E-auctions deliver success

Earlier this week some colleagues will have seen our first experiments with e-auctions running on screens in the Council Chamber.

Eighteen school transport routes to three different schools and colleges in the county were included in the e-auction process following an e-tender exercise.

Tweaking the routes for efficiency and the e-auctions process has reduced the Council’s costs by 13.8%.

The pilot has delivered real cash savings to the Authority.  In addition to the cashable savings, reduced process costs have also been realised through the elimination of time consuming manual evaluation.

Central Library – Happy 157th birthday

Yesterday Cambridge Central Library was 157 years old. Cambridge “Free Library” opened in 12, Jesus Lane, Cambridge, (Friends’ Meeting House) on 28th June 1855. Librarian John Pink looking after a reference only stock of some 1500 volumes.

Open Monday – Saturday “from 12 at Noon till 4 in the Afternoon, and from 6 till 10 at Night”"No persons under Fourteen Years of age can be admitted” Women were not at first admitted to the Library although this was not mentioned on the public notices advertising the opening. It was felt – by men who clearly knew no better – that putting women into a confined space with potentially rough men, to whom they had not been introduced, might be detrimental to their moral welfare.

However within the month, following correspondence with other public libraries that did admit women and had no problems, they were allowed in and given their own area to sit and study. The provision of “Ladies Only” tables continued well into the 20th century.

It was originally intended that a distinguished member of the University open the Library, but at the last moment he was unable to attend so there was no formal opening ceremony. The local paper reported that there was a place where “mechanics” could wash before entering the room although it felt this facility would not be used as much in Cambridge as, say, in Manchester. “By-and-by, when it has grown a little larger – for it is only a child, though a stout, thriving little fellow – we trust books will be lent out to persons to take home with them.” [Cambridge Chronicle 7th July 1855].

The Lending Library did opened on 28th April 1858.

Olympic Torch – Park and Ride staying open late

With around 25,000 people expected to welcome the Olympic Torch onto Parkers Piece on Saturday 7 July, the city’s award winning Park & Ride Service is going to be running late into the night to help get people home.

To reduce the potential for congestion in the city centre, extra services will be running to the Trumpington and Milton Park & Ride sites from 8pm onwards.

These are: • Trumpington: 20:06, 20:16, 20:26, 20:36, 20:56, 21:16, 21:36, 21:56 22:16 22:36, 22:56 and 23:16 • Milton: 20:01,20:11, 20:21, 20:31, 20:41, 20:51, 21:11, 21:31, 21:51, 22:11, 22:31, 22:51 and 23:11.

The Trumpington service leaves from Downing Street and the Milton service leaves from the D2 stop on Drummer Street. These additional services will help people to leave their cars outside the city to avoid rolling road closures which will be in place along the Olympic Torch Relay route as well as the closure of Mill Road to traffic from East Road to Coleridge Road from mid afternoon to approximately 8pm.

Mark Lloyd – in the top 5 of most impressive chief executives in the country

It comes as no surprise to me that in a poll of English Council Leaders and Chief Executive conducted by Ipsos Mori for the Municipal Journal, Mark has been included in the list of the top five ‘most impressive’ chief executives.

At the LGA conference this week I heard time after time how well thought of Mark is. I know he is excellent and now it is being recognised.

Search for new LEP Chair – could you do it?

LEP starts to search for a new Chair

The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership is asking local business leaders’ an important question – Can you drive forward the UK’s growth engine?

Following the news that Neville Reyner CBE DL is passing on the reins following the successful set up phase of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the Board is seeking a new Chair.

Interim Chair of the LEP, Mark Reeve, explains: “This is a truly unique opportunity to drive business growth in an area that is one of the engines of growth for the UK as a whole, boasting an unrivalled blend of internationally competitive clusters, and where sound stewardship of the local economy can contribute hugely to the recovery of the wider UK economy. We have achieved so much already, including landing the Enterprise Zone at Alconbury, and created a strong base for our new Chair to build upon so that we can realise the huge potential within our economic area.”

