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
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
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!