Minutes:
(a) Bill Moss – Vice-chairman
The Chairman paid tribute to the help and support given to him by his outgoing Vice-Chairman of Council, Councillor Bill Moss.
(b) Award – Implementation of BMP/SAP
The Chairman announced that Wiltshire Council had recently received two prestigious awards for the implementation of SAP, delivered through the business management programme (BMP).
The Council had been named as a 2010 Computerworld honours program Gold Laureate and was also awarded the SAP bronze quality award.
Both awards represented a significant achievement on the part of everyone involved in the BMP, which was delivered on time and in budget, despite very challenging timescales and numerous competing priorities associated with the one council programme. Jacqui White, the service director for Shared Services and Customer Care accepted the award on behalf of her team.
(c) Online Register of Interests - reminder
The Chairman reminded Council that it had at its last meeting agreed that Councillors’ register of interest details would be published online on a voluntary opt-in basis. Details of how this would be done had since been issued to all elected and co-opted members of the Council. It was noted that no details would be published online unless a member gave their express approval. Members of the Council were asked to contact Democratic Services if they wished to have their interest details published online.
(d) Wiltshire Flag
The Chairman gifted a Wiltshire flag to the Council in recognition of his service as Chairman of the Council for the past year and requested that it be displayed along with the other flags in the Council chamber.
(e) Janet de Rhe Philipe
The Chairman reported that Mrs Janet de Rhe Philipe, Senior Assistant to the Chief Executive and Assistant to the Lord Lieutenant would soon be retiring from the Council having given 27 years service to the Council. Janet looked after the Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, the Chairman of Council and Vice-Chairman of Council. She also coordinated Royal visits in Wiltshire and was highly regarded by private secretaries of the Royal family and was awarded the Royal Victorian Order in the 2007 Birthday Honours. The Chairman thanked her for all her hard work commenting that she had been a longstanding and valuable member of staff at County Hall.
(f) The late former councillor Allan Peach
The Chairman paid tribute to the work of former Wiltshire County Councillor Mr Allan Peach who had sadly died recently. Mr Peach had been Chairman of Wiltshire County Council in 2004/05 and served local government and the community of Amesbury with distinction and dedication for many years. His death was a great loss not only to the town of Amesbury but also to the County. These sentiments were echoed by other members of the Council. The Chairman and the Leader of the Council as well as other Councillors, past and present had attended a thanksgiving service for Mr Peach’s life on 12 May held in Amesbury.
As a mark of respect the Council stood for a moment’s silence.