Thank you for your support

A big part of this week has been taken up with four days of visits from the Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) team. We are required to hold a review once every five years, and ours has just been completed. It’s significant for all of us because its aim is to give us an independent stock-take of our performance, strengths, issues and plans for the future. As it affects us all, the PPA team has been meeting people from across the council – from frontline staff and managers to directors, Cabinet, and ward Members. The PPA team was also in touch with partner organisations, business groups and other external stakeholders who use our services or work with us to get a handle on their views as well. I want to thank everyone involved in supporting the PPA team with their work, including all those who attended focus groups, 1-2-1s and briefings with them. The panel have said how welcoming, open and transparent everyone has been. It demonstrates a really positive culture across the council and among our partners, which is only achieved by everyone’s collective efforts over the last few years.

Thanks are also due to those involved in preparing the way for the panel’s visit, pulling together the scoping document, arranging staff pre-briefings and much more besides, in particular Director of Corporate Services, Ness Young and Joanne Jones, our Cabinet and Civic Office Manager. We will get further feedback from the panel in the coming days with a formal report later in the summer, and I’ll share more details as soon as I can. It was certainly a very positive experience for me and offered a great deal of opportunity to reflect on the positive work the council does. No doubt there will be some areas where we will need to continue to improve – that will always be the case with any review. But in the meantime, I am grateful to all those who took part.

Another important event this week was the launch of our updated Management of Absence policy. I’d urge you to take a look now. The policy has been agreed in consultation with trade unions, and managers have mandatory training this month to get them up to speed on the changes. I’d like to thank the HR and OD team led by Rachael Davies for their commitment to getting this important policy over the line. We know that working in the roles that you have can sometimes be challenging, and ill health is inevitable. However, our absence levels are collectively higher than we can live with, so I certainly hope that the new policy helps provide the additional support needed for our workforce, whilst also ensuring we can consistently manage absence in the way we and the public would expect.

I’m pretty sure everyone knows about the impact AI is having on every area of our lives. It’s no different here at the council, where Sarah Lackenby and her team are working with sections across the council to assess how AI can support what we do. There is also a free Microsoft 365 Copilot offer available to all staff, which you can find here. And if you’d like to find out a bit more, our Microsoft Copilot consultant Andy Labrum is running a Teams session next week to which you can sign up here.

My thanks this week go to Ryan Williams, one of our city centre rangers, who stepped in to support an elderly woman who had a severe fall. In the words of the lady’s son, Ryan’s response was one of calmness and professionalism that turned a stressful experience into one of comfort and reassurance. He said the support his mother received was exceptional, and I’d add my endorsement to that.

Congratulations also to Senet Doble in our Revenue and Benefits for another example of outstanding customer service. The support she gave a businessperson who needed help with tax collection issues was of such high quality that they sent her flowers to say thank you.

Well done to the team at the Dylan Thomas Centre, which has just secured Arts Centre of Sanctuary status from the City of Sanctuary organisation. The award is recognition of their work providing support to refugees and others fleeing persecution, helping to change their lives for the better. 

Farewell to our IT team’s Nichola Davies, who is retiring this week after 36 years with us. Nichola is particularly well-known among Members for her role in setting up their devices and providing them with advice and ongoing support. Thank you for your service, Nichola, and good luck in your retirement.

And finally, next week sees the national Local Government Chronicle awards, where we are shortlisted for Council of the Year. This, like the PPA, is an opportunity to pitch ourselves against the best in the UK and highlight the excellent work you all do day in, day out. Things like this enhance our reputation and continue to improve our visibility and standing, leading to further opportunities to attract jobs, housing, tourism and inward investment. I’ll let you know how we get on in next week’s blog.