Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

Archives for November 2018

Promoting Swansea in Cardiff

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I’ve been in Cardiff quite a bit this week raising our profile and trying to secure some commitments from the Welsh Government.

On Monday I met our Skyline colleagues from New Zealand to further develop the proposals for their leisure scheme at Kilvey Hill.  Work continues apace and I hope we can give the project the final push towards delivery.  It would have a major impact on Swansea as a tourist destination but given the financial climate we’ll very likely be dependent upon grant support from Welsh Government to secure it. Councillors Stewart and Francis-Davies also attended and I know they’re doing everything they can to get that support.

On Tuesday I was with the Welsh Government to discuss the future funding for ethnic minority language support to our schools.  I was joined by the chief executives of Cardiff and Newport councils and they feel as strongly as I do about this subject.  It’s essential the Welsh Government recognises that councils can’t provide these essential services without the necessary funding and I pressed the case as forcefully as possible.  Whilst funding is secured for the next financial year we need firm commitments beyond that and I hope sense will prevail.

We continue to work with colleagues in Cardiff and Newport to promote our cities and to highlight to the Welsh Government the particular challenges faced by urban authorities and I think they got the point.

I also met with Geraint Rees who’s taken over the helm at ERW, our regional school improvement consortium.  I’ve mentioned previously there have been some problems at ERW and one year on since my appointment as lead Chief Executive for the consortium I’m now confident real progress is being made.  I emphasised the need for better engagement and stronger partnerships with schools to make sure we secure the best possible outcomes for our learners across the mid and southwest Wales region.  Geraint and I will be working on a report to the ERW Joint Committee in January that will chart the future and hopefully ensure all regional councils engage fully in the organisation.

Swansea Central

Cabinet yesterday approved an extra £3m to progress phase one of the Swansea Central project including the proposed digital arena. This is a major step forward and couldn’t have been possible without tremendous efforts of Huw Mowbray and his team along with many others such as finance, legal, planning and communications.

Swansea University

I was concerned to learn of the current issues at Swansea University and the suspension of four members of staff.  As major partners in our regeneration projects, the University has a key role, and I hope the current difficulties can be resolved quickly.  The Leader and I have sought reassurance that the progress we’re all making on the City Deal will not be hindered by this.  In the meantime I must thank the economic regeneration team and Deputy Chief Executive, Adam Hill, for their work on pushing the case forward with Welsh Government officials this week. Hopefully in the next week or so there’ll be some definitive statements on the first projects to be approved under the Swansea Bay City Deal.

YGG Lon Las

On Thursday I was at Lon Las School for the official opening with TV news presenter Huw Edwards.  Huw is a great advocate and promoter of Welsh medium education so I was delighted when he agreed to officially open the new £9.8m school. It has over 500 pupils and it’s a huge improvement with all the classrooms under one roof. There’s also a lovely new flat play area and a sports field.  Huw spoke eloquently about the importance of quality in education and choice in language.  Both Huw and I were impressed by this magnificent facility and the team responsible for delivering it should be rightly proud of their work.  Huw was brilliant with the children and has promised to return. Thanks to headteacher Karen Thomas and her fantastic team for making us all feel so welcome. And congratulations to the school on their very positive inspection report.

Additional Learning Needs

CMT considered our approach to implementing the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 – to support children and young people with additional learning needs (ALN). It replaces existing legislation for special educational needs and the assessment of children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in post-16 education and training.  There are major implications for us and the NHS, and the recent commissioning review of ALN has resulted in the development of a new strategic approach which will be taken to Members in the coming weeks.  Thanks to Mark Sheridan and Gemma Whyley for explaining this to CMT.  The financial implications of the new requirements give me cause for concern and I feel further discussions with Welsh Government over funding will be necessary.

