Tearing out much needed employment for the Llanelli economy

This column appeared in the Llanelli Herald on 3rd February 2016


146 people currently work in the Department for Work and Pensions office in the middle of Llanelli.

Some come from far and wide as the result of previous re-locations, but most live in the area.

These are not Job Centre roles but so-called ‘back of house’ functions. The team that are affected mostly work on dealing with sickness benefit claims, work capability assessments and crisis loans.

The Whitehall department announced last week that they want to ‘modernise their estate’. The Conservative Minister in charge in London wrote to me to tell me that because we now have “record levels of employment across Wales” - apparently -  and 80% of people who claim Jobseekers Allowance now do so online, the benefit offices need less space.

But rather than working with Carmarthenshire Council, or even the Welsh Government, to try and find better accommodation locally, the UK Government have announced they want to centralise offices in Cardiff and Pembroke Dock.

In their letter to me the DWP said workers would be offered alternative roles in “a nearby location”. Only a civil servant in London would consider Cardiff and Pembroke Dock as nearby Llanelli!

Forcing up to 146 people to add to the congestion out of Llanelli every morning will suck out even more trade and footfall from the town centre, adding further to its decline.

It is becoming clear that many would find the commute impractical and risk becoming classes as ‘surplus’ by the DWP. If no other roles can be found locally they face the risk of redundancy.

Either way the move risks tearing out much needed employment for the Llanelli economy. It flies in the face of the words of the Prime Minister that she wants to spread wealth around the UK.

I fail to see how taking jobs from one of the most deprived parts of Wales to one of the most successful parts helps with that.

I tabled an Urgent Question in the Senedd this week to urge the Welsh Government to get the Westminster DWP to re-think this badly thought through plan. Nia Griffith and I are holding a public meeting at Paddock St Community Centre on Saturday 11th February at 10.30am to organise the fight back against the DWP plan to close its Llanelli office.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dysgu gwersi

Image
A note to members of the Llanelli constituency Labour Party There has been a big disagreement within Welsh Labour. There has not been a ‘witch-hunt’ against Vaughan Gething, but there has been a genuine conflict of values. Now there is an appetite to quickly move on, but I think there’s a real danger that in shutting down discussion we will neither understand nor learn the lessons of what has happened.  As uncomfortable as it will be I think we need proper debate about the future direction of Welsh Labour. Circling the wagons around a ‘unity candidate’ may bring some short-term relief, but it will do nothing to address the fundamental need to renew in office. I’ve not given any interview and don’t intent to, but as a way of making sense of it all I’ve written this assessment which looks at what should happen now and an analysis of how we got to this position.  These are offered in the spirit of honest debate and not point-scoring. Edrych ymlaen We’re in a pickle. After 25 years as the
Read more

Transport for Wales 2.0

Image
Speech to Transport for Wales senior management at Llys Cadwyn, TfW HQ, in Pontypridd on 6th February 2024 Diolch am y croeso a y cyfle. James Price and I meet regularly, and sometimes it feels like we’re in charge. But it really is a privilege to be in the same room as the people who actually do run transport in Wales. And it’s so nice to see people together. I’m still adjusting to meeting people in the flesh who I’m used to seeing online; I still can’t believe how short everyone is when I meet them! Apart from the ones I already knew were short, obviously (you know who you are). The worst thing about those mass Teams calls is that I can’t see people’s reactions to what I’m saying – to confirm that they are drifting off.  So at least I’ll know for sure today that I am boring you – the people in the room at least. It won’t stop me, but it gets rid of the uncertainty. I know we’ve priced-in that politicians' speeches will be insincere, but I really do mean what I say. And I
Read more

2023 - 5 big changes in transport in Wales

Image
Changing direction takes you to a different destination... We ask our transport system to do a lot of things, but we’ve not asked it to make its contribution to our shared challenge of reducing carbon emissions. Indeed, transport is the sector that has contributed the least to the legal duty to cut emissions. Unless that changes we will not meet our overall NetZero imperative . It is difficult for any incoming Transport Minister to change much in the short-term - road and rail projects take upwards of seven years to implement, and the ongoing pipeline of schemes means that significant spending has already been committed and political expectations raised by the time a new Minister takes office. Though the political spotlight is inevitably on short-term problems, significant change is a longer term project. Over and above the day-to-day activity of keeping a transport system on track I have tried to focus on how to ‘change the wiring’ to secure medium to long-term change. For all its ch
Read more