Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

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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.

Continuing to make the case

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This week I responded to a call for evidence on the budget settlement by the Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee.  I want you to have the opportunity to read my statement which is printed in full below:

Thank you for your letter and the opportunity to comment.

Clearly the allocation of resources by the Welsh Government is a matter for them and one driven by policy and politics. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on many of the aspects of the petition, as worded, but nonetheless I do recognise the broad concerns raised and would draw the Committee’s attention to the following matters.

The draft budget from Welsh Government has clearly given lower priority to local government as evidenced by the headline figures;

  • Health +7%
  • Economy and Regeneration +13%
  • Local Government -0.3%

The contrast is stark.

This Council did slightly better than many others in cash terms, as there was an increase. An increase driven predominantly by population growth skewed towards the cities.  Yet this was a cash increase in the provisional settlement of £18k on a £434m budget with pressures of over £20m to contend with. That £18k pays for less than one job, half a social worker, one care package, or pays for less than 6 primary school places, less than 5 secondary school places, one special school place, one tenth of one out of county placement, one half of a modestly complex care package.

It makes no inroads to the pay and price pressures administered on this council by decisions out of its control: the national local government pay award, the teachers’ pay award and the larger than anticipated increase in administered teachers pensions costs. These costs are not funded from £18k. Nor does the settlement make inroads to meeting the needs of a growing City, changing demography, the increasingly elderly population, the fragility of the care sector, the pressures on both adult and child social care. The list could go on.

The WLGA and individual councils are already making clear what the consequences are as they publish their draft budget strategies for 2019-20 and beyond.  Swansea is yet to publish but the position will be the same as others; substantial cuts to services, significant increases in council tax likely, substantial staff reductions, inevitable compulsory redundancies and further strain on an already overstretched workforce and Council finances.

We are moving inexorably as a sector to an era of significant reduction in services to a more core offer, higher taxes, less local council employment opportunities, substantial redundancy costs, dwindling reserves and limited time before one or more councils find themselves in an unviable financial positon.

As the petition makes clear there is an opportunity for the Welsh Government to reconsider its priorities and its allocation of resources. I am sure this Council would support that reconsideration wholly, to ensure a settlement that it better recognises especially the interlinked and intertwined nature of health and social care as well as the wider pressures facing the sector.

The Committee is right to explore urgently the terms of the additional £30m for Social Care. We all need to know if this is genuinely new money, relief money, or a prioritisation programme for pending on new things and thus not “free money” that might alleviate real spending pressures we have in social care now. For Swansea, a share of £30m new money would simply help us reduce our overspending on current social care.  It would not pay for any new spend.

All of us in local government await news of the final settlement now due on 21 December. We expect some additional resources but also expect that to go nowhere near to addressing the scale and severity of funding pressures and the consequences that will inevitably flow at local level.

Standards Committee

This morning I’m attending the Standards Committee to discuss relations and behaviours between officers and members in the Council. In general I think the relationships between members and officers in Swansea are positive, although in any organisation there will be exceptions.  The one thing I’m convinced of is that the main characteristic of high performing authorities in the UK public sector is a team-working ethic between officers and members, built on mutual trust and respect.  All the evidence supports this and the Leader and I are committed to promoting the highest standards of behaviour.  I’m really grateful to the Standards Committee for their work and for listening to my views.  They are doing an excellent job.

Awards

Congratulations to our legal team who were awarded the highly prestigious People Team Award by the Lawyers in Local Government. They were praised by judges who were “hugely impressed by the value placed on the team’s bespoke service by headteachers across Swansea”, who describe it as a vital extension of the school community and praise the sheer professionalism and courteous approach of the specialist lawyers involved.

Our Street lighting and Highways teams have both been shortlisted for APSE’s “Most improved performers” award. Our Building Services team have been shortlisted for the “Best performers” award. With so many finalists we’ve also been put forward for the “Best Performing Authority” at this year’s UK awards.  These awards are recognition for the excellent work our frontline teams carry out. Well done to everyone involved.

