Chief Exec's Blog

As we’ve just started a new financial year, appraisal season is also upon us. Everyone must have an appraisal, and I had mine this week with the council’s political leadership on the Chief Executive’s Appraisal and Remuneration Committee. We looked at seven themes: reputation, regional collaboration, city regeneration, our transformation programme, budget, our corporate priorities and plan as well as corporate governance. Alongside those themes are actions I have to take and measures by which my performance will be monitored and assessed over the coming year. It’s quite exacting and very challenging, as it should be but I’m really looking forward to the year ahead.

On the reputation strand, I will be expected to continue to provide visible leadership inside and outside the council, promoting us and the city nationally, locally and regionally. This goal will be measured in a range of different ways, not least in terms of getting out  to see you in your workplace, finding out what’s on your minds and taking actions on your feedback. It’s also happening through my staff engagement group, the staff survey and improved internal corporate communication, but the momentum needs to be maintained over the next 12 months. I will be shortly publishing all my agreed objectives and intend to go through my remaining themes in more depth in future blogs. But it goes without saying that the ability for me to deliver on these goals is fundamentally dependent on your support. That’s why I continue to be grateful for your commitment and hard work every day.

Part of my appraisal also includes providing leadership and support to Senior Manager Group, the latest meeting of which took place on Wednesday. It was a very productive event; in particular we looked at changes to procurement arrangements and the workforce strategy around succession planning, staff recruitment and the upcoming review of agile working. Five years after the start of the pandemic, it makes sense to do an in-depth review now of how agile working operates, its benefits and challenges. I’ll keep you posted.

Our plans for the future of the city centre Debenhams store are going to Cabinet next week for a decision. The big news is that we’ve agreed outline terms with two retailers and a leisure business to take space in the former store. It is really important progress, influencing the city centre’s status among retailers as a destination and our growing reputation for getting things done, delivering on the priorities of residents and business alike. My thanks to Lee Richards and his team for getting this over the line.

Sticking with reputation for a bit longer, my thanks to Rhys Harries, the trading standards and corporate fraud teams for leading a major raid in London this week on a UK-wide counterfeit children’s toys distribution business. The raid stemmed from work the team did last Christmas confiscating fake-branded toys in Swansea city centre. The trail led them to warehouses in Southall where they found many thousands more toys, some of which were a risk to children’s health. The work was praised by brand-owning companies, who attended the raids and praised our actions. It’s another example of UK recognition for the work we do to keep people safe. 

On Tuesday I caught up with the team at the West Glamorgan Regional Partnership which plays a significant role supporting our work with unpaid carers. Unpaid carers are the largely unsung heroes of the social care system. Many – among them children – can slip under the radar when it comes to getting the support they need to do what they do. So, if you know an unpaid carer who could do with a helping hand, please point them in this direction.

Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week and our health and wellbeing team has developed some useful ideas and guidance about where to get help if you or someone you know needs it. Please take a few minutes to have a look; it could help make a difference.

Over the last 18 months or so I’ve been updating you about the activities of the staff engagement group. The group’s purpose is for me and staff from across the council to discuss what’s happening in your areas. It’s about having a two-way flow of information that’s informal and complements other discussions. It allows me to get first-hand views from a group of staff and also gain an insight into the organisation’s temperature. It was introduced as one of my appraisal objectives to improve cross-council communication and has proved very successful to date.

Yesterday, we caught up to review what’s been achieved so far, look at the year ahead and consider how the group is structured for the future. We also discussed issues ranging from our updated management of absence policy to how the group can help us improve off-line internal communication, the manager brief and promoting our reward and recognition scheme. I want to thank everyone who gives their time and insight to the group – it’s having a real impact. There are some gaps in membership from some services, so we are seeking to address this in the future. If you think your area needs representation on the staff engagement group, please check with your manager or get in touch with me direct.

CMT on Wednesday considered the innovative new ways we are taking to recruit and retain staff, especially hard-to-fill roles. It’s part of our workforce transformation plan that we want to be an employer of choice. And we were taken through what that means in practice in terms of developing our existing staff, encouraging skills development, the Social Services Academy, graduate recruitment, traineeships and apprenticeships. We also discussed the wider job and training opportunities that council teams across the Council facilitate to assist people back into employment. My thanks to Rachael Davies, Rachel Healion and Elliott Williams for their presentation. If you want to further develop your career with us – or know someone who does – please speak to your manager now or during your appraisal.

