A TAI to Remember

Jocelyn Davies says politicians don’t build houses; they rely on their local authority, housing association and private sector partners to deliver. By the same token conferences don’t change the world overnight. So what are events like CIH Cymru’s TAI actually for? A fair question anytime, sharper when people…

The long goodbye

There is something more than a little unnerving about the tail end of an Assembly or Parliament. It is always a fractious period which leaves the participants drained and irritable. Watch any recent Plenary session and you’ll see what I mean. Tired politicians, quick to snap, easy to provoke….

Were the priorities for our ageing society revealed in the Estyn Chief Inspector’s Report?

Looking back over recent media stories, it is clear that our ageing society is a major issue that faces us and one that needs and is recieving urgent and focussed attention. However, when thinking about some of the latest developments such as the scrapping of the Default Retirement Age,…

Tata Threat No Surprise

The news that Tata Steel might reconsider its location in the UK following the announcement of a carbon price floor in the budget should be no surprise to anyone in Wales.  Contrary to the picture of Wales as a green idyll, Wales is in fact one of the most…

Objectors excluded on planning issues

Today is the last day when people can make their views known about a proposed incinerator at Brig-y-Cwm, near Merthyr Tydfil.  But unlike most planning applications, this one is not being decided by the local authority, or even by the Welsh Assembly Government, but by the Infrastructure…

Unemployment outlook grim

Yesterday’s budget contains little comfort for the 115,000 or so people in Wales who are unemployed.  The Office for Budget Responsibility’s own forecast sees unemployment rising over the next few quarters to a UK rate of 8.3% in the second quarter of this year, before it gradually starts…

Quick reaction to the budget – cuts are not working.

Despite the recent vote in favour of abolition of the LCO process, a great deal of the prosperity of Wales remains in the hands of the Westminster government. Taxation and benefits remain non-devolved matters, and decisions that will effect more people in Wales than many of the areas that…

Vulnerable people still being put at risk through poor hygeine.

Today Consumer Focus Wales launches our second report looking at protecting Consumers from E.coli O157.

It’s a report which contains a lot of good news. The recommendations which followed Professor Pennington’s Public Inquiry in to the 2005 South Wales E.coli O157 outbreak ’ are largely in the process of being…

Regeneration must be Green, and must be local

The twin challenges the economy faces over the next decade or two are the environmental challenge and the challenge of regeneration of communities still suffering from the problems of de-industrialisation.  At a time when the progress of the last decade has been undermined by the recession, rising fuel costs…

Facts are Sacred

Or at least pivotal to accountability, good governance and responsible management of resources and people – surely?

A few days into the debate about whether or not to stop the census after 2011, I am starting to obsess about the need for good, solid data. For a government…