August 2017

It’s difficult in an organisation like ours to plot everything we do and why we do it. We have so many staff doing so many different jobs, but none of this happens by chance.

We have an overall game plan called the Corporate Plan and in a nutshell it guides everything we do at all levels in the council and why we do it. It makes the connections from the decisions Cabinet and Council make through to how these decisions are delivered on the front line. Council last night agreed our latest Corporate Plan which sets out our priorities:

Safeguarding people from harm
Improving Education & Skills
Transforming our Economy & Infrastructure
Tackling Poverty
Transformation & Future Council development

It’s important we’re all familiar with the plan and our priorities so in the next few weeks we’ll be providing further information to staff. But for now you can view the plan via this link

Another tough budget?

This week Corporate Management Team discussed the programme for setting next year’s budget. We won’t have indications from the Welsh Government of the amount we can expect for 2018/19 until early October, but we’re expecting a budget shortfall of around £20m. This will be a challenging target and directors will be working with their teams to produce a series of proposals that can be discussed with councillors during October. We’ll be seeking to protect jobs and maintain services as far as possible, but this will be difficult. Obviously the Corporate Plan and the agreed priorities will guide the budget planning process over the next three years as we ensure resources are directed towards delivering these. I’ll keep you updated as the work progresses.

Congratulations and thanks

This week we’re saying goodbye to two long-serving members of staff. Ann Webber, Senior Customer Services and Communications Officer in Housing and Public Protection, is retiring at the end of August after nearly 40 years with the council. Ann started in Housing back in 1979, initially on a temporary contract reviewing the housing waiting list, before moving on to the Applications and Lettings section. I’ve known Anne for a very long time and really enjoyed working with her in Housing. Also, Julie Davies in Finance has retired this week after 39 years. Julie has always worked in finance-related roles, including social services and student awards. Both Ann and Julie have given tremendous service and I wish them a long and happy retirement.

Our Social Services Transport team have completed their annual sponsored bike ride from Swansea to Brecon. Each year for the past 23 years they’ve chosen a good cause to donate to and have raised more than £35,000 during that time. This year they raised £1,930 in aid of The Bowel Cancer Unit, Ward V at Morriston Hospital. This is a brilliant achievement and I’m grateful to the team for their amazing commitment and willingness to help others.

Similarly, this group of intrepid explorers from Waste Management trekked 20 miles from Rhossili to Caswell along the coast path to raise over £500 for Golau Cancer Charity based in Singleton Hospital. Thanks to all those who sponsored them.

Our Birchgrove SNS team that provides a day service for adults with learning disabilities joined up with Tesco for a great project. Staff approached Tesco in Llansamlet to donate gardening tools/plants to brighten the facility’s garden for service users. Tesco not only provided gardening vouchers they went a step further by providing sofas, paint and a group of volunteers to refurbish the lounge area. The service users were thrilled. I’m so grateful to the staff, Tesco and local volunteers who all contributed to the project. Well done to everyone involved.

Congratulations to Neil Bartlett, a keen amateur photographer whose pictures of our wildflower sites were posted on the BBC Wales website.

Fly the flag

The Rainbow Flag is flying outside the Civic Centre in the build-up to Pride Cymru, which is taking place in Cardiff this weekend. The flag celebrates diversity and promotes inclusivity and positive relations between citizens. Catherine Window from our equalities team will be representing the Council on Sunday at Pride Cymru.

Councils are an easy target for criticism and humour. You know the old chestnuts like:

“How many people work for the Council?”
“About half of them”.

In reality we deliver services that are fundamental to people. We protect and educate children, provide essential care for our older citizens, stop people getting poisoned through food safety and air quality monitoring, collect and recycle refuse, keep the city moving, house the homeless, help people find jobs, provide entertainment and events and provide people with a final resting place. In short, we offer cradle to grave services and most of these perform very well.

80% of our citizens are either satisfied or very satisfied with the services we provide for them. Yet only 40% would be willing to speak highly of us or recommend us to a friend. This is a puzzling fact and one that we need to address.

Part of the answer may be how we promote and market the organisation. This is how many organisations in other sectors protect and enhance their reputation. There’s little understanding among the population generally about the breadth of services councils deliver, many of which are below their radar. I could have added dozens more important and essential services to the list above.

But perhaps it’s also about how we engage and communicate with our customers. In future the delivery of some services will need to be with our citizens, rather than to them. Lee Wenham and I are discussing how we best allocate resources and people to do this. I‘ll be discussing the issue of reputation with colleagues over the coming months and asking the innovation community to help me with this.

Lagoon update

On Monday I was part of a delegation of Cabinet Members and senior officers that met with Mark Shorrock, CEO of Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, and his team. We discussed the proposal to set up a turbine assembly plant in Swansea when the lagoon is finally given the go ahead. We also discussed the current situation with the UK Government and what more needs to be done in terms of persuasion. Mark and his team are also keenly interested in working with us on our bid and programme for the UK City of Culture 2021 and they have some innovative and exciting suggestions about how they might be involved.

We’ve now had the feedback from UK Government on our City of Culture bid and we have a lot of work to do between now and the end of September. I hope staff and councillors will continue to engage in our campaign to demonstrate that the whole city supports this ambition.

Mandatory training; domestic violence

I mentioned last week the Domestic Abuse Hub and the need for all of us to be aware and respond to violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV). One in four women in England and Wales will experience domestic violence in their lifetime and one in five children have witnessed it, with devastating impact.

Under the VAWDASV (Wales) Act 2015, the local authority has to:

publish a local authority five-year training plan with annual targets
undertake a local needs training analysis
ensure 100% of the workforce undertake the Group 1 training by March 31, 2018
provide annual reports in respect of each financial year on the progress made regionally or locally

Corporate Management Team agreed to address the training requirements via a combination of e-learning and face- to-face sessions. It’ll be a massive challenge to train all staff before April and I’ll need your help and commitment to do so. The training will be a combination of eLearning and face to face sessions for those who do not have access to the on-line offer. The link to the online course can be accessed via logging in to the Learning Pool here.

All councillors will receive Group 1 training as part of their induction. One session has already been held and another session is planned in the autumn. CMT and the Leadership Team will undertake the training as soon as possible and we’ll be asking each service area to nominate champions.

Innovation

On Wednesday I met our new Corporate Innovation Officer, Rhys Curtis, who takes over the post vacated by Leanne Cutts. Rhys brings with him his experience in the private sector here and in the USA and will be spending the next few weeks navigating the organisation, getting to know people and offering to engage with services to support them. I know you’ll all give him a warm welcome and I look forward to us all working together to further embed innovation in our culture.

Congratulations

Well done to our Access to Services team for their work with our Disability Liaison Group, which has been recognised by other Welsh councils as an example of great practice. The group is led by representatives from Swansea’s disabled community to ensure their views on council services and schemes are considered and addressed. Anyone wanting more information on the Disability Liaison Group should contact Sherill Hopkins in Access to Services.

Our Sport and Health team is continuing to do great work to encourage more girls to take up sport. A well-attended event was held at Penyrheol Leisure Centre earlier this week, with more following this summer. Well done to everyone involved.

Blog

I’ll be trapped in a tent with three small children for the next couple of weeks so my next blog will be on August 25.

Archives for August 2017

Knowing our game plan

A new relationship with citizens