Assembly Diary

Last week the First Minister published the Assembly’s legislative programme for next year, building on the One Wales programme for government. One Wales set out our vision of a fair and just Wales, where everyone can live free from poverty and discrimination. We made a commitment to develop Wales-specific solutions to tackle child poverty. Our next step is to bring forward an Assembly Measure to provide greater support to children and families experiencing poverty. It will include a number of initiatives such as a duty on public agencies to demonstrate their contribution to ending child poverty and to provide free childcare places and other early years’ services in specific areas.

As regards older people, One Wales made clear our commitment to help people to be independent and improve the care provided to vulnerable people by public, private and voluntary organisations. A key element of this agenda is to establish a fairer and more consistent approach to charging for non-residential social care. We therefore intend to develop proposals for an Assembly Measure to use our powers to establish a level playing field for charges for specified services levied by local authorities.

We are working hard to get local authorities and other public bodies to work together. Our aim is to have effective and joined-up community planning to deliver high quality citizen-centred local services for Wales. Early in the autumn we expect to introduce a Measure for local government which will link well-being and community planning with service improvement.
A stock of good-quality affordable homes is the foundation of thriving local communities and healthy family life in all parts of Wales. We want to develop a Measure within this legislative programme to give local authorities the power to apply to the Welsh Ministers to suspend the Right to Buy in areas of housing pressure for a limited period of time.

The government is also looking at a draft legislative competence order in relation to the provision of bus and coach services championed by my Merthyr Labour colleague Huw Lewis AM.

Not everything we do in the Assembly depends on legislation of course. I am pleased we have been able to put more money into the Heads of the Valleys programme, well above the original budget of £10million a year.

Happy Birthday, Ron

Congratulations to former Labour Councillor Ron Bundock, still carrying the regimental banner at Royal British Legion events, who is 90.

Ron has been active in a whole series of issues, including crime prevention.

Goodbye, Emmo, and thank you

At last night's Rhondda Labour GC we paid tribute to Emrys 'Emmo' Thomas, who died recently after an illness which had lasted for some months. Emmo's funeral halted the traffic in Treorchy just over a week ago, following a moving service at his home, conducted by the Rev. Cyril Llewellyn, with Allan Rogers, former MP for the Rhondda, giving the tribute.

Emmo was one of the first people I met in the Rhondda when I was seeking selection for the Assembly seat. He was a great supporter not only of me and Chris Bryant MP, but of every Labour candidate at all levels. The top pictue shows him working on my 2003 campaign. As a letter in the Rhondda Leader said, he was behind every Labour Councillor who ever won election in Treorchy. He never wanted to stand himself, even though the affection for him across Treorchy, Ynyswen and Cwmparc was such that he would have stormed it. He was genuinely respected across the political spectrum, and I recall Plaid Cymru Treorchy Councillor Cennard Davies picking him out for a special mention in welcoming him back to the fray after the local elections this year.

Emmo had been a Labour Party member for 51 years, and last year we held a ceremony in the Stag in Treorchy to give him his 50-year membership award. His uncle Iorrie Thomas was the MP for Rhondda West from 1950 until 1966. He was an active campaigner on community issues as well as in elections. The bottom picture shows Emmo on one of the London demonstrations we held in support of the Burberry workers where his son Leighton worked. He was a strong supporter of the GMB.

Emmo was also a great sports fan. He despaired a little of his beloved Glamorgan in recent years but he was devoted to cricket and football. He enjoyed Cardiff City's play-off final in 2003, and he would watch football on Sky Sports round the clock. I joined him sometimes at Ton Pentre home games where he would organise the teas at half-time.

Emmo was a good man. He will be missed by all, and our thoughts remain with his wife Pat and the family.

Well said, Carwyn

I am delighted that my good friend Carwyn Jones is following up issues I have recently raised in speeches such as the credit crunch and the importance of co-operatives to Welsh Labour.

