Suzanne Smith Email and Phone Number

Responsible for setting the strategic direction for a workforce of over 2,700 people, a staffing budget of £57m and a business with turnover of £36.9m.Wide ranging role, leading services including school admissions, home to school transport (£42M spend per annum), commissioning & placements (£120M spend per annum), learning & development, school catering, libraries (40 across the County), childcare development & early years funding (£80M per annum) as well as a range of support… Show more Responsible for setting the strategic direction for a workforce of over 2,700 people, a staffing budget of £57m and a business with turnover of £36.9m.Wide ranging role, leading services including school admissions, home to school transport (£42M spend per annum), commissioning & placements (£120M spend per annum), learning & development, school catering, libraries (40 across the County), childcare development & early years funding (£80M per annum) as well as a range of support functions spanning information governance, data and IT, HR and finance.Strategic lead for relationships with key partners including the NHS, ICB and Public Health and lead for the Holiday Activity & Food and Household Support Fund programmes for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.Working at a local, regional and national level to inform and develop statutory policy including the Care Review and School Transport.Accountable for delivering a wide range of transformation and savings programmes including redesign of school transport services reducing spend by over £5m, reshaping short breaks services to reduce budgets by £3m, implementing joint funding arrangements with health to secure over £3m per annum in contributions to children's packages of care, and leading the implementation of a new social care case management system.Regular engagement, report writing and presentation to elected members on a wide range of topics.Established a Carers & Working Parents staff network within the County Council which now has over 300 members, deliver mentoring to managers through Firefly 'high potential' development programme, and deliver a module of the Transformative Leadership Programme for senior managers.Responsible for our relationship with key partners, including health and public health.Setting strategic direction for a workforce of c.2,000 people and directing transformation programmes across IT, service redesign well as food poverty initiatives and the connect4communities programme. Show less

Responsible commissioning services valued at over £80m per annum across children's care and education.Production and implementation of a fostering placements strategy that delivered £1.6m savings and was praised by Sir Martin Narey during research for the National Fostering Stocktake.Delivered a lean process review of all placement finding activity resulting in the implementation of improved business processes.Responsible for management of strategic contract with a… Show more Responsible commissioning services valued at over £80m per annum across children's care and education.Production and implementation of a fostering placements strategy that delivered £1.6m savings and was praised by Sir Martin Narey during research for the National Fostering Stocktake.Delivered a lean process review of all placement finding activity resulting in the implementation of improved business processes.Responsible for management of strategic contract with a significant IT provider for IT systems, representing Hampshire County Council at a national level with the Local Government Association.Successfully completed the Transformational Leadership Programme developed by Hampshire County Council, Oxford University and Deloitte targeting senior leaders with potential across the County Council's workforce.Coached and mentored others within the County Council, focusing on influencing skills, organisational skills and market shaping and management. Show less

Implementing multi-million pound contract for IT systems across Children's Services, leading a multi-disciplinary team comprising business experts, IT and external contractors.Requested by Children's Services to take on the implementation programme management following leadership of a complex competitive dialogue procurement process.Accountability for budget of over £10m based on a complex funding models comprising capital revenue and sold services income… Show more Implementing multi-million pound contract for IT systems across Children's Services, leading a multi-disciplinary team comprising business experts, IT and external contractors.Requested by Children's Services to take on the implementation programme management following leadership of a complex competitive dialogue procurement process.Accountability for budget of over £10m based on a complex funding models comprising capital revenue and sold services income streams.Reporting project progress at senior levels, including elected members and County Council Corporate Management Team.Responsible for implementation of software modules, delivering functionality to over ten separate services across Children's Services.Responsible for management of programme plan and prioritisation to ensure successful roll out without comprising any statutory reporting timescales. Show less

Procurement category lead for IT, managing an extensive portfolio of requirements across a department of 350 IT staff, representing a broad range of user departments. Use of open, restricted and competitive dialogue procedures.Led and managed spend analysis and the development of a category plan and savings programme, resulting in a contact renegotiation programme across 75 significant IT service providers delivering savings of £1.5m.Developed and delivered a range of… Show more Procurement category lead for IT, managing an extensive portfolio of requirements across a department of 350 IT staff, representing a broad range of user departments. Use of open, restricted and competitive dialogue procedures.Led and managed spend analysis and the development of a category plan and savings programme, resulting in a contact renegotiation programme across 75 significant IT service providers delivering savings of £1.5m.Developed and delivered a range of procurement templates, guidance and training tailored to individual stakeholder groups within IT.Management of successful tender processes for a range of systems (including project and resource management, CRM, highways management system, property asset management) and services (including break/fix, consultancy and temporary resource).Representative for the Central Buying Consortium (17 local authorities) at a national level, presenting on future opportunities for IT procurement and developing a close working relationship with central government. Show less

This role involved working with stakeholders to review procurement options, developing a procurement strategy and leading procurement activity on a range of service contracts.

In this role I undertook both strategic and tactical procurements for IT systems and services as well as supplier and contract management activities.

This role involved advising and managing negotiations and procurement processes for major strategic IT procurements including Revenues and Benefits Systems, Housing Management, Asset Management Property Systems, Financial Management Systems, Human Resources and Payroll Systems, IT Commodities/Services. Clients included several London Boroughs, Somerset County Council, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, Stockport City Council and Surrey County Council.

I was responsible for the tendering and contract management of all IT related purchases, managing contracts totalling several million pounds.