Award winning council
Praise for City Council's investment in staff
Carlisle City Council's commitment and investment in its staff
has been recognised and rewarded by three national awards.
In addition to retaining its Investor in People (IiP) standard,
the council found out on Wednesday afternoon (19 September) that it
was the first to achieve the North West 'Go Award' (with
distinction) and scooped the 'Best Employee and Equality
Initiative' category at the APSE (Association for Public Service
Excellence) awards, held on Wednesday (19 September) evening.
By signing up to the Go Award initiative, the Council made a
commitment to support staff with Skills for Life needs. 'Skills for
Life' supports staff who need to develop or improve basic 'life
skills, such as literacy, numeracy and basic IT. It is estimated
that 230,000 local government workers (11% of the workforce) are
below level 1 in literacy (GCSE English Grade G) and 780,000 (40%
of the workforce) are below 1 in numeracy (GCSE Maths Grade G).
A Skills for Life Strategy has been produced by the City Council
and sets out how it will achieve the Government's recommendation
for all adults to achieve a Level 2 qualification by 2010. It also
highlights the benefits of pursuing the Strategy. These include
improved corporate services; improved staff retention; reduced
absenteeism; and confident and adaptable employees who feel
valued.
The strategy formed part of the Investors in People assessment
carried out during interviews with staff and Councillors in July
this year.
In his report the Assessor, Fred Ayres, said the City Council
had
made a considerable investment in the development
of both its members and its staff" and "is operating at a level
materially above the national standard".
When confirming that he was satisfied beyond any doubt that
Carlisle City Council "continues to meet the requirements of the
Investors in People National Standard", the Assessor also
congratulated the council on retaining the IiP award.
The Leader of Carlisle City Council, Cllr Mike Mitchelson,
said:
The Go Award, APSE awards and IiP are the
National Standards for developing staff in line with the needs of
individuals, teams and the organisation. They are a public
demonstration that we recognise that to succeed as an organisation,
we must continue to invest in the knowledge and skills of our
workforce. I would like to congratulate employees and Members for
these successes.
Carlisle City Council took the decision to be judged against the
higher Profile level of IiP, rather than just the basic level. The
council's approach, which involved it being assessed on an
individual directorate by directorate level, was described as
pioneering by the Assessor and has subsequently been copied by
other organisations.
Maggie Mooney, Carlisle City Council's Town Clerk & Chief
Executive said:
The awards show our absolute commitment to
learning and I'd like to praise the work of all our staff. High
performance is at the top of our agenda and we have put in place
systems that are all designed to make complex organisations like
the City Council, work more effectively, in addition to promoting
the skill development of all our staff.
The results of the IiP assessment are very
encouraging and show that the City Council is moving forward and is
operating well above the national standard. We will be assessed
regularly over the next three years and I fully expect that there
will be ongoing improvements.