New Head Teacher

February 2014

CEO Perspective

Chief Executive looks at next years budget.

CSE Awards

Council recognised for outstanding Service

P8

MCB Awards

Nominations announced for Staff awards.

P6

Office Recycling

New guidelines to help you recycle in your workplace.

P7

Streetsahead

Council’s Corporate Address Gazetteer given award.

P12

StaffNews

Lottery winners, long service and farewells.

P10

Safety Matters

Regular feature looking at safety in the workplace.

P4

P2

FitbaCrazy

Leanne on secondment to help out the SFA.

P5

Colleen welcomed at Coalsnaughton PS

Deadline for submissions for the next issue of Grapevine is 4th April, 2014

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Chief ExecutivePerspective

The Council met on 21 February and agreed a balanced budget for 2014-15. This included over £4M of policy savings and service efficiencies, with over £1.5M of that total being a reduction in employee costs comprising various changes in terms and conditions, the deletion of posts and the non-filling of vacancies. The positive engagement and contribution of staff and their trade union representatives in informing the process as it related to savings in employee costs has been very much appreciated.

Some of the savings agreed on 21 February represent a managed contraction of non-mandatory services. In tandem, Council also agreed to develop in the coming financial year a clear specification of which services it will deliver and to what standard. This work will be taken forward in the context of Making Clackmannanshire Better which I have written about in previous editions of Grapevine.

Having agreed the budget for 2014-15, the Council still faces funding gaps averaging £7M in each of the next three years, which means that there will continue to be significant decisions to be taken to ensure financial sustainability. Preparing proposals to inform future decision-making will be a key priority for the wider Council management team going forward.

As part of that work, it is essential to ensure that we have the right skills in the Council and that as officers we are sufficiently flexible and resilient. The newly agreed People Strategy provides a framework for doing that as well as for making the organisation sustainable and its culture inclusive and positive.

A key element of the People Strategy is to make sure that all staff are appropriately skilled to meet the Council’s business objectives and that there is consistent and effective leadership and management across the organisation. In respect of the latter, I am very pleased that this month sees the start of a corporate leadership and management development programme for all Team Leaders and Service Managers. Also being developed next financial year will be a further development programme which will aim to identify and develop management and leadership potential. As well as these tailored programmes, there will also be opportunities for role-specific training funded through the corporate training budget.

It is all too easy at budget time and in a climate of austerity to focus on the need for cost reduction to the exclusion of the much larger slice of resources the Council actually spends, which in revenue terms will be £132M in 2014-15. The Council plays a huge role in providing public services which are fundamental to people’s lives and that needs to remain our focus whatever the financial or other contexts.

Again in this Grapevine, there is evidence aplenty of excellence and of objective, external validation of the quality of the services we provide - my congratulations go to all those services mentioned in this edition and to those individuals who have either personally or professionally made significant achievements.

Elaine McPherson

February, 2014

3

IT Network Makes the StandardClackmannanshire Council has been awarded its PSN Certificate of Compliance, one of the first councils in Scotland to achieve the new standard.

PSN is the Public Services Network. It is a Government ICT network which we use when communicating with the Police and NHS, as well as when working with systems such as Registrars and Department of Work and Pensions.

Over the course of 2013 the rules for connecting to the PSN changed, which imposed much tighter security controls on councils. Not only did the conditions for connecting to PSN become harder, the Cabinet Office of the UK Government included a deadline for Councils to be compliant, with the added threat of disconnection for those who couldn’t meet the standards.

This created a huge workload for ICT staff over the summer. It meant that all systems within the council had to be audited for risks and many older systems had to be updated or replaced.

Many of the risks which were identified were highly theoretical, but all needed to be addressed. We constructed an action plan which allowed us to resolve more than 100 separate risks as well as produce supporting documentation for nearly 70 different compliance conditions.

We were fortunate that much of our infrastructure is well designed so while we had a lot of work to do, we didn’t have to make major design changes or switch off services to users in the way that some councils did which was very pleasing.

One of the changes which will impact on some people is the need for staff to be Disclosure Checked before accessing the sensitive information which is held on PSN systems. Another change being rolled out across the Council is the introduction of Protective Marking on emails.

