tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76455760649087554192024-03-24T02:16:33.723-07:00Lee Waters MSStuff I've said over the yearsLee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.comBlogger262125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-54035541619678016612024-02-06T07:10:00.000-08:002024-02-07T00:32:09.483-08:00Transport for Wales 2.0<p><i>Speech to Transport for Wales senior management at Llys Cadwyn, TfW HQ, in Pontypridd on 6th February 2024</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUV52zO1y8X8J81DJpd4SV0ceAOqL2xflXEaq86igGqCLtFBKhY8sfueIqPBIlXIVvybL6fQSJsPYmUUU4rFg2OZyDkJXCzfqhwBC0-JAvQLbdqBJQD9EXPHBUVq3CaBs2FLNaw7oLJpk3l2f6z1KZE7Tp5iKd1UDdfx1EOIf6N0ZZFWR7X2mJxQmXkkI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1364" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUV52zO1y8X8J81DJpd4SV0ceAOqL2xflXEaq86igGqCLtFBKhY8sfueIqPBIlXIVvybL6fQSJsPYmUUU4rFg2OZyDkJXCzfqhwBC0-JAvQLbdqBJQD9EXPHBUVq3CaBs2FLNaw7oLJpk3l2f6z1KZE7Tp5iKd1UDdfx1EOIf6N0ZZFWR7X2mJxQmXkkI=w640-h427" width="640" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">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). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I know we’ve priced-in that politicians'
speeches will be insincere, but I really do mean what I say. And I really do
mean it when I say that the work you are doing, and the spirit in which you are
doing it, really is appreciated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Again over Christmas the teams pulled out
all the stops to deliver the planned upgrades on the CVL. Giving up precious
family time to keep the Metro on track. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I know everyone’s doing a job, and this
stuff happens right across the rail industry, but I do think there’s a
difference here: a sense of pride, a sense of community, a sense of purpose
over and above the day-job.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Because in TfW we have created something
special. A body of people that care about Wales, and not the quarterly profits
of a FTSE company, or the bottom line of a business registered in the Cayman
Islands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It really is a significant difference, and
already one we’ve begun to take for granted. And we shouldn't. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I’m not sure if any of you saw that story
about the leak of an<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67997916"> Avanti West Coast presentation to their management team</a>? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Just days after TfW teams were out in the
rain over the new year, rail bosses at Avanti were laughing at how the company
was able to lever cash out of the Government to pass on to staff and
shareholders. The leaked slides included one which said “Roll-up, roll-up get
your free money here”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">While we decided to maintain services after
Covid the DfT allowed their Train Operating Companies to reduce services, which
made their targets easier to hit. So in effect they were rewarded for doing
less.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">One of the Avanti slides said: “If we
achieve those figures, they pay us some more money – which is ours to keep – in
the form of a performance-based fee!! Sounds too good to be true?! Well on this
occasion – it isn’t – it’s the absolute truth!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I suppose you can’t blame them for working
with the perverse incentives the UK Treasury have put in place. But can you
imagine slides like that being presented at a TfW all-managers meeting? That’s
the difference. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The public service values, the genuine
sense of collective mission; all that marks TfW out as ‘different’ is to be
cherished. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We will stick with our model of public
ownership and will not be going back to a private sector partnership. Because
the model reflects our values too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We’ve got to work out the legals with the
DfT. But as Covid proved, these are public services, and the financial risk
ultimately always lies with Government, so I don’t want TfW distracted by
pointless private sector procurement. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We want you to focus on growing revenue,
not by gaming the system, but by serving more people so that we can reinvest in
public transport. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Let's not pretend TfW is perfect, no
organisation is. It’s a work in progress, of course it is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I see brilliant people working on the front
line every day; the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jypp">BBC documentary</a> shone a light very clearly on that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">You’ve demonstrated again and again that we
are getting some of the big things right.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The south Wales Metro has gone from a
presentation that <a href="https://www.iwa.wales/wp-content/media/Metro-Consortium-WEB-REDUCED.pdf">Mark Barry badgered people with in 2010</a>, to the very cusp of
going live. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The word transformation is often overused.
But in this case it isn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The impressive new tram-trains being tested
on newly electrified track up and down the valleys lines testify to that. The
incredible new facility in Taffs Well too - the first major train depot built
in Wales in over sixty years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Step back and its clear what’s being
achieved here: a reversal in the decline of the railway in Wales, and an
engineering accomplishment to at least match London’s CrossRail <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Seriously, take a bow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">But as well as the big things we also need
to keep a focus on the everyday stuff too: Keeping passengers informed when
things go wrong; getting the replacement bus service right; delivering a
consistently best-in-class customer service experience all across the network,
these are all things that we need to keep working at. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Continuous improvement is essential.
Because the difference in our model and the Cayman Island one is that we have
to face our customers every day. We are all accountable, all the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As a regular passenger for over 25 years
and more, I can say with confidence that TfW has already proven its worth. I
have seen for myself the difference in service, and the change in culture since
the Arriva days. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Let’s not forget there were parts of the
network that didn’t even have trains on a Sunday when TfW took over the
franchise. </span>It is hard to imagine now.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Fast forward to today, and we are on the
cusp of a turn-up-and-go electric transit network for the south Wales valleys.
And a step-change in the passenger experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Across Wales we’ve sent the pacers packing,
and the sprinters will soon be on their way too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Wales is no longer at the end of the line
when it comes to getting rolling stock. By the end of this year over 95% of
journeys will be on new trains.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And we’re seeing the benefits reaching some
of our most challenged communities. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Just last week <a href="https://news.tfw.wales/news/deputy-minister-launches-new-ebbw-vale-to-newport-rail-service-thanks-to-gbp-70m-welsh-government-investment">I was on the Ebbw Vale line</a>
where we’ve doubled the frequency of services. 30 trains a day, where just 16
years ago, there were no passenger trains at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Talk about unmet demand; back in 2008 when
we reopened the line to Cardiff passenger numbers exceeded all expectations.
And that showed us that the value for money calculations that drive rail
investment by the DfT are deeply flawed – which is one of the reasons we get so
little of it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Generations of under-investment in the
Welsh railway that we’re now trying to put right.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So it is with confidence that we have put
£70m into reconnecting all the villages along the Ebbw Valley line to Newport
and the mainline for the first time in 60 years. That’s our commitment to real
Levelling Up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It’s not easy. Rail infrastructure is
the responsibility of the Westminster Government which means the Welsh
Government are not funded to do it. So when we put money into rail that’s cash
that should have gone elsewhere – to building schools and hospitals. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We shouldn’t have to make that choice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">But because it’s clear that investing in
infrastructure in Wales is not a priority for this UK Government, we’ve had to
do it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And we are starting to see the difference
it makes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We had a really lovely launch event in
Llanhilleth last Thursday, well organised by Lewis and the team here, which
really brought home the value in what we are doing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As I walked over to the Miners Institute, a
lady with a pushchair approached me to ask if I’d have a photo with her
grandson so he could look back at this day, the day the new train was launched.
It really means something. There was a palpable sense of excitement, and
appreciation of the new opportunities this has opened up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Improvements in north Wales too, we’ve
restored direct services to Liverpool, we’ve increased the frequency on the
Wrexham to Bidston line and thanks for hard work by Jan and his team we’ve made
the service more reliable. And of course, we’ve invested in new trains as well.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The newly published Burns Commission report
for north Wales, heavily informed by the work of <a href="https://tfw.wales/projects/metro">TfW’s North Wales Metro team</a>,
gives us a pipeline of future projects to work up too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We pocket this stuff. But we shouldn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I know you don’t have to look far on social
media to see what the Welsh Government is doing wrong, but let’s be clear about
this: Without devolution, and without this Welsh Government, this rail
investment would not be happening. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Over one Billion Pounds invested in the
Metro. 800 million on the biggest investment in new trains in living memory. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">There’s nothing inevitable about these
choices, especially when money is tight, but it reflects our commitment to
deliver the opportunity that the Metro represents. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Compare this with the way the UK Government
has approached HS2. Instead of constant reviews, uncertainty and descoping, we
have stuck to the core proposition. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We’ve had some very tough choices to make
in the last year as costs have risen on the Metro for reasons that are entirely
explainable, but nonetheless painful. And through it all the entire Cabinet has
remain committed to seeing it through. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As Lord Peter Hendy once wisely pointed
out: projects like the Metro always take longer than you hoped, they always
cost more than you expected – but you never regret it once the work is done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">You should all be incredibly proud of
what’s been achieved and your part in it. It takes a team. And your team is
doing good things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And that’s my theme for today, everything
TfW does is about people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">That can get lost from time to time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We rightly focus on the innovation that
sits behind getting tri-mode trains through tunnels , the derogations from rail
standards, , the electric flexi buses, the Active Travel Design Standards,
trialling Pay-As-You-Go ticketing between Cardiff and Newport- the only place
outside London to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This is all really cool stuff. And we are
pushing the boundaries. But none of these are ends in themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We are all doing this to makes people’s
lives a bit easier, to enable them to work, to connect people to their friends
and their passtimes. To create a real social network that doesn’t depend on
having a car. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So let's never forget the work you do is
all about people: the people of Wales; Today, and in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">In fact, the work that you do is central to
future-proofing our communities from the challenges that are coming at us fast.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Rising temperatures are reshaping our
environment and upending our climate. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">1 in 8 Welsh properties are already at risk
of flooding from rivers, the sea and surface water. Even if we didn’t
release another drop of carbon, temperatures and sea-levels would keep on
rising because of the emissions we’ve already put into the atmosphere. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I suspect you haven’t spent much time
looking through the NRW website at the flood maps. But when you’ve got a moment
please type into your search engine ‘NRW and coastal erosion maps’, and look at
your nearest bit of coast, and prepare to gasp at what’s coming. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">These aren’t the rantings of an evangelist.
