Archives for April 2022

The way we engage young people and provide services is certain to change now that 16 and 17-year-olds can vote in elections. Young people will have a greater say in matters that interest and concern them, and for us, as a corporate parent, we must constantly focus on our responsibilities to those in our care.

That’s why I was delighted to hear the amazing progress being made by our teams in education and social services in taking us to a new level of engagement via a new Pupil Manifesto. Secondary school teachers and pupils have developed a ‘pupil voice manifesto’ for Swansea. As a result:

• Young people have identified issues important to them and produced a manifesto for the council to act upon in the coming months.
• The Manifesto will be presented to Full Council.
• It will have actions for all parts of the Council, but I think the effort needed by officers will give us so much more in return.
• Some of the key areas for students across Swansea include safety (both in schools and the community), environmental issues, travel and mental health.

This is a really exciting development which has the potential to change the way we do things for the better. Thanks to Helen Morgan Rees and Rhodri Jones and everyone else involved in this work.

Elections

On Wednesday I popped in to see how things were progressing with the opening of postal votes and was impressed by the flurry of activity. Almost 33,000 postal votes were sent out and about 13,000 have already been returned. It was great to see some friends from my days in Housing alongside the busy staff. It was also reassuring to see that the ballot boxes and sundries were being prepared. A huge thank you to all of them for their commitment.  It’s a massive and complex task but it’s in safe and experienced hands.

Farewell

This week our Head of Education Planning and Resources, Brian Roles, is retiring.  I’ve worked closely with Brian for many years so in a way I feel qualified to pay tribute to him.  We have an excellent education service and fantastic schools and Brian has been a key player in this over many years.  I’ve personally found his advice to be consistent, reliable and intelligent.  His dry sense of humour has provoked many a chuckle from me at CMT, and his self-effacing and modest air is an exemplar for managers in local government.  We will miss his knowledge and expertise but he has served his time and we wish him all the best for a long and happy retirement.

We’re losing another long-standing and committed colleague, Graham Watkins, who’s worked for the council for 37 years.  He started at Heol Las and moved to Primrose park and Morriston park before working at Morriston cemetery. He’s been an invaluable member of the team and will be missed by all who have worked with him over the years.  Well done Graham and happy retirement.

Awards

Congratulations to our Beyond Bricks and Mortar team who’ve won a major award in recognition of their work on the Copr Bay project. The three-person team won the social value category at the GO Awards Wales, which celebrate the best procurement achievements from public, private and third sector organisations across the country. Beyond Bricks and Mortar is a council regeneration and procurement policy that ensures local businesses benefit from supply chain opportunities and secures apprenticeship, training and employment places for the long-term unemployed and economically inactive. Despite the impact of the pandemic, the team exceeded its targets for the £135m Copr Bay phase one development. They will now represent Wales in the social value category at the forthcoming UK-wide Go Awards. 

Steve Brown, Head teacher at Clwyd Community Primary, has been shortlisted for the Pearson Head Teacher of the Year National Award. Under Steve’s leadership the school has made huge progress during that time and I know the governors, staff and pupils are delighted for Steve and we all wish him well in the final.

The upcoming elections are becoming the focus for many staff as we prepare for the ballot on May 5.

Changes to the franchise and ward boundaries have made this one of the most complex elections I can remember, but our team are doing a fantastic job handling the logistics.  Yesterday around 33,000 postal votes were sent to the Royal Mail.  Preparing for this took our 55 staff both Easter Saturday and Easter Monday, and I’m hugely indebted to them for working through the holidays.  There are 32 ballot papers for the Swansea council election and 12 for community councils so it’s a complicated and time-consuming process.  The postal vote process is just a part of the election preparation. Whilst this was being done, the team still had to prepare the ballot boxes and contents for the polling stations, assist with queries from candidates and agents and the public.  Accuracy is critical in this task as when things go wrong it can have a catastrophic impact on the democratic process and Swansea’s reputation.  Thanks to all in the election team and DesignPrint.

We’re also looking to create a reserve list of Presiding Officers (POs). Volunteers will be offered training to ensure they fully understand the role and the responsibility, thereby reassuring any staff who may be nervous about coming forward. So if you can answer yes to at least one of the following questions then please contact: elections@swansea.gov.uk

• Have you ever worked as a Presiding Officer?
• Have you worked as a Poll Clerk at least 3 times?