ICT Service Manager John Munro said: “I am very proud of the way the ICT Service responded to the challenge presented by PSN. The team really pulled together and to carry out such a lot of work in a short space of time with only very limited impact on our users is a fantastic achievement.”

There is no resting on our laurels. Plans are already under way for this year’s audit which is likely to be even more demanding.

Countdown Begins to New Look PensionThe new version of the Local Government Pension Scheme will start on 1st April 2015 and will meet the conditions laid down by recent legislation on public sector pensions.

The key changes are:

• a move to benefits being worked out using career average (CARE) rather than final salary

• pension is built up at a rate of 1/49th of annual pensionable pay

• member’s normal retirement age being linked to their own State Pension Age. Members will still be able to retire any time from age 60 but a reduction for early payment may apply.

• protection of benefits for members age 55 and over at 1 April 2012 who will be guaranteed that their benefits will not be less than they would have been if the 2015 scheme had never been introduced.

More information, including a dedicated website, will be made available once the detail of the new scheme has emerged. In the meantime, more information is available on CONNECT.

Congratulations to Mark and Ryan Mark Paterson and Ryan Douglas have completed their Modern Apprenticeships.

Mark joined the Council in September 2011 on a two year Modern Apprenticeship programme. Mark was based within Social Work Services, Child Care. Mark initially achieved his level 2 Apprenticeship in Business and Administration in May 2012 and then progressed onto his level 3 Modern Apprenticeship in Business and Administration which he has now achieved. Mark has been successful in gaining full-time employment with the Council and remains within Social Work Services as a Business Support Administrator. Ryan joined the Council in October 2012 on a two year Modern Apprenticeship programme, based within Members Services. Ryan has achieved his level 2 Modern Apprenticeship and will now progress onto his level 3 Modern Apprenticeship in Business and Administration. Ryan continues his apprenticeship within Members Services.

4

SafetyMattersHealth & Safety TrainingUpcoming courses

Health Check The health check, completed by Kenny Cook, is planned for:

Greenfield Wednesday 5th March 12 noon to 1.30pm To book call ext 2101

Lime Tree House Wednesday 2nd April 12 noon to 1.30pm To book call ext 4001

John GillespieJohn Gillespie, who was a highly regarded colleague and a respected figure in Clackmannanshire, died in October.

John was born a “son of the rock” in Stirling, 1955 to John and Agnes. His teenage years were spent at Blair’s College in Aberdeenshire, which he then followed with a job in London as a collector of taxes. He attended the University of Aberdeen where he completed a degree in politics and international relations, and also met his wife Monica whom he married in 1984. Together they had 6 children; Dominic, Matthew, Rosie, Marcus, Vincent and Anna.

John joined Clackmannanshire Council in 1987, where he worked tirelessly in the housing service. He always took pride in the difference

that his work would make to the people of Clackmannanshire, eventually taking on the role of Head of Community and Regulatory

Service.

When not at work, John would most likely be seen at the Leisure Bowl, or playing football or tennis with his kids. Despite his busy schedule, John always had time for everyone and his charismatic personality will be missed by everybody who

knew him.

In May 2013, in his 27th year of working for Clackmannanshire Council, John was diagnosed with advanced cancer, and spent his last months surrounded by his family. He will always be remembered for his devotion to his family, his commitment and enthusiasm for his work, and the warmth he shared with everyone he met.

Submitted by Dominic Gillespie

John Gillespie Memorial AwardA new award, which will be given

in honour and memory of John

Gillespie, will be presented at this

year’s staff awards ceremony on 6th

March.

The John Gillespie Memorial Award

has been created at the request of

John’s family, who also agreed to

participate in the judging panel.

The award will be given to an

individual who has demonstrated

outstanding achievement; has

overcome personal adversity or who

has carried out exceptional public

service in the community.

Staff can make a donation towards

the John Gillespie Award Fund,

which will award the trophy and gift

to the award recipient each year, by

contacting Tom Denovan in HR.

Healthy Working Lives

To date 60 staff have signed up to take part in HWL ‘Choose to Lose’ Challenge which started on 13th January and ran for 6 weeks. The idea of this campaign was to help those who wish to lose the Christmas pounds.

In the week commencing 13th January 2014, Kenny Cook conducted weigh-ins and waist measurements of all participating staff. Everyone taking part was given a weight record card on which they recorded their progress by weighing themselves at home or in their teams weekly. Kenny also weighed and measured all participants at the

end of the six weeks to record total weight and inch loss.

