Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

Promoting Swansea in Cardiff

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I’ve been in Cardiff quite a bit this week raising our profile and trying to secure some commitments from the Welsh Government.

On Monday I met our Skyline colleagues from New Zealand to further develop the proposals for their leisure scheme at Kilvey Hill.  Work continues apace and I hope we can give the project the final push towards delivery.  It would have a major impact on Swansea as a tourist destination but given the financial climate we’ll very likely be dependent upon grant support from Welsh Government to secure it. Councillors Stewart and Francis-Davies also attended and I know they’re doing everything they can to get that support.

On Tuesday I was with the Welsh Government to discuss the future funding for ethnic minority language support to our schools.  I was joined by the chief executives of Cardiff and Newport councils and they feel as strongly as I do about this subject.  It’s essential the Welsh Government recognises that councils can’t provide these essential services without the necessary funding and I pressed the case as forcefully as possible.  Whilst funding is secured for the next financial year we need firm commitments beyond that and I hope sense will prevail.

We continue to work with colleagues in Cardiff and Newport to promote our cities and to highlight to the Welsh Government the particular challenges faced by urban authorities and I think they got the point.

I also met with Geraint Rees who’s taken over the helm at ERW, our regional school improvement consortium.  I’ve mentioned previously there have been some problems at ERW and one year on since my appointment as lead Chief Executive for the consortium I’m now confident real progress is being made.  I emphasised the need for better engagement and stronger partnerships with schools to make sure we secure the best possible outcomes for our learners across the mid and southwest Wales region.  Geraint and I will be working on a report to the ERW Joint Committee in January that will chart the future and hopefully ensure all regional councils engage fully in the organisation.

Swansea Central

Cabinet yesterday approved an extra £3m to progress phase one of the Swansea Central project including the proposed digital arena. This is a major step forward and couldn’t have been possible without tremendous efforts of Huw Mowbray and his team along with many others such as finance, legal, planning and communications.

Swansea University

I was concerned to learn of the current issues at Swansea University and the suspension of four members of staff.  As major partners in our regeneration projects, the University has a key role, and I hope the current difficulties can be resolved quickly.  The Leader and I have sought reassurance that the progress we’re all making on the City Deal will not be hindered by this.  In the meantime I must thank the economic regeneration team and Deputy Chief Executive, Adam Hill, for their work on pushing the case forward with Welsh Government officials this week. Hopefully in the next week or so there’ll be some definitive statements on the first projects to be approved under the Swansea Bay City Deal.

YGG Lon Las

On Thursday I was at Lon Las School for the official opening with TV news presenter Huw Edwards.  Huw is a great advocate and promoter of Welsh medium education so I was delighted when he agreed to officially open the new £9.8m school. It has over 500 pupils and it’s a huge improvement with all the classrooms under one roof. There’s also a lovely new flat play area and a sports field.  Huw spoke eloquently about the importance of quality in education and choice in language.  Both Huw and I were impressed by this magnificent facility and the team responsible for delivering it should be rightly proud of their work.  Huw was brilliant with the children and has promised to return. Thanks to headteacher Karen Thomas and her fantastic team for making us all feel so welcome. And congratulations to the school on their very positive inspection report.

Additional Learning Needs

CMT considered our approach to implementing the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 – to support children and young people with additional learning needs (ALN). It replaces existing legislation for special educational needs and the assessment of children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in post-16 education and training.  There are major implications for us and the NHS, and the recent commissioning review of ALN has resulted in the development of a new strategic approach which will be taken to Members in the coming weeks.  Thanks to Mark Sheridan and Gemma Whyley for explaining this to CMT.  The financial implications of the new requirements give me cause for concern and I feel further discussions with Welsh Government over funding will be necessary.

Spending controls

CMT also discussed the need for re-enforced efforts to reduce ‘discretionary’ spend given our projected financial overspend for 18/19 and beyond.  We’re anxious not to create unmanageable levels of extra bureaucracy and bottle-necks in the approval process which frustrated previous implementation of enhanced spending controls.  But we must find a way to provide extra scrutiny of expenditure.  Ben Smith and I will shortly be meeting staff involved in purchasing to talk through the issues with them.

