What does the future hold for Birmingham?

Friday, December 04, 2009

Representatives from Birmingham City Council highlight the importance of collaboration, regeneration and capitalising on the 2012 Olympics

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Stephen Hughes, Chief Executive, Birmingham City Council

There is absolutely no doubt the state of the economy, both now and in the foreseeable future, means all local authorities have to operate with more and more financial responsibility.

Regardless of the result of the next general election, councils are facing the prospect of having less cash to deliver the essential frontline services that citizens need. This is something we cannot escape or ignore.

So it is in this context that we here in Birmingham find ourselves ahead of the game on many levels – which means we are among those best placed to weather the storm currently being endured.

Back in 2006 we launched our Business Transformation programme, which is still very much on track to deliver its projected cash benefits of more than £1bn.

If we hadn't launched this ambitious scheme, the impact of the widely-predicted public spending cuts would be much more painful for us.

It is easy to make the quick wins when it comes to generating efficiencies, but we are making real progress on the harder to reach benefits. We have managed to achieve this by accepting that radical change is needed with what we do on a day-to-day basis.

But as well as mitigating the risk of public finance cuts by offering us budgetary savings of our own, we are offering extra value to citizens.

Services are being reshaped and ultimately modernised for the 21st Century, for the benefit of not only residents but staff too – through the introduction of better working practices and improved technology.

Moving away from the sole focus of what we can do as a council, we are also pleased to be one of the pilot areas for the Total Place initiative.

Total Place will allow the council to work with local partners on collaborative leadership to shape and develop the public sector landscape going forward in a creative way, again with the aim to deliver better services for the people who live in Birmingham.

In total, over £7bn is spent annually within the public sector across the city – it is only right that by working in partnership with other areas of the public sector that we look at how we maximise every pound that is spent, and work in partnership to avoid unnecessary overlap where it may exist.

The immediate future looks set to be challenging, but here in Birmingham we are well placed to tackle the important issues that are faced by our citizens and businesses in a head-on way.

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Councillor Neville Summerfield, Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Regeneration

While the global recession has undoubtedly hit all aspects of the market, the impact has perhaps been hardest felt among the thousands of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that make up the lifeblood of any city's economy.

For these businesses, not only have trading conditions become difficult, but a more cautious attitude by high street banks has left many, otherwise viable, businesses unable to secure the necessary financing required in order to diversify, grow or maintain their operation.

With this in mind, Birmingham City Council has launched a new business loans package, which will see us offering loans of up to £1m to local SMEs which can prove they have viable business prospects and will use the money to protect or create jobs.

We do not want to compete directly with established lenders, but rather fill gaps in the market which have been brought about as a result of the global economic upheaval of the past 12 months.

In particular, we will focus on small and medium-sized businesses, which, despite a proven track record, are unable to gain high street support due to their size, lack of asset base or intended use of the money.

The downturn is no time for complacency and this programme shows what good local leadership can do to support struggling, but ultimately viable, businesses in the economy.

Funded by Birmingham City Council, the loans will be administered by Birmingham-based investment specialists Investbx, ART (Aston Reinvestment Trust) and Arrow.

Terms and conditions for each investment, including repayment periods, will differ from loan to loan; however, they are expected to be broadly in line with similar products currently available in the wider marketplace.

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Raffaela Goodby, Employee Engagement Manager, Birmingham City Council

How is it possible to introduce change and raise productivity without increasing those all-important wage bills?

As with an increasing number of local authorities, here at Birmingham City Council we identified employee engagement as the answer.

In 2006, we were faced with an uphill struggle of fixing our underperforming council. We hoped that harnessing the discretionary effort of our employees would improve morale and productivity, create a culture of innovation, and ultimately raise service levels.

Our BEST employee engagement programme involved over 25,000 employees and centred on our four core values (Belief, Excellence, Success, Trust), and workshops run by 1,600 specially trained BEST Leaders.

The result was 6,000 service improvement initiatives – generated not by management, but from re-engaged employees on the front line.

The legacy has been staff motivation increasing from 56% to 86%, confidence in management going up from 29% to 68%, and the percentage agreeing that they feel proud to work for Birmingham City Council increasing from 50% to 84%.

In July of this year, BEST was recognised by the HR Excellence Awards as the 2009 HR Gold Award winner (the winner of winners) because 'it demonstrated how HR can make a real difference'.

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Mike Whitby, Leader, Birmingham City Council

The 2012 Olympic Games will be billed as the London Games, but we are working hard to ensure Birmingham also strikes Olympic gold.

USA Track and Field has already signed a deal to base themselves in our city ahead of the games, and Jamaican Amateur Athletic Association President Howard Aris recently stated that Usain Bolt and co will follow suit.

Welcoming the likes of world record-breaking athlete Bolt to our city will undoubtedly raise our profile, but the fact that we will play host to some of the finest athletes on the planet is only part of the story.

What about when the last race has been run in London and the athletes have all headed for home? How can we ensure Birmingham makes the most of the first Olympic Games in Britain since 1948?

Well we're determined to ensure there is a lasting legacy.

For example, I recently had a series of high-profile meetings with leading Jamaican politicians, including Prime Minister Bruce Golding, business leaders and other key officials, to further cement business, community and sporting links with the Caribbean island.

2012 opens a lot of doors but it is what we do next that matters – and you can rest assured that Birmingham will be first out of the blocks.