Leighton Andrews AM

Ystradyfodwg Art Society in the Pierhead

I was pleased to welcome the Ystradyfodwg Art Society to the Assembly's Pierhead Building where they are holding an exhibition of their very diverse and interesting work over the next four weeks in the Upper Gallery. If you are visiting the Assembly, do pop along and see it!

Rhondda Labour Centenary

100 years ago tomorrow the Rhondda Labour Party was accepted into membership of the British Labour Party. We held a celebration event with Llafur, the Society for the Study of Welsh Labour History, on Saturday.

Here you can see displayed some of the banners we have had made which will be on display in our Tonypandy office.

National Eisteddfod - Cymdeithas Cledwyn speech

 
A few weeks ago I posted a short blog about my visit to the Eisteddfod, referring specifically to my speech at the Cymdeithas Cledwyn fringe meeting. During this speech I set out the steps we are taking in Government to develop the language, building on the work started by the One Wales Government and Labour’s manifesto. I also discussed the approach I feel Welsh Labour should take towards Welsh language issues.

The text is now online and can be viewed in Welsh or in English.

 

National Eisteddfod 2011

 
I enjoyed my visit to the Eisteddfod, where I spoke at the Cymdeithas Cledwyn fringe meeting, outlining the steps we have taken as a Government to swiftly implement the Welsh Language measure and advertise the post of Welsh Language Commissioner. I also articulated the need to maintain a consensus on the language and set out Labour's agenda for this issue. The meeting was chaired by Eleri Edwards, a long-time Labour campaigner for devolution and the language, who is pictured with me in the photo above.

I also spoke at the Trade and Industry reception, re-launched Sgiliaith for Coleg Llandrillo, and celebrated further steps that have been taken by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. It was good to see some of my fellow ‘Yes for Wales’ campaigners like Gwenllian Lansdown, whom I hadn't seen since the referendum victory. Congratulations also to Susan Elan Jones MP, who launched a new campaign about online banking in Welsh.

 

Media coverage:

Strategy to boost use of welsh in everyday life

Angen cadw’r consensws, meddai’r Gweinidog Iaith

National Eisteddfod: Future events must prove their worth to get funding, says minister

Eisteddfod must show positive results to get more Government cash Minister says

 

Show your support for local artists and designers

Yesterday I was contacted by textile artist Melissa Warren who informed me about an upcoming contemporary craft fair at the Rhondda Heritage Park. It will feature talented artists, designers and makers from across the Rhondda and will take place on Sunday 7th August from 10:30am until 3pm.

As the facebook page states:

“The aim of this event is to showcase Rhondda makers and more. Talent abounds!
Entry is free, the show will be in the marquee, several makers will be demonstrating as well as selling and all will be willing to discuss their work.”

 

More information about the featured artists / designers and their work can also be found on the event’s facebook page.

This is another great example of how the Rhondda Heritage Park can be used by local people to show off the talent that we have in the Rhondda, and I hope that lots of you find time to go and take a look!

 

Visit to the ‘e-teens’ library in Treorchy

 

Last week, I visited the ‘e-teens’ library in Treorchy, a fantastic space that has been designed by local young people for learning, fun and socialising.

This dedicated area within the library was opened in July 2009 and was achieved with the involvement of the Treorchy School Council, funding from CyMAL and the support of Rhondda Cynon Taff. As well as providing a modern, innovative library space for young people, it is also a focal point for the local community and provides opportunities for training, classes and wider community activities.

Teenage use of Treorchy library has significantly increased since the opening of the e-teens area and it is great to see young people enjoying this facility. I really enjoyed meeting local teenagers at the library and hearing how it has improved their perception and involvement in their local library.

More photos from the visit can be found here.

 

Carwyn opens The Factory

Portrait with the artist

Rhodri Morgan's portrait by the artist David Griffiths was unveiled in the Senedd tonight.

 

It is Westminster’s higher education policies that are wrong, not ours

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised at the backlash following my announcement that Welsh –domiciled students would not have to find the additional money for higher fees charged in our higher education institutions in Wales – or those in England. I have worked in the BBC in London after all. Metropolitan provincialism defines the culture of most of the national newspapers and indeed, the television newsrooms. Senior figures in the BBC have told me that our announcement in Cardiff suddenly brought home to the BBC network newsroom what devolution actually meant.

