Press Releases - National Assembly Members for Wales - South Wales Central Region
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Assembly Members for South Wales Central |
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| Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales | Conservative | ||
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Leanne Wood AM |
Owen J. Thomas AM |
David Melding AM |
Jonathan Morgan AM |
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Tel:
029 2089 8256 |
Ffôn/Tel: 029 2089 8295 Ffacs/Fax: 029 2089 8296 | no contact details | no contact details |
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LATEST NEWS HIGHLIGHTED:
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01/09/05 - Labour criticised as Cardiff waiting lists rise again
Rhodri Morgan and Alun Pugh were embroiled in further controversy yesterday following revelations that the pair approached members of the Arts Council to appoint a Chair and Vice Chair in a manner contravening the Public Appointment Process.
Furthermore, Shadow Culture Minister, Owen John Thomas has been informed that papers relating to the current Chair, which had been sent to Alun Pugh for approval under the Freedom of Information Act, now no longer exist.
Commenting, Owen John Thomas said,
OWEN JOHN THOMAS AM
In his report to the Culture Committee on 19 January 2006 he told the committee of his intent to shortly advertise for the position of a new Chair.
He said", 'What I have done in the case of this particular chair is precisely the same as what happened the last time; it(sic) is being reappointed. The advertisements will appear shortly in the press. It is an open, public advertisement. You will have a part to play in that appointment, Owen John. I think that you would be hard pressed to find any departure from the principles of good governance and the public appointments procedure. We are doing this to the letter.'
Mr Thomas added,
"I have recently been informed that the Minister and First Minister met with three Arts Council members and asked them to nominate a Council member for the position of Vice Chair. They refused, having no wish to be part of the Government's plans to circumvent the appropriate appointments process.
Furthermore, the Minister and First Minister made an informal offer to a member of the Arts Council to become Vice Chair. The individual was told that an acceptance of their proposal would be the first step to becoming temporary Chair. He declined the offer, stating that it would undermine his credibility amongst other Council members.
Both approaches to the Council members and to the individual breached the Code of Practice for Public Appointments which stipulates that nominations such posts should be made in writing.
In January, I wrote to the First Minister under the Freedom of Information Act seeking copies of all correspondence between his office and Alun Pugh's office regarding the Chair of the Arts Council. The Government are expected to respond to such requests within 20 working days.
After this period had elapsed, I contacted the the Culture Department (Friday 6 March) and was informed that all the correspondence had been compiled and passed, that morning, to Alun Pugh for his approval.
Today, I received a letter from the Culture Directorate advising me that the correspondence previously discussed and 'passed to Mr Pugh', now apparently had never existed."
Closing Mr Thomas said, "This situation is totally unacceptable, and I will be raising the matter with the Information Commissioner."
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The Labour UK Government is being bankrolled by Community, the union currently taking legal action against the Government for failing to protect the pension entitlements of former ASW workers, claims Plaid AM, Owen John Thomas.
Commenting the Cardiff AM said, "When Plaid AM, Adam Price proposed that that the union should take the Government to the European Court for failing to implement Article 8 of the European Directive on Pensions, Community rebuffed the suggestion; not wishing to rock the boat with an election looming and Labour in Wales seeking to secure a second term in office. Between July 2004 and December 2005, Community donated over £406,000 to help keep the Labour party in office. The union were clearly more concerned with funding New Labour's future than with securing the pension entitlements of their members."
Mr Thomas added, "In the wake of a tireless campaign for justice by the former ASW workers, Community relented to the pressure from their members and announced, on 8 September 2004, their intention to take court action against the Labour Government. However, in little more than a year after this declaration, the union paid a further £365,000 into Labour funds.
Ironically, as ASW workers' union payments were being used to fund the Government, their own appeal for justice was being ignored. To date, only 13 of the 900 former ASW workers have been compensated partially by Labour's Financial Assistance Scheme."
Closing Mr Thomas said, "Under New Labour, a rich individual can buy a lordship for a million pounds whilst £400,000 is clearly not enough to win justice for 900 steel workers."
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Plaid AM, Owen John Thomas has urged the Public Administration Select Committee to hold an inquiry into the reasons for the Government's rejection of the findings and recommendations of the parliamentary Ombudsman which highlighted Government maladministration over guidance on company pensions.
Commenting the Cardiff AM said, "The report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman is highly critical of the Department of Work and Pensions' failure to provide accurate, complete, consistent and unambiguous guidelines on company pensions. It is a damning indictment of the Government who are now rejecting outright their own Ombudsman's report, a report which highlights the failure of the Government to provide adequate protection for pension schemes, failure to speed up the lengthy wind up process (5 years and more) and failure to use clear and precise language so as not to mislead members."
