Katherine Benjamin

31st March 2008

Post Office

The campaign to save Islington’s Post Offices has continued with full speed. We have sent off our official response to the consultation and are continuing to look at potential options for saving the Post Office provision in Islington. I have been involved in communicating with other councils to find out what they are doing, as well as contacting Post Office Ltd and liaising with other officers within different departments and services in the council. This is the first project that I have worked on where I have got to see the officer/member relationship first hand and it’s been really interesting - that is one of the really great things about the scheme; it gives you exposure to things you’d never otherwise get to see so early on in your career.

Performance and Perceptions

The Performance and Perceptions project was something that I really enjoyed working on; it was about understanding what it is that makes residents satisfied so that we can improve resident satisfaction. We came up with a concept of what elements are important to resident satisfaction and have put recommendations forward. The recommendations will be reviewed and discussed over the next few weeks, and then specific actions will be decided upon.

I found this really challenging - using literature and data together to try and gain understanding of what is, essentially, a bit of a mystery, did not come easily to me. However, I still enjoyed this and think the recommendations are really valuable. Ultimately, the overall aim of the project is about making residents happier, so it’s easy to stick with something and motivate yourself when you consider the bigger picture.

‘Graduate Leadership Academy’ – Warwick

I have started the academic element of the scheme with the first module at Warwick. It was odd to be back in a lecture theatre but I did enjoy it, and feel like a lot of what was discussed in Warwick is actually quite useful to my job, and has already proven relevant in meetings. Before Warwick, things were discussed in meetings which I wouldn’t/didn’t understand, such as the local government modernisation agenda, but I do now, really is really beneficial – I wont bore you explaining how it came up! I now have to juggle doing the work with doing my job, so we’ll see how that goes.

Training

One of the great things about working in local government is the opportunity for training and personal development. I undertook PRINCE 2 foundation training, which is a project management course. PRINCE 2 is something that’s really helpful to have on your CV if you ever work on projects, or in project management. I will now be undertaking the PRINCE 2 practitioner course (over the next few months).

Department Restructure

The Policy, Performance and Projects Department (where my current placement is) is undergoing a restructure. The proposed restructure hasn’t been set out yet, but the aims are to increase the scope and effectiveness of the department; however, it will almost certainly involve redundancies. Being on the NGDP gives a unique view of this: on the one hand, the intentions are good for the council, but on the other hand, the human effect on colleagues is difficult. I am pleased to be exposed to this so early on in my career in local government as it has knocked out a lot of the naivety that I think I started with. April will see departmental consultation over the proposals so we’ll see what happens then…

Local Area Information

Local Area Information was a project that I started working on just after I arrived in Islington – the basis of the project is to provide detailed data on a small scale (i.e. smaller than ward) so that we have an overall picture of what is going on in a neighbourhood and can therefore tackle any problems. There are loads of really positive things that could come out of this (ultimately improving neighbourhoods and directing investment to the best causes) but it does require member support and financial backing.

It hit a standstill around the New Year where nothing was happening (largely because it wasn’t really within anyone’s remit to do this) but things have started moving forward. We gave a presentation to a project group who offered constructive feedback and next month we will be delivering the presentation to the Data Strategy Group who will, hopefully, take this forward.

Beacon Bid

Islington was not successful it its beacon bid for climate change work. We definitely feel like we were really worthy of the award, and that confidence will be what pushes this agenda forward, rather than allowing it to throw us off our target. I still feel like the work I contributed was appreciated and valuable and I think everyone on the team is taking the positive bits away from this process.

29th February 2008

February has been a really busy month…

Post Office

Lots of my time this month has been spent working on the response to the proposed Post Office closures announcement. 169 Post Offices are closing in London, two of which are in Islington and five of which are on the border with Islington. In addition to that, Post Office Ltd have announced another closure in the borough of a Crown Post Office which isn’t part of the national closures programme, and therefore not enforced by government legislation, but nonetheless, significantly and seriously impacts on residents and businesses and brings the tally of closures suffered by Islington residents up to eight.

My role has been to ensure that council is up-to-date on all the information regarding the closures, and feeding that information to all the necessary people be it councillors, communications or planning. I have been liaising with the press office so that all the information we are giving residents is accurate, assessing the impact that the closures will have on our residents (both demographic impacts and the human effect) and drafting the council’s official response to the proposed closures.

