Lib Dems run with the hare and the hounds

There is uproar in New Quay about parking charges at the Ceredigion County Council owned car park next to the medical centre, and rightly so. During the last year the Welsh Assembly Government, of which Plaid Cymru is part, has abolished car parking charges at hospitals. It is the right thing to do.

Whilst I am totally supportive of the petition for free parking to those visiting the medical centre in New Quay, it is rather ironic that it has been sent to Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams. The decision to include parking fees in the annual County Council budget was supported by Liberal Democrat Councillors and implemented by the Council Cabinet on which sits three Liberal Democrat Councillors. They have had several opportunities to stop this punitive health tax but have refused to do so.

It is only right to point out that the MP cannot run with both the hare and the hounds and must at some stage accept a collective responsibility for the actions of his party.

Liberal Democrat Farming press releases - pinch them from the NFU!

If you don't have anything to say about agriculture then get it from somebody else. This press release by Mark Williams MP is amazing in its barefaced cheek, now he didn't meet Wynfford James but gives the impression he did, didn't do any background research but gives the impression he did, and didn't actually do anything but gives the impression he did.

MP shocked by milk sales figures
11:57am Wednesday 25th November 2009

Ceredigion’s Welsh Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams has expressed his concern after new figures showed supplies of Welsh Milk sold to the public sector have dropped by 22%.

At a meeting with NFU Cymru’s Milk Board, Wynfford James, Head of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Food, Fisheries and Market Development Department, explained that the total spent on food and drink by the public sector in 2007 was £66.49million.

Mr James went on to explain that his department has identified that there are substantial opportunities for producers of Welsh fruit and vegetables to supply to the public sector but that there had also been a significant drop in fresh Welsh milk supplies - down by 22% since 2005.

Commenting, Mark Williams said:
“Public procurement is an important tool in ensuring that local producers are supported, so it is a real concern to see a drop in the amount of Welsh milk being purchased by the public sector.

“This issue has been widely publicised, and all parts of the public sector should be aware of the importance of public procurement, so it is extremely disappointing that we have gone backwards.

“The Welsh Assembly Government must take heed of these figures, and ensure that Welsh milk is supported by the public sector.”

The original NFU press release is here, and is copied below.

News

17 - November - 2009NFU CYMRU DAIRY BOARD ALARMED BY PUBLIC PROCUREMENT FIGURES
Supplies of Welsh milk sold to the public sector have dropped by 22% according to latest research figures which Mansel Raymond, NFU Cymru’s Milk Board Chairman, has described as ‘alarming’.

Wynfford James, Head of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Food, Fisheries and Market Development Department, explained to NFU Cymru’s Milk Board members that the total spent on food and drink by the public sector in 2007 was £66.49million.
Welsh food and drink producers from a supply perspective could provide £30.3million of that total spend, but, at the moment Welsh producers are only able to access £14.7million of that public sector market place.

Mr James went on to explain that his department has identified that there are substantial opportunities for producers of Welsh fruit and vegetables to supply to the public sector but that there had also been a significant drop in fresh Welsh milk supplies - down by 22% since 2005. Public sector procurement policies and structures are to blame in the main with many such bodies now favouring a ‘consortium’ approach which makes it difficult for smaller, Welsh based suppliers to bid for and win these contracts.

In response to the tracking studies completed by the Welsh Assembly Government, Mansel Raymond said, “I am very alarmed by the drop in Welsh milk purchased by the public sector. The Welsh dairy industry is in decline and therefore it is the sector
that needs the most support at the moment. Our industry is going through real tough times and whilst public procurement contracts are a small part in a much bigger picture every little helps so it is incumbent on the Assembly Government and other public bodies to do much better.”

John Lougher, a milk producer from Glamorgan, suggested that the biggest drop in Welsh milk supplied was from Local Authorities. The position would be compounded further with the demise of Assembly Government funded School Milk Facilitators. These people were key in helping schools trawl through the administrative nightmare that comes hand in hand with the European free school milk scheme. Mr Lougher said, “Milk is a healthy drink and needs to be introduced at an early age. Sadly, I know there are a lot of schools in Glamorgan that are not getting any milk at the moment, let alone Welsh milk. These Facilitators are key in getting schools to
take up the scheme to the benefit of their pupils.”

Members of the NFU Cymru Milk Board assured Wynfford James that they would be keeping in regular contact with his department and a firm eye on future tracking studies to ensure that the position was much improved in terms of the amount of Welsh milk and indeed Welsh food and drink in general that was purchased by the public sector.

The cheap shot at the Welsh Assembly Government ignores the fact that local authorities are also major procurors of Welsh milk. What I would like to know is how much milk did Ceredigion County Council buy during the same period? Will he make a statement?

Ceredigion 14-19 Learning Partnership

Ceredigion Cabinet has started the ball rolling with secondary school reorganisation with a meeting of School Governors in Aberaeron on Monday night to discuss the 'Ceredigion 14-19 Learning Partnership Terms of Reference and Governance Arrangements'. A grand title enough to frighten the life out of any non legal mind but its all about how secondary schools, Coleg Ceredigion and vocational trainers can work with each other under a strategic banner managed by Ceredigion Education Department. Most is driven by WAG and the national education agenda.

In Ceredigion its the Lib Dems who are in charge of the education portfolio so I came prepared not to expect a lot. After the usual rambling introduction we were treated to a 20 minute disection by the Director of Education of this Cambrian News article. Maybe he had been reading a bit of George Monbiot and wanted to join in the fun but to start a night to discuss the future of secondary education listing, in his opinion, the inaccuracies and misinterpretations of the Cambrian News was brave and unusual. He insisted we were there to discuss options and no solutions were to be foisted on anybody. Several other officers provided additional descriptions of the proposals which I can summise that a strategic board will be created with guidance power on policy for school governing bodies but that the ultimate decision will be taken locally by governing bodies themselves. Then came the stick, if governing bodies failed to comply with the wishes of the strategic board then the big brother Welsh Assembly will step in. Ceredigion will become another Anglesey or Denbigh.