Owen John Thomas, a long standing supporter of the campaign to restore the pension entitlements of former ASW workers, said "the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report comes just a fortnight after the European Commission stated that the legislation put in place by successive UK Governments was insufficient. The case for the former ASW workers to receive their full pension entitlements in now overwhelming and the Government should respond accordingly and without delay."
Closing, Mr Thomas said, "It is a most unusual, if not unprecedented, for the Government to reject the findings and recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. "I am therefore calling upon the Assembly Government to put pressure on the Public Administration Select Committee to hold an inquiry into the Government's rejection of the Ombudsman's findings."
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Plaid Cymru AM Owen John Thomas has called again on the Minister for Local Government, Sue Essex to accept the decision taken by the overwhelming majority of Cardiff County Councillors (48 - 27) to replace the existing cabinet system of Local Government with a Local Management Board.
Commenting the local AM said,
"A Local Management Board is seen as fairer system of local government comprising of members from all political parties.
Co-operation and consensus politics for the benefit of the electors underpin the principle behind this form of local government.
Unfortunately the democratic decision of councillors in Cardiff to adopt this system has been thwarted by vague guidelines from the Minister for Local Government which conveniently allow an indefinite number in opposition (albeit a minority) to veto such a motion. In Cardiff's case, this unspecified number represents the Labour group who were recently ousted from power. Perhaps the Minister, Sue Essex would like to change the Assembly's voting procedure so that the vote of a minority Government of 29 is deemed to be greater than an opposition vote of 31".
He added, "I call on the Minister in the interest of democracy to look again at this matter and allow Cardiff to introduce this new and fairer system of local government".
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Local Plaid Cymru AM, Owen John Thomas has welcomed the decision by the Countryside Council for Wales to designate Llanishen Reservoir as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Commenting the Plaid AM said, "This decision has been a long-time coming and is excellent news for the city of Cardiff and those who have campaigned tirelessly to save this site from development".
He added, "I wrote to the Countryside Council for Wales in March 2003 pointing out that there were six different species of rare wax cap fungi at the Llanishen site and sought guidance on their preservation and qualification as protected species. On 19 March the Chief Executive of the CCW wrote to confirm that the site had been added to the internal lists of candidate SSSI. Due to the limited data available on the wax cap fungi at the time, I was informed that the process to determine SSSI status would be a long one.
The exceptional importance of this site is that it forms part of an unbroken chain of green land that stretches from Caerffili mountain through the reservoir site at Llanishen and Roath's many parklands".
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Plaid Cymru's Shadow Culture Minister Owen John Thomas has tabled a question to the Culture Minister Alun Pugh regarding the likely reduction in sporting activities in primary and secondary schools in the wake of the Teachers Workload Agreement.
Recent media coverage highlighted the concerns of some head teachers that sporting activities could be affected by the Teachers Workload Agreement. Under the Agreement which was introduced at the beginning of this term, teachers are entitled to 10% non contact time to prepare lessons and mark homework.
Commenting Mr Thomas said, "The Teachers Workload Agreement is clearly under funded and consequently does not allow for the employment of additional qualified teachers. The knock on effect is a reduction in the time teachers can give to areas of work such as sporting activities".
He added, "The situation is exacerbated by the Government's Sports policy 'Climbing Higher' which demands that primary and secondary schools provide a weekly minimum of physical activity of five hours and three hours respectively. It has never been clear how schools would fit these over-ambitious demands into their already full timetables.
It seems once again that Labour Ministers are making policy on the hoof with aspirations that are simply unworkable".
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Plaid Cymru's Shadow Culture Minister Owen John Thomas has called on the Culture Minister Alun Pugh to commission a survey to assess the demand for Wales to field its own team at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Commenting the Plaid AM said, "In a recent survey carried out in Scotland, 78% of those questioned were in favour a Scottish team competing in London's 2012 Olympic Games. Cleary they recognised that a national team would provide greater opportunities for Scottish athletes to experience the thrill and competitiveness of these ancient Games".
He added, "Wales has a long-history of producing great athletes, Lyn Davies, Colin Jackson and Tanni Grey Thompson to name but a few. For a small nation we have always punched above our weight at international competitions; achieving greater success per head of population than any other country in the UK at Manchester's 2002 Commonwealth Games. Based on population Wales finished fourth in the medal table ahead of Australia and England. If we could field our own team at the Olympics, it would provide be big incentive for young athletes in Wales and would surely increase interest and participation in sports generally".
Mr Thomas concluded, "There is no barrier preventing Wales from competing as a nation. The Olympic Charter states, 'Although most National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are from nations, the IOC also recognises independent territories, commonwealths, protectorates and geographical areas'. I hope that the people of Wales will agree that this move would have huge benefits for athletics not only in Wales but across the UK. It would also provide the athletes with a much needed boost on and off the track".
