Commercial Times Issue 2 Autumn 2015

Issue 2 Autumn 2015

Get updated, get inspired, get involved CITY and County of Swansea residents are to get the opportunity to get their Japanese knotweed problem treated with a little help from council experts.

The council has introduced a new service that will aim to use its years of experience in tackling the issue on public land to help residents fix the problem in their own backyards.

The new service is part of Swansea Council’s innovative new commercialisation programme which aims to use council expertise to develop new businesses, the proceeds from which will help maintain provision of core services like education and social care.

Clive Lloyd, Cabinet Member for Transformation and Performance, said: “The new Japanese knotweed treatment service is one of the first initiatives to come out of this work which is part of the Sustainable Swansea – Fit for the Future programme. We want to unlock the entrepreneurial spirit among our staff and give them the opportunity and the incentive to come up with ideas that will generate income to help pay for services”.

This is a great example of CCS entering a market where there is high demand, scope to compete and to exploit the strengths of the existing service provision within Parks.

For further info please visit www.swansea.gov.uk/knotweed

Did you know …..

A recent Localis report highlighted that without entrepreneurial activities, 8 out of 10 councils surveyed said they would have to cut services and raise taxes. If you’d like to find out more about developing your commercial skills, contact the Commercial and Commissioning Unit on commercial.team@swansea.gov.uk.

Meet some of the Commercial & Commissioning Unit >>>>> Page 3

Since the last edition, Cabinet has agreed a corporate framework for our work on commercialism.

The plan Dean Taylor highlights the Director of importance of Corporate encouraging and Services supporting staff to come up with new ideas for selling our services and raising income, and it is great to see so many examples of commercial thinking and success across Services highlighted in this edition.

We are also committed to providing training and development in commercial skills and tools. Any ideas about what would be helpful to you will be welcome so that we can provide what people need to succeed.

This month we welcome Chris Williams to the Council as our new Head of Commercial Services. Chris has many years of experience working for Welsh Government and has recently been working as Business Director for a telecommunications company.

Chris will be coming round to meet Services to hear about your ideas and how the team can help.

Commercial Team—Supporting the Income Generation Strand of Sustainable Swansea

Commercial Team—Supporting the Income Generation Strand of Sustainable Swansea

A new school uniform grant voucher scheme has been created through collaboration between Kate Phillips in the School Governor Unit and Lee Morgan in the Commercial & Commissioning Unit.

Welsh Government provides a grant to ensure children who receive free school meals can have a full set of uniform when they start comprehensive school. Rather than the old cheque-based system which was difficult to trace and time consuming to administer, Lee and Kate have put a great deal of work into developing a new trackable, tamper-proof voucher which can be used at participating suppliers across the city. Families will be able to ensure that children are fully kitted out for the new school year, and early reports from Finance Officers and Cashiers are that the scheme is likely to save a considerable amount of Officer time, both now and in the future. Well done to everyone involved!

Did you know …………

The Commercial and Commissioning Unit have supported CCS departments to use competitive processes to reduce third party spend by more than £2.6m so far in 2015/16.

Have you thought about how our Procurement specialists could help you to make efficiencies on your up-coming contracts?

The roundabout sponsorship scheme in Swansea has been brought back in house. The project offers internal customers and commercial partners a unique, green, cost effective way to promote their business 24/7.

There are a number of roundabouts that can be sponsored within the City and County of Swansea and they vary in price depending on the location, size and amount of traffic flow using the roundabout.

The Landore priority parking scheme utilising the park and ride site for match day parking has kicked off the season in style!

With 149 allocations already in the net before the 2015/16 season started, this project will have generated over £20,000 for the authority since its inception by using space that would have otherwise sat empty.....

To grab one of the remaining allocations for just £99 contact www.swansea.gov.uk/swansparking

For a full list of available roundabouts and the costs please contact the commercial team on 3808 or email commercial.team@swansea.gov.uk

commercial.team@swansea.gov.uk 01792 636103 or 01792 635457

Commercial Team—Supporting the Income Generation Strand of Sustainable Swansea

Maz recently supported Corporate Building Services to award a contract for the supply of kitchen units and worktops, as part of the Authority’s commitment to maintaining over 12,000 Council-owned houses. Each Council house needs to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standard, which ensures that the houses are of good quality and suitable for the needs of existing and future residents.

