With a UK General Election announced for 4 July, I have been asked what this means for the work of the council.
It means that our Election Team will swing into action to make all the arrangements needed for an election to happen. This is everything from preparing polling stations and training staff, to issuing postal votes and registering candidates.
The Communications Team and Leadership Support staff will work together on issuing information about voter ID requirements, deadlines for registering to vote and other things of use in helping people have their say.
And, as mentioned in my update yesterday, the election means that we will all have to take into account the pre-election period –this in brief means that we have to ensure that what we do does not support any political party.
More information about when the pre-election period starts, and other election matters, will be coming your way shortly, and in the meantime if you have any questions, you are welcome to ask them at workingtogether@argyll-bute.gov.uk
Structure re-organisation update
I’ve spoken to you in previous updates about ELT (the Executive Leadership Team – me, and our two Executive Directors) looking at where services sit under our different Heads of Service and whether current arrangements are still the best fit. As mentioned before, this is not about making savings. It is about considering if different ways of working together would help us deal with the challenges the council faces.
The plan had been to take a report about this to a meeting of full Council in June. However with the new Administration developing new priorities for the council over the coming months, any changes to our structure would have to take account of those new priorities. More time will therefore be needed to consider all this.
I will update you again as the new council priorities progress.
Looking after yourself
We all have mental health and need to look after it, so thank you to everyone who got in touch with ideas about what helps to do that.
Exercise, so anything that keeps you moving, works for some people. Doing crafts, such as painting or knitting, helps others; and mixing on-line and face-to-face activities can be important too – there’s a lot of useful information on-line, but people need people, so meeting up for a chat or a laugh can make a big difference.
Talking of useful on-line information, two apps, approved by the NHS and promoted through HSCPs, are available to help with anxiety or depression – Daylight (trydaylight.com) – and with sleeping better – Onboarding Sleep Test – Sleepio.
Wishing you all a happy weekend.
Pippa
Pippa Milne
Chief Executive