Prizes will be awarded for the team and individual who record the greatest weight loss. (The prizes will not be restaurant vouchers or cream cakes!!). Look out for news on the success of ‘Choose to Lose’ in the next edition of Grapevine.

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Answering FOIsAny individual has the statutory right to ask public authorities for any information that they hold. Answering FOIs or EIRs (Environmental Information Regulations) should not be seen as a burden, your service should have processes in place to be able to deal with them efficiently and timely.

There are a few simple points to remember when answering FOIs:

• Ensure you know the deadline for responding to a FOI or EIR that you have received. The statutory timescale is 20 working days. There is no extension available for holiday periods other than public/bank holidays.

• Make sure that you have supplied the information requested and/or answered the questions that have been asked. If you fail to do this then the requester is likely to ask for a review. Also make sure you haven’t provided superfluous information.

• FOI(S)A & EIR are about information that is recorded; if we do not record it then it is not held. For example, requests that ask officers to offer opinions about a particular subject.

• Where appropriate, see the FOI/EIR request as an opportunity to positively present the Council.

For further information about FOIs & EIRs see the Information Management Handbook on CONNECT. An introductory course on FOI is available through the OLLE online learning.

Opportunity for LeanneLeanne Ross has been given a years’ secondment to the Scottish Football Association from her role as Active Schools Co-ordinator.

Leanne gained her 100th international cap for Scotland in a match against Chile recently.

Leanne made her debut for Scotland in 1996 against Switzerland and since then has gone on to be a pivotal member of the Scotland national team under the stewardship of current Manager Anna Signeul.

As a key member of the team she is determined to help Scotland to qualify for the Women’s World Cup Finals in 2015.

The recruitment process to find a temporary replacement for Leanne is underway.

Cycle Friendly ClackmannanshireClackmannanshire Council is one of only ten of the 32 Scottish Councils that have made significant improvements to cycling in the last five years.

A national cycling conference in Glasgow heard from Cycling Scotland that the top performing Councils were Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, Clackmannanshire and Aberdeenshire. Clackmannanshire was singled out as having a very strong working group involving officers from Roads, Education and Sustainable Development working in partnership to improve both cycling facilities and cycle training within Clackmannanshire. Further collaboration with Sports Development, Active Schools, Clacks Active, Cycle Stirling and local cycle shops is helping to raise the profile of cycling locally.

Silver Award for EducationClackmannanshire and Stirling Education Service has been shortlisted for a COSLA Excellence Award in the service innovation and improvement category.

Representatives from the service were invited to present their applications to the judging panel on 12th and 13th February.

The winner of the category will be announced on 13th March 2014.

RedevelopmentThe former Council-owned public toilets in Tullibody have been given a new lease of life. The building has been redeveloped and has now opened as a flower shop called ‘Thanks a Bunch’.

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New StrategiesThree significant strategies were recently approved by Council.

The Communications & Marketing Strategy for 2013-17 and the People Strategy for 2013-17 were both approved at Council in October 2013, while the Information, Libraries & Learning Strategy 2013 -17 was approved at the December meeting.

Our People Strategy is closely aligned with Making Clackmannanshire Better, our business improvement and transformation programme. The Strategy’s aims are centred around three key elements:

• Making our organisation sustainable • Making our work-force resilient • Making our culture inclusive and positive The Communications & Marketing Strategy outlines the

improvements we will deliver under three aims:• Ensuring our internal communications approaches

and channels are highly effective and valued by our people

• Ensuring our external communications and marketing approaches and channels are highly effective and responsive to our partners’, stakeholders’ and customers’ needs

• Ensuring our digital communications develop in line with advancing technology and customer needs, both internally and externally

The Information, Libraries & Learning Strategy contains three key aims:

• Improving adult literacy and learning in Clackmannanshire

• Increasing usage of community learning resources and boost economic and community regeneration and learning

• Developing a core infrastructure that is sufficiently flexible to support different customer needs and changing demand

Action plans have been produced for each of the strategies which will be monitored and reviewed by CMT as well as feeding into the annual Business Plan process.

Copies of each of these strategies can be found on ClacksWeb.

Making Clackmannanshire Better AwardsThe fourth annual staff awards will be held on 6th March.

