Archives for December 2019

Mae blwyddyn arall wedi hedfan wrth i ni agosáu at wyliau’r Nadolig ac mae llawer iawn wedi digwydd dros y deuddeng mis diwethaf. Yn fy mlog nesaf, byddaf yn myfyrio ar ddigwyddiadau 2019. Mae’r cyfnod dros y Nadolig yn gyfle i ddiolch i’r holl gynghorwyr a’r swyddogion sydd wedi gweithio’n ddiflino drwy gydol y flwyddyn i wella bywydau ein dinasyddion. Mae ymdopi â chaledi wedi bod yn heriol ac mae’r amgylchedd ariannol wedi golygu nad ydym yn gallu gwneud yr holl bethau yr hoffem eu gwneud. Fodd bynnag, gall pob un ohonom fod yn falch o’r cynnydd a wnaed hyd yn hyn. Ar ran y Tîm Rheoli Corfforaethol, diolch am eich ymrwymiad a’ch gwaith caled yn ystod 2019 ac rwy’n gobeithio caiff pob un ohonoch seibiant haeddiannol dymunol gyda’ch teuluoedd a’ch ffrindiau.

Another year seems to have flown by as we head into the Christmas holidays and much has happened in the past 12 months.  In my next blog I’ll be reflecting on the events of 2019. The Christmas break is an opportune moment to thank all the councillors and officers who have worked so hard throughout the year to improve the lives of all our citizens.  Coping with austerity has been challenging and the financial environment has meant that we cannot do all of the things we would ideally like to.  However, I think we can all be proud of the progress that has been made. On behalf of the Corporate Management Team I thank you for your commitment and industry during 2019 and I hope you all have an enjoyable well-earned break with your families and friends.

Here’s CMT’s little contribution to the festivities

A new tradition

An historic break with tradition took place at the Civic Carol Service last night at St Mary’s Church as our first-ever female Mace-Bearer took centre stage. The Mace-Bearer is a ceremonial duty that in Swansea dates back to the time of James I, yet until now we’ve never had a female perform the role. The honour of creating a new tradition went to our civic officer, Kath Banks, who discharged her duties with great professionalism alongside fellow Mace-Bearer Ian Williams and Lord Mayor, Cllr Peter Black. The Mace she was carrying was made in 1753 and has been borne before the Portreeves (predecessors of Mayors) and Mayors of Swansea for hundreds of years. Congratulations, Kath.

Christmas together in Swansea

A huge thank you to all our staff and councillors as well as our partners at JR Events who made the Together at Christmas event such a special day. More than 200 vulnerable people turned up and were served Xmas lunch by councillors, officers and volunteers. A great addition this year was the wrap-around services that included the food bank and clothes bank with donations from our trading standards team. Entertainment was provided by Cllr Andrea Lewis among others. A big thank you must also go to the local businesses that donated items and gave up their time. We’ve had great media coverage for this very worthwhile cause.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this year’s staff carol concert in the Civic Centre yesterday.  The Staff Choir once again hit the right notes in another great performance, raising money towards the Lord Mayor’s Charity Fund.  Thanks to all involved.

Well done

Congratulations to staff in Social Services who were recognised at the Patient Choice Awards. The awards give service users, their families and friends a chance to nominate staff members, teams and services that have made a real difference to their lives. The winners are too numerous to mention individually (as the photo shows) but span the whole range of work undertaken by Social Services. Thank you all.

Well done to all our staff who’ve been raising money and supporting charities during the festive period. Staff in the Civic raised £350 during their annual Xmas jumper day for the Wish Upon a Star charity, providing bereavement support for families who have lost a child or young adult.

And staff in Revenues and Benefits held their annual hamper raffle, raising £1,333 for Maggie’s Swansea thanks to the generosity of staff across the council. Apart from those who bought tickets, a big thank you also goes to those who donated items so that an amazing 43 prizes were given out. These are just two examples of the tremendous efforts and generosity of our staff.

Thank you

Congratulations to Steve Sheehan, a stores assistant at our Clydach depot, who’s is retiring after 45 years’ service. This is a tremendous service and we wish Steve all the best.

Nadolig llawen i chi i gyd

The blog is shorter than usual this week as I’m heading off to get some sleep following a challenging 24 hours overseeing the parliamentary elections.  It’s an exhausting process for all involved but the team did an amazing job. My thanks go to all those involved in this huge exercise at polling stations, answering the phones, at the count, handling the postal votes, and managing the infrastructure and the traffic.  It was, without doubt, the most efficiently organised election I have been involved in with results all being declared by around 3am.

A particular thanks to the staff at the polling stations I visited for making me feel so welcome.  I was slightly surprised to see live donkeys at one of the church polling stations but I suppose it’s almost Christmas.

Congratulations to our local MPs Tonia Antoniazzi, Carolyn Harris and Geraint Davies.

The outcome of the election is clear. The Conservative Party have won with a big majority and we will now need to prepare for the decisions that will flow from that, including Brexit.

