Chief Exec's Blog

An update from the Chief Executive

Plugging the gap

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I mentioned last week just how difficult this year’s budget process is.  I’ve spent most of the week dealing with a number of 11th hour issues including discussions with Welsh Government over education grants.  Unfortunately, this has driven a coach and horses through my diary so apologies to those people I was scheduled to meet.  Amongst the cancelled appointments in my diary was the Staff Well-being event held in the Brangwyn Hall on Wednesday which by all accounts was a massive success.  I’ll say more about it next week.

The public consultation on the budget process finishes today which gives us the time to ensure that reports are finalised in time for Council on March 1.  I know that discussions are taking place with staff affected by the proposals and I’ve urged managers to make every effort to avoid redundancies, however difficult that may be.  I hope to see staff, managers and unions working together to come up with other options.

Work will then begin immediately on next year’s financial challenge and my thanks go to all who’ve worked harder than ever before to prepare the budget.

I know some staff may be considering taking ER/VR so it’s worth me flagging up some changes to the scheme. We’ve been offering an enhanced ER/VR scheme, giving staff additional benefits using a 45-week calculator. Unfortunately, the pot of money we set aside to fund these enhanced payments will run out by the end of June. This means we can’t offer the enhanced rate after March 31, so applications after that date will be considered on the 30-week calculator. In the past we’ve been able to extend the deadline for the enhanced rate because there was money left in the pot, but our Head of Financial Services and Service Centre, Ben Smith, has made it clear that’ll definitely not be the case after March 31 because the money will have run out.

Staff travel

Leadership Team looked at the issue of staff travel and how we can make it easier and more efficient for employees. A lot of time and effort is spent on travelling both in and out-of-county as part of our jobs, but with changing technology and new ways of working there’s an opportunity to take a fresh look at what we do. It’s early days in the discussions but we considered issues such as car share, parking at council locations, using Skype to avoid travel, pool cars and our existing fleet. Our Highways and Transportation team will carry out further work and I’ll update you.

CMT

Corporate Management Team this week considered a range of issues including the budget, social care charging policy and the Prevention Strategy. We also had a demonstration of the online sickness absence system that’s being developed by our in-house IT team.  Hopefully this will produce accurate and timely information to help us all manage sickness absence more effectively.  Sickness has a heavy cost to the Council each year which compounds the budget challenge and increases the likelihood of job losses.  We’ll be working with the Leadership Team to refine the system over the coming weeks.  Thanks to Leanne Casey and Richard John who came to CMT to present this to us.

Schools

I know opinion is divided over the Welsh Government’s school categorisation process but I was delighted to see the performance of Swansea schools in the latest round.  We were one of a handful of councils with no schools in the red category and my thanks go to all the staff in our schools and education service for their efforts.

The Biggest Weekend

The Biggest Weekend is coming to Swansea this summer with Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift headlining at Singleton Park. This is a fantastic coup and something our Events Team has been working on for a number of years.  It adds to our summer events which include Man Engine, Little Mix and The Killers at Liberty Stadium, the Wales Airshow and Now the Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr which justifies our position as Wales’ Capital of Culture. Tickets for The Biggest Weekend go on sale on Monday, February 12, at £18 plus £4.50 booking fee. Further information here  or www.bbc.co.uk/biggestweekend

Well-being

You can have your say on plans to develop a better Swansea as part of the consultation on the Local Well-being Plan. It’s been drafted by the Swansea Public Service Board and an online survey can be found at https://www.swansea.gov.uk/psb or in sessions held at the Civic Centre on Feb 6 at 4pm-5pm, the Baling Plant on Feb 12, 9.30am-10.30am and Heol y Gors on Feb 9 at 7.30am-10.30am.

New build

Plans to develop a new purpose-built school for vulnerable young people as part of our EOTAS provision have cleared an important hurdle. The Welsh Government’s Capital Panel recommended to approve the business case. This approval is now subject to the Cabinet Secretary’s final decision. Let’s hope it gets agreed.

