If I hadn't already declared my hand last week, I might have called this 11111111 but then my pedantic friend in France would probably want to change it to 1100111111 or something equally incomprehensible. It will be a hundred years before we have a repeat so for most of us it will be the only 11111111 in our lifetime so I hope it was memorable for you.
The second meeting of the shadow Health and Well-being board this morning. It brings together the Council, GPs, Health Trusts and NHS Manchester with the task of working together to improve the health and well-being of Manchester residents. The first task is to decide a collective view of what we mean by health and well-being - a harder task than it might seem, especially as we move away from clinical definitions of good and bad health. Once we've agreed our definitions and what we aspire to for the health of our city, we then need a baseline measurement of how Manchester people fair against that aspiration, and then a strategy for how we bridge the inevitable gap between aspiration and current reality. It's a good discussion tempered by a colleague pointing out the obvious, that we're all going to die and it won't necessarily be a health episode.
A bit difficult in the Town Hall at the moment. Heating in the old Town Hall is either on or off, takes a week to fully switch on, and equally takes a week to fully switch off. It's currently on on the basis of a long range weather forecast that said we were going to have an extreme cold spell in October and of course exactly the opposite has happened leading to every window in the place being wide open in an attempt to keep the temperature down. Not very environmentally sustainable and not very pleasant to be in, so one of our many tasks will be to see how we can retrofit a more efficient heating system given the constraints of a Grade 1 listed building.
Which is not some weird exercise in binary code but will be followed up next week with 111111. As I think I've written before, the hardest thing about writing the blog is thinking up the headings, as I am now clearly demonstrating. Talking of weirdness, my appearance on American breakfast radio yesterday live from Salford Quays was decidedly unusual and never thought I would get quite so much attention for using the word " shed ".
Greater Manchester Combined Authority and AGMA Executive met today at Leigh Sports Village but not a very exciting agenda, the only item of note being a proposal to try and fit photo-voltaic panels to around 7,500 roofs across the city-region under a rent a roof scheme. It has to be done before next March to benefit from the current feed-in tariff, and households lucky enough to be part of the scheme will benefit from a reduction in their electricity bill. More interesting was yesterday's meeting of the informal economy group I convene every month.
A distinctly miserable Council Executive Committee meeting yesterday. There were a large number of very positive items on what was a very full agenda, but they were far outweighed by three reports on cuts to adult social care.
Met John Monks and Katy Archer this morning. John, a Manchester lad, will be well known to those of you with a Trade Union background and has more recently become a working peer, but he was here today in his capacity as Chair of the Trustees of the People's History Museum. Katy is the current Director and gave an update on progress at the museum since it reopened after major refurbishment and the addition of a striking extension to its Pump House home.
The quarterly meeting of the Manchester Partnership Board took place yesterday bringing together representatives from policing, health, transport, faith groups, and the Council along with a number of independent board members to oversee the work of partners to deliver the Manchester community Strategy.
The Local Enterprise Partnership Board ( LEP ) met this morning. These are the partnerships we have been encouraged to set up by government to replace the Regional Development Agency, though unlike the RDA they have no formal powers and no money.
Meet the new Leader of Newcastle City Council this morning who is in the Town Hall to chair a conference on Tobacco Control. Although we have made a lot of progress over the last few years particularly with the smoking ban in public buildings, smoking related illnesses are still the biggest killer in Manchester. 32% of the population are still smoking, rising to 42% in our poorest neighbourhoods. There is an enormous problem with children in particular being victims of passive smoking and it's a financial issue as well as a health one with families that can't afford it spending up to £70 a week on cigarettes. So tobacco control is both a public health and an anti-poverty priority for the Council and today's conference is an opportunity to share ideas and best practice from around the country.
The blog of the leader of Manchester City Council, Councillor Richard Leese.