IN BIZ MK APRIL MAY 2021.qxp_A4 size 24/03/2021 10:15 Page 14
TALKING BUSINESS
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH MK COUNCIL SETS THE PACE FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE Delivering under pressure is business as usual for Milton Keynes Council, explains its chief executive Michael Bracey, alongside senior colleagues involved in its Covid-19 response. Councils roll their sleeves up and get things done, and dealing with a global pandemic is no exception. A new telephone-led hub was set up
The story starts in February 2020, when rows upon rows of shampoo bottles are laid out on tables ready to be bagged up with toothpaste, socks, deodorant, T-shirts and other essentials. More than 100 British citizens are on their way from Wuhan in China, returning to the UK via a 14-day quarantine at Kents Hill Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. The local team – council, hospital, other partners - have had two days’ notice to prepare for their arrival, and these comfort packages are the tip of the iceberg. Milton Keynes Council’s early experience of Covid-19 was unusual, but it helped set the pace for what was to follow. Almost overnight, the council stepped up to help vulnerable local people deal with the impact of Covid-19, alongside redesigning itself to protect staff and customers, and keep essential services running. “Councils aren’t always associated with being fast and flexible. But in reality, we run 250 services that respond to changing circumstances all the time. We know how to get things done 14 inbusiness APRIL/MAY 2021
and we’re connected to people and communities workers, and our former Saxon Court offices are now a mass vaccination centre.” in lots of useful ways,” explained Michael. The council put in new measures to protect its “This is why we can organise resources to distribute £58m in Covid-19 business funding and workforce and customers. Around half the ramp up public health support to control council’s staff are based at facilities such as local outbreaks without taking our eye children’s centres, in residents’ homes, or elsewhere around the borough, off the other essential ways we and each service was reviewed serve local people, whether that’s building a new school or helping with new protections added such ‘AROUND 70,000 as PPE and booking systems. 150 people out of street PEOPLE NOW homelessness.” Practical steps underpinned Head of HR Musrat Zaman cultural changes, said Bee Lewis, FOLLOW OUR head of property and facilities: continued: “We quickly UPDATES’ redeployed teams whose usual “We restricted the number of users of the Civic, as well as roles had been paused. Some removing some workspaces from took on the task of getting essential medicine and groceries to people who use, and limited numbers in meeting were shielding, and we also helped a local rooms. We encouraged good behaviours Food Bank expand its offer, by creating a new like mask wearing, washing hands and wiping desks through messages over our PA system, and warehouse and arranging thousands of deliveries. clear posters and floor stickers which we also We repurposed buildings, for instance turning the central library into a rapid test centre for key made available to local businesses.”
