Blogs

Nigel's Blog: 13 December 2019

Posted: Friday 13th December 2019

As I write this blog on a Friday it’s much warmer in work than at home. I’ve been without heating since Tuesday and hopefully British Gas are there today rectifying the problem!! It’ll be cold on the weekend if not!

I’m looking forward to the weekend – despite the rain this week I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will have football again this weekend! The last couple of weeks have seen my team Panteg win their last two games ... a significant improvement on the season so far! New players make such a difference!! No riding for Lois though because she is going out to Cardiff on Friday night. Then of course we have the big event of the weekend ... the Strictly Final ... let’s hope for a Welsh win!

Aside from football last weekend Lois and I went Christmas shopping on Saturday (not my favourite pastime!!) and then on Sunday Jill (watching) and Lois (riding) were at a dressage competition and I stayed at home cooking (one of my favourite pastimes!!)

As we run up to Christmas my main focus every year is the budget for the following year. And in many ways this year is no different ... but at the same time it feels totally different in so much as the general election has impacted quite significantly particularly in creating uncertainty and delay. We are only receiving our notification of funding from Welsh Government on the 16th and that means that decisions we would normally have taken by now will not be made until the New Year. We are reasonably confident that the settlement will bring positive news compared to our original expectations but as a naturally cautious Treasurer (it’s in the job description) I will wait for confirmation first. Cabinet in early January will consider the budget for 2020/21.

Aside from the budget, this week so far has been quite packed and varied. On Monday I had a meeting of the Welsh Pension Partnership Joint Governance Committee in Carmarthen. Luckily Monday was dry weather wise so the trip there and back was not too bad. The Welsh Pension Partnership is the collaboration of all the pension funds in Wales and the Joint Governance Committee is the member meeting that takes the appropriate decisions.

On Tuesday it was the T22 Support Services Board followed by a briefing with Jason Lewis on all matters HR.

It was Corporate Leadership Team on Wednesday morning and there were three main items of discussion. The first was an update from Rachel in relation to the Local Development Plan. Then it was Neil Jones outlining a new external engagement tool, dialogue, which has the potential to really assist us in terms of public consultation. And lastly we had a discussion led by James and Rachel on our need for a Digital Strategy and how we are approaching it.

On Thursday I met with Graeme for a regular brief and catch up and then I was interviewed in the afternoon by the Wales Audit Office on Counter Fraud.

Today I am meeting with Dermot, Dave Lilly and education colleagues on school budgets and finances.

Monday next week is all about the Welsh Government budget and our funding allocation. We’ll conclude the budget report and then I finish for Christmas. I’m looking forward to the break as I am sure everyone is.

I hope everyone has an excellent Christmas and enjoys the break. And then let’s see what 2020 brings.