This has been a fascinating project to work on for a number of reasons; firstly, such a politically charged issue as this gives great insight into the political wranglings of local government, secondly, it is great to work on a project that is flaring up in the national as well as local media (and where the council isn’t the one being criticised) and thirdly, and most importantly, I am pleased to be part of a campaign which is fighting for a crucial service provision for our residents, most particularly the old, disabled and vulnerable, irrespective of whether or not we are able to win.

I will update you in April’s blog as to whether or not we are successful.

Performance and Perceptions

The Performance and Perceptions project has been a considerable focus for the last month, trying to understand what the main drivers are in determining whether people are satisfied or dissatisfied with the council so that we can improve satisfaction rates in the borough. We have commission some research from MORI to look at national data information and that, coupled with our own research is helping us draw together some conclusions on what things need to improve for our residents, whether it’s problems with services or us not effectively communicating the right messages to residents. I have found this really challenging because my natural inclination veers towards word-based work, rather than number-based. I am pleased to have been involved though and found the project management really supportive, particularly in light of my lack of experience in this area.

The next week will be hectic in terms of gathering together all the information and writing a report of our conclusions, but then the exciting part begins of actually engaging with departments and enacting the necessary improvements.

Shadowing the Chief Executive

I have spent the last week shadowing Helen Bailey, the chief executive of the council. It was such a great opportunity and one which I’d never have got had I not been on this scheme. I have sat in on meetings and conferences with members, partners, directors and officers (in all combinations) and been exposed to aspects of the council which either I hadn’t yet seen, or would never have been able to see. It is such an incredibly difficult, pressured job, requiring so much, and I really am in admiration of anyone who is able to do it.

Things to come

This coming month I will be in Warwick starting the ‘Graduate Leadership Academy’ element of the scheme (first module of the Post Graduate Diploma and IDeA training). I am really looking forward to the start of an academic aspect of the scheme as that is such an attractive feature and partly why I applied for the NGDP in the first place. I will keep you updated on how that goes.

28th January 2008

Since the New Year, I have focused on two main projects. I finished the first draft of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and started work on a new project called ‘Performance and Perceptions’.

Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

The first draft of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy is complete! It was such a great project to work on and gave me an opportunity to work both independently and with others. Partly I was doing research, but I was also meeting with various experts from within the council and its partners, and coordinating feedback and comments from all kinds of people, from the waste management team, to town planners. I was also working with the graphics team to pull together the document in readiness for its presentation to the Beacon judges as part of the council’s Beacon bid for Climate Change.

If we win the Beacon bid, then I’ll be really proud to have played an important role in securing that bid. And if we don’t win, then I will have still helped start the ball rolling on a really essential project that has a high profile within the council and is one of our top priorities.

I’ll update on the success of the Beacon bid in March’s blog entry.

Performance and Perceptions

Performance and Perceptions is a really interesting project to be working on. The members have given us a target to achieve 70% resident satisfaction with the council. Currently, Islington has achieved 49% satisfaction, so there is loads of work to do in order to reach the target. The starting point of that work is researching what it is that makes people feel satisfied or dissatisfied, and how that differs among different groups within Islington (based on age, gender, ethnicity, tenure, etc). Once we know what makes people (collectively, or within any given group) satisfied or otherwise, we can work to improve their satisfaction levels.

I have been researching concepts of satisfaction from sources such as Local Government Association and MORI (as well as others) and looking at data from within the council (including Best Value Performance Indicators, and surveys undertaken by services). Currently, I feel like every new piece of information I gain throws open so many more questions, but we already have a clearer picture of what work needs to be done to improve people’s satisfaction with the council, both in terms of improving communications, but also, and crucially, in terms of improving services.

Post Office

As well as working on the above two projects, I have been the person responsible for keeping up-to-date on the Post Office’s closure programme, within the Town Hall. This is a very fast moving issue, which is set to explode in February when the closure proposals are released by the Post Office. I have been ensuring that we know exactly what is going on by liaising with Post Office Ltd, and feeding any information back to relevant people within the council, including councillors and communications.

Things to come

The neighbourhood data project that I was working on towards the end of last year has taken a bit of a back seat this year, but it should all start up again in February.

No doubt the work I am doing with regards to the Post Office will get heated with the release of the proposed closures.

I am also shadowing Helen Bailey, the chief executive, which I am really looking forward to.

Reflecting on what I have done since working here, I genuinely feel that most of the work I do is geared around improving the services we provide, and therefore improving the lives of our residents. And it is really rewarding and motivating to know that the work you do has a benefit and purpose. Corny, I know, but actually true.

