Archives for September 2016

Inspiring night at High 5 awards

September 30, 2016 by Martin 2 Comments

Young stars

Last night dozens of young people were honoured at the High 5 Awards. It was an absolute pleasure to be there for the first time in my capacity as chief executive. More than 350 young people were nominated and the stories behind the entries are inspiring and uplifting.

To see the young people there last night enjoying themselves and being honoured for their achievements was brilliant. These awards are a great way of learning more about what young people are doing right across the city and it gives us the opportunity to thank and reward them.

My thanks to all the judges and those who nominated, to the whole team who helped support the event including Mark Gosney, Jo Doek, Jo Cutler, Liz Edmonds and Jason Rogers and especially Swans star Leon Britton who, as the awards ambassador, was fantastic.

The full list of winners are:

Group Achievement Award – 4C’s Young Commissioners
Group Community Award – Chips, Curry and Cappuccino
Achievement 14-19 – John Nelson
Recognise 14-19 – Tia Aldron
Recognise Up to 13 – Sydney Norman
Achievement Up to 13 – Chiara Robinson
Community Up to 13 – Corey Michael
Recognise – 20-25 – Lucy Fethany-Wilks
Achievement – 20-25 – Ashley Rix
Judges Special Award Up to 13 – Teigan Miles
Judges Special Award 14-19 – Rachael Beckett
Ambassador Award – Adam A’Hearne

For full details of the stories behind the winners and photographs please go to www.swansea.gov.uk/high5winners

Retirements

Nineteen long-serving employees are due to retire this month. They’ve given outstanding service and it’s always sad to see people leave but we wish them all the best in their retirement.

School visits

Last Friday I continued my visits to primary schools at Trallwn and Plasmarl. At Trallwn I met Amanda Taylor, the head teacher, and her deputy Owen Thomas. There’s been some significant investment in the school fabric and metal doors were being replaced while I was there. Amanda and Owen explained the challenges the school faced and how the staff were addressing them. It felt like a real team approach with a healthy mix of long-standing experienced teaching staff, who knew the area and its families very closely, and young ambitious teachers and support assistants who brought fresh approaches and ideas. After helping with the peer review of the nursery art work I was treated to the impressive talents of about 20 Year Four and Five children playing “My Dog’s got Fleas” on ukuleles. Unforgettable and brilliant!

At Plasmarl I met Lucy Saunders, head teacher, and Lesley Williams, Chair of Governors. Once again it was encouraging to see physical improvements being made to the school with a new roof and re-pointed walls. Lucy and Lesley explained the ethos of the school, which has a long and fascinating history, including some famous footballing alumni. This school is in an area with some significant challenges and Lucy showed me the excellent new Flying Start provision, a programme which engages parents and aims to make a decisive difference to the life chances of children under four years old. The issue is that families only qualify for this programme if they live in eligible areas and I have some concerns that some of our most challenging areas are not included.

I must say a big thank you to those involved in commissioning the improvement works carried out at both schools, creating a better (and drier!) learning environment for the children. Once again, however, the highlight was visiting all of the classes and seeing the fantastic work being done by the teachers and support assistants. I left with a better understanding of the importance of engaging and working with families to improve attendance, achievement and well-being for children who too often have restricted opportunities and ambitions.

Quiz night

It’s great to hear the staff quiz night last week run by the Innovation Community went so well. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it as I’d like to think I’d have been helpful to my team, particularly on music. There was a full house on the night and the event raised a massive £660 for the Morriston Hospital Cardiac Endowment Unit which is far more than the organisers had hoped for. Just for the record, the winning team was ‘We’re Kind of a Big Deal!’ featuring Ann Smith, Paul Burrows, Steve Porter, Bob Fenwick, Carl Billingsley, Amanda Pugh, Adrian Quinn and Glenn Watkins.

I’m assured there will be more events like this in the future.