Congratulations to apprentice plumber Luke Evans for picking up our Apprentice of the Year award. Luke is among dozens of apprentices in our building services team who are making a huge contribution to services carrying out repairs, maintenance and upgrades to homes, civic buildings, schools and community centres.

Following their High Five award, the Diamond Project has won the prestigious Diana Award. The project is run weekly by Emma Jones and Allan Davies from the Looked After Children Education team in partnership with Helen Davies at Swansea University.  I’m grateful to the staff involved in generating these opportunities for young people.

Fund-raising

Many staff will be raising funds for Children in Need today. There are lots of activities so good luck to everyone.

Tough times

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Virtually every year of my working life in local government I’ve heard colleagues describe the annual budget settlement as the most difficult on record.  But 20 years ago we couldn’t have foreseen just how challenging things would get.

There’s been coverage of the problems facing Northamptonshire and East Sussex councils and last week the Municipal Journal highlighted the serious financial difficulties facing Birmingham Council.  There are many more on the margins of financial viability and some who now only operate the minimum core statutory services. The situation in Wales has been slightly easier, given the Welsh Government’s relative protection for councils. But all 22 Welsh councils are now facing problems, as shown by the number of councils breaching the notional 5% council tax cap for the first time in their 2018/19 budget.  The situation is compounded by growing demographic pressures, particularly in adult social care, and the agreement of unfunded national pay awards with councils ending up footing the bill.  Public sector pay restraint during austerity has hit staff and their families, there’s a clear trade-off in all councils between the levels of pay and the number of jobs.

There’s no doubt in my mind next year will actually be the toughest on record and we’ll face some difficult choices.  On Wednesday the Corporate Management Team considered our medium term financial planning ahead of the forthcoming budget meetings with Cabinet and Council.  Once again the aim will be to protect services and jobs but this will be really challenging.  We must continue our transformation journey through Sustainable Swansea and CMT are reviewing the programme for discussion with councillors over the coming weeks.  We’ll share this with staff as soon as possible and your views will be important in shaping it.

Despite these difficulties our staff continue to work hard to improve performance. The first quarter performance monitoring report will show 76% of Corporate Plan performance indicators met their targets and 61% improved compared to Quarter 1 last year.  Our staff deserve real credit and thanks for their commitment and efforts in making Swansea a better place.

Recruitment

The Appointments Committee met this week to agree the shortlist for the post of Deputy Chief Executive/Director of Resources.  Council will meet next Tuesday to consider the recommendations of the Appointments Committee and I’ll keep you informed of progress.

Security

There have been a spate of car crimes in Swansea and our staff car parks are not immune to this threat. An employee’s car was stolen from the Civic Centre this week. Please be vigilant and take some practical steps to improve security such as not leaving valuables on display or leaving files, laptops etc in your car. Our security staff will be increasing patrols in car parks and stepping-up CCTV monitoring.

Exam results

Congratulations to all those pupils who sat A-Levels and other exams this summer. Our overall pass rate of 97.6% is the same as 2017 and above the Welsh average. And we have more pupils passing with either A* or A grades – an increase of 1.6% on last year. I’m grateful to everyone for the effort they’ve put in.

Tidal Lagoon

It’s been a couple of weeks since I mentioned the tidal lagoon but a lot has been happening behind the scenes.  We’ve worked with Swansea University on the commissioning of a report by Holistic Capital which outlines the case for taking the lagoon forward.  The Leader has convened a task force to drive forward the project.  The task force met yesterday and agreed how it will consider options for delivering this project. I’ll update you as things progress.

High 5 judging

This week I chaired the annual High 5 awards panel to identify the winners of this year’s competition in preparation for the awards ceremony at the Liberty Stadium in October.  As usual it was a difficult process as all the entries were worthy of recognition.  Thanks to Mark Gosney for supporting the process and to those who submitted the 130 nominations.  The resilience and achievement of our young citizens inspired all the judges.

Nant y Felin

Thank you to all the staff involved in moving our children’s home at Ty Nant Ty Nant to a new base in Pontarddulais. The new home offers better accommodation, while old site in Blaenymaes will be developed into a supervised contact centre, with services for children and families.

