Archives for August 2019

Work continues on delivering our growth deal with the Welsh and UK Governments.  Whilst the recent problems facing Carmarthenshire County Council at the Wellness Village continue to attract media coverage the remaining projects are progressing well. On Wednesday the Corporate Management Team worked on the business case for the Swansea Central Phase 1 scheme.  This is the key scheme that contributes to the Council’s Corporate Plan objective to transform our economy and infrastructure. The project design is also fully compatible with Welsh Government’s adopted policies and best practice on place making, economic regeneration, and reflects the objectives identified in the Well-being of Future Generations Act, A Prosperous Wales and other relevant guidance.  It is a massive piece of work but there is still much to do if we are to keep to the October reporting timeline.  CMT will be devoting further time to this in the coming weeks and I will keep you informed of progress.

We also discussed the recently advertised PIN notices whereby we are seeking a Joint Venture Partner with the relevant experience, capacity and resources to deliver redevelopment of:

•           Swansea Central Phase 2

•           Sailbridge

•           Site 9

•           St Thomas Station

•           Hafod Copperworks/ Morfa Leisure Destination

•           Former Oxford Street School

•           Civic Centre Site

These schemes are also important in delivering our corporate regeneration priority and we will shortly be reporting progress to Cabinet.  There is a huge amount of work being carried out by our officers on these projects which are essential to the City’s fortunes and ambitions.

CMT also considered progress on our Services in the Community Commissioning Review and proposed some changes to its current scope. In future the Digital and Customer Contact strategies will be the main focus of this project, disposal of assets will continue to be a priority and the key principles of the cross-cutting agenda will continue; rationalisation, integration and co-location where appropriate.  We will be discussing this with Cabinet shortly and I hope staff will engage heavily in this as it moves forward.

GCSE results

Our schools and pupils have celebrated GCSE results well above the Welsh average following on from last week’s excellent A-levels. In the GCSEs all the main indicators were good with most subjects showing results which were better than the national picture.

The figures show 21.2% of city pupils gained A* and A grades in their WJEC exams, which is significantly better than the 18.4% for those in Wales as a whole. A total of 97.5% of GCSE examination entries in Swansea were passed (grades A* to G), and tops the Welsh pass rate for 2019 of 97.2%.

In Swansea there was a total of 21,396 WJEC full course GCSE entries in 44 different subjects/syllabuses. In the key core subjects of Welsh First Language, English Language and Mathematics, the Swansea overall results compare very well to the national results.

I would like to congratulate all the pupils and thank our staff, our schools and teachers for their work supporting young people to achieve their potential.

On the subject of education I held my last meeting with Geraint Rees, the outgoing Managing Director of our regional school improvement consortium, ERW.  Geraint has done a great job of getting ERW back on the rails after a shaky couple of years and is leaving to assist our neighbours in Powys with their education service.  Next week I will be meeting the next interim MD, Andi Morgan, who will leave his job as Head of Education Services at Carmarthenshire Council to take over this important role.  I will be working closely with Andi to continue making progress in improving outcomes for learners across the region.

Congratulations

A big thank you to the Family Information Service team who’ve been taking their mascot Finley to family events across Swansea over the summer, encouraging young families to access their services. They’ve met up with hundreds of youngsters and their parents.

Six of our parks – Clyne Gardens, Victoria Park, Brynmill Park, Cwmdonkin Park, Parc Llewelyn and the Botanical & Ornamental Gardens at Singleton – have won Green Flags this year.

The scheme is run by Keep Wales Tidy and is judged by green space experts who assess them against criteria including horticultural standards, cleanliness, sustainability and community involvement.

Congratulations to all involved.

Our schools and pupils have achieved excellent A-Level results which are above the Welsh and UK averages. The overall pass rate of 97.9% (97.6% 2018) is above the Welsh average with 28.4%% being the top A*-A grades. This is particularly pleasing with Wales outperforming all regions of England and Northern Ireland at A Grade.

In all, 28.4% (26.0% in 2018) of our entrants gained an A* or A grade compared to 27.0% for all Wales. The overall pass rate of 97.9% in Swansea is better than the Welsh figure of 97.6%.  Overall 79.6% of grades were C or better in Swansea, compared to 76.3% for Wales.

Nearly 600 young people from Swansea schools sat the examinations with many now preparing to go on to university or other education and training. Our teachers, pupils and parents (many of whom work for the council) should all be proud of these results.

Pleasing performance

Despite our financial and staffing pressures we continue to perform well across many services. CMT this week discussed the latest Performance Monitoring Report.  The outturn for Quarter 1, 2019/20 shows that 63% of performance indicators in our Corporate Plan met their targets and 47% showed improvement compared to Quarter 1, 2018/19.  Given that these are stretching targets and the continuing pressure on finance and resources, this is a good result.  There are, however, some areas which will need specific focus and effort if we’re to realise our corporate priorities and ambitions.  Sickness levels remain a concern along with delayed transfers of care. Thanks to Richard Rowlands and his team for their work on this.

CMT also considered the Annual Equalities Report, the Education Welfare Service and a whole series of commissioning reviews covering Employability, Early Years Support Services, Specialist Family Support Services, Family Centres and Financial Inclusion.  These commissioning reviews need to ensure that our preventative work is targeted at those most in need and plan for grants ending as a result of Brexit.  Thanks to the staff who have worked very hard on all of these issues and produced excellent and comprehensive reports.

High 5s

On Wednesday the judging panel met to determine this year’s winners of the High 5 awards.  Now in its eighth year the task doesn’t get any easier and choosing from the 103 entries was a challenge. After much discussion and deliberation consensus was finally achieved and I’m now looking forward to the awards evening which will take place once again at the Liberty Stadium.

