Weekly Staff Briefing

4 October 2013

Welcome to this week's edition of Insider

This week, we launch our Tough Choices website, a dynamic place where you can have your say on our 2014/15 budget priorities, and help to shape local services. 

Yesterday saw the opening of the Clyst Honiton Bypass, serving both Cranbrook and the wider East of Exeter area, while infrastructure schemes will benefit from £3 million worth of Governement funding to remove bottlenecks on the local highway network.

Stay healthy with our flu vaccination advice, and help our GPs to keep the county active.

Contributions to Insider are always welcome - we look forward to hearing from you soon. 

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Help shape your local services

Last week, Councillor John Hart, Leader of the Council, issued a stark warning about the scale of the spending cuts over the next four years.

Over the past four years we have reduced our spending from £600 million a year to £500 million by cutting waste, reducing management and staff numbers.

The latest Government spending review means we now need to save a further £100 million over the next three years. To do this we have to look again at everything we do and make hard choices.

Join the debate via the Tough Choices website

Co-ordinating engagement across the authority In support of our Engaging Devon strategy, Service Area Engagement Leads met recently to co-ordinate engagement across the authority, with particular emphasis on getting it right with the budget consultation. We are all aware that we are facing cuts affecting services and it will no longer be business as usual; we have to be working now, together, to inform the decisions affecting our authority, our services, and our community. Our Insight and Impact team, with the help of the Engagement Leads, will be contacting lead officers to ensure that proportionate and reasonable consultations and impact assessments are taking place, and co-ordinated across the authority with Communications. If you are embarking on any work that will require consultation or an impact assessment, or if you are in doubt, please contact Insight amd Impact or your Service Area Engagement Lead. Here's a key impact assessment message which Jan Shadbolt, County Solicitor shared at the recent meeting of the Service Engagement Leads (plug headphones into your PC to listen)

Devon Discounts – new offers

Last  week, we launched Devon Discounts, our employee online discount website, offering - all in one place - a variety of high street retail discounts such as money off a new bike and gym membership, all in one place.

This week we have two new suppliers – Apple and Fulfords, thanks to colleagues who told us about their offers. If you know of a supplier who gives discounts to DCC employees please email communications@devon.gov.uk with the details. (PDF version with login details.)

You must not to disclose login details to people who are not employees of Devon County Council.

Username  dcc.staff  Password  discounts123   then tick 'Remember Me' box. 

Any new ideas@work? Following on from Corporate Services Leadership Team's response to ideas@work progression last week, we launch a new theme for you to sumbit ideas around - Kick-starting savings. Do you have ideas@work around saving money? Have a look to see what your colleagues have suggested so far and vote if you like the ideas@work

Learning Curve update Are you spending enough time on your development? Help is at hand in the form of the latest Leadership and Management update from our Performance and Development Team

Need to improve your Excel/Word skills?

Scomis is offering the following Microsoft training courses at Great Moor House, Exeter

Digitally deserved! Our Digital Communications Manager, Carl Haggerty, is nominated for Public Services Award Five shortlisted nominees have been chosen for this year's Guardian Public Services Awards, including our very own Digital Communications Manager, Carl Haggerty

Over the Coaver

Catch up with the latest news and events from the Coaver Club

Meetings in session

Cabinet Wednesday 9 October @ 10.30am. Agenda. This meeting will be available to view as a webcast

Job vacancies

View this week's DCC vacancies and this week's internal vacancies

Staff to get vaccinated against seasonal flu Our Public Health team is reminding people to get vaccinated against seasonal flu. Through the NHS, GPs provide the flu vaccine free of charge for pregnant women, people with a serious underlying health problem, adults aged 65 years or over and people living in a long-stay residential or nursing home. Additionally, a nasal spray flu vaccine will be offered to all children who were aged two or three years of age as at 1 September 2013. It is painless and easy to give and will not give flu to a child. People eligible for the free vaccination will be contacted by their GP to arrange a vaccination appointment, but anyone who has not yet been invited for an appointment should contact their surgery. All staff who have substantial contact with service users in the risk groups outlined above will be reimbursed for the cost of receiving the seasonal flu vaccination. Anyone who thinks they could be eligible for reimbursement should discuss arrangements with their line manager in advance

Public Health in Devon needs your help

Get Active Devon is a new web-based tool which will enable GPs, nurses, healthcare assistants and physiotherapists to promote physical activity among their patients. In order to do this successfully and to ensure that the website is able to identify ALL local groups, organisations and providers, we have developed a simple set of instructions to ensure they have a basic web presence.

Please help by sharing this information with all local clubs, groups, organisations and leisure providers (PDF version)

Stoptober - it’s like October but without the cigarettes Don't forget that help is at hand on our Staff Newscentre, including advice on how to quit successfully, and stay quit!

Review of day services to take place More people with care needs are choosing to use money allocated to them by the Council, through personal budgets, to pursue hobbies and interests or to access local activities, groups and clubs than attend Council-run day centres. Next week, our Cabinet will discuss how it would like to see its day opportunities provided in future and the impact that might have on day centres

Additional £3 million funding for infrastructure schemes Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced that Devon will receive an additional £3 million of Local Pinch Point funding. £1.855 million will go towards the Decoy Industrial Estate Access Road in Newton Abbot, with £1.145 million going to improvements at Roundswell roundabout in Barnstaple

South Devon Link Road update

A series of flood relief and engineering works is planned for the Christmas holiday period as part of the South Devon Link Road project

Vital bypass now open A new £9 million road which is a vital link to major employment sites in the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point is now complete and has opened to traffic. The Clyst Honiton Bypass opens up direct accesses into Skypark business park, the Intermodal Freight Terminal, the new community of Cranbrook and other developments nearby and will keep heavy traffic off smaller local roads around the village of Clyst Honiton

Devon & Somerset Trading Standards – flying the flag for consumer protection! The newly formed Devon & Somerset Trading Standards Service (a joint service commissioned by Devon & Somerset County Councils), has been hard at work securing three successful prosecutions last week.  All three cases were the result of professionalism and dedication by the officers involved and in one case the judge praised the officer’s efforts in bringing the rogue trader to justice, saying the case was well prepared. (PDF version)

Chance for drivers in Devon to win a free tank of fuel To celebrate National Liftshare Week next week (7 – 11 October), we are launching a competition to encourage people to sign up to Carsharedevon.com. Commuters who register with the website before Saturday 30 November will be entered into the prize draw to win a tank of fuel up to the value of £100.

Matches made in Carsharedevon! When Gina Small, Principal Transport Planning Policy Officer returned from maternity leave, she re-registered at Carsharedevon for her commute from Plymouth to County Hall and had enough responses to fill a bus! She now shares with Paula Salge, from our Exe Estuary team, and on some days with Senior Web Officer, Russell Taylor too. Gina says: "It makes the journey pass much more quickly with company and I am enjoying saving money on fuel costs.” Pictured Left - Right: Gina Small and Paula Salge