Hitting the target, missing the point,

According to a fascinating new piece of research from New Economics Foundation,regeneration programmes are failing to reduce inequalities because they are good at measuring things that make no difference to the lives of local people. And are poor at measuring things that do.

The New Economics Foundation report, published this week, said government was repeating mistakes of the past because it had never fully challenged two key assumptions.

One, that outputs provide a true measure of change and two, that there is a direct cause and effect relationship between investment and the achievement of policy objectives. These assumptions are reflected in performance measures that exaggerate the success of initiatives and perpetuate their weaknesses time and again.

The report showed how government measures focus on objectives that are either unrealistic or totally miss the point.

Full employment targets, for example, dominate programmes but are often irrelevant for people who have been excluded for a long time from the labour market and need to build their confidence in order to progress. ‘Too often indicators and performance measures are set in isolation from both the people who will be using them and those for whom they are meant to work.

Stakeholders often find that the measures being applied are not even relevant, let alone useful. The think tank concluded: ‘There is still a significant gap in the evidence about what works in relation to economic development policy. It is essential that policy becomes more informed and less political if we are to build the evidence base and use public investment as effectively as possible to combat inequality.’

For full report go to,Hitting the target, missing the point, http://www.neweconomics.org/

Embryonic Beginnings ....?

Gordon Brown has come up with a clever political compromise on the embryology bill that at least means we won't lose another Secretary of State for Wales (which would of course be simply careless). However, there is something about allowing a free vote on the basis of 'conscience' on the three most controversial areas of the bill, including the the hybrid embryo clause, that is making me uneasy. Its not that I am a committed campaigner for embryology research - although I can see the great potential it offers for curing diseases that ravage peoples lives the animal/human embryo element does give me what ethicists sometimes call the 'yuck' factor - an uncomfortable gut feeling.

But I am more uncomfortable about this whole issue of 'conscience'. Someone opposing the bill yesterday said that he was happy that MPs would not be 'forced' to vote for it. This is nonsense - no MP has to vote for the bill, the whip is not literal and all are free to vote in whatever way they choose, understanding of course what the consequences may be for their political careers. Do issues of conscience only apply to areas like embryo research, abortion or euthanasia or do they extend, as other commentators have suggested, to going to war or even to the introduction of tuition fees or privitisation of the health service?

I'm also a bit disturbed by the role of organised religion in all of this and I say this as a communicant member of a church. Undoubtedly a very effective campaign has been conducted by the Roman Catholic church and the timing of Easter has enabled this to have maximum impact. Of course religion is built into the UK parliament through the Church of England (and a number of senior Anglicans have supported the Roman Catholic position) and I would support the disestablishment of the Church in order to fully secularise parliament -something of course which we did in Wales a long time ago. Again, I'm not sure why religious issues of conscience should have greater weight than anything else. Nor do I want to see the sort of politics that the so-called 'moral majority' have created in the United States.

It just all feels a little bit like the thin end of the wedge ...

Bugger balance

As ever there's an interesting debate taking place on the Normal Mouth blog about how Wales should respond to the threat of climate change.

He argues that more developed parts of the UK should bear a greater burden for delivering carbon reductions than Wales, and because of our relative poverty we should be given "greater latitude to balance environmental, social and political objectives". Further, he advocates allowing Wales some intensive development to 'catch-up', while still meeting "overall reduction targets".

It is an attractive argument and one I have heard time and again: we need 'a balanced approach' which, in effect, means 'business as usual'. Yes of course climate change is a terrible thing, and we all agree something must be done. But it is not for us to do it first - lets get the by-pass built, sort out poverty and then we can be Green.

No doubt I am simplifying an altogether more sophisticated argument. But I say, bugger balance.

Of course the wealthiest parts of the world need to take a lead. But our Structural Funding status aside, we are one of the wealthiest parts of the world. As the International Institute for Environment and Development reminds us it is the world's poor who are on the frontline of climate change, yet they have done the least to contribute to the problem.

The UN - hardly a front organization for radical Environmentalists - says that we have less than 10 years to stop the planet's life support systems from shutting down. And Nicholas Stern (an economist) warns us that unless we act now we face an economic shock equivalent to a 5% drop in GDP - a bigger slump that the combined effects of both World Wars and the Great depression.

So in the face of such threats talk of balance, or waiting for Surrey to do something first, is a bit daft.