Spending controls

CMT also discussed the need for re-enforced efforts to reduce ‘discretionary’ spend given our projected financial overspend for 18/19 and beyond.  We’re anxious not to create unmanageable levels of extra bureaucracy and bottle-necks in the approval process which frustrated previous implementation of enhanced spending controls.  But we must find a way to provide extra scrutiny of expenditure.  Ben Smith and I will shortly be meeting staff involved in purchasing to talk through the issues with them.

Awards

Well done to our Building Services team who won a gold award at the Careers Wales Valued Partner Awards.  It saluted their work on activity such as careers fairs and talks, work experience and mock interviews with school pupils.

The awards recognise the contribution made by those who support Wales’s workforce of the future.

 

Some good news at last!

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We’ve had some better news on the budget for a change!

Although we’ve only had headline all-Wales figures so far, it looks like we’ll get at least £1.5m extra in 2018-19. This will help us meet some of the shortfall in funding for teachers pay (which will help relieve schools pressures) and winter social care pressures. The latter should help us reduce our forecast in-year overspending by a sizeable bit.

We anticipate getting well over £1m extra revenue grant come the final settlement at the end of December. This is important because the earlier provisional settlement gave us just £18k extra when we spend £434m.

It’s clear the Welsh Government has lots of capital funding and limited revenue resources. As well as the national announcements of an extra £100m of core capital funding there have been other announcements that could give us over £20m in extra capital funding in the longer-term and could save us around a further £1.5m in annual borrowing costs in due course.

The Welsh Government has listened and responded, at least partly, to concerns across local government about the earlier provisional settlement.

Despite this welcome news, the overall pressures remain at the forefront of CMT and Cabinet thinking, given the scale of overspending.

Pressures undoubtedly remain and flat settlements still mean continued austerity and reducing real terms budgets. But moving this far already gives us a better collective chance of addressing the sizeable future budget gaps this council, and all others face

I hope the Welsh Government looks long and hard to see if there is more it can do, and also continues to lobby for the other key missing element of the funding package – sorting out the Treasury’s imposed increases in teachers’ pension costs on all councils, and accessing the same UK Government reserve set aside to help English schools

I met with directors and heads of service to see how we can reduce our discretionary spending in a number of areas including vehicle hire, catering, hotels, advertising, printing and agency and consultancy costs. It’s vital we do all we can to cut spending this year to reduce our overspend and this is another step alongside things like our vacancy freeze.

Supporting staff

CMT discussed potential changes to our occupational health services to better support managers in helping staff who are sick. We discussed improving referrals to OH and ways to support staff to either remain in work or to return earlier when sick. We’ve also taken steps to reduce waiting times to see an OH adviser. We’ll also be providing new guidance to help managers. The potential changes will be discussed by directors and heads of service in early December. The aim is to support managers and staff whilst reducing our sickness rates. I’ll keep you updated.

New priority

We’re reinforcing our contribution to maintaining and enhancing Swansea’s natural resources and diversity by adding a sixth priority to our Corporate Plan. It already lists our five existing priorities as safeguarding the vulnerable, tackling poverty, improving educational attainment, transforming economic and infrastructure development and transforming council services so they are fit for the future.

The new priority – maintaining and enhancing Swansea’s natural resources and biodiversity – will work alongside our other priorities to continue to help shape services.

Parade

You may have seen the fall-out from last weekend’s Xmas parade. This isn’t a reflection of the hard work put in by our staff to prepare for the event. Unfortunately, this has been lost amid the headlines and I’d like to thank them for all their efforts. Next year is Swansea’s 50th birthday as a city and we’ll be making it a year to remember with themed events throughout the calendar.

White ribbon

We’re taking part in a number of events next week in support of White Ribbon Day on Sunday which symbolises hope for women and children living in fear of domestic violence and abuse.

We’re working with Swansea Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Partnership to spread the message that domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women are unacceptable and support is out there. This a great cause and thank you to everyone involved.

Well done

Congratulations to our transport team who won in the Public Sector medium to large Green Fleet category at last night’s UK Green Fleet Awards. This is in recognition of our 40-vehicle electric fleet – the biggest among Welsh councils.

