Archives for November 2024

This week CMT got an update on our workforce strategy, launched a couple of years ago. The strategy is a fundamental part of our investment in our workforce, setting out and supporting the way we operate develop and train staff, allowing us to deliver effective services that touch the lives of residents every day. You can read more about the strategy here, but its key themes are about leadership and management, developing a workforce fit for the future, being an employer of choice and focusing on workforce wellbeing and inclusion. The update identified some significant progress, including the completion of a review of our values and behaviours, introducing a new workforce communication strategy, creating an e-learning portfolio in Oracle Fusion and maintaining the Helping Hands network. There is still more to do over the next few years and I’ll keep you informed as we go. I’d like to thank Rachael Davies, head of HR&OD, for her update and her team for delivering important progress that’s already making a difference for our staff.

Linked to the theme of developing a workforce fit for the future, I’d like to congratulate 23 staff members on their graduation from Gower College’s Management Development Programme this week. Each of them has achieved HND or foundation degree equivalent qualifications which will benefit their future careers, how we operate as a council as well as improved services for our residents. Read more about their success stories here. If you want to improve your skills and share in our ambitions as a learning council, have a look at what’s on offer here.

Also linked to our workforce strategy is our recently launched reward and recognition initiative which will recognise long service and staff who go the extra mile. We have already received a good number of nominations and if you know someone who deserves recognition for actions that demonstrate commitment to our values find out how to nominate them here. I want to thank our staff engagement group who helped develop this policy and there is always room for additional volunteers if you want to get involved

Yesterday I attended a West Glamorgan Regional Partnership forum at Swansea.com Stadium. It brought organisations and volunteers together to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. The event focussed on celebrating the vital work done by our social care teams alongside health colleagues and unpaid carers to support vulnerable people. It was great to meet some of the staff and partners across the region and listen to some of the inspiring examples which are improving the lives of our residents across the region. Thank you to all those involved.

Congratulations this week to our Partnership and Involvement team, Evolve Young People’s Service, Youth Justice and Community Safety teams as well as Clase Primary School and CMET for their parts in scooping five top accolades at this week’s Wales Safer Community Awards.

Competing against 158 other nominations, the Swansea City Chill events staged in the city centre won the overall Community Safety Award Wales prize. It also won the award for the best crime prevention project. The Collaboration Station picked up the award for best early intervention project and the Afternoon Teens project collected the top award in the equality, inclusion and cohesion category. A project at Clase Primary School was also highly commended in the equality, inclusion and cohesion category. Collecting this many awards in such an important area of work demonstrates how we’re leading the field in Wales in supporting our communities and helping keep them safe. Thank you to all those involved.

Also well done to trading standards officer Rhys Harries for winning the UK Anti-Counterfeiting Group Outstanding Leadership Award for his enforcement work, particularly in protecting our communities from illegal vapes and tobacco.

A big thank-you to our highways teams for their efforts during Storm Bert this week. Fortunately, we were not affected as much as other areas of South Wales, but their work helped keep floods at bay and our residents and motorists safe.

Finally, next Wednesday, December 4, the Welsh Blood Service is setting up a donation session at Civic Centre for staff and members of the public. If you can get along and donate blood, please do and there are still a few spaces left so it would be great to ensure these are taken up. There’s joining information here.

Yesterday I caught up with chief executives and leaders from councils across Wales for this year’s WLGA Finance Seminar. It’s a really useful opportunity to get together and understand the position across Wales. Top of our agenda, of course, were our budgets and what they will look like in the coming financial year. We got an overview of the UK Government’s autumn statement, prompting a lively discussion about the challenges we all share in budget-setting.  It is very clear we all face significantly rising demand for services at a time when our finances are being squeezed by issues like inflation while the economic outlook remains uncertain. CMT and Cabinet have put together our plans for next year but much will depend on what the Welsh Government says in its own budget statement, due in mid-December. I’ll keep you updated.

CMT this week considered a report from Rachael Davies, our head of HR&OD about our new duties under the Welsh Government’s new Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023. Social partnership is a collaborative approach where government bodies, employers and trade unions work together to address economic, social and workplace issues. The new law might sound a bit dry and high-level and, of course, we already have measures in place like the Joint Consultative Committee and wider engagement opportunities to ensure unions are actively involved. But this new duty offers an opportunity to extend this involvement into areas of policy and corporate planning and will be a pretty big change for all involved. My thanks to Rachael for her briefing and I will keep you informed of progress.

