9 August 2024

At the beginning of this week, I had a catch-up with Steve Hosking, Treasurer for Onsite Building Trust, and Ian Brown, Managing Director for Onsite Building Trust. Also in attendance were Mike Greene, Chief Executive, and Councillor Lisa Evans, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children and Young People. Onsite Building Trust is a local charity dedicated to running community centres in and around Stockton-on-Tees, and you can find out more about their work on the Onsite Building Trust website.

On Tuesday, I attended a briefing with Garry Cummings, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance, Transformation and Performance. There are some key changes happening including the Universal Credit migration and our briefing sessions are a good way for me to keep updated on the latest developments.

Midweek I attended the Education, Employment and Skills Advisory Group (EESAG) meeting held at Teesside International Airport. A busy agenda included discussion of the Adult Skills Fund, policy updates and a literacy report.

Yesterday morning, I had a pre-meeting with NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) members in advance of today's meeting.

Today, I am attending the Tees Valley Integrated Care Partnership area meeting. The agenda includes an update on the Tees Valley Care and Health Innovation Zone, our exciting plan to provide health and care facilities to support our residents' needs.

This weekend, I will be spending some time relaxing with my family. I have been enjoying watching the Paris Olympics and cheering on Team GB. It's great to see the team do so well with gold medals won in mountain biking, gymnastics and athletics to name a few - here's hoping we see even more before the closing ceremony on Sunday.

I am on holiday next week so I wish you all a good week and will update on my return in the Leader's blog on Friday 23 August.