11 October 2024

To start the week, I attended an agenda-setting meeting with the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Partnership (ICP). ICPs bring together a broad alliance of partners working together to improve the care, health and wellbeing of the local population.

Later in the day, I attended an informal meeting with other members of the Cabinet to discuss the items to be included on the agenda for next Cabinet meeting. The reports that will be coming up include a Scrutiny Review of Narrowing the Gap in Educational Attainment, the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2024 and feedback from the Going for Gold Family Fun Day.

On Tuesday morning, I visited the Council's Admin Service alongside Michelle Connolly, Assistant Director of Revenues, Benefits and Welfare. My visits to services give me the opportunity to gain an insight into the day-to-day workings of different teams, and I always enjoy meeting colleagues across our varied areas.

I then joined Mike Greene, Chief Executive, for our regular catch up, before meeting with senior members of the Council for a Cabinet briefing.

In the evening, I hosted a meeting for the Ropner Trust, a charity aiming to promote the education of residents under the age of 25 who are in need of financial assistance.

Midweek I joined the Apprenticeship Induction for 2024, welcoming our new apprentice intake for the year.

Yesterday, I attended the Employee Induction Welcome Session for recent starters at the Council, where Mike and I gave a presentation about working at the Council.

We hope our new apprentices and colleagues settle in quickly and wish them all the best during their time here.

Today is a quieter day, affording me some time to catch up with paperwork and other items.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend spending some time with my family. Middlesbrough lost against Watford last weekend despite looking like the more threatening team. I had hoped our win against West Brom was a sign of things to come, but in typical Boro form our results continue to be sporadic. It's an international break this weekend to allow for two Nations League matches, with England taking on Greece and Finland. Boro return on 19 October against Bristol City at the Riverside.