News

‘Stark’ choices for Pembrokeshire

Published

9 years ago

November 26, 2014

Cllr Jamie Adams: Simpson says he is ‘a capable boy with bad judgement’

A MEDIA meeting on Friday Oct 3) allowed media to quiz Council Leader Jamie Adams about the council’s public consultation of its services and budget planning. In conjunction with the council’s Finance Director, Jon Haswell, Cllr Adams delivered a ‘stark’ assessment of the choices facing local government in Pembrokeshire. Jamie Adams told the press that the effect of cuts on the grant to local government will mean around 25% of funding will disappear over the next four years.

With Pembrokeshire’s annual budget running currently at about £207m a year, that figure will shrink to £150m by 2017/18. According to Jon Haswell: “It is difficult to see how previously protected services such as education can retain their ‘protected’ status.’ ‘Protected’ elements of the budget amount to – arguably – £170m, while other services have been cut.” Jamie Adams continued by remarking that he regarded the current grants system as inefficient and bureaucratic, particularly with regard to specific grants given for defined projects.

Calling on government ministers to ease the bureaucratic burden, Cllr Adams suggested that the time had come for specific grants to be included in the total grant settlement to prevent duplication of work and waste of scarce cash. Cllr Adams stated that he was keen to strip away excess costs from the delivery of services and pointed out that he was keen to communicate that buildings were separate entities from the services provided within them. “Year on year I am pleased to have been able to announce that we are one of the few authorities without resorting to compulsory redundancies. I can no longer give that guarantee now. We are at a tipping point in local government finances.

We will consider all options, and will be looking to flexible opportunities to reduce some staff hours. We have to look at that in relation to service provision. “But I have to praise staff for the willingness and skills in delivering services outside their comfort zone, for example at Fishguard Library, where several services are delivered and more hours are now devoted to individual services than was previously the case.” He added: “Costs associated with buildings are impacting upon the level of service, in that they drain the budget.

We are looking at a rationalisation of buildings which hopefully will not mean a rationalisation of services but that the same number of services will be delivered from fewer building. “We are at a fundamental juncture in local government where we need to significantly reduce the costs of the services we provide. Taking the Youth Service as an example, 40%-50% of the cost of providing that service is tied up in the specific building. Those buildings provide nothing. People provide the service. The family centre, youth centre, older persons’ centre, adult education centre become one and instead of being used, perhaps, sixteen hours a week, they are used sixteen hours a day.

What you have in communities is an attitude that the building is the service. But that is not the case. Luncheon clubs, for example, meet in specific buildings but why not elsewhere. We need to focus our expenditure on services and people, not on maintaining buildings. It is a difficult argument to get across. I hope more communities will step forward and follow the example of Fishguard at Theatr Gwaun, and become involved in delivering services and taking on funding of them their selves. I want to be clear, however, that we will not allow communities to take on providing services which they cannot afford to maintain.”

He went on to explain: “Look at Narberth Pool: there is great enthusiasm to retain Narberth Pool within that community. I hope and think they will get there and show they have the financial capacity to maintain the Pool as a going concern.” “There will be inevitably be services which are delivered at low cost now, which will attract a higher cost in the future. Some things that are provided free, will be charged for in order to retain services. There are different ways to deliver services; there is a huge capacity in the third sector, but there is also a chance of losing uniformity across the whole county.”

Speaking about secondary education, Cllr Adams told the meeting: “There are eight secondary schools in Pembrokeshire with 1,000 empty places. In five years time there will be 2,000 empty places. Maintaining schools that are not at or near capacity is a wasted resource. “21st Century Schools is an opportunity to rebuild the school estate and provide more efficient buildings to reduce the costs of running school buildings.” In relation to the pressure being applied to Welsh councils to merge, Jamie Adams said: “We are prepared to look at the advantages for Pembrokeshire of some sort of formal arrangement with another Council.

We are to discuss this in Council on October 16. But I have not seen any evidence that larger councils to perform well financially, in fact the largest council in Wales is not doing very well at all. “Partnership working is already happening. We are already working with Carmarthenshire on elements of the education service. But there is the important matter of democratic oversight;

there is a risk of the creation of a democratic deficit if councils become too large and services too remote. “In terms of the financial carrot offered by the Minister, I have seen no detail and I suspect that councils might find it a very mouldy carrot indeed, especially if they have to find the money to fund mergers themselves out of existing budgets. “That said, I do see an opportunity for councils to become commissioners of services, rather than providing all those services themselves.

Legal services are provided via a consortium-type arrangement. “I have no problem commissioning a service from another council or another provider but I think it is important that people and councillors can hold me to democratic account about the decisions I make. “It would be quite comfortable, I think, being the head of a large authority. You can avoid direct engagement, in a way that I seem unable to at the moment!”

Farming

Animal health and welfare workshops help family farm shape future business

Published

12 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Tom Sinclair

AN eagerness to learn new skills and knowledge is helping mother and son Dianna and Iestyn Spary to continually improve their livestock farming enterprise and build a financially sustainable business fit for the future.

Technical expertise and good business sense are not qualities the Sparys lack since embarking on an impressive number of Farming Connect workshops, covering a range of animal health and welfare topics.

“It’s been an amazing opportunity, we have learned so much that we can apply within the day to day running of our farm and herd, and we can draw on that knowledge as we look at developing new enterprises and diversifications,’’ says Dianna.

She is the fifth generation of her family to farm at Goytre Farm at New Church West, Chepstow, Iestyn the sixth.

Together they farm 110 hectares, running a Hereford-cross beef suckler herd and also rearing beef cattle purchased as baby calves, including more recently British Blues, taking these through to slaughter.

