Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

Phil to return… and other news

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I’ll start with the good news that Phil Roberts is planning to return to work on June 3 and is expected to be back in full work mode from June 10. I’ll say more about my departure next week but clearly I’m delighted Phil will be back, which releases me back to my garden just in time for summer!

I know many are bored of it, but the European elections are taking place this weekend and our staff, not just the elections team, have been working hard to ensure it’s conducted properly. Polling staff were out all day yesterday and we carried out the verification after polling closed to ensure all the votes cast were properly accounted for. Staff will return on Sunday to count the votes with the result due to be announced at 10pm. This is to coincide with the Europe-wide arrangements.

Many of our services are under severe pressure not just because of finance but also public demand and expectations. One example is domiciliary care where we struggle sometimes to provide sufficient capacity to meet the needs of people which can result in delayed transfers from hospital. A key contributor is the occasional failure of external providers which means we have to reallocate work and funding to deal with the problem. This puts extra pressure on our staff who work at the sharp end and I’m grateful for their efforts. It’s a problem in Swansea, but also in the social care system across the UK and unfortunately the UK Government’s focus on Brexit for the past three years has delayed radical proposals being discussed.  Proposals that are going to have to change the way that health and social care is both funded and provided if the impact of demography is to be managed.

CMT this week considered a draft scrutiny report on equalities and although more work is needed we’ll have to agree an action to ensure we continue to meet legal requirements. The scrutiny function is important because it carries out a detailed examination of practice highlighting strengths and challenges.

I’ve mentioned a few times our regional arrangements for the City Deal, ERW and the like. This week the WLGA has commented on the Local Government Minister’s proposals for driving this agenda forward. The current proposals appear to promote the idea of statutory joint committees that take on both the legal and potentially employment role for a range of areas such as education improvement and regional planning. I can see this type of proposal would give greater authority to regional arrangements to deliver their agenda. But on the flipside, it places question marks over the democratic accountability of these bodies because the joint committees will be made up of a small number of councillors, leaving the majority potentially having even less say.

At the moment we’re looking at all our land ownership across the city to see whether sites can be released for development to improve the city and in some cases to generate income. The latest seafront proposals have inevitably led to a significant reaction.  We need to be clear that we’re only seeking expressions of interest at this stage. If there is any interest, we’d need to take into account a whole range of issues including any environmental and visual impacts. Public consultation is under way and it is interesting to see we are receiving ideas as well as objections. 

Lynsey Davies, one of our apprentices, has been named Wales’ best in the Federation of Master Builders’ Master Builder Awards. Lynsey will now be entered into the National FMB awards in September. Judges described her as ‘a shining example of how commitment, dedication and determination can achieve results’. Well done Lynsey, this is a brilliant achievement.

Finally, congratulations to Steve Williams who retires with 40 years’ service. Steve has worked as a driver in social services and our integrated transport unit. I along with his colleagues wish Steve all the very best in his retirement.

All change for Lord Mayor

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The Lord Mayor of Swansea is appointed at a Ceremonial Council annually and the changeover occurred this week.  Tradition has it that the longest serving Member who has not already held the office is appointed.  Councillor David Phillips has done an excellent job this year and will be succeeded by Councillor Peter Black and I wish him well in what will be a very busy year.

Whenever I mention money in this blog it seems to have negative connotations as we continually strive to meet ever more challenging savings targets.  So it’s great this week to have some positive financial outcomes!  Cabinet approved the award of two key contracts – one for local bus services and one for park and ride buses.  In both cases not only were services maintained or improved but significant savings were achieved.  It was great to hear Cabinet Members praise the officers involved not only in terms of the outcome but also the hard work that goes into such tasks.

Personally, I was also pleased to see Cabinet adopt a policy on “Pupil Development Grant”, formerly known as “Pupil Deprivation Grant”.  This money is allocated to schools on the basis of the number of pupils in receipt of free school meals (FSM).  Whilst we can be rightly proud of our schools relative performance it remains the case that FSM pupils do not perform as well as others in general, the position being worse for boys.  This Policy requires us to monitor the effectiveness of the use of the grant, learn from best practice and undertake research to drive up achievement.  A continued focus on FSM pupil attainment is a key priority for us.

It is also good to see that this week a clear policy promoting the rights of people with learning disabilities and mental health issues to live supported in the community was endorsed.  Supported living has been very successful in Swansea for many years, the issue here is that this policy binds officers and councillors together in advocating for this important provision.