Staff reassurance

Swansea Museum’s future has featured in the media, so I’d like to take the opportunity to reassure staff that we do not have plans to close the venue on Victoria Road. As part of a review into our cultural services, we’re looking to retain and secure external investment in the building. We have to make short-term savings though, which is why we’re reviewing the operation of the museum’s tramshed building and the historic vessels in the museum’s ownership.

We’ve recently tested interest from organisations in running some of our cultural services to help sustain them in the face of major budget cuts. Organisations will demonstrate whether they have the experience, financial stability and know-how to provide excellent services in an affordable way. This will happen over the next couple of years, but we would need to be convinced that this would be a better option than a transformed in-house service.

We’ve appointed chartered surveyors Knight Frank to market our Pipehouse Wharf depot site for potential development. The site, along with several other properties and plots of land owned by the council, is being advertised in the media. This is the first stage of a lengthy process and any relocation of staff is some time away. We’ll update staff as soon as details are finalised.

Success story

Statistics show over 25,000 visits to Oystermouth Castle since it re-opened for the 2016 season at the end of March. The castle is closing for the autumn and winter today (September 30), so my thanks go to all our staff, the Friends of Oystermouth Castle and everyone else involved in the attraction’s on-going success story.

Safeguarding is our top priority

September 22, 2016 by Martin 4 Comments

Looking after children is the most important thing we do as a council.

I stressed this point at the Corporate Parenting workshop held in the Guildhall on Monday. Given the range of services attending, along with a number of councillors, this was a real opportunity to develop a more strategic, multi-agency approach to improving outcomes for our looked after children and young people and care leavers.

I mentioned the importance of placement stability and educational outcomes for our children so I was pleased to see that our performance in these key areas is strong and improving. We’re in the top quartile (3rd in Wales) for the number of looked after children achieving five or more GSCE results, and placement stability has also improved. We will, however, need a greater focus on knowing what happens after our children leave care and plans are also in place to improve this.

I also stressed the importance of listening to the voices of our children. Swansea has adopted the UNCRC and one of the key concerns for us is making sure we listen and discuss issues openly with children and respect article 12 of the UNCRC where children and young people have the right to participate in decisions which affect their lives.

What‘s certain is that we must move away from narrowly focusing on the role of Child and Family Services in this activity and ensure our partners in health as well as our own housing, education and leisure services, among others, understand their role in improving the lives of our children.

Later on Monday I chaired the Public Protection Executive Board which considers safeguarding and the protection of the public in the city. It’s a multi-agency meeting and allows a joined-up approach to tackling some very difficult issues from child sexual exploitation to radicalisation. I was reassured to see how well the agencies are working together but there is a lot more to be done.

At the meeting of the Public Services Board (PSB) on Tuesday we had a presentation from Sophie Howe, the Future Generations Commissioner, which managed to combine the expectations of PSBs, the importance of sustainable development and a few timely quotes from Roald Dahl stories. Sophie praised the work carried out by councillors and officers in Swansea who, I’m delighted to say, have led the way in Wales in this important area.

lagoon On Wednesday the Leader and I travelled to Cardiff for our introductory meeting with the new Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths. It was a positive discussion and we focussed on how the Council, Welsh Government and NRW could work together to tackle the issues of flood risk and air quality, particularly in the city centre. This will be important if we are to deliver our comprehensive regeneration ambitions. We also discussed progress on the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon review and other renewable energy projects. Hopefully the UK Government will make a positive announcement on the lagoon before the end of the calendar year.

Budget

Directors and heads of service have continued to meet as Leadership Team to develop the budget strategy for the next financial year and beyond. Having seen the recent announcements on the financial settlement between UK and Welsh Governments it’s clear that things are not going to get any easier over the next three years. There’ll be a real terms cut of 3.2% in the budget for Wales. The new priorities of the Welsh Government, including spending plans for child care and apprenticeships, will add extra pressure on councils that are already stretched in delivering core and statutory services.

