05 March 2021

Dear Colleagues,

It has been another busy week for us all in the Vale of Glamorgan, but one that has seen us take some positive steps forward both in managing our ongoing response to the pandemic and in making plans for the future. 

Firstly, you may have seen the news that the Council will be taking over the operation of Penarth Pier Pavilion. I’m excited about the future of this excellent community facility and the range of plans that we have begun putting in motion to ensure the longevity of this iconic building. More details on this will be revealed in due course.

It was also reported this week that all school pupils will have an opportunity to return to school, in some form, before the Easter break. It is expected that primary school pupils will return from the 15th of March until the end of term. In addition, pupils in exam years are also expected to return from the 15th. And all other ages, years 7, 8 and 9, will have an opportunity to check in with their teachers, face to face, before Easter, in a way similar to the end of term last academic year. I hope this news will be welcomed by parents and pupils. We will continue to work closely with schools to support this process. 

During my learning café question time session this week I was asked about the arrangements for staff who are currently working from home. I’d like to thank all those who participated in the session and I hope that it was useful.  I would also like to re-iterate what I said on Wednesday, the current Welsh Government position is that anyone who can, should work from home for the time being. 

We recognise that we are a diverse organisation and unfortunately not every role can have the flexibility of working from home. However, we are looking at plans for the future and making our working spaces as flexible as possible, to meet the needs of our teams. We are looking at plans for how to make our workspaces much more flexible and will be involving teams in the design and how these can best work in a way that suits the different needs of our various departments. We are regularly looking at this as a Strategic Leadership Team and when restrictions do allow us to, we will share our plans and proposals for staff to return to work in our office spaces. 

Linked to this work on our office spaces, Cabinet will be considering a report on Monday on the renewal of the Reshaping Programme, which will focus on three new arenas of transformational activity. They are:

• Opportunities to take action on big community issues. These include tackling Climate Change, tackling poverty, building and empowering communities through working with and within communities, and maximising the potential of partnerships.
• Opportunities to change the way we work. This includes being innovative in the way we work and deliver services developing further agile/hybrid working, considering how we take decisions and embracing new models of service delivery.
• Opportunities to use our resources differently. This includes using our assets more effectively and efficiently, raising income, making investments and other commercial approaches.

This revitalised programme sets the tone for the future of our organisation  and builds on our experiences from previous reshaping projects and the things we have learned over the past year. There will be a chance to get involved in this work and when we have more information on projects that are linked to the reshaping programme, I will update you on those.

I’m aware that it has been a difficult few months for all of us and as managers we have been conscious of staff wellbeing and it is something I have mentioned in a number of my messages to you. I just want to re-iterate that your wellbeing is an  ongoing priority for us. 

So that we can continue to improve the ways in which we support staff we will soon be asking for your feedback on the wellbeing activities that have been offered to date, as well as some other matters linked to your wellbeing. This is a follow up to the survey we conducted last year and your responses will help the Wellbeing champions to be able to plan future activities with your input. It will also help me and my colleagues at Senior Leadership Team as we continue to plan for the future. I will share this survey with you in the next couple of weeks. 

The next review of Welsh Government coronavirus restrictions will take place next Friday when it is anticipated that there may be further changes to the restrictions we are all living under. This is because the level of infection continues to fall, albeit from a very high point. It is important that for now, we continue to do what we need to do – stay home and stay safe. 

I hope you all have a good weekend. 

Diolch yn fawr,

Rob