Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

Two steps forward, one step back

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Economic development

The Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon has had a tough week, but we’ll continue to work with the company to deliver this much-needed project.  The company chairman, Keith Clarke, has made the position very clear and I hope they’ll take forward the proposals with renewed impetus. The Leader, Deputy Leader and I met Lord Adonis last week, former chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, to update him on the progress made to date.  He was very supportive of the lagoon and I know he’ll be helping to get some important messages to the Government in the coming weeks.

Yesterday I attended the City Deal Programme Board where we finalised the joint working agreement for approval at the joint committee next week.  We’ll then seek Council approval to sign it next month.  Thanks to all the officers who’ve helped to complete it.  We’ve also been discussing a potential future bid under the national Local Full Fibre Network programme and this would radically improve the city and regional digital infrastructure.  The next few months will be very busy as the City Deal projects get under way so thanks also to all involved in their delivery.

CMT

CMT discussed a lot of important issues.  In addition to the latest updates on the revenue and capital budgets, we considered a new Compact with the Third Sector, reward and recognition of staff and the Cultural Services commissioning review.  The Cultural Services review is a massive piece of work and thanks go to Tracey McNulty and Jamie Rewbridge who patiently took us through the reports and answered all of our questions.  This will now be presented to Cabinet for their consideration. Our discussion on reward and recognition covered a lot of ground, building on the work of the Innovation Community.  I’m conscious that our approach to reward and recognition has not been a consistent one across all services and I want us to put that right so that it’s fairly and equally done for all staff.  More on this in the near future.

Objectives

I mentioned last week I’d be publishing my objectives.  Please follow this link to see them.

Inauguration

Today marks the inauguration of the new Lord Mayor of Swansea, Councillor David Phillips, and Lady Mayoress Councillor Sybil Crouch.  I’ll be attending Council this afternoon for the formal ceremony.  I wish both an exciting and enjoyable year in their role which I know they’ll undertake with great enthusiasm. My thanks go to the outgoing Lord Mayor, Councillor Phil Downing who, along with his wife Lilian, has done a fantastic job representing the city at a mind-boggling number of events.  They have raised the profile of Swansea at every opportunity and I’m very grateful to them for that.

Congratulations

Our Corporate Health, Safety, Emergency Management & Wellbeing Service has been awarded the Health & Wellbeing Shield. It recognises the work of occupational health, mandatory and bespoke training, stress management, helping hands and bully buddies. We were also rewarded for outstanding Health & Safety performance. Martin Rogers, from Waste Management, was runner-up for Employee of the Year in recognition of his work to improve health and safety at the bailing plant. The HSE, which was part of the judging panel, now want to use us as the example of best practice for others. This is a great achievement and thank you to everyone for their efforts.

I was delighted to hear we had three finalists at the Welsh Teaching Awards last week, all from Pontarddulais Comprehensive School.  They were:

  • Dylan Lewis – Best Use of Digital Learning
  • Hannah Hopkins – Teacher of the Year
  • Jan Waldron – Headteacher of the Year.

Congratulations to all three and it was fantastic that Dylan and Jan won.  During my visit to the school last year I was very impressed by what they were doing and it’s wonderful news that they’ve been recognised on the national stage for their efforts.

Our run of impressive Estyn inspection reports continues with congratulations to head teacher Alison Williams and all the team at Craigfelen Primary. The school was rated excellent in three of the five inspection areas and good in the other two.

The report noted how pupils enjoy going to the school and are very proud of their achievements. Equally important was the inspectors’ comments about how much families value the school’s provision so highly. Well done to all.

The miracle that didn’t happen

Sadly the much hoped for miracle never happened last Sunday and the Swans were officially relegated from the Premier League.  Let’s hope they can rebuild next season and once again secure top flight football for the city.  The last seven years have seen the city profile rise and they can be truly proud of their achievement.

Setting objectives

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I had my annual appraisal this week to review my performance and to set my objectives for the coming year. The appraisal is done by a cross party group of councillors (known as the Chief Executive’s Appraisal and Remuneration Committee) whose job it is to hold me to account for the organisation’s performance and the commitments I gave to them on my appointment.  You may remember that I published my objectives in the blog last year. Thanks mainly to the efforts of our staff I was able to give a good account of myself as we’ve maintained or improved performance in the majority of services, despite facing significant budget reductions. It goes without saying that I’m very grateful to you for this.  The latest telephone survey indicates that two-thirds of our citizens are satisfied with the way we deliver services, although only one-third are likely to speak highly about us.  This still puzzles me but our feedback compares well with most other councils in the UK. The Committee considered my objectives for the coming year and I’ll post them on my blog when they’re confirmed.  In short I’ve committed to making sure the Council takes a strong lead in regional working, to delivering the City Deal, continuing the transformation of the Council, managing the budget and reviewing the senior management structure. This will be a challenging year for all of us with a grim financial outlook, potential local government reform and a huge challenge in re-modelling our city.  I hope with your support I can demonstrate further progress when the committee reviews my performance next year.