I’m not an eco-warrior. Though I must confess I did hug a tree the other day
when walking my dog just to see what it was like – it was quite lovely as it
turns out. Who knew?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">You don't need to be a green activist to
see that this is serious stuff, and it's already happening. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Railway lines washed away, landslips
causing expensive disruption, 50,000 additional homes at risk of flooding over
the next century. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Our most densely populated coastal towns -
Newport, Cardiff, Swansea, Llanelli, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Llandudno, Rhyl – all
deeply vulnerable to coastal erosion, sea and river flooding by the time a
child born today reaches old age. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Just look at the Network Rail climate
adaptation plan for Wales and you’ll see that the impacts go far beyond
flooding. More wild weather causing speed restrictions, extreme heat causing
track buckles, more intense and frequent storms, causing more delays and
cancellations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">That’s already locked in. And if we miss
our NetZero targets – which is our current trajectory - it will get worse. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And it’s your children, and theirs, who
will face the full consequences of what the scientists call ‘catastrophic
climate change’ within their lifetimes. But climate breakdown won’t happen in a
linear way, it be will erratic and unpredictable. It won’t wait till 2050 to
show itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Scientists are cautious souls, and a bit
dull in their use of language, so when they use words like ‘catastrophic’ - we
should pay attention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Nobody can say we haven’t been warned. 2023
saw:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Greenhouse gas levels at a record high<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Antarctic sea ice at a record low<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Global temperatures at a record high<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Sea level rise at record high<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This is happening in real-time. We are
seeing man-made climate change taking place at the upper end of the projections
the world’s scientists have been modelling – the upper end!. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It’s a dynamic situation, and the longer we
take to face up to it, the more unstable the climate is becoming. And the more
difficult, and expensive, it will be to mitigate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This isn’t a counsel of doom; it is call to
action. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It is in our self-interest to act. And we
must act with urgency. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The worst impacts of global warming are
terrible, but are not yet inevitable. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We still have time, there is a small
window, but we will have to make different choices NOW. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I’m not saying any of this for effect, I’m
saying it because we need to focus our minds on the scale of the action we all
need to take, the pace at which we need to take it, and the role we all have to
play.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">In the next decade we need to cut our
emissions by more than we’ve managed in the last three decades put together. 30
years worth of cuts in under 10 years. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It’s a big ask, its never been done before.
And we haven't a hope of doing it without cutting transport emissions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And we haven't a hope of doing that without
you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Now unless you haven’t been paying
attention over the last year, you’ll have noticed that changing transport is
not easy. And not always popular.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As well as being complex and slow to
change, the transport system we are dealing with is not just about engineering,
it’s about emotions, values and identity. About people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The motor industry has spent billions over
decades to get us to think about the car as intrinsic to our freedom, to our
image, and even to our self-worth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">“It’s one of the biggest public relations
coups of all time’’ says the American transport historian Peter Norton. His
research catalogues just how motor industry lobbying has shaped our towns and
cities and indeed our very idea of what ‘normal’ is. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">He calls it ‘<a href="https://pedestrianspace.org/discussing-car-dependence-with-peter-norton/">motordom</a>’: “If you locked me
in a 7-Eleven for a week”, Norton says, “and then after the end of the week
unlocked the door and you studied my diet over the previous seven days, then
concluded that I prefer highly processed, packaged foods to fresh fruits and
vegetables, I would say your study is flawed”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Our choices aren’t always our own. As NICE,
the National Institute of Clinical Excellence said way back in 2007,<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reducing-obesity-environmental-factors"> we’ve created an environment that is ‘obesogenic’</a>. What surrounds us shapes our
behaviour.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Free will is a bit of an illusion if to
reach a health centre we need to get to an out-of-town location that doesn't
have a bus service or even a pavement. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The eureka moment in my own intellectual
journey through transport policy was the realisation that there’s nothing
inevitable about the way our system works. It all reflects choices that have
been made. And we can still make different choices. In fact reaching NetZero
demands that we do make different choices It is always scary to do; people say
it’s just not realistic. But was it realistic to pedestrianise New York’s
Broadway, to make Paris bike-friendly, or to charge people to drive into
central London? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Was it realistic for the <a href="https://ruralsharedmobility.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/SMARTA-IP-Switzerland-v1-r1-AS.pdf">Bern canton in Switzerland</a> to guarantee every small village an hourly bus service linked into
a national timetable?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">There’s nothing in the Dutch DNA that makes
them more likely to cycle in the rain with their shopping than people in
Llanelli or Llangefni. </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">These are all as realistic as you choose
them to be. All of these were a choice to make a change. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It feels daunting. But it is the challenge
of our generation. And it is also the opportunity of your working lifetime, to
get Wales to where the rest of the world is going to need to get to, before
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And if nothing else, it's good for the CV! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Seriously, our message to the people we
need recruit, and the contractors we need help from, should be ‘come to Wales
to be creative, try stuff, and learn, because your next client will be
interested’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Bringing a nation’s bus network back under
public control, and integrating it into One Network is without precedent, and
so could be one of the most rewarding things you do in their career. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This is a huge professional challenge; an
organisational challenge and a culture change challenge. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It’s also a tremendously exciting
opportunity to create something new. Something that will improve people’s
lives, improve the economy of the communities we come from, and it’s a
practical thing we can do to head off a climate catastrophe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Because if we don’t change the way we think
and do transport we simply will not be able to hit our overall legally binding
NetZero target. And we can’t say we haven't been warned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">But that doesn’t change the fact that is
hugely challenging, not least because there is fierce resistance to change –
lots of it organic, a fair bit of it organised. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I noticed a debate on Twitter last week on
whether I was the first or second most hated person in Wales! In return I
tweeted a picture of my dog licking me to show that I’m not universally
unpopular – at least my dog loves me.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I’ve had to face the displeasure of the
public, just as you and your teams on the front-line have had to face
passengers’ frustrations. And I understand why people are unhappy, as I’m sure
you do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We are seen as stopping things without
putting alternatives in place first: You’ve cancelled my new road but you’re
cutting the buses; use the train, you say, but be prepared to stand and be
squashed like a sardine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I totally get that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It doesn’t matter if that’s not the whole
picture, it doesn't need to be. Perception is more important than reality when
it comes to change. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The frustrating thing about being a
Minister is you know what needs to be done, but you can’t always do it all in
the order or the speed you want to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I’m hugely frustrated that we could not
follow through on our intention to introduce a £1 flat bus fare for all. Not a
single person in our government wants to see a bus route pulled. But the
reality of austerity cuts just cannot be avoided. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We’ve done our very best to safeguard as
much as we can – a base bus network that can be expanded when passenger numbers
go back up, or when funding starts to flow again, as I dearly hope it will. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">But fundamentally we’re stymied by a system
that is broken.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Rail privatisation fully collapsed during
the pandemic as every company handed back its franchise. And the commercial bus
model keeled over because there were just no profitable routes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We’re fixing the system, but it takes a
long time to undo the damage. And I’m afraid because of the policy of austerity
we don’t have enough money to do everything we want.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Clearly it would be better, and a lot less
painful, to put alternatives to car use in place before trying to reduce car
use. I agree that it would be better. But that’s not the world we find
ourselves in; and global warming won’t wait for us to get all our ducks in a
row.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">To reach NetZero every sector must cut its
carbon footprint urgently. To-date transport has contributed the least to
cutting emissions – a fall of just 6% since 1990, compared to cuts of 64% in
emissions from sectors like waste . Transport is a laggard.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">But if we are serious about all our talk on
the importance of ‘protecting the wellbeing of future generations’ then that
must change, pronto.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As ever there are loud voices who tell us
not to worry, who tell us there’s no point if China is still opening new coal
mines, and who tell us technology will do the heavy lifting for us so we
needn’t worry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Well like the USA, and the UK, and the EU,
China is not doing enough, but they are shifting, and when they move they move
fast. Last year more solar energy come online in China than in the entire world
the year before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And as the country that kicked off the
Industrial Revolution, we’ve got a responsibility to deal with its consequences
too.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Clearly, we need to decarbonise transport –
the sooner we switch to lower emissions vehicles the better. But the advice of
the independent UK Climate Change Commission is clear, we cannot rely on
electric vehicles to reach our emissions targets. They are necessary, but not
sufficient. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We also need to reduce car use, and shift
journeys onto public transport. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Around 32% of journeys in Wales are made by
walking, cycling, bus and rail at the moment. We’ve got a target to get it up
to 45% by 2040. That’s what we mean by modal shift.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">That still won’t be enough to get us in
line with where the science suggests we need to be, but even doing that will be
a big stretch. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And it cannot be done without TfW. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It cannot be done without you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It is a must-do to avoid the huge harms of
global warming, yes, but it’s also vital to help improve the lives of our
families and our neighbours in the immediate future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">From pavements clogged by cars, to parents
fearful of letting their children play out, to town centres being choked-off by
out-of-town shopping; the impact of a transport policy with the private car at
the centre is plain to see. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">What’s harder to see is the transport
poverty low-income families are forced into because of it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We rightly worry that families who spend
more than 10% of their income on heating their home are suffering Fuel Poverty.