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Notes to the Editor:
Population per gold medals won (qualifying criteria - top ten countries winning 5 gold medals)
Population per medals won (qualifying criteria - top ten countries winning 10 medals)
Country No. of gold medals Population (millions) per medal won
Country No. of medals Population (millions) per medal won
Wales 9.25* 0.314 Wales 21.5* 0.135 Hong Kong 11 0.622 Australia 99 0.198 Czech Republic 16 0.644 Czech Republic 31 0.332 New Zealand 6 0.667 Belarus 17 0.344 Australia 26 0.762 Austria 23 0.352 Belarus 10 0.999 Denmark 15 0.360 Austria 8 1.013 Hong Kong 18 0.360 Denmark 5 1.080 New Zealand 10 0.400 Slovakia 5 1.100 Sweden 21 0.426 Sweden 8 1.118 Canada 70 0.437
* medals shared with other home countries are counted as 0.5 or 0.25 depending on event e.g. relays/ team events
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Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Culture Minister, Owen John Thomas has written to Tessa Jowell, Minister for Culture, Media and Sport seeking additional funding for S4C to help meet the challenges of the Government digital switchover planned for 2009.
Under proposals by the Westminster Government, the analogue signal will be switched off across the UK between 2008 and 2012 (Wales 2009). According to the Government this will offer a wider choice of viewing to the public and enable them to take advantage of the opportunities presented by digital technology.
Commenting the Plaid AM said, “In a recent press article, it was revealed that Tessa Jowell was considering handing some of the license fee currently only paid to the BBC to Channel 4 to assist in the transition to digital. It is believed that both Channel 4 and S4C’s advertising revenue will be hit by the increased competition that will come about under the digital switchover. I have pointed out to the Culture Minister that S4C offer a unique service as they are the only channel that broadcast mainly through the medium of Welsh.”
He added, “I welcome the fact that the Minister recognises the importance of maintaining a strong public broadcasting service throughout the UK and hope that S4C receive equitable support in this matter.”
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Plaid Cymru AM, Owen John Thomas has urged the Assembly's Planning Inspectorate to 'call in' an application submitted by the Welsh Development Agency and the Scarborough Development Group for a mixed housing and business development on a green-field site at Mwyndy Cross.
The joint application includes proposals to build new offices, 215 new houses and parking provision for two and a half thousand cars.
The case for calling in this application is compelling said the Plaid AM.
Situated on a brown-field site only two miles away from Mwyndy Cross is the former Coedely Colliery. The land was reclaimed by the WDA as part of a regeneration programme and received Government and European Union funding totalling approximately £10 million. The former colliery site was cleansed of industrial waste, landscaped, new access roads were built, street lights provided, along with other necessary infrastructure to attract development. The site has remained empty for the past four years.
Mr Thomas added, "It seems ironic that
the agency (WDA) tasked with preparing the Coedely site to attract
investment and jobs into the valleys are now overlooking it in favour of a
green-field site outside the valleys. The application is a departure from
the Government's planning policy regarding green-field sites.
Furthermore, the Mwyndy Cross site is located outside the local authority's
settlement area and is not listed in Rhondda Cynon Taf's Urban Development
Plan. The proposal also ignores the possibility of placing the
development on a brown-field site that benefited from substantial Government
and EU funding. The scale of this joint venture would also compound
the already congested roads which serve as very busy links to the M4"
The local AM also expressed his concern at the unusually long delay between
the initial vote by councillors in May 2005 to overwhelmingly reject the
Mwyndy application (26 to 12) and the ratification meeting scheduled for
November. Mr Thomas has also raised questions over the revisions
to the application which he felt to be so voluminous that they may
constitute a new proposal.
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Plaid Cymru AM, Owen John Thomas, has questioned the Labour Government's ability to handle the Health Service in Wales.
The South Wales Central AM was commenting on the latest waiting list figures released by the Assembly Government showing a huge rise in Cardiff's outpatient waiting list. He said:
"Over the past 3 months the number on the waiting list in Cardiff has rocketed by 1,500 and now stands at 27,067 - an increase of 6%.
Despite a substantial growth in health spending, the waiting lists continue to rise. It's unacceptable that 1 person in 11 in the capital is waiting for treatment. One can only conclude the Labour Assembly Government lacks both the will and the vision to effectively manage the affairs of Wales."
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Notes to Editors
Figures taken from National Assembly for Wales website: http://www.statswales.wales.gov.uk/TableViewer/tableView.aspx
Outpatients Waiting
Apr 2005: 25,581
May 2005: 26,562
Jun 2005: 26,966
July 2005: 27,067
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