Continuing to make the case

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This week I responded to a call for evidence on the budget settlement by the Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee.  I want you to have the opportunity to read my statement which is printed in full below:

Thank you for your letter and the opportunity to comment.

Clearly the allocation of resources by the Welsh Government is a matter for them and one driven by policy and politics. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on many of the aspects of the petition, as worded, but nonetheless I do recognise the broad concerns raised and would draw the Committee’s attention to the following matters.

The draft budget from Welsh Government has clearly given lower priority to local government as evidenced by the headline figures;

  • Health +7%
  • Economy and Regeneration +13%
  • Local Government -0.3%

The contrast is stark.

This Council did slightly better than many others in cash terms, as there was an increase. An increase driven predominantly by population growth skewed towards the cities.  Yet this was a cash increase in the provisional settlement of £18k on a £434m budget with pressures of over £20m to contend with. That £18k pays for less than one job, half a social worker, one care package, or pays for less than 6 primary school places, less than 5 secondary school places, one special school place, one tenth of one out of county placement, one half of a modestly complex care package.

It makes no inroads to the pay and price pressures administered on this council by decisions out of its control: the national local government pay award, the teachers’ pay award and the larger than anticipated increase in administered teachers pensions costs. These costs are not funded from £18k. Nor does the settlement make inroads to meeting the needs of a growing City, changing demography, the increasingly elderly population, the fragility of the care sector, the pressures on both adult and child social care. The list could go on.

The WLGA and individual councils are already making clear what the consequences are as they publish their draft budget strategies for 2019-20 and beyond.  Swansea is yet to publish but the position will be the same as others; substantial cuts to services, significant increases in council tax likely, substantial staff reductions, inevitable compulsory redundancies and further strain on an already overstretched workforce and Council finances.

We are moving inexorably as a sector to an era of significant reduction in services to a more core offer, higher taxes, less local council employment opportunities, substantial redundancy costs, dwindling reserves and limited time before one or more councils find themselves in an unviable financial positon.

As the petition makes clear there is an opportunity for the Welsh Government to reconsider its priorities and its allocation of resources. I am sure this Council would support that reconsideration wholly, to ensure a settlement that it better recognises especially the interlinked and intertwined nature of health and social care as well as the wider pressures facing the sector.

The Committee is right to explore urgently the terms of the additional £30m for Social Care. We all need to know if this is genuinely new money, relief money, or a prioritisation programme for pending on new things and thus not “free money” that might alleviate real spending pressures we have in social care now. For Swansea, a share of £30m new money would simply help us reduce our overspending on current social care.  It would not pay for any new spend.

All of us in local government await news of the final settlement now due on 21 December. We expect some additional resources but also expect that to go nowhere near to addressing the scale and severity of funding pressures and the consequences that will inevitably flow at local level.

Standards Committee

This morning I’m attending the Standards Committee to discuss relations and behaviours between officers and members in the Council. In general I think the relationships between members and officers in Swansea are positive, although in any organisation there will be exceptions.  The one thing I’m convinced of is that the main characteristic of high performing authorities in the UK public sector is a team-working ethic between officers and members, built on mutual trust and respect.  All the evidence supports this and the Leader and I are committed to promoting the highest standards of behaviour.  I’m really grateful to the Standards Committee for their work and for listening to my views.  They are doing an excellent job.

Awards

Congratulations to our legal team who were awarded the highly prestigious People Team Award by the Lawyers in Local Government. They were praised by judges who were “hugely impressed by the value placed on the team’s bespoke service by headteachers across Swansea”, who describe it as a vital extension of the school community and praise the sheer professionalism and courteous approach of the specialist lawyers involved.

Our Street lighting and Highways teams have both been shortlisted for APSE’s “Most improved performers” award. Our Building Services team have been shortlisted for the “Best performers” award. With so many finalists we’ve also been put forward for the “Best Performing Authority” at this year’s UK awards.  These awards are recognition for the excellent work our frontline teams carry out. Well done to everyone involved.

