Archives for March 2021

There’s a new legal duty coming into force next week that’s going to affect the way all of us work and support local communities.

The aim is to deliver better outcomes for those people who experience socio-economic disadvantage. I think we can all agree that regardless of this being a legal duty, this is something we should all be aiming for anyway and I know there are already many examples of us doing this every day.

But with it now written in law, we all need to ensure when deciding priorities and setting objectives how our decisions might help reduce the inequalities related to socio-economic disadvantage.

Some officers will already be familiar with our existing equality impact assessments (EIA) that we complete when taking decisions. This new socio-economic duty builds on that and officers have been adapting our existing EIA to include it in a new integrated impact assessment to be rolled-out to services shortly.

I’m hoping it’ll also help us build new relationships with our communities, by involving them and taking account of their needs. And our work on co-production, where we plan and shape services working with communities, is another way of doing this.  I’m looking forward to being involved in the work of the Poverty Truth Commission which offers the opportunity for us to have a direct dialogue with people impacted by poverty and to make sure their voices are heard.

I’m grateful to Catherine Window for working through the detail with CMT.  You can see her presentation here.

CJCs

The Leader and I continued our regional collaboration dialogue with the Minister for Housing and Local Government this week, along with our counterparts from Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Neath Port Talbot.  Over the coming weeks we’ll be developing proposals to establish a Corporate Joint Committee for the region, in line with the requirements of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act.  We’ll update councillors and officers as work progresses.  Thanks to Ben Smith and Martin Nicholls for their important contributions.

Accommodation

Cabinet and CMT discussed our accommodation strategy this week, a hot topic not just here but across the UK as we see major employers re-thinking the way their staff work after a year of home-working for many.

The pandemic has changed how we’re going to work and where we’re going to work. One of our tasks is to balance the need to be agile and work remotely, and having people work in the city centre as we re-purpose the high street. Lots of work is already under way and we’re now consulting on proposals to turn the former BHS store in Oxford Street into a new hub housing some of our face-to-face services alongside other organisations. You can have your say on these proposals here.

Congratulations to Ciara Lynch who’s been shortlisted for the Higher Apprentice of the Year award at the prestigious Apprenticeship Awards Cymru. Ciara is making a name for herself in construction and civil engineering and has already achieved a HNC in Construction and the Built Environment and a Higher Apprenticeship Level 4 in Construction Site Supervision, and has now begun a Degree in Civil Engineering. This is a great achievement and good luck at next month’s awards.

Ken Probert, a member of our security team and a familiar face to many, is retiring. Ken has been with us for 18 years, having previously been a firefighter and at 3M in Gorseinon. Thanks for your service Ken, have a long and happy retirement.

We’re about to enter the pre-election period (PEP) which will affect how we do things from Monday. 

It’s always a tricky period trying to get the balance right because we need to follow the PEP rules whilst still running this huge organisation and providing vital services every day.

We can still continue normal council business and publish factual information to counteract misleading, controversial or extreme information.

But PEP means we need to remain impartial, and in particular we should not:

• Produce publicity on matters which are politically controversial.
• Make reference to candidates or political groups in press releases or give prominence or publicity to any particular candidate.
• Arrange proactive media or events involving candidates.
• Issue photographs which include candidates.
• Supply council photographs or other materials to councillors or political group staff unless you have verified that they will not be used for campaigning purposes.
• Help with national political visits. These should be organised by political parties with no cost or resource implications for the council.

Any publicity/media issues should be referred to our communications team in the normal way, whilst staff who manage our many social media accounts in various service areas should read the guidance as there are specific rules to follow.

I’ve only given a brief summary, so please see the detailed guidance here.

As regional and local returning officer I’d also ask you to exercise your right to vote in the upcoming elections.  It’s your opportunity to help determine who’ll govern us over the coming years and whilst we can all be critical of our elected leaders, that right is diminished if we fail to place our votes.  You can apply for a postal vote if you are concerned about voting in person.

Yesterday the Cabinet agreed an economic recovery action plan for the city which aims to help lead the way into the post-pandemic era. Tourism alone employs nearly 6,000 people and generates around £477m a year in economic benefit for the city, but along with hospitality businesses it’s borne much of the brunt of the pandemic. The package aims to revitalise these areas by supporting businesses to access grants and to adapt to social distancing and outdoor trading, investment in the city centre, two marketing campaigns to attract staycationers, using vacant properties for new businesses and for shows and events, championing local food producers and providing skills and training to help people get jobs

Thank you to the officers and Members who’ve brought together this vital package to boost our local economy as we emerge from the pandemic. 

I’ve asked officers to organise a seminar for all councillors in the next couple of weeks so that all our elected members can ask any questions about this important strategy.  Over the last few months I’ve become increasingly convinced that the future of our local economy depends critically on what we do in local government to work with the private sector to support our local and regional economy.