At CMT we discussed the staff survey again.  Each Head of Service is tasked with addressing issues in their area of responsibility.  It is for CMT to drive forward change in a small number of key issues that are identified across the Council, three were selected.  Firstly, bullying and harassment.  The policies relating to staff are being reviewed and updated assisted by specific feedback from some individuals.  The issue that is very worrying is the increasing trend in allegations relating to members of the public.

Secondly, Safeguarding.  This has been our number one priority for many years and much positive work has been done.  It is very concerning therefore that the survey returns low result on, for example, people’s awareness of the key lead.  The third issue related to staff reporting lack of knowledge in terms of their work area and plans for change.  This raises yet again challenges in relation to staff engagement.

All three issues have arisen previously so clearly CMT is not only going to have to refresh what has been done previously but also come up with some new approaches to affect these key issues.

Three years after we launched our specialist mental health resource centre Crest in the former Cwmbwrla Day Centre the service is about to take the next exciting step in developing the services we provide.Working with partners it is to become a Recovery College providing formal education programmes as a route to recovery for people with a lived experience of mental distress. Crest will continue to provide the employment and day services it already offers but this addition will enhance the work and educational opportunities available at the centre.

Many of our schools have been working closely with the Show Racism The Red Card for a number of years now and they were very well represented at the charity’s creative competition awards. Winners came from St Helen’s, Cwm Glas and Terrace Road Primaries as well as YGG Llwynderw and Olchfa Comprehensive.

A word of thanks to the Emergency Management Team who were called out late last night to support the fire service to evacuate local residents due to the wildfire on Kilvey Hill. All the residents found temporary accommodation with friends, but this is another example of the great work being done by our teams to support local communities.

A whole blog without mention of Brexit or the EU election? Well, not quite. Staff have been dealing with postal votes this week and making preparations for polling day. Much of my next week will be taken up with the election so the blog would be more boring than usual!

Finally, colleagues may wish to be aware of two forthcoming funerals:

Dave Gill, Monday, 20th May –  2:30 p.m. Siloam Baptist Chapel, Goetre Fach Road, Killay, Swansea. SA2 7AL and then 4:00 p.m. Llanelli Crematorium.

Jamie Parsons, Thursday 23rd May – 2:00p.m. at Morriston Crematorium – if you are attending, the family would like you to wear something colourful.

Staff engagement is essential

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A key to delivering successful services is undoubtedly staff engagement and involvement.

At CMT this week we had a first look at the summary results from the latest staff survey.  The response rate at about 25% seems low to me, but is typical of this type of survey.  A couple of things struck a chord with me from these summary results.  Firstly, there remains a significant number of people who highlight bullying and harassment, despite our adoption of a zero tolerance approach some years ago.  I’d urge people with concerns to raise them with their line manager. Or failing that you can raise concerns with HR, a trade union or a colleague.  I was also concerned to see that around 30% of people reported not knowing about changes that may affect them.  The survey results will be broken down by area and discussed at Leadership Team.  Each Head of Service will need to show how they’re going to act on the issues arising in their area.  Thanks to all who took the time to respond.

The First Minister, Mark Drakeford, has a particular interest in Looked after Children (LAC).  Consequently, he’s set up a Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) which is tasked with reviewing services for LAC across Wales with a particular emphasis on driving down numbers and cost, whilst maintaining safeguarding as the primary aim.  The MAG visited Swansea this week, the second of the 22 visits it is undertaking.  The visit was to hear what we are doing locally, challenge us and seek to ensure we’re doing the best we can. Dave Howes (Director) and Julie Thomas (Head of Service) led the discussions from a Swansea perspective and were impressive in terms of their knowledge, professionalism and enthusiasm.  They were both totally focussed on delivering the best outcomes for children and were ably supported by their team.

When I was in the authority previously, change, innovation and improvement in these services was driven, to a significant degree, by the intervention we suffered in 2008.  I was massively impressed to see that the level of innovation and change has continued at pace. It is very much driven by the team and their commitment to the task.  There are of course other high performing teams across the Council and it’s important we learn from them all.

On a lighter note, I’d forgotten the extent to which the Guildhall has become a popular film set until I was reminded by Fran Jenkins this week.  Some of you will know that “Dr Who” and “Keeping Faith” have used the venue recently. And Channel 4 will be here again in June.  These events do of course generate income for the Council, but we also seek to minimise disruption for staff. Similarly, thank you to our Countryside Access Team and in particular Steve Parry for assisting with the filming of the BBC series Weatherman Walking which will showcase our coast when it’s aired a week today.