Awards

Well done to our Building Services team who won a gold award at the Careers Wales Valued Partner Awards.  It saluted their work on activity such as careers fairs and talks, work experience and mock interviews with school pupils.

The awards recognise the contribution made by those who support Wales’s workforce of the future.

 

Some good news at last!

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We’ve had some better news on the budget for a change!

Although we’ve only had headline all-Wales figures so far, it looks like we’ll get at least £1.5m extra in 2018-19. This will help us meet some of the shortfall in funding for teachers pay (which will help relieve schools pressures) and winter social care pressures. The latter should help us reduce our forecast in-year overspending by a sizeable bit.

We anticipate getting well over £1m extra revenue grant come the final settlement at the end of December. This is important because the earlier provisional settlement gave us just £18k extra when we spend £434m.

It’s clear the Welsh Government has lots of capital funding and limited revenue resources. As well as the national announcements of an extra £100m of core capital funding there have been other announcements that could give us over £20m in extra capital funding in the longer-term and could save us around a further £1.5m in annual borrowing costs in due course.

The Welsh Government has listened and responded, at least partly, to concerns across local government about the earlier provisional settlement.

Despite this welcome news, the overall pressures remain at the forefront of CMT and Cabinet thinking, given the scale of overspending.

Pressures undoubtedly remain and flat settlements still mean continued austerity and reducing real terms budgets. But moving this far already gives us a better collective chance of addressing the sizeable future budget gaps this council, and all others face

I hope the Welsh Government looks long and hard to see if there is more it can do, and also continues to lobby for the other key missing element of the funding package – sorting out the Treasury’s imposed increases in teachers’ pension costs on all councils, and accessing the same UK Government reserve set aside to help English schools

I met with directors and heads of service to see how we can reduce our discretionary spending in a number of areas including vehicle hire, catering, hotels, advertising, printing and agency and consultancy costs. It’s vital we do all we can to cut spending this year to reduce our overspend and this is another step alongside things like our vacancy freeze.

Supporting staff

CMT discussed potential changes to our occupational health services to better support managers in helping staff who are sick. We discussed improving referrals to OH and ways to support staff to either remain in work or to return earlier when sick. We’ve also taken steps to reduce waiting times to see an OH adviser. We’ll also be providing new guidance to help managers. The potential changes will be discussed by directors and heads of service in early December. The aim is to support managers and staff whilst reducing our sickness rates. I’ll keep you updated.

New priority

We’re reinforcing our contribution to maintaining and enhancing Swansea’s natural resources and diversity by adding a sixth priority to our Corporate Plan. It already lists our five existing priorities as safeguarding the vulnerable, tackling poverty, improving educational attainment, transforming economic and infrastructure development and transforming council services so they are fit for the future.

The new priority – maintaining and enhancing Swansea’s natural resources and biodiversity – will work alongside our other priorities to continue to help shape services.

Parade

You may have seen the fall-out from last weekend’s Xmas parade. This isn’t a reflection of the hard work put in by our staff to prepare for the event. Unfortunately, this has been lost amid the headlines and I’d like to thank them for all their efforts. Next year is Swansea’s 50th birthday as a city and we’ll be making it a year to remember with themed events throughout the calendar.

White ribbon

We’re taking part in a number of events next week in support of White Ribbon Day on Sunday which symbolises hope for women and children living in fear of domestic violence and abuse.

We’re working with Swansea Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Partnership to spread the message that domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women are unacceptable and support is out there. This a great cause and thank you to everyone involved.

Well done

Congratulations to our transport team who won in the Public Sector medium to large Green Fleet category at last night’s UK Green Fleet Awards. This is in recognition of our 40-vehicle electric fleet – the biggest among Welsh councils.

Education changes and budget blow

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Yesterday I travelled to Cardiff to attend a conference on the future of education in Wales and the delivery of the National Mission. The Cabinet Secretary, Kirsty Williams, introduced the event which was particularly focused on accountability through the new evaluation and improvement framework. The main message for councils was that the drive to increase regional working will continue through the education consortia but there’ll be changes to how they function and how Estyn operates. I hope to circulate the presentations to schools and education colleagues when they are available. It’s clear the emerging accountability system will be based on self-evaluation, peer review and a wider range of evaluation indicators.