But some of the poorest families are spending up to a quarter of their
household income on running a car – and yet we don’t get as exercised about the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60080f728fa8f50d8f210fbe/Transport_and_inequality_report_document.pdf">transport poverty</a> they are living with. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">If the only viable way to get to get around
is by car, then families force their finances to get one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">High levels of car ownership are not a sign
of success. They are a sign that we don’t give people a choice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And let's not forget those who really don’t
have a choice, some of our most vulnerable neighbours who through being
disabled, disadvantaged, old or poor - simply can’t access a car.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">That’s where TfW comes in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The task is to create a real alternative
for people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">One that people choose to use because it
easy and attractive to use.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">That’s how we achieve our modal shift
targets and reach NetZero: By making sustainable transport a no-brainer. Make
it easy and people will use it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As we’ve learned from our soaring recycling
rates, the 3rd best in the world, make it easy and it becomes habitual –
introduce friction and it fails.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">To get it right we need to start from the
viewpoint of the user – the passenger; the person we want to make life easy
for; the person who usually drives, AND the person who doesn’t have another way
to get around.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">What currently makes most of us jump in a
car? Convenience, flexibility and habit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">How do we get people to choose a different
way to get around? Convenience, flexibility and habit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Simple? Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Easy? No.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">But if anyone can do it, you can do it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The job Transport for Wales was created to
do, is nearly done. The point of <a href="https://news.tfw.wales/news/reopening-the-treherbert-railway-line">delivery of the Metro</a> will mark the end of the
first phase of TfW’s development. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It's time to reboot and start the second
phase – Transport for Wales 2.0.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">If TfW version 1 was about procuring,
designing and delivering a better railway. Version two is about joining up all
forms of public transport and designing them to be the easiest way to make most
journeys.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Now, we’ve made a start. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">First things first, leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Transport for Wales has a key role to play
as a public transport ‘guiding mind’ that integrates bus, rail and active
travel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I have written into <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2023-08/ma-lw-1901-23-eng.pdf">TfW’s official remit letter </a>that the board must lead the change to a multi-modal organisation. A
challenge Scott Waddington and the others have embraced.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The board needs to stitch together the
different parts of the systemTo that end I’ve put a representative of local
government, Cllr Andrew Morgan, onto the board as a formal observer, as well as
the Welsh Government’s Director of transport, Peter McDonald, to sit alongside
our trade union representative and fuse together the critical wiring of the
leadership bodies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We have to recognise this will be as much
about culture change as anything else. I don’t underestimate what a big shift
it represents, nor how hard culture change is. And I think we need to be
upfront about that and recognise what we need to do here. It is at least as
challenging as building a new railway on top of an existing one that’s still
running. At least. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As part of the effort to break down
barriers the first cohort of secondees from TfW will join Welsh Government next
month. This is an opportunity for operational reality to influence policy and
vice versa. And again, it demonstrates the different relationships in Wales
from the one in England between Government and TOCs. Let's leverage that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Marie Daly is a pivotal figure as Chief
Customer and Culture Officer in working with the board and the rest of the
leadership to take TfW 2.0 from theory into practice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As with everything we will do this in
social partnership. None of it can happen without the full buy-in of the
workforce, and we are already having detailed and positive conversations with
the trade unions about how we can best embrace the change together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Marie is a member of the new formal
sub-group of the board that has been created to drive forward the change from
TfW version 1 to version 2. It is being led by Vernon Everitt who, as you know,
has direct experience of running a multi-modal operator as a former managing
director of Transport for London, and now Transport Commissioner for Greater
Manchester where their lessons on bus franchising are invaluable for us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The second big thing we’re changing is the
scope of TfW. As you know I’ve been slowly building up the Active Travel
capability over the last five years. There is now a skilled team that is
evolving into a centre of excellence for Councils and Welsh Government to draw
on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We’ve focused on getting a good pipeline of
walking and cycling schemes for each part of Wales, and want to move on to
behaviour change projects in parallel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Next up is bus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Our current system is broken. In fact, you
could well argue that it was set-up to fail, and covid came along and put it
out of its misery. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We all know that passengers don't
understand why the buses and trains don’t link up. And we’ve spent years
fiddling at the edges with all kinds of well-meaning initiatives to achieve the
holy grail of joint ticketing and integration. They've not really worked
because we haven’t addressed the fundamental problem: the system wasn’t
designed to integrate. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">When the Thatcher Government deregulated
the bus industry in 1985, it designed a system based on competition. They made
it illegal for bus companies to coordinate routes and fares. But as 30 years of
declining passenger numbers and routes has shown, the market has failed to
increase passenger choice. Instead, it has pushed people into cars, and in
effect has told those who don’t drive to suck it up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">To achieve our modal shift targets the
system needs to be overhauled, and we want to give TfW the job of redesigning
public transport in Wales around the needs of the passenger. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Later this year we’ll take a new law
through the Senedd to move from route-by-route competition to a planned
approach. A managed franchised system in place of a free-for-all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Bus routes will not be dictated by the
decisions of private companies of where they can make most profit, they’ll be
designed with local councils using TfW data of where people want to travel to
and aligned with train timetables. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This will be a planned system that will
allow us to end the absurdity of a bus operator refusing to stop at the railway
station because they might lose passengers to the train. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We will end the ban on using the profits of
a busy route in a town to support an unprofitable route in a rural area<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We will design a more efficient system and
end the absurdity of public money supporting competing buses and trains along
the same routes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">To give you one recent example of how
dysfunctional the system currently is let's look at the new Grange hospital
near Cwmbran. Not only was it built without any thought for how people without
a car would access it, but no commercial operator was willing to put on a bus
service. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">When we tried to subsidise a route from the
hospital to local towns we faced the threat of legal action under competition
law because there was an operator who already ran a bus on a very short section
of the route and it was considered unfair that their profit could be harmed by
a publicly supported route. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">That’s the system we’re dealing with! No
matter the needs of the people, the needs of the market come first. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">As I said earlier the fragmented system of
deregulation was not designed to help public transport flourish, and that why
we’re re-wiring the system in Wales to create a seamless one designed around
the needs of people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And that brings me to our third area of
reform to support the move to TfW 2.0. We need to change the plumbing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We must to stop thinking about individual
transport modes in isolation – separate plans for train, bus and active
travel. And start thinking, and working, around the needs of people and of
communities in all parts of Wales.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We are starting to see the fruits of this
approach by tasking the senior team in TfW to start thinking on a multi-modal
basis. In effect all the senior rail people are now also the senior bus people
who are shaping the design of bus franchising. In the People team, Commercial,
Marketing and others, there are already great examples where traditionally
‘rail’ people are now working on bus or integration projects too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Passengers will be able to see what this
means in practice soon. When Cardiff bus station finally opens this year, it
will have the look and feel of a rail station, and a single operational team
will support both. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">If we want travellers to have a seamless
experience, we need our operations to also be seamless between modes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This is progress , and we need more of it.
It doesn’t happen anywhere outside of Transport for London. In fact, we are
working with TfL to deliver management training on how WG and TfW can become
truly multi-modal partners. We are keen to learn and to be outward looking. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I know the culture of working ‘on the
railway’, or ‘on the buses’ is set. But we have to try and reshape it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I want to use the evolution to TfW 2.0 to
create a pipeline of skills and talent that can work across modes. I’ve asked
James Price to look at creating a TfW 2.0 Leadership Academy to nurture future
leaders and encourage a multi-modal culture. </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We have called our plan for bus reform ‘<a href="https://www.gov.wales/one-network-one-timetable-one-ticket-planning-buses-public-service-wales-html">One Network, One timetable, One Ticket</a>’. It is a pithy description of our aim. We
have Dr Ian Taylor to thank for that. He drew on the experience of successful
public transport systems on the continent who have an overarching supervisory
board charged with to co-ordinating all the different functions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">To create the ‘guiding mind’ that will help
join up the different modes TfW will sit alongside Councils and the Welsh
Government in a tripartite partnership to create a whole that is greater than
the sum of its parts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Local authorities are critical to this.
They now need to work at a regional level to develop jointly agreed <a href="https://www.gov.wales/regional-transport-plans-guidance-corporate-joint-committees">Regional Transport Plans</a> which will deliver the modal shift targets in our <a href="https://www.gov.wales/llwybr-newydd-wales-transport-strategy-2021">national transport strategy</a> in a way that’s tailored for each part of Wales and the
communities who live there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">That will help us generate a prioritised
pipeline of multi-modal schemes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">To support that we’re morphing the regional
Metro teams that cover some parts of Wales into regional transport teams for
all of Wales. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">TfW, Councils and Welsh Government working
as one team. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Lee Robinson, now reporting direct to James
Price, as Executive Director for Regional Transport and Integration, will lead
a dedicated team. Again, there’s a big element of culture change here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Some in local authorities have seen TfW as
encroaching on their turf. We want TfW to be seen as a source of help, a
solution to aid overstretched Council teams, not a threat to be resisted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We are all public servants trying to make
people’s lives easier. And we need to think and act like a team.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Lee’s team will support partners to think
regionally, and to think multi-modally; to look at the whole picture, not just
the different transport elements. Land-use and planning are critical to making
modal shift work; we want to end the perverse practice of new developments
being built without thought for how people will get there by public transport
or active travel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">We’ve seen the regional team approach work
really well in the south east where the <a href="https://tfw.wales/projects/burns-delivery-unit">Burns Delivery Unit</a> has successfully
taken the recommendations of the <a href="https://www.gov.wales/south-east-wales-transport-commission-final-recommendations">South East Wales Transport Commission </a>on
alternatives to the M4, and developed a pipeline of public transport schemes. A
joint delivery team, supervised by a delivery board to chase progress. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It has worked. And when things work I’m a
fan of the ‘adopt or justify’ approach. Unless you can give me a good reason
why this approach wouldn't work in your area then you should adopt it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I want the same to happen in north Wales
with the recently published Transport Commission report also led by Lord Terry
Burns. And in the other Corporate Joint Committees too. Ruth Wojtan’s work on
the Burns Commission and that of her team on the north Wales Metro programme
has been instrumental in this thinking and deserves to be recognised.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This is an exciting change programme. It is
critical to the future of your children and our communities. And it is a very
practical response to the question many people ask when they comprehend the
climate challenge – ‘but what can I do?’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This is what you can do: Embrace TfW 2.0;
Think less of modes, and more of people's needs; Think less of organisational
boundaries and more of the outcomes we need, and use your leadership to
kickdown barriers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">TfW have probably been on a faster growth
curve than any other public body in modern Welsh history. Rough edges still,
yes, but hugely impressive. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">After health and education, TfW is our next
largest public service. One of the main touchpoints Government in Wales has
with people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The organisation has already had to invent
itself, and now must redesign itself to meet the challenge of our time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And we want your ideas – the <a href="https://tfwlab.wales/idea-submission/">Challenge 100 scheme</a> is a genuine opportunity for you and your teams to contribute. I won’t
be entering the prize draw, but as my contribution I’ve suggested we look at a
way of selling empty seats at times of low demand at discounted prices. If it
works for Ryanair or MegaBus can it work for TfW? Of course, it’s not as simple
as that but let's see.Let me end by just reading to you the headings from the
TfW remit letter of what needs to be at the core of TfW 2.0:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">(1) Maximise modal shift to sustainable
transport modes <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">(2) Deliver a fully integrated transport
system in Wales <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">(3) Nurture a multi-modal culture in Wales <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">(4) Encourage behaviour change <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">(5) And seize on all these to drive up
revenue, minimise costs and exploit opportunities.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Pulling all this together is what we mean
by TfW playing a ‘Guiding mind’ role. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">There are already brilliant examples out
there that point towards the kind of whole system change in thinking and
approach TfW 2.0 is shorthand for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Take<a href="https://news.tfw.wales/news/sherpar-wyddfa-shines-at-uk-bus-awards"> the Sherpa bus service</a> for example.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">With behaviour change as its starting point
– not as a nice to have, or an afterthought – TfW have come together with Eryri
National Park and local bus operators to try and reduce the number of cars
visiting Snowdonia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And often it’s a series of small changes
that then add up to become more than the sum of their parts:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Tweaking the bus timetable so it marries up
with rail services on the Conwy Valley Line<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">A consistent fare structure that’s easy for
people to understand and a decent website with timetable information<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Putting on more services at busy times<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Rebranding the service and improving the
marketing<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And then behind the scenes: removing the
duplication of services to reduce subsidy and support local authorities to
consolidate and repackage contracts<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Behaviour change led. Properly joined up.
