service awards 2013 5 September 2013 Annual dinner and service awards programme In association with the MJ Contents page Evening programme 3 Service award categories and sponsors 4-5 Awards presenter: Liz McClarnon 6 A guide to the annual service awards finalists 2013 7-39 Service award sponsors 40-47 Annual dinner menu 48 Photographs from tonights awards may be requested free of charge via email at [email protected] For details on how to enter the 2014 service awards, contact; Laura McNab APSE (Scotland Office) Brandon House Business Centre Unit 18-20 23-25 Brandon Street Hamilton ML3 6DA Email: [email protected] Tel: 01698 459 051 Fax: 01698 200 316 2 Evening programme 19:00 Pre dinner drinks reception 19:30 Annual dinner commences 20:45 Comfort break 21:00 APSE Annual Service Awards 2013 22:00 Evening entertainment commences Note of thanks Thanks to the elected members and officers of Liverpool City Council and to the APSE national chair Cllr John Kerr Brown and APSE national secretary John Coates for their help in bringing this event to Liverpool. 3 Service award categories and sponsors Best Employment & Equality initiative Kindly sponsored by UNISON Best Local Democracy Initiative Kindly sponsored by Toltec Best Housing & Regeneration Initiative Kindly sponsored by Multihog Best Efficiency Initiative Kindly sponsored by British Gas Best Health & Wellbeing Initiative Kindly sponsored by UNISON Best Public/Private Partnership Working Kindly sponsored by Luton Traded Services Best Public/ Public Partnership Working Kindly sponsored by DAC Beachcroft Best Public/Voluntary Partnership Working Kindly sponsored by De Montfort University Best Community & Neighbourhood Initiative Kindly sponsored by The Trolley Collection Service Best Information Technology & Communication Initiative Kindly sponsored by IQ Software Systems Best Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Initiative Kindly sponsored by Walker Morris 4 Best Service Team Construction & Building Kindly sponsored by Geason Best Service Team Catering Kindly sponsored by Theo’s Food Comapany Best Service Team Building Facilities Management & Cleaning Kindly sponsored by Numatic International Best Service Team Highways, Winter Maintenance & Street Lighting Kindly sponsored by Nu-Phalt & Jetpatcher Best Service Team Transport & Fleet Kindly sponsored by SMA Best Service Team Waste Management & Recycling Kindly sponsored by U6 Media Best Service Team Street Cleansing & Streetscene Kindly sponsored by Love Clean Streets Best Service Team Parks, Grounds & Horticultural Kindly sponsored by Nordic Poineer Best Service Team Sports, Leisure & Cultural Kindly sponsored by APSE Solutions Overall council of the year in service delivery Sponsored by Big Belly Solar 5 Awards presenter: Liz McClarnon Liz McClarnon, will be best known to you as one third of Britain’s most successful girl group of the noughties: Atomic Kitten, but recently she has shown herself to be so much more than that – the proof as they say, is in the proverbial ‘pudding’! Atomic Kitten went on to have 15 top 10 singles in the UK including 3 number 1’s, along the way selling 10 million records worldwide. This phenomenal success saw them have hits and perform in Asia, New Zealand and Australia and even perform at Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Jubilee in 2002. Solo success was to follow in the shape of top 5 hit ‘Woman in Love’ the Barbara Streisand classic, that was produced for her by Robin Gibb (The Bee Gee who wrote the hit back in 1979). More recently Liz has been back on our screens for an altogether different reason – swapping microphone for apron, she embarked on a new challenge when she entered ‘Celebrity Masterchef’. This may seem like a huge departure for Liz, but she said “What’ve I got to lose? I’ve never tried to cook and hey, maybe I’ll learn something!” Her natural culinary ability and hard work helped her win the title of Celebrity Masterchef 2008. It was only a matter of time before Liz fronted her own TV show and last year she did just that for BBC3. ‘Hotter than my Daughter’ debuted in February 2010 surpassing everyone’s expectations and gaining viewers each week. The second Series was aired on February 2011, with great viewing number again and she will be filming the third series around September this year. 6 A Guide to the finalists Best Employee & Equality Initiative Chesterfield Borough Council Growing Our Own – the Project Academy Team Project Academy is a simple but effective idea to address a shortage of skilled project managers within Chesterfield Borough Council needed to deliver corporate projects designed to make efficiency savings. Rather than pay consultants the council decided to ‘grow its own’. It recruited talented staff from any job or grade, gave them specialist