History month

To mark LGBT History month, we’ll be flying the pride flag at the Civic Centre in a series of events taking place across the city.  Supported by our Staff LGBT+ Group, our library service has a display created from newspaper cuttings celebrating the history of LGBT in Swansea.  They’re also showing ‘Britain on Film: LGBT Britain’ on February 24.

Swans

And finally, congratulations to the Swans on another well-deserved victory against one of the top clubs on Monday.  Even I’m starting to regain hope they’ll survive in the Premier League which will be another massive plus for the city.

Hard Times

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The budget for next year continues to dominate CMT’s work and we’ve been wrestling with some emerging issues to try to finalise our proposals.

The removal of some grants and increased spending pressures, including unfunded pay awards, have made the task of setting a balanced budget much more difficult this year. Over the coming weeks the details will be finalised with Cabinet before we report to Council following consultation.

I know this is a difficult time for staff and decisions will need to be taken that we wouldn’t consider if the financial position was easier.  Where staff are under threat of redundancy I’ve asked for particular efforts to be made to ensure that our redeployment processes operate quickly and effectively.

I’m also conscious there’s been a good deal of misinformation circulating about the proposed funding for schools.  Our Section 151 Officer, Ben Smith, and I will be writing to head teachers next week setting out the facts clearly so that the record can be put straight.

Local Government collaboration.

Yesterday the Leader and I met Alun Davies AM, Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services in the Welsh Government to discuss local government reform.  I’m speculating but I think it’s possible that there might be a change of emphasis and it is always possible that the issue of merging councils might reappear over the coming weeks.  This would have an impact on the current collaborations we’re involved in, particularly those involving education and economic development.  We’ll find out more by mid-February and I’ll keep you posted on developments.  In the meantime large amounts of my time, and that of colleagues, is tied up with regional collaborations and below is an update on the three main programmes.

ERW

This week I’ve been speaking to the six education directors in the ERW region about what needs to be done to improve the governance and effectiveness of the regional consortium and I’ll be meeting Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams in a few weeks to set out the position and make some recommendations for the future.

Western Bay

Last Friday I chaired the Western Bay Leadership Team where we discussed the progress made on the proposed move of Bridgend CBC to the Cwm Taf health board area.  This will be a real challenge for all involved but it’s essential we retain a focus on services to the citizen, so I was pleased to hear about the excellent progress being made by the Western Bay partnership.

City Deal

The Leader and I, along with colleagues from our three partner councils, met the Secretary of State for Wales, Alun Cairns, and the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Mark Drakeford.  We discussed the issues that remain outstanding before we can proceed to signing the Joint Working Agreement and I’m optimistic we can resolve these so that a report can be made to Council before the end of the financial year.

Over the past few months I’ve been working with our Corporate Innovation Officer, Rhys Curtis, on a seminar for lead members and officers on what a smart and connected Swansea will look like as we progress the City Deal projects.  I’ll say more about this in a couple of weeks but I’m anxious that we reach a wider audience of staff, councillors and partners so that the vision for the future can be shared and debated.  The seminar will be held in early February and I’ll report back and add links to the presentations as soon as possible.

Thanks and well done

Thanks to the staff in ICT who arranged the migration of CMT to Office 365 this week.  It was a smooth transition for which I’m very grateful.

Thanks to Mark Gosney and the High 5 team who this week organised a tea for this year’s winners with the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House.  This followed the kind offer that the Lord Mayor made at the High 5 Awards ceremony.

On Monday evening the Mansion House was the venue for a thank you event for all our partners in the City of Culture bid which gave the opportunity to remind everyone that we’ll continue to work with Welsh Government to make Swansea the Welsh capital of culture.

Our city centre rangers dealt with 21,015 incidents last year, ranging from enquiries from the public to working with the police to report and tackle anti-social behaviour. They also support city centre events and activities, help businesses with their questions and queries, and put safety and security arrangements in place. Well done to all involved.

