Friday, 24 May 2013

Hampshire business representatives will be going backstage to find out what makes a successful theatre tick when they visit the Theatre Royal Winchester on Thursday 6 June. Also on the bill is entertainment from the Theatre's own thriving youth group 'Glimpse Theatre'.

Organised by Hampshire County Council under the Hampshire Ambassadors scheme, the visit will be attended by around 40 Hampshire Ambassadors from companies ranging from small consultancies through to 'blue chip' organisations. The Ambassadors will learn how Theatre Royal Winchester - a registered charity - is taking a successful business, with a hundred years of experience behind it, into the twenty-first century.

Hampshire Ambassadors play an important role in raising the profile of commerce and industry in the county. Business growth is vital for Hampshire's continued prosperity and visits from the Hampshire Ambassadors help to highlight and showcase the achievements and successes of local businesses.

Theatre Royal Winchester has been at Winchester's cultural heart since the early twentieth century and celebrates its centenary next year. It continues to attract almost 75,000 theatre goers every year with a high quality programme of up to 200 shows.

Mark Courtice, Chief Exceutive at Theatre Royal Winchester said:

"We are delighted to welcome Hampshire Ambassadors to Theatre Royal Winchester. For a hundred years we have been an important part of commercial and community life in the city and it is great to be able to welcome business leaders and those who speak for Hampshire across the world to our very special theatre as we approach our centenary year in 2014."

Now in its seventeenth year, Hampshire Ambassadors provides a monthly opportunity for a group to visit innovative Hampshire companies to encourage other local firms to strive for business excellence, develop their own best practice procedures and improve competitiveness.

The Ambassadors - currently numbering more than 1,300 and growing - are dedicated to promoting Hampshire as an excellent place for business, tourism, investment and conferencing.

For more information on the Hampshire Ambassadors scheme contact Michelle McClean on 01962 845745.

• Hampshire Ambassadors

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Joint press release from Hampshire County Council and BT

More than 57,000 business and residential premises in Hampshire are set to benefit from superfast broadband connections to the internet following a £13.8 million deal with BT to provide a county-wide high speed network.

Hampshire County Council has today signed a contract with BT to build on the existing commercial footprint in the county so that at least 90% of all premises will have access to super-fast broadband by the end of 2015, and supporting the council's goal of ensuring everyone else will have access to at least 2Mbps (Megabits per second) broadband.

Hampshire County Council together with district and borough partners has invested £5 million in the project and were awarded the same figure from BDUK. BT is contributing an additional £3.8 million towards the cost of installing the new fibre infrastructure bringing the total investment in the project to just over £13.8 million.

The first communities to benefit from this project are expected to have access to the high-speed technology by the end of this year, with the programme due to be completed by the end of 2015. Without the intervention of the Hampshire Broadband Programme around 20% of premises in Hampshire would not have been able to access fibre broadband services.

One of the first areas to see improvements will be the Solent Enterprise Zone which is being developed at Daedalus in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire. Daedalus, the former airfield of the Royal Navy, is one of 24 enterprise zones being set up nationally to support local economic and employment growth.

Commenting on the contract award Councillor Ken Thornber, Leader of Hampshire County Council said: "This is a great day for Hampshire and it marks the culmination of many months of hard work. I am very pleased that BT can now start work on putting in the necessary infrastructure that will benefit so many businesses and households, predominantly located in the less populated and 'harder to reach' areas of Hampshire.

"Access to the internet and fast broadband is crucial to the on-going social and economic prosperity of the region. Putting in this network infrastructure is as important as other major transport infrastructures like roads, rail, and airports. This exciting development will ensure that Hampshire continues to be a great place to live, work and thrive. Encouraging and enabling people and businesses to get online is one of our top priorities. It will allow Hampshire residents and businesses to transform the way they live, work and communicate benefiting from new social and economic opportunities as well as reducing the costs of public services."

