Published on Friday 18 June 2021
Work to transform BCP Council into a modern, accessible and accountable council continues with the recent appointment of four senior level positions at the council.
BCP Council was formed in April 2019, amalgamating the towns of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, making it the tenth-largest urban local authority in England. The work to harmonise services and modernise the council is ongoing with the evolution of its senior management structure, helping to establish the foundations for a sustainable future.
The new post of Chief Operations Officer (COO) has been introduced to enable a single management approach to be taken to all of the council’s neighbourhood level services including housing, community and regulatory services, environment, transport and engineering, planning and destination and culture.
Kate Ryan, former Strategic Director at the council has been appointed into the role. She commented: "I’m delighted to be appointed as the first COO of BCP Council. My previous role and over 15 years experience in local government in Dorset have provided me with a good base to take on this new position and I look forward to engaging with all the services in my new capacity.
"It’s an exciting time for BCP Council, delivering on the ambition and vision set out in our Big Plan which will benefit everyone who lives, works and visits Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and we are already seeing in our summer response, the benefits of working together across Place Operations."
Other appointments include the new role of Director of Education, with former headteacher Sarah Rempel being appointed. Sarah commented: "This role is the starting point for transformation and will bring a stronger system leadership to the agenda. With my proven track record on delivery of outstanding schools’ services and tackling inclusion, I feel more than capable to support the front-line most effectively and to ensure the council carries out its statutory functions in a way that has the highest impact and the strongest outcomes for children and young people."
This new role will bring about a more collegiate and collaborative approach to educating children and young people across the conurbation, raising standards further and building on the high levels of existing academic performance.
A third new position, Director of Commissioning takes lead responsibility for all commissioning across ‘people’ services. This role has been awarded to Phil Hornsby, previous Director of Adult Social Care Commissioning, who has over 24 years leadership experience in commissioning. Phil will be responsible for shaping the future service alongside the management of the current commissioning model.
Phil commented: "This role centralises commissioning for peoples services and I’m looking forward to providing an enhanced service across this area, working in close collaboration with Health, Housing and Community Services colleagues, but especially with the Corporate Director for Children’s Services and the Director of Adult Social Services to ensure that all statutory commissioning requirements for Children’s and Adult Social Services are met.
The final appointment, Director of Adult Social Services (DASS) has been awarded to David Vitty, previously the Director for operational adult social care services at the council. This fulfils the requirement to appoint a Statutory Chief Officer post with strategic responsibility and accountability for the planning, commissioning, and delivery of adult social services.
David, who has over 30 years experience in local government across Dorset commented: "I’m delighted to take on a role which will be responsible for delivering our transformational vision for adult social care. I’m look forward to working with partners as we continue to develop services which promote independence and inclusion for people with care and support needs in our local communities."
The four appointments are subject to approval at Full Council and if granted, will become official on 1 July 2021.