April 2018

This week I was interviewed by the Wales Audit Office on progress we’re making to ensure our 13,000 council homes meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standard. I know a number of other staff and councillors have also been interviewed and the messages were consistently hammered home by all. The purpose of this review is to determine whether we have appropriate arrangements in place to enable us to deliver the WHQS by 2020 and how we engage with tenants in the process. The bottom line is we’re making good progress towards meeting the WHQS by 2020, although some challenges remain. Thanks to all staff and councillors who are involved in this complex and difficult £300 million investment programme which will improve the lives of all our tenants. Thanks also to Colin Goddard from the Strategic Delivery Unit for co-ordinating the project for us and supporting the audit process. I will say more when the report is issued by the WAO.

Regional working

It’s been another busy week for regional collaboration, which continues apace in spite of the current consultation on council mergers. The City Deal working agreement should be presented to all four councils in the region for approval in June. At the Shadow Joint Committee on Wednesday we discussed transport and digital programmes in some detail and I know a lot of work is being done by our teams to support this.

On school improvement I met the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams, to update her on progress made by ERW and the six councils over the last two months. From 2016/17 to 2017/18 there’s been a 42% decrease in the number of schools causing concern in the ERW region and I’m particularly proud of the performance here in Swansea. It’s a credit to all teachers, staff, councillors and governors involved. In the meantime, we await the consultation on the new national model for education with interest as it could prompt further changes to how education services are delivered in Wales.

Have your say

We’re starting consulting on Monday on proposals that affect some of our day services and residential care for adults. Under the proposals we’d focus our residential care and day services on those with complex needs. We’ve also got over-capacity in these services so, if agreed following consultation, Parkway residential home and the day centres at the Hollies and Rose Cross would close. The proposals affect staff but we don’t anticipate compulsory job losses as we’ll be putting our efforts into redeployment, ER/VR etc. We’ve briefed staff and unions. Details on how to have your say will be published on Monday.

New cafe

The refurbished 4^th floor café re-opens on Monday with a new look and new name. The new cafe has an “industrial chic” feel and there’ll be free coffee on Monday 9.30-11am. It’ll be a smart, informal meeting facility and the adjoining servery area will continue to offer food and drink and will itself be transformed soon. Costs are being kept low thanks to the use of recycled and upcycled furnishings. Thanks to all the staff involved.

Data changes

New data protection laws come into force in less than a month. It’s essential that all staff are aware of the changes these new GDPR regulations bring. Details here.

Foster Swansea

Foster Care Fortnight is rapidly approaching and yesterday I had my photo taken as part of the social media campaign to promote this vital service. I hope others will join the campaign and have their photos added. The campaign runs May 14 to 27. The theme for this year is once again ‘Foster care transforms lives’, using the hashtag #proudtofoster and #proudtosupportfostering

Congratulations and thanks

During the past few weeks we’ve been re-surfacing large parts of Fabian Way. Our teams have been working during the night to minimise traffic disruption. The work is now complete and it’s made a huge difference to one of the city’s main arteries. Thank you to all the staff involved for a great job.

We’ve opened Wales’ first fully integrated family centre and primary care centre this week. The new state-of-the-art Mountain View Centre in Mayhill will give residents expanded children and family services, top class health care and courses and activities to make a real difference to their lives. It replaces the family centre on Mayhill Road and is the new home for the Mayhill GP surgery. It’s a partnership between us and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University (ABMU) Health Board. The family centre will have parent and toddler groups, after-school clubs, healthy eating and nutrition courses and holiday play schemes. It’ll be home to Mayhill Pharmacy while Citizens Advice Bureau and Women’s Aid will provide services there, along with handyman and other outreach services and a foodbank. Our Early Intervention team will be running many of these services. The disparity in health and well-being between the affluent and poorer areas in Swansea should be a concern to us all. The Mayhill Centre will help to tackle this in one of our most deprived communities. Yesterday I attended the official ceremony where the centre was opened by Rebecca Evans AM, Minister for Housing and Regeneration. It certainly is an impressive development and I know the scheme, which has been a long time in development, faced some major challenges. In my former role I chaired the committee that approved the grant funding for the centre ten years ago and I’m conscious there are too many people to thank for their role in this, but well done to you all!