Have your say

We’ve now had more than 900 responses to the staff survey. This is good, but we want more staff to give their views so that we can get to grips with the issues that are important to you. So please take some time out to fill-in the survey and have your say.

Awards

DesignPrint has been named the best in-house plant in the UK at this week’s Association of Print and Communication Managers Awards. The team also finished runner-up in two other awards. This is an excellent result, given that the award has been dominated by Blackpool for the past four years. DesignPrint has undergone major changes to keep up with changing customer and technological needs and this is a great reflection of the work all the staff have put in. Well done to everyone at DesignPrint.

The High 5 Awards take place next week when we’ll be recognising the outstanding achievements of young people. I’m “looking forward” to meeting up with my predecessor, Jack Straw, who’s one of the judges having been the driving force in setting-up the awards. Full details next week.

Events

admiral 10k Last weekend’s Admiral Swansea Bay 10k once again brought with it thousands of runners and the traditional good weather. This major event takes place seamlessly thanks to the planning and delivery which ensures minimal disruption. Well done to colleagues in our Special Events team and also to all the many other staff who play a role in making sure this event is promoted and delivered safely and cleared up quickly afterwards!

Whilst it’s been a hectic summer of events so far, there’s more to come. Our reputation for music events continues to grow and Club MTV, one of the world’s largest music brands, brings its stage and artists to the grounds of Singleton Park this weekend for the first time. It coincides with Freshers’ Week at our two universities and it’s a great introduction for students visiting Swansea for the first time. We’re delighted to have worked in partnership with the Welsh Government and MTV to bring this event to Swansea.

Farewell

Next Friday will be the last working day for Noel Evans, our Bereavement and Registration Services Manager, sometimes referred to rather tastelessly as “Noel the Dead”.

Noel has been a fixture in this Council for what seems like forever but it has actually been 42 years, starting on July 29, 1974, in the Audit Section of the Finance Department. In 1986 he was appointed to the job for which he is best-known and four years ago Noel took on the registration service as well, becoming Bereavement and Registration Services Manager. In his time the service has won numerous awards and Noel has become a Fellow of the Institute of Cemeteries and Crematoria.

He is hugely-appreciated by his peers in other local authorities and, like them, I’ll be sad to see him go but I wish him a long and happy retirement and thank him for all his hard work and wonderfully dry sense of humour. Thanks Noel.

Staff engagement is all about you

September 16, 2016 by Martin Leave a Comment

It’s great to see so much happening with staff engagement across the council.

Many of you attended last year’s “It’s all about you” engagement event in the Marriott Hotel which was a huge success. We’re now making preparations for this year’s event which will be held in the Marriott on November 24. Everyone is invited and I want managers to support all staff so that they have the chance to attend. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

As a result of last year’s event we’ve been holding mini engagement events in different locations for those staff who weren’t able to get to the Marriott. The most recent one of these was held at Clydach earlier this week where more than 60 Highways staff gathered to give suggestions and ideas and get an update on staff discounts and the work of the Innovation Community. The event also looked at the current commissioning review in Highways.

Given that this was an impromptu event, a lot of good ideas came out of it and it was a great success. Thank you to everyone involved.

Sticking with staff engagement, this year’s staff survey is open and we’ve already had almost 800 returns. Please take some time out to complete the survey as it’s really important that we get as many staff as possible giving their views. Whatever the results, I along with the Corporate Management Team are committed to listening to you and addressing issues.

City Deal

I was in London on Wednesday with the Leader and Sir Terry Matthews, the Chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region Board, where we met with the Secretary of State and MPs to push the case for an ‘Internet Coast’ City Deal for Swansea Bay.

A range of projects were discussed, including the development of broadband digital infrastructure in both urban and rural areas, as well as initiatives to boost the region’s renewable energy, steel and health sectors.

