Southend Joins the Club

"Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have now joined the ICS Essex Partnership. Ossie Hopkins, ICS Strategic Director for Membership Development, explains: local authority partnerships are central to the Institute's strategy for local government. In so-called two-tier areas citizens and customers are often still confused about who does what, and anything that helps reduce that confusion is welcome.

However, it's much more than that. Partnerships are at the core of Government initiatives to encourage joint working and shared services. Over the last five years the ICS has taken this idea to another level. If you really want staff from different authorities to work together for the benefit of their customers you have to give them an incentive. This is where the ICS Professional Awards come in. Just as relevant to the finance director (see the current issue of customerfirst for Aberdeenshire Council's heartening story!) as they are to the receptionist, the Awards can transform the way individuals, teams and whole councils provide service to customers. Listen, for example, to Southend's chief executive:

"Recognising the needs of our customers, and citizens, is paramount to any local authority if it is to properly deliver services which meet the expectations and aspirations of its communities. ICS and its awards helps our customer facing staff to better understand and resolve the issues which our customers pose for us. As the Council's Chief Executive I value my Innovations Award which helped me to think through again how important good customer care is and how best I can support my frontline colleagues." [Rob Tinling, CEO, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.]

And see what store the same council sets by the chance to work in partnership with others:

"As the demand on local authorities increases to deliver excellent services, it is essential to pull together the commitment, energy and skills of everyone who is involved in providing customer service.

A partnership arrangement will enable Southend to develop front line staff in a way that is consistent across the region. It will also enable Southend to offer opportunities to jointly work with staff outside of our own organisation, giving an understanding of challenges being presented in neighbouring authorities and the solutions and innovative ways in which these challenges are being addressed." [Jan Richardson, People Development Adviser, Southend-on-Sea BC]

The partnership in Essex is still developing; but with authorities like Southend and Colchester leading the way the issue of who does what and, more importantly how well, looks set to receive a welcome boost."