Corporate Greed

I thought I should put up the full text of my remarks which seemed to get an unexpected amount of coverage in the Western Mail and Daily Post last week. What I said was:

Only Labour is fighting seriously in every area of Wales. But because of the breadth of our challenge, we need policies that work for all areas of Wales.

We must avoid the siren voices who want us to follow false choices. It is not a choice between following London’s lead or being different in Wales for the sake of it. It is not a choice between winning aspirational voters or getting the core vote out. It is not a choice between social justice issues and quality of life issues. It is not a choice between winning in Welsh-speaking Wales and winning in Tory-Labour marginals like here in Clwyd West.

Rather it is the challenge of setting out a broad appeal which chimes with the realities voters recognise. In tough times, people know there have to be tough choices. They understand how corporate greed has brought about the credit crunch. They believe in limits to corporate power to prevent irresponsible lending to those who cannot afford it. They know that unregulated markets undermine security for all of us.

As The Times’s former Economics Editor Anatole Kaletsky warned on Tuesday, we cannot go on living

in a world of naive market fundamentalism, where politicians and media
commentators assume that the market is always right, despite the copious
evidence that markets are often very wrong indeed.

It is precisely because I spent half my working life running businesses in the private sector that I am more sceptical about markets than many in New Labour ever were. Markets have their place – but market naivety is an irrational approach for socialists. The herd instinct of the market can distort economic policy judgements and investment decisions.

You only have to look at the construction sector to see how wrong markets can be. Irresponsible lending fuelled high property prices, a short-term sense of personal wealth, and irrational investment in get-rich-quick buy-to-let schemes.

The result was dramatic falls in the share prices of construction companies, many having crippling debts, and properties which in some places builders cannot sell at vastly reduced prices.

It will be public sector regeneration, construction and development schemes that will carry the construction sector through in Wales in the immediate future.

People are not stupid. They can see how corporate greed has got us into this mess. We need to restore some passion to our appeal. People see how decisions taken in other parts of the world affect their quality of life and the pound in their pocket. They want us to be on their side and take action against the short-term rip-off merchants. This is an issue that unites core Labour voters and those who want us to persuade them to vote Labour. It unites those who call themselves working class and those who call themselves middle class. In Labour language, it’s about fairness, about responsibility, and about social solidarity.

Welsh Labour’s response to the May elections has to be political as well as organisational.

We know we have to restore a campaigning edge to Welsh Labour. But we need to restore a political edge as well. We announced an Economy Commission in February to develop new ideas for the future. It is understandable that election pressures have meant it has been on hold since February. But that Commission now needs to be convened and to start taking evidence.

Trade unionists had a key part to play in developing Labour policies. Some people think that trades unions are only interested in bread-and-butter wage packet issues. The reality is that trades unions are actively concerned about quality of life issues and social justice issues. Trade unionists are actively involved in leading debates on childcare, environmental issues, and public health. Trade unionists are actively involved in their communities and understand the concerns people have about the quality of their local schools and local services and their concerns about the safety of their communities.

Renewal in office is a challenge for any government, but it can be done. We’ve achieved a lot, but crowing about our achievements won’t win us future elections. People want to hear about what we are going to do, not what we’ve done. The country has changed so much in eleven years. Welsh Labour needs new policies, new ideas and new thinking. We need to focus on the future.

Labour can only win the next election by being on the side of hard working and aspiring individuals and families.

Tower Colliery

Until recently a number of my constituents were working at Tower - now some have moved to Aberpergwm.

Tower's achievement is a shining example of the cooperative ethos of popular power and workers' control - and I was delighted to attend the reception held by the First Minister last night to commemorate the workers' achievement.

Communities First

I outlined the plans for the future of the Communities First programme today in the Assembly.

Included in the plans is a new Outcomes Fund to boost community regeneration in some of the most deprived areas of Wales, worth at least £25 million over the next three years.

