Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

Budget latest

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Our latest public budget consultation comes to a close today and we’ve received hundreds of responses from staff and the public. It’s never easy going out with proposals to reduce services and change what we do. But we need to reduce our spending by more than £24m next year and by £60m in the next three years.

We’re doing all we can to reduce spending by being more efficient and modernising services but the scale of the cuts means we also have to stop doing things. Our spending restrictions are helping to reduce this year’s overspend and we need to keep the pressure on so that we only spend on essentials.

Many of you attended the recent roadshows and we’ve received lots of feedback since, which is encouraging and always welcome.  Our consultation with staff around the cross-cutting budget savings closes on February 7.  Please don’t stop giving your ideas; you can use the staff suggestion scheme or let your manager know.

Our colleagues in Finance and Access to Services are now busy assessing the consultation responses and preparing the budget reports that’ll go to Special Cabinet on February 14. CMT will be meeting Cabinet on Monday to discuss the latest information and agree the details to go forward. Thank you to everyone who’s participated in the consultation and to those officers now drafting reports for Cabinet.

Great news

Bishop Vaughan Catholic School have improved from Amber to Green

We’ve had some excellent news for our schools in the latest Welsh Government’s categorisation system results. It shows improvements across Swansea for the fifth year in a row with more than 95% of all our schools now rated green or yellow compared to a Wales average of 85%. This shows the sharing of expertise between schools and the support experienced teachers are providing to colleagues is paying dividends and is also tribute to the work of our head teachers and staff as well as our education department.

There was more good news for YGG Llwynderw yesterday as the results of its Estyn inspection last term judged it to be good in four of the five inspection areas and excellent in the fifth.

Skyline back

Heads of terms signed by Skyline and Swansea Council last Summer

Senior figures from New Zealand-based Skyline Enterprises will be back in Swansea on Monday. They’ll meet officers and Council Leader Rob Stewart as they continue to consider developing a world-class extreme activities attraction on Kilvey Hill and at the Hafod Copperworks site. They’re also due to meet high-ranking people at the Welsh Government.

Last summer we signed a heads of terms agreement with the business, detailing how we’ll work together to take this exciting project from drawing board to reality. There’s still much work to be done, of course, but we’re doing all we can to make things happen. Skyline would complement our ongoing city-wide regeneration and this well-regarded company’s decision to work with us is a great vote of confidence in Swansea as a tourist destination.

National award

We’ve received a national innovation award for health and safety from Rospa. Our work on managing falls in older people has led to the Stevenson shield for innovation in H&S, finishing third in the UK.  In partnership with ambulance and Western Bay colleagues, we’ve reduced falls and 999 calls by two thirds. And on top of the award, Rospa want to look at adopting the work as best practise across the UK. Well done to everyone involved.

Grit and determination

Thank you to our winter maintenance teams who’ve been salting main roads to help avoid disruption during the cold spell. They’ve been out throughout the night and each time they cover 450km of our road network. And although most of Swansea thankfully didn’t get the snow that other parts had, I know many staff travelled in through poor conditions this morning and I’m grateful for everyone’s efforts.

Safety first

The importance of our services and the staff who run them were highlighted by an incident in Gorseinon. A vulnerable resident was led to safety from a potentially dangerous situation thanks to a combination of equipment we had installed and quick-thinking actions by officers. Well done all!

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.

Promoting Swansea in Cardiff

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I’ve been in Cardiff quite a bit this week raising our profile and trying to secure some commitments from the Welsh Government.

On Monday I met our Skyline colleagues from New Zealand to further develop the proposals for their leisure scheme at Kilvey Hill.  Work continues apace and I hope we can give the project the final push towards delivery.  It would have a major impact on Swansea as a tourist destination but given the financial climate we’ll very likely be dependent upon grant support from Welsh Government to secure it. Councillors Stewart and Francis-Davies also attended and I know they’re doing everything they can to get that support.

On Tuesday I was with the Welsh Government to discuss the future funding for ethnic minority language support to our schools.  I was joined by the chief executives of Cardiff and Newport councils and they feel as strongly as I do about this subject.  It’s essential the Welsh Government recognises that councils can’t provide these essential services without the necessary funding and I pressed the case as forcefully as possible.  Whilst funding is secured for the next financial year we need firm commitments beyond that and I hope sense will prevail.

We continue to work with colleagues in Cardiff and Newport to promote our cities and to highlight to the Welsh Government the particular challenges faced by urban authorities and I think they got the point.

I also met with Geraint Rees who’s taken over the helm at ERW, our regional school improvement consortium.  I’ve mentioned previously there have been some problems at ERW and one year on since my appointment as lead Chief Executive for the consortium I’m now confident real progress is being made.  I emphasised the need for better engagement and stronger partnerships with schools to make sure we secure the best possible outcomes for our learners across the mid and southwest Wales region.  Geraint and I will be working on a report to the ERW Joint Committee in January that will chart the future and hopefully ensure all regional councils engage fully in the organisation.

Swansea Central

Cabinet yesterday approved an extra £3m to progress phase one of the Swansea Central project including the proposed digital arena. This is a major step forward and couldn’t have been possible without tremendous efforts of Huw Mowbray and his team along with many others such as finance, legal, planning and communications.

Swansea University

I was concerned to learn of the current issues at Swansea University and the suspension of four members of staff.  As major partners in our regeneration projects, the University has a key role, and I hope the current difficulties can be resolved quickly.  The Leader and I have sought reassurance that the progress we’re all making on the City Deal will not be hindered by this.  In the meantime I must thank the economic regeneration team and Deputy Chief Executive, Adam Hill, for their work on pushing the case forward with Welsh Government officials this week. Hopefully in the next week or so there’ll be some definitive statements on the first projects to be approved under the Swansea Bay City Deal.

