New children’s boss at Lincolnshire County Council wants to nurture outstanding service
Councillor Natalie Oliver has been appointed the new executive member for children’s services at Lincolnshire County Council.
The businesswoman and Reform UK representative for the Woodhall Spa and Wragby division was named as part of the council’s new cabinet during its Annual General Meeting on Friday, May 23.
Her extensive portfolio will cover education, children’s safeguarding, early years, children with disabilities, children’s public health nursing, families, support for children with special educational needs, school support services, regulated services, youth offending services, libraries and heritage, and culture.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Coun Oliver explained how her career so far has prepared her well for the role.
“I’m a business owner—I’ve run my own business for five years. Prior to that, I held several management roles, and before that, I gained a lot of experience in community engagement through the NHS,” she said.
“I spent a lot of time out in the community, having conversations with residents and people who had experienced difficult circumstances within certain areas of care. So I like to think I’ll bring that experience with me into my council role in order to do the best job I possibly can for the people who voted for me and the wider residents of Lincolnshire.”
She went on to praise the children’s services provided by Lincolnshire County Council — pointing out how it had been rated outstanding.
"We have a duty of care and we want to give children in Lincolnshire the best possible start to their lives.
"To do so, we need to continue with the good work. I'm very lucky to have inherited a service that is rated as outstanding, so the key here for me is to nurture that service, not saying improvements can't be made—you can always make improvements—but it's really nice for me the fact it is such a well-working service that I will be able to help to change for the better instead of having to fix.
"It gives us a really good opportunity here to make a much better service and carry on doing a really good job for the children of our county."