ERW

Earlier in the week I attended the ERW Joint Committee which was a lively and productive meeting.  Progress on school improvement across the region was the main area of focus but the Joint Committee will need to consider the implications of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill that I’ve mentioned in my blog previously.  Of significant interest is the consideration of the best footprint for delivering school improvement services for the constituent councils and I suspect this will become the subject of further discussions in the weeks to come.

The PRU

Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams visited our PRU this week to meet staff and pupils and also visited the site in Cockett where a new home for the service is being built. Despite the challenges of the weather in recent weeks contractors Kier are on target to complete the development which will open in September next year. I’d like to thank them and our colleagues in education for their continued work in delivering this new school that will make a huge difference to some of our most vulnerable young people.

Thank you

I’m grateful to all our staff who responded so magnificently to the bus crash in Landore yesterday. Emergency services were confronted with horrific scenes and our thoughts are with those students who were on board the bus. And our staff in Highways, Corporate Building and Health and Safety, among others, did a great job in helping  at the scene.

I mentioned recently that as a nation we’ve failed to tackle rough sleeping, but a service is available so that we can all do our bit. With plummeting temperatures due this is more important than ever. Streetlink Cymru helps identify and assist rough sleepers. If you see someone sleeping rough you can make a referral to Streetlink 24 hours a day. They need the person’s location, the time they were seen and any information to help identify them. Our local services can then respond to ensure they receive help and support. The contact details are: www.streetlink.org.uk or 0300 500 0914. I hope we can all help by using Streetlink Cymru as our collective effort would have a huge impact.

This week Steve Porter, our Operations Manager for Community Housing Services, updated CMT and Cabinet on the Extreme Weather Plan for Rough Sleeping. We have strong partnerships in place and we discussed ways this could be strengthened if more resources came from the Welsh Government.

Cyflogwr Chwarae Teg

Rydym am i Gyngor Abertawe fod yn weithle lle gall pawb gyflawni ei botensial llawn ni waeth beth yw ei ryw. Rydym wedi bod yn gweithio ar lunio polisïau a mentrau i hyrwyddo cydraddoldeb rhywiol mewn partneriaeth â’r brif elusen cydraddoldeb rhywiol, Chwarae Teg, sydd newydd gyflwyno Gwobr Arian i ni fel rhan o’i chynllun Cyflogwyr Chwarae Teg.

Y Wobr Arian yw’r wobr orau y mae unrhyw sefydliad erioed wedi’i derbyn, felly mae’n gydnabyddiaeth fawr i bob aelod o staff sydd wedi bod yn rhan o’r gwaith.

Fairplay Employer

We want Swansea Council to be a workplace where everybody is able to achieve their full potential regardless of their gender. We’ve been working on policies and initiatives to promote gender equality in partnership with leading gender equality charity Chwarae Teg, who have just presented us with a Silver Award in their Fairplay Employer scheme. 

Silver is the highest any organisation has achieved, so this is great recognition to all the staff who’ve been involved.

Additional Learning Needs

CMT looked at the complex and critical issue of Additional Learning Needs (ALN).  We now have a better understanding of the impact of the new legislation and the draft code has set out our legal obligations.  There’s a three-year implementation period and communication from the Welsh Government indicated they’ve extended the preparation time until September 2021. 

We still have major concerns about the financial implications of the new duties and the extension of eligibility from 0-25 years.  I hope at some point there’ll be more resources. It’s clear we’ll need to manage the potential costs and risks associated with the new legislation and changing demand, ensure resilience in the ALNU staffing structure, and improve performance and capacity to meet the new duties.

Over the next few weeks the issue will be discussed in detail with Cabinet.  Thanks to Mark Sheridan for setting out the facts so clearly and for answering the barrage of questions from CMT members.

Great Western Gateway

Yesterday the Leader and I met with Katherine Bennett CBE who’s the independent chair of the Great Western Gateway.  It’s the fourth powerhouse development in the UK, after the Northern Powerhouse, the Midlands Engine and the Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Oxford corridor.  It’s a strategic partnership promoting and maximising economic growth across South Wales and the West of England to create jobs, boost prosperity and support the region’s world-renowned universities and businesses.  It links a number of towns and cities either side of the Severn.  Swansea, Cardiff and Newport are all engaged in the partnership. Katherine is senior UK Vice President of Airbus UK and a major figure in British Industry so it was a great opportunity for us to show her how Swansea is transforming its economic fortunes.  

Exercise your right

For many people the past few months have been filled with political debate and information.  I know many people feel overloaded by all this, but it’s important everyone expresses their views via the ballot box.  I hope as many of you as possible will do just that next Thursday and exercise the rights we should never take for granted. I’ll be working with the elections team to ensure a smooth and efficient ballot and thanks to all involved in it.  I’d also like to thank councillors and officers for observing the Purdah rules during the pre-election period. 

Congratulations and thank you

Swansea Market has been voted in the top 10 to find Britain’s favourite market. We are up against the likes of Chester, Newcastle and Shrewsbury in the Great British Market Awards.

This week we thanked volunteers who make a difference to the lives of children by giving up their time to organise and run play opportunities across our city. More than 30 attended a presentation at the Mansion House and I’d like to add my thanks for their efforts.