The Corporate Communications Team develops and implements the council's internal and external corporate communications strategy. The team oversees the council's website, intranet site, corporate publications, events, corporate marketing activity and media relations. It provides advice, support and training to senior managers and Members on media issues. The aim of the team is to enhance the county council's reputation locally, regionally and nationally. In addition, it works closely with directorates' communication colleagues to ensure the county council is communicating effectively and maximising its resources.
The team also provides advice and support around consultation so that the county council effectively consults and engages with residents, service users and other stakeholders to help shape the services the council delivers.
Corporate Change Team
The core role of the Corporate Change Team is to support improvement across all services. This is done through new and innovative approaches to change which improve the overall value for money offered by the county council and ensures services are centred on meeting customer demands. This involves three main areas of activity:
- Co-ordinating the Service Review process to identify opportunities for change and improvement and to support how the county council develops its overall Strategic Plan and Medium Term Financial Strategy.
- Supporting 'Systems Thinking' interventions to enable services to understand why they perform and operate they way they do. The team also looks at how service areas can change their thinking and systems to eliminate waste and work that doesn't add value to fundamentally improve performance and value for money.
- Reviewing, challenging and supporting other change activity to ensure it fits in with the county council's directions and priorities, has sound management arrangements and is fit for purpose to deliver service improvements or meet their required objectives.
Customer Services
The aim of the Customer Services team is to develop and improve the customer's experience when they contact any part of Staffordshire County Council.
To improve the customer experience it's about more than providing excellent customer service, it's also about listening to our customers and making it easier for people to access the services that they need. A key part of our role is to work closely with all of the directorates and also our partner organisations to ensure that we all put our customers at the heart of things.
We will be working with all of our colleagues to make sure we have the right systems and processes in place to support what we're doing as well as making sure people can get the information they need, when they need it.
The Customer Services team comprises:
- Switchboard team
- Contact Centre team (to be launched when the Customer Relationship Management system goes live)
- Reception team (covering St Chad's and County Buildings)
Corporate HR Services
The corporate HR team covers many areas of Human Resources including the following:
HR programme management and coordination.
Pay & reward - most notably the Single Status pay & grading review, but also anything and everything that enhances the benefits offered to staff and the county council's compensation framework for redundancy and early retirement.
Policy development and review - providing the policy and conceptual framework for county council wide activity - examples of this are recruitment, capability, special employment schemes and workforce planning.
Providing specialist advice and support around senior management recruitment and dispute resolution (Changing Lives, etc), equal pay litigation and procurement (advertising, executive search and agency contracts for example).
Providing the policy and compliance frameworks for the county council's Health and Safety and Equalities provision.
Providing advice and support to the senior management team and the management community.
Organisational Development
The Organisational Development team focuses on delivering systematic efforts to improve the way the council builds on performance and culture, which in turn helps improve the organisation. It does this by helping the council to facilitate change, develop its managers, through individual learning and coaching and by bringing 'best practice' from other organisations to the county council.
The team exists to help the county council take a strategic view of OD issues and to help the various parts of the county council to help themselves by developing the capability of teams.
Examples of activity include leadership development, providing strategic learning and development support around procurement, management development, IiP accreditation and change management tools and support as well as performance management (Personal Performance Review).
Policy & Performance
The Policy and Performance team provides the county council with leadership and direction for developing and putting in place policy and performance. This includes developing a corporate performance management framework and information system and a corporate approach to business planning. The team also leads developing and putting in place the Local Government White Paper, the new National Performance Framework, Local Area Agreements, the Staffordshire Strategic Partnership, the county council's Strategic Plan, corporate Equality Impact Assessments and a corporate approach to Community Engagement.
Corporate Portfolio
The Corporate Portfolio Office has three fundamental roles:
- To develop and implement through the Corporate Change Board (a group of Deputy and Corporate Directorates that co-ordinates and makes decisions about change activity) effective processes that challenge any proposals for major change. This is done to make sure they are strategically aligned to the council's strategic plan, are a current priority for delivery and are achievable around resources and the organisation's capacity for change.
- To monitor progress of the council's major change activities (programmes and projects). Through exception reporting, the team forecasts when problems may occur and makes recommendations to the Corporate Change Board to bring the activities back on plan.
- The Corporate Portfolio Office has a role in supporting effective programme and project management across the organisation.
Safer & Stronger Community
Our vision is for individuals, neighbourhoods and communities to feel safe in Staffordshire, and to be increasingly free from crime and the fear of crime. Communities will become stronger and more able to work with us to deliver improving and appropriate services to improve their quality of life.
This will be achieved through meeting the outcomes listed below:
- Working with local Community Safety Partnerships (also known as Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships) to reduce overall crime
- Reducing the fear of crime
- Reducing the harm caused by illegal drugs and alcohol
- Improving our partnership working to address domestic violence
- Building respect in communities and reducing anti-social behaviour and youth crime
- Making the roads safer for all road users
- Engaging with communities so they have a greater choice and influence over local decision making and a greater role in public service delivery.
Executive/Business Support
The Executive Support Team carries out specific research on projects for the Chief Executive and the Leader of the county council. They interpret and brief on relevant policy issues and work alongside other Chief Executive's Office departments undertaking research, project work, developing initiatives and problem solving.
Additionally they provide comprehensive personal and administrative support to the Chief Executive Ron Hilton, the Leader Cllr John Taylor, the Deputy Leader Cllr Robert Simpson and also the office of the Lieutenancy.