exam results

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

December 27, 2018 by Martin Leave a Comment

As we come to the end of the year it is a good time to reflect on the events of the last 12 months.

Despite the best attempts of our officers and elected members the future of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon remains uncertain. In January we celebrated the anniversary of the publication of the Hendry report but by June the UK Government confirmed that it would not be supporting the project. We continue to explore different ways to deliver the scheme and 2019 will see us redouble our efforts to move forward.

In February we held our Smart City event at the Swansea tech hub and this has proved to be an important milestone in moving our digital strategy forward. Investment by Openreach into the City and the recent submission of our Local Full Fibre Network bid have followed as the City Deal digital projects get underway. 2019 will see more work on the ground as we futureproof Swansea for the impact of fifth generation technology.

March saw the unveiling of the latest local government reform proposals and the suggestion that ten councils were the right footprint for Wales but by July these had been consigned to the dustbin of history. This was also the month that we completed and opened the first council housing scheme built in the City for a generation which was a real highlight of the year for me.

In April we opened Wales’ first fully integrated family centre and primary care centre at Mountain View in Mayhill and in May we successfully hosted the Radio 1 Biggest Weekend, demonstrating our continuing commitment to culture. More events followed, including the Wales National Airshow along with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Skyline project at Kilvey Hill.

In July we were visited by the Care Inspectorate Wales as they inspected our approach as a corporate parent, our progress on safeguarding and the performance of our Children’s Services. In October they issued their report which was highly positive and complimentary about the work our social services teams are doing.

In August our schools celebrated another excellent set of results. The Senior Management Review was completed with the appointment of my deputy, Adam Hill.

September was a difficult month following the provisional budget announcements from Welsh Government and we completed the penultimate stage in approving our Local Development Plan with the inspectors confirming that there would be no further public hearings.

In October we made significant progress on our Regional Education Consortium, ERW, with an agreement by the Joint Committee to make structural changes and revisit the collaborative approach. This will be driven forward again in January so that we can ensure that schools get the school improvement support in a more consistent and coherent way. We also celebrated the best High 5 awards to date with inspirational young people from across the City.

My highlights for November were the opening of Lon Las School by TV presenter Huw Edwards and the first signs that the Welsh Government were responding to our concerns about the budget settlement. I was very grateful to Ben Smith for his support in my submission to the Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee and I hope that it brought home to policy makers the impact of the scale of cuts on the ground.

December was marred by the news that the City Deal Delta Lakes scheme in Carmarthen had some major problems but the Joint Committee, chaired by Councillor Rob Stewart took rapid and decisive action to ensure that the other City Deal schemes could continue to progress smoothly.

So what can we learn from the year’s events? We are a diverse and complex organisation that provides essential services for our citizens and we do it well. We deal efficiently and effectively with the challenges thrown at us and this is because we have a talented and committed workforce. I know morale is not helped by the constant pressure of austerity but we have demonstrated a resilience that other councils would envy.

So thanks to all of you for your hard work this year. I don’t doubt that next year will be equally challenging for us all but I know you will deal with it as you have consistently done; with innovation, determination and commitment.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda. Happy New Year.

City Deal has potential to transform our city

September 2, 2016 by Martin 2 Comments

A City Deal for Swansea?

We’re now at a crucial stage in our proposals for a City Deal with has the potential to transform Swansea.

I know the City Deal may not be a hot topic among staff at the moment, but it really is an important issue for us.

City Deals are basically agreements between government and a city that give the city control to take charge of decisions that affect their area, help businesses grow and create economic growth. They’ve been created in England, Scotland and more recently in Cardiff.

The Swansea proposal is being developed by our City Region partnership and championed by our Leader, Councillor Rob Stewart. Yesterday I met the Secretary of State for Wales with the other regional chief executives to bring him up to speed on progress. It was a very productive and challenging meeting and it will help to shape our thinking as the work proceeds.

