Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

Brexit’s parallel universe

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Mysteriously, I find myself transferred back into the weird parallel universe known commonly as Brexit.  Despite uncertainty surrounding the European elections, large quantities of public cash (not this council’s!) are being committed to preparing for this potential event, which could technically be cancelled anytime up to midnight on the night before.  Should the election go ahead we will need a variety of staff in place and our electoral services team are currently seeking to fill a number of positions, if interested please apply here.

It is also worth noting that we are now in the pre-election period (from 15th April 2019) for this as of yet unconfirmed election!  We need to be careful, as do all public bodies, not to make announcements etc. that may influence the election outcome.  If in doubt, seek the advice of your manager or the legal services section.

Back in the real world I was pleased to see that sentencing took place this week in relation to the call centre scam known as ‘Wolves of Wind Street’ which I covered here previously, a prosecution brought following an investigation by the Trading Standards team.

Many teams in Swansea operate under severe pressure and that is certainly true in relation to our food hygiene service.  So again, I am pleased to hear of their successful prosecutions recently achieved.  Well done to all those involved in this vital work in an area of public protection that does not always get the recognition it deserves.

School budgets are under pressure along with all other areas of public service.  Since returning to the Council I have been pleased to see that school performance has improved or been maintained across the patch over the last few years.  This week the latest inspection results for Townhill Primary were released and confirmed good performance across all criteria.  Well done to all staff and pupils, it was particularly pleasing to note that children are in an environment where they feel both safe and valued.

When times are tough (when were they not?) it is vital that  there is a clear understanding of what management is doing, whether it be the Corporate Management Team (CMT), the leadership team or individual departmental management teams.  CMT this week agreed a revised template setting out the various responsibilities so that we can be clear who is accountable for what.  Anyone interested can access this ‘corporate grip’ report here.

Whilst I am sure budgets and money are not the most inspiring or uplifting subject for many staff, it is vital that the Council both sets and delivers financial targets.  To this end CMT this week compiled and reviewed early options and proposals leading to the next budget round.  These will be refined and discussed with cabinet over the next few weeks. The financial outlook remains challenging.  Any view that the much-hyped end of austerity could transform the position seems to me to be misplaced. If more money feeds through to local Government it is likely to come with strings attached and will not therefore alter the overall position.

Another week, another threat from Neath Port Talbot to withdraw from a regional arrangement, this time the City Deal.  It is of course for them to manage their own business.  All of us working in regional arrangements will be well aware of the conflicts, the contradictions and the sheer hard work that they entail.  So why don’t we just declare the independent state of Swansea and withdraw from them all? 

There are many reasons, the first is philosophical, a belief that we can achieve more by our collective effort.  The second is practical, Welsh Government policy is to push harder on regional working and there will shortly be legislation in place to push the agenda further and faster.  Our task is to find ways to make regional arrangements work to the benefit of our customers, clients and citizens.  We can influence the policy in positive ways but we cannot be seen to undermine it!

I never thought I would see the day when we built Council homes again.  So the start of work at Parc-y-Helyg is an important step, creating local jobs and supporting some of our apprentices.  Well done to all involved in this initiative.

On a similarly positive note, the sun is due to shine over the Easter break, but I offer no guarantees.  I hope all staff who have the opportunity of a break enjoy their time off.  But we should all thank those many staff who will be working to ensure that services to the community continue over the bank holiday.

Hub open for your ideas

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I’ve always believed that no one individual has all the good ideas and given the challenges we face as a council we need all our staff coming up with ideas to help us work better and save money.

I’m really pleased to see we’re today launching our new Ideas Hub to replace the former staff suggestion scheme. The hub gives us a new online platform for staff to put forward their ideas. All ideas will go to the relevant Head of Service who can assess the idea with the aim of responding within 10 working days. Although it’s PC-based, it gives the option for those staff without a PC to get their manager to submit an idea on their behalf. Please use the platform as often as you can because the more ideas we have the better. You can even anonymise ideas if you prefer. You can link to the hub here. Thank you to Rhys Curtis for all his work in developing the hub.

Regional working has been a big focus in the past week. Work is now under way on establishing new governance arrangements for the City Deal to ensure this major programme moves forward to the subsequent phases. Steve Thomas, the former chief executive of the Welsh Local Government Association, is helping the region to put in place these arrangements and recruit a managing director, from existing funds, which should remove any conflicts of interest in the current structure. The region’s joint committee has signed-off the business case for stage one of the city centre project and we expect the UK and Welsh governments to fully sign-up in the next few weeks. Towards the end of June Scrutiny and Cabinet will be reviewing and considering the business case to allow the project to proceed.

