Politics

Manifesto Destiny

Published

4 years ago

April 6, 2021

BY the time you read this article, each of the main parties contesting the Welsh Parliamentary election will have published their manifestos.

Virtually nobody will read them.

Instead, the public will be drip-fed press releases by the respective parties. Then the parties will take it in turns to take pot-shots at each other’s proposals.

That predictable back-and-forth means voters will hardly be one jot wiser when they cast their ballots than they were before the manifestos’ publication.

As Labour has been in power in Wales for twenty-two years, there is only its track record to assess.

Predictably, and as with every government anywhere, Labour’s record on actual delivery is mixed.

In the last few months of the last Welsh Parliamentary session, Labour appeared to realise pointing to banning two circuses from Wales was not much of a legislative record.

In response, it took to promising to deliver in the future what it promised in the past.

Labour’s totemic Wellbeing of Future Generations Act is a monumental piece of legislation. It cuts across government policy, but it’s become more of a Christmas tree the Welsh Government has placed ill-matched baubles on since its inception.

The Act’s aims are praiseworthy. Its execution – in practice – is a shambolic mess of box-ticking compliance and aspirational thought in place of solid leadership and rigorous decision-making.

Wales’ Future Generations Commissioner (no, nor me) recently outlined the problems following the Act’s aims.
Sophie Howe said: “Welsh Government must stop introducing new policy, legislation, guidance and reviews that overlook the Act and create new layers of complexity and governance.”

Sophie Howe continued: “There is a lack of clarity over how they interact with each other and a tendency to bypass existing boards that have already been set up.

“For example, to deliver on a wellbeing objective to ‘give every child the best start in life’ a public body would need alignment between Public Services Boards (PSBs), Regional Partnership Boards, Area Planning Boards, Community Safety Partnerships, Regional Skills Partnerships and City/Regional Growth deals.

“The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill potentially adds to an already complex and crowded partnership environment by creating statutory regional Corporate Joint Committees and proposes they will also be subject to the wellbeing duties of the Act.”

It all sounds a bit like having a working group of a sub-committee to advise a committee to inform a management team to consider the conclusions before setting up a working group to report to another committee where a decision might be taken or sent back to another sub-committee to view.

What it is not is democratic decision-making intended to address problems swiftly or with any sense of urgency.

The Act means well, but its aims are lost in a morass of bureaucracy.

The first policy priorities for any incoming Welsh Government must be to stabilise the economy and health service before moving on to longer-term objectives.

Its first administrative priorities must be to unpick bureaucracy-for-the-sake-of-it. Decision-making must be streamlined, so manifesto commitments materialise as policies to be voted on during a Senedd term and not as White Papers produced at its end.

The last Labour Government had lamentable form for doing that.

Promises made in 2016 emerged only as White Papers for consultation just before the end of the Senedd term.

In the ten years since the Welsh Government gained the power to pass Acts of the Assembly as primary legislation, it passed 49 Acts. Its most significant pieces of legislation were passed between 2013 and 2015.

Even accepting the pandemic’s disruption to everyday politics, the legislative return from the last five years of government is sparse.

After 2016, Welsh Government ministers frequently popped up to trumpet one initiative or another. It is no wonder that the Welsh Cabinet apparently consists of the First Minister and a dozen or so deputy Ministers for Announcements.

That is not to doubt the previous Welsh Government’s commitment to put flesh on the bones of their predecessors’ legislation and set about making it work.

Lee Waters, for example, has tirelessly worked on the Active Travel Act. But the Act was passed in 2013, three years before he joined the Welsh Parliament and almost six years before he became a Minister in the Labour Government.

Only now are ‘active travel zones’, which encourage commuters to ditch their cars, coming into play across Wales.

You can tell.

There are consultations taking place about them. Eight years after the primary legislation passed.