And if we accept that then a whole series of consequences flow. We need to move to a low-carbon (or even a zero-carbon?) economy pretty damn quick. If we are ahead of the curve there are economic opportunities for Wales in being a leader.

But we do love our by-passes...

New Ambulances needed to cope with size of patients.

NEW ambulances capable of carrying patients weighing up to 50 stone will soon be introduced in Wales. Why, you may well ask. The £45,000 vehicles have been commissioned to cope with the growing obesity of patients – the Welsh Ambulance Service says it has seen a 25% increase in obese patients.
The new ambulances, can carry up to four tonnes, will be equipped with extra-wide strengthened stretchers, which can take a 50-stone patient. Eight of these so called bariatric ambulances have been developed – three will be based in each of the North and South East regions, with the remainder deployed in central and West Wales. The stretchers have extra fold-out wings to accommodate wider bodies, and a winch to help reduce manual handling by staff.

A spokesman for WAS said, “We have seen a 25% increase in this sort of patient.“Having vehicles like this enables our staff to transport patients with this medical problem without injuring themselves or the patient while also preserving the patient’s dignity. “A conventional stretcher will only carry a load of up to 25 stone but Megassist stretchers can cope with twice that.”
Dr Colin Wain, of the National Obesity Forum, said, “Scotland is having to make similar provisions for obese patients – a group of radiologists in Glasgow are concerned that scanners will not take very obese people because of their size.“These are signs that we need to rethink the whole range of equipment provision to recognise that obesity is happening.
The consequences of the growing problems associated with health due to overweight are widening( no pun intended). As Dr Wain points out overweight patients will not fit into scanners,I believe there is a 20 stone limit.

Would it not be sensible to put more realistic measures into prevention rather than keep accommodating the problem. Most of the programmes I have seen are very unrealistic and not designed to work with the people who are overweight in a way that is non threatening and acceptable.

A growing number of young people are approaching obesity. Yes we all know eat healthy and exercise. But where, leisure centres do not cater in that way for young people,women and most men. Many families have not been shown how to cook healthy meals with ordinary food.

I hope that not yet another commission is set up ,it would be far better to speak to the people who find themselves overweight, find out the reasons and work with them where they are.

Whose health service?

Been a bit busy to blog but decided this one was worth a post...

As I got off the bus the other day at my usual stop, opposite a former hospital which is now derelict, I noticed a small group of men (and one or two women) in suits standing in the (open) doorway of the former hospital. The bus driver noticed straightaway and he and most of the other people sitting in the front few seats all agreed it was a disgrace it was that the building had fallen into such disrepair.

Once I was off the bus, a passer-by also pointed out the people in suits and repeated the views about the need to rescue such a building. However, her concerns were not about the state of the building per se. She told me the hospital had been built with 'miners' money' - including that of her father - who paid weekly from meagre wages to build and run the hospital pre NHS. She herself had worked there and had given the best years of her life to caring for people. She was in no doubt that health care belonged to the people - not in some vague collective way but directly, by her and her family. Her family had paid for it, she had worked in it, and she wanted a say in what happened to 'her' health services. She most certainly didn't feel she had a say in it now, and she felt bewildered and betrayed by the changes that she had read about and experienced herself.

I am sure this lady is not unique. Very very many people in Wales contributed to building the fore-runner of the NHS and politicians meddle with it at their peril. The committees and consultations we have at the moment are no substitute for genuine public involvement in the planning and provision of their health care - quite what proper involvement would look like I don't know but be in no doubt, anything that spontaneously gets 6 people talking at a wet bus stop has got to be worth notice.

The next First Minister....

Who will replace Rhodri Morgan? Here's a thought...

A Weekend to Remember!

In the midst of great Welsh sporting triumphs this weekend - capped by Cardiff City's demolition of Middlesborough, I've been looking for an excuse for a celebratory blog post!

I was tempted to reflect on how the collective spirit if well nurtured can triumph over a organisations / players with far more resources.

Alternatively it might be the time to think about the link between the politics of devolution and sport. There is at least some scholarly research which links the notable decline in support for devolution in Scotland between 1978 and March 1st 1979, to the fortunes of the national football team. But before Emyr Jones Parry gets overly excited about the prospects for a Yes vote, the timetable set allows plenty of opportunity for Fijiesque debacles within the next two years.