The proposed Swansea Bay City Deal is titled “The Internet Coast” based on three themes; productivity, efficiency and infrastructure. We’re due to submit a bid to the UK Government seeking investment in our digital infrastructure, energy and health assets, which could create thousands of jobs. This will help to deliver our corporate priority to regenerate the economy and the city centre and support our work as a Unesco Learning City. Swansea Bay City Region Board meets on September 15 to review and endorse the proposals and the aim is to submit the final proposal to UK Government before the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. I will keep you updated on progress.

Budget update

Even though we’re relatively early into the financial year we’re projecting a year-end overspend across the council. So at Leadership Team yesterday Directors and Heads of Service agreed a series of measures which include reiterating the council-wide spending restrictions and HoS identifying the actions they can take in the services to reduce spending in this financial year.

Leadership Team also had a presentation on the new online appraisal system. It’s a simpler and quicker way of doing appraisals. Managers will be invited to workshops in the coming weeks to test out the system and we can then roll it out later this year.

High 5s

This afternoon I’ll be chairing the judging panel for this year’s High 5 Awards celebrating our young people who achieve against the odds. This will be a real challenge for the eight judges given that we have had nearly 130 nominations, all of which deserve recognition. The awards ceremony will be held on September 29 at the Liberty Stadium.

Success story

After A-Levels and record-breaking GCSE results comes yet more good news about education attainment in Swansea. The Welsh Government has just released annual all-Wales stats on reading and numeracy which show pupils in Swansea are the most-improved in both skills compared to their peers across the country. Our education team in collaboration with regional partners have put in a lot of extra work over the last few years to raise attainment in our schools and it’s good to see consistent evidence of continuing improvement. Thank you to everyone involved.

Events

I hope you all enjoyed the Bank Holiday weekend – the weather was a bit mixed but it ended on a high and there was certainly plenty going on from the Beer and Cider and Festival which attracted thousands in the Brangwyn Hall to the arrival of the EPIC structure at Rhossili as part of the Visit Wales Year of Adventure campaign. There was a lot of positive social media activity about both of these events and this certainly won’t harm our positive destination profile.

As if we haven’t already had a great summer of events, September’s set to be one of our busiest months yet with another great line up of events;

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at Singleton Park tonight, Sept 2
Olympic Fun Day at Brynmill Park, Sept 3 (12-6pm)
Gower Triathlon & Gower Fancy Dress Tri, Sept 3
The British Science Festival 2016, hosted by Swansea University, Sept 6-9, followed by a Family Weekend, Sept 10 & 11,
Luna Outdoor Cinema at Oystermouth Castle (Back to the Future, Sept 14) (Grease, Sept 15)
Admiral Swansea Bay 10K, Sept 18.
Club MTV in Singleton Park, Sept 24
Swansea Big Weekend, Sept 30

As always, pay a visit to www.enjoyswanseabay.com – our one stop shop for event information.

BraveShave Finally, well done to David White, who works in the Townhill team of Child and Family Services, for shaving his head to raise money for charity. Taking part in MacMillan Cancer Support’s Brave the Shave campaign, David and his colleagues are also contributing funds to the Swansea Palliative Care Team. So far, the team has raised over £500 through a number of activities.

Our transformation programme is making good progress

August 26, 2016 by Martin Leave a Comment

Transformation

Yesterday the Appointments Committee met to consider applicants for the post of Chief Transformation Officer. This is an important new job in the organisation and a key member of the Corporate Management Team. Following assessment centres and interviews I am delighted that Sarah Caulkin, who is currently acting up in the role, has been made permanent.

Sarah will initially focus on the continued implementation of the business support review but will be responsible for leading the Sustainable Swansea programme and the important work on modernising the organisation and optimising our use of technology to support staff in their jobs.

We are making good progress on the Business Support Programme, a significant part of our efforts to transform the way we deliver services for our residents.

Implementing the programme is a major milestone in transforming council services. By taking a fresh approach to the way we do things we’re able to focus on our priorities cost-effectively and improve performance at the same time.