YGG Lon Las

On Thursday I was at Lon Las School for the official opening with TV news presenter Huw Edwards.  Huw is a great advocate and promoter of Welsh medium education so I was delighted when he agreed to officially open the new £9.8m school. It has over 500 pupils and it’s a huge improvement with all the classrooms under one roof. There’s also a lovely new flat play area and a sports field.  Huw spoke eloquently about the importance of quality in education and choice in language.  Both Huw and I were impressed by this magnificent facility and the team responsible for delivering it should be rightly proud of their work.  Huw was brilliant with the children and has promised to return. Thanks to headteacher Karen Thomas and her fantastic team for making us all feel so welcome. And congratulations to the school on their very positive inspection report.

Additional Learning Needs

CMT considered our approach to implementing the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 – to support children and young people with additional learning needs (ALN). It replaces existing legislation for special educational needs and the assessment of children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in post-16 education and training.  There are major implications for us and the NHS, and the recent commissioning review of ALN has resulted in the development of a new strategic approach which will be taken to Members in the coming weeks.  Thanks to Mark Sheridan and Gemma Whyley for explaining this to CMT.  The financial implications of the new requirements give me cause for concern and I feel further discussions with Welsh Government over funding will be necessary.

Spending controls

CMT also discussed the need for re-enforced efforts to reduce ‘discretionary’ spend given our projected financial overspend for 18/19 and beyond.  We’re anxious not to create unmanageable levels of extra bureaucracy and bottle-necks in the approval process which frustrated previous implementation of enhanced spending controls.  But we must find a way to provide extra scrutiny of expenditure.  Ben Smith and I will shortly be meeting staff involved in purchasing to talk through the issues with them.

Awards

Well done to our Building Services team who won a gold award at the Careers Wales Valued Partner Awards.  It saluted their work on activity such as careers fairs and talks, work experience and mock interviews with school pupils.

The awards recognise the contribution made by those who support Wales’s workforce of the future.

 

Dead in the water? No.

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Another week passes and the future of the tidal lagoon looks in severe doubt following the announcements from the UK Government this week.  Following the decision to press ahead with the nuclear power facility at Wylfa, the Secretary of State for Wales has clearly stated his concerns over the forecast cost of energy from the Swansea Bay project.  Personally, I feel this would be a short-sighted decision by the UK Government and based on criteria that do not reflect the long-term nature of large scale energy infrastructure projects.  We’ll continue to work with the Welsh Government and Tidal Lagoon Power to deliver this scheme along with other renewable projects, given our commitment to sustainable development and future generations.

Skyline

This week we welcomed Skyline, our partners from New Zealand who are working on our scheme at Kilvey Hill.  We were able to formally agree the heads of terms and the company spent the week appointing consultants and advisers to manage and deliver the project.  Huw Mowbray and the property team have been working hard to secure this investment for the city and if we can deliver it we’ll have an attraction that is unique to the UK and a potentially massive boost for our tourism sector.  We we’ll continue to work closely with Skyline on pre-application for planning, land assembly and logistical support. We held a dinner at the Mansion House yesterday evening to review progress and agree the actions we’ll each undertake over the coming months.

Local Government Reform

On Monday afternoon the Leader and I travelled to Llandrindod Wells along with our counterparts from the other 21 councils in Wales to meet the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government, Alun Davies.  The meeting was arranged by the Welsh Government to share views on merger and transformation of public services as councils prepare to respond to the recent Green Paper.  This was never going to be an easy discussion and it’s clear there are some very strong and conflicting views on the subject.  My personal prediction, and it’s just that, is that it’s highly unlikely that mergers will take place on a national level, if at all. The debate has been underwhelming and the case for a reduction to 10 councils has not been convincingly made.  I met group leaders this week to get their views on the Green Paper and we’ll be reporting our proposed response to Council in a fortnight.  I’ll add a link to my blog so you can see it for yourself.

University meeting

We recently established a joint Executive Board with Swansea University to help manage the delivery of joint projects including the regeneration of the city centre, the provision of accommodation, digital infrastructure and energy strategy.  The Leader chaired the meeting and it was pleasing to see agreement on these as priorities for collaboration, which will now be developed into specific projects.

Western Bay

On Tuesday I was interviewed by IPC about progress made on the Western Bay Health and Social Care collaboration.  Given the impacts of austerity on public finances, the confusion over regional collaboration footprints and the lack of clarity over funding responsibilities between councils and the NHS it’s a difficult backdrop for partnership working. However, I think some very good progress has been made but we need to focus on better joining up of services.  We await the decision of the Welsh Government on the future geography for ABMU Health Board, with or without Bridgend Council following consultation, but I hope the review by IPC will come up with some positive recommendations that all partners can subscribe and commit to.

Congratulations

Well done to staff at the Glynn Vivian which has been awarded a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence. The Gallery has undergone a major refurbishment and is one of Wales’ leading venues. This follows hot on the heels of five other council venues receiving the same accolade.

Thank you to staff in Finance who’ve been working for months on closing our accounts. It’s a painstaking task which has to be done every year. I won’t mention everyone by name, but well done and thank you for all your efforts.

I was delighted to see former Cefn Hengoed Community School headteacher Sue Hollister at Buckingham Palace this week to collect the MBE for services to education. During her 10 years at the helm the school’s fortunes were transformed and rated excellent in all 15 aspects of its last Estyn inspection.