Essex County Council wants to develop an environment in which the individual is able to achieve their potential. We are convinced that if people have the opportunity, they will seize the chance to better their lives.

Opportunity can mean many things. To us it is:

* providing an educational framework in which pupils can gain the qualifications they need to lead satisfying, productive lives;

* encouraging our people to develop the skills that will enable them to compete in today’s skills-based economy;

* regenerating towns and cities to create an environment in which people want to live and work; and,

* opening up the county through intelligent transport planning, so that car ownership is not a prerequisite for being able to move around

Education

Essex pupils perform well and Essex schools show year on year improvements in several areas.

The percentage of schools with pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* -C including English and Maths is slightly below statistical neighbours but improving at twice the rate over the past two years (47.7% in 2007; 49.4% in 2008).

Education results also include a shrinking number of failing schools and underachieving pupils. The number of schools below the floor targets in English and/or Maths decreased from 92 in 2005/06 to 59 in 2007/08 and the number of school leavers not entering education, employment or training (NEET) was successfully reduced from 14.20% in 2005/06 to 7.00% in 2007/08.

However, we want our pupils to achieve more support and have worked hard to promote universal early years provision and family literacy schemes

The improvement in our schools since the focus of the new administration has been recognised by the Audit Commission. In 2002 they said:

"The council has achieved significant improvements in education. In 1998/99 educational attainment was below the national average and the county had a significant number of schools in special measures. Since then, improvement has been rapid. The council has now raised educational achievement from below the national average to above the national average in GCSE and key stage 2 and 3 tests. The latest data on key stage 2 and 3 results for 2002 show a continuing trend of improvement. While the number of schools in special measures is still above the national average, it has reduced significantly from 20 in 2001 to 6 at the time of inspection".

This was followed by comments in 2004 that

"Achievement mapped against the county council’s political priorities shows improving performance. For example, educational attainment is improving as are services for children and young people…over the last two years the council has been successful in almost halving the number of its schools in special measures or with serious weaknesses".

In 2005 we committed to reduce the number of failing schools and increase number of good or excellent rated schools. The number of schools in special measures is now down from 20 in 2001, to 4 by the end of 2007. This builds upon the work already recognised by the Audit Commission outlined above .

Since late 2007, the administration has made best in class performance for Essex County Council’s Schools, Children and Families directorate its primary focus. In recent months, we have made significant progress.

EssexWorks for Every Child, which outlines our commitment to school improvement and increasing the life chances of those children who will benefit from better educational outcomes, was adopted by Full Council.

Three new academies will replace JohnBramstonSchool in Witham, the RickstonesSchool in Witham and GreenswardCollege in Hockley. The three schools are first to come out of the government’s pathfinder initiative that links high performing education institutions, in this case Greensward College, to engage in the academies process and work with underperforming schools to improve student outcomes.

Skills

Learning shouldn't stop after school, college, or university. It’s a lifelong commitment to develop oneself and our focus on skills development has been evident since our 2001 pledge to promote training and skills.

We have made particularly good progress in assisting people with mental health problems and learning disabilities to gain employment. The kick start project between the Council and voluntary sector helped over 400 disabled people find work between the start of 2001 and the end of 2002. We have used European Social Fund monies to help some 5,500 people into training and employment.

The number of school leavers not entering education, employment or training (NEETs) has been successfully reduced from 14.2% in 2005/06 to 7% in 2007/08.

Regeneration

With the largest regeneration project in Western Europe – Thames Gateway - in our county, we have long been alive to the possibilities regeneration offers communities.

Our contribution to the economic development debate, City Limits, helped shape the national agenda by arguing that the drivers behind city-regions' economic potential were not characteristics exclusive to cities and that if devolving economic development powers is the best way to drive growth and close regional growth disparities, devolution should apply to cities and counties alike.

From a wide-ranging pledge to regenerate parts of the county in 2001, our focus has intensified - we are in the midst of substantial work to improve Jaywick in Tendring, Harlow, Colchester and the Thames Gateway as well as being involved in the regeneration of the St Botolph’s area of Colchester.

With Essex County Council and partners having already provided match funding of almost £13 million, central government has pledged additional funds of £11.5 million to help deliver the South Essex Parklands programme which will see a network of green spaces, rivers and waterways in the south of our county enhanced, while ensuring that the development within them is in character and of good quality.

In order for regeneration to avoid the mistakes of earlier planning policy, Essex County Council has developed the Essex Design Initiative. This world-renowned guide indicates how to deliver growth in a way that increases the urban vitality of the county of Essex, reduces carbon emissions and creates genuinely sustainable communities.

Much more recently, we have been at the forefront of a national campaign to save Essex’s post offices. We recognise that post offices play a vital part in the lives of many of our more disadvantaged and vulnerable residents and many are also located in village shops, which we want to support. We have worked hard to secure the future of Essex’s Post Office network - and the first post office facility, closed during the recent round of 31 Essex closures in the network change programme, is due to reopen in September 2008. We are actively involved in discussions in order to secure post office facilities in other areas, and will be presenting a conference in October 2008 to share our learning with the wider local government community.

Supporting post offices is just one way that we are improving our support for rural communities. In spite of its proximity to London and its thriving towns and growth/regeneration areas, Essex is predominantly a rural county, nearly three quarters of which is farmed.

Essex County Council is taking a leading role in supporting rural areas by negotiating the establishment of Community Information Points, which will include Post Office and other services. Two rural sites are scheduled to re-open in November 2008, with five more in the second phase and others subsequently.

The county has also established a locally determined Community Initiatives Fund (£5 million from 2005-07 plus £4 million being allocated this year) much of which has gone to rural communities to fund, for example, village hall refurbishments, play areas and youth shelters. Another initiative is the county’s support for the Rural Community Council of Essex’s (RCCE) Rural Housing Enabler. During 2006-08, this initiative saw 35 affordable homes completed in 5 communities, 28 further homes under construction and 11 secured for local letting; 31 housing needs surveys were completed.

These are just a few examples of the County Council’s programme of supporting rural communities. We have also established a Rural Commission, in order to consider how rural communities can best be supported in the future.

Access

In 2001, the incoming administration pledged to promote rural bus schemes.

By 2007, thirteen schemes (eleven of which are charities) were running in Essex. In the same year, 536,000 passenger journeys were taken by people unable to access public transport - 7% above our target. Our 2004 Audit Commission report said:

"The Council has also been successful in promoting community transport, including innovative services such as the DengieVillage bus links, with overall community transport use rising from 180,000 in 2001 to 320,000 in 2003."