Although they have been immersed in agriculture all their lives, they recognise that it is an industry that is constantly changing as new research and ideas are rolled out and applied.

This is where the Farming Connect workshops have been so incredibly valuable, says Dianna.

“You are never too old to learn, things are changing all the time. If we hadn’t got involved in attending the workshops, we would never have known about some of those new ways of doing things.’’

From learning how to maximise suckler cow productivity and protecting youngstock health to understanding diseases such as Johne’s and bovine TB, the animal health and welfare training workshops have been “enormously valuable’’, she adds.

The pair have tapped into Farming Connect accredited training courses covering areas such as calf management, health and housing, body condition scoring and safe use of veterinary medicines.

“You name it we have done it,’’ says Dianna.

They were announced the winners of the 2023 Farming Connect Animal Health and Welfare Award at the Lantra Cymru Awards in January.

The knowledge gained through Farming Connect workshops and training has helped inform changes in the business.

“We now monitor cattle weights more closely and have introduced different ways of feeding,’’ Dianna explains.

“We have also been revamping all the cattle sheds and have a couple of new ones that will be going up.

“We’ve also invested in calf jackets and if there are any drops in weights, we are more responsive with feed intakes, little things like that.’’

Iestyn has also benefited from a number of sheep-related topics offered through the animal health workshops.

Through the Farming Connect Advisory Service, they have received specialist veterinary advice on their Herd Health Plan with a focus on incoming stock and biosecurity. They have also had guidance on soil health through the soil clinic.

The Sparys largely use traditional farming methods at Goytre Farm where they have several hay meadows.

All feed is produced on-farm. “By doing everything in-house we know exactly what we are feeding and that’s important to us,’’ says Dianna.

That distinctiveness, which sets them apart from some of the more mainstream farming systems, has given them the confidence to consider establishing a diversification into meat box sales, what Dianna describes as a ‘farm to fork’ approach.

Working with a local butcher who has an abattoir licence, they hope to do everything on-site, from slaughter through to hanging the carcass for 28 days, and then selling cuts direct to the consumer.

“We have also spoken to a chef who is going to produce some recipe cards for us to include in the boxes along with a bit of history of where the meat has come from,’’ says Dianna.

Another future project could be converting stone barns in the farmyard to holiday accommodation.

To help focus their minds on their plans, the Sparys will get guidance at a Farming Connect diversification surgery; they have also signed up for a ‘planning a diversification’ training course and will attend a ‘Dos and Don’ts of Diversification’ event in the coming weeks.

For Iestyn, another form of diversification, into agricultural contracting, has provided a secondary income stream.

His customer base is largely farms with smaller acreages with crops that require harvesting or spraying.

Farming Connect has helped with this process too as Iestyn has gained his Level 2 Award in the Safe Use of Pesticides (PA1) and Safe Application of Pesticides Using Vehicle mounted Boom Sprayer Equipment (PA2).

He also offers field maintenance and fencing and works on a neighbouring farm during the lambing season.

This is where Farming Connect has again helped; through the animal health workshops, he has covered modules advising on the prevention of lambing losses and lameness, improving lamb performance post-weaning and parasite controls.

Dianna says the opportunities available through Farming Connect have really helped to drive the family farming business forward.

“We have a good relationship with our local Farming Connect development officer Lisa Powell, she has been brilliant in giving us advice on which courses and workshops are right for us and signing us up for those,’’ she says.

All your achievements, training and knowledge transfer activities are saved within your personal, online Storfa Sgiliau account, the unique, online professional development tool, available for you to view and download at any time from your BOSS (Business Online Support Service) account.

Education

Lib Dem leader meets student union after scrapping of teacher training

Published

16 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Tom Sinclair

Last week, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds visited Aberystwyth University to meet students following the announcement that the University will be scrapping their Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) program.

The announcement comes after the publication of an Estyn inspection report last year, which found that the institution had “been too slow” when it came to prioritising student support.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have now called for the University to produce and implement an action plan that will enable the reintroduction of this course at the earliest opportunity, as well as for the Uni to rectify any similar shortcomings in other training programs.

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:

“Aberystwyth university has long been seen as a cornerstone of education here in Wales, and its role in shaping the future of Welsh-medium education is pivotal.

However, the decision by the Education Workforce Council to withdraw accreditation for their teacher training program now puts this at risk.

The report published by Estyn rightfully identified several flaws in the Uni’s approach to supporting student teachers, along with requiring the University to make significant improvement.

The decision of the EWC suggest that these improvements have not been made.

We are now calling on the University to get their act together, fix the shortcomings in this program and begin plans to reintroduce the course as soon as possible.

Commenting, a spokesperson for the Welsh Young Liberals said: “There was an overwhelming lack of support, especially for Disabled Students, which has been consistent since 2020.

Previous lecturers were always late, and assignments were marked late and inconsistently.

As a joint honours student my timetable is very erratic, and this has an adverse effect on my wellbeing.

This does not however, mean that the course should be cut, Aberystwyth university should be looking to improve the course and help deliver the next generation of teachers.”

Commenting, the Welsh Liberal Democrat PPC for Ceredigion Mark Williams said: “The reputation of Aberystwyth University as a well-respected centre of education is rightfully a source of pride for many residents here in Ceredigion.

This is why it is so dis-heartening to hear that the Uni have failed to take the recommendations in the 2023 Estyn report seriously, leading them into the embarrassing position of losing their accreditation which risks delivering a severe blow to the future of Welsh-medium education.

The lack of foresight from the Uni in this regard is deeply worrying and I hope that, for the sake of both the students and the wider community, they take all the steps needed to restart the course at the earliest opportunity.”