Next week is the last working week for Greg Jones in our Communications team.  Greg is leaving to join the City Deal team so our paths will continue to cross frequently.  I’d like to thank Greg for all his hard work over the years and wish him well for the future.

A Curate’s Egg

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The latest staff survey results are now published and as usual they throw up a largely pleasing, but mixed picture of views.

Pleasingly, staff perception of the council as a whole has improved compared to previous years and the vast majority of areas have improved and a few have stayed the same. Here’s a selection of results, but full details are via this link:

  • 80% of staff would recommend the council as a place to work, up 5%.
  • 83% say the council is committed to improving service delivery, up 5%.
  • 72% say the council has a clear vision about where it is going and what it wants to achieve, up 8%.

On the issue of bullying the number of incidents have decreased, although there’s a 1% increase in incidents experienced by staff from services users. However, 61% who experienced harassment, bullying or abuse did not report it which is 2% less than last year.

A big concern for me is a third of staff have not had an appraisal in the last 12 months. In the coming weeks Corporate Management Team will be considering how we deal with this, including a review of our on-line appraisal system, and Leadership Team will be developing plans to respond to the survey results.

Thanks to the 2,182 people who completed the survey providing a 26% response rate – 2% more than last year.

To further promote ‘staff wellbeing’ we’re holding a Big Wellbeing Event on January 31 at the Brangwyn Hall.  The event will include wellbeing-themed stalls along with council services stalls and charity stalls.  There’ll be talks throughout the day from renowned speakers and taster workshops you can get involved in.  Details will be advertised shortly.

Staff Roadshows

We’re holding a series of roadshows starting next week to talk with you about the council’s priorities for the coming year and the forthcoming budget.
The roadshow will take the form of a presentation delivered by senior members of staff and will also provide an opportunity to ask questions.
Please make every effort to attend one of these sessions to be able to have your say on our budget proposals, and get a clearer understanding of our approach to meeting the challenges facing the council in the future.

Awards

The awards keep on coming in and it’s a brilliant reflection of our staff and the work they do. In the last few days alone, we’ve had these:

Swansea Museum has been granted full accredited status by the Accreditation Panel appointed by Arts Council England.  Congratulations and thanks go to Barry Hughes and the team.

There was great news from one of the public sector’s most prominent awards events on Tuesday night – our Team Around the Family in Schools (TIS) programme won the Learning and Development category of the prestigious Guardian Public Service Awards 2017. Congratulations to all involved! This prize is tremendous recognition for a genuinely innovative, practical and effective service. You can read the Guardian story on TIS.

The Morfa Distributor Road won the Environmental Sustainability Award at the CIHT (Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation) Wales awards.  Congratulations to the Highways and Transportation team for their hard work and determination on this project.

And we won the ACES 2017 Award for Excellence for the Accommodation Strategy/Agile programme. ACES is the Association of Chief Estates and Property Managers in the public sector with 300 member organisations.   The new agile space in the Civic Centre has more than 200 plus staff working in 141 work spaces. This has freed-up more than 2,000 square metres of space. Significantly, sickness rates for staff working in the agile area hasvereduced from an average of 5 days per person to 0.2 days for the same period last year. Congratulations to Becky Jones and the team. For a second I thought it was Alan Carr presenting the award!

School visits

On a visit to Casllwchwr Primary School I met head teacher, Peter Owen, and Councillor Christine Richards.  It’s a great school in a fabulous setting and is one of the happiest schools I’ve been to.  I met the children who had lots of questions about what’s happening in the city and the work we do.

The school’s road safety committee raised concerns over the loss of their school crossing patrol.  Fortunately, Councillor Richards has a plan to lower the speed limit and introduce a “puffin” crossing from her budget and I promised the children we’d do the work as quickly as we could. Thanks to all at the school for the warm welcome.

I also visited Blaenymaes Primary School to meet with pupils Ethan, Mia and Isaac and hear about the rights respecting work they’ve done.  They also told me about their recent meeting with Hillary Clinton that I wrote about earlier this month. Thanks to head teacher Mark Dennis and Helen Spencer who explained the important work she’s doing with families in the area.