The nomination form was published in the December edition of Grapevine and our appeal for entries resulted in over 20 nominations across the range of Council services.

Well done to all the nominees who have each shown outstanding commitment to providing excellent customer service, leadership and results.

The winners will be announced at Alloa Town Hall as part of the Clackmannanshire Awards evening and published in the next edition of Grapevine.

The shortlist of nominees are: Excellent Customer ServiceOnline Services Clackmannanshire Schools Support Service Clackmannanshire Works Partnership ProjectBudget Collaboration Best Practice Contaminated Land Resource Sharing Group Business Support (Regulatory) & ITLeadershipClackmannanshire Healthier Lives Andrew Kane Performance and Partnership Support TeamTeam of the YearWoodside Residential Team Information & Communication Technology Service Roads & Facilities Management Emergency Responders

Clacks Leads Zero Waste ChallengeCongratulations go to staff in Waste Services after figures released by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency showed that Clackmannanshire Council is top for recycling in Scotland.

The figures show that Clackmannanshire households recycled 58.9% of their waste in the year 2012, ahead of the Scottish government target of 50%. Clackmannanshire was also amongst the most improved Council areas, recycling 7% more waste than the year before.

Environment Manager Graham Cunningham said: “This has been achieved by working in partnership with local residents. Together we have made a real effort to ensure that residents’ household waste is reduced and reused as much as possible and recycling most of what’s left. Reducing waste and recycling boosts the Clackmannanshire economy and supports local jobs.”

7

Residents Rate Roads

Scotland is taking the biggest step forward in waste management, collection and recycling ever seen.

A new law introduced in January pushes business waste management up the sustainability agenda, creating a new impetus for resource efficiency.

What’s Happening?Every business, including those in the public sector, must separate and present their waste for recycling.

There will be no workplace glass collection. Take your coffee jars home to your household collection service or supermarket bottle bank.

A food waste collection service will be available from facilities that produce enough of this waste to make a collection worthwhile.

Why?Recycling allows valuable resources that otherwise would be wasted to be available to the Scottish economy. Avoiding landfill saves resources, reduces our carbon footprint and reduces cost.

Questions?If you have any questions please email wasteservices@clacks.gov.uk. The service can provide 1-2-1 advice or attend a briefing session direct to your staff at a time convenient to you if required.

Congratulations to Roads and Transportation who scored highly in a recent independent survey of residents.

The National Highways & Transportation Public Satisfaction Survey is conducted by Ipsos MORI and involves 4,500 questionnaires being distributed to randomly selected addresses within the Council area.

The survey ranks local authorities for customer satisfaction in key benchmark indicators, where Clackmannanshire comes out top for

highest aggregate satisfaction scores. The Council is ranked top performer by residents in areas such as:

• Advanced warning of roadworks• Time take to complete roadworks• Efforts to minimise nuisance to

residents• Provision of walking, cycling &

riding paths• Information & signposting about

rights of way

Recycling at Work

The Council also had the highest overall satisfaction scores for walking and cycling, tackling congestion and accessibility to local services.

8

Council Services Recognised for Excellent Customer ServiceA number of Council services have recently retained their Customer Service Excellence (CSE) accreditation which is given to organisations that have demonstrated excellent standards of customer service and care.

Integrated Mental Health ServiceThe Integrated Mental Health Service has again been successful in retaining CSE accreditation which they have held since 2010.

As well as being fully compliant in each of the 57 elements inspected, the external assessor has also awarded Compliance Plus status in three categories - Compliance Plus is awarded where the assessor feels there is something that stands out, promotes good practice and could be used by other services.

The inspection was extremely thorough and included meeting with staff in all parts of the service and a broad range of customers.

The Assessment Report states: “Strong policies and procedures remain in place to promote top class customer service, in which all throughout the organisation are fully involved. However it was also very clear from discussion with staff, partners and customers that customer input and involvement is exceptionally high. The ethos of delivering top class customer service is clearly very obvious and a comment from a customer sums the whole approach; ‘we are treated as people with problems as opposed to problem people’.”

The Integrated Mental Health Service, which was established in

April 2003, is a partnership between Clackmannanshire Council and Clackmannanshire Community Health Partnership. Around 35 staff with a range of skills and professions work in partnership for the service, which specialises in the treatment of mental health problems.

