The document outlining how Wales will be run by Labour for the next five years was released yesterday. It's basically a reaffirmation of the bulk of Labour's manifesto promises in May. The manifesto then was fairly weak and unambitious, so as you might expect, the programme of government is fairly weak and unambitious too.
Carwyn Jones has said himself that he wants delivery to be at the heart of the new government. All very laudable. To a certain extent, previous Welsh Government's have focused on the micromanagement of various departments and the procedure/ administration of the Assembly itself at the expense of actual nitty-gritty stuff.
I don't think we should criticise Carwyn Jones - or his government - too much for turning their attention to the issues that matter on the ground to ordinary Welsh people : shorter NHS waiting lists, better educational performance, a better environment and falling unemployment. If Labour can drag Wales upwards in these areas, then it'll be hard to argue that they are not doing a good job.
It's a user friendly document. It makes it clear who is responsible for what and who the Welsh Government sees as a key partner in delivering their pledges. The trouble is Labour's programme of government doesn't outline any significant proposals other than more reviews and some very unambitious targets (an extra 500 PCSO's whoop-de-doo). Nor does it offer any indication of what would constitute success.
I'm critical of the "targets culture" as its been used in England in particular, as it often misses the point and the targets themselves have sometimes been arbitrary - like the requirements of the new English Baccalaureate at GCSE.
The programme of government does offer more than enough "indicators" which will be used to evaluate success. If unemployment, for example, fell by 1,000 over the next year it's clearly positive movement. But if unemployment remains high overall, then it's no real success at all. Sometimes you do need to set a target, but they don't have to be unrealistic or put unnecessary pressure on public services.
All of the opposition parties in the Assembly have taken aim - somewhat predictably. Andrew Davies (Con, South Wales Central) criticised the delivery of certain departments to date. Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid, Ynys Mon) has said its a missed opportunity "and collection of meaningless generalisations" while Kirsty Williams (Lib Dem, Brecon & Radnorshire) has said that "without targets....it's not worth the paper it's written on".
If Labour cannot deliver without the pressure of strict targets looming over them - unlike the last 13 years - and go on to trumpet modest improvements as "successes", then I don't think the opposition parties will be the only ones taking aim 12 months from now and asking "why so lazy?"
Carwyn Jones has said himself that he wants delivery to be at the heart of the new government. All very laudable. To a certain extent, previous Welsh Government's have focused on the micromanagement of various departments and the procedure/ administration of the Assembly itself at the expense of actual nitty-gritty stuff.
I don't think we should criticise Carwyn Jones - or his government - too much for turning their attention to the issues that matter on the ground to ordinary Welsh people : shorter NHS waiting lists, better educational performance, a better environment and falling unemployment. If Labour can drag Wales upwards in these areas, then it'll be hard to argue that they are not doing a good job.
It's a user friendly document. It makes it clear who is responsible for what and who the Welsh Government sees as a key partner in delivering their pledges. The trouble is Labour's programme of government doesn't outline any significant proposals other than more reviews and some very unambitious targets (an extra 500 PCSO's whoop-de-doo). Nor does it offer any indication of what would constitute success.
I'm critical of the "targets culture" as its been used in England in particular, as it often misses the point and the targets themselves have sometimes been arbitrary - like the requirements of the new English Baccalaureate at GCSE.
The programme of government does offer more than enough "indicators" which will be used to evaluate success. If unemployment, for example, fell by 1,000 over the next year it's clearly positive movement. But if unemployment remains high overall, then it's no real success at all. Sometimes you do need to set a target, but they don't have to be unrealistic or put unnecessary pressure on public services.
All of the opposition parties in the Assembly have taken aim - somewhat predictably. Andrew Davies (Con, South Wales Central) criticised the delivery of certain departments to date. Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid, Ynys Mon) has said its a missed opportunity "and collection of meaningless generalisations" while Kirsty Williams (Lib Dem, Brecon & Radnorshire) has said that "without targets....it's not worth the paper it's written on".
If Labour cannot deliver without the pressure of strict targets looming over them - unlike the last 13 years - and go on to trumpet modest improvements as "successes", then I don't think the opposition parties will be the only ones taking aim 12 months from now and asking "why so lazy?"
0 comments:
Post a Comment