Challenge 2: Nottinghamshire County Council

Ernest Opuni:
Today we are in County Hall here in Nottinghamshire County, a county which is very much focused upon the best outcomes for communities. Seeking to do so in a collaborative, system leadership approach.

Virginia Ponton:
This morning they’re meeting the Growth Infrastructure and Development Group. Discussing employment and skills, and relating that to mental health for people employed in the local area. And we have the captains with a team member from each team attending that meeting.

Jess Finnin:
Our challenge question today is, how can we improve access to employment as a core building block of health? We have had a really cool site visit to Brooke Farm, which was amazing and really insightful, and we've come away with a whole bunch of ideas. It was a regen project to start with, they have managed to incorporate themselves in the community, and are really providing great training to people in the community, who wouldn't normally have access. But also using local suppliers, so they really embedded within the local economy, which is just awesome.

Angelo Da Costa Mengowako:
On the employment side I've learned a lot, predominantly around the work that the council does with partners. The farm is a great example of that. I think they support 25 people at a time, which consists of farm work, retail work, packaging, and that can also lead onto full-time employment elsewhere. So I'd say that is something I can definitely take back with me.

Mike Campbell:
It's a little bit nerve wracking being captain. I felt like this was a challenge which suited some of my experience and interests. I've learned a lot about employment and public health at the council including their building blocks work, which has work as one of the main components of health. I've learnt about the innovative approaches they're already taken to target specific groups of people, and how they’re matching their working practises around that.

Shohum Dave:
We met with the public health team and the HR team. There’s so much disparity between those who decide to go down the degree route, versus those who don't, versus those who have barriers such as mental health or disabilities, and trying to understand what we can do to make sure that they've got good employability options.

Amy Lipley: 
What I've learned about employment and public health today, is that Nottinghamshire County Council really focuses on some crucial areas, such as SEN provision and those leaving care. However, there are some gaps which they’re aware of and that's what we're targeting.

Mike Campbell:
We’re at Trent Bridge, we’ve just left the council, how are we all feeling?
Teams Ascend:
Good!

Mike Campbell:
Good.
Feel like we’ve got a really good approach, and I think it’s going to speak to some of the things that we’ve heard today from colleagues at Nottinghamshire County Council. Feeling quite tired, looking forward to attacking the day tomorrow.

Jess Finnin:
Team Visionaries has spent the last couple of hours refining our ideas. We had a good opportunity to sense check with the council over dinner. We're going to go in tomorrow nice and early and refine those ideas into a report. And then into presentation. Watch this space.

Michael Barrett:
It's day two of the challenge. And after a really busy day yesterday, there's more meetings for the cohort this morning. Including a round table discussion with some system partners, and then meeting the Employment Updates Group from Nottinghamshire County Council.

Adeel Hussain:
Having just come from the Employment Updates Group, we had the opportunity to speak to some key stakeholders. We tested the concept of having an employment check-up charter, that businesses would need to sign up to. One of the key messages that we've taken away is actually, how do we do this internally, to ensure that as NCC we are living the pledge, that we would like other businesses out in the county to also adhere to.

Helen Potter:
Mike’s doing really well. I think he's really helped create the vision for what we want to deliver as a team. And he spent some time last night finalising the report, which has really helped us move forward as a team today. I think what was really obvious from the start was the positivity of Nottinghamshire County Council. The way all of the staff have been talking, they want to try new things and they’ve made us feel really welcome.

Harriet Vitty: 
I’ve absolutely loved the challenge that Nottinghamshire have asked us to do this time. It's really interesting, the kind of core values in the building blocks that they're focusing on, and it's a really meaningful question. They genuinely care about their residents, and they look for innovative ways to support the most vulnerable, and those who are most removed from the employment sector.

Rebecca Dentith:
I don't think I'm ever going to be someone who's going be ready for a presentation at any point, but it is again coming together and we’re feeling more comfortable in the group. We’re trying to bring to life our proposal by associating it with personas, so trying to bring the impact it will have to people. And I think that will hopefully help resonate with the panel.

Aoife O’Gorman:
Feeling pretty good about the presentation at the moment. We've got a bit more time this time around to practice it, which will help, and we’ve thought a bit more carefully about how we're going to situate ourselves, who's going to speak when, how we're going to deliver it.

Jess Finnin:
Our pitch is to produce a short term, a medium term, and a long-term impact. In the short term, we're looking to develop strategic community hubs, that focus on mental health and employment support in one place. In the medium term, we're looking at a good employment charter, which should start with Nottinghamshire County Council, and work out to its stakeholders, and then work out to small SMEs. And we're also, in the long term, looking at how we can work regionally to produce better partnership working.

Mike Campbell:
Our proposal is about how Nottinghamshire can go even further. They've made a good start with the building blocks for health, and we think that employment can be pulled out as an accelerator to go even further. We’re proposing that they come together with a NOW programme, which is corporately owned, is system thinking, is user centred, is rethinking how employment can be used for public service reform, and to create better financial sustainability for the council.

Adrian Smith:
So today, on the second challenge we chose team Ascend as the winners. On balance, they gave the most rounded submission in terms of the report that they produced. They also gave an excellent presentation, that reflected the strategic intent that we have as a county council. But it was also very much rooted in communities, and it was strengths based in the way that the answered the challenge we set.

Jess Finnin:
Things we could have done differently when it comes to winning this challenge, potentially would have been how we knitted the report together. I think we had some really strong and powerful ideas. I think it was potentially in some of that how we executed that report, could have structured it a little bit differently and made it flow a little bit differently. But alas, lesson learned, move on to the next one.

Mike Campbell:
The whole thing has been brilliant and just meeting people, I really enjoy just talking to people about things they are passionate about, and seeing them come to life when they're talking to you, and also like, just how embracing they are of new ideas and new ways of working. So the whole series has been great. But yeah, winning really added the cherry on the top.

Nottinghamshire is a large, two-tier County in the East Midlands, with a population of over 820,000. There are seven District/Borough Councils across the County area. Nottinghamshire County Council serves a diverse range of communities, serving both rural areas and large towns, with some areas of significant, long-standing deprivation and disadvantage. 

The County has recently worked in partnership with neighbouring authorities to establish the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), with mayoral elections held in May 2024. The County has been successful in securing significant investment in high profile infrastructure projects, including initiatives like the STEP Fusion project and the UK’s only central Freeport, to support inclusive growth, prosperity and employment opportunities for local people.

In this context, the council is working to embed the building blocks of good health and wellbeing as a priority focus across the whole organisation, both as a system leader and as an employer. This recognises having access to good employment as a core enabler of good outcomes for people and communities.