Local Government Reform

At Corporate Management Team we discussed the principles behind the Council response to the Welsh Government consultation on Strengthening Local Government: Delivering for People.  You’ll remember the proposal is to reduce the current 22 local councils to 10.  We hope to bring a report shortly to make sure that the views of Council are set out very clearly to the Welsh Government.  I know that the scrutiny panel chaired by Councillor Lyndon Jones looking into this will shortly produce their report and this will also help to inform our response which might include the following points that were raised by CMT:

  • Swansea Council is open to the idea of merger.
  • A voluntary merger approach is unlikely to deliver what the Welsh Government has set out.
  • If there’s a will to do this then it needs to be done rapidly i.e. by 2022.
  • The best model is the one that would deliver sustainable services over parochial interests.
  • We must first have a clear vision for local government in Wales expressed in outcomes for the next 10 to 20 years and structures should follow this.
  • There is no guarantee that biggest is always best.
  • There should be a radical delayering of responsibilities and accountabilities in local government in Wales to reflect Welsh Government as policy maker, local government as deliverer and a single inspectorate.
  • The merger proposals will create confusion in relation to existing collaborations. If authorities were to agree to merge, they may have very different views on arrangements that could freeze decision making on some collaborations until there is clarity.
  • There’ll be a large financial cost associated with local government re-organisation during a time of severe austerity. In 2014, CIPFA estimated that up-front costs of reorganisation across the whole of Wales could range between £160m and £268m.

When the report to Council is published I’ll add the link to my blog.  My best guess is that nothing is likely to happen quickly when the consultation ends as the Welsh Government are focussed on other things.

On a similar note, the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales has started an Electoral Review of Swansea’s Boundaries.  The consultation runs until July 24 and can be found here.

Virgin Media

I mentioned last week that Virgin Media had announced the start of consultation on the proposal to close its Swansea operation.  On Wednesday the Leader and I met the company to better understand and challenge the rationale for closure.  Whilst it’s clear the nature of the business is changing to reflect the fact that better digital infrastructure has reduced the number of fault calls dealt with at the Swansea contact centre, we told them that we thought it was a short-sighted move in the context of our City Deal digital projects. We’re already working with the company and Welsh Government to soften the blow through redeployment but I hope the company will take our views, and those of the workforce, into account when finalising a decision.

Congratulations

I was delighted to see an email from Nicole Dummett in Corporate Building and Property Services following the two recent awareness campaigns on Domestic Violence.  Staff in the department raised £193.49 and £161.43 towards the campaign for which the staff at the Domestic Violence One Stop Shop were extremely grateful. The first donation was spent on a Christmas party for some of our service users and their children, confidence-building classes and three children’s craft workshops.  This time I understand the donation will be used to support the Shoe Box scheme, particularly for male victims of domestic violence as the numbers are increasing.

Summer ball

Last night’s Lord Mayor’s Summer Ball was a great success. A series of awards were given out in recognition of people’s contribution to Swansea. I’m grateful to Joanne Jones in Corporate Marketing and all the team involved for organising a great event.

Hoping for a miracle

It looks like the Swans’ stay in the Premier League is all but over, barring the ten goal turnaround required for them to stay up. It’ll be a real shame to see the Swans relegated, not just for fans like me, but for the city and the wider region. There’s no doubt that having a Premier League club has been a great selling point for Swansea. So here’s hoping for a minor miracle at the weekend or a better season next year!

Fingers-crossed for City of Culture bid

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City of Culture

We’ll learn at about 10.30 tonight if Swansea has been shortlisted for the UK City of Culture 2021 competition.  We’re all keeping our fingers crossed as this would open up some great opportunities for the city and its citizens.  My thanks to Tracey McNulty and her team who have put all their effort into getting our bid over the line.

Dragon’s Den

I attended the Grand Final of Moving Towards Successful Futures, which promotes entrepreneurship among children.  It’s an important part of the new curriculum and Alison Williams from Craigfelen Primary School invited me to the event after reading my recent blog comments about Be the Spark.