Outstanding efforts

Our staff have responded brilliantly in supporting tenants at Matthew Street flats. It’s only a week ago that we had to evacuate almost the entire block of more than 60 homes due to someone setting off the sprinkler system which affected the electrics and other vital services. Having quickly re-housed tenants in local hotels and provided support and transport, officers have been working to restore supplies and get tenants back home. It’s amazing that in such a short time we’ve managed to get more than half of the tenants back home, with the rest hopefully following in the coming days. This has been a massive effort by staff across many services who’ve worked together to sort this out quickly and effectively. There are too many to mention, but thank you for all for your outstanding efforts.

We’ve secured funding to modernise our committee meetings and involve the public in meetings. We’re converting the Guildhall’s Gloucester Room into a conference room for 32 delegates and a public gallery with TV viewing screens, microphones and webcasting facilities. It’ll host our committees and cabinet meetings, freeing-up existing rooms. We’ll also be improving the audio and visual facilities in the Council Chamber. Well done to Huw Evans and Democratic Services for securing the Welsh Government funding.

Colleagues in ICT have done another great job in getting two projects funded by the Welsh Government to expand our use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies across Swansea. This means the use of sensors to help us deliver services. We’re already using some sensors, for example footfall and air pollution, but these two projects will help us move forward and be a SMART City.

If you haven’t already, please complete your census form. Although it’s the law, filling out the form has a direct impact on the amount of grant and other support the council receives from UK and Welsh governments as payments are influenced by official population numbers. There’s more here: www.census.gov.uk

Finally can I wish good luck to the national rugby team for a Grand Slam in Paris and to our local football club in the most important match of the season. 

Following discussions with political group leaders I’m undertaking a review of senior management.  By that I mean the structure of the corporate management team and heads of service.  These roles are determined by full Council and the review, supported by the Welsh Local Government Association, will be reported to our councillors who will then decide the appropriate structure.  Many Welsh councils are currently doing this as they adjust to the process of recovery from the pandemic and brace themselves for potential cuts in the context of an economy that has shrunk by more than 10% following the pandemic.  We’ve performed well during the pandemic but we must prepare ourselves for an uncertain future.

The existing structure has been largely unchanged for a number of years.  It was developed to ensure there was sufficient capacity and expertise to deal with the local, regional and national challenges facing the city and the Council.  It’s been largely successful in doing so, but the world has changed rapidly and the delivery of the Recovery Plan is now a central driver for us.  A number of temporary changes have been made to the senior management structure and these will need to formalised where appropriate.

The Local Government & Elections (Wales) Act places a number of new duties on local councils including alternative arrangements for performance improvement and a requirement to collaborate regionally.  The structure must be appropriate to deliver these new duties.  In the context of future financial challenges it’s important the cost of the structure is appropriate whilst ensuring we have resilience to deliver the recovery programme.  We’re facing potentially significant reductions in resources and this will impact on the size of the whole organisation. Senior management should lead by example in ensuring efficiency and economy.

The challenges we face can by crystallised into four main areas:

• the social care system and the absorption of the lessons learned in terms of integrated working with health.
• an education system that has suffered massive disruption to the development of a cohort of our young people.
• a financial system that potentially faces another period of prolonged austerity.
• an economic infrastructure that is rapidly becoming obsolete as global economic trends force rapid change.

This is not all that we do but must be the core priorities for the organisation and the city.  At the same time two cross-cutting themes must run through the analysis.  Firstly, the need to maintain a pace of organisational transformation through the effective management of people, buildings and ICT capacity.  We’ve made huge progress in adapting to the brave new world and this must continue.  Secondly, to drive forward regional collaboration to deliver more coherent plans and more efficient services.  These two themes will be fundamental in the management of change. 

I’m conscious this creates uncertainty for all those impacted by the review, so I’m aiming to complete it as quickly as possible whilst taking as many views as I can and absorbing the external independent advice. I aim to complete it before the end of April in readiness to report to Council shortly thereafter.

A huge thank-you to our officers who came together to support and evacuate more than 100 residents from one of our housing blocks yesterday.

It seems somebody deliberately set-off the sprinkler system at Matthew Street flats, causing damage to the power supply which will take a number of days to restore. Our officers were quickly at the scene to assess the damage and re-house the residents at short notice. This was a huge operation involving many services to ensure residents were reassured, transported, fed and provided with alternative accommodation. I can’t thank the staff enough. This was a magnificent effort which highlights how our staff go above and beyond every day. Thankfully this kind of incident is rare, but I’m proud of everyone’s efforts in doing whatever they can to protect and support the public.

Similarly, staff from a number of services stepped up after a fire at YG Pontybrenin. Thanks to the efforts of council and school staff they hope to be back in school on Monday. Head teacher Ceri Scourfield thanked me for the work our staff had done. Ceri said: “I can honestly say that the support schools within Swansea receive from the L.A is unmatched and I know that my head teacher colleagues would agree with this.” 

“There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”   (Oscar Wilde)

• 

Well, the new bridge across Oystermouth Road has done what every effective piece of public art should do; stimulate a debate.  I’ve watched this debate with interest and it’s encouraging that so many people care about the look and feel of their city.  Whatever your view, the important thing for me is such landmarks must be distinctive and unique.  The Trevi Fountain, the Arc de Triomphe and the Guggenheim Centre are not everyone’s cup of tea but you instantly know where you are when you see them.  Thanks to the team working on this brilliant and innovative project.  I look forward to seeing how lighting will further improve this excellent new statement in our public realm.