Bill Murphy, managing director, Next Generation Access, BT, said: "This is fantastic news for Hampshire and this project will move the county well and truly into the broadband fast lane with fibre being rolled out to more than nine out of ten properties in the county. We are proud to be involved in this important programme which will boost the local economy and keep Hampshire connected and competitive for the future."

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: "This is brilliant news - this ambitious project is going to deliver superfast broadband to more than 57,000 businesses and homes in Hampshire. The UK already does more business online than any other European country, and widespread access to superfast broadband will provide a tremendous boost to Hampshire's local economy."

Openreach, BT's local network division, will now begin the work on surveying locations across the county. This will allow BT to refine its draft designs to roll out fibre across the county to ensure as many premises as possible can receive super-fast broadband.

Alternative broadband technologies may be used alongside future fibre innovations to connect the hardest to reach premises that are scattered throughout the county. These properties currently have speeds of less than 2 Mbps or no access to broadband at all.

More than 19,000 households and business have registered their support for the Hampshire Broadband Programme. Driving up demand is a crucial part of delivering a successful project.

Councillor Thornber added: "High levels of demand demonstrate that there are plenty of potential customers who want to make use of this service. We want to encourage even more residents and businesses to register so that we can push beyond what we have committed to today and ensure that more premises receive faster broadband in the future."

• Find out more about the Hampshire Broadband Programme

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL, HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE, AND HAMPSHIRE CONSTABULARY

The first phase of joint working arrangements between Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and Hampshire Constabulary is set to begin this Spring.

A programme of joint working has been agreed across a number of the three organisations' support functions to protect and improve frontline services, and save money. This will allow them to develop new and innovative ways of working as well as responding to reduced levels of Government funding and additional operational pressures. Identifying opportunities for efficiencies and service improvements, and sharing resources is key to this.

April marks the first phase of collaborative working when three areas from the three organisations will combine as 'early adopters'. The County Council, Fire and Rescue Service, and Police will merge their finance, procurement and property services functions, as these areas have been identified as being able to be delivered more quickly. Individual teams for each area will now begin to work jointly, ahead of future full integration across the range of combined services.

The overall joint working programme is exploring opportunities and developing plans to share various service areas that each organisation currently manages separately, within an integrated structure:

• Procurement (early adopter)
• Information and Communications Technology (ICT) *
• Finance and Payroll (early adopter - Finance)
• Human Resources
• Occupational Health and Wellbeing

Joining up these functions could deliver combined savings of up to £4million each year, which would then be used to lower each organisation's overall costs and protect frontline services.

The three partners are also taking forward proposals for cooperative working within:

• Transport and Fleet Management
• Estates and Property Management (early adopter)
• Facilities Management
• Training/Learning and Development
• Media and Corporate Communications
• Research and Analysis

These would expand joint working and could deliver combined annual savings of up to £300,000.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, said: "Our three organisations have a strong track record in partnership working and these 'early adopter' functions illustrate the early benefits that can be achieved from this successful, established relationship.

"Joint working is vital to creating a sustainable future for all three of our organisations and builds on our individual transformation programmes which for the County Council, has already seen us balance our budget and deliver a significant savings programme. £130million of recurring savings have been achieved over two and half years by modernising and reshaping our services to make them more efficient, protecting frontline services, and driving down costs, in response to ongoing reductions in our funding from Government, and at a time when many public sector organisations are simply cutting services."

Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire, Simon Hayes, said: "The work this Spring to implement these first three support functions is positive progress towards fully integrated joint working and its objective to protect the high standards of policing delivered by Hampshire Constabulary and secure future resilience by closer cross-agency working, reducing running costs and improving support services. This early progress in combining our property functions in particular, has allowed us to begin a significant area of work with the support of our County Council colleagues, to review and re-evaluate our built estate which will see a comprehensive strategy developed over the coming months."

Royston Smith, Chairman of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority added: "This is the first example of joint working of this type between a Police Force, a Fire and Rescue Service and a County Council in England, and by sharing our support functions we can improve overall services together, reduce our costs and significantly increase the resilience of our organisations in the long term. This will benefit all Hampshire residents."