This is fundementally the wrong approach. Anglesey and Denbigh are totally different scenario's, one arises from poor political leadership and the other from poor officer leadership. You cannot build a sustainable consensus in favour of a policy if your over-riding argument is one of threat if the right decision isn't taken.

These are my other concerns:-

1. The strategic pyramid is unclear and it appears that there is a chain of pyramids in place. Is it the Cabinet's policy that over-rides all others? WAG policy? or the local policy of individual governing bodies?
2. There is no compulsion for governing bodies to submit to the will of the strategic board and the governing bodies hold all financial powers. Strategic direction will not work without finance so why create such a powerless structure unless finance will no longer be controlled by governing bodies. One to watch.
3. There is no direct line of accountability in the structures proposed.
4. There is no direction on how disputes, and there will be many, will be resolved.
5. There is no clear statement why the structures are being put in place and what they aim to achieve.

One of my favourite quotes is by Disraeli "...in a progressive country change is constant..." and even though Ceredigion has historically had some of the best secondary education results in Wales, we cannot stand still and systems, structures and education have to evolve. I am yet to be convinced that collating power in a single county based structure is the right way, I do think that successful and capable governing bodies play a constructive role in society. Speaking as a parent, governor and former pupil, these are developments we must watch.

Who does Alun Davies AM represent?

In May 2007 Alun Davies was elected as a regional Labour AM for Mid and West Wales. In July 2009 he was selected to stand in Blaenau Gwent at the 2011 Assembly elections. As far as I can make out he nowadays spends most of his time arguing to move transport funding from rural Mid and West Wales to the Heads of the Valleys. We can see why he is doing this but if he was a proper democrat he should resign his seat and let us have sombody who would represent Mid and West Wales.

Fair Funding for Wales - no progress by Hain

I feel a sense of anti-climax after the Westminster Labour Government announcement on the Barnett formula - nothing has really changed. Yesterday we were told to await a 'newsworthy' announcement, maybe even a promise of a full review and a floor on funding cuts. It didn't really materialise. Both the Holtham Commission and the House of Lords have said that the Barnett Formula should be replaced, both inquiries included respected economists. Wales will according to Holtham be underfunded by £300m per year and up to £8.5bn over the next decade yet we will not receive any additional revenues Wales is ‘disproportionately disadvantaged'. Now ‘disproportionately disadvantaged' sounds too subjective an interpretation open to substantial political influence. Not much progress - again.

Labour in (political) climate change denial

One of the characterisations of climate change is the unexpected appearance of extreme storms that appear, cause lasting damage, and disappear with the same intensity. Such is the political storm that started in Cardiff this morning with the release of Welsh Labour’s statement on future progress, or not, of the referendum on additional powers for the Assembly.

The paragraph that caused offence to Plaid Cymru was

“Our internal policy process has already begun: Welsh Labour’s Welsh Joint Policy Committee has met, prioritised the need to campaign for a General Election victory, and agreed to start considering the All Wales Convention report in detail as a prelude to stepping-up wider Party consultation with AMs and MPs, councillors, trade unionists and members as soon as the General Election is over.”

Hapless? Innocent? Misread? Misinterpreted? Deliberate? Calculated? Who knows? Probably the lot! However a lasting damage has been done, not to the Coalition but to Labour.

I have no doubt that Peter Hain made promises to his fellow Labour MP’s that no referendum would take place on his watch, that they the MP’s were primus inter pares, at no juncture would the fledgling Assembly usurp their influence, and latterly, that Sir Emyr was a ‘knight of the realm’ and could be trusted to return the right answer. But politics is an evolving game and the Assembly now has a far greater influence on our day to day lives than the London Parliament, as well, Sir Emyr is a physicist who looked at the facts and came up with the answer that did not suit Peter Hain’s convenience. Peter Hain designed an LCO system to suit his short term political needs, not a way to govern Wales - it actually makes the case for moving to Part 4.

Labour still hasn’t subscribed to political climate change here in Wales, they were thoroughly out manouvered (again!) by Plaid – the threat not to vote for the new First Minister focussed Labour minds – the Tories are in a political ascendancy and for once Kirsty Williams made a half decent speech. The Labour hegemony has gone and Labour are in denial. By the end of today we had witnessed one spectacular climbdown, a complete U turn. I am not ready to believe that Rhodri is too demob happy to care about Wales but the original Labour statement was a formidable faux pas. Vaughan Roderick has another theory that this was cunning Machiavellian plan by Rhodri to get back at Peter Hain.

Whatever the original motive, Labour seem more intent on defending the indefensible, it’s evidence of a Party of MP's too long in Government. Life is moving on and delivering a referendum for Wales would partially redeem their reputation. The ball is in Labour's court and we shall wait and see what dear Peter has to say tommorrow. I am not hopeful.

Ceredigion Highways During Winter

Our house received a posted leaflet from Ceredigion County Council this week about the highways in Winter and in particular the precautionary salting routes. Actually we received 3 copies, one for each individual on the Electoral Register. Its not uncommon for husband and wife to share a copy and my eldest son is away in University and not currently at home - we are not an unusual family, all residents do not require an individual copy. I know of one house which has received 4 copies.

If the Electoral Register is to be used then it is not beyond the wit of information technology to send one copy per household. One is more than enough, the rest lie unopened.