And giving people real choice. That’s what we must do more of, because when its
done well it works. Combined with increased parking enforcement within the
national park this package has led to passenger growth of 38%, and a drop in
the volume of cars in the National Park .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Make it easy and people will make different
choices.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">For 70 years transport policy has focused
on making jumping in the car the easiest way to get around, so that’s what we
do. Turn up and go. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">That’s what we need from sustainable
transport too. Easy, convenient, turn up and go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">A country's public transport system is a
powerful indicator of it values, its culture, and its know-how. By helping to
shape the next version of TfW you have a chance to make a real difference – to
your community, to our country, and to our collective challenge of tackling
climate change. It is as exciting as it is urgent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So let's work together to make something we
can all be proud of.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Now I’ve been in this role for a while and
have done a bit of heavy lifting. But the real job is putting these ideas into
practice, and I can’t do that, only you can. In about 6 weeks we’ll have a new
First Minister. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Both candidates for leadership are
committed to the Metro, and committed to reaching Net Zero. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The board and leadership of TfW are
committed to the objectives of TfW 2.0. Not just because of a remit letter from
a Minister, but because it makes sense to the business. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The change you are all delivering is giving
everyone confidence that TfW is a can-do organisation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The next steps are clear, and they are in
your hands. The challenge is exciting. The prize is huge. The consequence of
failure too grim to think about.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Wales is relying on you all. And I look
forward to watching you seize the opportunity and deliver the real social
network.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Diolch am bobeth un waith eto<o:p></o:p></span></p>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-38811221843092871422024-01-10T09:39:00.000-08:002024-01-10T10:40:42.841-08:00Teething troubles <br /><i><br /> Claims that the <a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/arriva-buses-wales-announce-new-28393389">20mph had led to buses cutting services </a>were raised in the Senedd. Here is my response</i><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />There are lots of challenges facing the bus industry and it's too easy to blame it all on the new speed limit. <br /><br />Let me deal with a number of issues in-turn. <br /><br />First of all let’s remember why we decided to reduce the speed limit in built-up areas: it was to save lives and cut casualties. <br /><br />I set up an expert group to work with delivery partners to design an implementation plan that would work in practice. It did work with TfW which showed that impacts on journey times would be marginal. And they recommended we take the approach of a national default speed limit rather than the street-by-street approach that existed before and was seen to have failed to meet its objectives. <br /><br />It did work with TfW which showed that impacts on most journey times would be marginal. And they recommended we take the approach of a national default speed limit rather than the street-by-street approach that existed before and was seen to have failed to meet its objectives. <br /><br />That default speed limit approach was put to the Senedd and it was overwhelmingly approved, including by the majority of the Conservative group. <br /><br />Let’s remember that. This approach was agreed by the whole Senedd and endorsed by most Conservatives. <br /><br />Now over the last three months we’ve moved from the pilot phase to full roll-out and that has inevitably highlighted some issues that need addressing. <br /><br />I said at the outset that we would not get this right on day one, and that we would review its implementation. That is what we are doing. <br /><br />We set out guidance for local authorities to make exceptions to the default speed limit, and Councils are best placed to apply this to their own local roads – after all, legally, they are the Local Highway Authority. <br /><br />We know from the data we have published and which the Senedd Research Service analysed that the proportion of roads still at 30mph now varies greatly between Councils. From over 10 per cent in Swansea and Bridgend, to under 1 per cent in four North Wales authorities. <br /><br />So clearly Councils to have the power to exempt some roads where they feel it is justified, and whether a street is on a major bus route is obviously something they can take into consideration. <br /><br />This change hasn’t been made in secret. Bus operators had all the information about changes to speed limits available to them to allow them to adequately plan for the introduction of 20mph. <br /><br />Some bus operators like Cardiff Bus changed their timetables before the new speed limit came in. Arriva and First Cymru did not. Stagecoach decided not to make changes because they did not anticipate that the changes would impact significantly on journey times. <br /><br />We know that all companies have been struggling with driver recruitment and that that affected their ability to keep to their timetables. We also know that they wanted to make changes to some routes to reflect the way passengers were travelling – or not travelling after covid. These were all factors in the timetable changes. <br /><br />We have seen claims before this week that the speed limit was to blame for delays and we have asked the bus companies for their data to help us understand that. We’ve had some, are we are waiting for more. <br /><br />I am perfectly prepared to accept that there are some routes where buses are moving too slowly. I’m not convinced that the automatic response to that it to revert all bus routes to 30mph. I don’t think the right answer is to allow some of the heaviest and largest vehicles on our roads to drive the fastest in built up areas where people and traffic are mixing. <br /><br />We want more people to choose to use the bus and know that for years the bus companies have said that congestion is a major problem which impacts on bus reliability. <br /><br />Three years ago in the Wales Transport Strategy we said we wanted to encourage bus priority measures – thing like bus lanes and priority lights to give buses a head start in busy traffic. <br /><br />In this financial year we have committed over £6m this financial for bus priority schemes and over £5m for the next financial year. I want to see bus priority measures prioritised in bids from local authorities, and included in the Regional Transport Plans they are developing. <br /><br />Where there are streets that it would make sense for traffic to travel at 30mph we have encouraged Councils to take a common sense approach. <br /><br />I have talked about applying a ‘sniff test’. We should ask does this feel right? If people are being asked to drive slower on a street it needs to make sense why. If it doesn’t people will tend to ignore the limit and we risk undermining the whole approach. <br /><br />After three months we have all had a chance to get used to the change. And I must say that in my experience as a driver I think people are driving slower – not at exactly 20mph, but at around 25mph. That is what we expected to happen initially. We hope as the change settles in, and enforcement begins, we’ll see that fall further because for every drop in the average speed by 1mph, casualties drop by 6% and we expect speeds to reduce further as enforcement continues. We’ll be publishing the first of the regular six monthly monitoring reports in due course and we’ll have some solid data to compare with my experience. <br /><br />But I also see some stretches where people are ignoring the speed limit, and in some cases that’s because it does not pass the ‘sniff test’. <br /><br />There was always going to be a bedding in period and built into the powers that Councils have as Local Highway Authorities is the ability to make changes. <br /><br />We know that local authorities are already collating lists of roads where 20mph doesn’t feel like the right speed. They understandably haven’t wanted to act hastily as people were getting used to the change. But they do want to review and revise their local speed limits. Nobody anticipates this will involve wholescale changes and will focus on addressing anomalies. <br /><br />I have asked Phil Jones who is leading the review for us to to consider whether further tweaks to the guidance on exceptions would be helpful – for example by explicitly including major bus routes as one of the criteria local authorities can consider. <br /><br />We have been clear we will continually monitor any impacts of the new default 20mph speed limit on bus services. We continue to work closely with bus operators, local authorities and TfW to tackle the wider challenges facing the bus industry.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwzXSxhkPujDtpd0qY8dMWtkvggeWaVEhz-gNwQ9GbLKecx5XeyMGvra8-sX7cDFVPVdwAWlaiLmHFYvlQR2Y3ELoJJsP_DDEwmdfWOK2LUaOy8UDgovxFRy9hFZZLdKxhnlV8FbOY7mG-ttYFpoNogkel_VTx7LMaSTTTv7LcFLWSzS6U3kTnT_dT40/s800/welsh_assembly_rrp06_09.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="800" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwzXSxhkPujDtpd0qY8dMWtkvggeWaVEhz-gNwQ9GbLKecx5XeyMGvra8-sX7cDFVPVdwAWlaiLmHFYvlQR2Y3ELoJJsP_DDEwmdfWOK2LUaOy8UDgovxFRy9hFZZLdKxhnlV8FbOY7mG-ttYFpoNogkel_VTx7LMaSTTTv7LcFLWSzS6U3kTnT_dT40/s320/welsh_assembly_rrp06_09.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-70761369927598710322024-01-10T04:08:00.000-08:002024-01-10T04:08:23.424-08:00A process that is a bit of an event<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLppR88qAyFyWrDS6pVhSRT-sw8WvxoFMOHDIjcd4vo9L20xBIxuPRnnDSjFsxySPxn7rlZXMQbz56bVkKkBwBmWBZUrDC2N8e5CwDwklKP4JvvizUrpoYQt1AY01ufJzN9JEcoYfNmuYWZOXcbMeeS1r1KQPsq9Ep4kcB9OspQMbq0FoT1WGA3Pb4SLQ/s2000/c366262a-c854-4b9f-9d34-b6558fe47ef9%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLppR88qAyFyWrDS6pVhSRT-sw8WvxoFMOHDIjcd4vo9L20xBIxuPRnnDSjFsxySPxn7rlZXMQbz56bVkKkBwBmWBZUrDC2N8e5CwDwklKP4JvvizUrpoYQt1AY01ufJzN9JEcoYfNmuYWZOXcbMeeS1r1KQPsq9Ep4kcB9OspQMbq0FoT1WGA3Pb4SLQ/w640-h480/c366262a-c854-4b9f-9d34-b6558fe47ef9%20(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><i>Speech to Clean Air Cymru Coalition Senedd reception, 9th January 2024</i></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">Well there’s not a
great deal to celebrate at the moment but the passage of Bill, and the way in
which it was done, is definitely a moment worth marking.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">In a few months we’ll be marking the 25th anniversary of the first meeting of the National Assembly for Wales. The Act which established devolution for Wales set in law a commitment to work with the voluntary sector, and a duty to promote sustainable development. And it promised a more consensual, inclusive, approach to decision-making.<br /><br />So I think it is fitting that in this anniversary year we have all succeeded in putting those principles into practice in shaping and passing this important legislation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Having spent a decade
in the third sector before being elected here I don’t always have complimentary
things to say about the ability of the voluntary sector to effectively lobby
and mobilise. But hats off to the Healthy Air Cymru coalition for their
campaigning on this.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">It is not easy to bring
together a group of NGOs and agree a common ask. Nor to build consensus <u>across