Budget

At CMT this week we received a report on the budget and the arrangements for monitoring progress on the 2018/19 savings programme. This will be a regular item for each directorate’s Performance and Financial Monitoring meetings and at CMT as this year’s task is more challenging than ever. Thanks to Marlyn Dickson, our Digital and Transformation Project Manager, who presented the revised savings tracker to CMT. This is an excellent piece of work which will help us to manage the savings programme more effectively. The past few months have been really tough for staff and Corporate Services started the budget process with 61 staff at-risk, which then reduced to 26 at the start of consultation in January. We’ve now got that figure down to one. This is a remarkable effort by the staff involved who’ve been flexible in looking at potential options, managers who’ve been supportive in helping staff into positions or to take ER/VR and our HR team who’ve worked tirelessly in supporting staff with redeployment. My thanks to all involved. We still face tough challenges and, for instance, the EMAU consultation is under way, but we are determined to support staff throughout.

New café

The fourth floor café in the Civic Centre is undergoing a refurbishment and now you have the chance to give the new servery café area a new name. You can choose from one of the following options: Caffi’r Traeth (Beach café), Caffi Glan Môr (Seaside Café), Caffi’r Glannau (Waterfront Café), Hwb Bwyta (Eating hub). Please follow this link to cast your vote. The new-look café is due to re-open later this month.

City Deal

Yesterday I attended the City Deal Programme Board with colleagues from our neighbouring councils to receive an update on the 11 regional projects. The update on progress can be found here. I hope we can conclude the joint-working agreement in the next few weeks as the main issues of concern have now been addressed by the UK and Welsh governments.

Congratulations and thanks

Our work in supporting people leaving care has been recognised by the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. In the Hidden Ambitions report highlighting the work of councils, Swansea is commended for its work in helping care leavers to become apprentices, supporting their housing needs and using our Beyond Bricks and Mortar scheme to secure training and employment opportunities. These are just a few of the things we do, so thank you to all who help support care leavers.

Our Team Around the Family in Schools initiative has been shortlisted in the All Wales Continuous Improvement Community Awards. It empowers primary school-based staff to support children and their families to tackle early stage social challenges. This improves lives and reduces pressure on the council. It’s upskilled workers in 73 out of the city’s 79 primary schools and 687 families have been supported. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Our Welfare Rights team have responded brilliantly to the challenges of Universal Credit. Last year they dealt with more than 680 inquiries and helped secure more than £1.1 million in benefits for Swansea residents. Thank you and keep up the great work!

Three of our schools have received great Estyn inspection reports since my last blog. Leading the way is Cwmrhydyceirw Primary which is judged as excellent in all five inspection areas and is the first English medium primary school in Wales to achieve this under the new inspection framework. Cwm Glas Primary is rated as either excellent or good in each, and Bishop Vaughan Catholic School was rated good across the board by Estyn. The school has made great strides in recent years and it’s very pleasing that Estyn has acknowledged the many positive developments taking place. This is great news and congratulations to all the staff, parents and pupils at the schools.

Three members of staff at Pontarddulais Comprehensive have been shortlisted in the Professional Teaching Awards Cymru. Janet Waldron for Headteacher of the Year; Hannah Hopkins for Teacher of the Year and Dylan Lewis for Best Use of Digital Learning. I wish all three the very best of luck when the winners are announced on May 13.

Well done to children and staff at Newton Primary School who’ve launched a kindness scheme. Pupils have been spreading kindness messages including placing yellow ribbons in the village, putting sunflowers in gardens and leaving tennis balls in parks for dog-owners to play with their pets. They’re now encouraging others to follow their lead. Details on Twitter #BeMoreKind.

Archives for April 2018

Housing matters

A healthy start in life