What more can therefore be said other than to wish Wales and Cardiff City well for their crunch games over the next few weeks (not forgetting the Swans of course who need to get back to winning ways)? There is one issue of football politics that Cardiff's success really does bring to the forefront. If, and it isn't entirely in the realm of fantasy, Cardiff win the Cup and repeat the great success of 1927; will they be allowed by the football authorities to represent England in Europe? This to me makes the case stronger than ever that UEFA, the FAW and the English FA need to sort out Welsh football's representation in Europe as soon as possible! It is crazy that the likes of Cardiff and Swansea can't represent Wales in Europe. Just imagine AC Milan at Ninian Park or Barcelona at the Liberty. Its time to get this situation sorted, with one or two European places linked to the FAW Premier Cup or the Welsh Cup.

International Women's Day -March 8th 2008

This is a Blog from Angela EL.

Today is International Women's Day and a day well worth noting, it may encourage us to think about women still in need in Wales, living in poverty and as a result their children living in poverty. To reflect on where we are with equality in the workplace and financially for most women. And to reflect on the absence of social justice for a whole series of women in Wales and the wider world, where there is still a huge gap to be closed in respect of women's rights and basic needs.

Since 1908, International Women’s Day has been a day to recognise the achievements of women around the world regardless of nationality, ethnic background, culture, economic status or political beliefs.
The idea of having an international women's day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialisation and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions. .
Protests followed on 8 March in subsequent years, most notably in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen (in the labour-movement building located at Jagtvej 69, ) by the second conference an 'International Women's Day' was established, which was submitted by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin .

The following year, IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria ,Denmark, Germany and Switzerland . On the eve of World War One , women across Europe held peace rallies on 8th March 1913 In the West, International Women's Day was commemorated during the 1910s and 1920s but dwindled. It was revived in the 1960s .
Demonstrations marking International Women's Day in Russia proved to be the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Following the October Revolution the Bolshevik feminist Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make it an official holiday in Russia, and it was established, but was a working day until 1965. In 1965 International Women's Day was declared as a non working day in the USSR "in commemoration of outstanding merits of the Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defence of their Motherland during the great Patriotic War, their heroism and selflessness at the front and in rear, and also marking the big contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples and struggle for the peace."
The day remains an official holiday in many countries and is observed by men giving the women in their lives - mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc., flowers and small gifts.

In some countries it is also observed as an equivalent of Mother's Day, where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.
In Italy to celebrate the day, men give yellow mimosas to women.The custom of giving women flowers still prevails in many Eastern European countries . Women sometimes get gifts from their employers too. School children often bring gifts for their teachers as well.In countries like Portugal, it is usual, at the night of 8 March, groups of women celebrate in "women-only" dinners and parties In India , IWD holds a lot of significance. Many celebrations are held during the day. This portrays the power of women in the modern era and how vital their role is in the society
1975, which was designated as International Women's Year , the UN gave official sanction to and began sponsoring International Women's Day.
The 2005 Congress (conference) of the British TUC overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for IWD to be designated a public holiday in the United Kingdom.
Today many events are held by women's groups around the world. The global women's organisation Aurora hosts a free world-wide register of IWD local events (http://www.internationalwomensday.com/) so that women and the media can locate local activity. Global interest in IWD shows a steady increase. The day is now attracting sponsor ship from the private sector as they mark the contribution of women to society.

Here in Wales there are many events being held to mark today , if you check out the web site above you can see what if anything is being held in your area, but no national event for Wales is being flagged up .A Flagship event that brought together women across Wales would be good to see,maybe who ever has the responsibility for women's issues in Cabinet could look at the possibilities for that and Wales as a nation could mark the contributions of women to our society.

Back To The Future?

I've been watching 'Ashes to Ashes' and its left me in philosophical mood. Which might seem surprising as, according to my friends, its a rather poor imitation of 'Life on Mars' - which needless to say I missed. Anyway, it has transported me back to the halcyon days of 1980s left wing politics when, to paraphrase John Osborne, there was something worth fighting for. In fact there were almost too many things to fight for. I reclaimed the night, glued up the Barclay's cashpoint, pinned my baby's clothes to the Greenham Common fence (I did remove the baby first) and fell out with my boyfriend over the dialectic. We had proper chants "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie ... Out Out Out" and it was great.

Well actually not that great and obviously not for the people who really suffered during that time. At college I was part of a group called Left Caucus where we mainly sat around looking glum and forming ourselves into factions, not helped by a diet of Smiths records. And don't even get me started on shoulder pads and the permanent damage done by years of bubble perms.

