04 December 2020

Dear Collagues,

I write to you once again at the end of an extremely busy week which has seen some good news including further developments of vaccines for COVID-19, but with some words of caution as well.

The approval of the first vaccine is of course an exciting development in our fight against COVID-19 and our teams have been working hard to support the University Health Board to ensure they are able to deliver the vaccine to our communities as soon as it is ready. As I am sure you will understand, delivery of vaccines in the first few weeks is expected to be focussed, so health and social care staff who have patient-facing roles in high-risk work areas will understandably be prioritised. I know many staff will have questions about eligibility and the timescale for rolling this out. I will update you all as more details are confirmed in due course.

Whilst the news of progress with vaccines is welcomed, as I mentioned last week, we must remain vigilant to the continuing threat of COVID-19. We all need to be extremely careful as case instances have continued to increase over the last week.  We are also seeing an increase in the numbers of clusters of positive cases linked to transmission within various settings, including workplaces. COVID-19 is a virus that can cause people to become seriously unwell. Please be vigilant and remember the position in Wales, remains that all staff should work from home wherever possible and where their specific roles allow.  I am, as always mindful that we are an extremely varied organisation delivering a vast array of services and working remotely is not possible for many colleagues.  However, where this is possible, the default position is that colleagues do work from home.   

It is clear from the data that is analysed daily, that it is our behaviour that spreads the virus and we should all remember that as we go about our daily lives, whether this be in work or outside work.  We all need to retain a safe social distance of at least 2m apart, wash our hands regularly or use hand sanitiser, and wear masks when required.  

On a more positive note, staff may have noticed our Advent Calendar has been published on Staffnet+ this week and is being promoted through our social media channels as well. The aim of the advent calendar is to highlight some of our top achievements in 2020, despite the challenging circumstances we find ourselves in. I would encourage you to keep an eye on it throughout December as we seek to recognise and celebrate our colleagues. Colleagues will also have seen the ‘Shout out’ facility on Staffnet+.  As I write this, there are approaching 50 separate ’shout outs’, all of which are an absolute joy to read.  

On the subject of ‘shout out’s, I had the pleasure to be copied into an e-mail, earlier this week from one of our partners working on the 21st Century scheme at Whitmore High School.  The Council has been extremely eager to ensure that we can ensure significant opportunities to communities within Barry and the Vale when delivering this multi-million-pound construction programme.  A Graduate Engineer who has worked with Morgan Sindall had this to say about a colleague, Angelina Patrick, who is an Employment Officer working within the Vale Communities for Work team.

 ‘I just wanted to say it has been an absolute pleasure working with you over the past few months, you are a fantastic woman who puts in a lot of effort and time into the people you work with and that is something to be admired.

'We are coming into the new year and I look forward to all that we have planned for Morgan Sindall and the Vale of Glamorgan’s collaborative works. I think it’s important you know how valuable you have been to the Whitmore High School Project and I appreciate everything you have done for me.’

Da iawn Angelina – this is praise indeed.  Thanks for everything you have been doing alongside colleagues to make our input and involvement so successful – Keep up the good work.

As the year draws to a close, I would also like to share some news in relation to working arrangements over the Christmas and New Year period. The Council’s main office buildings (Civic Offices, Docks Office and Alps Depot offices) will be open until 5:00pm on Thursday 24th December 2020. These buildings will then be closed to all staff and customers from 5:00pm on the 24th of December until 08:00am on Monday 4th January 2021.

The following are the statutory bank holiday days over Christmas and New Year:

• Friday 25th December
• Monday 28th December
• Friday 1st January 

Many of our services will continue to be provided during this period and I am grateful as always for the dedication of our staff who are working in roles providing essential services every day of the year, and especially over the Christmas period.

For some services, it will be possible to reduce the amount of staffing required over this period. Operational Managers will be responsible for ensuring appropriate levels of cover throughout the period across all service areas.

If you have been working in one of the offices that will be closed over the period and do not want to take the three working days when offices will be closed as annual leave, please discuss this with your manager. Your manager will discuss your options with you, including the potential to work from another location or temporarily equipping you to work from home throughout the period.

I would encourage all colleagues to take regular time away from work as your leave entitlement and the demands of our services allow. This year has been challenging. I am enormously appreciative of everyone’s efforts and it is important to take time away from work to rest where possible. 

Finally, I would like to offer my congratulations to Lorna Cross and Mark White, and their teams, who played a significant role in the partnership that delivered the Goodsheds Development in Barry, which won an Ystadau Cymru Award yesterday.  Ystadau Cymru encourages excellence in active management of the Welsh public sector estate through strategic collaboration and good practice guidance and is a network of Welsh Government and all public sector organisations in Wales. For the second year running the conference was expertly hosted by our very own Tom Bowring – well done Tom, I hear you did a fantastic job again this year! 

The Demonstrating Economic Growth Award asks public sector organisations to demonstrate how they have used their estate to create economic growth such as the creation of jobs, homes and business opportunities. The Goodsheds development is a collaborative regeneration project between the Vale of Glamorgan Council, DS Properties (Goodsheds) Limited, Newydd Housing Association and the Welsh Government. Well done to everyone involved, it is a fantastic asset to the ongoing development of Barry Waterfront. The Minister for Finance and Trefnydd, Rebecca Evans, also selected this as her “winner of all winners” at the awards praising its excellent outcomes and scale of collaborative working. Projects such as this don’t just fall into place – they rely on a range of other teams working in partnership whether this be legal officers, finance specialists, planning and building control officers and highway colleagues as well as those such as Mark and Lorna. Excellent partnership working and great to see the Vale at the forefront of such innovative regeneration.

I hope you all manage to find some time over the weekend to take a break. 

Thank you all for your continued efforts in difficult circumstances. 

Stay safe.

Diolch yn fawr.

Rob