The Outcomes Fund is the centrepiece of our plans for the next phase of Communities First. Communities First partnerships will be able to bid for the funding but will need to demonstrate that their proposals will help deliver key Communities First priorities. They will also need to show that they are working in partnership with local public bodies and have engaged with local people in planning local services.

Plans for the next phase of Communities First will give the programme a sharper focus on stimulating practical improvements to tackle poverty, contribute to wider regeneration initiatives and improving employability. They follow an extensive consultation process earlier in the year. The programme will continue to be called Communities First with some new initiatives called Communities First plus. It will also contain new measures to intervene in partnerships that are struggling to make an impact locally.

A higher proportion of the overall budget will be spent in Communities First areas.

Back to work

Following yesterday's Panorama there has been more coverage of the action needed to help people back into work.

Last week, I explained how I was launching the Jobmatch programme funded by the Heads of the Valleys programme and DWP. ITV Wales ran a good report on it, which you can see here.

Job Match Launch

Later this morning I will be launching the Heads of the Valleys Job Match scheme. Some initial coverage is here from the Western Mail, and here from the BBC.

The scheme is based n a successfu pilot in Blaenau Gwent where 1,300 people were helped back to work iand 70% were still in work a year later.

It is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government jointly with the Department of Work and Pensions and with Working Links.

Heads of the Valleys

I spoke at the launch of the Bevan Foundation's new report on the Heads of the Valleys yesterday - and was pleased to be able to report that we have spent more on the Heads of the Valleys programme than the £10 million per annum originally planned. In fact it has been £17 million last year and £15 million the year before.

I am also pleased that we were able to announce a further £1.3 million investment in social enterprise last week.

Election Reflections (2)

Looking around the Welsh elections for some positives, obviously the Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend results were outstanding (including Ogmore). It is disappointing that BBC Wales has failed to give appropriate coverage to the recovery in Bridgend. Labour also made 5 gains on Anglesey: before we had no councillors. And I thought given the extraordinary difficulties across Wales, the overall performance in Swansea was good.

Election reflections (1)

It was of course a bad day for Labour all over Wales and England.

Here in RCT, we were delighted to hold on to the Council. In 1999, of course, RCT was lost to Plaid Cymru. In the Rhondda in 1999, Plaid won 19 of the 25 council seats, leaving Labour with only 6.

This time, in what was the worst set of results for Labour across Wales and England arguably in 40 years, we held on to RCT with a clear majority. In the Rhondda, we came back with 17 out of the 25 council seats to Plaid's 8.

The 5 seats we lost to Plaid included one in Treorchy, where they held the other two seats already; and in Treherbert, where in 2004 we had only won the two seats with majorities of 11 and 3 . We lost two other seats by margins of 28 and 56.

Plaid hides Price and Evans

Perhaps it's no surprise that Plaid Cymru's peculiar Party Political Broadcast last night failed to feature Adam Price MP or their MEP Jill Evans. Plaid must be embarrassed by their latest outbursts.

Price's remarks that Plaid would be prepared to do a deal with the Tories at Westminster after the next General Election has caused a backlash against the nationalists in the Valleys where Tories are scarcely seen.

His remarks are almost as embarrassing for Plaid Cymru as Jill Evans attacking the thousands of jobs set to come to South Wales at St Athan. Many of my Rhondda constituents have worked at St Athan and the new Defence Training Academy which Jill Evans rejects will offer them real job opportunities. It has been estimated by assembly government ministers that the development will bring 5,000 jobs to the area.

Rhodri Morgan was right to say:

"We have worked very hard to win this project for Wales against severe competition from the West Midlands and elsewhere. The Defence Training Academy will involve activities which are far less military in character, since the academy will involve teaching skills such as engineering, electronics, and IT - all equally as valuable in civilian life after they have left the armed forces as they will be for maintaining military equipment."