Whilst I was beavering away in CMT on Wednesday the official opening of Pentrehafod Comprehensive School took place.  There are too many people to mention within the Council, at the school and at our contractor partners to mention individuality.  So thanks to all involved. Major investment has and is being made in our schools and we hope the investment helps to deliver the improvement in outcomes for children and young people that we all desire.

When I left the Council in 2016 I was acutely aware of my passing years, since returning I am reminded of it on an almost daily basis!  I joined the City Council in 1989 and met Huw Morgan around that time, some 11 years after he joined the Council.  Huw leaves us this week as he retires.  Huw will be missed not only as a valued colleague and friend but also due to his vast experience and expertise.  He has many talents including expertise in the areas of water quality, contaminated land and health to mention but a few.  He’s particularly contributed to Swansea’s role in public health research and has represented us on many national groups.  I wish Huw well and I’m sure so will all those who have worked with him.

We need your help

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You’ll all be aware of our difficult financial position we’re in and we need your help to reduce spending this year. The spending restrictions and vacancy freeze are already in place and now we’re controlling discretionary spend. You can take some easy steps by asking yourself, do I need to spend, can this purchase wait, are there other options and, if I need to buy, can it be done cheaper?

It sounds basic, and it is, but it’ll really help to pull back on spending this year so that we reduce our current and stubborn in-year overspend.

We’re also changing some of the formal procedures including reviewing and removing all non-core items from our i-purchase catalogues, new controls on spending restrictions, CMT will review non-compliant purchases and reviewing purchasing approval limits.

These are sensible and necessary changes and are aimed at savings jobs and protecting services. Please follow this link for more details.

Have your say

The budget has been a key theme of the on-going staff roadshows. We’ve been pleased with the turn out and response from staff so if you’re able to please come along to one of them to find out more about the budget, our plans for the future and to have your say in what we do.

On the Road Again

This week I’ve once again spent a lot of time on regional work.  On Monday I met the ERW Joint Committee to discuss the way forward for regional collaboration in school improvement as we work to deliver the National Mission for education in Wales.  After a difficult couple of years the way forward is becoming clearer and a broad consensus on future strategy is emerging.

I’ve mentioned in previous blogs that some months ago I drafted in Geraint Rees, an experienced head teacher and education expert, to help me get ERW back on track and in his role as Interim Managing Director for ERW he presented the proposals to the members of the committee.

On Thursday I was invited to the regional ERW scrutiny committee along with the Chair, Ellen Ap Gwyn, and Geraint to answer questions about the performance and status of the regional consortium.  I explained that we have had to deal with some difficult issues but we were now confident the future was clearer and brighter.  Geraint repeated his presentation and the response of scrutiny was generally positive.

Bridgexit

On Tuesday I chaired with Western Bay Leadership Team as we prepare for the meeting of our Regional Partnership Board next week.  Bridgend will formally leave the partnership at the end of March in a move that’s sometimes referred to as “Bridgexit” and we received an update on the progress of uncoupling that council from our regional arrangements.  We also signed off the future direction of the Western Bay collaboration and will now be making a number of recommendations to the regional partnership board about how we’ll focus on a transformation programme for the future delivery of health and social care services in the region.

On Wednesday the Leader and I met with our counterparts from AMBU to discuss a number of issues including our joint response to winter pressures, ICT and information sharing, and the increasing profile of housing issues in health and care delivery.  There’ll always be tensions between councils and the NHS, particularly over those areas where responsibilities are blurred, but we’re building a more positive and productive relationship with ABMU and this is recognised by both parties.  Thanks to all the staff who have worked hard to achieve this as I’m conscious the real test of partnership arrangements is at the coalface rather than the boardroom.  Retaining that focus on jointly providing seamless and excellent care services for our communities is the real challenge.

Brexit

Next week promises to be an interesting one as the House of Commons finally gets to vote on the PM’s Brexit deal.  This will be a historical moment in UK politics and the strength of public feeling has been evident in the media with some disturbing and unacceptable behaviour towards politicians who are generally attempting to simply reflect the views of their constituents.  But the divisions are clear and growing and we should be concerned about the consequences of this.

Whatever the outcome of the vote I hope we’ll be clearer on the future direction so that we can attempt in the next 80 days to properly prepare for the most significant event in UK politics for decades.  I’ve been invited to join the Local Government [EU] Preparedness Advisory Panel which will meet later this month and I’ll share as much information with you as I can about the challenges and issues that Brexit presents.  We’ve already responded to the Wales Audit Office request for information on preparations in Swansea and you can see the response here.

Bravery award

Darran Kiley who works in our waste management team has been nominated for a St David Award for Bravery. He helped South Wales Police apprehend a man with a knife in the city centre whilst on duty. The awards recognise and celebrate the exceptional achievements of people from all walks of life in Wales and will be held at the Senedd on March 21. Well done Darran, and good luck!

