It’s probably fair to say that roles such as mine vary across the country and we all do things differently.
My day-to-day work is wide ranging and very varied. I have strategic, leadership as well as managerial responsibilities. At senior level I lead many of the strategic and corporate functions of a political organisation. This is especially pertinent now that responsibility for public health comes within the local authority and that the key objectives and priorities for councils are centred on health and wellbeing.
I chair the Blaby Staying Healthy Partnership. The partnership comprises organisations such as the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Inclusion Support Service, local mental health services as well as schools and regulators (eg the police). We work together to reduce health inequalities in the district by taking a co-ordinated approach towards local health priorities based on evidence. In this way we pool our energies, maximise our resources and reduce duplication to ensure that Blaby residents benefit fully from the investment of limited funding.
In my capacity as manager of service teams, I oversee building control, environmental health, emergency planning, licensing, car parks and car park enforcement, leisure services, parks, green spaces, play facilities and partnerships, along with contamination, food safety and air quality.
We have 110 staff dealing on a daily basis with issues ranging from bonfire nuisance to buildings that do not comply with building regulations, so you can see the breadth of this role is enormous.