Senedd Watch - August 2012

• Police are undertaking a review into an anti-poverty scheme in the Cynon Valley, following a referral from the Welsh Government. It's alleged that “financial irregularities” have been uncovered in the Cwmaman Communities First scheme.
• Education Minister, Leighton Andrews (Lab, Rhondda), joined his Northern Irish counterpart in writing to UK Education Secretary Michael Gove, to list objections about proposed changes to the GCSE exam system. Leighton Andrews has already ruled out following suit in Wales, but believed there needed to be “more communication between governments”.
• NHS Wales Chief Executive , David Sissling, unveiled his annual report, which indicated improvements in treating chronic conditions and unscheduled care – including a reduction in emergency admissions and a reduction in hospital-acquired infections.
• The First Minister said that by hosting the National Eisteddfod, the Welsh language will be “boosted in the Vale of Glamorgan”. Meanwhile, Leighton Andrews suggested that the Eisteddfod needed to “modernise” to attract more visitors, which could result in a boost in funding. The National Eisteddfod currently receives around £500,000 in funding from the Welsh Government annually.
• Hywel Dda NHS Board defended its reorganisation plans, which were unveiled earlier this month. The plans will see closures of smaller community hospitals across west Wales, with downgrades to accident and emergency services at Llanelli, while seeing a £40million investment in services across the board.
• The UK Prime Minister insisted that Westminster constituency boundary reforms are going to be delivered, despite serious disagreements within the UK ruling Coalition over constitutional reforms. Welsh Labour said that Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan's subsequent plans for changes to Assembly constituencies “are in disarray” as a result.
• Both Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives called for improvements in foreign language teaching. Leanne Wood (Plaid, South Wales Central) called for Wales to become a “tri-lingual nation”, while Angela Burns AM (Con, Carms. West & South Pembs.) called for foreign languages to be taught from age 7.
• The First Minister launched his search for prospective tenders for a new “Public Policy Institute” which is aimed at improving public policy development, and delivery, by the Welsh Government.
• The Western Mail claims that the First Minister and Communities Minister Carl Sargeant (Lab, Alyn & Deeside) were warned in letters that clauses in the Local Government Byelaws Bill - which amended British Ministers powers - would be illegal. The Bill was referred to the UK Supreme Court in July 2012.
• Health Minister Lesley Griffiths (Lab, Wrexham) launched a new initiative aimed at reducing the number of deaths caused by heart disease. The Cardiac Delivery Plan aims to prevent illness through education, detecting diseases sooner, providing faster treatments and improved on-going care.
• Welsh Conservative leader Andrew Davies (Con, South Wales Central) proposed that the National Assembly be renamed a “Welsh Parliament” as “a statement about the institution which now legislates our great nation.” Nick Ramsey AM (Con, Monmouth) disagreed, saying that the wider party hadn't been consulted on the issue.
• Tributes have been paid to Welsh language campaigner, Eileen Beasley, who died aged 91. She refused to pay local council rates in the 1950s unless they were provided in Welsh, leading the way to wider, organised, Welsh language campaigns through the 1960s.
• First Group won the bid to provide rail services on the West Coast Mainline from 2016 – which includes services between north Wales and London – beating current operator Virgin Trains. On August 28^th, Labour called for the deal to be discussed by the UK Parliament, however UK Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, said that there would be “no delay” to signing the new deal.
• Unemployment in Wales fell by 7,000 in the three months to June 2012, though most of the fall in unemployment, and new jobs created across the UK, were in the London region.
• The numbers of pupils achieving A* and A grade A-levels fell in Wales, England and Northern Ireland. However, the gap between Wales and the rest of the UK narrowed slightly, as there were sharper falls in England. The A*-E pass rate rose from 97.2% to 97.6%. More than 8,200 students were awarded the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma - a rise of 20% on 2011.
• The First Minister sent good wishes to Wales' Muslim community, who were celebrating the festival of Eid, saying that,“Wales is a nation with a strong record of embracing different cultures and communities where we live in peace together.”
• Farmers expressed concerns that poor summer weather has damaged crops and grazing ground, which has had a knock-on impact on livestock sales, pushing up food production costs. Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs, Alun Davies (Lab, Blaenau Gwent), said that he would “play my part in slightly lifting the burden.”
• Figures obtained by BBC Wales show an increase in the number of medical negligence compensation payments over the last three years. £38million was paid out in the year to April 2012. The Welsh Government said that “no win, no fee” claims, and longer life expectancies, led to higher value negligence claims.
• The gap between Wales and England & Northern Ireland at the highest graded GCSEs (A*-A) closed from 3.7% to 3.2% in 2012 compared to 2011. However, the percentage of pupils attaining 5 A*-C grades fell from 66.5% to 65.4% - widening the gap. Leighton Andrews accused UK Education Minister Michael Gove of “politicising” GCSEs in England, believing exam boards had been pressured to mark more harshly to curb “grade inflation”.
• Plaid Cymru leader, Leanne Wood, called for control over Welsh resources to be devolved, and that “profits should go into Welsh coffers, not the Treasury's”. Plaid repeated calls for accurate GDP figures for Wales to be produced, expressed their support for same-sex marriage, as well as calling for better regulation of apprenticeships and the voting age to be lowered to 16.
• The Welsh Conservatives urged Welsh Government ministers to “do more to get people off the sofa”, after figures from the 2010 Welsh Health Survey show that up to 38% of adult women, and 32% of adult men, do no exercise whatsoever. In contrast, a similar percentage of adults - and up to 52% of 4 to 15 year olds - do 5+ exercise activities a week. A leading obesity expert warned that Welsh obesity levels were “just behind the US” and are “getting worse”.
• The numbers of prescription items dispensed in Wales rose by 2.6million for 2011-12 to 72.7million. However, the overall cost of prescriptions fell by £7.1million over the same period. Shadow Health Minister, Darren Millar AM (Con, Clwyd West) said that, " when Labour are imposing the deepest cuts in the history of the Welsh NHS....free prescriptions....is increasingly unsustainable.”
• The numbers of workless households in Wales rose by 2% to 21.6% of households compared to 2011. The Welsh Government pointed to “volatile” figures that varied over time.

Projects announced in August include : The start of a £200m+ resignalling programme in the Cardiff area - which will improve capacity and station facilities, Head of the Valleys Development Company has raised £150million towards the development of a race track and motorsports park in Blaenau Gwent and initial/outline plans for an £800million waste-to-energy plant on Deeside.