Leighton Andrews

Facebook yn Gymraeg

The Daily Post picks up entertainingly on my evidence to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee yesterday.

However, while it is true that I was a reluctant recruit to Facebook, I have been learning Welsh for rather more than two years.

I started one-to-one tuition in Welsh in 2002, though I had occasional Welsh courses before that as a student in Bangor in the 1970s and when working in London in the early 1990s. I have completed the  Cwrs Wlpan  and the Cwrs Pellach. I have made speeches in Welsh and answered questions in Welsh in the Assembly Chamber and outside, most recently at the Welsh Language Board conference on regeneration in January. I also undertake recorded interviews in Welsh for radio and TV from time to time.

I am glad that in my Ministerial portfolio we are developing new ideas in how regeneration can help sustain the Welsh language in the community, and also that we have supported projects through the medium of Welsh in our innovative digital inclusion programme,http://www.communitiesatone.org/

100 days of Obama

The Wall St Journal reports Obama's popularity is ahead of both Clinton and Bush at the same time:

Overall, more than half of those surveyed say the president is off to a great or good start, and nearly six in 10 say he's accomplished a great deal or a fair amount.

Full results here.

Even Better:

For the Republican opposition, the poll had scant good news. By a wide margin, the public is more likely to blame congressional Republicans for any gridlock.

Treorchy Male Choir Helps the Heroes

A lot of people in the Rhondda are supporting the Help for Heroes campaign in a variety of ways.

The Treorchy Male Choir is launching a single now as well.

Off to Conference

Rhondda Leader column

We have announced more help for small businesses during the recession. The Assembly Government is allowing businesses across Wales to opt to limit business rate increases to only two per cent this year, as opposed to the five per cent increase originally planned.  The remaining three per cent will be payable over the next two years.

The changes will mean that up to around 100,000 businesses in Wales could benefit - with an overall saving in the region of £24million this year.

The necessary regulations should be in place by July. RCT Council will then write to all businesses in the area offering them the option to defer payments. Until then businesses will need to keep paying their business rates in the normal way.

These proposals are in addition to the Assembly Government’s previous decision to offer £20m in rate relief to small businesses in Wales and to temporarily increase rate relief on empty properties in 2009-10. These measures came into effect from the start of April…..

The Welsh Assembly Government has also announced an extra £8.93m for Further Education colleges and sixth forms in Wales.

The investment will create at least a further 2,500 places for students at a time when more youngsters and adults are looking for training places.

The figures include £3.54m for South East Wales.

A number of staff at Coleg Morgannwg have made representations to me about the tight funding situation and I am pleased to see that the Welsh Assembly Government has been listening to the sector.

Investing in learning for young people and adults is a top priority for Welsh Labour. When there is an economic upturn, those who have participated in the post-16 sector will be ready to deliver and meet the fresh demands of the Welsh economy…..

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LeightonAndrews.com does not automatically capture or store personal information, other than logging the user's IP Address or the location of your computer or network on the Internet, for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes. (If you are connected to the Internet you have an IP address, for example an IP address might read "154.198.99.9"). We also use IP addresses in the aggregate to track which pages people visit in order to improve the quality of the site.

Data collection and use
You may be asked for personal information if you complete one of the forms on this site. Please see below the information we ask for and what this information is used for.

In each case we will only use the information about you for the purpose for which you provide it. LeightonAndrews.com does not sell or disclose this information to outside organisations or individuals, nor transfer it outside the United Kingdom. You may remove or change your details at any time. You have right of access to your personal information held on our files by written request (address below).

Site registration and email service
When you register onto the site or subscribe to our emails, we ask you for contact information (such as your name and email address), geographic information (such as your postcode), and other details about you and your interests. This is used to help us provide you with information to match your interests. We may also use it to alert you of campaigns you may be interested in and events happening in your area.

Cookie
A cookie is a tiny text file that is stored on your computer. We may use cookies in order to tailor your experience on our site according to the preferences you have specified. However we will only access the information that we stored in your cookie file. We will not access any information stored in a cookie by other websites. Our cookies do not contain any personally identifiable information.

Links to other sites
Our site contains links to other sites and servers. LeightonAndrews.com is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.

How we protect your information
Our website has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control.

Choice/unsubscribe
We provide you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us easily and promptly. Our unsubscribe requests are processed weekly.

Contacting us about privacy
If you have any questions about our privacy policy, the information we have collected from you online, the practices of this site or your interaction with this website, please contact us.

We will continue to evaluate our efforts to protect your information and will update our privacy policy whenever necessary.

Links

Labour blogs

• Bloggers4Labour
• David Miliband MP
• Harry's Place
• Huw Lewis AM
• Labour Home
• LabourList
• Luke Akehurst
• Martin Eaglestone
• Normblog
• Paul Anderson
• Richard Corbett MEP
• Sadiq Khan MP
• Stuart Bruce
• The Progressive
• Tom Harris MP
• Tom Watson MP

Welsh blogs

• Aled Edwards
• Betsan Powys
• David Cornock
• Gareth Hughes
• Glyn Davies
• Matt Withers
• Peter Black AM
• Tom Bodden
• Tomos Livingstone
• Vaughan Roderick

UK blogs

• Broadcast
• Coffee House
• Comment Central
• Comment is Free
• David Aaronovitch
• Iain Dale
• Kevin Maguire
• New Statesman
• Nick Robinson
• Oliver Kamm
• Politics for People

World blogs

• Barack Obama
• Slate
• Daily Kos
• History News Network
• Open Democracy
• Politics Online
• The Nation
• Marc Cooper

City links

• Supporters' Club
• Unoffical Site
• CCFC Official Site
• News Now

Constituency advice surgeries

Leighton holds regular advice surgeries for constituents throughout the Rhondda.

For further information, or to book an appointment, please call the constituency office on 01443 682550.

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Get in touch

The quickest and easiest way to contact Leighton is to use this form:

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Constituency office

Leighton has a fully staffed constituency office in the Rhondda, which is open to the public on Monday to Friday, from 9am until 5pm.

There are several ways to contact Leighton's office for help or advice:

You can write to the following address:

Leighton Andrews AM
5 Cemetery Road
Porth
Rhondda CF39 0LG

Telephone: 01443 682550

Fax: 01443 686555

Email: leighton.andrews@wales.gov.uk

Ministerial office

Leighton is Deputy Minister for Regeneration in the Welsh Assembly Government.

To contact his Ministerial office, write to:

Leighton Andrews AM
Deputy Minister for Regeneration
Welsh Assembly Government
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff CF99 1NA

Telephone: 029 2089 8772

Fax: 029 2089 8129

Email: Correspondence.leighton.andrews@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Click here to visit the Welsh Assembly Goverment website.