Developing a cornucopia...

Some months ago I established a newsblog to support, celebrate and share examples of where people have taken the initiative to improve effectiveness or efficiency or both in the public and third sectors. There are over 250 examples of this on the blog now.

Here is one posting from a few months back - as an example:

http://smallcreativeideas.blogspot.com/2009/03/regular-cornucopia.html

One council sent me a long list of the many suggestions made as part of their improvement scheme. Some of these are being implemented, others about to be and some still yet to be considered by their scheme panel. I reprint a selection of them here in recognition of the energy and enthusiasm for improvement that this council has evidently generated: 

 

1. Using water saving devices in toilet cisterns
2. Reducing the number of waste bins per office
3. Using the telephone holding system for advertising/promotion instead of playing music
4. Monies from parking fines on taxi ranks go to Licensing budget
5. Hold a bumper sale of surplus council items
6. Charge for the replacement of lost bus passes
7. All mailing lists should be split into internal and external recipients to avoid internal recipients being sent mail by external post
8. Have one day a week with no internal emails
9. Create themed guided walking tours of the town
10. Provision of more recycling facilities in Council offices
11. Include ‘Please consider the environment before printing this email’ at end of emails
12. Make an administration charge for cheque payments that bounce, especially in respect of taxi/private hire drivers
13. Selling off items of confiscated equipment that the Council takes possession of in noise nuisance cases
14. Chevron style parking on larger roads and charging e.g. £1 per day for using the car parks out of the tourist season
15. Installation of solar panels on council buildings 
16. Using waste paper bins as the default bin for recycled paper and each team having one bin for non-recyclable waste
17. Promote a culture of organising and running training courses for other local authorities as a way of funding our training 
18. Promote NHS stop smoking services, smoking helpline and Together Programme more proactively
19. Reduce number of offices required through working from home and hotdesking.
20. Reduce number of receptions.
21. The new Local Area Agreement should take the opportunity to include countywide performance targets with financial reward as in the 2003-06 PSA agreement 
22. Install movement detectors so that lights work automatically according to whether there are staff in an office, or install a cut out system after flexitime ends (already being done)
23. All appropriate printers to have the double sided print option as a default setting to save paper (already being done)
24. Eliminate lease cars and offer a cash alternative. Where a leased car is required, the council requires that these be dual powered/electric powered (hybrid) vehicles (already being done)
25. Provision of more recycling facilities in Council offices
26. Remove at least one large refuse bin from behind the Town Hall and replace with recycle bins 
27. Stop sending mail shots with pay slips
28. Produce a council calendar
29. Chipping felled tree branches and shrubs for footpaths & mulch 
30. Issue salary slips only when amount differs by £5 or more
31. Have one central location on Intranet for procedure guides
32. Have ‘recycle for xxxx’ & logo printed on envelopes
33. Reduce temperature of hot water to sinks
34. Use biro refills instead of ordering whole pen
35. Send email version of termination form to Payroll
36. That the document image processing system currently used by local taxation be used by the Council as a whole
37. That a way be investigated into ensuring that the water flushing for urinals happens only when premises in use and not 24 hours a day, seven days a week
38. That a consortium of bank staff be set up with other Councils 
39. That staff appraisals are programmed for January and February and training plans submitted by the end of February so that the training budget can be allocated by the end of March each year
40. Instead of sending a remittance advice for officers expenses through the post, email it instead
41. That the Council leases a suitable vehicle which can be driven to many locations in residential areas throughout the town and act as a mobile ‘bring site’ 
42. That the radiators in the corridors at the Town Hall have thermostatic valves added to allow better control over the heating 
43. That staff are encouraged to turn off lights in meeting rooms once they are vacated i.e. with extra signage.
44. That the notice board in the reception area at the Town Hall be replaced with an electronic TV style screen/monitor similar to that in the Registrars reception to display meetings etc
45. That in areas where people are constantly walking in and out i.e. toilets, kitchen areas, store cupboards, that instead of a light being kept on all the time, light sensors be installed 
46. Mobility Scooter Drag Racing to ‘tie in’ with the ‘Go Fast’ event.
47. Set up the property title reference number base so that when title reference numbers are required they are recorded, then the next time it is looked up, the Council need only pay £3.00 instead of £6.00 (Being investigated)
48. That all waste paper be treated as confidential waste
49. A free book exchange library
50. To coincide with the opening of the Cultural Centre run a competition for staff to submit a piece of artwork that could be displayed in one of the galleries
51. Have a VAT calculator on the Intranet so staff can input their gross and the net and VAT is worked out for them. We could also have a section to input what category the item purchased is under to insure that it is a vatable cost
52. That staff with mobile phones on the same network make free calls to each other and mobile phone numbers are displayed on the Intranet.
53. That instead of having a photo ID/warrant card, swipe card and name badge, these are amalgamated into one card
54. Could junk email be stopped at the post room and returned enmasse with a delete from mailing list request.
55. Provision of online resources i.e. email, intranet, internet and other services in meeting rooms.
56. Instead of the Council leasing vans it would be more beneficial to buy them.
57. More students could be used to fill posts at less cost.
58. Use alcohol gel hand sanitizer instead of soap, water, paper towels or dryers in toilets and kitchens.
59. Use only envelopes without windows and print addresses onto envelopes or labels instead so they can be recycled.

If you have any more ideas that you would like to add - please go to the blog and add some - as a comment - or email me (jon@jonharveyassociates.co.uk) - thanks!

http://smallcreativeideas.blogspot.com/

The blog is free, searchable and open to all.