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.