As we’ve just started a new financial year, appraisal season is also upon us. Everyone must have an appraisal. It’s your opportunity to talk to your manager in-depth about your role and plan for the future. It’s also a chance to highlight how your performance contributes to the council’s overall objectives, supporting the services we provide that touch the lives of residents every day. It’s important that everyone has an appraisal to allow two-way feedback but it also allows us to set our objectives for the year ahead and identify and training needs for our staff. I had my appraisal this week with the council’s political leadership on the Chief Executive’s Appraisal and Remuneration Committee. We looked at seven themes; reputation, regional collaboration, city regeneration, our transformation programme, budget, our corporate priorities and plan as well as corporate governance. Alongside those themes are actions I have to take and measures by which my performance will be monitored and assessed over the coming year. It’s quite exacting and very challenging, as it should be but I’m really looking forward to the year ahead. I intend to go through the themes in more depth in future blogs but it goes without saying that the ability for me to deliver on these objectives is fundamentally dependent on your support. That’s why I continue to be grateful for your commitment and hard work every day.
We had a Cabinet and CMT away day yesterday which included an item on anti-social behaviour in our communities, including the city centre. This builds on the work undertaken by a recent scrutiny report by councillors which acknowledged anti-social behaviour is a challenging and complex issue, it has a real impact on those affected and there are no easy, overnight solutions. But the presentation we received outlined the good progress being made by us and our partner organisations in the city centre and elsewhere to tackle the problem. My thanks to Jane Whitmore, Lisa Wells and Phil John for their update. There are a few things for us to do over the coming weeks and months and one of these will to set up a cross-council ASB forum which will allow input from all the services involved in this agenda and we will be looking of nominations shortly.
Earlier this week CMT got a progress report from Kate Phillips, Head of Vulnerable Learners, in our education team. Supporting children and young people in education settings who have complex physical or mental health needs is among the most important work we do. Although the work is led by Kate and her team, the support we provide comes from across the council and helps change young lives for the better. My thanks to Kate and all those involved.
My congratulations to our child and family team who yesterday won a prestigious Social Care Wales’ 2024 Accolade for giving children and families a new brighter future through the Born into Care project. Born into Care is a multi-agency project that supports parents at risk of having their child taken into care, from the early stages of pregnancy through to the child’s birth and beyond. Families’ voices and experiences are at the heart of what the team does.
Our award-winning indoor market has won yet more praise. This time it’s from the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF) who named our market supervisor Darren Cox their Market Manager of the Year. Well done Darren and the whole market team whose innovative work was also showcased to much acclaim by their peers at the NMTF conference in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Finally, this week I had pleasure of attending the Varsity rugby matches between Swansea and Cardiff universities. It’s important to attend occasions like this to develop and maintain links with key partners like the universities as well as ensure we in Swansea remain a focal point for sporting excellence. On the pitch, both teams put in great performances and while the girls team came off second-best this time, the boys secured a well-deserved victory.
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