Gower power

It’s not just Dylan Thomas who says Swansea is the best place – celebrities, journalists and visitors from all over the UK are heaping praise on glorious Gower.

TV presenter Sean Fletcher has fallen for Britain’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty big-time and his story featured in the latest edition of the best-selling Countryfile magazine. The eight-page feature is just one of the ways our Tourism team pulls out all the stops to encourage people to visit.

And it’s all part of the countdown to next year’s ‘Year of the Sea’ theme, part of a Wales-wide initiative to celebrate our coastal culture, in which the team will be highlighting Swansea’s beautiful, award-winning coastline.

 

 

Our City of Culture bid is in

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City of Culture bid submitted

Yesterday evening the leaders of the political groups joined me and the City of Culture team in an event at Museum Green where our bid to the UK Government was submitted.  There has been a huge wave of support in the city for this project and now we must wait for feedback and the visit from the judging panel next month.

The bid was launched electronically by community representatives and received in London by actor Rhys Ifans who delivered it to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).  Thanks to the team who have been working on this bid and for the cross-party support.

Director of Place

A large part of my week has been taken up with the recruitment process for the Director of Place which attracted interest from across the UK and beyond!  Following a rigorous assessment centre and competitive interviews the six shortlisted candidates were whittled down to two.  Following the Appointments Committee the Council yesterday appointed the current interim Director of Place, Martin Nicholls, to the post.  I’m delighted with Martin’s appointment and look forward to working with him on the continued regeneration of the city.  We’ll be discussing what changes need to be made to the management structure to deliver the core regeneration programmes of the council most effectively and efficiently.

Be the best you can be

Staff engagement is one of my personal priorities so I’m delighted we’re continuing to improve the ways we support staff and give them a voice. The annual staff survey is under way and I’d urge everyone to take the time to complete it – your feedback will be listened to – you can complete the survey here.

And we’re about to hold the Be the best you can be event for staff which is taking place at the National Waterfront Museum next Friday. There are plenty of activities and workshops for staff and it’d be great if we could fill all of the places. They include calligraphy, choir, digital photography and genius hour!

The aim is to get as many people as possible to attend the day, even if you just want to drop-in, so please try to come along. Further details are available here.

Outstanding service

This week we’re saying farewell to a number of long-serving colleagues who are well-known across the council.  Rose McCreesh our Revenues and Benefits manager is retiring after almost 41 years’ service. Rose has led the transformation of our “rev and bens” team and she was recognised in 2002 when she was invited by The Prime Minister to a Downing Street reception for ‘turnaround managers’.

Lynne Miller our Pension Manager is leaving after 39 years, 38 of which have been in our Pensions Team, and we’ve all benefitted from her experience and professionalism.

Jon Thyer is retiring after almost 31 years. Jon started in the Treasurers’ Department and had numerous posts there before moving to Social Services in 2008.

And Phil Couch, who’s been instrumental in interpreting and steering us through the introduction of the Welsh Language Standards, is retiring to start a new life in France!

These are the latest long-serving and well-respected officers who’ve left the council in recent years. I’m so grateful to all of them for their outstanding public service. They’ll be missed but I wish them the very best for the future.

Benefit changes

Universal Credit (UC) will be introduced from December 13 in Swansea and initially affect benefits and tax credits for new claimants and those with changing circumstances. We’re raising awareness among staff at the earliest possible opportunity so they or their family members can begin planning for any financial impacts. The latest information can be found here.

Macmillan Cake Sale

Thank you to everyone who either baked or bought at yesterday’s cake sale in the Guildhall. There was a tremendous selection of cakes and bakes and I had Kath Banks’ amazing corned beef pie for lunch. Thank you everyone, £327 was raised for a great cause.

