Weekly Message from the Managing Director

13 November, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

This has been the first working week since the Firebreak lockdown for Wales came to an end. Businesses have reopened, as have schools to all pupils, and a new set of rules have been put in place by Welsh Government.

We all know from our work that many people have made huge sacrifices to live within the rules, since the first national lockdown was put in place in March.

While there has been a lot of media coverage this week about a potential vaccine, this is still some way off for the majority of the population and we must not allow the effort we have made together be wasted.

To do that, we all need to take steps to keep each other safe, and we must all keep living our lives differently. If you haven’t already then you should take time to read the latest guidance on the Welsh Government website.

Welsh Government Guidance

Effective testing and tracing are central to how we will enable a degree of normal life to continue through the winter months. I wrote to all staff last week to inform you that a temporary mobile testing unit had opened in Barry.

That unit closed yesterday. Over the course of the testing unit’s planned seven-day operation the team conducted more than 400 tests and this will have made a real difference in protecting residents in the Vale from the risk of the virus. 

I would like to thank all those council staff and those in the Cardiff and Vale Test, Trace, Protect service that established the unit so quickly and ran it so capably, and of course those residents that played their part in keeping us safe by getting tested.  

While the unit has now closed the risk posed to our communities by COVID-19 is still present. The number of cases in the Vale, and the tests which are positive, remain well over the Welsh Government’s red alert thresholds which is an indication that we must all continue to take the virus very seriously.

It continues to be of the upmost importance that anyone with symptoms self isolates immediately and gets a test. Council staff are key workers and can access a test by emailing covid-19testing@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk. For our residents in the Vale, they can do so via any public testing centre, such as the drive through centre at Leckwith in Cardiff, or by ordering a home test kit.

To help everyone recognise symptoms, particularly parents and carers, we have been working with the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to produce and share simple video guidance with GPs. You can view these videos on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.

The Welsh response to COVID-19 so far has been full of first-class examples of partnership working. The latest of these is the Joint Enforcement Teams that have begun work in earnest in recent weeks. In Cardiff and the Vale these are made up of colleagues from South Wales Police and our Shared Regulatory Services staff. The teams will take action against individuals, businesses and licensed premises which blatantly fail to comply with the new regulations or repeatedly breach them. They are already working out in the community.

I would like to pay particular tribute to Dave Holland, our Head of Shared Regulatory Services, not just for his work to establish these teams but for everything he has done to link together the work of our partners within the Test, Trace, Protect service. Dave has led his teams with professionalism and good humour at a time of immense challenge. Diolch, Dave.

On Wednesday of this week I took part in the annual armistice ceremony. This year’s socially distanced event was expertly managed by our Democratic Services and Property teams. Their thorough planning and hard work meant that this important annual event was still marked publicly and that those veterans and local dignitaries that come together to pay their respects were able to do so safely. The full ceremony was broadcast live via Facebook and can still be viewed on the Council’s page.

Vale Council Facebook Page

Work continues to develop new services for the post-Covid digital world and this week I was part of the launch of a new software platform called Connecting Wales that will make it easier for customers to get in touch with different public sector organisations, including our Council and the University Health Board as well as enabling contact centre staff to work from home. Our Customer Relations team has led on developing the platform for over a year and I am proud that our organisation is at the forefront of developments in this area. Congratulations to Tony Curliss and the team for really driving this forward.

In another great example of digital innovation this year’s National Safeguarding Week is being delivered entirely online. Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan Regional Safeguarding Board have developed a programme of training, talks and workshops that are open for anyone to join and applicable for a wide audience including professionals, practitioners and stakeholders.  

National Safeguarding Week

Next week is also International Fraud Week and our audit team have pulled together some helpful information on how the Council works to prevent fraud and some guidance on what we can all do to support this work.

International Fraud Week

Hopefully many of you saw our colleagues’ work highlighted on Tuesday as part of the #councilscan campaign on social media. It was fantastic to see so many achievements listed together in one place, and you can read about them all on StaffNet. 

Councils Can

I would like to use this message to say farewell to one of our colleagues who has been a great servant not just to the Vale of Glamorgan Council but to a great number of Vale residents as well. Linda ‘Rusty’ Ruston is retiring from the organisation next week. This year Linda has been instrumental in ensuring our frontline staff have the PPE they require and in ensuring that those clients that used the New Horizons day centre before the pandemic struck have all been able to access alternatives. I know from speaking to many colleagues that Linda’s bubbly spirit and unending enthusiasm will be sorely missed by colleagues and clients alike. Linda, on behalf of the Council I wish you all the best for the future.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that that the programme of wellbeing initiatives that I wrote to you all about on Wednesday will begin next week. ‘Your Wellbeing / Eich Iechyd’ will focus initially on physical wellbeing. A range of activities will be available, including live instructor led HIIT and Yoga sessions, that will run alongside pre-recorded sessions. In coming weeks, the programme will cover other important aspects of wellbeing, including mental health. I would like to again thank those involved in developing this important programme. All of the information can be accessed on StaffNet+

Your Wellbeing

I do of course recognise that it is not always possible for all of us, such as those working in some of our many customer focused roles or in frontline services, to take time out during their specific working days. It is never possible to find one approach that works for everyone in an organisation as diverse and wide ranging as ours, with so many different roles and services.

However, I’d like to reassure staff working in roles such as these, that we strive to make all opportunities available to as many people as possible. For this reason, the resources on StaffNet+ are available to everyone to access at a time that works for them. I am also aware that colleagues across every part of the Council are working hard to find ways to continue to support well-being. Thank you for these efforts. If you have examples of this work from your part of our organisation, we welcome you sharing these. Also, if you have any ideas for how we could support this work in your service and in other parts of the Council please do also get in touch.

Thank you all for your efforts this week, for looking after yourselves and each other. Stay safe. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Rob Thomas.