The role of Chair of the LEP would involve a time commitment of around 30 hours per month, with all expenses and an honorarium payable to the successful candidate.

Mark Reeve continues: “The right person will be from a business background, who understands the local economy and is able to champion the diverse range of interests within. They need to be credible with both Government and businesses of all sizes, and have the ability to draw together private, public and third sector organisations. Overall, we need a strong strategic thinker, who can make the right decisions to deliver economic growth for our area.”

Suitable candidates are being asked to make an expression of interest by 6th July by emailing info@yourlocalenterprisepartnership.co.uk

Further information about the role can be found online at: http://www.yourlocalenterprisepartnership.co.uk/recruitment

Mark Lloyd – CCC chief exec

Mark Lloyd did a fantastic job on a panel discussing pay and rewards. His views were balanced and presented Cambridgeshire in a good light. Mark was clear to recognise the excellent work carried out by our staff.

LGA conference – Hunts leader singing “my way”

LGA Conference – my speech on adult social care

It was my pleasure to address the LGA conference today. I was straight on as the first speaker after the AGM. I was proposing a motion on adult social care which was passed unanimously by the hundreds of delegates present. You can read the content of my planned speech below. The reality was that I kept to about 60% of the speech.

My Speech

Proposing the motion:

Thank you Chairman.

This is my first time i have spoken at an LGA conference, and I must say that am suitably impressed by the size and scale of the venue it takes to hold us all.

I think that it is right that social care reform is the first item on our agenda, and I think it is appropriate.

It is the elephant in the room for so many of us, and right here, right now – the size of the elephant matches the size of the room.

We will cover many important topics this week, which is only proper. That is what we have been elected to do. But I believe that this is one issue we must hold above all others.

Of course we should celebrate the fact that we are all living longer, but that achievement does bring with it some major challenges and pressures. We find ourselves with a system for providing care and support that is broken; it just isn’t fit for purpose any more. Now is the time that we must work together with our Government to fix it.

I really welcomed our Prime Minister’s recent speech on welfare reform, it was hard-hitting and it tackled the issues head on. It is that same honesty and boldness that we now need to see on the issue of social care reform.

By 2026, we are set to have double the number of people aged over 85, and four times the number of people over 100 in this country than we do today. And we are also expecting large rises in the numbers of working age adults with learning disabilities.

As things are, we simply will not be able to afford to provide all these people with the care and support they need, and frankly, deserve – something which has so many implications for our communities and the whole of the public sector.

These massive demographics changes are coming at a time when we are under huge financial pressure. Recent evidence suggests that £890m is being taken out of our adult services budgets in 2012-13, on top of the £1bn taken out in 20112-12.

We are at breaking point, and we must act now.

I propose that the LGA:

1. notes that the Prime Minister has acknowledged that social care is “one of the biggest things we’ve got to get right in our public services”.
2. recognises that doing nothing is not an option and resolves to work with both Government and opposition in ensuring there is cross-party support to carry reform through.
3. recognises the announcement of a draft bill in the Queen’s Speech is a move towards addressing the very real crisis we are facing in providing care to our rapidly aging population.
4. believes that it is now time for all parts of Government to come together to ensure reform, with appropriate funding, is carried out as soon as possible.
5. notes that councils across the political spectrum are united in calling on Government to:
5.1. undertake radical reform by adopting a cap on the amount of risk individuals will be exposed to when planning for their care costs;
5.2. introducing integrated health and social care commissioning to ensure a better quality of care;
5.3. address the shortfall in funding.
6. resolves for this issue to be the top priority for the LGA in its lobbying work and for regular reporting back to member authorities on progress.”

Adult social care is such a huge challenge, of such enormous scale, that it is sometimes too easy for us to focus on the so many millions of pounds, blinding us to the fact that we are talking about people here.

People who need a helping hand to be able to carry on in life. People who are fiercely independent, but have reached a point where they rely on support from others to maintain a decent quality of life.