Well done and thank you

Our Team Around the Family (TAF) service has been shortlisted for honours in the Guardian Public Service Awards 2017. This initiative supports children – and significantly reduces pressure on the council – by empowering primary school staff to tackle early-stage social challenges faced by families. Well done to all involved and good luck at the awards in November.

Thanks to all staff who’ve been involved in the construction of new council homes at Milford Way in Penderry. Six of the 18 new properties will be soon be ready for occupation, with the other 12 likely to be handed over to tenants  by the start of November.

Our performance is improving

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Amazing achievement

Once again I want to sing the praises of our staff who continue to do a great job despite budget pressures.

The latest Local Authority Performance Bulletin published this week shows just how good a job staff have done.  The all-Wales bulletin compares all 22 councils on a broad range of indicators, from the condition of roads to the performance of schools. Last year:

  • 29% of all our performance indicators were in the top quartile, up from 17% in 2014/15.
  • A reduction in lower quartile PIs from 22% to 14%.
  • We’re ranked 9th among all 22 councils, up from 15th last year.

We’re performing in the top quartile in 32% of the indicators compared Cardiff’s 24% and Newport’s 12%.  Given the financial pressure and as an urban area we face tougher challenges, this improvement is really impressive.  You can view the bulletin here.

On top of this, our own quarterly performance report shows 80% of our corporate plan indicators met their target and 60% showed improvement compared to the first quarter last year.

We can’t be complacent; only yesterday a report warned that services like libraries and leisure centres could become unaffordable because about 56p in every pound spent by the Welsh Government on public services could go to the NHS.

We already knew the financial outlook is difficult as we need to save tens of millions of pounds again this year, but I’m inspired by the way our staff continue to meet these challenges and provide great services.

Thank you to everyone, I really appreciate your efforts.

More than one way to skin a cat

I attended a presentation about an alternative approach to improving rail connectivity to the city and the region.  Professor Mark Barry from Cardiff University, who was instrumental in developing the South East Metro plans, believes his latest proposal can achieve more than electrification would have given us. He proposes the creation of a direct rail link from Port Talbot to Swansea via the new Bay Campus and SA1, and a Swansea Bay Metro connecting Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot. It could reduce travel times to Cardiff by 30 minutes and reach London in just over two hours.  This would greatly benefit West Wales. It’s at a very early stage but we hope to work closely with regional partners and Welsh Government to develop the business case and engage with UK government to explore how it could be funded.

Schools

My week started on a high note with a visit to Brynmill Primary School where I met Jo Simons, headteacher, and her team.  I know the school well as my children were educated there and my granddaughter is currently in the reception class.  Jo highlighted the specific challenges that face this landlocked school, its Victorian design and lack of safe play space.  The team and the children have done a great job of making the environment colourful and welcoming but more remains to be done and in the current financial environment any improvements will require an innovative approach.  I promised to give this some thought.

Mike Penrose, Chief Executive at UNICEF, visited us to see how we’ve embedded UNCRC into everything we do.  So far almost 50,000 children and young people have been engaged in the Rights Respecting Schools programme. Mike was clearly impressed, citing Hafod Primary as possibly the best example he had seen across the globe for the Rights Respecting approach.  Thanks to all the schools and staff involved in driving this initiative forward.

I met YCA, the Primary Head teachers Association, to update them on the budget, local government reform and the plans for the city, including a plea for all schools to engage with our City of Culture and Tidal Lagoon campaigns.   Schools and pupils have a very important role in helping to promote the opportunities our regeneration plans present for the young people.  Thanks to the YCA for such a warm welcome and I look forward to our next meeting.

Congratulations to Donna Caswell and her team at Llanrhidian Primary School for their recent Excellent/Excellent Estyn inspection result.  The report is a great reflection of the school, its staff and pupils.

Farewells

Thelma Maguire, Performance Management Officer in our Housing team is retiring after 41 years. Also Jennifer Griffiths, Capital and Revenue Monitoring Officer in our Education Service, is leaving after 45 years fantastic contribution to the work on our schools estate.  I wish them both well after such outstanding service.