In order to achieve the award, the service had to produce documentary evidence that they had in-depth knowledge of their customers, a culture of public service, excellent standards of public information and access, and high standards of service delivery and customer care.

Community & Regulatory and Housing & Community Safety ServicesCommunity & Regulatory and Housing & Community Safety Services received a record number of compliance pluses following the visit by the assessor.

Community and Regulatory Services and Housing and Community Safety have both retained their CSE accreditation and been awarded eight compliance pluses. The Housing Service has held the accreditation since 2011 and Community and Regulatory Service was first awarded CSE in 2012.

Staff representatives were invited to attend the December Council meeting. Councillor Donald Balsillie told the meeting that the reaccreditation was a fitting tribute to the late John Gillespie who made such a contribution to these service areas during his long service at the Council, as well as testament to the hard work and dedication of staff across the two services.

The Assessment Report states: “This organisation has enhanced several

procedures to improve the level of customer service delivery. Customer insight is very strong which provides a sound platform to develop service delivery.”

Methods for collecting customer insight are described as “incredibly good” in the report, which adds: “The culture of the organisation remains very impressive from top to bottom and the use of the customer insight gained is impressive.”

The services that received the re-accreditation provide a wide range of functions and have around 200 staff, including Roads and Transportation, Building Standards, Licensing, Environmental Health, Sustainability, Development Quality, Economic Development, Tenancy and Estate Management, Housing Business Management, Housing Allocations and Lettings, Homelessness Support and Advice, Housing Development and Regeneration and Community Safety.

Support ServicesCongratulations also go to Support Services for achieving re-accreditation of the Customer Service Excellence quality standard. As with Strategy & Customer Services, who achieved re-accreditation in June for the 3rd year running, Support Services attained a number of compliance plus passes, which is a fantastic achievement, clearly demonstrating continuous improvement.

Support Services comprises Accountancy, Governance, IT and Revenues & Payments.

9

Management Training & DevelopmentThrough the Council’s People Strategy and Making Clackmannanshire Better (MCB), the Council recognises the importance of effective and sustainable leadership capability in delivering our priorities, promoting a positive organisational culture, and supporting and valuing our people.

To reflect this importance the development and implementation of a Leadership and Management Development Programme is a key high-profile project within the Making Our Organisation Stronger Workstream of MCB.

A structured programme aimed at Team Leaders and Service Managers will be launched this month with Phase 1 of the Programme due to start from March onwards. We are delighted to have three training providers working in partnership with us to design and deliver the Programme, they are: QA Training Ltd; The University of the West of Scotland; Peoplematters (Europe) Ltd.

Phase 2 of the Programme is to be refined during 2014/15 and aims to identify and develop management and leadership potential, to ensure we attract and retain talented individuals and have sufficient internal capacity to address future workforce requirements.

Meet the Team - SustainabilityThe Sustainability Team delivers a diverse range of services, from supporting the whole Council to act in a sustainable way to delivering outdoor education to schools, organisations and individuals.

The team is led by Niall Urquhart and includes Rebecca Bell, Andy Macpherson, Lisa Ford, Gordon Roger, Graeme Finlay, Martin Dean, Kathy Knox, Mike Nichol, Ronnie Beveridge, James Mackenzie, Karen Yearsley, Gabriele Rice Grunert and Jochen Kannengiesser.

The team has recently been reconfigured to include staff from development planning and land services coming under the sustainability umbrella.

Each member of the team is specialist in their own field, contributing to the wider sustainability agenda.

The work of the Sustainability Team supports many of the priority outcomes expressed in the Community Plan as well as contributing to the vision set out in the Council’s Corporate Plan.

Niall said: “Much of what we do is about the economic, social and environmental regeneration of Clackmannanshire. And in these financially constrained times, sustainability is even more important as it can help us to save money and support jobs.”

The team’s functions are a mix of statutory duties, with some discretionary elements which support other Council duties and commitments. These include development

planning, ensuring the Council meets its obligations in terms of Best Value and Sustainable Development and climate change ; environmental policy and projects (related to both the natural and built environment and biodiversity); the ranger service and outdoor access.

The Sustainability Team also works in partnership with a number of other organisations to deliver natural and built heritage projects and ensure co-ordinated policies including SEPA, Scottish Natural Heritage, RSPB Scotland, Central Scotland Green Network and neighbouring local authorities.

