Archives for May 2023

We’re developing a new customer charter and service standards setting out how people can contact us and what they can expect in the way we respond to them.

We’re such a large organisation with countless services, customers now access us through a range of ways which can often be confusing for them and us and can lead to delays. But the new charter and standards guide customers on how best to contact us and set out our commitment to respond, which will differ for different services and teams. It also gives services the opportunity to set out deliverable responses based on the capacity of their teams. The main ways of contact are still email, online and phone. It’ll be a huge help for customers, but it’s also important our staff are aware of the details so we can do our bit in responding and meeting our commitments. We’re doing a bit more work on it, but as soon as it’s complete I’ll provide further details and managers across the council will be asked to engage their teams. We’re looking to launch by early September. This will build on the fantastic service you provide every day to thousands of customers and make it easier for customers and staff.

Our staff engagement group met again yesterday and we discussed a draft strategy for how we can engage and communicate with staff across the council. This has been a priority for me since coming into post so seeing progress on this is great as it’s seeing some really good existing practices. The strategy will be based on what you and the group have said you want to see happening, as well as looking at what other organisations do. The engagement group will give further feedback, and then I’ll circulate for wider comment but feel free to send any ideas through in the meantime.

I also wanted to repeat my offer that if you are having any staff engagement sessions that you would like me to come along to I would be more than happy to try and accommodate. I think it’s important to be visible and its not my intention to interfere but the offer is there to all teams across the Council

The Council’s annual review of performance shows our staff are performing well, despite increasing and changing demands on our services. The report went to CMT this week, and subject to some amendments will go through to Cabinet for consideration. At the same time we discussed putting together a new suite of performance indicators across the council which will better reflect the new corporate plan and priorities. We’ll be doing further work with heads of service and managers and will shortly be discussing with cabinet to seek political approval for the suggested changes.

Our Cabinet and CMT away day yesterday had an update from our Head of Service Julie Davies on our child and family services which shows staff are performing well under huge pressures. I’m grateful to Julie and all of her staff for their efforts. We also had an update on our capital programme and we’ll be prioritising schemes for the coming years. Thanks to Geoff Bacon and the team for their work on this.

I attended a Solace briefing of recently appointed chief executives this week. It was a good opportunity to see what others are doing, and it was reassuring to see the issues we face are very similar to other councils, including increasing demand and budget pressures. I’m not complacent but I’m confident we’re on the right track.

Finally, congratulations to Lesley Carlsen, DesignPrint Administrator, who retires after 40 years’ service. Christine Bale is also retiring after 37 years as warden of Conway Court in Penlan. Best wishes to both of you for for a long and happy retirement.

There are more opportunities for you to have your say on what we’re doing and any changes you’d like to make.

I’m holding a Let’s Talk session on Tuesday 10am until 11.30am where I’ll be reflecting on my first year in post and future priorities. You can watch the chat and also ask questions at the end – it’d be great to see as many of you as possible and you can register here

Also, our staff engagement group are asking their colleagues about how they’d like to see communications and engagement shaped in their area. Like many other things here, it isn’t one size fits all so I’m keen to find out what’ll work best in each area. Hopefully, the feedback from the group will help, but please feel free to send me any ideas on this. We’re also thinking about how best to get your views on work-related issues. We used to do a staff survey but I’m open-minded to using other methods, including usual team briefings or staff workshops. What’s important is what works so and is likely to be different across the council so if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

It’s great to see our hard work is paying off in Mumbles where people are appreciating our efforts in improving flood defences and the prom. This project hasn’t been without its problems including the recent submerging of one of the piling rigs! It’s also been a huge consultation process with many stakeholders concerned about the scale and length of work involved and the impact on things like parking, business and tourism. However, Dave Hughes and his team have done a tremendous job in planning the project over many months to help minimise problems and they’ve recently started work on-site. Progress is good and the feedback from locals is largely positive. The on-site team recently exposed the remains of what is believed to be an old oyster catcher boat (image above). They’ve also identified large cells of peat which need investigation due to the potential of fossilised items of interest.

Leadership team this week discussed the current budget situation and challenges. Once we’ve had the final position for last year (the out-turn) we’ll work with Cabinet to identify pressures and agree on a timeline to begin to shape our proposals ready for the next financial year. Our teams do a remarkable job in very testing times and the next few years will be just as tough. We’re going to need everyone to play their part to ensure we make the most of our resources.

We’ve had two major council meetings this week. The Annual Council confirmed Cabinet and other committee positions for the coming year. There are no changes to Cabinet although some minor changes in portfolios. We will circulate as soon as we are able.

And today the new Lord Mayor, Cllr Graham Thomas, is due to be inaugurated. Many of you will know Graham from his long service as a councillor and also previously as a Cabinet Member. I wish Graham all the very best for the coming year and I’d like to thank out-going Lord Mayor Cllr Mike Day for an outstanding year.

When the UK Government blocked plans for a tidal lagoon in Swansea five years ago we could have simply walked away. But we didn’t! Our new plans for a tidal lagoon and much more are making great progress.