On Tuesday Swansea hosted the Green Economy Conference and Exhibition at Swansea Arena, organised by 4theRegion. We were partners in an event which brought together hundreds of individuals, organisations and businesses to showcase their sustainability efforts and share their enthusiasm for a greener economy. Events like these are important to our reputation as a council aiming to be net zero by 2030.

Congratulations – once again – to our team that delivered the Hafod-Morfa Copperworks regeneration project that included the Penderyn Whisky distillery. The project has now been declared the UK’s best regeneration and retrofit in the prestigious Constructing Excellence Awards 2024. It adds to the Welsh regional accolade and a whole range of other awards secured since its completion. Thank you to Tracy Nichols and the Economic Regeneration team that’s made the project possible, enhancing our reputation as a council that delivers.

Well done to our trading standards team who have in recent weeks secured convictions which have seen rogue traders sent to prison. You can read more here. The team’s success not only serves as a deterrent to others, but highlights to the public the significant role we play in keeping them safe.

Thank you also to our libraries staff, whose work sharing our treasures in its Tales from the Vaults initiative has been hailed by the British Film Institute as great practice other councils could learn from. Find out more about what they did here, to put us on the cultural map in this way.

And finally, congratualations to the culture, special events, city centre management and highways teams who delivered a brilliant, colourful and noisy Christmas Parade at the weekend. There was no shortage of praise from all quarters for the traditional festive curtain-raiser.

Regular blog readers will know that rewarding and recognising your achievements is really important to me. There’s a lot of really great work being done across services every day and I know this because I’m often tipped off about it so I can highlight it in my blog. That’s why I’m really pleased we’re now launching our reward and recognition initiative. You can find out more about it here. But its key point is that anyone in the council can now nominate a colleague or a team to be recognised for their commitment or achievements that reflect our values. Please get nominating now.

On Monday I was privileged to be at the Swansea Cenotaph with the Lord Mayor, Leader and many others for this year’s Armistice Day commemorations. My thanks to all our teams who work behind the scenes supporting the Royal British Legion and others, ensuring that in Remembrance Week our focus is on veterans, our armed forces and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Yesterday I attended the Pathways to Work celebration event at Swansea.com stadium. The scheme makes a real difference in people’s lives, providing critical support to long-term unemployed or economically inactive people looking to take steps back into the world of work. When they don’t know where to turn for help, they come to us and our team offer them hope, dignity and opportunities to make the most of their futures. My thanks to everyone involved in making it a success.

At the Brangwyn Hall this week our Lifelong Learning Service was also celebrating the achievements of adult learners. The day included an exhibition showcasing the energy, enthusiasm and success stories of hundreds of local residents who had the chance to learn new skills, thanks to the Adult Learning Partnership Swansea (ALPS). These two events in the same week highlight how our teams are making a real difference to people’s lives in our communities. My thanks to all involved for their commitment.

Last night at Brangwyn Hall the local tourism industry was out in force to celebrate another year of achievements at the Swansea Bay Tourism Awards. Tourism businesses, events and organisations generate £600m for the local economy and support almost 5,500 jobs, so they have a lot to be proud of. It was great to see our own Wales Airshow team pick up the award for the best event and Glynn Vivian Art Gallery secure the best attraction accolade. Congratulations to all the winners and my thanks to the tourism team for laying on such a great event.

Another great event coming this weekend is Sunday’s Christmas Parade, the traditional festive curtain-raiser that attracts tens of thousands of people to the city centre from all over South Wales. Apart from being a brilliant spectacle for all the family, it’s a vital shop window for our retail and hospitality businesses at their busiest time of year. Thank you to the Special Events team, our highways staff and other council staff for getting the Christmas countdown underway.

I’ve often spoken in my blog about the importance of city centre regeneration to our reputation as a council and perceptions of Swansea among residents, businesses, visitors and potential investors. The city centre is changing, there’s real private and public sector momentum behind it and our staff are critical to this success story for jobs and the local economy. Yesterday, I was incredibly pleased to attend the official opening of the new-look Palace Theatre, another example of that momentum in action. It’s a real city centre landmark, central to our continuing work to revitalise the High Street area. It’s got a great little café, so why not pay a visit yourself? In the meantime I want to thank all those in the Economic Regeneration team, our finance team and many others across the council who have got this project over the line. My thanks also to the comms team for keeping the Palace Theatre’s story in the public eye over the last few years and ensuring yesterday’s opening got positive Wales-wide coverage – live in the morning on BBC Radio Wales and live in the evening on BBC Wales and ITV Wales.