parties</u> to bring in legislation and to shape it. And it is especially
tricky to work closely with Government Ministers, advisers and officials on
shaping the details of reform, while at the same time teeing up the opposition
to challenge them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">All the while getting
Government to move further than initially proposed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">All this is tough
stuff. And to pull this off while maintaining good<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>relationships does I think make the work of
the Healthy Air Cymru coalition on the Clean Air Plan the Bill a case study of
how to influence.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">25 years into
devolution I think this work is an exemplar of using our structures, designed
to bring Government closer to the people, to improve the quality of life of us
all in Wales</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Credit where its due,
great job.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">It is only right that I
single out Joseph Carter and Haf Elgar for leading the effort. The Jonny Cash
and June Carter of Welsh civil society. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">Always in harmony, and
never missing a beat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">Seriously, the reason
they have been so successful in shaping this agenda is because they had the
evidence, they knew how far to push, and how to bring people together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">I’d like to pay tribute
to the Senedd Members of all parties who worked together to test our proposals,
and to improve them. Llur Gruffydd, Huw Irranca Davies, Delyth Jewell, Jenny
Rathbone, Joyce Watson and Janet Finch-Saunders – even though she voted against
the Bill! Consensus only goes so far.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">I want to recognise the
work and skills of all those in Government too who responded to this challenge
and turned ideas into workable action. The Civil Servants working on this Bill
really did work into the night on countless occasions to respond to the
requests of me and Julie James to make last minute changes which took us to the
wire.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Diolch to them. And
particularly to our Special Adviser Dan Butler. He may not always reply to your
emails but I can testify that Dan was a critical factor in getting us the Bill
that we trust will soon become an Act. Thank you Dan, you can be proud of your
work on this and you have our gratitude.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span>But of course the
hardest bit is still to come. Implementing the legislation and the action plan
is going to test us all. And will require us all to keep challenging each
other, and to put aside party divides to agree on measures that will put the
aims of this Bill into practice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Let’s not pretend that
the politics of some of these changes are going to be difficult. And its no
good supporting the targets in the Bill if you won’t support the actions that
are needed to achieve them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">There are wins in this
Bill:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">- <span> <span> </span></span>A <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>new air quality <b>target
setting</b> framework that gives Welsh Ministers’ powers to introduce long-term
targets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">- <span> <span> </span></span>Strengthened <b>Local Air Quality Management </b>arrangements which require
local authorities to set dates for <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>air
quality action plans</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Moving
<b>smoke control measures from </b>a civil sanctions regime to a criminal one.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">- <span> </span><span> </span><b>A</b></span><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">nti-idling </span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">measures</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;"> and a
strengthened <b>Active Travel Act </b>placing duties to promote active travel
as a way of improving air quality</span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">We are incredibly proud
of the new <b>duty to promote awareness of air pollution</b>. You will all be
aware of the Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths Report following the tragic
death of Ella Kissi-Debrah in 2013. The recommendations in this Report did not
apply to Wales. However, this duty was primarily developed in response to the
recommendations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the stage 4
debate Julie outlined the influence that the inspirational presentation given
to the Cross-Party Group on a Clean Air Act for Wales by Ella’s mum, Rosamund,
on the impact of air pollution on children’s lungs, had<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Much as I don't much
like the title - The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">We can be proud that putting
the concept of soundscapes into legislation is breaking new ground. Testified
by the 2023 John Connell Soundscape Award for putting the concept of
soundscapes into legislation. And we can look forward to the new plan </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">becoming </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 200%;">the
first National Strategy on Soundscapes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">All this together
amounts to a tangible step forward. A win for us all, and in this 25th
anniversary year, showing the value of having devolved Government and a
Parliament for Wales.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">The original driving
force behind our policy to bring forward a new Clean Air Bill was the desire of
the Mark Drakeford to enable children to go to school and play outside safely
without suffering the impact of polluted air on their health. And I am pleased
that we’ve been able to get this legislation done in his final months as First
Minister.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">We have hard work ahead of us, and a very
difficult budget to operate within, but if we can keep the unity of
purpose we have shown in passing this
legislation we will make a real difference to the air environment in Wales for
current and future generations.</p>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-76202594271205199072023-12-31T05:19:00.000-08:002023-12-31T05:51:24.548-08:002023 - 5 big changes in transport in Wales <p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Changing direction takes you to a different destination...</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOYybhxg4G7f3tEpV6GQdZrIddXMtPZaJQj9HDEVtttKvbOlHiL90d2QL3Et4TlGWCVBf_5PzYEwgEWsM33sOmL7jC0_jrFFuYAiHk75YSl17z8BwABEpSu2im0kgrXP2qfbf087tKFWPlxWhQN6LYXlOTD4JHLFiipkTqHUGu9VCIhemMNMviuKNmd0/s1240/Screenshot%202023-12-31%20130904.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="1240" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOYybhxg4G7f3tEpV6GQdZrIddXMtPZaJQj9HDEVtttKvbOlHiL90d2QL3Et4TlGWCVBf_5PzYEwgEWsM33sOmL7jC0_jrFFuYAiHk75YSl17z8BwABEpSu2im0kgrXP2qfbf087tKFWPlxWhQN6LYXlOTD4JHLFiipkTqHUGu9VCIhemMNMviuKNmd0/w640-h426/Screenshot%202023-12-31%20130904.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>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. <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2023/10/there-is-way-but-is-there-will.html">Unless that changes we will not meet our overall NetZero imperative</a>.</p>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 <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2022/12/we-have-to-re-wire-systems.html">‘change the wiring’</a> to secure medium to long-term change.<br /><br />For all its challenges 2023 has been a year in which transport policy in Wales has changed track. <br /><br />There have been five significant shifts this year which take us in a new direction: <br /><br /><b>1. <span> </span>New road building policy</b><br /><br />On taking office we established a panel of experts to advise on how we could square our carbon targets with the ‘<a href="https://transportforthenorth.com/blogs/benefits-of-decide-provide-approach-transport-planning/">predict and provide</a>’ approach to road building that has contributed to the long-term trend of increasing car journeys and decreasing public transport trips.<br /><br />In <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2023/02/publication-of-welsh-roads-review.html">response to the independent report of the Roads Review </a>Panel in February the Cabinet agreed to <a href="https://www.gov.wales/current-road-improvement-projects">continue to invest in roads</a>, but to pay greater attention to maintaining the roads we already have before building new, as well as giving people an attractive alternative to the private car for routine journeys.<br /><br />As the final report of Lord Burns’ independent <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2023-12/nwtc-final-report-english.pdf">North Wales Transport Commission </a>(another significant achievement this year) made clear ‘for many people, particularly those in rural areas, cars will continue to be the main way they make many journeys’. But we need to give people real alternatives for them to choose.<br /><br />The Welsh Government has agreed that our investment in roads will be subject to four tests:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Does it support modal shift and reduce carbon emissions?</li><li>Can schemes designed to improve road safety be achieved through small-scale changes, such as lowering speed limits, rather than increases in road capacity?</li><li>Is the road scheme needed to adapt to the impact climate change is already having? If so how can it be designed in a way that contributes meaningfully to modal shift?</li><li>If a new road is needed to provide access to jobs or new development is it consistent with <a href="https://www.gov.wales/future-wales-national-plan-2040">Future Wales</a> / <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2021-02/planning-policy-wales-edition-11_0.pdf">Planning Policy Wales 11</a>, which includes the principle of maximising the opportunity of access by sustainable means? And how can any new access road be designed to prevent ‘rat-running’?</li></ul><div>The<a href="https://www.gov.wales/welsh-government-response-roads-review-html#116839"> Welsh Government’s future road building tests </a>state that in developing schemes the focus should be on minimising carbon emissions, not increasing road capacity, not increasing emissions through higher vehicle speeds and not adversely affecting ecologically valuable sites.<br /><br />The panel applied these tests to all 50 roads schemes in development and recommended 15 should proceed in their original form, with others <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2023-02/national-transport-delivery-plan-2022to2027.pdf">scaled back, postponed or cancelled</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The approach will also be mirrored in the way we approach road maintenance too. The <a href="https://www.gov.wales/welsh-government-response-lugg-review-html">independent review of the annual maintenance programmes on the Strategic Road Network, led by Matthew Lugg</a>, set out a new approach. We have accepted the recommendations to:<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Primarily invest in routine and capital maintenance to ensure the trunk road network is safe and serviceable;</li><li>Maintenance work will maximise every opportunity to deliver modal shift, provide a net benefit for biodiversity, minimise pollution and apply the carbon reduction hierarchy when maintaining and operating the SRN.