A progress report was then considered by a meeting of the Swansea Bay City Region board in Pembrokeshire yesterday, as we look to finalise the City Deal proposal with both the UK and Welsh Governments in the coming months.

Our aim is to get the City Deal signed next year. If we’re successful it will help generate jobs, change how people live and help businesses gain a competitive advantage if they base themselves here.

Friendly City

I’ve mentioned in previous blogs that one of the important issues facing the Public Service Board is how Swansea to becomes a Dementia Friendly City. This isn’t just an issue for people who work in social care but more an issue of how we as an organisation work in a way that is more supportive to the most vulnerable members of our communities. Part of the plan for a Dementia Friendly City is that all organisations will be training staff in dementia awareness, and I’m committing the Council to a target to train all staff in 2017. This is a significant challenge for us, but if we want to become a dementia friendly city, then the Council needs to demonstrate its commitment. We have a similar commitment in coming months to training in domestic abuse, which is a new legal requirement for us and officers will be doing their best to make sure we don’t duplicate effort for these training sessions.

Foster Swansea

Last Friday I met Donna Houlston and Sarah Thomas from the Foster Swansea team which provides a vital service identifying, securing and managing appropriate placements for children. It’s a nationally respected service and Donna and Sarah explained the importance of effective placement planning, the need to focus on early intervention and prevention and the importance of the Corporate Parenting Strategy. I’ll be going to a workshop on this next week so I’ll probably say more about it in the next blog.

What I hadn’t realised is that we’ve recently become a fostering-friendly employer and this means staff who foster children get certain benefits that were not previously available. Employees are entitled to five days paid leave to support them in their role as foster carers at any stage of the process. More details of this can be found on the council website or by calling 533212.

The team has been shortlisted for Social Work Team of the Year in Wales and I wish them every success.

Seaview Community Primary School

On Monday I visited Seaview Community Primary School and met the head teacher, Julie Dunn, and her team. Julie explained the challenges the school faces and the determination of the team to improve the lives of the children in Mayhill. I was taken on a visit to all the classes and different year groups to see the children learning and they were eager to show me what they were doing. For those who are not familiar with the school it’s an unusual circular design that in itself presents a lot of challenges and needs investment. The lack of green space for the school restricts what can be done and I promised Julie that I’d try to help deal with some of the environmental issues and the spaces available for the children to play and exercise. I’ve asked colleagues to help with this.

Once again I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the team working in the school and their commitment but even more impressed with the atmosphere in the school which was happy, calm and overwhelmingly positive.

Gower

Pretty much all of us know from personal experience what a brilliant place Gower is. It’s the jewel in the Swansea crown, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every year. Now we have an opportunity to make sure it’s officially named Wales’ Best Place in the Royal Town Planning Institute Cymru awards. The awards are designed to celebrate some of our country’s most attractive and inspiring places and nominated areas include Caernarfon, The Hayes in Cardiff and Tenby.

To vote for Gower just go to this link. My vote is cast and you might want to encourage your friends to Vote Gower too.

Awards

Congratulations to two of our libraries staff who’ve received ‘Outstanding Individual’ Awards from the Prisoners Education Trust for their work at Swansea Prison. Valerie Samuel and Vicky Dickeson both work at the prison library supporting prisoner education and leisure needs. The awards set up as part of the Prisoner Learning Alliance recognise people who go the extra mile to promote and encourage learning in prisons. Prisoners agreed that Vicky and Val had transformed the library into a place of ‘sanctuary and actively promoted its usage for learning and reading, which has had a huge impact on prisoner’s lives.

Finally, it’s the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k on Sunday, so good luck to everyone taking part. My thanks also go to our staff for all their work in organising and promoting the event, which I’m sure will be a big success once again this year.