Each school group had to design a product, develop a pitch and sell their goods to the public.  They took over the central tables in Swansea Market for a day, selling products ranging from notebooks and soap to pots of slime, mostly from recycled materials.  I spoke to all the groups and the enthusiasm of the pupils was impressive.

This was a fun event with a serious purpose and my thanks to all the teachers, pupils and staff who have worked so hard on this and particularly to Alison for inviting me.

The winning schools were:

Craigfelen                 Best Financial

Pontybrenin              Best Idea

Craigcefnparc           Best Marketing

Clase                        Best Customer Service

Terrace Road           Best Research and Planning

Ynystawe                  Best Brand

Llwynderw                Best Environmental

Christchurch             Best Sales

Pentregraig               Best Team Work

Blaenymaes              Best Display Stand

Trallwn                      Best Social Media

Oystermouth             Best Pitch

Take Care

We’re one of only two councils selected to work with Save the Children as part of the “Take Care Project” which aims to understand the issues relating to children in emergency or disaster situations. Year Six children from Trallwn Primary gave a presentation and wrote a song giving advice on what to do if you were caught up in a fire. They also made a video, which covered how they’d feel and what they’d want following an evacuation, which certainly provoked thought. The event will help change the way we plan and manage emergencies, such as including children in some exercises which was something they specifically asked for.

High 5s

Don’t miss the deadline of July 21 for nominating for the High 5 awards for inspirational children, young people and young adults. Staff can nominate staff as the age limit is 25 so have a think about the younger members of your teams, volunteers and apprentices you work with and consider if they are worthy of a High 5 Award. Swansea City FC star Leon Britton is our High 5 Ambassador again this year. All details here 

Awards

We won three awards at the Swansea Life Awards. The Airshow was named Best Event so thank you to our Special Events team, Tourism Marketing, Highways and Transportation, Street Scene and Cleansing for ensuring a safe and enjoyable event. Clyne Gardens won the Best Tourism and Leisure Attraction thanks to the efforts of our Parks Operations and Development and Outreach teams, Tourism Marketing and the park’s Friends. The LC won Best Health/Gym/Spa. Well done to everyone involved.

We’ve been shortlisted for four national APSE Awards for the following categories; Highways, Waste Management, Building Services and Construction and the Best Workforce Initiative, which includes our apprentice scheme.  The awards take place on September 7.

The Constructing Excellence Awards are being held today and we’ve been shortlisted for Health and Safety, Client of the Year and also for Project of the Year. Well done to everyone involved and it’s great to see your work being recognised by others.

Farewells

A number of school staff are moving onto pastures new or retiring – Catrin Pugh-Jones, Trui Williams, Jonathan Mead, Gareth Widlake and Sue Hollister.  I’m very grateful for their dedication and commitment to children and young people.

I haven’t met them all but they have all made a real difference to their schools. I’ve met Sue Hollister who’s leadership and community engagement at Cefn Hengoed has had a huger impact on its improvement. The school has been judged twice to be an excellent school by Estyn and attendance rates have risen by 10% to over 94%. For the last four years, every single child has gained at least one qualification before leaving school and a range of other results have risen significantly. I’m grateful for her massive contribution. Diolch Sue.

Sad news

I was sorry to hear that one of our former councillors, Mair Gibbs, passed away this week.  Mair was an excellent ward councillor who made a major contribution to the well-being of Bonymaen and Swansea.  I worked with her on a number of projects and admired her tenacity in pursuing the interests of her constituents.  Mair, a former Lord Mayor, was a great ambassador for our city and she will be sorely missed.

 

 

Manchester – a City United

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The horrific events at the Manchester Arena shocked us all. Whilst it’s hard to identify what the authorities could have done to prevent the attack, it’s important that we redouble our efforts to mitigate against such dangers.  We’ll continue to work with the police and other organisations on security for major events in the city. We’d urge everyone to continue to be vigilant and report anything suspicious.

In paying our respects to those caught up in the bombing, flags have been flown at half-mast and a vigil took place on Tuesday evening in Castle Square. I’m grateful for the staff who helped to arrange this at short notice.

On Wednesday parts of the city centre were evacuated due to a suspicious package, which seems to have been a “hoax”. I’m really angry about this because one of the purposes of terrorism is to inject chaos, disruption and paranoia into communities.  Hoaxes compound this and assist those who commit acts of terror.