Regional working

I’ve been in discussion with Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire about school improvement in this region. Sadly, colleagues in Neath and Port Talbot don’t wish to be part of a new organisation to replace ERW. This dilutes the power created by having our economic ambitions on the same regional footprint as our education and skills collaboration.  But we’ll have to live with it.  The views of head teachers are being factored into our thinking about how we can best support the roll-out of the curriculum and the professional development of teachers and leaders.  Once the way forward is identified I’ll discuss future plans with our head teachers and other stakeholders.

This week we’ve had the unusual sight of three budgets in a row: UK Government, Welsh Government and last, but by no means least, our own, and not all quite in the right order.  Responding to a flurry of announcement and counter announcements and working out what’s new. old, re-badged or yet to be given money has been a challenge to say the least. It’s all had to be done at breakneck speed with the continued uncertainty of Covid and the wider economic impact.  Ben Smith and I, as well as Members, noted and thanked the efforts of all finance staff working under these testing conditions.  The ever-flamboyant Ben has been outstanding on the national stage, as has the Leader, both ensuring that the needs of the city are properly reflected in Welsh Government thinking. 

The UK Government announced longer-term tax plans and a range of stimulus measures that will affect Swansea residents directly or indirectly through measures such as the furlough extension, tax rate changes and continued  benefits uplifts, especially to Universal Credit. There’ll be major Barnett consequentials for Wales to come in due course. Some £740m and I’m sure the Welsh Government will announce further proposals flowing from this quite soon. It’s nice to hear Swansea mentioned in the Chancellor’s speech in the Commons with the very specific announcement of faster funding for the Swansea Bay City Deal.  Given our projects are the most advanced in terms of delivery this’ll be a welcome bonus for us.

There’s no new money for local government more generally at this stage, no news on public sector pay nor any changes to council tax assumptions which were factored in at up to around 5% in both England and Wales already.

The Welsh Government final budget was announced before the Chancellor’s. Unsurprisingly, there were few new announcements directly affecting us as a Council, including confirmation of no change to our own local government finance settlement. There’ll clearly though be several in-year releases of cash to help address Covid costs and hardship costs in all councils which face continued loss of income, loss of council tax, loss of business rates and increased spending on keeping care homes and schools and all other services safe as we hope to return to some greater normality.

Our own budget went to Council on Thursday night with a packed agenda and last minute tweaks, given the two other budgets. Steps and measures we’ve taken meant Members were able to agree a balanced budget and set a council tax increase below the assumptions made by Welsh and UK governments.

We can be fairly sure that in the new year we’ll see a wave of new UK and Welsh government interventions and budget tweaks and we can expect the same for our own finances. All very much a moveable feast.

Longer term the outlook remains challenging for the public sector and all of us can expect to have to tighten our belts on our spending and once the taxman has had his share.  The economy shrank by 10% last year and will take a long time to recover so Ben and I continue to emphasise the long-term need for financial discipline over the medium-term.

Good news

The Covid infection rates continue to fall and the vaccination programme is making great progress in Swansea. And the return to school for our youngest pupils has continued to go well this week with all the Foundation Phase pupils now back in class. We’re working with schools for more pupils safely returning from March 15 and there’s a lot of planning to do. The Welsh Government wants all primary pupils back from this date along with pupils in exam years 11 and 13, plus some pupils in years 10 and 12 sitting exams.

This week the Minister said schools will be allowed to decide whether to give 11 to 14-year-olds the opportunity to see teachers face-to-face before the Easter holidays begin and we’re looking at how that could work.

There’s some good financial news with our Corporate Property team finalising some important purchases. The acquisition of Quay West, off The Strand, and a number of Enterprise Zone properties offers the probability of strong financial returns for the council as we face an uncertain financial future.

This weekend we’ll be installing our landmark Copr Bay bridge over Oystermouth Road in a painstaking event overnight.  It’ll be a number of months before the pedestrian and cyclist bridge linking our £135m digital arena and coastal park to the city centre will be ready for use by the public, but the eye-catching bridge is key to our regeneration plans. Despite the pandemic we’ve continued to press ahead with the arena and the bridge and my thanks to Lee Richards and his team and our contractors for their outstanding efforts.

It’s always great news when we get national recognition for one of our local innovations. Yesterday APSE Energy at its annual energy summit announced we’ve won a competition for five days of free consultancy support for our innovative ‘Net Zero Swansea’ Remote Working Toolkit. The toolkit aims to help people working at home to reduce carbon and their impact on the environment while saving money, time and promoting wellbeing. Well done to Martin Nicholls and the team for their efforts.

Thanks

Dave Stares, Parks Fleet and Operational Area Manager, is retiring after 39 years’ service. Dave spent his entire career working for the parks service and over the years he has covered many roles, starting as a gardener in Clyne Park before moving into a number of managerial positions. I wish him well in his retirement.