Agenda item - Mayor's Communications.

22.1         The Mayor offered his congratulations to everyone involved in enabling the council to gain 4 Silver Awards and 6 Silver Gilt Awards in the 2010 South and South East In Bloom Competition.  He noted that the success showed the deserved recognition of all the hard work that officers, community associations and countless individuals put into the floral displays across the City.

22.2         The Mayor informed councillors that the council had recently achieved certification for environmental management system standards ISO 14001 and the new British Standard BS 8901.  He stated that these were the first such environmental standards for the council and covered events venues. 

22.3         The Mayor then invited Mark Prior, Assistant Director Sustainable Transport to come forward and receive the award for Transport Local Authority of the Year 2010-11.  He noted that the award had been won against strong competition from other worthy local authorities across the country and was a testament to the council’s commitment to innovative as well as practical Transport solutions that made a real practical difference to people’s lives. Talking Bus Stops, for example, had helped blind and partially sighted people use the city’s buses independently and electric vehicle charging points would help reduce pollution in the city.

22.4         The Mayor then offered the Council’s congratulations to the Democratic Services Team on achieving ISO9001 Accreditation and noted that they were one of only a few Democratic Services Teams in the South-East to have gained such recognition.

22.5         The Mayor then drew attention to the council’s aim for excellent customer service and as such the running of the Institute of Customer Service Awards.  The scheme enabled members of staff to work with an appointed coach from across the council, to take one of three levels of award.  He then offered the Council’s congratulations to the following people who had successfully achieved an award to date:-

            Communications Award

Euna Dawkins            -           Registrars Office

Carolyn Bristow           -           Schools Admissions

Graham Standing       -           Housing Benefits

Reuben Sibanda        -           Revenues & Benefits

Alex Luxton                  -           ICT Helpdesk

Raluca Jarvis               -           Housing Income Management

Andrew Phillips           -           Systems Administration

Solutions Award

Anita Gandhi               -           Inspections Team, Revenues

Lisa Johnson               -           Democratic Services

Mark Wall                     -           Democratic Services

Innovations Award

Myfan Jordan              -           Policy, Performance & Community Participation

Angela Woodall          -           Democratic Services

22.6         The Mayor also noted that Councillor Fallon-Khan was about to complete his assessment for the Communications Award and wished him good luck.  He hoped that other Members would follow the example and considersupporting the scheme in this way in the future.

22.7         The Mayor stated that he was aware of the high level of interest in regard to the Connexions Service demonstrated by the deputation, Member questions, the petition and the notice of motion on the agenda.  In view of this, he proposed to change the order of the agenda so that Item 27(c) was taken together with Item 40(a) immediately after Item 25.  He would then revert back to the order of items as listed on the agenda.  He also noted that a copy of the procedure to be followed for the debate on the matter had been circulated.

22.8         Finally, the Mayor reported that Councillor Bennett had joined the Conservative Group and noted that there was a paper later on the agenda dealing with the allocation of seats as a result of the change in membership.