Charity efforts

Thanks to Building Services staff who recently raised more than £2,000 for charity.

Those to benefit included the Mr X Appeal, Mind Swansea and organisations supporting work with Alzheimer’s and cancer. Well done to all involved.

None the wiser!

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The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on Monday announced an end to austerity but I have to say it doesn’t feel like that for councils in Wales.  A simple analysis by respected commentators has made clear that once the promises for future funding for the NHS are taken into account most of the rest of the public sector faces longer-term continued real terms reductions. The harsh reality is austerity for local government seems to have no chance of going away any time soon. However, in the short term there were a few glimmers of light:

  • Extra cash for capital and revenue coming to Wales, totalling £550m over three years.
  • Local government is a stated Welsh Government priority if extra cash becomes available, specifically for schools, potholes and social care.
  • It’s too early to tell the amount and it depends on the specific priorities for Welsh Government

However, the announcement on business rates may be a negative one for us. If they are reduced by a third, as in England, this will impact on our core funding.

More fundamentally there are serious issues about the way national pay and pension decisions are announced without being fully-funded.  It’s going to cost us £10m next year, yet we’ve only been given an extra £18,000. And tucked away in the budget was a technical announcement on UK government’s one-off reserves to smooth the pain of the cost of applied employers’ pension increases totalling some £4.7 billion. We’re continuing to lobby along with the WLGA and I know colleagues in the trade unions are doing the same. We have to make sure some of this comes to Welsh authorities facing real spending pressures, not just for use in England. We’ll know more from Welsh Government on our final share of funding on December 19.  Hopefully it’ll be Santa rather than Scrooge that delivers the definitive message!

New Deputy starts

Adam Hill, our new Deputy Chief Executive, has started with us this week. He has valuable experience in a number of local government roles as well as working in senior positions in other sectors. It’s really good to have him in CMT and he’ll be getting around to meet as many of you as he can in the coming weeks and months. I’m sure you’ll join me in welcoming Adam to Swansea and wishing him all the best.

New ways of working

We know some of our working practices would benefit from a new approach so we’re going to test some new ways of working in a 12-month pilot scheme. We’ve chosen three teams where the focus will be on work output rather than the number of hours worked. This will mean changes to the current flexi and core hours’ systems with staff in the pilot areas no longer being required to record time.  They’ve already taken part in workshops over the last few weeks to discuss how new ways of working will work in their area and to ensure services are not adversely affected. Participation in the pilot is voluntary and affects only Human Resources, the Service Centre and Corporate Property Services teams. I’m really interested to see how it goes, but also to ensure we assess the full picture so that we’re clear about what works and what doesn’t and where these kind of changes may work elsewhere.

Staff survey

You’ve got just a few more hours to have your say in our latest staff survey. The shortened survey is quick and easy to complete so please take some time to do so. It really is important we have your views so that we can take actions and make further improvements based on your feedback.

Deputy finance chief

Congratulations to Jeff Dong who’s been appointed as the Deputy Chief Finance Officer and Deputy S151 Officer.  Jeff will lead on a number of strategic finance projects including pensions, treasury and capital.  In line with spending restrictions and vacancy management the post is on an interim basis until March 31, 2019.

Good news

It’s great to see we’ve short-listed three bidders to take over the former 360 site on the prom in front of St Helen’s. It’s a prime site and we want to create a vibrant and exciting facility on the beach-front. We’re also expecting some good news on the Hafod Copperworks scheme with Heritage Lottery Funding hopefully being confirmed shortly. Thank you to all the officers working on these schemes.

Western Bay

Our Regional Partnership Board for Western Bay met this week to consider a number of important issues and projects to transform the way social care and health are delivered across the region.  This included a review of the Integrated Care Fund by the Wales Audit Office, an update on the National Strategy for Autism, the Strategic Framework for Mental Health and the first bids to the All Wales Transformation Fund.  We were also reassured progress is being made on Bridgend’s transfer out of the ABMU health board area and into Cwm Taf. I think this collaboration is making real progress but there are still too many meetings and a cumbersome governance regime. I hope we can work with partners to simplify this as I’m conscious a huge amount of officer and member time is devoted to attendance and participation.

Award

Congratulations to John Chappell, one of our social services drivers at Client Transport (ITU) on being nominated for an ABMU Health Board Patient Choice Award. John has been nominated by the public for going the extra mile during a medical emergency. He’ll be attending a celebration event on December 4, where he will be presented with his certificate.