Earlier in the week we had even more difficult news elsewhere on the budget when we learned that council contributions to teachers’ pension costs will likely rise from 16.48% to 23.8% in 2019, a sum far greater than previously indicated. This will add a further £4 million to the budget gap with no sign of help coming from Westminster at this stage. CMT will discuss the implications of this next week but it seems inevitable that more savings will need to be identified.  Here’s the latest warning from the WLGA.

Leisure staff

Next Monday six of our community leisure centres and the LC will be operated by not-for-profit trust Freedom Leisure. This is an exciting new partnership for us. The facilities will remain council venues offering council services – and the same friendly staff (transferring from the council and Bay Leisure) will help customers stay healthy and active. This change will help contribute towards our budget challenges. Freedom Leisure has a proven track record and the ability to deliver leisure services effectively and sustainably. Thank you to everyone involved for making this a smooth transition.

Great effort

Corporate Building Services came to the rescue when Penllergaer school was forced to close due to a burst water main. They got the call on Tuesday and completed the repairs on Wednesday. The school re-opened on Thursday which meant pupils only lost one full-day of education. My thanks to Andrew McFenton, Barry Morgan and Mike Boat for their great work.

Guildhall transformed

The Guildhall has been transformed into a scene from World War One as part of an exciting production. Created by Swansea-born artist Marc Rees, Now the Hero is the headline piece for the 2018 Swansea International Festival. The production uses three interweaving stories of war inspired by an epic poem, an intimate portrait of a serving Swansea soldier and the Brangwyn Hall’s British Empire Panels. The production has spread across the Guildhall as you’ll see from these photos. Well done and thank you to everyone involved.

   

On a similar note, a true story about a team of young rugby players from India who took the under-14 Rugby World Cup by storm is being filmed in Swansea in November and December. We’ve been involved in supporting the production from the outset and it’ll showcase our city to huge new audiences across India, the world’s biggest movie market, so my thanks go to the team who’ve made it possible. And if you want a walk-on part in ‘The Jungle Cry’ you can to sign-up as an extra in the movie.

Awards

Congratulations to our highways and transportation team for winning the Value Award at this year’s Construction Excellence Wales ceremony. The award is linked to the development of the Morfa distributor road which opened last year.

Retirements

There are a couple of notable retirements this week, including Jenni Spencer Davies who’s leaving after 18 years’ service as the curator at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. Jenni successfully oversaw the £8m gallery refurbishment and established partnerships with Tate Britain, The British Council and Artes Mundi. Also, Julia Incebel who’s worked at the Grand Theatre as an usherette for 42 years. Julia started on Boxing Day with her mum because they were short-staffed and stayed ever since! Best wishes to both Jenni and Julia and all our other retiring staff.

Budget progress

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The first round of budget discussions between CMT and Cabinet took place this week.  Ben Smith, our chief finance officer, set out the likely forward financial position for the next three years although we’ll have a clearer picture in three weeks’ time when the Welsh Government announces the provisional financial settlement for local government. The UK government has already indicated that it will be providing some funding towards teacher pay increases in Wales which is a good start. We’ll continue discussing the detailed options for balancing the budget over the next two weeks and making it clear to the Welsh Government that the service pressures we’re facing, particularly in social care, need to be recognised in the settlement.  In the meantime we’re discussing a number of options to avoid compulsory redundancies, including looking at staff terms and conditions.  This is a conversation that we’ll have with staff as soon as we can.

Apse success

I’m delighted that we’ve had great success at this year’s Apse Awards with our Corporate Building Service winning the Best Workforce Initiative Award. The service has undergone a major staff training and development programme, creating future capacity and skills for the team. To win this UK-wide award in such a prestigious competition is fantastic achievement and one we can all be proud of. And on top of this we were also shortlisted in three other categories – construction and building services; environmental health, trading standards and regulatory services and best innovation and demand management. Congratulations to all the staff involved and thank you for all your hard work.

LDP

Thank you to all the staff who’ve put in a huge amount of work to progress our Local Development Plan (LDP), the blueprint for where and how land will be developed across Swansea over the next 10 years. It’s been a very long and complex process with lots of competing demands, so it’s excellent news that we’ve now reached the point where the planning inspectors appointed to ‘examine’ the plan have said no further public hearings are required. We now hope to put the plan before Council for final approval early next year.