Local elections

Aside from helping our local candidates in the Rhondda, Welsh Labour has asked me to visit a number of different local government campaigns in Wales. In Milford I helped Colin Robbins who was born in Cwmparc and grew up in Blaenrhondda!

Fairtrade Fortnight

Arguably another legacy of Robert Owen is Fairtrade Fortnight (25 February to 9 March 2008), supported by the Co-operative Movement amongst others. Along with Sustainability Minister Jane Davidson I attended a Fairtrade breakfast at the Bethlehem Welsh Presbyterian Church in Treorchy on Saturday 1 March 2008, where the first anniversary of Rhondda Cynon Taf becoming a Fairtrade county was celebrated. We met Martha Musonza-Holman, originally from Zimbabwe but now living in Wales, who sells Fair Trade crafts produced in Zimbabwe. She spoke passionately about the benefits of Fairtrade.

Last week Jane reminded the Assembly that two years ago the Welsh Assembly Government started supporting the campaign to make Wales the world’s first Fair Trade Country, which is led by the Wales Fair Trade Forum. Since then we have seen enormous progress. Over 1,000 volunteers across Wales have also been working hard to support the campaign. A panel of international fair trade sector representatives will be meeting in April 2008 to assess whether Wales has achieved Fair Trade Country status.

Two years ago only 8 local authorities in Wales had Fairtrade status or were actively seeking it. Now all 22 local authorities in Wales have active Fairtrade groups.

Two years ago only 11 towns had active Fairtrade groups, encouraging local shops and cafes to stock Fairtrade products and raising awareness of Fairtrade in the local community. Now 57 towns have active groups.

Two years ago there were no Fairtrade schools in Wales and only a handful trying to become Fairtrade. Now 247 schools across Wales have registered to become Fairtrade schools – which is over half of all the schools that have registered in the whole of the UK.

Just 1 year ago a survey showed that only 44% of people in Wales recognised the Fairtrade mark. By November last year that figure had risen to 61%.

Robert Owen's Legacy (2)

My good friend and colleague Janice Gregory had the short debate last week and chose the topic of social enterprise. This allowed her to focus on the legacy and achievements of Robert Owen.

I responded to the debate on behalf of the Government, and was able to build on what was said here.

Robert Owen's legacy

Last night in the Assembly we launched the Robert Owen: Legacies that last exhibition at an event sponsored by my colleague Lorraine Barrett. We mark the 150th anniversary of Robert Owen's death in November this year. The exhibition exists both physically and virtually.

I was pleased to speak as social enterprise Minister on how Owen's legacy is being carried on into government today, with our commitment to co-ops such as community housing mutuals, credit unions and social enterprises in general - a legacy that I call community socialism and which is reflected in our development of a social economy.

There are a number of other events marking Owen's legacy this year, including a conference in New Lanark and another organised in connection with Llafur. It's only a few weeks ago we were launching the Llafur website - well done to Sian Williams of the South Wales Miners' Library, who has been at the heart of both projects.

Guardian on Communities First

Peter Hetherington in the Guardian today has written an excellent article on what we are trying to do with Communities First and economic and community regeneration overall.

The Welsh Economy

We had a good launch for Welsh Labour's Economy Commission last week at Redline Karting in Caernarfon, a venture set up by some of the former Friction Dynamex workers. Since setting up in June last year they have already had 10,000 visitors and they have taken four people on who have been long-term economically inactive. Labour's prospective Parliamentary candidate for Arfon, Martin Eaglestone, helped organise the event.

A website has been set up to promote the Commission, and full details of its chair, members and remit will be announced in due course.

I set out some of the challenges below.

For twenty years progressive parties in Western societies have seen investment in skills as the key response to globalisation and the competition from the emerging economies. Upgrading the skills of our own people has been the emphasis, so that our own economy can be based upon high-wage not low-wage industry.