ERW, our regional education service, this week agreed its working model for the next 12 months. I’d previously said that Neath Port Talbot were pulling out and refusing to pay their contribution, but they’ve now agreed to pay which avoids another financial issue and more importantly allows us to concentrate on delivering better outcomes for children rather than continue the distraction of internal wrangling.

It was important that Corporate Briefing (a meeting of Cabinet Members and CMT) received a report this week to establish a Swansea youth offending team following a very poor inspection report of the existing regional service. We need to get on with this change at pace and have a clear action plan for delivering this. Whilst this change is on-going we also need to support the staff to continue working with clients. The report will now move onto Cabinet.

Leadership team (CMT and Heads of Service) had their monthly meeting and discussed a range of items including staff travel, mandatory training and a new staff benefits scheme. I was particularly interested in the discussion of flexible working. We’ve been running a number of pilots in areas including Corporate Property and HR/OD and we now need to assess the outcomes. Personally, I’m all for flexibility but as we review the pilots we need to develop hard evidence that this approach is in the interests of the employee and the employer. I also want to ensure all areas of our workforce are equitably allowed and encouraged to participate, not just our office-based staff.

Lots of staff have been asking me about Phil’s progress and without going into personal details I’m pleased to say Phil has had the major part of his treatment and is now at home recovering. I’m in quite regular contact with him and I delighted in taking the mickey when Nottingham Forest recently beat his beloved Swans. Phil is really grateful for all your good wishes and, although there’s still some way to go on the road to full recovery, I’m hoping we can see him in the not too distant future.

Many of us will have visited Plantasia over the years and it’s fair to say the council realised it wasn’t reaching its full potential. Officers in Cultural Services have been working in partnership with specialist operator Parkwood to run the attraction. Officers had a tour this week and they were delighted with the new-look attraction. It has a number of new features including tree-top walks, a waterfall and new café. It opens at Easter and can become a major attraction for the city. Thank you to our officers who’ve spend many months working on this.

This week more than 300 free events have been taking place in venues across Swansea as part of our first ever Learning Festival. It’s taken a huge amount of work by our lifelong learning team to organise and coordinate but hundreds of people of all ages have d taken part. Other services delivered free learning opportunities including libraries, archives, museums, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and adult services. Thank you to our staff involved.

Finally, I refuse to comment on Brexit any further because with each passing day I become more confused. If local government ran its business like Westminster we’d all be in special measures!

Budget pressures

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Having not been here for almost three years one of the first things that has struck me on my return is the severity of the budget pressures.

We’re coming towards the end of this year’s budget process with the proposals approved by Cabinet now heading to Council. I know from speaking to staff that process has been quite painful because there are budget savings to be made whilst pressure on services grows and the Government chooses to prioritise funding in other areas such as the NHS.

Since leaving here in 2016, I’ve spent time working in a number of other authorities and it’s clear that we’re no different to elsewhere. They all face similar pressures and are making the same difficult budget choices.

But in my view there has to be a point where national governments will have to look how they fund services like education and social care because there comes a time when it becomes unmanageable. I’m not suggesting we’re there yet, but each year it gets harder delivering the savings especially when the world doesn’t stand still and new pressures emerge.

We need to strengthen Cabinet and CMT oversight of the delivery of savings next year because if we don’t and we carry on overspending we’ll be in an even worse position. So it’s essential we have strong monitoring in place to ensure we make the agreed savings.

And amid all of these issues and pressures, we mustn’t lose sight of the impact on staff and how they feel. This is still a place where the vast majority of staff are doing a great job and providing vital services to people who need them and, despite the painful cuts we face, they will continue to do so.

I know it’s tough, and without wanting to sound glib, we are grateful to our staff who continue to work hard every day.

The other area I’ve been focusing on is regional working, particularly the City Deal which Phil and Martin Nicholls have been leading on. You couldn’t have failed to have seen the recent media coverage regarding the university and others. We have to make sure the reputational damage and fall-out don’t impact on us.  Those issues will be resolved and the important thing is to ensure the City Deal projects are viable and funded because they are the big prize at stake.

Cabinet yesterday agreed plans for a new primary school in Gorseinon. It’s been a long and protracted affair with applications for village green status on the new site delaying our plans. Those applications were rejected by an inspector and we can now move forward with this vital investment. Thank you to all the officers from a number of services who’ve worked hard on this over a number of years.

One of the most enjoyable things during my previous time as Chief Executive was the opportunity to learn about the great things staff do and to highlight them in my blog. Regardless of how long I’m here this time, I want to do that again so please let me know if a team or colleague has done something noteworthy.