On a similar note, CMT also heard from Rhodri Jones, head of Education’s Achievement and Partnership Service, about our Swansea Pledge. It’s a pledge that connects our education team, schools and businesses to help develop post-school support for school leavers, including work experience opportunities and routes to local employment. There’s also a commitment towards ensuring that local businesses can help us ensure that what pupils learn in school will be useful to them in the world of work. It’s part of our commitment through the corporate plan to the young people of our city that they have opportunities to take advantage of the jobs being created by our work in economic regeneration. 

Our appointments committee have in the last couple of weeks made two important appointments to our leadership team. I’d like to congratulate Lucy Moore on her appointment as Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer. Lucy will be replacing Deb Smith in her role when she retires later this year. Also, congratulations to Heather Young, who will be taking over from Julian Morgans as head of revenues and benefits when he retires. These are two crucial leadership roles to ensure the smooth management of the council. I’m delighted that on these occasions, there was good succession planning in place, allowing internal candidates to compete and ultimately secure the roles. I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Lucy and Heather well in their new roles.

I’m also pleased to report progress on the new special school which will see the merger of Ysgol Crug Glas and Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn from September with a new £40m state-of-the-art home to come in 2028. Transitions of this kind are extremely challenging, with lots of sensitive issues that need careful management. My thanks to Jeff Fish, our Stakeholder and School Support Manager, and the education teams involved in this project for their commitment.

It’s time to say farewell to our property maintenance team’s Senior Project Surveyor, Rob Perkins, who is retiring after 35 years’ service. Rob started out with us as a painter and decorator, so he’s a really good example of how we like to invest in the potential of our staff so they can make the most of their talent. Good luck to you for the future, Rob.

A big thank-you in advance to our special events, highways, cleansing and all the other teams for their support in this weekend’s Tunes on the Bay. It’s not a council event, but it’s Swansea’s first-ever beach festival and would not be possible without the effort put in by our teams. It’s yet another example of our growing reputation as a destination of choice for major events and should be great for businesses too. 

Every year we review our spending restrictions guidance for staff, in line with the budget agreed at Full Council, and with our prevailing budget situation. Naturally, the restrictions apply more directly to managers and budget-holders, but their impact is felt by all our staff because how our budgets are spent affects the work you do. This year, thanks to an improved budget situation, we’ve been able to relax some of the restrictions including some of restrictions on recruitment. Our budget is kept under close review, and we might need to tighten the restrictions again if the situation deteriorates in-year changes, but I think its important to be able allow greater delegation where funding permits. I will keep you posted as we move through each quarter.

Appraisal season is now officially underway. Everyone must have an appraisal, and the process must be completed by mid-July. They are part of our commitment to you because they enable you and your manager to identify progress and personal development opportunities that contribute to effective delivery of our services and ultimately deliver what Council has asked us to do. Guidance has been published for managers, and they should share the details at your  team meetings, and start arranging dates with you over the coming weeks. There are more details here.

At our Cabinet and CMT awayday yesterday, we had an update about our digital services strategy and considered the conclusions of our review of public access to our services via our phone services. Both are part of our Successful and Sustainable Swansea Transformation Plan. They are about supporting you to deliver services more efficiently and effectively; while also ensuring we continue to ensure the public benefits from access to those services in the ways they want. My thanks to our head of digital and customer services Sarah Lackenby for the updates and for all those who are inputting into the crucial work across the council. Further details will be made available as we finalise the agreed way forward

I’ve often spoken in the blog about the regeneration of our city centre, its impact on us, the reputation of the council and of the city more generally. And, as part of the staff survey, you asked for more stories about what our teams do and what impact they have on the communities we serve. If you click on this link, it’ll take you to a story that brings these two issues together, featuring insights from our regeneration team about what it’s like to deliver change in the city centre. My thanks to Lee Richards for being the first to do a Q&A like this. But I’d also welcome contributions from you if you’d like to do similar articles that go behind the scenes on how we deliver services that have real impact in our communities.   