Martin said: “From delivering the community environment improvement fund to maintaining core paths network, we are conserving the character and integrity of the area to ensure that it remains an appealing place to live, work and visit.”

One of the main projects the team is currently supporting is the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative. A bid has been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund seeking £1.9 million (or 49%) of funding towards a £3.8 million landscape partnership scheme. If this is successful, Clackmannanshire is expected to benefit from projects worth approximately £970,000 over four years, such as habitat improvements, outdoor access improvements, research, training and green jobs. The consequent social, environmental and economic benefits of the projects are

expected to be significant.

NEWS

Do you have staff news to share? Let us know at: staffnews@clacks.gov.uk

10

Long ServiceCongratulations to Business Support stalwarts Janice Fleming and Ann Nisbet who recently celebrated 25 years’ service. Janice and Ann both give business support to Services to Communities.

Owen Munro, Planned Investment Officer in Facilities Manager, has achieved 25 years’ service, as have Commercial Team Leader Jeanette Pearcy and Principal Building Standards Surveyor Ricky Watson. Congratulations!

FarewellsPrincipal Psychologist Alison Russell retired in October.

Both John Blake and Ian Murray have left the library service after 25 years service. John was initially taken on as a Chartered Librarian in September 1989 and came from Kilmarnock and Loudoun Council, where he was Assistant District Librarian. From 2006 he took on temporary duties as the Team Leader and in 2011 this was made permanent. This is the role he worked in until he left in December 2013. Ian was employed as Reference and Local History Librarian in January 1988. In 2000 Ian became the Archivist for the Library Service while more recently he was the Librarian for Information and Archives Services up until he left in November 2013.

Facilities Management’s Marketing Officer Carol Gibson has also moved onto pastures new.

CongratulationsCongratulations to Performance and Information Officer Maciej Alexander who got married in November.

Tracey Docherty has been appointed Senior Librarian.

David Johnstone, who has been with the Council for two years, has been permanently appointed as the Emergency Planning Officer.

Val de Souza has been confirmed as Head of Social Services until the end of 2016.

Linda Coutts, former headteacher at Fishcross Primary School, has been appointed as headteacher at Tillicoultry Primary School, replacing Patricia Paterson who retired last year.

Lottery WinnersNovember - £250 winner - Margaret MacFarlane (Lornshill Academy)

December - £250 winner - Donna Perrie (Payroll)

During 2013, the Staff Lottery donated £3,355 in top up funding to Clackmannanshire Council employee fundraising / sponsored events. A full list of recipients is available on CONNECT. If you are taking part in any sponsored events, organising any fund raisers, etc, you can apply to the Staff Lottery for

top up funding. The application form is available on CONNECT.

New Year Honours

Our Active Schools Manager Alison Mackie was awarded a British Empire Medal in the New Years’ honours list for services to Falkirk Ladies Football Club. Alison is a co-founder of the club, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. Congratulations Alison!

STAFF

Margaret Owens

Margaret Owens, Principal Teacher of Social Subjects at Alva Academy died in October, following a short illness.

Miss Owens joined the school in 1993 as a supply teacher and quickly made her mark progressing to Principal Teacher of Support for Learning in 1994. She also held a temporary acting Depute Head Teacher post with a remit for

guidance but her true passion for the classroom remained and she subsequently returned to a role as Faculty Principal Teacher of Social Subjects. She was a passionate teacher who loved her subject of History and always found new and exciting ways to inspire her pupils, and was very involved in organising extra curricular activities.

Her impact on others, colleagues and pupils was profound throughout her 20 years in Alva Academy and she is sadly missed.

Submitted by staff of Alva Academy.

11

APSE finalistsStaff from across Services to Communities were recognised at the APSE performance network’s annual awards ceremony.

Clackmannanshire Council services were finalists in four categories at the event: Building Maintenance; Education Catering; Building Maintenance: Most Improved Performer; and Roads, Highways and Winter Maintenance: Most Improved Performer

APSE performance networks is the UK’s largest voluntary data benchmarking service for local authorities sharing information on cost, quality and customer satisfaction across local council frontline services. The data is independently validated and used by councils across the UK to drive forward improvements in local public services. The awards not only recognise the ‘best performers’ but the ‘most improved performers’ showing the commitment of local councils to continuous improvement in local public services.

