Ledden secures Brent directorship, will oversee procurement as well as legal
Fiona Ledden has been promoted to director of the London Borough of Brent’s new legal and democratic department.
Ledden, the current Borough Solicitor and originally a childcare lawyer, will oversee a team that includes procurement as well as legal services. She will also be a member of Brent’s corporate management team.
The move follows a shake-up at the council, which has replaced its old organisational stucture with eight new departments. The previous regime “saw lots of units working independently from other parts of the council”, Brent admitted.
The eight new departments, each headed by a director, are:
- Legal and Democratic: including procurement
- Regeneration and Major Projects: covering all regeneration work such as building new housing and schools
- Environmental and Neighbourhood Services: covering green issues, parks and highways
- Customer and Community Engagement: bringing together the council’s One Stop Service, festival and arts team together with diversity, communication and consultation
- Children and Families: dealing with achievement in schools and children’s social care
- Housing and Community Care: tackling housing demand and adult social care
- Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement: overseeing policy direction, the One Council improvement programme and work on the civic centre
- Finance and Corporate: including all finance functions, human resources and IT.
Brent chief executive Gareth Daniel said: “We feel Brent is now in a stronger position to face the tough times ahead. Instead of waiting for government to hand out cuts we’ve acted first to streamline our organisation, create more efficient working practices, operate as One Council, provide better value for money while, at the same time, protecting front line jobs and services.
“All local councils across Britain are feeling the pinch, but, in Brent, we are seeing this as an opportunity.”
