlands Chartered Institute of Public Relations Awards which recognise excellence in PR and communications. For the second year running the team won the ‘Outstanding In-House PR Team’ award. They also won the Internal Communications category and came second in the public affairs category.
Visit by Delegation from Ivanovo
Members noted that, from 9 to 13 November, the County Council hosted a visit by a delegation from the City of Ivanovo, Russia. The Council had been developing a partnership with Ivanovo over the past 11 years, during which a number of EU-funded projects had been undertaken. During their stay, the delegation visited the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, JCB World Headquarters, the JCB Academy, Summerfield Court Extra Care Housing and Stafford Police Station. I also had the pleasure of hosting an informal dinner for the delegation at Shugborough Hall.
The Head of the City of Ivanovo had written to express his sincere thanks for the arrangements that were made for the delegation’s visit, and formally proposed a number of areas in which he would like to see further collaboration with the Council. These included building relationships between schools in Ivanovo and Staffordshire, establishing a partnership between the schools council in Ivanovo and volunteer youth organisations in the County, and providing a link between groups of active elderly people in Ivanovo and similar organisations here.