Emergency help

Staff now have a new resource to help them plan for emergencies and business continuity. Our emergency management service’s web pages are now live, providing a range of guidance and advice on issues such as flooding and terrorism and links to other agencies. Further information will be added in the coming weeks. The links are

Internal: http://www.swansea.gov.uk/staffnet/emergencymanagement
External: https://www.swansea.gov.uk/emergencymanagement

Estyn

Congratulations to Craigfelen and Cwmrhydyceirw primary schools and Bishopston and Olchfa comprehensives who’ve all been invited to attend Estyn’s annual awards due to their excellent school inspection reports. They’ll be presented with a framed certificate recognising the hard work and commitment behind their achievement by Cabinet Secretary for Education Kirsty Williams.

Saddle up

Staff can get a 50% discount off the popular Santander bike rental scheme that’s recently been launched. The scheme has already clocked up 2,000 rentals from people making the most of the cycles along the waterfront and beyond. To take advantage of the discount go here https://www.santandercycles.co.uk/pricing

Get involved

Staff can take part in a ground-breaking production as part of the World War One centenary. Artist Marc Rees’ production, Now the Hero, begins on Swansea beach and culminates in a participatory feast in the Brangwyn. It’s staged from September 25 to 29 and Marc’s looking for adult community performers to play family and friends at the wedding party. If you’d like to participate please contact, Ami Marsden  community@nowthehero.wales

Benches

You may have seen some of our park benches featuring stunning artwork depicting a World War One soldier and poppies. The benches have been painted by a local artist to commemorate the 100th anniversary of WW1. Councillors have used their environmental improvements grants to fund the cost for benches in their own wards. Some have recently been completed around the rotunda at the Guildhall

10k

Our annual 10k takes place this Sunday and I’d like to thank our staff who’ve put in a huge amount of effort to prepare for this highly-regarded event. Also, good luck to any staff who’ll be running.

Deputy appointed

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Council has appointed to the post of Deputy Chief Executive.

We had a strong field of candidates for this post and following a rigorous process, Adam Hill, currently Assistant Director of Business Services at the University of the West of England, was appointed. Adam, who will be joining us in December, brings a wealth of experience in local government, higher education, private and third sectors and fills the final place on the Corporate Management Team following the recent senior management review.

I’m sorry I couldn’t mention this last week, but we had to wait for the formal side of the process to be completed and Adam has since accepted the offer.

The focus of the Deputy CEO’s work will include

  • Working with the Section 151 officer to develop sustainable financial strategy
  • Strengthening corporate grip and preventing silo working
  • Working with the Chief Transformation Officer to drive transformation, digital services and commercialism
  • Managing audit and regulation
  • Addressing workforce relations and skills issues
  • Working with the Monitoring Office on good governance
  • Providing formal cover for me when I’m absent

I know that Adam will look forward to meeting as many of you as possible when he joins us so let’s give him a warm Swansea welcome.

We’re also completing the senior management line-up in the Place directorate. This week we shortlisted for three Heads of Service posts – Housing and Public Health, Property Services and Building Services. We expect all of these roles to be filled by the end of September.

Budget

Detailed work on next year’s budget will be ramped up next week as CMT start in-depth discussions on savings requirements and proposals to meet the anticipated gap in the Council’s finances.  I’ve mentioned previously this will not be an easy process and discussions with Cabinet will then take place over the next three weeks.  I know this will be a worrying time for staff but we’ll do our best to minimise job losses and to protect services.  I’ll keep you informed as this work progresses.

Life-saver

Ceri Saunders, secretary at Sea View Primary, recently saved a young boy from drowning in the sea. After diving in to rescue him, both she and the boy were airlifted to hospital after emergency crews pulled the pair out of the water off Blue Pool near Broughton Bay. Thankfully, both have recovered and our thanks go to Ceri for this brave and selfless effort.

Minister visit

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams came to Swansea this week to see the great work we’re to help people settle in Swansea under the Vulnerable People Relocation Scheme. The UK-wide scheme is one of the ways that Swansea and others help to resettle refugees. We’ve managed to re-settle 30 families during the past two years. Thank you to everyone involved.

Long service

Colleagues in Cultural Services are saying good bye to Belinda Richards from the parks lettings team, who’s retiring after 30 years. We wish her well for the future.