Holding people to account

Column in the Llanelli Herald on October 13th


As a member of the Assembly’s powerful Public Accounts Committee I get to put Wales’ leading decision-makers on the spot.

This week I got a chance to scrutinise the Chief Executive of Sports Wales. Wales being a small country, I know her a little from my last job and I hold her in high regard. But she was before me to account for her organisation’s performance over the last year and this wasn’t personal

In the last 12 months Sports Wales has seen its Chair and Vice-Chair sacked after a boardroom revolt, and a critical internal audit report warning the Chief Executive that she risked damaging the reputation of the organisation over the handling of contracts. There were tough questions to be asked. You can watch the encounter online the Senedd TV website.

But as well as the obvious questions one issue that has had a direct consequence here in Llanelli occupied my mind.

Over the last couple of years the future of our local football pitches has been in the headlines. Under pressure to make cuts the Council (when Labour was in charge) sought to put up the fees clubs pay to use the fields, and now (under Plaid) they are being hived-off to anyone who’ll have them to spare the Council the costs of maintenance.

Local clubs say they can’t afford the upkeep and warn clubs will fold, and say the fields will fall into disrepair, making them prime targets for house builders.  Meanwhile, as we’re seeing in Llanerch, the loss of green space is being compensated for by new all-weather 3G pitches - better when it's raining, but they are very expensive to maintain and there’s a real risk they’ll be out of reach to the local clubs: and of no use for informal kick-abouts.

I asked the Chief Executive of Sports Wales whether she was concerned about this and whether fewer people would have access to facilities as a result. Yes, she said, she was concerned. Will Sports Wales be monitoring the situation to test whether it will result in fewer people having opportunities to take part, I asked? Well, we could, she said. I know you could, I said, but are you planning to? No, she said.

I think that may change as a result of the hearing.

The Welsh Government is giving the Council a lot of money for sport development but it goes into staff who work on the 5x60 and Dragon Sports initiatives. Surely this money is being evaluated to see whether this is an effective approach, I asked. Erm, no, she said.

For 15 years, I was told, Millions have been spent on these projects and there is no independent evaluation of whether this is the most effective way to spend the money. I think that may change as a result of the hearing too.

I’ll be coming back to the issue. But this work on Assembly committees - largely hidden from the public eye, can make a difference. And I’ll keep on asking awkward questions.

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 year...
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

Don't forget the wiring

Image
The Wales Transport Strategy published in 2021 put modal shift at the heart of our policies. For the first time, we’ve set a target on increasing the number of trips made by sustainable modes of transport from 32% to 45% by 2040. Grand declarations are important to signal system change. However, as we've seen in the past, transport strategies often say all the right things in the narrative but the delivery mechanisms are programmed to deliver business-as-usual. In spite of the new targets the bible for highway engineers, the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges , still prioritises traffic flow; the bible for economists and finance officials, the UK Treasury Green Book, still insists on monetising notional journey time savings when it comes to transport investments; rather than reduce speeds to save lives, orthodoxy suggests we upgrade highway design to increase capacity and allow faster speeds under the guise of road safety.  Unless the system wiring is reconfigured to delive...
Read more