Officers and councillors were determined to develop those proposals and place Swansea at the forefront of green technology. And now after years of hard work, that vision may come to fruition. We’ve been working with Newport-based company DST Innovations and partners, and the exciting proposals are moving ahead. Cabinet on May 18 will be asked to agree a number of land deals to pave the way for facilities including a new energy and transport hub along Fabian Way and SA1. The proposals include:

• Expanding the Fabian Way park and ride site to create a green energy transport hub. This would include a hydrogen manufacturing station and up to 790 canopied spaces for cars and buses with on-site EV charging facilities.
• A new battery manufacturing facility creating a large-scale giga factory on part of the former Morriseys site in SA1
• Expanding on approved solar farm plans by re-purposing the whole of the former Tir John landfill site to create one of the UK’s biggest solar energy generating facilities.

And that’s possibly only the start. Further plans as part of the overall project include a battery manufacturing centre, a data centre, cultural and scientific centres, waterfront homes and a tidal lagoon. The £4bn plans have the potential to transform our energy supplies and make Swansea a global hub for green technology. Once operational, the overall project is estimated to be worth up to 2,500 new jobs and approximately 16,000 jobs supported in the supply chain businesses in the South Wales region. I’d like to thank all the officers and councillors who’ve worked on these proposals.

Linked to this we’ve got an ambitious target to be a net zero council by 2030. It means all of us taking action in the way we deliver services and our work day-to-day if we’re going to achieve it. At the same time, we’re working with the Welsh Government and their consultants to develop a local energy strategy to decarbonise our energy system and increase renewables such as solar and wind. This work will help map our strengths but also identify potential gaps so that we’re better placed to become a net zero council in seven years, but also a net zero city by 2050.

As part of my approach to staff engagement, I am pleased to attend a further Let’s Talk session on May 23 (10 to 11.30), which will be facilitated by Rachel Healion. I will reflect on some of the key highlights, achievements and challenges during my first year as Chief Executive and will identify my priorities and objectives for the year ahead, among other topics. I’d welcome your questions and queries on any subject. You can either come along on the day or submit your questions in advance to rachel.healion@swansea.gov.uk which will be asked anonymously. Please register by completing the form below. You’ll receive a joining link to the Teams meeting shortly after. https://forms.office.com/r/N6d9R8NkxL

Congratulations to our officers who are working on the historic Hafod Morfa copperworks site. We’ve just handed over part of the restored site to the world-renowned Penderyn Distillery. The company is now installing equipment that’ll help make the site an operational distillery and visitor attraction. We’ve been working with Swansea University and using National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore this important area. Thanks to Paul Relf, Tracy Nichols and Neil Smith for their outstanding work on this.

Over the next few months, I will be holding talks with managers across the council to maximise opportunities for our employability programmes, apprentices, trainees and graduates. We already have a great record and some excellent examples in parts of the Council and the next step is developing the wider visibility of these opportunities and also how this can align with our workforce strategy. I will be looking to encourage all services to take part. This ties in with one of my personal objectives to review our approach to apprentices and trainees. 

As we have changed the way we work in many areas post covid we’ve started considering our current Flexi-working arrangements to see how we can update and improve them. This affects many of our staff who use the system each day, although many of us aren’t on Flexi so it’s important to consider wider flexible working policies. The issues we’ve been thinking about and holding discussions on include the current core hours and whether they could be amended. We’ve also been discussing our existing accrual limit and Flexi-days. Rachael Davies, our Head of HR, brought some feedback to CMT this week for our initial thoughts. We need to do some more work and consultation with the trade unions before coming forward with proposals. The changes won’t be radical but will hopefully reflect our new ways of working since the pandemic and also ensure we continue to balance flexible working with our customers’ and residents’ needs.

We’ve also been reviewing our values and behaviours to ensure they reflect the council post-pandemic. These are meant to guide us as managers and employees on our behaviours and what we can expect from each other.  I’m keen for them to be flexible to suit individual teams and work areas, reflecting our diverse workforce and services. This has already happened in social services where they’ve developed a set of values linked to their supervision and appraisal requirements. There’s a bit more work to do but we’ll start rolling these out in the coming weeks and months and consultation will be ongoing. This builds on the work we’ve been doing to improve staff engagement.

Council last night approved my proposal to recruit a part-time Director of Corporate Services. As you’ll know Ness Young has been in the role on a temporary basis and I am very grateful for the support Ness has provided to me and the Council since taking up the role. I am certain that it’s vital we fill this role permanently to give the directorate leadership and take forward a number of our priorities. I’ll keep you updated on progress.

Congratulations to the More Homes Acquisition Team who’ve gone above and beyond to help us buy back 52 previously sold-off council homes in the last year. At the same time, Ashley Richards, one of the legal team dealing with the acquisitions, spotted a scammer who’d apparently hacked the accounts of one of the property businesses we were working with and was seeking almost £100,000 as a payment on one of the transactions. The email looked authentic and the scammers even rang to try and get the payment made. But Ashley spotted the bank details were different to previous payments and questioned the caller. Ashley also ran further checks in line with fraud-prevention procedures created by our legal team, which confirmed it was a scam. Thanks to Ashley the scam failed, preventing the potential loss of the money.