Chief Executive’s Office
solutions, think
differently. That’s
how we serve Essex.
Welcome to the Chief Executive’s Office
“Our function provides expert strategy, communication, performance and insight advice to enable the organisation to achieve its key strategic outcomes.
The function, housed in the Chief Executive’s Office, helps the organisation to determine its key objectives, supports the development of the evidence to underpin our strategic and operational focus – including performance information – and is responsible for communicating both internally and externally with our key audiences to support the fulfilment of our objectives.
This function also leads our equalities and levelling up work and is responsible for our strategic relationships with partners. To perform our role well, we need high energy, creative and thoughtful people who are proud of what they do and the difference they can make to the lives of the people and businesses of Essex.
Please apply now if you wish to join our busy teams and help shape the future of our local authority and our county.”
Richard Puleston, Director Policy
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) office supports the Chief Executive, the Council’s Cabinet and the whole organisation in the overarching strategic direction and leadership of the County Council.
The CEO’s office:
- works closely with the political leadership at ECC to set policy direction.
- ensures systems are established for the effective translation of policy into action.
- leads on performance and evaluation for the whole Council and generates insights –to underpin effective decision making and to ensure the Council is evidence led and learning orientated.
- supports system-wide engagement, including with the city, district and borough councils, Essex Police, Essex Universities, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, and NHS, as well as a variety of voluntary and community organisations.
- is responsible for the corporate management of key Board meetings required to run the business, including managing the forward plan and actions arising from the meetings.
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Communications and Marketing
Communications and Marketing support Essex County Council to present itself in a joined-up way through brand management and strategic management of communication products. They are responsible for creating and curating both internal and external content that aligns to the Council’s strategic objectives and looks to change behaviours, perceptions, and attitudes, as well as increasing levels of understanding and satisfaction of our services. They provide a user-focused, digital-first, data-driven approach to our work which is embedded in all of our communications and marketing activity.
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Data and Analytics
The Data & Analytics team use their skills to change the way Essex and our partners deliver services. They help Senior Leaders to understand existing service patterns whilst also looking into the likely demand on services now and in the future, as well as evaluating the impact of the council’s work-streams and initiatives, making recommendations on where these are likely to have the most effective impact.
The team have been on a mission to embed best practice analytics and data science across the local public sector. They have ambitions to be the very best public sector analytics function, implementing excellence across the entire cycle of a data project. From engaging with stakeholders to connect problems to data driven solutions, to applying appropriate and robust analytical methodologies that influence decision making and result in demonstrable positive impact to our residents, our services, and our county.
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Essex Centre for Data and Analytics
The Essex Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA) is a partnership venture between Essex County Council, Essex Police and The University of Essex, who have joined together to combine their data, skills, and knowledge to create powerful new insight to support our communities to tackle some of the most challenging issues facing the County and to plan for the future.
ECDA was established in 2019 following a three-year pilot, called Essex Data, which successfully supported more than £3million of funding investment for partnership working and delivery of new services in Essex. You can read more about ECDA and the work they do here.
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Equalities and Partnerships
The Equalities and Partnerships team work across the whole organisation and with a wide range of partners across Essex, supporting the delivery of the Council’s programmes and initiatives to strengthen our equalities and partnerships infrastructure across the County that deliver the aims set out within our Organisation Strategy.
They support and strengthen us in delivering our equality objectives and complying with the Equality Act 2010 with the delivery of both organisational and system wider priorities, strengthening our capability to operate effectively to tackle inequalities.
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Performance and Business Intelligence
The Performance and Business Intelligence team produce accurate, timely, and understandable data and insights that covers current and future needs, demands and trends to support senior leaders in understanding what the data means for their areas and support in taking operational and strategic decisions.
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Policy
The Policy team are responsible for taking forward strategic planning and delivery of the Organisation Strategy, supporting our leaders in driving delivery against strategic priorities and aligning resources. They provide support to our Cabinet Members, so they are able to effectively lead the delivery of their portfolios, play their strategic leadership role in the running of the Council and understand how future scenarios may impact the Council’s role & policies.
As well as this, the Policy team work with colleagues across the Council to develop policies and strategies on areas such as economic development, housing, health and wellbeing, and the environment, and will lead strategic policy development on issues that cut across the Council’s work, for example on Levelling Up.
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Research and Citizen Insight
This ream plays a vital role in shaping how we use data and insights from our citizens and service users to inform our decision making in order to develop our strategies and services and measure their impact. They are critical in providing senior leaders with the business intelligence needed for effective leadership, governance and decision making, ultimately ensuring our investments and systems deliver meaningful change in the communities we serve.