We’re listening, so have your say

September 9, 2016 by Martin Leave a Comment

It’s that time of year again when we want all our employees to take part in the annual staff survey.
It’s more important than ever that we listen to our employees if we’re going to meet the difficult challenges we face. That’s why I’m encouraging every member of staff to complete it. It’s such an important way of bringing about change in the council. As a result of recent surveys we’ve introduced a new anti-bullying campaign, held staff engagement events, provided stress management training and are developing a new staff suggestion scheme. These are just some the changes we’ve made based on staff feedback. I’m pleased that more than 450 employees have already completed it during the first few days, but please don’t miss out on your chance to have your say and to change things.

Science and Innovation

This week Swansea hosted the fantastic British Science Festival. It’s an opportunity for scientists from all over the country to announce new developments and brings science closer to people. Subjects included whether rugby tackling should be banned in schools, a simple blood test to detect cancer before symptoms start, and the solutions to the global environmental issue of marine litter. There was also an important debate on the future of the steel industry.

It reminded me that many innovations have been developed in the city or by its famous sons and daughters including, amongst many others, the fuel cell, tarmac, early laser and radar technology and, last but not least, instant custard! Swansea has long been a city associated with science and innovation and the festival has been a great opportunity to celebrate it. There are a series of science events programmed in the museums and the city centre which promise to be a lot of fun for children and parents alike. The programme is here.

A big thank you to Swansea University for attracting this major event and to our special events team for providing logistical support.

I’m delighted Swansea is one of 11 cities across Europe picked to take part in an innovative cultural exchange programme. We are the only city in the UK set to participate in a pilot project to explore the role of culture in sustainable cities, that’s been jointly devised by Culture Action Group and the United Cities and Local Government’s Committee on Culture. This programme will improve local and European understanding of the connection between culture and sustainable development. Other cities include Galway, Lisbon and Maastricht.

New citizens

On Tuesday I attended the Citizenship Ceremony at the Registrars offices in the Civic Centre. The Lord Mayor, High Sheriff and Deputy Lord Lieutenant also attended and spoke positively about the contribution to be made by new citizens of the UK and specifically by these new citizens of Swansea. Liz Jarvis, the Superintendent Registrar, then led the proceedings with a perfect balance of gravitas and warmth. The whole event was carried out with the highest professionalism and I ‘m grateful to Peter Richards and all the staff who contributed to making it another special day for our new citizens.

Congratulations

On Wednesday I had the honour of awarding the ILM Level 5 High apprenticeship in Leadership & Management certificates to a number of our staff. The programme, delivered in partnership with Gower College Swansea, is a European-funded qualification. This programme has taken upwards of 12 months and has required a significant contribution of time and effort from the learners. I awarded certificates to Tanya Nash, Rebecca Tribe, Michelle Dene, Gemma Whyley, Lee Wyndham, Chris Lindley, David Price Deer, Craig Gimblett and Louise Evans. It’s essential that our managers have the right skill-sets to lead us through the difficult times ahead and it was really encouraging to see the cohort of talented individuals who had worked hard to achieve their awards. Well done to all.

I’ve really enjoyed being involved in the judging for the High 5 Awards for the first time. Around 350 young people were nominated for awards as individuals or as a member of a group, and the quality of entries was really high. Having completed the shortlisting we’re now looking forward to the awards evening on September 29.

Congratulations to the team in Corporate Building & Property Services for becoming the first service to achieve 100% of staff completing the safeguarding training. This is a real achievement and I hope other services can do likewise.

Well done to one of our apprentices, Josh Wells, whose plastering skills have seen him reach the the Skillbuild National Final. Josh, in his fourth year, will be up against elite plasters from across the country which is a great achievement and I wish him the best of luck.

Finally, Tony Parfitt, one of our Landscape Architects, is retiring on his 65^th birthday next week after 38 years’ service. I’ve worked with Tony on many projects and over many years and he’s made a major contribution to the look and feel of the city. I wish him a long and happy retirement.

City Deal has potential to transform our city

September 2, 2016 by Martin 2 Comments

A City Deal for Swansea?