Staying with that thought – if you were in the Quadrant Centre this week, you won’t have missed the very busy Spring Jobs Fair. My thanks to Joanne Thomas and employment and skills team for organising this valuable event that aims to support our residents and, ultimately, improve their lives. More than 20 organisations showcased scores of job opportunities, alongside experts offering top tips on CV and interview techniques.

And, in a similar vein, well done to cultural services’ sport and health team who have been running hugely popular physical activity sessions at local Flying Start centres, private nurseries and schools. Their project is aimed at encouraging pre-schoolers to develop positive wellbeing habits and a passion for sport, exercise and play that last their lifetimes. It’s going down really well with youngsters and their adult helpers, whose appreciation you can read about here. My thanks to all involved.

You may remember I mentioned in a previous blog about the sad passing of our colleague Gareth Hughes after a long battle with cancer. For those planning on attending, his funeral is taking place on April 30 at Noon at the Llwydcoed Crematorium, just off the A465, near Aberdare (Satnav: CF44 0DJ).

One of the most interesting responses to come out of last autumn’s staff survey was your feedback about where you get your information about the work we’re doing at the council. It was pleasing to see that more than 70% of respondents said that my blog was one of those places – please continue reading, and make suggestions for items for me to include. I think it’s really important that I try and cover topics that interest you as well as the ones I think you need to be aware of.

As you will recall, we have a very high response rate and as such all of our Leadership Group is determined to act on what you’ve said. You can find the latest update on actions we’ve taken so far here, and I’ll continue to keep you updated in the months ahead. In the meantime, one of the Leadership team’s commitments following the staff survey was to be more visible. I’ve already done a number of staff visits over the last few months, and if you’d like me to come and see you to listen to your ideas or attend any events you are arranging, please get in touch. Heads of service and directors are also arranging visits so again, get in touch with them also.

In June, we’ll be welcoming a Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) team to Swansea to review the way we operate on things like effective use of resources, governance and meeting statutory and strategic goals. It’s a legal requirement that all councils do once every five years, and team members will want to meet some of you to find out directly from the front line how things are going. Among the areas we’ll be asking them to pay special attention to are digital services and AI, as well as workforce development improvements, including recruitment and retention. I’ll keep you posted.

This week, I had one of my regular catch-ups with the Swansea Business Improvement District board. We saw a presentation of our emerging Placemaking Strategy for the city centre. It’s a hugely important document because it sets out how we want the area to look and feel in the years ahead, building on the great success we’ve achieved so far. Our ambition includes creating more and better green spaces and more play, heritage and event opportunities to help reinforce a thriving retail and leisure destination. So, watch this space. My thanks to Gail Evans and the team for the work on the strategy so far.

As all our budget holders will know, the 2024/25 financial year has ended. In a large and complex organisation like ours, getting the accounts sorted is not just a legal requirement, but a challenging exercise. So, I’m really pleased to report that Accounts Receivable (AR) has balanced its accounts to the penny for 2024/25. When you consider the team handled £106,383,946.32. and more than 6,000 invoices, you can see that theirs is a significant and important achievement. My thanks to all involved for their commitment.

Well done to our parks and cultural services teams for preparing our parks for the summer season, starting with the Easter Holidays this weekend. It’s a year-round effort that really pays off this time of year in places like Clyne Park and Singleton Park, where this week four dinosaurs have taken up residence. Their arrival, also aided by corporate building services, has met with acclaim from the public, so good news for our reputation too. Pop along to the Singleton Park boating lake – they really are unmissable. My thanks to all involved.

Some sad news today for the many people who knew the regeneration team’s Gareth Hughes, who passed away recently after a long battle with cancer. My condolences to Gareth’s husband, David and to all his colleagues and friends at this difficult time. Gareth was a popular and much-loved figure among the team and in the wider council community. He was our eyes and ears among city centre businesses and a great ambassador for the council, working on a number of key projects, including personally helping me when we delivered the DIY SOS Surfability project in Caswell during Covid. Gareth’s professionalism, patience, and charm helped us see through some of the projects that are making a difference in today’s city centre. He is missed.

