Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

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.

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

 

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.

 

A tough week ahead

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Our budget discussions with Cabinet get under way next week as we prepare for yet more tough decisions. We’ve set aside a week to go through the current situation, the outlook for the next four years and what that means for our budget. In short, in the past four years we’ve undergone major change and transformation which has saved almost £70m. The daunting prospect we face in the next four years is to save a further £80m. That isn’t because we haven’t done our job, we have, but the continued austerity measures and reduction in government funding will continue for the foreseeable future. Add to this the budget pressures such as rising demand for social care and unfunded pay rises and the picture is very demanding. That’s the backdrop for our discussions and next week is the chance to look at how we bridge that budget gap. Once we have more details of the proposals we’ll engage staff across the council through team meetings and roadshows.

We’ve already taken some tough decisions including the forthcoming transfer of our leisure centres to a not-for-profit leisure trust, Freedom Leisure. This was the only realistic option that protected our staff and facilities in these unprecedented budget times. The recent Unison newsletter compares this transfer to the previous Capgemini ICT contract and the housing stock transfer ballot a decade ago. It’s misleading to make these comparisons. The issues with the Capgemini contract have been well-documented, along with my own personal views about it. But it’s totally different to what we plan with leisure staff and facilities in partnership with Freedom. The ballot on housing stock transfer was a government policy and, faced with limited resources at the time, we had little choice but to give tenants a say. They rejected it and I’m delighted that since that time, due to the work we put in to get a good deal through the housing revenue account subsidy buy-out and the hard work of our staff, we’ve built new council houses and invested tens of millions in improving council homes. I welcome discussions with unions but I also want staff to feel reassured and confident about the decisions we make.

Senior management restructure

We’ve appointed three Heads of Service to complete the senior line-up in the Place directorate. Nigel Williams is Head of Building Services, Geoff Bacon Head of Property Services and Mark Wade is Head of Housing & Public Health. All three have been doing the job on an interim basis and I’m sure they’ll continue the good work. Congratulations to all three.

New recruits

Welcome to our 15 new apprentices who’ve started work this week. They’ll spend the next four years training to become carpenters, plumbers, electricians, plasterers and multi-trade personnel. They’ll work on projects such as constructing our new schools, building new energy-efficient council homes and improving existing council housing. They’re the latest in a long line of trainees and I’m really proud of our track record with apprentices.

A Healthier Wales

A Healthier Wales: our plan for health and social care published in June sets out 40 actions to be implemented in the next three years, through a dedicated Transformation Programme.  I was asked to join the Advisory Board set up to support its delivery. On Tuesday I attended its first meeting, along with colleagues from the health and social care spectrum.  The board will review the funding allocated to new projects, monitor progress on delivering the actions and discuss the need for wider system change and progress towards achieving the future vision of health and social care. You’re probably fed up with me rattling on about the financial challenges facing councils but the demographic time-bomb of an ageing population with increasing care and health needs is the largest of all these challenges.  Systemic change is needed because the existing arrangements are unaffordable.  Our approach to delivering adult services must change but this is the case in every council across the UK.  I hope I can make a useful contribution to this Transformation Board because it’s critical to our well-being as a city and a council.

Corporate Management Team

CMT this week discussed a range of matters including disaster recovery for ICT, our new Oracle sickness monitoring system and the current year budget monitoring.  Our budget tracker shows we need to increase the pace of implementing this year’s savings and I’ll be impressing on managers the need to do this.  We also agreed the draft corporate plan and performance report in advance of its consideration by councillors.  Thanks to all the staff who have worked on this.

ERW

I’ve been working with colleagues to improve the operation of our regional school improvement consortium, ERW.  As lead Chief Executive I’ve been dealing with a number of issues and I hope to be in a position to communicate the way forward to colleagues in schools across the region in the next few weeks.  It’s essential we build upon the excellent performance of our schools and provide the best possible support for school improvement across the Mid and South West Wales region.