It wasn’t so long ago that these people were the ones working hard to make our country the great place it is today. These were the people teaching younger generations the skills they needed to get on in life, these were the people curing illnesses and treating the sick, these were the people building our towns and villages. And in many cases, these were the brave people fighting in wars to protect all of that.

Well now they need us, and now is the time we must fight for what is right.

As leaders of our communities and as members of our communities we must step up. We must not rest until we have done our duty.

Today we can take another step towards reform.

By passing this motion today we can send a strong message. We can say, in no uncertain terms, that we are ready to do what it takes to make this change happen.

Sum Up

Thank you Chairman, and thank you colleagues for your contribution.

You’ve heard the statistics, and you will hear them over and over again this week.

You’ve heard the debate and you know the scale of the issue we face from your own experience.

The system is broken, and unless we act now, we will not be able to give people in Britain they care they need and deserve.

We need a solution, and we need to work together with Government, to make change happen.

This is not just an issue for my Cambridgeshire colleague Andrew Lansley, the Secretary of State for Health. Although it is a topic we often discuss. This has to be a cross-party issue, with support across the board to get on and do what is right for the people of this country.

We must work together on behalf of our communities, and those of us in local government must be the force that drives change. We must take responsibility.

Supporting this motion today is another important step on the journey to reform. It is a message we must send loud and clear.

Yes, it is Government that needs to work with us to bring about a better care system. But let us not forget who we are accountable to here.

We must be able to look our communities, our friends, our parents in the eye and tell that we acted, that we did what was needed to give them the care they deserve.

And we must act now, for tomorrow we may not have the chance.

Tomorrow it may be us looking to others for support, for care, and for action.

That is why you must vote for this motion.

Thank you

Cambridge Union Debate

Last week it was my pleasure to speak at a debate at the Cambridge Union. You can feel the history in the chamber and a sense of those that have spoken before.

I had been asked to speak against the motion “Is greed destroying Cambridge”. I volunteered for the third slot on our side which allowed me to rebut the other sides arguments and launch the final attack before the vote.

It was great fun and much more challenging than the usual weak debate I have to put up with from the Lib Dems in the Council Chamber. As usual I went off my script after about 1 minute but managed to get many of the points across that I wanted. I was also able to pull a few tails.

Is Greed Destroying Cambridge?

I am speaking as a local politician, not as the Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council. You will find no policy made on the hoof here tonight.

My prepared speech but not necessarily what I said.

“Success is a Cambridge characteristic we should celebrate and encourage.

Success is what defines Cambridge– the names of Turing, Crick & Watson, and more recently perhaps Lynch, Hauser and Broers, these are synonymous with world-changing innovation, and they are synonymous withCambridge. Why wouldn’t we celebrate that?

What is special aboutCambridge’s success is that here we are able to marry academic excellence with exceptional performance in industry and business. ARM and Autonomy are two of our most recent success stories; these are world-leading companies here on our doorstep. Again, why would we not celebrate that with the jobs and prosperity they bring to us?

We have debated what Cambridge looks like, the built environment of our City. Cambridge is a beautiful city, a vibrant city, a mix of new and old; you only have to take our setting today as evidence of that. We are adjacent to the second oldest building inCambridge– theRound Church, in one of the busiest hubs of the city, and it looks and feels spectacular. Another success we should celebrate. Where is the real evidence of a city being destroyed?

Yes, we have needed to build to helpCambridgegrow and succeed. If we didn’t provide new houses and new communities then businesses would go elsewhere. Our knowledge economy is built on people, and they need places to live, but of course not necessarily in the centre of Cambridge. If we don’t go forwards we go backwards. The newest parts of Cambridgehave helped us grow, and helped us to retain the glory that has been handed to us by history. I believe we have achieved that balance well, and will continue to do so.

We should not forfeit Cambridge’s future success because of Luddites

I am shocked at those on the other side who seem to want to stop us from being successful in the future. From what I have heard they would rather we hang on to some misguided perception of what Cambridge was, ignoring the reality of today, and resisting change. I can’t help but be reminded of smashed looms a couple of centuries ago.