A phased approach to the design, build and implementation of each service is currently underway which is expected to take between one to three years to complete.

Friday, 08 February 2013

In the wake of fresh concerns over horsemeat being found in some meat products sold in supermarkets across the country, parents of Hampshire schoolchildren and the families of residents in Hampshire County Council care homes are being reassured that beef in their meals is 100% beef.

Hampshire County Council provides around 8.5million meals each year to people in its care, some of whom are vulnerable. Hampshire's meals contain locally sourced ingredients such as Hampshire beef and pork, and meatballs and beef burgers on the lunchtime menu for schoolchildren are produced locally from Laverstoke Park Farm near Overton, which contain 100% beef.

With the price of a school meal once again frozen at £2 - for a fifth year in a row - free range eggs from the New Forest are also used, as well as apple juice from Selborne, and fish from well-managed, sustainable fisheries.

County Council Leader, Councillor Ken Thornber, said: "As we are serving around 45,000 meals each day to Hampshire pupils we have to be very sure about food safety. We take the food chain back to source by looking at where the food comes from, and we also carry out strict hygiene and cleanliness checks in school kitchens to ensure that the meals served to children remain of the highest standard. What's more, our school meals service remains the only one in the country to hold the Hyperactive Children's Support Group Award for the removal of over 70 additives in food that may cause children a behavioural or medical issue, such as colourants, sulphites and trans fats.

"In addition, our Hampshire Scientific Service check at source, all the suppliers of food provided by the County Council, and carry out stringent checks throughout the year, from supply to kitchen and all the stages in between, which also include verifying the authenticity of ingredients. We are unique in that few other local authorities do this.

"We also enforce standards through our Trading Standards Service and we have a higher focus than many authorities in this area. The food that we supply tends to be provided by local suppliers. By working with them through Trading Standards and monitoring the food we purchase, we believe we are helping local companies meet their statutory obligations, helping them stay in business, and ensuring the wellbeing of Hampshire residents.

"As a result of this thorough approach, we have been hailed an example of good practice and will continue to monitor the food we buy and supply, to ensure that we continue to meet our responsibilities, and provide reassurance to the people of Hampshire."

• Further information about the Hampshire Scientific Service

Thursday, 17 January 2013

2013/14 will see Hampshire County Council's business and central support functions play a vital role in the next phase of the Authority's transformation into a modern business delivering public services.

The Policy and Resources £95million budget proposals will be considered by the Council Leader, Councillor Ken Thornber at his Decision Day on 24 January 2013. Early and decisive action to respond to the national deficit reduction programme, achieving savings of £100million over the last two years, has put the Council in a strong position to tackle the tougher funding challenges expected from 2015/16. The Council will build on its transformation programme over the next two years to drive out further savings.

Streamlining central support functions and attracting income and resources through ongoing collaborative work with similar organisations, lie at the heart of this work to ensure residents continue to receive quality services at the lowest cost. The Council will move ahead with the next phases of important work to integrate its professional and support services to cut costs even further, as well as sharing those functions with Hampshire Constabulary and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The programme to make more efficient use of Hampshire's buildings estate aims to deliver £2million of savings each year, and the Council will continue to lead on work exploring the benefits and possible savings of similar work with other public sector partners in Hampshire.

£1.9million has been earmarked to provide early help and support to around 1,600 families under the Supporting Troubled Families Programme. The development of rural Broadband remains a priority and work will progress to help secure faster broadband speeds to areas that will not be upgraded by the commercial market.

A range of grant funding is also recommended to be set aside in order to benefit groups including voluntary organisations, as well as funding for improvements to Hampshire's village halls and community buildings.

Within the proposed capital budget, there is £22.4million for the maintenance and upkeep of school buildings. Capital funding will also be made available for conservation work to help find solutions to rising sea levels, increased flooding and erosion that threaten Hampshire's coastal sites.

Government will also provide revenue funding to support the County Council in delivering significant new public health responsibilities from April.

• Agenda and papers for the meeting of the Executive Member for Policy and Resources on 24 January 2013