20th December 2007

I have really loved working in local government, and specifically in Islington. Not for a moment have I felt that I am in the wrong career. This is my last day in the office before the Christmas break and it seems like a good time to reflect on what I have done in the last month and what is to come in the 2008…

Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

My work on the adaptation strategy has continued with great speed, and the document is looking in great shape. In January a new steering group (of which I am a member) is meeting to drive the document forward through the internal consultation process. A lot of my work has involved meeting with specialists and trying to extract their knowledge and expertise so that the strategy is as comprehensive, extensive and forward-thinking as possible. This is something that I have gained a lot from, particularly in terms of knowledge gaining and sharing. The strategy is basically Islington’s plan for how we will cope with the changes to our climate and what we can do now to lessen the impact. It is really varied and looks at all sorts of things, from planning regulations, to waste management, to tree maintenance, to the café lifestyle, and much more beyond.

Neighbourhood data

Frustratingly the work I’ve been involved with on neighbourhood data has reached a bit of an impasse. I have gained great insight into the political side of local government, while working on this project, not least because there is direct involvement from members, who have commissioned this research. We have reached the perpetual battle of the short term v long term view. This is a long term project which will really improve the lives of local residents by pinpointing what problems need to be tackled and bringing about action to do so, but in the world of politics, there always has to be some short term gains because the political world runs on four-yearly electoral cycles, and that is something this project has not been able to deliver. It will be interesting to see how we rectify this, and what short term benefits can be found to drive this project forward…

Equality Standard Self Assessment

I have spent a lot of the last month working with the Equalities and Diversity Unit on the external assessment that is taking place. We had to produce a self assessment on our equalities procedures and process for each department in addition to an overall corporate assessment to prove that we are compliant to level three in the equalities standard which, in a nutshell, means that it is ingrained within the entire council that all our services and internal procedures have no negative impact on any of the six equalities strands (age, disability, gender, race, religion or sexuality). It was highly pressurised and intense work, but I really enjoyed the challenge and the opportunity of working closely with so many people, including the Assistant Chief Executive.

Things to come

I am really looking forward to the New Year. I will be continuing my work on the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, helping to drive the draft strategy forward through the consultation process. This strategy will be the basis of the council’s adaptation with regards to the expected changes to the climate, and I really believe that this will directly improve the lives of all our residents, irrespective of age, wealth, or anything else, when the south east becomes hotter and drier, and extreme weather events such as flash flooding become more frequent.

I will also be working on a new project called Performance and Perceptions, which is trying to find out what it is that makes residents feel that the council are doing a good job.

More exciting things to come, I am sure…

I hope this festive season is one of much fun and joy, and wish you a happy New Year. (That’s PC talk for Merry Christmas!)

19th November 2007

I have had a really eventful and fun few weeks working on a variety of different things, all demanding different skills, working with different people and working towards different deadlines.

Some of the things I have been working on are...

Islington’s Beacon Bid for tackling climate change

A large chunk of my time has been spent helping the sustainability team get ready for the Beacon judges to arrive and assess our application for Beacon Status. It was really enjoyable to work on a project that is so important for the council and to be allowed to play a pivotal role in ensuring our application is successful. I was heavily involved in drafting Islington’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, from deciding upon the structure and content, to drafting the first version. It came with many challenges, not least the fact that it is projecting climate change risks and solutions up until 2050! There was very limited guidance which made it a hard task, but it also gave me an opportunity to get much more involved.

I am really motivated by the fact that the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy is now going through the formal internal consultation process and will actually become council policy. If the purpose of the strategy was just to woo the Beacon judges, it would have been really disappointing. Another really motivating thing was to see the passion at all levels of the council for our work in tackling climate change. It isn’t just rhetoric; councillors and officers of all levels have the same agenda, which is quite unusual in a politically motivated arena.

Neighbourhood data

Currently, the smallest level of data collection that Islington collects is ward level. I am working on a team that is looking into collecting data on a much smaller scale, which is what our members have requested. I have been researching what type of information we can collect, and at what level we can present it. It has involved masses of reading, researching lots of other councils, cherry-picking all the best bits and putting together a proposal for members.