</li><li>The future Asset Management Programme will not assume like-for-like replacement of infrastructure. For example, it may be possible to reduce the costs of asset renewal by reducing the speed or capacity of the road. </li></ul></div><div>This year we have also consulted on a <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2022-08/welsh-transport-appraisal-guidance-weltag-2022_0.pdf">comprehensive revision to WelTAG </a>and are working on stronger governance arrangements to ensure it is applied consistently.<br /><br /><br /><b>2. <span> </span>Slower speeds in urban areas<br /></b><br />On most local roads the speed limit has been 30mph and communities have had to make a case to lower speeds on individual streets to 20mph. <a href="https://www.gov.wales/introducing-20mph-speed-limits-frequently-asked-questions">From September 17th we turned that on its head</a>. <br /><br />The default speed limit on residential or busy pedestrian streets with street lights (so called ‘restricted roads’) switched to 20mph, bu<a href="https://www.gov.wales/setting-exceptions-20mph-default-speed-limit-restricted-roads-html">t Councils have the power to keep sections at 30mph. </a><br /><br />It is estimated that the change could result – every year - in 40% fewer collisions, 6 to 10 lives saved, and between 1200 to 2000 people avoiding injury. <a href="https://blogs.napier.ac.uk/tri/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2022/11/TRI-Technical-Paper-101.The-value-of-Prevention.AD_.pdf">Research by Edinburgh Napier University</a> has estimated this will save the Welsh NHS around £92m in the first year alone - three times the initial cost of implementation. <br /><br />Before the new law came into effect just 2% of roads by length in Wales were 20mph, it now stands at 37%. The proportion of 30mph roads has dropped from 37% to 3%.<br /><br />Councils remain the local Highway Authorities and have the flexibility to set local speed limits ‘that are right for individual roads, reflecting local needs and considerations’. The use of this discretion has <a href="https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/20mph-in-wales-implementation-and-effectiveness/">varied between different Councils </a>and we are working with them on a <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2023/09/confident-about-need-to-change.html">review of implementation</a> and whether further changes are needed to the guidance or the way it is being interpreted. <br /><br />“The significance of the change being made in Wales should not be underestimated. No country has previously chosen to reduce the default speed limit for urban areas to 20mph” according to the report of the <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2020-07/20mph-task-force-group-report.pdf">Taskforce that advised the Welsh Government on its implementation</a>.<br /><br />The primary driver for this reform is road safety, but a significant secondary benefit is to create a local environment that is more conductive to active travel. Vehicle speeds are one of the key reasons why people do not walk or cycle or do not allow their children to walk or cycle to school. The data shows that encouraging more people to swap short local car trips for a bike journey or a walking trip improves local air quality and boosts levels of physical activity - this too makes a contribution to our modal shift targets to get us to NetZero.<br /><br /><br /><b>3. <span> </span>Far-reaching reform to bus<br /></b><br />The collapse of the business model of private bus operators required<a href="https://nation.cymru/news/minister-announces-additional-funding-for-bus-transition-fund/"> another tranche of emergency funding this year. </a>The operation of the Bus Transition Fund marked the beginning of a new way of planning and commissioning buses in Wales.<br /><br />Our bus system is fundamentally flawed and we are seeing evidence of<a href="https://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Report-Public-Transport-Private-Profit.pdf"> profound market failure</a>. Buses are a public service but the commercial model has failed to serve very many communities, and that is why we are introducing the most <a href="https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-one-network-one-timetable-one-ticket-planning-buses-public-service-wales">far-reaching bus reform legislation </a>in the UK. <br /><br />This year has seen significant strides in agreeing the detail of a new Bus Bill which will be introduced into the Senedd in 2024, and just as importantly the new delivery arrangements which will underpin <a href="https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/plans-for-bus-reform-in-wales-saved-by-the-bill-or-knock-out-blow/">bus Franchising</a>.<br /><br />The reduced ‘farebox’ from the slow return of passengers, and the return to austerity public funding, forced operators to determine which routes could run without subsidy on a commercial basis, and made commissioners of services focus on identifying a network of services to prioritise for limited funding. This process identified significant duplication and inefficiencies in the current funding model and in the process established a new way of working at a regional level between Councils, the Welsh Government, TfW and bus operators. Significantly these ‘regional scrums’ also aligned planning of school transport contracts with provision of service buses. This helps lay the ground for bringing school buses into the new franchise network. <br /><br />This year has seen significant progress in creating working arrangements in advance of the legislation for joint-decision making and planning the commissioning of services. This builds the foundations for franchising, and helps create the single ‘guiding mind’ set out in the white paper that will bring key decision makers together to design and deliver public transport services as effectively as they can.<br /><br />There are significant short-term challenges to bus services in what Gramsci called the ‘interregnum’ where ‘the old is dying and the new cannot be born’. It is fair to point out that we are encouraging people to switch to sustainable transport options at a time when bus services are retracting, active travel infrastructure is incomplete and train performance has been woeful. Covid and austerity have added to our short-term challenges here significantly. But to get to where we need to be in the medium-term we need to make structural and cultural changes now, and that will take time to work through. That is what securing the wellbeing of Future Generations is surely about.<br /><br /><br /><b>4. <span> </span>A new remit for TfW<br /></b><br />The vision of an integrated transport system (One network, one timetable, one ticket) which underpins the bus reforms demands joined up systems to deliver it. They don’t currently exist and so it is impossible to properly align the rail and bus timetables. That will change. <br /><br />Transport for Wales was set up to procure a rail franchise and we have increasingly drawn it into bus provision and supporting the delivery of active travel schemes. This year <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2023-08/ma-lw-1901-23-eng.pdf">TfW was given a clear new remit </a>to transform into a truly multi-modal organisation that is outcome focussed and totally mode agnostic. This is also reflected in TfW’s revised Articles of Association and Management Framework.<br /><br />Their remit letter tasks them to ‘Maximise modal shift to sustainable transport modes to support our Net Zero Wales transport obligations and targets’ of 45% of journeys by sustainable modes by 2040 (as set out in Llwybr Newydd Wales Transport Strategy). <br /><br />I set out the concept of Transport for Wales 2.0 in a <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2023/04/salt-in-open-wound.html">speech to a major rail conference in April</a>: <br /><br /><i>‘I see Transport for Wales as a behaviour change organisation, and rail is just one way that is to be achieved. It needs to sit alongside bus, active travel and private transport. <br /><br />Lets stop thinking of the concept of ‘passengers’ and start thinking about people, their lives and their needs when we are designing and delivering transport services that will change behaviours.<br /><br />A good rail offer is obviously an important part of getting people to use their cars less but very often it will be bus that is the right, and best value solution, to connect communities.<br /><br />It is not just about infrastructure, it is about changing hearts and minds, and infrastructure is one way of achieving it’. </i><br /><br />This is as much of a culture change challenge for TfW itself as it for citizens, and the new remit challenges the TfW board ‘to demonstrate leadership across all sustainable transport modes that encourages integration and innovation’.<br /><br /><br /><b>5. <span> New p</span>lumbing<br /></b><br />“You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.” former New York Governor Mario Cuomo famously observed. Shifting the direction of transport policy relies far more on the granular changes to delivery mechanisms than to declarations in a strategy. Two years ago Ken Skates and I published <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2021-03/llwybr-newydd-wales-transport-strategy-2021-full-strategy_0.pdf">a transport strategy which set us on ‘a new path” </a>with a set of stretching targets to decrease car dependency. That was the easy part, following that through with the policies that bring them about is hard, and reconfiguring the systems to make those intentions meaningful even harder. <br /><br />Having set the direction you can’t assume that the civil service will simply ‘take it from here’. <br /><br />Previous transport strategies have been characterised as saying all the right things in the narrative but the follow-up implementation plans are full of business-as-usual. It is not exciting or headline grabbing but getting deep into the ‘plumbing’ is critical to embedding change, and this year we have made some significant strides.<br /><br />The issuing of <a href="https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.wales%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fpublications%2F2023-10%2Fguidance-corporate-joint-committees-regional-transport-plans-version-2.docx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK">detailed guidance</a> to the groups of local authorities that now make up Corporate Joint Committees is a key step in following the high-level strategy in Llwybr Newydd into plans that are submitted for funding via the new Regional Transport Plans (RTPs).<br /><br />The first step emphasised in the guidance is that RTPs should be ‘firmly focused on achieving modal shift’. It also stresses ‘We DO want you to use creative ways to engage people to achieve modal shift; We DO want you to include disincentives for car use as well as incentives for more sustainable travel; We DO want the Strategic Development Plans and the Regional Transport Plans to be developed together’. Aligning strategic regional planning for housing and land-use with regional transport planning is critical. <br /><br />This will only be as good as the follow-up of course. It would be naive to think that some local authorities will not seek to shoe-horn long favoured projects into the new footwear - one Council has already tried to persuade me that a new by-pass is part of the ‘modal choice’ which they think is in keeping with the new Roads Policy (Spoiler alert, it is not). The Welsh Government needs to be firm on these points less our ‘new path’ goes the way of all the others.