Welsh

We have still have some work to do in ensuring the recent Welsh Language Standards are embedded in our everyday work. But as a starter here’s a simple guide every member of staff should follow.

Armed forces

It’s great that our efforts to support the armed forces have been recognised with a gold award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme. We’re the only council in Wales to have received this award which is organised by the Ministry of Defence. Well done to everyone involved.

ParkLives

If you’ve not tried it yet you may want to make the most of our ParkLives scheme which is offering 36 hours of activities each week for adults and children in the summer holidays. Thanks to Sarah McCoubrey and the team for their hard work on this programme

A busy week for appointments

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My blog is being published slightly later than usual today as I want to update staff on the senior management appointments that have been made this morning.

It has been a busy week on senior staffing appointments and my thanks go to the HR team for their excellent support throughout and to the members of the Appointments Committee and Council who have ensured that the review has been implemented rapidly to prevent any instability in the organisation.  This has meant six separate Appointments Committee meetings and an extraordinary Council.

This morning Council appointed Dave Howes to the post of Director of Social Services, Nick Williams as Director of Education and Ben Smith as Chief Finance Officer.  This has been an exhausting week for the candidates following assessment centres, competitive interviews and presentations to members while they continue to focus on their day jobs.  I am delighted with all these appointments and I know that the successful candidates will help us to tackle the difficult challenges ahead.

The Deputy Chief Executive will be appointed on 21st August.

Lagoon

You may have seen in the media reports that the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon can be delivered without UK government funding.  A report and addendum prepared by financial experts Holistic Capital said a Swansea Bay tidal lagoon is a fundamentally strong proposition and an ‘exceptional’ project that could provide clean power for generations to come.

A task force is being set up to take the lagoon concept forward. The aim is to adopt a new approach to procurement by bringing on board well-established construction partners and looking at ways to fund the project without the need for UK Government financial support.

I will keep you posted on developments as we try to find a way to deliver this innovative and sustainable project with our local and regional partners

High 5s

This year there’s been 135 nominations and there has been a real diversity in where the nominations have come from. There are 39 nominations from friends, family and sports clubs, 14 nominations from schools and many from council staff.  Judging takes place over the summer and the awards ceremony is in the autumn.  Thanks to all who have nominated

Awards

I’m delighted that we have four finalists in this year’s APSE Service Awards, a key reflector of public service excellence.  They are our apprenticeship and training programme (in the workforce initiative category), Team Around the Family in Schools (innovation / demand management initiative), corporate building service review (construction and building services team) and Trading Standards (environmental health, trading standards and regulatory service team). Winners will be announced in mid-September.  Well done to all involved!

Clyne Gardens has been shortlisted in the Leisure and Tourism category at the Swansea Life Awards  2018.  The awards night takes place on September 14 at the Brangwyn Hall.  Clyne Gardens is a proud Green Flag holder and has hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

Swansea Crematorium

Staff at the Crematorium have been praised by the Federation of Burial and Cremation Services for their dedication and commitment to the service. The federation’s role is to ensure services adhere to statutory requirements.  In their report inspectors said the grounds were in excellent condition. They were impressed with the presentation of the service at the crematorium and felt the staff should be congratulated for providing a high-quality service to the bereaved.

Cruise

The 193-metre long MS Amadea docked at the city’s port last Friday carrying 620 German passengers.  Our staff worked closely with Cruise Wales and Associated British Ports (ABP) to attract and arrange the visit.  Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Innovation, Regeneration and Tourism, presented a plate to the ship’s captain to mark the occasion.

The feedback we received was exceptional – there were many smiling faces and the passengers complimented our tourism team on the welcome they received.  Thanks to all.

Summer holidays

The council is putting on 200 events over the school summer holidays in libraries, leisure centres, Swansea Museum, the Prom, Dylan Thomas centre and much else besides.