training and asked them to deliver projects, working across departments. It has resulted in more Corporate Plan projects being delivered, making financial savings and customer service improvements. City of Edinburgh Council Workstyle Home working was introduced in Revenues and Benefits originally as an effective way to reduce costs, reduce sickness absence, increase productivity and promote a healthy work-life balance. To date there has been: • A forecasted annual saving of £61,000.00 • A reduction in sickness absence in the division to below the Council’s 4% target • On average a 20% increase in productivity • A 67% improvement in job satisfaction • An 86% improvement in life satisfaction Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service Community Safety Adviser Apprentices GMFRS not only provides an emergency response to the community, the service also has comprehensive Community Safety, Volunteering and Youth Engagement strategies. The service undertakes a huge range of safety activities and delivers a suite of Youth Engagement initiatives including the Modern Apprenticeship programme. In October 2012 GMFRS, employed 12 Community Safety Adviser Apprentices to work within its Prevention Teams countywide. The scheme aims to increase the life chances of the young people whilst delivering the services safety agenda. 7 Lisburn City Council HR 20:20 – HR Developing a clear vision for the future through continuous improvement The HR team underwent a one year transformation journey to build HR capability and foster continuous improvement. The solution: the development of HR sub-groups with a focus on key HR values and continuous improvement across a number of HR themes branded as “HR 20:20 – HR developing a clear vision for the future through continuous improvement”. The programme has delivered wide-ranging benefits for a range of internal and external stakeholders with cost savings in year 1 representing 20% of the overall HR salary costs. The improvements achieved support the council’s commitment to move towards an accountable and performance orientated organisation and culture. South Ayrshire Council Work Out! Programme Youth employability is a key priority for the Council and we endorse the national aspirations that Learning is not restricted to schools or to school years. Rather, Learning needs to be lifelong and designed to develop the skills necessary to flourish in life, learning and work. Therefore, in addition to supporting and encouraging our school pupils to maximise their academic achievements, we recognise the importance of vocational skills and experience and ‘job readiness’ when entering the labour market at the end of school. Staffordshire County Council Saving A Generation – Procurement’s Role in Local Youth Employment Staffordshire’s manufacturing economy has suffered during this recession, and Staffordshire has also experienced a growth in its number of young people. Staffordshire’s economy needs to grow with the provision of jobs and a skilled workforce. We have used our purchasing power to aid local youth employment. This initiative involved the Council partnering with a local social enterprise, PM Training, and hosting supplier events with the Council’s key providers where we promoted trained apprentices. The initiative has created over 170 apprenticeships. Wolverhampton Homes Learning, Employment and Achievement Programme (LEAP) With unemployment rates in Wolverhampton rising, the largest social landlord in the city stepped in to make a change. Wolverhampton Homes created and is successfully delivering a Learning, Employment and Achievement Programme to guide their customers back into work. With 80 tenants benefiting from the programme since its launch (2012), it continues to grow providing local residents with work-related skills and training to get back into the world of work. 8 Best Local Democracy Initiative Derry City Council Y H.I.D.E? (Youth, History, Identity, Democracy, Equality) ‘Y HIDE?’ (Youth - History – Identity – Democracy – Equality) is a youth/community democracy initiative developed by Derry City Council (N.Ireland) within a process including schools, education authorities and politicians. Council officers wrote and published a magazine on voting and politics with an accompanying website and teachers/facilitators resource pack. Despite this being a contentious area of work given past ‘Troubles,’ this project gained broad party political support and is used by Catholic, Protestant and Integrated schools and local reconciliation facilitators. Staffordshire County Council Elections 2013 - Commissioning for Change Staffordshire County Council has used the elections in 2013 as an opportunity to reconsider how it can most effectively support its members; to ensure that whatever is in place