The world is a fast-moving place and we have to keep pace. If we don’t do the things that are necessary to grow Cambridge, including building necessary houses and, getting the right infrastructure, then we will be overtaken. Cambridge, perhaps more so than most places in theUK, is operating in a fiercely competitive environment, both nationally and internationally. Without growth, it puts at risk the fantastic city of ours as one of the top innovation centres in the world. This would be a disaster for the people of Cambridge, of Cambridgeshire, and the country as a whole, as the Cambridge brand is one of the few in the UK that has genuine international standing, and if we allow that to fade we would be doing harm to the wider national interest – not something I want to happen on my watch.
That is why the County Council, despite the difficult position in relation to the public finances, is investing for future success for Cambridge and Cambridgeshire. Last year, I signalled over £200m of additional capital investment to help deliver successful growth inCambridge and across Cambridgeshire. This includes £30m for a new Science Park Station. £25m of investment in the new town of Northstowe, which will do much to help address the housing shortages blighting our area. £30m to resolve the road/rail conflicts at Ely. And much more. And this builds on the investment already made in new transport infrastructure such as the magnificent guided busway, £90m additional road spend and of course superfast broadband – making the concept of the Cambridge city-region into a reality, rather than a planning label. And I am confident too that we may finally be nudging Government towards addressing the long term problems on the A14 – which in its current form is probably the biggest constraint to future economic success of the Cambridge city-region.

The other side would have us believe that it is a greedy few who are benefiting from the growth and economic success we have seen in Cambridge. This is simply not true.

Cambridge is one of the fastest growing cities in theUK– but it has managed that growth effectively – growth has enhanced rather than reduced the quality of life in the city, and this is borne out by the data.

The Centre for Cities report Cities Outlook 2012 put Cambridge at the top of a range of indicators.

Cambridge has the lowest unemployment rates of any city in the UK. It has the 2^nd highest skilled workforce in theUK. It has the lowest rates of youth unemployment. And the lowest percentage of the working age population with no qualifications of any city in theUK – 3.1%. The next lowest is Worthing with 6.2%.

Cambridge also has the lowest inequality of employment levels of any UKcity. In Cambridge the difference between Job Seekers Allowance rates across areas of the City is 5.4%, in Rochdale(the most unequal) it is 29.2%. Is this a city on the wane? Not at all!

Cambridge is full of ambition, energy and a passion for the future – the opposition want to substitute this for doom, gloom and fear

It is not just about the evidence ofCambridge’s success, which we have outlined in abundance this evening. What concerns me most about what I have heard from the other side is the negativity of their position. The damp blanket of socialism, the indecision and ineptitude of high minded liberalism.

Greed has not destroyedCambridge; you have heard what an ill-conceived myth that is. The evidence is before us – the pursuit of profit – within a democratic society that puts sensible controls in place – has generated huge benefits for the city and its residents. We have worked together across the boundaries of the public, private, community and academic sectors to achieve this. But I do worry that the doom, gloom and fear the other side are preaching is more likely to harm the city than “greed” would ever do.

I want Cambridgeto be a place that continues to attract go-getters. People with energy and ambition, people that want to change the world. We live in a truly great and globally important city, and I believe that is because of the people that have lived here before us – exceptional people.

If we allow the naysayers and the pessimists to prevail in Cambridge then we are allowing success to slip through our fingers. Well, I will not let those limp hands anywhere near control of Cambridge. I say we cast them aside and with strength and conviction we grasp the future of this amazing place with both hands. To continue to succeed we need to be forward-looking, we need to be open to change, up for growth, and we need to be excited by the opportunities ahead of us.

I urge you all to resist this motion.

Cambridge & Counties Bank

Our new bank is up and running and doing well. We have attracted a large number of prospective depositors with one already depositing £1/4 million.

C&C is taking deposits from local companies and organisations and then using that money to make loans to other local companies, helping them to grow.

http://www.ccbank.co.uk/

This is just about the safest bank in the UK and is jointly owned by our pension fund and Trinity Hall. Great rates  for deposits and loans.