As always, I’ll be reminding everyone on a regular basis to cast their vote at the forthcoming elections.  I’ve always thought that failure to do so leaves people with no right to criticise the consequences or outcome.  So please encourage as many people as possible to turn out on May 5.

Vital work

Staff in our Regional Partnership Board have been working on assessing people’s support needs to help us develop services for the next five years. The population needs assessment has looked at well-being issues such as people and carers who need care and support, whether these needs are being met and the range of services required. Thanks to the West Glamorgan Transformation Team, especially Kelly Gillings, Colin Goddard, Kirsty Roderick and Nicola Trotman

Great effort

With the cost of living crisis deepening for many people, I’m delighted that our teams in Finance, service centre and ICT have worked so hard to ensure we’ve been making the £150 payments to eligible people. It’s been a great effort and Cabinet yesterday also gave their thanks and praise to our staff involved.

Happy retirement

Lynne Price, our Homes Preparation Unit Manager, is retiring this month after an incredible 40 years’ service.  Lynne has worked in a number of roles throughout the service and has managed a number of area housing office teams. She takes with her a wealth of knowledge and experience and will be sorely missed. Lynne and I were born on the same day and spent many happy years working together as district housing managers in Penlan and Blaenymaes/Portmead.  Congratulations and thank you for all your work during that time.

The Welsh Government has again eased the pandemic restrictions. As the First Minister says, Covid-19 is still with us so we are continuing to take a cautious, step-by-step approach to the transition.

It remains the law that staff must wear a mask while working in social care and health settings. We’re also continuing to encourage staff to wear masks when they are moving around our buildings and when they are sharing council vehicles. Staff working in our offices should also continue to book a desk and keep their distance from others when they come to work.

Advice on LFD testing kits has also changed which means you won’t be able to pick them up from internal collection points in future. But they will continue to be made available to staff who work in social care and special educational settings. There’s more information here about how to apply for a test if you’ve got Covid symptoms

We’ll be discussing with our union colleagues how we can continue to keep our staff safe. But it’s worth remembering the Welsh Government’s current Covid-19 guidance:

• Stay at home (self-isolate) if you are ill or if you test positive for coronavirus.
• Wear a face covering in crowded indoor public places.
• Meet outdoors where possible and ensure indoor areas are well ventilated if meeting indoors.
• Take additional precautions when visiting vulnerable people. Avoid meeting them if possible if you have any symptoms of a respiratory infection.
• Wash hands regularly and cover coughs and sneezes.

Congratulations

Following Martin Nicholls’ promotion to interim Chief Executive, I’m very pleased to report that Mark Wade has been appointed interim Director of Place. Full Council made the decision at its meeting last night and Mark will start his new role on May 25 when Martin takes over from me. Mark is very well-known around the council and among our external partners for his leadership during the pandemic as Head of Housing and Public Health. Congratulations Mark, we all wish you well with your new appointment.

Thank you

A big thank-you to Julian Morgans and his team in finance and to the ICT team for pulling out all the stops to get the Welsh Government’s £150 cost of living grants into people’s bank accounts. We were the first local authority in Wales to get the payments made and tens of thousands of householders are feeling the benefit of a much-needed financial boost.

I also want to express my gratitude to all those working through the Bank Holiday period to support our communities, ensuring we continue to be there for the people of Swansea. To those of you who are taking a break, thanks for your service and I hope you come back fully refreshed.

We’re managing the transition from the Covid pandemic to endemic cautiously and we’ll be talking to unions in the coming weeks to ensure those returning to the workplace can do so safely. There’s new signage and enhanced cleaning arrangements in our buildings and staff can still choose to wear masks and keep a safe distance.

We’re also planning for the medium to longer term with our agile working plans which are progressing well. We’re aiming for a two to one desk ratio in our buildings, and the Guildhall changes for agile working will be complete next year. After that we hope to have staff in the planned public sector hub in 2025.

Our discussions with Cabinet Members on how we progress these plans are continuing and this will pick up after the elections in May.

Lessons learned by us

My thanks to our staff and other agencies who came together to help avoid a potential repeat of last year’s troubles at Mayhill. Having had intelligence that a similar gathering was due to take place, we worked closely with police and the community to ensure a planned vigil went ahead peacefully.

