"Disappointing budget for Wales" says Minister

Wales' Finance Minister Jane Hutt has responded to the UK Government's Budget.

 

She said: "This is a disappointing Budget for Wales. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to boost infrastructure investment to stimulate the economy.

"In response they have reduced our revenue budget  - these revenue cuts are on top of those in last year's Autumn Statement.  In total we will now have to find savings of £32 m in 2013/14 and £81 m in 2014/15.

"The price for additional capital investment is high and will be paid for by cuts to our revenue for the next two years. This is a real blow and will place our crucial public services under further pressure.

"The UK Government has given  us  back  some capital  allocations,  which we welcome.  However there are many strings attached  - the capital can only be used for loans or equity investment and a proportion will have to be repaid.  Although we are committed to boosting the housing sector in Wales,  this falls far short of what we called for and urgently require.

"At a time when we are trying to support the Welsh economy and boost growth, this level of cuts is unacceptable.

"Despite the recent loss of triple A status, borrowing costs remain very low and we would like to see the UK Government take advantage of this to support capital projects.  Analysis by the IM F  concludes that the right time to reduce debt is when the economy has recovered.  The time now is right to boost the economy - especially with the disappointing jobs figures today.

"We welcome the acknowledgement in the Budget of the need for funding improvements to the M4 in South Wales , the intergovernmental talks on this need to be concluded quickly - I look forward to reaching agreement on this major infrastructure project.

"We want to see the Welsh economy returned to full strength, today’s Budget will not make that task  easier."

Budget main points

Main points from the Chancellor's Budget this afternoon are:

Growth forecast for this year halved to 6%

Further £11.5 billion of cuts in government spending ordered in public spending, with schools and NHS exempt

Public sector pay limited to 1% except the military

£3 billion a year extra for infrastructure from 2015/16

Fivefold increase in government procurement contracts

Corporation Tax slashed from 21 to 20%  from April 201

Working families to receive up to £1,200 per child for child care

Launch of two-fold Help to Buy Scheme (1) £3.5 billion for shared equity loans up to 20% of the value of a new home up to £600,000 (2) Mortgage Guarantee to lenders for people who can’t afford big deposits, with £130 billion available over three years starting in 2014

Fuel duty rise for September scrapped

Beer duty escalator scrapped with a further 1p cut in duty on beer from Sunday night

Personal tax allowance raised to £10,000 from April 2014

Up to £2,000 cut from employer National Insurance contributions

Capital Gains holiday extended

Bank of England keeps 2% inflation target

Chancellor called it a “budget for an aspirational nation.”

Read the full Budget statement at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget2013_statement.htm

 

New Health Minister speaks out

Mark Drakeford AM (pictured below right) has been sworn in as Minister for Health and Social Services and has begun looking at the wide range of issues in his portfolio, including NHS reconfiguration, the legislative programme, and the financial position of the NHS in Wales.

On service change, which includes the future of health services in Llangollen, he said: “The process of reconfiguring health services in Wales is underway. My aim is to bring that process to a conclusion so we can move on and ensure services are safe and sustainable for the future.
 

“My job is not to renew the process or interfere with the process underway, but I will bring a fresh mind to decisions that are being made within that process.

 

“What I can promise people is that I’ll consider everything that is on my desk as thoroughly as I possibly can.  I will weigh up the arguments, look at the evidence, and then I will make a decision.”

 

On the legislative programme, he said: “In terms of the Human Transplantation Bill, we will soon receive the Health Committee’s Stage One scrutiny report, which I expect to raise some important questions and issues for discussion.

“I am keen to steer the legislation we have underway to a successful conclusion.”
On NHS finances, he said: “This week I will look in detail at the position Health Boards are in as they come to the end of the financial year. I want to learn the lessons of this year, so I can apply them to next year. I will be looking at the way the money is used, against the pressures the NHS experiences.

“All NHS organisations must work to deliver services within the budget available to them and I want to be fully briefed on their progress.”

Art and craft fair at Town Hall this Saturday

An art and craft fair will be held at Llangollen Town Hall on Saturday (March 23)

 

Doors open at 10am and the fair runs throughout the day until 3.30pm.

The fair will showcase the work of local artists and crafters, whose skills, creativity and sheer quality demand greater recognition than their own friends and family.

 

Tea, coffee and home-made cakes will be available.

 

Pull the plug on local TV plans, says Skates

Clwyd South Assembly Member Ken Skates has called on the UK Government to scrap plans for Local TV and reinvest the funding in other areas of the Welsh media.

 

Last week Ofcom invited interested parties to bid for local TV services in 30 areas across the UK, including Bangor and Mold. The watchdog has also re-advertised the Swansea Local TV licence, which failed to secure an operator in the first round of bidders.