Congratulations to apprentice plumber Luke Evans for picking up our Apprentice of the Year award. Luke is among dozens of apprentices in our building services team who are making a huge contribution to services carrying out repairs, maintenance and upgrades to homes, civic buildings, schools and community centres.

Following their High Five award, the Diamond Project has won the prestigious Diana Award. The project is run weekly by Emma Jones and Allan Davies from the Looked After Children Education team in partnership with Helen Davies at Swansea University.  I’m grateful to the staff involved in generating these opportunities for young people.

Fund-raising

Many staff will be raising funds for Children in Need today. There are lots of activities so good luck to everyone.

Back to our future

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Later today the Heritage Lottery Fund will confirm funding of £3.5m to transform one of our former industrial landscapes into a modern attraction. The grant will pave the way for the  historic powerhouse building at the Hafod Morfa Copperworks site to house the world-famous Welsh brand Penderyn Whisky on the revamped site which is expected to attract up to 100,000 visitors a year.

The Hafod Copperworks, established in 1810, was the last to close in the lower Swansea Valley in 198O. The surviving buildings are the last remaining substantial monuments to the copper industry in the area, which was once the centre of the international trade in copper, the world’s first globally The 12.5 acre site will form part of a vibrant, multi-purpose hub for work, education, leisure, commercial activity and tourism which celebrates the past and looks to the future. Its heritage is preserved and proudly displayed with interpretation trails and a living history laboratory.

We know times have changed for our economy, but this is why it’s so vital to bring modern industries to this site. As a council we can’t only provide public services, we have to help stimulate the economy by providing opportunities like this. Lots of staff in Cultural Services and Planning and City Regeneration have put in a huge amount of work to make this happen, especially Huw Mowbray, Paul Relf and Tracy Nicholls. I’d also like to place on the record my appreciation of the immense amount of work done on the Hafod regeneration by Professor Huw Bowen.

City Deal

Our City Centre regeneration strategy took another huge step forward this week when the City Deal Economic Strategy Board gave its support to our proposed projects at Swansea Central and the Kingsway. The Board, composed of high profile private sector representatives, is a key part of the project approval process for the City Deal.  The economic development team have done a great job in making the case for the city and getting this project progressed as one of the three initial City Deal schemes.  Thanks to all involved.

Armistice

This weekend we’ll be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One. In Swansea we have a Festival of Remembrance in the Brangwyn, the service at the Cenotaph Centenary, parade through the city, Danny Boyle’s Pages of the Sea and numerous local events. We’ve also worked with the Royal British Legion to display poppies on lampposts. Thank you to all the staff involved in these events.

Sadly, our trading standards have detected a poppy scam operating in Swansea so please be vigilant if approached. It’s so important that we continue remembering the huge sacrifice made by others, but time has a strange way of distorting events as this BBC feature shows.

Safeguarding week

Safeguarding people from harm is not just our number one corporate priority, everyone in society has a responsibility to protect and safeguard children and adults from abuse, neglect and exploitation. Next week see’s the start of National Safeguarding Week, and staff from social services will be on hand in the main reception area of the civic centre all week to talk to staff and the public, giving advice, information and support where necessary. The message is – safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

Congratulations and thanks

Congratulations to colleagues in Highways and Transportation who’ve been shortlisted in the WhatVan Green Fleet Award category. The results will be announced in December so good luck to the team.

Thanks to our recycling team who’ve been showing visitors around our baling plant. It helps give people an insight into the importance of recycling and helps build community relations. Thanks to Thomas Williams and Rebecca Tribe.

Well done to staff in Planning who were finalists in this week’s Urbanism Awards. The awards recognise outstanding civic design and this was in relation to our work in the Maritime Quarter.

None the wiser!