With that in mind, thank you to marina staff who carried out emergency repairs to pontoons in 70mph winds. They worked in extremely tough conditions and their actions meant no boats were damaged. My thanks to Steve Kern, Dan Whitehouse, Andrew Hoey, Owen Gibbon, John Butt and Ioan Price

Finally, we’ve received a letter from the Mr X Appeal thanking our staff for their help and support last Christmas. Those involved are too many to mention by name but thanks to their efforts more than 6,000 underprivileged children in the region, who would otherwise have gone without, received lovely presents.

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.

Brexit no clearer

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Well it’s been a busy week in Whitehall as the politicians share their differences over the nation’s withdrawal from the EU.  With only three months to go until the deadline it feels like there are still so many unanswered questions that the future is impossible to predict. We’re doing our best to plan for any eventuality through our corporate risk management process but the recent macro-economic predictions aren’t easy reading, irrespective of the form of Brexit. It remains to be seen whether the Prime Minister’s deal makes it through Parliament.  I know our elections team are watching developments with interest as some form of vote, be it another referendum or election, seems a possibility to which we’d need to react very rapidly.  We’ll continue to monitor the situation closely.

Budget

Cabinet will today consider next year’s revenue budget and the savings proposals needed to deliver a balanced budget. The proposals affect both the public and staff and we’ll be launching the online consultation later today. We’re also holding staff roadshows in January so that you can have your say. In the meantime, you can speak to your manager about any proposals affecting your area.

CMT discussed the delivery of the potential savings programme and how this can be done in a way that minimises redundancies and maintains services.  This will be a real challenge but we’re determined to work with staff and trade unions to manage the process fairly and transparently.  In the meantime, we continue to press the Welsh Government to improve the settlement, particularly around the unforeseen hit caused by the increased employer contributions to teachers’ pensions.

Cabinet reshuffle

New First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced his new Cabinet. We look forward to working with them.

Education

On Monday I met Geraint Rees, the lead officer for ERW, to prepare for January’s meeting of the ERW Joint Committee.  This will be an important milestone in the improvement journey for our regional consortium and I know Geraint has been in discussion with a number of head teachers in Swansea and West Wales.  We’re also due to appear at the ERW joint scrutiny meeting in early January to update on progress and respond to any concerns they have.

On Tuesday I joined the other three regional Chief Executive leads for the education consortia to discuss with Welsh Government and the WLGA the emerging national accountability framework for schools.  A lot of work has been done in liaison with the OECD to learn from global best practice and apply the lessons to Wales.  I‘ll say more about this emerging framework when I can but there are some proposed radical differences from the existing arrangements which in my view will require extensive discussion and consultation with schools and education colleagues.

I also managed to catch up with Paul Orders, CEO at Cardiff, to discuss the lagoon projects in Wales and our joined up approach to the emerging thinking on the Shared Prosperity Fund, the post-Brexit replacement for European Structural funding programmes.

On the topic of the lagoon, we’ve had a really encouraging response to our recently-published invitation for companies to express an interest in delivering the project. We’ve had responses ranging from multi-national companies who want to deliver the entire scheme to those who want to play a specific role in it. The task group led by our Leader Rob Stewart will now consider the responses before deciding the next steps.

City Deal

The Leader and I met Swansea University to get a better understanding of the current issues following press reports on the City Deal Delta Lakes scheme.  Although none of our joint projects with the university are affected by the recent events the Leader is commissioning an internal audit review into the processes involved and this will run alongside the recently announced UK and Welsh Government independent review.  We’re also continuing to engage with the governments on our city centre projects to ensure that they’re not held up by these events.

Well done

This week Estyn published their findings following their visit to Penyrheol Comprehensive and they rated the school good in all five inspection areas and praised the quality of teaching, the support provided to pupils and the behaviour and attitude of the pupils themselves. Congratulations to all involved.

Thank you to Ian Rees in Cultural Services who went the extra mile for the United States-based parents of a baby boy whose ashes they scattered in Bracelet Bay following his sad passing 14 years ago. Ian took time out on his day off to fulfil their request for a photo of his name written in the sand and sent them this picture. Needless to say they were overwhelmed with gratitude.

Christmas

Unfortunately I couldn’t attend the staff choir’s Christmas event at the Civic Centre yesterday, though I hear it went very well. The staff choir is a great thing to be supporting and if you want to participate you can find out more here.

You can support JR Events’ ‘Together at Christmas’ event in the Brangwyn Hall on Wednesday, that includes a free, two-course dinner for people who are vulnerable, feel isolated or may be homeless. You can donate unused toiletries to Lindsay Sleeman in Room 152 of the Guildhall.

If you’re looking for a gift with a difference the council has a range of ideas from show tickets at the Grand to hanging baskets and adult courses. You can also adopt a bench or flower bed in a loved one’s name. Find out more at: www.swansea.gov.uk/giftideas