FMQs : Circuit of Wales, Water & Tolls

The big story this afternoon is the emergence of a potential "cash for access" scandal. I stress "potential".

FMQs, 22^nd November 2016

Party Leaders

In the most lively exchange of the afternoon, Conservative leader, Andrew Davies AM (Con, South Wales Central), raised the Circuit of Wales, which he believes offers huge potential to regenerate a poor part of Wales. However, there's a slow drip of evidence that Heads of the Valleys Company (HOVC) aren't being the best partners to deliver the project, with Neil Kinnock's excessive lobbying of Blaenau Gwent Council being completely unacceptable.

Freedom of Information requests have shown civil servants expressed reservations over providing public funds to HOVC and the possibility of HOVC “paying themselves to advise themselves” through consultancy fees; why would ministers go against this advice? Andrew also produced invoices detailing several thousand pounds had been paid to Labour to sponsor events by a company owned by Michael Carrick (who established HOVC), suggesting it was used to access Welsh Government Ministers (abridged version).

The First Minister said the Welsh Government have to ensure they're prudent with public money, and that there's a fair share of risk between public and private sectors. Decisions go back to Edwina Hart, and despite the criticism, no extra money other than that publicised has been released as the Welsh Government weren't convinced the project is robust enough. Andrew can't say on one hand it's a good project then on other say it shouldn't have been financed at its earliest stages. The fact HOVC haven't got what they wanted also meant the payments didn't influence anything.

Plaid Cymru leader, Leanne Wood AM (Plaid, Rhonnda) asked for a statement on Severn Trent's proposed take over of Dee Valley Water. As the company works with 80 local suppliers there are fears over job security and local ties. It also raises questions over the future of Welsh natural resources, which should benefit the people and not be bought and sold – the competitive model for water services in England being rejected in Wales.

The First Minister believes the proposed take over will reduce consumer choice, increase prices and is unacceptable to the people of Wales. The Environment & Rural Affairs Secretary is looking at this and the Welsh Government are concerned. He's absolutely clear Wales should have water powers devolved, which has been partly accepted by the UK Government in the Wales Bill with powers coming from 2018. This will give everyone an opportunity to look at how water services can be developed.

UKIP leader, Neil Hamilton (UKIP, Mid & West Wales), welcomed the First Minister telling a committee last week that he was lobbying the UK Government to do something on high energy prices, which remain much higher than Europe.  One of the reasons for this is the Climate Change Act, which was putting a millstone around major industries like steel. Germany is increasing coal production and will not be phasing out coal power before 2040.

The First Minister said energy in Germany and Spain is cheaper despite them having a higher percentage of renewables and the issue is a lack of discounts for energy-intensive industry; coal is “yesterday's technology”. In Germany it's about reducing reliance on Russian gas imports. He also said it's ironic Neil keeps bringing up coal when he was part of the government that destroyed Welsh coal mining. Building new coal-fired power stations near anyone is also a sure fire way to make people angry.

Backbenchers

Huw Irranca-Davies AM (Lab, Ogmore ) asked whether the First Minister has considered the potential of a “Bridgend Hub” (see more at the bottom of this post) as part of the South Wales Metro project? Funding for successive phases of the Metro is precarious due to Brexit, but the area is the 6^th biggest manufacturing employment area in the UK and there's a need to push the Metro into the valleys and westwards.

As the constituency AM, Carwyn believes the proposed integrated transport hub at Bridgend railway station has huge potential, as it's currently impractical for buses to use Station Hill and Court Road on a regular basis. Caerphilly is a good example of integrated transport working, but whether something similar will be built in Bridgend depends partly on EU funds. However, he believes it's impractical to reopen a rail link to Porthcawl (see also: Can Porthcawl be reconnected to rail?) as it's been built over, so alternatives like a rapid bus need to be considered for all towns away from a heavy rail line.

Mark Reckless AM (UKIP, South Wales East) asked when the First Minister first called for the scrapping Severn Crossing tolls (which the Senedd recently backed)? The UK Government's own powers to levy tolls on the Severn crossings will expire when once a certain amount of money is raised. He asked whether the Welsh Government will use their own powers to ensure tolls aren't raised after the bridges pass into public ownership?

The First Minister said Labour's commitment to scrapping the tolls was in their 2016 manifesto and he committed to not raising tolls in the future. He would prefer Wales controlled the tolls ourselves, but different figures have been produced on maintenance costs, with a major issue being the condition of the first Severn Bridge. Also, the impact of toll reductions or abolition on traffic levels needs to be addressed carefully.