The community rightly feel they were let down during the disorder in May 2021, but I hope they now feel we’ve learned the lessons of what happened and have put those into action. Those responsible for those disturbances are going through the courts and hopefully that will also deter others.

Ukraine

Our first two families have arrived from Ukraine and have had a warm welcome. Helen Clancy, our Migration, Asylum Seeker and Refugee Coordinator, has done a fantastic job despite some real communication challenges and a huge number of gaps in the process of relocation. I’m really grateful for her continued efforts to make some sense of it.

Trade Unions

This week Martin Nicholls and I had an introductory meeting with the new regional organiser for Unison Joe Donnelly.  Our relationship with trade unions is very important and we had a productive discussion about the challenges we‘ll collectively face over the next Council term. Finance was high on the list and it’ll be important for us to deliver a consistent message to national governments about the importance of local councils in supporting the communities we serve. 

Royal approval

Thank you to everyone who recently worked on the event at our new coastal park alongside the Swansea Arena to launch the Queen’s Green Canopy scheme. We were joined by Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who spent time chatting to children and organisations from across Swansea. The Green Canopy have written to thank us for hosting such a great event. This is another example of our reputation as a city and council being improved. Well done to Lee Richards and all the staff involved.

Thanks

Well done to Rachel Mabula and Darren Richards who’ve made it possible for the Swansea & District Writers’ Circle to meet in the Guildhall. They’ve written to me to express their gratitude and is another example of our staff going the extra mile for customers.

We’ve introduced new guidance for staff because it’s no longer a legal requirement for those with Covid to self-isolate.

Our advice to staff is that anyone who tests positive for Covid should self-isolate and avoid social contact for five days to protect themselves, their loved ones, colleagues and the wider community.

If you feel well enough to continue working you can do so from home, but if this isn’t possible you should discuss arrangements with your line manager.

This only applies to those who have tested positive, not contacts of positive cases who would attend work as normal in line with WG guidance here: https://gov.wales/self-isolation

Day one of the isolation period is the day after your symptoms started or the day you had the positive test (whichever is earlier). You should then take a lateral flow test (LFT) on day five and six before returning to the workplace if the test is negative.

The number of positive cases in Swansea and most of Wales continues to rise, so we all need to play our part to stop further transmission by acting responsibly to protect each other from flu, colds and other diseases, not just Covid.

We’ll continue to review the advice and update staff. In the meantime, lateral flow tests are still available to order online if you have symptoms.

Apply for election work now

Our Electoral Services Team needs more staff to work at election polling stations on May 5. You’ll be given training and be paid for the job. The fee will be a gross fee (before tax) of £318 for a Presiding Officer and £212 for a Polling Clerk.

If you have been a poll clerk three times or more we would welcome an application from you to be a Presiding Officer.

If you have already applied for a role, you do not need to apply again. We do not need any more applications for jobs at the count on May 6.

Find out more at this link

Our heroes

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Thanks to our community cohesion team for helping to organise awards honouring our unsung heroes who helped the people of Swansea through the pandemic. Certificates were presented to more than 80 individuals and organisations – and trophies went to 34 others. The help they have provided to local communities during the Covid crisis has ranged from emergency food supplies to online social conversations and from essential medical deliveries to family shopping.

Great effort!

Our Beyond Bricks and Mortar team has been shortlisted as a finalist at this year’s GO Awards Wales.  The GO Awards Wales celebrates the very best procurement achievements from across Wales’ public, private and third sectors.  The team has been recognised for embedding community benefits in our procurement activity to create added value for Swansea residents and businesses.

Best wishes

Lynda Grove, our Strategic Housing Customer and Service Development Manager, is retiring after 36 years’ service. Lynda started as a clerical officer and worked as a rent collector before moving to our Strategic Housing team, having developed a huge amount of experience and knowledge and working on many major housing projects.

I know Lynda well from our time together in Housing and have many happy memories. Have a long and happy retirement, I know you’ll be greatly missed by colleagues in Housing!

Farewell to Alisa Ashton who is leaving today, also after 36 years with the council.  She started off in HR before moving to Revs and Bens in Finance where she has worked ever since. Thank you very much for your service, Alisha.