The problem is I'm not convinced that the politics of the left has moved on that much since that era and in Wales in particular there are some who would like simply to step into the Tardis and transport us back to a point where we were battling Thatcher or indeed before she was a force to be battled with. The left needs new invigorated thinking - not 1970s and 1980s retreads. Wales' small closely, almost incestuously, interrelated political and policy community can too often lead to group think and a pressure to conform to the communal singing from the 'Team Wales' hymn sheet. Challenge is the life blood of radical political thinking not consensus and we shouldn't be afraid of this. So lets fire up the quattro and see where it takes us!

Misplaced fears about migrant workers

According to a news report I heard this morning, working class people are much less in favour of migrants coming to work in the UK than middle class people. There the story ended.

What it didn't and should have said is that this could well be because migrant workers mainly take low-skilled low paid jobs (although not exclusively so) - precisely the kinds of jobs that working class people hold.

BUT - and this is a huge huge BUT - a large proportion of migrants coming to the UK are actively recruited by agencies. Migrants are mostly NOT enterprising Poles or Latvians or whoever getting on a cheap flight to the UK to try their luck, but people recruited in Krakow and many other small towns, by UK employment agencies who have opened offices there, who tempt workers with promises of great riches, and get them to sign on the dotted line in their home town. These agencies in turn have contracts with employers to get workers. Look at some of these agencies' websites and slogans to open your eyes! In other words, the driving force behind much migration from Eastern Europe is UK employers themselves.

The British working class is right to be worried - but not about the migrants. Instead they should be concerned about the employers and agencies who are prepared to go overseas in their search for cheap, compliant labour rather than improving their pay conditions.

The Barnett Formula - what's in it for us

This is a post from Lee Waters:

The Telegraph reports that Gordon Brown has ordered a review of the Barnett formula "under which Scottish people receive £1,500 subsidy each a year from English taxpayers" ( <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/05/nscots105.xml> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/05/nscots105.xml )

The right-wing London press enjoy pressing home the point that Scotland benefits disproportionately from the formula, and there is no doubt that Scotland does well. What the Telegraph fails to note is that the formula also applies to Wales and Northern Ireland too.

Drawn up by Treasury Minister Joel Barnett in the late 1970s, the formula allocates funding to the Welsh block based on population and is designed to equalise over time. Wales has roughly 6% of the UK's population and gets an uplift of about 6% when spending increases are announced for England. So an extra £100m for the NHS, announced by Alan Johnson, will feed through to a boost of about £5m to the assembly's budget for Welsh ministers to spend as they see fit.

But is it fair? The formula doesn't take into account the fact that Welsh income levels are among the lowest in Europe. Nor does it factor in the legacy of ill health left over from heavy industry. In short, the formula takes no account of Welsh social and economic need. Indeed, there are claims that Wales is losing out on between £300m and £800m a year.

But the real point is that nobody knows. Which is why a broad range of civil society bodies called upon the Assembly Government last year to set up an independent Commission to look into the matter. WAG eventually agreed but disputes over who will Chair the body has held up its announcement.

Aside from the debate over need, there’s also the question about how fairly the formula is applied.

Last month the Department for Transport announced £140 million for a quango called ‘Cycling England’. As the name suggests it does much good work in England to promote the shift from cars to bicycles - tackling obesity and carbon emissions. The Welsh Assembly Government wants to roll out similar schemes but with a funding increase of just 0.6% next year is struggling to find the money.

Walking and cycling is fully devolved, therefore under the Barnett formula spending for England should result in a 'consequential' increase for Wales. But the deputy Chairman of the Principality Building Society Eurfyl ap Gwylim revealed in a letter to the Western Mail before Christmas that for some reason the Treasury regards money for Cycling England as spending on behalf of the whole of the UK - just as it regards spending on Kew Gardens and on the London Olympics (even the transport and regeneration bits). Therefore not a penny has been passed on.

The UK Government now claim that this money has already been passed on to Wales. A recent Parliamentary answer to Hywel Francis confirms this.

And indeed it does appear that spending on Cycling England spend has been made part of the spending category 'local transport’ which does give rise to a Barnett consequential i.e. a corresponding sum of money will be in the block grant to the National Assembly.

But a closer look at the figures show that while the spending is comparable the comparability percentage for is 0%; so it's comparable, but provides nothing!

A review of the way the Barnett formula works and its fairness is long overdue.

Storm in a Car Park?