Best of the rest:

• There's a trade mission to Saudi Arabia – part of a wave of 6 missions over the next 6 months - and increasing exports and the number of exporting companies are important pillars of economic policy. It's right to say Wales trades with countries whose values we don't share, but it can show people in those nations how to run a government differently. The Welsh Government are guided by the UK Foreign Office on whether it's appropriate to have trade links or not – a separate question to Leanne Wood AM.
• On improving cancer survival rates, they continue to do so; there's a 70% one-year survival rate and 50% five-year survival rate. £4.5million will be provided over 3 years for cancer research, as well as £4.7million invested annually in recruiting patients for clinical trials. The government are working with GPs so people can access diagnostic services as quickly as possible, with commitment to a £200million Velindre cancer centre and diagnostic hub pilot in the Cwm Taf health board - to Rhianon Passmore AM (Lab, Islwyn).
• Proposals for the National Infrastructure Commission are out for consultation but, as proposed, it won't have lending functions (see also : Plaid's Infrastructure Commission). A development bank for business will be developed separately. It's not yet clear whether the UK and Wales will lose European Investment Bank access post-Brexit – to Adam Price AM (Plaid, Carms. E & Dinefwr).

Urgent Questions

There were three urgent questions tabled, but the second – on paediatric services at Withybush Hospital in Pembrokeshire – was subject to a similar question a few weeks ago, so I'll skip that one. I'm going to keep this as brief as possible.

Firstly, Bethan Jenkins AM (Plaid, South Wales West) asked for a statement on staffing levels at Port Talbot steelworks. Tata are in the process of recruiting agency staff; Bethan wanted to know if the recruitment is being done for safety reasons? Also, whether any of these new staff are former Tata employers as some are worried they're not being prioritised for re-employment.

Economy & Infrastructure Secretary, Ken Skates (Lab, Clwyd South), said Tata currently employs 3,600 staff at Port Talbot and are currently recruiting 49 experienced agency staff. All are trained and hold safety passports; unions and management agreed to this approach (it was implied they were former Tata workers but he didn't directly answer it).

There's “no suggestion” the recruitment drive is about health and safety/safe staffing levels. The steel sector is now in a position of relative strength compared to January. He also hopes to make announcement in the coming weeks on a reported $500million (£400million) investment at the steelworks.

Russell George AM (Con, Montgomery) asked for a statement on plans to streamline the Welsh Government's economic advisory boards. He described it as a significant change in how the government receives economic advice. Prof. Kevin Morgan described them as “cumbersome and under-resourced talking shops” which may have had a detrimental impact on Welsh economy; was it the Secretary's view the past model is ineffective?

The Economy Secretary replied that it was part of a wider piece of work on refreshing economic priorities. No announcements or decisions have been made, and he invited AMs to take part. He welcomed the contributions from businesses and the likes of Prof. Morgan, as there's a clear need to streamline and make sure the time and resources of experts and business leaders is used effectively; there are simply too many boards and panels (up to 40/50 of them) – Adam Price AM describing it as a “mini bonfire of the quangos” - and we need fewer, stronger versions of them.

Written Question of the Week ABANDONED

The latest written questions answered by Ministers (that have been published) date from 7th November – yes, 15 days ago - and even then they're incomplete.

There's an expectation that written questions should be answered in 7 or 8 days but there's no formal obligation on Ministers to do so.

If some of the best paid and best resourced public officials in the country can't be bothered, I shouldn't be bothered either, though these are the sort of “customer enquiry” response times you would expect from the worst companies out there.😡

Statement of Opinion of the Week

There are no new statements this week, so I'll fill the gap. I agree with what's been said recently about “fake news”, but I'm not entirely sure how it can be tackled in a way that won't be considered censorship.

You would assume that if the likes of Facebook can use algorithms to push this stuff under your noses in the first place, it shouldn't be difficult to design one to weed out fake or malicious stories. I've strayed close to the line on occasion (though you should be able to tell when I'm deliberately exaggerating – last week for instance), but it's not a problem restricted to online outlets. Take note of some of the stuff pumped out by our newspapers every day, or the Week In, Week Out Welsh language row.

It goes back to arguments over chasing clicks again. Clickbait, fake news and listicles that trigger emotions bring in the money that keeps privately-run media companies afloat. We live in an era where we have access to more information than ever before but we're becoming less informed and more gullible. That's genuinely scary.