We’ve now completed internal budget sessions with directors, heads of service and Cabinet. After next month’s Welsh Government budget settlement we’ll review our plans before presenting them to Cabinet and wider council in the New Year. I’ll update you on progress.

Congratulations this week to our Evolve youth service for achieving the Welsh Government’s Bronze Quality Mark for Youth Work in Wales. I had the pleasure of visiting the team a few weeks ago so was able to see first-hand the excellent work that is being done and it’s great to get external verification for the valuable work they do supporting young people in our communities. Also, a big thank you to our housing team in Penlan who’ve been praised by a resident for helping her with a number of issues, including widening a footpath to improve wheelchair access near her home.

And finally, don’t forget it is Armistice Day on Monday. We’ll be announcing the National Two Minute Silence in our civic buildings by tannoy at 11am. If you can contribute to the Poppy Appeal, please do – they’re available in our civic buildings.

Yesterday CMT and Cabinet had an awayday at Sketty Hall which is run by Gower College as their business school. The key issue on the agenda was our budget planning for 2024/25 where Finance Director Ben Smith gave us the first impressions of the UK Government’s budget delivered by the Chancellor on Wednesday. In December we will be expecting the Welsh Government to announce its budget plans for the coming financial year and, from that, we’ll be able to see more clearly the implications for us. In the meantime, we’ve been holding a number of star chamber events with directors and heads of service to assess spending pressures and savings options. We’re still on course to go out to consultation with you, trade unions and the public in January with final decisions made by Council in March. I will continue to keep you posted.

Today,  I will be hosting a visit by our new MP for Swansea West, Torsten Bell. It’s really important to continue to build positive working relationships with our Westminster representatives. Part of our role is to support them to be Swansea’s advocates in London, promoting our reputation, highlighting our ambition, opportunities and plans to colleagues and ministers in London. This week I also met with Emma Wools, the new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for South Wales. It’s an important relationship because it helps focus on shared priorities for further developing Swansea’s reputation among residents, visitors businesses and investors as a safe, welcoming place with a great quality of life.

On Wednesday the leader and I caught up with Associated British Ports to discuss their ambition for the Swansea Port Masterplan and how this can support offshore wind farms in the Celtic Sea as part of the drive towards renewable technology. Alongside the freeport proposals for Port Talbot, ABP’s plans will have far-reaching impact across the region on jobs, investment, our universities, industrial development and our reputation further afield. So I am really looking forward to working with them on this exciting opportunity for Swansea and the region.

A big thank-you to Darren Morgan in our waste management team and Sian Davies and Mali James in our pollution control team for going above and beyond for our residents. Sian and Mali were praised for bringing peace and quiet to a neighbourhood where alarms at a nearby business kept residents awake at night. Darren attracted a commendation from a blind West Cross resident for supporting her over the last few years, making sure recycling and waste is collected on time and responding to concerns, even when he’s been on leave. As you know I am always pleased to share these kinds of positive stories, so please keep them coming.

It’s further great news that we and our partners have been shortlisted as finalists in the following categories for the All Wales Safer Communities awards, which look for opportunities to share best practices in community safety:

• Clase Primary School Community Engagement Project (Community Cohesion & Clase Primary)
• Afternoon Teens Intergenerational Community Project (Partnership & Involvement Team/Evolve Youth Team)
• The Collaboration Station Partnership Project (Partnership & Involvement Team)
• Swansea City Chill Summer Events (reducing youth ASB) – SW Police/Youth Justice/CMET/Evolve/Partnership & Involvement

The awards ceremony takes place on 28 November 2024 at Wrexham AFC, so good luck to all involved

Finally, thank you to the special events and cultural services teams for organising and promoting major events recently, including Spooks in the City and the upcoming Fireworks Show at St Helen’s on November 5. Next on the list is the Christmas Parade, a vital part of what we do to support the city centre in the festive period. Thanks to all involved in the preparations.