The vaccination programme continues to roll-out and we’ve now given the jab to more than 80,000 people in the region.
It comes as Wales is the first of the UK nations to vaccinate 20% of its population and the infection rate for Swansea is now below 70 per 100,000 people. That’s the lowest it’s been for a number of months and it’s continuing to go down. However, now is not the time to get complacent because the emerging variants continue to worry health officials so we all need to continue taking steps to avoid gathering and spreading the virus. But it’s worth acknowledging the work put in to set up vaccine centres, distribute the vaccines and organise appointments at great pace and efficiency. It’s been an incredible effort and shows joint-working between ourselves, Neath Port Talbot and the health board at its best. Thank you to everyone involved.
Collaboration has been the theme of my week so far. The Regional Partnership Board met on Monday to discuss the management of health and care during the pandemic. The ERW joint committee met on Tuesday to discuss the future collaboration proposals and the work done during the pandemic to support schools and learners remotely. And yesterday the City Deal joint committee met to review progress on the regional economic development projects.
Clearly, there’s a good deal of collaboration taking place but these are separate and unconnected partnerships all operating currently on different regional footprints. The Welsh Government legislation on corporate joint committees aims to take this collaborative activity to the next level, but this will require all councils to agree on a common footprint, hopefully adopting the four council City Deal partnership as the template. I think we’ll be missing a trick if we fail to work together to achieve it. It will not be through want of effort from our officers and councillors and I’d like to thank our senior teams for their leadership and ambition. The next few weeks will be critical in securing agreement.
Still on the topic of regional working, I chaired a session in my role as Regional Returning Officer for elections with the returning officers and their teams from NPT and Bridgend. The Welsh Government is currently planning to press ahead with the Senedd elections on 6th May along with the polls for the police and crime commissioners and local by-elections, where required. In the current circumstances this presents some real challenges in running the poll and the election count in line with the necessary restrictions for Covid-19. Our main priority will be the safety and well-being of the public and staff involved in the election process. Huw Evans and Alison O’Hara in our elections team are working closely with Craig Gimblett and his health and safety team to ensure this happens. Unfortunately, a number of our usual polling stations will be unavailable because of the impacts of the pandemic and we’re considering options and alternatives. Over the coming weeks we’ll finalise the arrangements in line with national guidelines so that the democratic process can proceed properly.
Thank you
Cabinet will next week discuss our budget proposals so thank you to everyone who responded to the consultation. But in this oddest of years, we’ve been informed there may be more funding available at this late stage with both the UK and Welsh Government making announcements in early March. As you can imagine, we’re pressing our case for more money to help with our recovery plan. It’s been another great effort from our Finance team to sort the latest grants to businesses this week. Many of our businesses are in dire straits and I’m grateful to the team for providing this lifeline as quickly as possible. And thanks to our education and school staff for all their work in helping to prepare schools to re-open for our youngest pupils from February 22. The Monday and Tuesday will be used by schools as planning days with some pupils returning from the Wednesday and all Foundation Phase year groups starting to return by Friday 26 February.
Great news that the youngest children can return to education in schools. What changes have been made to the regulations since December that require 2 days of planning before they can open ?
Hi Michelle,
Thank you very much for asking. Schools were using the days to plan for lateral flow testing and staff training in relation to it, working on risk assessments and working through updates on operational guidance so that pupils and staff would be kept safe as classes returned. This approach was taken across most, if not all, of Wales. The steps were taken in line with a Welsh Government request that teachers should not be asked to work through the half-term to complete this extra work.
Phil