28th September 2009
Right this is another first that being on the ngdp has provided me with: writing a blog. Fingers crossed my random ramblings - hopefully every Monday - will offer some helpful insight into local government and the national graduate development programme.
As this is the first post I suppose I should introduce myself. My names Tom. I’m 23 and I’m from Bristol. I studied History at Southampton University, spent some time on a building site and now work for Dorset County Council and live in Dorchester. And now feel like a contestant from blind date.
I have just finished my first year on the ngdp and still love it. I have already managed to work on projects in three different departments: Corporate Resources; Children’s Services; and in the Chief Executives Office. And have just started working on a new project called Total Place.
Total Place is a new government pilot project underway in 13 ‘places’ in England. In short, it is about trying to improve services and reduce costs by using a cross-boundary, multi-agency approach to a specific theme. So I’m working with Primary Care Trusts, the Police, the Fire Service, Charities, Councils and a host of others across Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole to address our theme: services and support for older people.
I will talk more about what Total Place is and what I do in future blogs. I hope in doing this it will give some indication of what life on the ngdp is like, but to be honest, everyone on the scheme is working on a whole range of diverse projects, from working on reducing extremism in communities through to writing a cultural strategy for their local area. So whatever your interest, or if like me you still don’t know what you really want to do, the scheme is fantastic, as you get a chance to experience working in a number of different settings on a number of different things.
Right I’m off to write a dissertation proposal and a press release for my chief executive. I will post again next Monday but in the meantime, feel free to email me at tom.bracey@googlemail.com with any comments or enquires.
Tom