Robs Weekly Round-Up

30 September 2022

Dear colleagues,

This has been another busy week for Team Vale.

Work has continued to provide support to those being impacted by the rising cost of living. The Winter Fuel Support scheme launched on Monday. This is a £200 payment to eligible households that the Council is paying on behalf of Welsh Government. Our Revenues and Benefits team have so far issued nearly two and a half thousand payments, totalling more than £400,000. These payments will make a very real difference to many households.

All eligible residents will have received a letter to tell them how to apply and we are actively sharing information online, however, there are more than 4,000 eligible households yet to apply. Information on how to apply can be found on our website, as part of our Cost of Living Support hub which we are adding to all the time.

The rollout of the various support schemes is always complex for our colleagues in Finance but their commitment to getting the money out to those that need it is a great example of our values in action.

In addition to the Cost of Living payments the team has also administered 2,851 Pupil Development Grants totalling £661,725 since August. This was the first year that the scheme was open to all school years from the start of this academic year and saw a huge influx of applications. These were very capably dealt with by Vicky Rees and Fran Jones in the Benefits department. I’d like to thank them in particular for their work.

One of the ways we will support citizens during the cost of living crisis is by helping communities come together. To help enable this, this week has saw the launch of a new team in our Place directorate to assist citizens and community groups with projects and accessing funding.

The Community Development team will help local communities identify their priorities, create action plans, source funding and assist with consultations. The aim of the new team is to build on the excellent work carried out as part of the Vale’s Creative Rural Communities programme, which has recently ended after 18 years.

The team will have the same commitment to putting people and places first with an emphasis of facilitation, co-production, collaboration and innovation. It was great to meet our new Senior Community Development Officers Alec Shand and Arabella Calder, our new Monitoring Officer Lauren Collins and Admin Officer Cath Jones at the launch event on Tuesday. Croeso i Team Vale.

Throughout September many colleagues have been working hard to support Catch the Bus month and take the opportunity to highlight the range of bus services, many subsidised by the Council, that operate across the Vale.

Bus travel is a sustainable, inclusive and accessible form of transport that reduces congestion, improves air quality and keeps people connected. Improved public transport plays a key role in Project Zero, our commitment to tackle climate change. In the Vale, bus services cover around 10,000 kilometres every day on routes that stretch throughout the county and play a vital role in connecting some of our rural communities to the larger towns. Colleagues in Transport Services and Neighbourhood Services do a great job of keeping this network moving and the event on King Square this week, as well as being the highlight of the month long celebration, was also a great way of showcasing all their work to our residents. Diolch to all involved.

This week’s celebration also coincided with Healthy Travel to Work Day on Thursday. As a celebration of both Transport Services have made 40 free bus passes available to staff. If you’d like to trial travelling to work using public transport then see the information on StaffNet+ for more information. 

Colleagues at the Alps depot held a coffee and cake day for Macmillan Cancer Support on Wednesday. Staff bought in homemade sweet and savoury treats and managed to raise £216! Returning after a number of years I am told the event created a real buzz in the office.

Emma Reed has been in touch to say “I am so grateful to the Alps business support staff for organising this event and raising such a great sum of money for a cause very close to mine and other staffs’ hearts.  It was great to have so many staff drop in and the atmosphere was amazing.” I completely agree. Da iawn pawb.

The Council has also been celebrating Inclusion Week throughout this week. Our Equalities team have been highlighting a different area of our work each day on StaffNet+ and I would encourage everyone to learn more about the power of recognition. I am very proud to be ending the week by joining councillors and representatives of GLAM in raising the flag for Barry Pride which takes place this weekend. It will be another great celebration of diversity in the Vale and I’d like to thank all those colleagues who have supported the organisers.

Back in August I mentioned that we needed staff to respond to the consultation on the Council’s Annual Delivery Plan and Self-Assessment. The Self-Assessment is one of the most important means by which we monitor how well we are doing and by which our work is scrutinised by bodies such as Audit Wales. There’s still time for colleagues to have their say as part of this. You can also see a great recap of all that we achieved last year in our progress summary document.

For another great review of our colleagues’ work you can also check out the short film about the construction of Whitmore High School, produced by contractors Morgan Sindell. It’s a great run through of a fantastic project and it speak volumes about the vision and collaborative skills of our Learning and Skills team and school staff that the build it is now being presented as a model of best practice in the construction sector.

Finally, I’d like to wish good luck to all of those shortlisted for tonight’s Staff Awards and wish a good night to all of those who will be attending to support their colleagues. You will all know from my previous updates how passionate I am about the event. It has been a delight to work alongside the organising committee and it makes me immensely proud to work as part of an organisation where more than 400 colleagues want to come together to celebrate the success of their peers. I cannot wait.

As always, thanks to you all for your efforts this week. Diolch yn fawr.

Rob.