11/03/15
QUESTIONS TO MINISTER FOR PUBLIC SERVICES
SPOKESPERSONS QUESTIONS
14:28
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Presiding Officer. Will the Minister provide the Chamber with an update on his plans for local government reorganisation to be submitted before the summer, and on whether he intends to include any further options on voluntary mergers?

14:28
Leighton Andrews
Llywydd, as we’ve said, we expect to produce a map looking at future options before the summer recess, and I have nothing to add to that.

14:28
Janet Finch-Saunders
Minister, in terms of any proposed voluntary mergers, I note that, in your White Paper and Bill, there are talks of transition committee costs for authorities of £77,000. Clearly, this comes on the back of you rejecting the Conway and Denbighshire bid for voluntary merger. Incidentally, under a freedom of information request, I have a letter here from the director for local government, saying that you were extremely impressed by the approach they had taken, and that both you and he were committed to helping and supporting them through the process. Also, I believe that, as late as the Friday before the rejection, I’m told that Wrexham and Flintshire were advised that the voluntary merger between Conway and Denbighshire was to go ahead and that they had, in fact, missed a trick. Why are there so many inconsistencies in your approach?

14:29
Leighton Andrews
I don’t know who they were advised by in that context. I had very robust discussions with the leader of Wrexham, that’s certainly true. Also, I had a number of conversations with the leader of Flintshire. In respect of the proposed merger of Denbighshire and Conwy, as I’ve said in this Chamber before, when you are faced with a situation where one of the chief executives indicates that it would be hard to complete the necessary business case according to the timescale, you aren’t left with very many options.

14:29
Janet Finch-Saunders
Thank you, Minister. Also, there was evidence taken in committee that any recommendations made on the draft Bill could be withdrawn at the next election, and clearly, there’s been rhetoric here from yourself, and the First Minister, that it’s the opposition parties that haven’t come up with that plan. Clearly, the buck stops with you to make that plan, but what discussions have you had with other parties, and is this really a cohesive way to take forward any form of local government reorganisation?

14:30
Leighton Andrews
I’m very happy to have a meeting with the Member to discuss her preferred map if she would like to do so, and I’m sure the First Minister would be very happy to have a meeting with the leader of the opposition to do the same. I think the issue for us is that, clearly, it would be preferable if we could achieve a consensus on the map going forward. I think that makes sense around the Chamber in practice. Whether people are willing to commit to that, of course, in advance of 2016, we’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.

WELSH CONSERVATIVES DEBATE: ECONOMY

16:16
Janet Finch-Saunders
The United Kingdom now has the fastest-growing economy in the G7. More than 25,000 new businesses have been created and more people are now in work than at any point in British history. Inflation has reached a record low and, thanks to the policies of the Conservative-led coalition, unemployment in Aberconway has nearly halved since 2010.

Despite these fantastic headlines, Wales’s economy is lagging behind the rest of the UK. We are still living in one of the poorest regions in Europe, known as the sick man of Europe. What a testimony and indictment of 15 years of Welsh Labour in power. Under scrutiny, all they can do is point the finger of blame to London, but in reality—

You have the levers to improve economic development here in Wales, and, as my colleague, Byron Davies, has said, they are not being used. Do you even know where they are?
Since the Conservative-led coalition Government took office, business births across the UK have increased by 46 per cent. England has seen an increase of 47 per cent; Scotland, 46 per cent. Yet, in Wales, the figure is 9 per cent lower than the average 35 per cent. Over the same time frame, though, the number of active business enterprises in Wales has decreased and the sad part is that a third of all business deaths in the UK between 2009 and 2013 were actually here in Wales. Dreadful.

Rural Wales is heavily dependent on our tourism and agriculture, but they’re struggling. Tourism, despite the fact it contributes £6.9 billion each year, despite the fact that agriculture contributes an estimated £211 million to our economy, despite all that, in recent years, farming, as a livelihood has become more and more unsustainable in Wales, and there is a blatant disregard for the true value of our farmers and the guardians of our countryside. The year 2013 saw the lowest recorded figure for people employed by agricultural holdings: just 52,964.
The latest forecast for First Milk prices in April has caused further concern for the dairy industry. Last month, the president of the Farmers’ Union of Wales said that the combined impact of reduced farm-gate prices, the Welsh Government’s 15 per cent pillar transfer, a reduced CAP budget, and a single payment exchange rate of 0.773 of the euro has had a catastrophic impact on farm incomes. NFU Cymru’s president said the opportunities for Welsh farming are clear. In the longer term, the global and domestic demand for food is set to increase, but for Welsh farmers and the economy of Wales to benefit, we need the Welsh Government to establish the right conditions through its policy and regulatory framework.
 
Rural businesses across Wales are automatically at a competitive disadvantage to others, due to transportation, connectivity, infrastructure and funding formula problems. Sustrans Cymru recently reported that more than 1 million people in Wales are slipping into transport poverty. What do you do? You go and cut the funding to our local authorities for our community transport. A Bus Users Cymru senior officer has said the impact of cuts:
‘will particularly fall on rural areas and will reduce access to employment for people who do not have their own transport or who are looking for work.’
Wales, still, of course, has the lowest coverage of broadband, despite £58 million, is it, from the UK Government?

Enough criticism for now—there is more. What would the Welsh Conservatives do? Well, for a start, we would actually use the levers, and we actually have sensible policies: ‘A Vision for the Welsh High Street’, ‘A Vision for Welsh Investment’ and ‘Securing Wales’ Future’. According to the Welsh retail consortium, there is broad consensus that the business rates system is woefully out of date. Today, I was really proud to chair a meeting of the cross-party group on small shops, and we focused on this with Professor Dylan Jones-Evans and Chris Sutton, chair of the business rates panel, and several of the reps of the retail industry. They actually said there’s support out there for the Welsh Conservatives’ scheme of supporting the small business rate relief scheme by abolishing business rates for small businesses, but in particular the taper up to the £15,000—because there were so many. There was one there today: £12,750 he had to pay in business rates in one, but he didn’t have to in another. We have the levers, we have the policies and I think it’s time that this Welsh Labour Government worked better with the UK Government and better with the opposition benches
 
When we have good policies, adapt them.