Service plans

Anyone who’s drafted or simply read one of our service plans knows it can be a complicated, if necessary, process. They set out what we’re going to do, the resources needed and how each service contributes to the corporate objectives. But it’s fair to say Heads of Service have wanted to change the current process and templates. So a group of HoS have recently reviewed our service planning and have proposed some changes, including:

•   monitoring and measuring in a meaningful way;

•    used alongside staff appraisals;

•    useful corporately;

•    a means of capturing workforce implications;

•    succinct and easily read and understood.

Directors and Heads of Service will discuss the proposals in September with a view to implementing changes for 2020/21. 

Good news and thanks

The issues with our telephones should now be resolved and all numbers have moved to our new unified comms telephone system. This is great news because it was the previous system that was causing the issues. Thank you to all staff for being patient during the problems, but special thanks to Jo Harley and her team for resolving these issues and for moving us across to the new system so quickly.

A pilot at one of our sheltered housing units has proved a huge success in bringing together older people and children. Working with XL Wales, an educational charity, older people at the complex and children from nearby Gendros primary school worked together on a number of hands-on skills and activities. As a result, not only have they developed new skills, but relationships between the generations have flourished. The pilot is now coming to an end and a measure of its success is that XL Wales want us to expand the scheme across the city. This is brilliant news and thanks to Cheryl Duffy, Senior Warden Practitioner, and her team as well as the older people and the school for all their efforts.

Well done to our officers involved in the recent court case after 70 trees, including a Redwood, were unlawfully cut down. This was a complex case but some great work from officers in especially planning and legal brought about a successful prosecution earlier this week.

We are heading inexorably towards 31^st October, the day that the UK seems destined to leave the European Union.  At this point in time there is the distinct possibility that there could be a no-deal scenario, meaning that the UK would immediately leave the European Union (EU) with no agreement about the “divorce” process.  Overnight, the UK would leave the single market and customs union as well as immediately leaving EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice and Europol. Membership of dozens of EU bodies that govern rules on everything from medicines to trade marks would end.  Most economists and business groups believe that a no-deal would lead to economic harm and the Office for Budget Responsibility has made their view clear; a no-deal Brexit would cause a UK recession. Collectively, in my view, we are not in a good place.

Local Government will have an important role to play in managing this potentially chaotic scenario and we have appointed a number of lead officers to manage this.  Adam Hill is our Strategic Lead and he will be supported by;

Richard Rowlands – Co-ordinator

Craig Gimblett – Civil contingencies lead

Paul Thomas – Community Cohesion Lead

Adrian Chard – workforce planning lead

Lee Wenham – Communications lead

The expectation from the UK Government is that the council will take all reasonable steps, in line with relevant guidance and messaging coming from Government and its agencies, to prepare for exit from the EU on 31 October. This should include clear communication to local residents and businesses to support their own preparations for Brexit and a plan for how the council would communicate important messages to stakeholders.   

Thanks to all the staff who are working on this over and above their current duties. In the meantime we can all hope that an alternative to a no-deal exit can be agreed.

CMT

This week the Corporate Management Team discussed a range of issues including children’s social care and the impending replacement of the existing Oracle system.

I am really pleased with the continued progress being made in Child and Family Services and the focus on improving outcomes through improved advice, information and assessment and better social work practice.  Children in need of care and support figures have reduced from 1,000 to 773, demonstrating the success of the IAA service following the systems thinking review and remodel. Child protection figures are stable at around 230, demonstrating the impact of the Signs of Safety practice framework that is supporting a risk-sensible approach to case management. The number of children needing to become looked after is reducing with staff demonstrating their skill in building relationships with children and families, and successfully intervening to support children to remain safely at home.

I know that staff across the council are working hard to improve services but given that this week’s focus was on this particular service area I would like to specifically thank staff in Child and Family Services for their continuing commitment and effort.

Thank you and congratulations

Thanks to all involved for re-opening Blackpill Lido as soon as possible following last week’s vandalism. Staff worked around the clock to get this popular attraction back open, in what was a painstaking task of jet-washing oil from the pool floor and cleaning out the ballast tank. Thanks to Nigel Lehane, Huw Facey, Paul Carr, Alex Fulford, Richard Hoolihan and Sam Naylor. Their work didn’t go unnoticed with the public who posted many appreciative comments on social media.

Richard Stafford, our bus station manager, came to the aid of a distressed member of the public. The young man had stated he was going to commit suicide, but Richard was on hand to offer support and after a number of hours of talking to him, Richard was able to convince him to go to hospital. The next day he contacted Richard to thank him. I want to add my thanks to Richard for his outstanding work and compassion.

Our education team, alongside staff at Clase Primary and partners in Parklife and the Ospreys, have been doing a great job at the school these past two weeks piloting the School Holiday Enrichment Pilot (SHEP) project. SHEP provides healthy meals, food and nutrition education, physical and other activities in areas of social deprivation. Children and their parents are enjoying the opportunities and if funding is available next year from WG we will look to extend across Swansea. My thanks to the teams for their work on this project.

Congratulations to Steve Sheehan, who has clocked up 45 years’ service. Steve works in Highways and Transportation and this is a magnificent achievement. Thank you for your outstanding service.

Our pension fund has been recognised in the LAPF Investments Awards which celebrate outstanding achievement in the Local Government Pension Scheme. It’s a finalist in the Best Approach to Sustainable Investing category in recognition of its environmental, social and governance policy and it’s very specific focus on significantly reducing its investment exposure to carbon.

Sad News

I was saddened to hear about the recent death of Eddie Ramsden MBE, former Director of Environmental Health in Swansea City Council.  I worked with Eddie for many years and he will be remembered for his expertise in his field and his dry wit.  Our thoughts go to his family and friends.