<br /><br />The other big win this year that will determine the success of implementation is the broadening of the regional Metro teams that are within TfW into Regional Network Planning Teams. This is important for two reasons - it offers a helpful resource to hard-pressed local authorities to help turn their local transport priorities into actionable plans, and it ensures that TfW is working closely alongside the Corporate Joint Committees on a mutli-modal basis rather than adding every more schemes to a future rail pipeline for which there is no funding identified. <br /><br />Getting the relationship right between TfW and Councils / CJCs is of critical importance. It is the cornerstone of the new bus architecture that TfW plays its role as a ‘guiding mind’ - offering support, capacity and expertise to the local authorities and the Welsh Government to make franchising work. <br /><br />It will only work if TfW is seen as a proper delivery partner not as a potential poacher of local government responsibilities. This will rely on strong relationships, which is why I have given the WLGA a formal place on the board of TfW as an official observer (and the same for WG); and why James Price (TFW CEO), Cllr Andrew Morgan (WLGA Transport Lead) and I meet on a regular six-weekly basis to discuss and agree future plans on an open basis.<br /><br />The appointment of Lee Robinson, who is well regarded on all sides, as TfW Executive Director for Regional Transport and Integration reporting directly to TfW CEO James Price is also an important part of making the ‘plumbing’ work. This is alongside a restructure of TfW senior management into thematic roles (away from mode-specific roles) and a comprehensive multi-modal remit for the organisation – ‘TfW 2.0’<br /><br />There’s a lot more that’s been going on this year - including working up what modal shift looks like in practice in rural areas, as well as working through the well-made challenges made by the Cross-Party Group on Active Travel to our delivery arrangements (more on that soon). And it is worth noting that this is all being done alongside the continued delivery of the South Wales Metro Project - the most complex rail project in the UK today - and the rolling-out of a brand new fleet of trains.<br /><br />These are just five themes which show that 2023 has been the most significant year for the development of transport policy in 25 years of devolution. It has been a team effort, and I am very grateful to the support everyone that is involved in rising to this huge challenge. I am especially grateful to Julie James and Mark Drakeford for their support in this shared endeavour. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-20315880570876880132023-10-05T13:05:00.002-07:002023-10-18T10:22:16.029-07:00There is a way. But is there the will?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJbX9rRE-V226YdIbepduBu8NCfx4_4giucV6ovUL-HABEOX01ruxUTgOE9aRhMbV8rqDpyXNJr-GTzxs0Dsf3C9OphbezUcD5THERM6Ekh9vHkTIVO75o4am-M6bfSrJVj9pUHONOWnHoLSqHZoXVCWPBKpn4ikVh604PjahCRUNdi-1lj0GM7jQaPhA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="970" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJbX9rRE-V226YdIbepduBu8NCfx4_4giucV6ovUL-HABEOX01ruxUTgOE9aRhMbV8rqDpyXNJr-GTzxs0Dsf3C9OphbezUcD5THERM6Ekh9vHkTIVO75o4am-M6bfSrJVj9pUHONOWnHoLSqHZoXVCWPBKpn4ikVh604PjahCRUNdi-1lj0GM7jQaPhA=w263-h400" width="263" /></a></div><i><br />Speech to the UK National Transport Awards, Westminster Park Plaza, 5th October 2023</i><div><i><br /></i><div><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span> Diolch yn fawr iawn / Thank you very much for inviting me here tonight to celebrate the achievements of those nominated at these 20th annual National Transport Awards. <br /><br />There’s a lot to say about current events, but I’ve decided not going to dwell on what’s been happening in Manchester this week. But I would like to make two points. <br /><br />Despite the slogan there is no longer a pretence that this Government are thinking about long-term decisions; there is no strategy, it is all tactics. And pretty grubby ones at that. <br /><br />The chaos over HS2 I think illustrates the point. As part of their political mitigation strategy, they have announced a 1 Billion pound initiative to electrify the north Wales rail mainline. <br /><br />They have clearly learnt nothing from HS2, or from the broken promise to electrify the mainline line to Swansea. Then, as now, there was no development work behind the announcement, no plan and no costings. <br /><br />I heard Jeremy Hunt asking why it costs 10 times more to build a railway in this country than just across the Channel in France.” Well, that’s why. <br /><br />I was particularly disappointed to see Mark Harper, who in my dealings has been a decent and reasonable man, drawn into spreading misinformation about what we are doing in Wales, and legitimising conspiracy theories that ‘15 minute cities’ involve local councils deciding how often you go to the shops. <br /><br />That is playing with fire. And if one of the most reasonable Conservatives is being drawn into that type of dangerous culture war I do worry about how we are going to respond to the profound challenges that are ahead of us. <br /><br />These are serious times and we need a serious Government. Thankfully devolution offers us a chance to fashion an alternative way of doing things. <br /><br /><div>A stable, serious Government developing policies based on evidence, and tackling the challenges of climate change that are with us now and are certain to intensify. <br /><br />Just as our parents’ generation asked their parents ‘what did you do during the war mammy / daddy’, we need to be ready with our answer when our grandchildren ask us, ‘what did you do when you were given the evidence of catastrophic climate change, when you were shown flood maps showing seawater rising by 2m, when you saw that 40% of species were in long-term decline, when you were told that all the coral in our waters was on the absolute brink of devastation, when every year broke the record for the warmest temperatures; what did you do? What did you do? <br /><br />There is always - always – a reason for maintaining the status quo. <br /><br />Always a short-term argument for maintaining a business model. For just doing the minimum that is required by regulations, for going with the grain. <br /><br />For waiting for someone else to make the first move. Even though we know deep down that we can’t keep doing what we’ve always done, it is human nature to wait a bit longer before confronting the need for change. <br /><br />Because change is difficult. Don’t I know it. Nearly half a million people – an unprecedented number – have signed a petition in the last two weeks calling for us to abandon our change to the speed limit in built up areas. I’ve had to have security cameras installed in home, a police patrol calling by, I’ve been asked to stay away from events in my constituency that I’d been invited to. And a motion a confidence in the Welsh Parliament. So I know that change isn’t easy. <br /><br />But we are kidding ourselves if we think that carrying on as we are will be easy either. <br /><br />I’m certain there are people here tonight who will say we need to think about the economy; we need to be ‘realistic’ about the tiny contribution the UK makes to global emissions and the self-harm we will inflict by moving before others do. <br /><br />So let me address that head-on. <br /><br />Your operating environment is going to be turned on its head. By the time my children are my age the science tells us that most of the towns on our coast will be flooded. <br /><br /></div><div>Our rail infrastructure; our roads - under water. <br /><br />What’s that going to do to our economy? How is that going to impact your business model? <br /><br />The weather and the wildfires we’ve seen this year, the warmest year on record - the floods, the deaths from heatstroke, that’s the new normal. <br /><br />Over 15 years ago the Treasury commissioned Stern report said we face an annual drop in GDP of 5% unless we radically change course. <br /><br />Every single year a 5% fall in output. That’s not a recession, that’s an endless Depression. And since then the science has hardened, and Nick Stern himself has said his estimates were too conservative. <br /><br />It is in our self-interest to take the science seriously, and to act quickly. <br /><br />In Wales we have placed transport alongside planning, housing, regeneration, and the environment in one climate change department to try and achieve the elusive policy join-up. <br /><br />We have scanned the horizon to identify where we are going to struggle to hit our Net Zero targets. <br /><br />And let’s be clear how tough it is – to be in with a chance of hitting the 2050 target we need cut emissions in the next ten years more than we have over the last 30 years combined. <br /><br />More than three decades worth of cuts in under one decade. <br /><br />Clearly, that’s hard to do. And transport needs to play its part. <br /><br />Since 1990, the base year used by the UN, we’ve managed to cut carbon emissions from waste by 64%, from industry by 36%, the same from the energy sector; even in agriculture we’ve cut emissions by 10%. <br /><br />But transport has decreased the least – just 6% since 1990. And that’s even with the advances in technology we’ve had in the last 30 years. <br /><br />If we continue to move at that pace, we’ll be sunk – literally! <br /><br />Technology alone will not be our saviour. <br /><br />Innovation has a huge part to play in getting to NetZero, and I’m a big fan of the role digital and data in particular can play. <br /><br />But the UK Climate Change Committee – the independent advisors to all the Governments in the UK – are clear. <br /><br />The move to electric cars is necessary but not sufficient. <br /><br />I know there are plenty of people who think that all we need to do is switch to EVs and it’s job done. It’s just not true. <br /><br />We also need to shift behaviour. That is why the Welsh Government have put Modal Shift at the heart of our transport strategy. <br /><br />As well as converting our car fleet to electric we also need to reduce the need to travel, that’s why we have a target of 30% of people working remotely on an ongoing basis. <br /><br />And, crucially, we need to shift the journeys we do make to sustainable forms of transport. <br /><br />We are challenging ourselves to switch the number of trips by sustainable modes from the current 32% to 45% by 2040. <br /><br />Now that is a stretch. <br /><br />And we have to be clear what it involves. <br /><br />It means an end to the ‘Predict & Provide’ approach to road building. <br /><br />We paused our pipeline of highway schemes and asked an expert panel to test it against our carbon targets. <br /><br />We cancelled many and changed more in line with a new set of climate proof tests for when roads are the right solutions to transport problems. <br /><br />And there will be times when roads are the right answer. <br /><br />And our invitation to the professions is if you want interesting work, professional challenges, a chance to get ahead of the curve, come to Wales and work with us on applying our new road building tests in practice. <br /><br />Despite what was said in Manchester this week this is not a ‘Ban on roads’. We are building new roads now and will continue to. But a building a road cannot be the default answer wherever we face congestion, or have an accident blackspot. <br /><br />As well as consuming tonnes of carbon from all the steel and concrete required for construction, roads quickly fill up with traffic again and deepen the cycle of car-dependency. <br /><br />The business case of the Flintshire ‘Red Route’ that we cancelled on the advice of our Roads Review Panel said that congestion levels on the new 350 million pound road would be back to current levels within 15 years. <br /><br />Predict, provide, and repeat. <br /><br />We’ve got to break this cycle. <br /><br />For 70 years we’ve focused on making the car the easiest and most convenient way to get around. So that’s what people do. <br /><br />If we want people to use alternatives, we need to take the pain away. We need to make the right thing to do the easiest thing to do. <br /><br />But to be more than a slogan that requires cultural and system change. Not just headlines but a change to the hard wiring. <br /><br />The Treasury need to start to valuing bus passengers, pedestrians and cyclists in its formulas, and stop obsessing about trying to monetise notional time savings. <br /><br />70 years of orthodoxy has pervaded every corner of transport principle and practice - from the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, to Parking