This is a really long-term project and is dependent on department and councillor endorsement of all our decisions so I am getting to see the many complications that can arise. We will inevitably have to negotiate with departments when it comes to deciding what information we want to collect, while simultaneously ensuring that we are achieving everything that councillors (from different political parties) want us to do. The one pitfall of the NGDP is that I won’t get to see this work through as I will be moving departments in April. Whilst it has been mundane at times, I believe that if we collect data on a neighbourhood level, then we will be able to spot local trends and problems and try to fix multiple problems simultaneously. I genuinely think that this will make Islington a more successful place and improve the lives of our residents.

Horizon Scanning

I have also continued working on the horizon scanning team, who ensure that the council knows about legislative consultations and policy changes from central government, so that we can make any necessary responses or changes. I have attended a meeting with the Chief Executive and drafted guidelines for consultation tracking in order to ensure that we are keeping on top of everything that is happening. This role also involves writing briefings so that officers are aware of what is happening in central government that might impact on Islington. For instance, I recently wrote a briefing on the government’s plans for a Child Poverty Unit. I really enjoy this role as it is politically relevant and I feel I am building up a useful knowledge base of what is happening, how things are changing and where things are going.

Things to come

I will soon be working on Islington’s Regeneration Strategy. Since strategy work is something I enjoy, I am looking forward to this role. More to come…

All in all, I am still really enjoying myself and feel very optimistic about my career. I’ve found myself in meetings with senior management, including heads of services, and still feel able to put forward my opinion, and have it listened to, considered and acted upon. I think that that is something that is really impressive about the role that National Management Trainees play within local authorities. I have got into a routine, and although there are mundane elements of my job, largely, things have been enjoyable, challenging, varied, and most importantly, working towards tangible benefits for the council and its residents.

31st October 2007

My name is Katherine Benjamin and I have just started my placement in the Policy, Performance and Projects Department at the London Borough Of Islington. I studied politics at the University of Nottingham, and it was a natural development for me to start my career in a political environment. I have been working on the scheme for a month now so this seems a good time to start writing a blog, which is intended to give an insight into my placement, my experiences in local government, and my progress on the programme at Warwick.

When I was told I would be interviewing at Islington, I was really pleased. My gut instincts told me that this was the place I wanted to work. Islington is unique in terms of its polarisation of wealth; extreme poverty lies literally side-by-side to enormous levels of wealth. Islington faces many challenges and I wanted to work somewhere like that so I could get my teeth stuck into exciting projects that will genuinely better people’s lives. There are constant changes and improvements happening within the borough and nothing seems to sit still.

It has been 4 weeks since I was at the NGDP induction event but it seems like it was ages ago. There are 87 people in cohort 9 so it was impossible to get to know everybody but there was a great atmosphere and optimism at the event which served as a useful introduction to local government and the NGDP programme. More than that though, it was actually really fun. The Warwick programme doesn’t start until March 2008 which gives us plenty of time to settle into our authorities.

My role in Islington is split into three: policy, performance and projects.

Policy

The main policy area that I have been working on is horizon scanning. I have been sifting through government consultations on prospective legislation, deciding which consultations will affect Islington, and drawing them to the attention of the Chief Executive at the horizon scanning meeting so that relevant departments can keep a check on prospective legislation and make responses to specific consultations if requested. This can be a tedious task but it can also be really interesting. This is a really important job as it is our main check on central government changes and legislation, and it is crucial that nothing slips through the net.

Performance

The performance work that I have been doing has been, by far, the most challenging. I have been helping the teams who provide quarterly performance data from all the departments. Whilst it is a great insight into how Islington is performing across the board, the work is very reliant on people responding to your requests for information. When people are responsive it means you can do your job well and serve them better, but if they don’t, it makes your task much harder.

Projects

The projects area is the most varied and enjoyable area that I work in. One of the projects that I am currently working on is Islington’s beacon bid for climate change adaptation. I am writing the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2007 – 2050, which I am enjoying so much. It involves lots of lateral thinking and also gives me an opportunity to work within other departments, particularly Environment and Regeneration. Climate change adaptation is, in a nutshell, our plans for how we will cope with the changes to our climate. It is a new angle on climate change work, as previous to this, the focus has been on environmental sustainability. Since it is new, there are few guidelines as to how to go about doing this work, which enables great flexibility. It is much more varied than you would initially think. When writing a strategy, you also have to conduct an equalities impact assessment to ensure that no one is unfairly and unequally affected.

I never knew how much I would love the scheme, particularly this early on into it. There are endless opportunities and the work is so varied which keeps things fun and fresh. The only bad day I have had was due to a computer glitch which deleted an hours worth of work! Other than, it has been a very steep, sometimes overwhelming but mostly exciting learning curve.