Innovative sharing initiative gets Bronze Award

Contaminated land officer, Michael McNaughton’s resource sharing group has received a Bronze Award in the 2014 COSLA Excellence Awards in the service innovation and improvement category.

Michael established the partnership two years ago and since then it has reduced our costs and increased our ability to carry our local investigations.

Our partners are Perth & Kinross and Fife Councils. While we only have one contaminated land officer, we do own a considerable amount of equipment such as gas sensors and an x-ray machine which can detect heavy metals.

In this arrangement, the neighbouring authorities can borrow our equipment and we draw on the resources of their contaminated land teams.

This has considerably reduced the need for us to hire consultants and means we are able to carry out local investigations more efficiently, reducing the potential risk to public health.

Welcome - Colleen ClarkBurnsCoalsnaughton Primary School has welcomed a new headteacher.

Colleen ClarkBurns joined the school on the first day of the spring term, following nearly 14 years as the Depute Head of Lumphinnans Primary in Fife. She replaces Lorna Bernard who left Coalsnaughton to become headteacher at Deerpark Primary School.

Mrs ClarkBurns has been a teacher for 24 years, and in her previous post she was also responsible for the West Fife Behaviour Support Centre.

Mrs ClarkBurns said: “I feel very lucky to have joined Coalsnaughton Primary School, and have been very touched by the warm welcome I have received from parents and carers, staff and the children. I am looking forward to helping the school to continue to improve and flourish, and working together to ensuring that the school makes a contribution to the life of the community.”

12

Are you registered to vote?There are two election events coming up in 2014: the European Parliament election on 22nd May and the Scottish Independence Referendum on 18th September.

You should have received your voter registration forms by now, so please ensure that you respond to them. If you don’t respond, you will be removed from the electoral register which is published in March.

You can respond by telephone, internet or text if there have been no changes in your circumstances. Otherwise complete and return the form.

16 & 17 year olds will be eligible to vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum as long as they are registered. With the usual voter registration form, there was an additional form so that you can list the current electors over 16 at your address and any 15 year olds who will be aged 16 by 18th September 2014.

Remember that if you move address you need to apply to register to vote at your new address.

More information on registering to vote is available at the frequently asked questions (FAQs) on www.saa.gov.uk/central or on request by contacting the Electoral Registration Office 01786 892289 or email clackmannanshire@centralscotland-vjb.gov.uk

Streets Ahead

This national award recognised the diligent efforts, over many years, to increase the accuracy and reliability of the Council’s Corporate Address Gazetteer (CAG). The CAG is the definative database of address information that includes a nationally recognised unique property reference number (UPRN) and a geographic location for each property, as well as some land and other assets relating to council business.

All local authorities in Great Britain have the responsibility to create and maintain address information to a recognised standard. Address information from Clackmannanshire is fed into the ‘One Scotland Gazetteer’ (the definitive list of address within Scotland) and to ‘Addressbase’ which is the GB wide list of addresses managed by Geoplace.

The CAG enables a single data source to be maintained and shared and consistently, providing address information in systems. This replaces the need for different service areas to maintain their own address datasets reducing the duplicate work whilst

promoting more efficient, joined-up working, and placing the customer at the heart of our service delivery.

Richard Mason, Managing Director of GeoPlace said at the awards ceremony: “Bins need to be collected, care needs to be provided, local taxes need to be collected and potholes need to be mended, and all of these happen at a location. The work that address and street data professionals do enable this to be done more efficiently.”

The Gazetteer is managed within IDOX Uniform by Business Support staff within Planning & Building Standards, with the support of IT colleagues. The gazetteer is used in nearly all the Council’s key address based IT systems: CCMS, Council Tax, Swift, GIS, Uniform, APP/Flare and EROS.

If you would like to know more about how you can use the power of a single based address reference from the CAG or about Graphical Information Systems (GIS) to improve to your service delivery models, contact Will Hensman - IT Services.

Will Hensman (IT Support), Jillian Wilson (Sub-Custodian) and Mark Grant (Gazetteer Custodian) with their runner up certificate.

Clackmannanshire Council was runner up in the Scottish Gazetteer Custodian of the Year category at the Geoplace Exemplar Awards.