Victoria has asked me to be a guest blogger on this site ... "just need to do a couple of posts a week ... you'll enjoy it" and being highly opinionated needless to say I said yes. So lay awake half the night working out my witty and erudite first ever blog and got up nice and early to write it .. only to find out that Victoria had got there first! But I'm not going to let that stop me ...

So yes of course the first post is about the issue that has been dominating Welsh politics this week ... car parking! Not since the Welsh Assembly Government had the last big free giveaway have journalists east of Offa's Dyke been so excited by the Welsh NHS. Why this resulted in Ben Bradshaw launching such a vitriolic attack on said Welsh NHS is a matter of conjecture - although clearly he has missed his vocation in the diplomatic corps. This propelled Edwina Hart the Minister for Health and Social Services, normally the Greta Garbo of media relations, into the BBC studio with counter accusations of sour grapes.

This has led to a rather unseemly "my NHS is better than yours" spat - something which given the lack of any real evidence or robust evaluation is pretty difficult to prove one way or the other. Waiting times are just one indicator and a blunt one at that ... although by the way Ben our MRSA rates are better than yours so there! Anyway, perhaps we could just settle for "each system has pros and cons" and each country needs to design its health services on the basis of its values, population, history, geography, resources and so on - there is no perfect health care system, no not even France. So lets put the toys back in the pram and play nicely ... because David Cameron, who would probably have huggable hoodies running the car parks, must be rubbing his hands in glee.

And what about the actual car parking? Well, most of us would feel it isn't right for patients undergoing long periods of treatment and those visiting sick relatives to have their stress increased by having to feed the car parking meter. On the other hand the stress levels will go through the roof if they find they can't park at all because the car park is full of shoppers and staff. We could have given them vouchers for parking but that would be complicated and costly to administer. We still have to pay for the petrol to get us to the hospital and what about the environment? We could go on ... and on .. and on ... Bascially, unlike Maria, hospital car parking is a problem you just can't solve. Nature abhors a vacuum, so it is with hospital car parks - no matter how big, how expensive or how free they are they will always be full. It is a basic law of hospital physics.

At the end of the day creating free parking is a popular but easy decision - there are much harder decisions to be made about the shape of our actual health services. And if you think this one has caused trouble you ain't seen nothing yet!

Hospital car parking charges

Whoever would have thought that hospital car parking would have generated so much political heat?

Lee Waters' post on the Our Kingdon blog (http://ourkingdom.opendemocracy.net/2008/03/04/wisdom-of-welsh-parking-obscured-by-context-of-devolution/) tries to get us back on track and remind us that there needs to be a debate about how free car parking at hospital sites contributes to carbon reduction targets, which of course it doesn't. But, as I have thought about this over the day, I think it is an important issue of social justice.

First, there are surely places where charges should be levied long before hospitals. The gigantic car parks at retail parks and supermarkets all provide free parking, as do many public buildings. Our concern about carbon emissions caused by hospital car parking is a little misplaced with so many other offenders. Second, people have little choice about whether or not to visit a hospital - they need to go for treatment or to visit relatives - unlike popping over to B&Q on a Sunday afternoon. And third, and critically, public transport to many hospitals is rubbish - it can take 2 or 3 buses which don't connect to get from Bedlinog to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr for example - and if you are going for treatment, even as an outpatient, chances are you won't feel like a 2 hour bus journey.

So, unless and until there is no free parking in most other places, free hospital car parking has to stay.

Sick or scrounging?

Last week saw yet another pronouncement from the latest UK Work and Pensions Minister on reform of welfare to work - this time about the bonuses to be paid to private companies if they manage to get people off benefits and back to work. They face a pretty uphill struggle in large parts of Wales, where there are fewer jobs, poor public transport and little affordable childcare, and high levels of ill-health and disability.

For sure, some people who have common health conditions can (and do) work - if the jobs are available and reasonable adjustments are made. But in an area where any advert for a decent job attracts hundreds of applicants, as did a recent advert for apprecenticeships with Valleys 2 Coast housing, someone who needs any 'adjustment' to be able to work is going to find themselves in the pile of rejected applications.

With a real threat of loss of benefit hanging over people who don't get a job, are we about to see large numbers of Welsh people forced to go to the south east of England to take up jobs, children left to fend for themselves while single mums are forced to work? The people of Wales need to wake up to the damage that this 'get tough' approach could bring, unless we have the jobs and support services to go with it.

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