The one clear lesson from the Burberry campaign in the Rhondda was that Wales must compete with other countries, not on the basis of low wages, but on the skills of our people and our strengths as a nation.

What happens though now that the emerging economies themselves are interested less in low-wage manufacture and assembly-line jobs, but are increasingly competing with us for high-tech, high-skilled jobs? Emerging economies like India and China are already key players in the knowledge economy and likely to increase their share of innovative industries.
Even our higher-skilled graduates face competition in a global graduate base of some 2 billion workers.

What will be the key elements of economic success in the second decade of the 21st century, and the second decade of the National Assembly?

Welsh Labour's Commission on Economic Policy will explore these issues, and look at the challenge of developing a smart sustainable economy that plays to Wales's strengths and opportunities, while learning from global best practice.

While many of the key economic levers lie at a UK level, including fiscal and monetary policy, and Wales will continue to benefit from membership of the British and European unions, the policies of the Welsh Assembly Government will have a critical role to play.Welsh Labour's Commission on Economic Policy won't duck the difficult questions. These include:

- how to make Wales the best place in Britain for entrepreneurs to start and develop a business

- how best to harness support for - and grow - industries which cannot send their jobs offshore (eg construction, tourism, retail and service industries)

- how to develop those high-growth sectors where Wales is already established (eg aerospace, media, ICT) and better target new sectors which offer long-term promise

- how to work collaboratively with large businesses already established in Wales to help us understand best practice in their sector, gain a view of the global market place and create a value chain for smaller indigenous businesses

- how to ensure we are developing our economy sustainably, as well as developing companies that are in the business of sustainability

- how to maximise innovation opportunities and make optimum use of our research base in Wales, including our higher education institutions

- how to take advantage of Wales's natural assets, including its countryside, coastline and cultures - and above all, the flexibility, ingenuity and skills of its people

- how to ensure that the quality of life that Wales can offer becomes a unique advantage

- how we can better match the economic development and skills agendas

- how to identify and exploit new sources of investment

- how we can better use every pound of public sector spending, through procurement policies, including social and offset clauses, to maximise opportunities for local labour and local enterprise

- how we can ensure that trades unions have the capacity to continue their process of modernisation and to support the skills needs of their members

- how to stimulate the rebuilding of manufacturing

No aspiration should be out of our grasp, no challenge too difficult, no ambition too tough.
This policy commission will help frame our vision to the voters of Wales over the next decade. It will set out the noble aim, not simply of meeting our historic goal of full employment, but of forging a Wales where all of our young people, with work and effort, can build a future based around quality skills and good wages.

Welsh Labour's commission will draw on expertise from within business and the labour movement. Just as we have acted to deliver a positive deal on workers' rights and are listening to business on skills, we will listen and act to meet the challenges of the future.

The best way to deliver the high-quality jobs we need is through a strong partnership between Labour in the Assembly, Labour at Westminster and Labour in local government.
To compete with the best in the world, Wales needs to be part of a strong Britain. At no time has this been better demonstrated than when we all worked together to deliver the defence academy in St Athan.

So it is up to Welsh Labour to prove to every part of Wales, that we are still the party of the economy and the only party people can trust with the future of their jobs and families.
We welcome evidence and contributions from all angles. We do not claim a monopoly of wisdom.

We want an open debate and the best possible brains engaged in it.

We will be announcing names of members of the Commission in due course. But we would like to hear from people who think they have skills and ideas to offer

Welsh Labour Conference

An excellent couple of days in Llandudno where I thought Welsh Labour was in reflective mood, as has been captured in some of the coverage of the event. Eluned Morgan and Carwyn Jones are right to rause the question of our appeal to Welsh-speakers. I agree with what Huw Lewis is saying here - indeed he is echoing some of the things I said myself to the Co-operative Party fringe meeting on Saturday about how we are implementing the co-operative agenda in government through our policies on the development of Communities First, on social enterprises and the social economy, and community mutuals in housing.