As for Labour’s last manifesto:

It didn’t deliver the M4 relief road it promised.
It barely scratched the surface of resolving Wales’ long-term transport infrastructure problems.
It didn’t reach its own child poverty targets.
It hasn’t improved health service.
It failed to introduce either an Agriculture Bill or Clean Air Act.

The education system’s results are improving. The Minister in charge was a Liberal Democrat.

You can’t say that’s all down to a failure of political willpower. It’s an oversupply of hot air: over-promising and underdelivering. For the first three years of the last Senedd term, the Welsh Government spent time firefighting problems hanging over from the previous Welsh Government. Itself.

Less talking about doing and more doing would be a fresh start – indeed, a novel approach – for the next Welsh Government.

It’s a chance for the Senedd to dispel the notion it’s just a talking shop for politicians’ pet peeves and crack on with delivering for Wales.

Community

Pembroke Dock day centre to close despite stay of execution

Published

14 hours ago

October 7, 2024

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

Pembroke Dock’s Anchorage day centre will close in less than a month, after a final decision was backed by senior councillors.

Last month, a successful ‘call-in’ by Independent Group leader Cllr Huw Murphy at an extraordinary meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s social care overview and scrutiny committee, was supported by fellow group members.

The county council is currently changing care provision for older adults and those with learning disabilities, with identified budget saving included in the 2024-’25 budget, and closure of Pembroke Dock’s Anchorage day care centre was agreed by senior councillors at the September 9 meeting of the council’s Cabinet, despite an earlier petition and impassioned pleas to keep it open.

At an earlier full council meeting a plea by local councillors Tony Wilcox and Brian Hall to give the Anchorage a breathing space ahead of a potential service move to an as-yet-unbuilt facility at Pembroke’s South Quay development, expected to open in 2026.

The November 1 Anchorage closure was backed along with wider changes in the service; establishing social enterprise models in Crymych’s Bro Preseli and Narberth’s Lee Davies Centre with effect from April 1 of next year.

The anchorage building is council owned while the other two are not.

After that Cabinet decision, the later ‘call-in’ asked for the decision to be referred back to Cabinet for further discussion on the social enterprise model, with a potential piloting in Bro Preseli, along with what bridging options could be considered for the Anchorage while awaiting the South Quay development.

A report at Thursday’s special Cabinet meeting of October 3, presented by Cllr Tessa Hodgson, Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding, said, in relation to the first part of the ‘call-in’: “The Day Centre provision in Crymych and Narberth will remain open under current SLAs until March 31, 2025. A social enterprise will be supported to engage with the local community, service users, their families, and other stakeholders to develop and pilot alternative models of delivery.”

In relation to the Anchorage, it said: “The South Quay development will open in 2026, providing a co-located and integrated health and care setting, with further day opportunities and supported employment options for local residents.

“The Anchorage is open four days a week, providing services from the base 3.5 days with people attending alternative settings on a Friday. With regards to bridging alterations, the Cabinet report on September 9 set out a number of alternatives to attendance at the Anchorage.

“All of these alternatives constitute bridging options for those that wish to attend South Quay from 2026 onwards.”

Those alternatives include day opportunities at the Meadow Park Centre, Community-based activities in the Pembroke Dock Community Hall, and community-based activities at the VC Gallery, Pembroke Dock, the report added.

Members heard the anchorage day centre needed a new ceiling, roof, fire doors and electrics, which would cost some £500,000 to completely refurbish, or £295,000 to bring it up to standard to remain open for two years before the South Quay development was ready, with fears that rate could be even higher.

The council will be exiting service level agreements with the Bro Preseli Day Centre in Crymych and the Lee Davies Day Centre in Narberth and as one of many alternatives, will be working in partnership to promote social enterprise alternatives. Work is now underway to establish a suitable pilot which will see further strengthening of links between PCC and the Third Sector.

News

Welsh Government urged to adopt successful family court model

Published

5 days ago

October 2, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE WELSH GOVERNMENT have been urged to adopt a successful family court model to help cut down on the number of children taken into care.