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The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on Monday announced an end to austerity but I have to say it doesn’t feel like that for councils in Wales.  A simple analysis by respected commentators has made clear that once the promises for future funding for the NHS are taken into account most of the rest of the public sector faces longer-term continued real terms reductions. The harsh reality is austerity for local government seems to have no chance of going away any time soon. However, in the short term there were a few glimmers of light:

  • Extra cash for capital and revenue coming to Wales, totalling £550m over three years.
  • Local government is a stated Welsh Government priority if extra cash becomes available, specifically for schools, potholes and social care.
  • It’s too early to tell the amount and it depends on the specific priorities for Welsh Government

However, the announcement on business rates may be a negative one for us. If they are reduced by a third, as in England, this will impact on our core funding.

More fundamentally there are serious issues about the way national pay and pension decisions are announced without being fully-funded.  It’s going to cost us £10m next year, yet we’ve only been given an extra £18,000. And tucked away in the budget was a technical announcement on UK government’s one-off reserves to smooth the pain of the cost of applied employers’ pension increases totalling some £4.7 billion. We’re continuing to lobby along with the WLGA and I know colleagues in the trade unions are doing the same. We have to make sure some of this comes to Welsh authorities facing real spending pressures, not just for use in England. We’ll know more from Welsh Government on our final share of funding on December 19.  Hopefully it’ll be Santa rather than Scrooge that delivers the definitive message!

New Deputy starts

Adam Hill, our new Deputy Chief Executive, has started with us this week. He has valuable experience in a number of local government roles as well as working in senior positions in other sectors. It’s really good to have him in CMT and he’ll be getting around to meet as many of you as he can in the coming weeks and months. I’m sure you’ll join me in welcoming Adam to Swansea and wishing him all the best.

New ways of working

We know some of our working practices would benefit from a new approach so we’re going to test some new ways of working in a 12-month pilot scheme. We’ve chosen three teams where the focus will be on work output rather than the number of hours worked. This will mean changes to the current flexi and core hours’ systems with staff in the pilot areas no longer being required to record time.  They’ve already taken part in workshops over the last few weeks to discuss how new ways of working will work in their area and to ensure services are not adversely affected. Participation in the pilot is voluntary and affects only Human Resources, the Service Centre and Corporate Property Services teams. I’m really interested to see how it goes, but also to ensure we assess the full picture so that we’re clear about what works and what doesn’t and where these kind of changes may work elsewhere.

Staff survey

You’ve got just a few more hours to have your say in our latest staff survey. The shortened survey is quick and easy to complete so please take some time to do so. It really is important we have your views so that we can take actions and make further improvements based on your feedback.

Deputy finance chief

Congratulations to Jeff Dong who’s been appointed as the Deputy Chief Finance Officer and Deputy S151 Officer.  Jeff will lead on a number of strategic finance projects including pensions, treasury and capital.  In line with spending restrictions and vacancy management the post is on an interim basis until March 31, 2019.

Good news

It’s great to see we’ve short-listed three bidders to take over the former 360 site on the prom in front of St Helen’s. It’s a prime site and we want to create a vibrant and exciting facility on the beach-front. We’re also expecting some good news on the Hafod Copperworks scheme with Heritage Lottery Funding hopefully being confirmed shortly. Thank you to all the officers working on these schemes.

Western Bay

Our Regional Partnership Board for Western Bay met this week to consider a number of important issues and projects to transform the way social care and health are delivered across the region.  This included a review of the Integrated Care Fund by the Wales Audit Office, an update on the National Strategy for Autism, the Strategic Framework for Mental Health and the first bids to the All Wales Transformation Fund.  We were also reassured progress is being made on Bridgend’s transfer out of the ABMU health board area and into Cwm Taf. I think this collaboration is making real progress but there are still too many meetings and a cumbersome governance regime. I hope we can work with partners to simplify this as I’m conscious a huge amount of officer and member time is devoted to attendance and participation.

Award

Congratulations to John Chappell, one of our social services drivers at Client Transport (ITU) on being nominated for an ABMU Health Board Patient Choice Award. John has been nominated by the public for going the extra mile during a medical emergency. He’ll be attending a celebration event on December 4, where he will be presented with his certificate.