This weekend our teams are involved in the White Lady Festival in Mumbles and the Clean Air Roadshow in Castle Square on 28th. Details at: www.enjoyswanseabay.com or www.swansea.gov.uk/holidayactivities

If you’re heading to Oxwich Bay on August 4 you’ll be the first to get a glimpse of our Tourism Team’s brilliant new ‘Swansea Bay Surfari Bus’ on the opening date of a four-week tour of Wales and Ireland. The bus is a converted iconic VW Camper van complete with Visit Swansea Bay-branded livery. Funded through the Welsh Government Rural Development Programme, its purpose is to show visitors and potential visitors face-to-face what our brilliant coastline has to offer.

A 20-destination tour includes visits to Gower, mid and North Wales and then it’s across the sea to Dublin and Kilkenny. The Swansea Bay Surfari Bus is being supported by a Welsh Government grant and is part of the 2018 ‘Year of the Sea’ tourism campaign.

I will be on annual leave for the next two weeks so my next blog will be on 17th August

Are we a good parent?

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The Care Inspectorate Wales have been with us again this week and I met with them on Wednesday to talk through our approach as a corporate parent, our progress on safeguarding and the performance of our Children’s Services.

Thanks to Gemma Whyley and Julie Thomas for their support and guidance as the inspection process is an important one if we are to improve our services further.  Amongst the areas I felt confident but not complacent about was our performance as a corporate parent and the work done across the organisation to ensure children in our care have the best start in life and are able to realise their ambitions.  This is a reflection of the work done for children in care by staff across the council which I’m very proud of and grateful for.  This was particularly important as children in care was a key theme for the inspectors.

A good corporate parent should think the same way about the children in its care as any other parent should do.  Are they able to achieve their ambitions, experience a good education, feel safe and secure, live free from poverty and enjoy life?  There were a number of examples beyond the direct work of social services that I was able to give to demonstrate this commitment, including the measures we’ve taken on housing, education, council tax, the apprenticeship strategy, Beyond Bricks and Mortar and cultural event invites, all of which benefit children in our care and care leavers.

We won’t know the outcome from CIW for some weeks yet but thanks to all the staff involved in the inspection. I hope to thank them in person this afternoon at an event to mark the end of the three-week inspection.

Regionalisation

We’re waiting to hear the next steps in relation to local government reform following the scrapping of compulsory merger proposals.  It sounds like another working group is on its way and I’ll be seeking to be represented on it.  In the meantime, I’ve spent this week in joint committee meetings for ERW and Western Bay and at the City Deal programme board.  The workload associated with all this collaboration is growing massively and following the senior management restructure I’ll be looking at the best way to ensure we’re represented at the various meetings that have filled up my calendar.

There are some significant challenges in relation to ERW which I’ll be working with regional colleagues on and there’s much to be done on the Western Bay collaboration in preparation for Bridgend Council’s departure next April.

Your home, your health

I’ve been working with colleagues in housing, social care and the health board to organise a symposium on housing and health at the Liberty Stadium in October.  The links between good housing and good health outcomes are strong and I hope the symposium can help us develop our strategies and investment programmes to help promote independence for older people, combat the scourge of homelessness and tackle the impacts of welfare reform and fuel poverty.  I’ll say more about this as the date approaches but if you are interested then you might wish to mark October 5 as a date in your diary.

High 5

The nominations for this year’s High 5 Awards are closing today. Thank you to everyone who’s been involved and to those who’ve nominated young people. I look forward to the judging process and planning the awards night in the autumn.

End of term        

As the end of the school year approaches I’d like to thank all the teachers and support staff for their efforts during the year.  I’ve been impressed with the performance of schools across the city and this has been evidenced in a series of ESTYN inspection reports throughout the year.  Have a well-earned rest and come back refreshed after the summer break as the next cohort of learners will be arriving.  Thanks to all.

Best wishes

Another long-serving employee is leaving with Clare Watson setting out for a new life in Brittany. Clare has worked as a specialist teacher for 20 Years and has 37 years’ experience working with pupils with additional learning needs. Based at YG Bryn Tawe during the last 14 years, Clare has provided support to pupils from Welsh medium schools as well as providing essential training across Swansea.