Robs Weekly Round Up

02 December 2022

Dear colleagues,

I must start this week with some very sad news. As you may have seen in the media coverage today a pupil from one of our schools tragically passed away earlier this week after contracting Strep A.

Both the school and Council have given our most heartfelt condolences to the family at this incredibly difficult time. Our Council’s team of educational psychologists are currently providing support to staff and pupils at the school.

Public Health Wales has provided advice to parents where appropriate. It is unlikely that other pupils will be affected by the illness and severe symptoms are extremely rare. However, it should always be remembered that sensible precautions such as regular hand washing and not attending school when ill can reduce the risk of all types of infection.

Events like this can affect us all, even if we have no immediate connection to the school. Our Care First service is available 24/7 for anyone who needs support.

Elsewhere this week our teams have once again impressed on the national stage. I’d firstly like to congratulate Sonia Hutchings and Jason Horton who won The Judges Award at the Social Care Wales All-Wales Analytics Learning Programme 2022.

The award was a recognition of their work to consider the impact of cost-of-living crisis on our Social Care Workforce. I’m told the judges considered their presentation to be excellent, providing thought provoking insight into the challenges facing our care workers. A very valuable piece of work. Gwaith da both.

On Wednesday night South Point Primary School won the award for Excellence in Planning for Health and Wellbeing at the Royal Town Planning Institute Awards for Planning Excellence. The awards celebrate outstanding plans, projects and people that demonstrate the power of planning.

At the ceremony, judges described this project as an exemplar for schools, helping to set a new national approach in Wales. They applauded the leadership the Council has taken to deliver Wales’ first net zero carbon primary school and its benefits to the health and wellbeing of pupils and the wider community.

This is the latest in a string of awards for the colleagues in our Place and Learning and Skills teams who delivered South Point and no less than they deserve. Congratulations (again) to all involved.

Then yesterday the Council, in partnership with the Ogmore-by-Sea Village Association, won the Social Value award at the Ystadau Cymru Conference. This award is for projects involving the public estate that have made a significant impact on the community they serve. The partnership was praised for its collaboration with the Dunraven Estate and Ogmore Commoners Association to provide a new village hall.

Minister for Finance and Local Government Rebecca Evans said: “The winning entry is one which has been driven by the community, but it would not have happened without the continuing support and expertise of the Council throughout the process. It is an excellent example of good practice for community asset transfer – which I am sure Ystadau Cymru will be adding to their library.”

This is a perfect example of how our teams work to deliver the Council’s vision of supporting strong communities with a bright future. Our Property team were central to the success, alongside other colleagues across the Council and I’d like to give them all a big thanks for their continued hard work.

To round of a very successful week Abi Warburton, our Veteran Advice and Armed Forces Liaison Officer, joined the Leader at a ceremony at Hensol Castle to accept the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme Gold award on behalf of the Council. The award is, in no small part, a result of Abi’s work to support both residents and staff who have served in the armed forces. Da iawn Abi.

Together the four awards show the breadth of our work, the range of services that we provide and the difference that local government can make to our residents and communities. To receive recognition in the areas of social care, education, community leadership and veterans support all in the same week should make us all proud of the impact we achieve together.

Another great example of our work to support communities is this year’s Christmas events programme delivered by our Marketing and Tourism team. The ever-popular Festival of Light returns this evening and is just one of a long list of events open to residents and visitors to the Vale at a low or no cost. You can see what's on in the Vale of Glamorgan this Christmas on the Visit The Vale website .

Looking ahead to Christmas it was agreed at this week’s meeting of SLT that we will close our office facilities for non-essential frontline services from 4.30 pm. on 23 December until 9am on 03 January.

Together we provide a wide range of services and I know for many colleagues, taking additional leave or working from home is not possible. Our highly valued frontline colleagues and those who work to support the services that operate 365 days of the year will continue to work harder than ever over the Christmas period and I am hugely grateful for their efforts. You can find more information on Christmas Working arrangements on Staffnet+.

Many of these colleagues will be working to support some of those children and young people for whom Christmas will be a little brighter thanks to our Santa’s Cause campaign. I was incredibly proud to see the donations stacking up at the Civic Offices this week and to hear about some of the great ideas colleagues have for raising money.

There is absolutely no pressure or expectation for colleagues to get involved in this fundraiser but for those who can and want to offer something, gifts will be accepted until 09 December so there is still time to get involved. 

Finally, it has not escaped my attention that recently, a valuable member of the Council’s Strategic Leadership team passed a milestone of 40 years service with the Council. Miles Punter, our Director of Environment and Housing Services has demonstrated an absolutely fantastic commitment to public services and one he should be rightly proud of. Miles will be subject to a profile piece early in the new year telling the story of his career and having worked alongside him for much of it I for one look forward to reading it. Congratulations Miles, well done and thank you. 

Thanks as always for your efforts this week. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Rob.