The team is on schedule to launch the new operating model for the new Service Centre in September and good progress is being made in ICT, particularly with the automation of previously manual processes, self-serve, agile working and telephony technology.

You can find out more about the programme’s four priorities here and if you want to get more involved in the programme email the team at sustainable.swansea@swansea.gov.uk

Staff survey

The annual staff survey is one of the most important consultation and engagement documents the council produces. Its findings have a direct impact on what we do; the innovation group and the anti-bullying network were set up as a direct result of what you said in response to previous surveys.

This year’s staff survey is officially launched early next month but staff members who receive pay slips at home will have received information this week. I very strongly endorse the survey and I’d urge you to get involved now by filling it out at home on www.swansea.gov.uk/staffsurvey or in work on Staffnet – you’ll also see where you can pick up paper copies.

Olympics

Congratulations to the GB Olympic Team, and particularly to the Welsh representatives. By my calculations Wales, which stands at 137 in the population tables, would have come 20^th in the medals table if it had not been a part of the GB team. Our staff in special events and sports development did a great job during the Olympics with the fanzone in Castle Square. The fan zone didn’t just give people an opportunity to grab a seat and watch the action on the big screen – it also allowed visitors to try out various sports. Let’s hope this will encourage more people than ever to join local sports clubs, visit our Active Swansea leisure centres and sign up for the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k. As a keen walker, I know exercise is a great way of boosting people’s health and well-being.

Wuhan

The council has now signed an agreement with a visiting delegation from Wuhan, China, that will see both cities co-operating on areas including economy and trade, transport and logistics, culture and sports.

The agreement was signed during a Chinese delegation visit to Guildhall. Other areas of common interest Swansea and Wuhan will co-operate on include health, medicine, education and tourism.

Wuhan, the most populated city in central China, is the capital of Hubei province. The visit was also organised to mark the 150th anniversary of Union Hospital in Wuhan, which was founded by Griffith John, a 19th century Swansea missionary.

Resilience

I mentioned resilience in a recent blog. The Strategic lead at CMT for resilience is Martin Nicholls, Director of Place. We remain equally committed to the joint agreement with NPTCBC as part of the Joint Emergency Management Service (JEMS) but are reinforcing our arrangements locally. The Resilience & Business Continuity service is now being directly managed by Craig Gimblett, manager of the Corporate Health, Safety & Wellbeing Service Their role is to provide specialist technical support to the authority in building and improving business continuity, resilience and wider emergency planning for the organisation and the communities of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.

Exam results

Another year’s exam season came to an end this week with the GCSE results which showed that the pupils of Swansea continue to out-perform their peers across Wales. The headline figure of 72.7% of entrants here scoring A* to C grades – well above the comparable figure for Wales of 66.6% – is something to be particularly proud of. Our Olympic medallists are always saying they might be the winners but it’s the support teams that get them to where they are. The pupils are rightly congratulated for their fine achievements but I’d like to add my thanks too to the teams in our Education department and in city schools themselves for the work they do every day supporting young people to achieve their potential.

Bank Holiday

There is a lot going on this weekend in Swansea, not least the Swansea Beer and Cider Festival at the Brangwyn Hall and the F18 catamaran sailing championships taking place in Swansea Bay over the three days of the Bank Holiday. I hope you get time to enjoy the extra day off. But I’d also like to thank those who will be working over the holiday period for their continuing commitment.

Farewell

I’d like to thank Steve Protheroe, our specialist parks manager, whose last day at the council after a staggering 46 years’ service is today. Steve started with the parks service on August 3, 1970, and has worked his way up to become responsible for the Botanical Gardens, Clyne Gardens and the plant displays at Plantasia. Steve’s passion for horticulture is second-to-none. He’s very well-respected, having also developed an excellent working relationship with the Friends of the Botanical Gardens, who are also very sad to see him leave.