With Maz’s support, the team was able to save £79,000 on the current contract, which will be used to fund kitchen refurbishments for an additional 157 Council tenants. Since winning the contract, Rixonway are now working Maz Ward with the Commercial & Commissioning Unit to support the redevelopment of Category Manager Stadwen Youth Centre (see page 4). Through the social benefit clause in the Construction contract set up by Maz, Rixonway have agreed to supply a kitchen completely free of charge to Stadwen, which will be used to upskill young people not currently in employment, education or training.

Andrew recently supported the Research & GIS team (IR & GIS) to increase fees charged to developers for Street Naming & Numbering.

IR & GIS had already completed a thorough benchmarking exercise and analysis of the Welsh charging context for this service. Andrew supported the team to incorporate this into a business case which took into account market conditions, the full cost of providing this service to clients, and how CCS fees compare against other Welsh Authorities. By driving this through the Commercial Panel’s simplified approval process, Andrew was able to support IR & GIS to speedily implement the recommended changes which will see them increase fees in line with other Authorities, potentially generating more than £10,000 in additional income for the team.

Andrew Hopkins Commercial Manager

Meet more members of the Commercial and Commissioning Unit in our next edition.

Did you know …….

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The Commercial and Commissioning Unit supported Cultural Services to form agreements with partners Swansea University, Stenor Environmental Services and Parker Plant, which contributed over £20,000 of benefits to July’s Wales’ National Air Show.

New Paper Supplier Working in collaboration with Design Print, the Commercial Team have recently awarded a new contract for the supply of photocopier paper. The new contract offers a 30% saving and will be available in the ISiS Purchasing catalogues soon.

‘The Tiger’ L-29 Delfin was supplied by Steve Norman and his family at Stenor.

commercial.team@swansea.gov.uk 01792 636103 or 01792 635457

Commercial Team—Supporting the Income Generation Strand of Sustainable Swansea

After 23 years of manufacturing in Swansea, Unilever left the city to co-locate with its research and development facility in Merseyside.

As a legacy to the city of Swansea, Unilever has funded projects to improve the employability prospects of our young people, particularly 13-19 year olds who are not currently in education. The legacy fund is broken down into two main areas: Wheels to work - this is an exciting project that offers young people the use of scooters and a minibus for peak, evening and weekend bespoke access to employment and services. Service users will also have the opportunity to do their compulsory basic training so they can hire a scooter from us for a minimal charge, to enable young people to secure employment and further education opportunities. The Unilever fund will cover the cost of the initial set up of both projects, the Mini bus, mopeds, training, helmets and PPE. Stadwen Youth Centre – the Unilever legacy will assist young people who attend the Youth Centre by enhancing and modernising the facility. The kitchen and hair dressing salon will receive a full overhaul to make them enticing places to gather that are more sustainable and tie into the Healthy Living agenda, in turn supporting the learning of valuable skills for employment.

Work has started on the project and the kitchen and salon refurbishment will be completed in October. By working across the Commercial & Commissioning Unit to ensure the best commercial deal for the Council, Officers have secured a free kitchen (please see page 3) and free sanitary ware to further enhance the Youth Centre to ensure it remains a valuable part of the community for generations to come.

Did you know…….

CCS’ Nature Conservation Team (NCT) have secured a contract against fierce competition, bidding competitively for an opportunity to create a new wetlands and biodiversity project which was advertised across Europe.

NCT have been proactive in identifying an opportunity to utilise the expertise and skills within the team in a new and innovative way, by bidding for a contract advertised by RSPCA Llys Nini. The charity have been successful in securing Heritage Lottery Funding to further develop their site in Penllergaer. As the successful contractor, NCT will work in partnership with Llys Nini to develop a new wetland habitat, which residents and local wildlife will be able to benefit from for generations to come. Deb Hill and the rest of the team have shown that an innovative approach to income generation can be part of the approach services can take in order to continue to deliver highly valued services during this time of austerity and budget reductions.

If you are interested in bidding competitively for contracts, get in touch with the Commercial & Commissioning Unit to see how we can help!

Contact the Commercial and Commissioning Unit on 6103 or 5457 or email commercial.team@swansea.gov.uk Commercial Team—Supporting the Income Generation Strand of Sustainable Swansea