However, I’m grateful to all our staff and others who helped in the quick and safe evacuation. They were praised by the police for their efforts.

Unsurprisingly, CMT this week discussed emergency and civil contingency planning. We’ll be reviewing procedures and carrying out a practice exercise to test our readiness for a major emergency.  I hope we never face the situation that confronted the authorities in Manchester, but if we do I want to make doubly sure that we, along with our community, are all prepared for the critical roles that would be required of us.

Council AGM

The annual General Meeting of Council took place last night. Councillor Rob Stewart was re-elected as Leader and Councillor Clive Lloyd was elected Deputy Leader

The Cabinet Members and their portfolios are:

  • Economy & Strategy – Leader – Rob Stewart
  • Service Transformation & Business Operations – Deputy Leader – Clive Lloyd
  • Education & Children – Jen Raynor
  • Health & Well Being    – Mark Child
  • Housing & Energy – Andrea Lewis
  • Stronger Communities – Will Evans
  • Culture Tourism & Sport – Robert Francis-Davies
  • Commercial Opportunities & Innovation – David Hopkins
  • Future Generations     – June Burtonshaw/ Mary Sherwood (job share)
  • Environment Services – Mark Thomas
  • Scrutiny programme committee – Mary Jones 

Council also appointed chairs for the Policy Development and Delivery Committees, which replace the Cabinet Advisory Committees. The PD&D Committee chairs will be councillors Robert Smith, Mandy Evans, Erika Kirchner, Ryland Doyle and Paulette Smith.  Councillor Penny Matthews will continue to chair the Licensing Committee and Councillor Paul Lloyd will carry on as Chair of Planning.

Congratulations to all.

A new Lord Mayor

The inauguration of the new Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress takes place this afternoon. Councillor Phil Downing is taking over from the current Lord Mayor, Councillor David Hopkins.  David and his consort, Beverley, have done a magnificent job for the city over the last year.  It’s been an incredibly busy year for them and I know they’ve enjoyed it.  Thanks both for a job well done.

Election

Preparations for the General Election are continuing with just over 34,500 postal votes going out this week – the highest number we’ve ever had.

The elections team has added over 7,500 people to the register since the May election, and processed 1,600 postal vote applications on Monday and Tuesday. A great effort, well done!

Bishop Gore

Last week I visited Bishop Gore School to meet the head teacher, Ryan Davies, and his team. The school has over 1,200 pupils.  It is a “green” school with 1 for standards and A for leadership. We discussed how we can ensure pupils are properly equipped for the world of work and further education.  I was interested to hear how it’s difficult to find proper work placements for students and this is an area I think we can make progress on.  One possibility is a database linking placement opportunities with students’ skills and ambitions.  I’ll be discussing this with colleagues.

The school has implemented an innovative approach to educating children who arrive at the school from primary education with low levels of literacy and numeracy and this is making a real difference. They’ve also recently developed their horticultural skills by regenerating the school’s walled garden. This is a wonderful facility for learning and fun and I hope the team at the botanical gardens who’ve already assisted can help further.  Ryan is leaving to move to Brynteg in Bridgend at the end of this term but I must pay tribute to his leadership and the achievements of his team.

Farewells

We have a number of long serving colleagues leaving us today. Mike Hawes, Director of Resources is retiring after 35 years.  Mike has made a huge contribution and I’m grateful for his wise counsel and unwavering support, particularly since I took up post last year.

Dave Evans, Housing Business Manager, also retires today after 28 years. Dave and I worked together for many years on a variety of projects and he can be rightfully proud of his contribution in improving the quality of life for council tenants.

Also this month, Steve Colwill and Phil Lewis will be leaving Corporate Building and Property Services after 43 years and 26 years, respectively.

Thanks to all four who have clocked up 126 years of service between them!

Congratulations and thanks

Swansea Marina and four of our beaches – Caswell, Langland, Port Eynon and Bracelet Bay – have retained Blue Flag status for their quality of water, environmental education and management, safety and services.

The Blue Flag Award is a highly respected international across 49 countries.

Our city centre has retained prestigious Purple Flag status, demonstrating it’s a great, diverse and safe place to spend a night out. Well done to all involved.

A high-profile visitor has called into the Dylan Thomas Exhibition to find out about Dylan’s links with the USA. Lewis Lukens, the Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in London, was shown around the exhibition by our literature officer, Jo Furber.

Blog

I’m on leave next week so my next blog will be on June 9.