And yet – the ferocity of response from some of the newspapers has been revealing. The use of the word ‘apartheid’ in both the Mail and Telegraph to define Welsh policies on the day after our announcement suggested either collusion or a collective narrowness of vision. Perhaps both.

I want to see English students continuing to come to Wales to study. However, I am responsible for the student support arrangements for students domiciled in Wales. The Scottish government is responsible for students domiciled in Scotland. Northern Ireland Ministers in their Assembly for students domiciled in Northern Ireland. And – wait for it – Vince Cable and David Willetts in the UK coalition government for students domiciled in England. They are welcome to follow our example in Wales. We are making a policy choice. So are they.

So the Daily Mail, which tells us it ‘has reservations about the plan to treble the cap on fees’, should direct its fire at the UK Coalition Government, rather than wittering on about Wales ‘exempting its nationals from Whitehall’s increases in tuition fees’. The UK Coalition government has chosen to levy in England the highest tuition fees in the world outside the United States. Facing a cost of between £70-110 million to support Welsh students attending English universities, the One Wales Labour-Plaid Cymru coalition government has found a route which protects our students and at the same time gives our own higher education institutions a fighting chance of holding their own against universities east of the border.

Let there be no mistake – I would prefer not to have to raise fees in Welsh institutions. I would prefer to leave them at about the current level. But I am not prepared, and nor are my Cabinet colleagues, to see a one-way transfer from the Welsh Assembly Government budget into the English higher education system, which is what would happen if we did not raise fees in Wales but supported Welsh students who wanted to study in England to do so. Fees are rising in England, not as was originally intended, to provide additional income for higher education institutions in England, but instead to plug the 80% cut in the university teaching grant in England.

Of course, the suggestion that under EU laws, EU students could benefit, was guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of the Daily Mail. But then, in most EU countries, tuition fees are far, far lower than in the UK. So why they would be racing to study here is an interesting question. This is precisely why I doubt the long-term sustainability of the UK coalition government’s policy. It is the policies made in England which are out of kilter with those of most of Europe. In any case, Welsh and English students studying in EU countries will enjoy the same fee regimes as the inhabitants of those countries. Remember all the stories in the summer about students from the UK, unable to get places at UK institutions, studying in Maastricht or elsewhere with lower fees than at home?

Welsh graduates will, of course, pay a contribution and will be repaying the loans that they require to pay the fees that will be levied on them. But they will be at a more affordable rate, not at the full-cost or near full-cost level others will face.

By the way, though you wouldn’t think it, we also pay taxes in Wales. We do not live off English subsidies. Taxes collected in Wales exceed significantly the budget of the National Assembly, as the independent commission on the financing of Wales chaired by Gerry Holtham found.

This is a policy choice we are making. We are continuing to provide more generous support for university teaching than in England. We will not be saying that there are academic subjects not worthy of subsidy. We do not believe that the market will protect culture, history and language and we will intervene to protect these. We will plan the development of our higher education system in Wales. If that puts us in the European mainstream, while England swims in a different direction, so be it.

 

 

 

Dychwelyd o'r Eisteddfod

Dwi wedi cymryd rhan yn llawer o ddigwyddiadau yn y Steddfod - lansio ymgyrch darllen gyda Nigel Owens (llun o Nigel), lansio pecyn dysgwyr amgueddfa cenedlaethol Blaenafon gyda ei awdur Cennard Davies (Cynhongwr yn Nhreorci), lansio Canolfan Hywel Teifi gyda'i fab Huw Edwards, hyrwyddo llenyddiaeth Cymreig yn Saesneg gyda Daniel Williams a Dai Smith a dwi wedi anghofio rhai eraill. Dwi wedi cwrdd a Susan Robeson hefyd - pan o'n i dirpwy gweinidog dros adfywio, cefnogais i syniad i ddod a hi i'r Steddfod.

Y prynhawn'ma, dwi wedi siarad i'r cyfarfod Cymdeithas yr Iaith. Mae Vaughan Roderick wedi sylw am hynny.