 

The AM said Local TV would do nothing to address the structural deficiencies in the Welsh media scene.  He criticised money being ‘wasted’ on a model of Local TV whilst funding for BBC Wales and S4C has been cut back and the future structure of the Channel Three licence in Wales is yet to be decided.

 

The AM called for the money to be put to more productive use such as funding journalism apprenticeships in Wales.

 

Mr Skates said: “Unfortunately the story of Local TV in Wales has been a difficult one from the very start.  Vital money has been top-sliced off the licence fee to pay for a vanity project that doesn’t address any of the fundamental problems in the Welsh media.

 

“The farce over the Swansea licence, which produced no bidders at all first time round, highlights the problem with the core idea.  If nobody thinks a station can be commercially viable in a large urban area such as Swansea, how can it then be a viable success in Bangor or Mold?

 

“Local TV is in no way a substitute or adequate replacement for Welsh commercial television.  We have a deficit of coverage of national Welsh issues in our media and it seems wrong that at a time when funding for BBC Wales and S4C has been cut back and the future structure of the Channel Three licence in Wales is yet to be decided, attention is being directed towards Local TV.

 

“I’ve spoken to quite a few senior media figures with years of experience and the vast majority of them tell me that this will not work, particularly when advertising revenues are making it tough even for the established players.

 

“It’s heart-breaking in a way, when revenue is declining in all areas of the media and good people in broadcast journalism, local newspapers and the creative industries are losing their jobs, that public money is being wasted in this way.

 

“I’d much prefer the funding be used to strengthen the Welsh media in ways that will last such as funding more apprenticeship schemes for journalists or increasing the amount of dedicated Welsh programming on our screens.

 

“Developing top-down local television services at a time when advertising revenue in the commercial Welsh media is haemorrhaging really is an idea only Jeremy Hunt could have dreamt up.”

Railway steams into exciting 2013 season

* Llangollen Railway is steaming into an exciting 2013 season.

Last  weekend’s long-awaited return of trains to Carrog for the first time since Christmas marked the start of an exciting new season at Llangollen Railway. 

A varied programme is lined up to take the heritage line through spring and summer and into the autumn. 

It powers up next Saturday (March 23) when two locomotives from the Llangollen-based fleet of diesels will offer an hourly service through the Dee Valley. 

These Class 26 and Class 37 locomotives will demonstrate how the line might have been operated by British Railway had it not been closed by Dr Beeching's infamous axing of the Ruabon-Barmouth route in 1965. 

A daily service begins from Monday (March 25) and continues through to early October, with three trains per weekday departing Llangollen at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. 

A range of special events will be held throughout the 2013 season, with the popular Real Ale trains, Murder Mystery evenings and Days Out With Thomas all featuring several times in the railway's timetable.  

First major event for steam fans will be the Spring Steam Gala on April 19-21 when the highlight will be the return of the Great Western Steam Railmotor No.93. 

It will be joined with its newly refurbished trailer coach No.92, another example of the valuable restoration work undertaken by the skilled specialist workforce at Llangollen Railway. 

George Jones, for Llangollen Railway, said: "Our volunteers and staff will again be working hard throughout 2013 to provide train operations and station facilities at what is one of the premier heritage attractions for visitors to North East Wales.  

“A programme of events of some variety is scheduled to attract young and old to the railway to travel through the delights of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which is now extended to include the Dee Valley."  

Further details can be found at the Llangollen Railway's website: http://www.llangollen-railway.co.uk/

Helen's sweet starring role in Suor Angelica.

A group of fellow members from Llangollen Operatic Society travelled to Bangor on Sunday evening to watch Helen Belton take the principal role in Puccini’s one-act opera Suor Angelica.

Helen, who is studying for a Masters degree in Solo Performance as a part-time student at Bangor University, was thrilled to be cast in the role, which was very demanding and required a more mature voice.
In Helen’s words it was one of the few times where “age was a bonus.” 

The opera was performed on two evenings at two venues - Bangor’s Prichard Jones Hall and Ucheldre Centre in Holyhead.

Though originally in Italian, this production was trilingual (Italian, English and Welsh) and incorporated students of the university, singers from the local community and the university orchestra.

Helen told us that she felt very privileged to be able to sing the role and that it had been a fantastic experience, though a far cry from her last role as Sybil in the Twenty Club’s production of Fawlty Towers last November.
 
Operatic Society member Louisa Jones, who was one of those who saw it in Bangor, said:  "The production was very well done indeed and the performers, directors and crew should be commended.

"Helen’s performance was excellent; dramatic, heartfelt, and left many of the audience moved to tears.

"Her friends who attended felt extremely proud to witness what we hope will be the first of many opera performances for Helen."