We’re now at a crucial stage in our proposals for a City Deal with has the potential to transform Swansea.

I know the City Deal may not be a hot topic among staff at the moment, but it really is an important issue for us.

City Deals are basically agreements between government and a city that give the city control to take charge of decisions that affect their area, help businesses grow and create economic growth. They’ve been created in England, Scotland and more recently in Cardiff.

The Swansea proposal is being developed by our City Region partnership and championed by our Leader, Councillor Rob Stewart. Yesterday I met the Secretary of State for Wales with the other regional chief executives to bring him up to speed on progress. It was a very productive and challenging meeting and it will help to shape our thinking as the work proceeds.

The proposed Swansea Bay City Deal is titled “The Internet Coast” based on three themes; productivity, efficiency and infrastructure. We’re due to submit a bid to the UK Government seeking investment in our digital infrastructure, energy and health assets, which could create thousands of jobs. This will help to deliver our corporate priority to regenerate the economy and the city centre and support our work as a Unesco Learning City. Swansea Bay City Region Board meets on September 15 to review and endorse the proposals and the aim is to submit the final proposal to UK Government before the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. I will keep you updated on progress.

Budget update

Even though we’re relatively early into the financial year we’re projecting a year-end overspend across the council. So at Leadership Team yesterday Directors and Heads of Service agreed a series of measures which include reiterating the council-wide spending restrictions and HoS identifying the actions they can take in the services to reduce spending in this financial year.

Leadership Team also had a presentation on the new online appraisal system. It’s a simpler and quicker way of doing appraisals. Managers will be invited to workshops in the coming weeks to test out the system and we can then roll it out later this year.

High 5s

This afternoon I’ll be chairing the judging panel for this year’s High 5 Awards celebrating our young people who achieve against the odds. This will be a real challenge for the eight judges given that we have had nearly 130 nominations, all of which deserve recognition. The awards ceremony will be held on September 29 at the Liberty Stadium.

Success story

After A-Levels and record-breaking GCSE results comes yet more good news about education attainment in Swansea. The Welsh Government has just released annual all-Wales stats on reading and numeracy which show pupils in Swansea are the most-improved in both skills compared to their peers across the country. Our education team in collaboration with regional partners have put in a lot of extra work over the last few years to raise attainment in our schools and it’s good to see consistent evidence of continuing improvement. Thank you to everyone involved.

Events

I hope you all enjoyed the Bank Holiday weekend – the weather was a bit mixed but it ended on a high and there was certainly plenty going on from the Beer and Cider and Festival which attracted thousands in the Brangwyn Hall to the arrival of the EPIC structure at Rhossili as part of the Visit Wales Year of Adventure campaign. There was a lot of positive social media activity about both of these events and this certainly won’t harm our positive destination profile.

As if we haven’t already had a great summer of events, September’s set to be one of our busiest months yet with another great line up of events;

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at Singleton Park tonight, Sept 2
Olympic Fun Day at Brynmill Park, Sept 3 (12-6pm)
Gower Triathlon & Gower Fancy Dress Tri, Sept 3
The British Science Festival 2016, hosted by Swansea University, Sept 6-9, followed by a Family Weekend, Sept 10 & 11,
Luna Outdoor Cinema at Oystermouth Castle (Back to the Future, Sept 14) (Grease, Sept 15)
Admiral Swansea Bay 10K, Sept 18.
Club MTV in Singleton Park, Sept 24
Swansea Big Weekend, Sept 30

As always, pay a visit to www.enjoyswanseabay.com – our one stop shop for event information.

BraveShave Finally, well done to David White, who works in the Townhill team of Child and Family Services, for shaving his head to raise money for charity. Taking part in MacMillan Cancer Support’s Brave the Shave campaign, David and his colleagues are also contributing funds to the Swansea Palliative Care Team. So far, the team has raised over £500 through a number of activities.