Rob's Weekly Round Up

17 June 2022

Dear colleagues, 

I hope you are well and have had chance to enjoy the good weather this week. 

June is Pride month. If you’ve been to the Civic Offices in the last two weeks you’ll have seen the rainbow flag flying outside. The Vale of Glamorgan Council is a Stonewall Cymru Diversity Champion, which means that we have made a commitment to working towards a more inclusive workplace. We’re working extremely hard to ensure that we offer a safe and enjoyable place for LGBTQI+ people to work. You can find out more on StaffNet+ and if you would like to get involved in this, or if you have any suggestions for how to make things better, you can contact GLAM, our LGBT+ Staff Network.

How we can do more to be an inclusive organisation was discussed at the joint meeting of Cabinet and the Strategic Leadership Team on Thursday alongside many of the big issues we, and our residents, currently face. The cost of living was of course a big topic for discussion. I’d like to again thank all those colleagues working to administer support payments and find new ways on delivering services that support citizens. I know colleagues from Corporate Services met this week with the Citizens Advice Bureau to find ways that we could work more closely and make it easier for people to access the support they need. 

On a similar note, I’d also like to thank those colleagues currently administering payments to those refugees of the war in Ukraine who are now living in the Vale, and the families who have opened their homes to them. Payments totalling £19,800 have so far been made to nearly 100 people.

I am sure he is not the only member of the team to do so but I’d like to say a particular thank you to Richard Taylor who I hear has added ‘Dobroho ranku’ and ‘Dobry den’ – good morning and good afternoon in Ukranian – to his vocabulary to help make those we are helping feel more at home. Dyakuyu tobi and diolch yn fawr to Richard and the whole team. 

I was pleased to be contacted by Charlotte Raine from the Regeneration & Planning team earlier this week who gave a ‘shout out’ to colleagues that she has worked closely with on community-based projects.  Charlotte wrote:

“I just wanted to message and see if you could do give some recognition to Martin Andrews this week and also Jon Greatrex – both in the Parks Department. 

Martin in particular has been an absolute lifesaver for me over the last 2 weeks – hand dropping letters in preparation of two schemes going in to ensure residents get as much notice as possible (as soon as I’ve asked, he has done it within a day), taking photos to get evidence so I can sign things off, and just generally acting so efficiently on some really urgent projects. 

Jon Greatrex has also just been fantastic in the preparation of the Belle Vue project. With works due to commence on site 20th June he has gone over and above trying to get all the temporary measures in place with the Property Section, for when the works do commence. 
Great team players when I have been trying to manage the S106 projects and new work arising in my new role”. 

Really well said Charlotte and this is firm evidence that of the super work that happens when  we work across departments in partnership. Diolch yn fawr pawb – really positive. 

The efforts of our Finance team were discussed by Tom Bowring, our new Director of Corporate Resources, in his Question Time session earlier this week. You can watch it now online. There is also still chance to book for the rearranged session with our new Director of Place, Marcus Goldsworthy. I know Tom also answered some questions about wellbeing support for colleagues and I’d like to add to his comments with news on two recent developments. 

Firstly, for those who work at times from the Civic Offices the staff courtyard space has now been finished. I’d like to thank colleagues from Property, Building Services, Neighbourhood Services, and HR who worked with our Wellbeing Champions and other colleagues to make this happen. The space is open to all and provides an area for all colleagues to get away from their desks and enjoy some fresh air, as well as a less formal meeting space. Secondly, two new online physical fitness sessions will be open to staff from next week. Again, these will be open to all and completely free.

Online Yoga sessions will take place at 6pm every Tuesday and in-person HIIT sessions at the Vale Crossfit Gym on Holton Road, Barry at 12pm every Wednesday. Information will be available on Staffnet+ next week or you can contact our Wellbeing Champions to find out more.

Our colleagues’ wellbeing is one of the top concerns of SLT and something which we are always seeking to find new ways to support. This is why it will be a central theme to the Staff Survey 2022 which will launch in the coming weeks. I’ll have more information on this in my message next week. The survey will give everyone the chance to share their views on various issues in confidence and is being designed to capture the insight that we need as an organisation to build our post-Covid ways of working in line with what matters to our staff.  

I’d like to draw your attention to the Speak Out campaign that is currently running. I want our Council to be one where everyone feels they can speak out if they see something they think is wrong. Speaking out or whistleblowing has a positive impact on the organisation, protecting the Council's finances and reputation, while keeping colleagues and customers safe. If you haven’t yet had chance to read the information on our new Speak Out hub then please do.

Finally, you will know that the deadline for the Staff awards has been extended and is now midnight on Friday 24th June.  There is still time to get your entries in.  I have spoken to many people over the last week and I know that colleagues across the organisation are really busy and some have been putting off making submissions for this reason.  I appreciate that carving out time is difficult but the awards event is very important – it is a way of celebrating all the good work that happens across the entire organisation and it is a way of recognising those teams, individuals and projects that are central to the success of the Council in making a difference to those communities that we serve.  So, wherever you work, in whatever department or school, please submit your entries so we can have the best and most inclusive awards event yet to showcase all that is good about working for the Vale. 

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

Rob.