Speaking to the Siambr on Tuesday, Mid and West Wales MS Jane Dodds called for the adoption of the Family Drug and Alcohol Court model, which is a therapeutic problem-solving court model that focuses on allowing children to remain with their families where possible while also stopping parental drug misuse.

The Welsh Government had previously run a pilot version of the court model last year in Cardiff, which saw a remarkable decline in substance misuse and a rise in the number of children staying in parental care.

Drug misuse amongst parents declined from 83% to 54%, with 29% of parents achieving sobriety.

Meanwhile, the number of children in parental care more than doubled from 14% to 32%, resulting in more families staying together.

Despite successful results, the scheme was ended last year due to budgeting constraints.

Jane Dodds MS has criticised the Welsh Government for scrapping the scheme, and has asked them to reverse their decision and provide future long-term funding for the scheme, stating that “this court model could prove to be transformative to family justice here in Wales”

I was disappointed to see that, despite successful results from the pilot model in Cardiff, this potentially life-changing model was scrapped due to a withdrawal of funding by the Welsh Labour Government.

We have a golden opportunity here to change our system for the better, ensuring that children are able to stay together with their families, giving them a brighter future in the long-term.”

News

Plans unveiled for flood wall to reduce tidal flood risk in Cardigan

Published

5 days ago

October 2, 2024

Tom Sinclair

PLANS for a proposed flood wall that would reduce tidal flood risk to around 90 homes and businesses in Cardigan has been unveiled as the Cardigan Tidal Flood Scheme reaches its latest milestone.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has outlined the indicative placement for the wall, which would reduce tidal flood risk to the Strand area of the town. The wall would be located between the Gloster Row car park and the river, following the existing river wall as closely as possible until it reaches the bathroom centre. From there, the alignment would extend slightly into the river channel before returning to the existing river boundary under Cardigan Castle, finishing at Cardigan Bridge.

NRW is exploring the possibility of creating a new public area behind the flood wall close to Cardigan Bridge and in front of Cardigan Castle, offering both reduced flood risk and community enhancements.

Chris Pratt, Project Manager for NRW, acknowledged the concerns residents have around increasing flood risk in the area:

“We understand how anxious people living in the Strand area are to have a tidal flood defence in place that will reduce risk to their homes. We are working on plans to build a defence that will offer a high level of flood protection and takes into account predicted rising sea levels.

“We are also looking at ways to provide community benefits where possible, so this scheme doesn’t just reduce the risk of flooding to homes and businesses, but also supports the local area in other ways.”

NRW is aiming to keep the slipway adjacent to Gloster Row car park, which would likely include flood gates at the top. Additionally, discussions with the local Sea Scouts and other businesses are ongoing to ensure access to the river is maintained.

The proposed wall’s alignment follows consultation with the community, held in late 2022. Feedback from these sessions has been carefully considered alongside existing constraints, including the historic impact, technical challenges, and environmental factors.

With the outline design complete, NRW is now entering the detailed design phase, which will determine final construction details, materials, and the flood wall’s ability to withstand future climate change. This phase will also explore further community and environmental improvements to accompany the core flood protection work. The continued funding for the scheme has been provided by the Welsh Government.

NRW will continue to engage with the community as the project moves forward, ensuring the scheme offers vital flood defences while also enhancing Cardigan for future generations.

With 1 in 7 homes and businesses in Wales at risk of flooding, and with the climate emergency bringing more extreme weather, it is more important than ever that people know and understand their flood risk.

Ahead of the winter period, NRW is encouraging people who live in areas at risk of flooding, but who have not experienced flooding before, to take three simple steps to help protect their home, possessions and family from the devastating effect of flooding in the future:

check your flood risk by postcode online on NRW’s website
sign up for free flood warnings from rivers and the sea in Welsh or English
be prepared when flooding is forecast
A digital newsletter for residents and other people who are interested in the scheme has been launched. People can sign up for the newsletter by using this link: https://bit.ly/CTFSNewsletter .