I must start by mentioning all of the great work that was done over the past two and a half weeks. As you may imagine the Council’s response as the civic authority to the death of the sovereign is something that we had prepared for in great detail. Our protocols were executed flawlessly and this is a credit to all of those staff involved, in particular those in our Democratic Services, Communications, and Building Services teams, as well as our Business Managers. Diolch yn fawr pawb.
I’d like to give a second mention to Building Services, and Neil Stokes in particular. The team is coming to the end of a very busy period of work over the summer. Each year the school summer break offers a window for improvements and routine maintenance to be undertaken at sites across the Vale. This year’s programme was more challenging that ever but the feedback that I have received from headteachers makes clear that the team have outdone even their own very high standards. This is a great achievement considering they have also been managing upgrades to Penarth Pier at the same time. A perfect example of the can-do attitude that makes Team Vale what it is.
Another of our teams has been working at Penarth seafront today, albeit on a very different project. As part of their community benefits programme the 21st Century Schools Sustainable Communities for Learning team organised a beach clean and series of plastic pollution prevention workshops with local schools. Dozens of pupils were able to join the team this morning and the feedback has been very positive.
The event has also brought together a number of community groups who share our 
Project Zero vision for minimising waste and reducing plastic pollution in Vale. Alongside our own teams these groups have been speaking to local residents and visitors to provide information on how to reduce waste and showcase the great work being done in Penarth. This is a great example of partnership working and of the practical steps being taken to ensure a greener Vale for future generations.
On a similar note those of you who have visited the Civic Offices this week will have seen that work is progressing well on the installation of electric vehicle charging points in the car park. These will support our new fleet of electric pool cars and we're exploring how we can make them available for staff who have their own electric vehicle so they have the opportunity to charge them at work.
While this work is underway we’ve also taken the chance to design a new planting scheme that will be better for biodiversity and more attractive for colleagues and visitors. I’d like to thank Jon Greatrex in Neighbourhood Services for his expert advice on this and to Mark Biernacki for all his hard work on the EV scheme.
Many of you will have seen the news yesterday that the Real Living Wage outside of London has increased to £10.90 an hour. I am very proud that the Council took the decision in May this year to pay all staff the equivalent of the Real Living Wage and just over 700 of our colleagues are now seeing the benefit of this. I have asked for an urgent report to be presented to the Strategic Leadership Team next week to set out what a further possible increase would mean for the organisation and will share an update on this as soon as I can.
I’d like to remind all of those colleagues working in our schools that the Staff Survey 2022 has been reopened until 7 October. The survey launched in July but I know this is a particularly busy time for schools and so to make sure that all colleagues get the same opportunity to share their views on working in the Vale we have extended the survey until 7 October for this group.
From next week colleagues will start to see information being cascaded about the rollout of Oracle Fusion. The migration from our current platform to the new system is the biggest digital transformation project we have undertaken in over a decade. It is hugely complex and when the systems are moved over in the coming months this will mark the culmination of 18 months’ worth of work. I know the teams supporting this are currently working flat out to meet some challenging deadlines and would like to give them all my personal thanks for their effort.
In line with our commitment to offer staff more flexible learning opportunities a new series of entry, foundation, advanced and proficient level Welsh Language courses are beginning this month. The courses are open to all staff. They are free of charge and can be undertaken during working hours. You might want to learn now because you have not had the opportunity previously, because your children are learning at school, or so you can sing Yma o Hyd when Wales are at the World Cup. Whatever your reason there has never been a better time to learn Cymraeg.
Finally, I’d like to thank those colleagues who have been helping prepare or taken part in events this week for Cowbridge Pride. The week-long celebration was launched by the Leader, Cllr Burnett, and our LGBT Champion Cllr Iannucci on Wednesday. Cowbridge Pride has been led by local community groups as a celebration of diversity and aims to raise money for local schools. When the organisers reached out for support with some event planning and logistics a number of our staff answered the call. Nia Hollins, Sarah Jones, and Mererid Velios have all been instrumental in making the celebration a success, and Nathan Thomas in Neighbourhood Services has ensured that Cowbridge High Street has a new splash of colour to mark the occasion. Diolch pawb.
As always thank you all for your efforts this week. Diolch yn fawr iawn.
Rob.