On Tuesday, it was great to visit the former Brondeg House in Manselton to catch up on the progress of our More Homes building project. It’s no secret that in Swansea our residents are in great need of more affordable homes for rent, and our housing and building services teams continue to do great work in this area. The project, due to finish next year, will include eight one-bedroom flats and five three-bedroom houses – types which are in high demand locally. The energy efficiency technology behind them is impressive and will help tenants keep their bills low. But one of the best things about the project is that it’s being built by council staff, learning and improving their trade skills. And one of the properties is being built almost entirely by apprentices, helping set them up for life in new, valuable careers. We’re rightly winning awards for achievements at Brondeg House and our More Homes programme, and I want to offer my thanks to all involved. In bricks and mortar, Brondeg House is a great example of how we are delivering for our employees and the people of Swansea.

Another example of how Swansea is helping to deliver for our residents is the restoration of the former JT Morgan department store in the city centre as an arts and culture centre. It’s a private sector scheme being supported by us through Shared Prosperity Fund grant funding and the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns initiative, with support also from our Cultural Services team as part of our overall cultural and arts strategy. Yesterday, Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary Jayne Bryant visited the site to see progress for herself. She also took time to see the headway we’re making at Y Storfa. It’s great for our reputation that Welsh Government ministers can see how we are making the most of their support, revitalising the city centre and increasing footfall. I’d like to thank all the council teams involved.

There was also time to meet up with our housing team and the Wallich, a Wales-wide homelessness charity who were awarded the Housing First standard by the Cabinet Secretary. The standard demonstrates the principle of prioritising housing over all other issues and is especially relevant when dealing with individuals with perhaps more challenging or complex needs. The Wallich team were very complimentary about our Housing Options and wider housing teams in how they have supported the initiative. The Wallich say they don’t experience that same support across Wales, so well done to everyone involved.

Also great for our reputation was news this week that the Sunday Times has put us in the UK’s top three cities for property investment. Our initiatives like Swansea Arena, ongoing city centre development and our cultural offer, were all cited as reasons to invest here. Being rated so highly by independent outsiders will only encourage the investors we want to encourage to come here to take a serious look at how they can benefit from our ambition.

Leadership Group this week saw CMT and Heads of Service review our service plans for the year ahead. It was a very useful and interactive session. It certainly added value to the service planning process, which is vital to ensure we deliver quality services effectively and efficiently on the front line. In the staff survey you said you wanted there to be less silo working and more collaboration across services. This review is helping achieve that goal as well, by identifying opportunities for departments to work together and ensure there are no gaps in delivery.

On Wednesday Brangwyn Hall was in good form for this year’s 25th anniversary of the Swansea Sports Awards, masterminded by our cultural services team. It was a grand occasion celebrating sporting achievement and the unsung heroes who make grassroots sports happen. My thanks to the team for their efforts.

On the retirement front,  I want to bid farewell to Gary Lloyd and Mike Carter, who are leaving us after 38 years and 32 years, respectively. Mike joined us on a temporary bricklaying contract in 1993 and decided to stay. He’s retiring now as a site manager with corporate building services. I worked with Gary when we delivered Bryntawe Welsh School on the site of the former Penlan school in 2003, and still remember laying flooring with him at 6am before all the guests arrived on the opening day.  Gary was also the project manager who helped deliver the pandemic Bay Hospital field hospital against the clock and in demanding circumstances. My thanks to them both for their commitment to the council. I have worked with both of them for many years, and they will both be a huge loss to the team and council and I want to wish them all the best in their retirement.

And finally, many of you will be aware that I helped arrange a charity Walk for Blood Cancer last Saturday on one of the few days it’s rained in weeks. Just my luck. I wanted to thank everyone for the support and for the 130 people, including staff and councillors, who came along despite the weather. I also have to pay tribute to our events team, who were there in an official capacity. Seeing the work done behind the scenes on a small event has given me an even greater appreciation of how difficult a job they do week in week out for Swansea. My thanks particularly to Kingsley Thomas and Keith Morris, as well as Nerys and Heath from our facilities teams, for their support.