The day began with some catching up with the diary planning. This was quickly followed by an intense meeting with two experts on Stroke. I have a particular interest in this subject as it has a huge impact on our adult social care budget and is devastating for families affected.

We explored ways to improve outcomes and save money at the same time. This is important as it represents nearly half of our non school spend so a small percentage saving can be a lot of money.

This was followed with a regular meeting with the Labour group leader. Whilst our politics differ I always enjoy the sensible grown up debate and the challenge of thinking in a different way. It is good to hear a point of view made robustly but with common sense applied. The bonus is that these confidential conversations with labour remain just that, confidential. In stark contrast with sharing confidential matters with another party !!!

Preparations for the opening of the guided busway dominated the rest of the day. As part of this I chaired the last delivery group meeting today and was able to thank members and officers who had put such hard work into this project.

I also managed to fit in an impromptu visit to HR for a coffee and a chat. You can’t beat getting about to find out what is going on. I picked up on an operational issue that was causing frustration and was able to whisper in the correct ear to hopefully resolve it.