Standards for new housing development, and the Red Book on Street Works used by contractors across the UK. <br /><br />There is hardly a nerdy manual that is not infused with car dominance. There’s nothing unconscious about this bias. <br /><br />We need to re-write our systems to make sure they are focused on modal shift. To make sure our high level goals are aligned with the delivery mechanisms. <br /><br />We’ve been taking a new strategic approach to active travel for a decade now. This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Active Travel Wales Act, a law I led the campaign for that I am now trying to implement in Government. It places a duty on Highway Authorities to plan routes not just for cars but for people too. <br /><br />And we’ve backed it up with investment, more spending per head than any other part of the UK this year. A sharp contrast to England. <br /><br />I really do applaud the creation of Active Travel England, but the DfT decision to slash the budget for walking and cycling was miserable and myopic. <br /><br />We are making roads safer and more welcoming for people to walk and cycle, and for children to play out, by setting speed limits on streets in built up areas to 20mph as a default – but giving Councils the ability to exempt roads that are best left at 30mph. <br /><br />It is the biggest change in the rules of the road since wearing seat belts became compulsory in 1983. And just as with that change, there is push-back, but there’s no going back. <br /><br />Our initial data shows that average speeds are already down and, as a result, we can expect to see fewer accidents, fewer casualties, fewer deaths, fewer tragedies. A little bit slower, yes, but a whole lot better. <br /><br />We are also breaking new ground in our approach to bus reform. <br /><br />The claim in the 1980s that bus deregulation would bring lower fares and more services has been tested to destruction. <br /><br />Next year we’ll be legislating in the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament, for the most far-reaching changes in the UK. <br /><br />We are planning a whole system shake-up which goes beyond the bus partnership approach just launched in Manchester - and kudos to Andy Burnham for taking a stand in the courts that has allowed us to follow-on. <br /><br />Our planned system of franchising will finally reverse the fragmentation of bus privatisation. It will correct the market failure which has seen bus use steadily fall to the point that half of us never set foot on a bus. <br /><br /></div><div>Simply put – our plan is for One Network, One Timetable, One Ticket - putting people before profits. <br /><br />We are building a Billion-pound Metro system for the Cardiff City region, a project that the former Chair of Crossrail, Terry Morgan, said was the most ambitious project on the UK railways today. <br /><br />Not only are we building a new railway on top of an existing railway whilst it is still operating, but we are innovating with departures from industry standards to allow bi-mode tram-trains to run on newly electrified lines, and through old tunnels. <br /><br />Welsh passengers have become accustomed to being the runt of the litter when it comes to rolling stock. But not any more. <br /><br />We are spending 800 million on brand new trains – many of them assembled in Wales by CAF in Newport. <br /><br />But people won’t believe it until the see it. Passenger expectations are so low though that when our brand new Stadler trains arrived at Bargoed train station, at the top of the Rhymney valley, the passengers didn’t get on because they didn’t think the train was for them. <br /><br />The awful truth is that even though passenger expectations of our public transport system are low, we still often fail to meet them. <br /><br />And cuts in bus funding, and the failure of the UK Government to make rail infrastructure investment that will make a meaningful difference in the near term, won’t help. <br /><br />I am acutely conscious that there’s a gap between our rhetoric and the reality for many passengers today, between the plans we have and the situation they face now. <br /><br />And that’s where we are vulnerable to the populist rhetoric around a war on motorists. <br /><br />And I want to finish on this. <br /><br />We are close to the point of no return with climate change. But we are not there yet. We still have choices. There is still hope. But pulling back from this point will challenge us all. <br /><br />Everyone in this room is a leader. We all have choices. <br /><br />We can seek to exploit the difficulties that this challenge will throw up to advance short-term interests. <br /><br />Or we can recognise the shared interest in getting the transport system to play its part in delivering the imperative of NetZero emissions no later than 2050. <br /><br />We will only be able to bring people with us if we make it easy for them to get around. If we expect people to make heroic sacrifices, we will fail. <br /><br />We have to make the right thing to do the easiest thing to do. <br /><br />And thankfully, that is do-able. <br /><br />There is a way. But the question for us is – is there the will? <br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsV-iAVSgbUHRHWmxmibG6nXTqdIZE4iNogtB0GZsLqi-BSDa5JHm-kwgp2TNTlJoqriNRYrMEcQkyxp10dkoFjqRf0Z8KWNS4xy0XlnQMF9y0wlr6LMWCyNzVu6JfsCm55NRlCy6R5PH1tgUPAABJtL_GwtZO7fMyiWiKDwo3eXNT8LLuuxZI1aLTc8Y" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="701" data-original-width="1024" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsV-iAVSgbUHRHWmxmibG6nXTqdIZE4iNogtB0GZsLqi-BSDa5JHm-kwgp2TNTlJoqriNRYrMEcQkyxp10dkoFjqRf0Z8KWNS4xy0XlnQMF9y0wlr6LMWCyNzVu6JfsCm55NRlCy6R5PH1tgUPAABJtL_GwtZO7fMyiWiKDwo3eXNT8LLuuxZI1aLTc8Y=w640-h438" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /> </div></div></div>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-20031413401587404892023-09-28T03:38:00.003-07:002023-09-28T03:38:37.895-07:00Confident about the need to change<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-92U3r9tMiZIL1a0NdOTPhhd4fqvOWeI5wDCZyIKhDZjntRomP-ZwyTT8GUlJXtLTBHWgOxWI3KNOglmjQqrG5KYIHMNzrmJW92OX_zCyw8AXxWT1xW7WMb_Vvyc3qXw3USyuXYPXAUN250v4MrZKk8Y8ad4j4q_396SGfFwrQGN74cp81cWmY12t0s8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-92U3r9tMiZIL1a0NdOTPhhd4fqvOWeI5wDCZyIKhDZjntRomP-ZwyTT8GUlJXtLTBHWgOxWI3KNOglmjQqrG5KYIHMNzrmJW92OX_zCyw8AXxWT1xW7WMb_Vvyc3qXw3USyuXYPXAUN250v4MrZKk8Y8ad4j4q_396SGfFwrQGN74cp81cWmY12t0s8=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i><br />Speech to the Senedd on 27th September 2023 responding to a motion of No Confidence</i><br /><br /><br />I recognise the strength of feeling there is against the change to the speed limit. The number of people who have signed the Senedd petition speaks for itself, and we certainly take it seriously. <br /><br />I understand that lots of people are angry and frustrated. My message to the more than 400,000 who have signed the petition is simple: <br /><br />We are listening to what you're saying, we understand not everybody likes this, and we are willing to be flexible on how this is implemented in your local community. <br /><br />Llywydd, this is the biggest change in the rules of the road since wearing seatbelts became compulsory in 1983. That too was highly controversial and strongly resisted. Many people found it hard to adjust but it became accepted, and nobody has suggested we should go back. <br /><br />And that’s what’s happened in areas that have dropped the speed limit too. <br /><br />We won’t be going back either. On streets where people and traffic mix the evidence is very clear that 20 saves lives and cuts casualties. <br /><br />But we will be flexible in how it is implemented, and we will continue to work with local authorities to get it right. <br /><br />I am very pleased that the early and emerging traffic data from the first week signals that people are supporting the change by slowing down. <br /><br /><div>The data so far shows that the average delay to journey times is less than 1 minute. I know that is not everyone's experience, but that’s what the anonymised Sat Nav data that we’ve had so far is showing. <br /><br />It is also encouraging that both Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s have said in the past few days that they’re not planning changes to delivery patterns or increasing charges for customers in Wales. <br /><br /></div><div>10 days on and the signs are promising that the change is already bedding in. But they say it takes 28 days to change a habit. <br /><br />This week’s SatNav data suggests half of all drivers are complying with the limit, and we expect that to rise as driving at 20 becomes the norm. <br /><br />Llywydd, the debate has shifted. There is now broad agreement that 20mph is the right speed outside schools, health settings and residential areas. <br /><br />And let's be clear what our guidance actually says: on roads that are within 100m of an educational setting, a community centre, a hospital or close to shops and homes, 20mph is the right speed. <br /><br />That is a sensible guiding rule. <br /><br />But of course for every rule there is an exception. For example if a road passes the backs of houses and there aren’t people crossing then I’d expect that to stay at 30mph. We need to apply common sense. And Councils are able to make those decisions. <br /><br />As the guidance says, and I quote, ‘highway authorities continue to have the flexibility to set local speed limits that are right for individual roads, reflecting local needs and considerations. Where their decision deviates from this guidance highway authorities should have a clear and reasoned case’. <br /><br />Right across Wales Councils have already used their powers to make Exceptions ahead of the roll out on September 17th. They have exercised their ability to keep some roads at 30mph, which is why this is not a ‘blanket’ policy. Those powers remain with them for them to use in the light of experience. <br /><br />To be fair, Councils are in a difficult position. The research tells us that people want lower speeds on the streets they live on, but are less keen on lowering speeds on roads they drive on. <br /><br />In fact, when Councils have decided to keep some streets at 30mph the people living on them have objected. <br /><br /></div><div>It is a very difficult balance to get right. But we will work with local authorities to help get it right. <br /><br />I want to thank local authorities for all the work they’ve done in the run-up to September 17th and the work they continue to do <br /><br />We will work with them to keep a close eye on how it is going. <br /><br />Later this week we will be publishing the framework for how we will monitor the changes. <br /><br />In January we will publish the first set of post-implementation speed data. <br /><br />By the summer we'll publish the first detailed results for the first six months of the limit being in force. Then there will be further formal monitoring on an annual basis for the next 5 years. <br /><br />We are asking councils for feedback on the experiences so far, what has gone well and what might need to change. And of course we would welcome scrutiny from the Senedd and its committees. We are not digging our heels in, we want to take a common-sense approach. <br /><br />In parallel, we will work with councils to consider whether our exceptions guidance needs clarifying, recognising it will take some time to bed in before we can draw wider conclusions. <br /><br />I want to place on record my thanks to everyone in Wales who is doing their bit to help make our communities safer. <br /><br /></div><div>Speeds are already down. And as a result we expect to see fewer accidents, fewer casualties, fewer deaths. <br /><br />A little bit slower, Llywydd, but a whole lot better. <br /><br /></div><div><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /> </div>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-7278353857230523912023-09-15T01:18:00.002-07:002023-09-15T01:22:43.107-07:00How much is a life worth?<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDQruVwp8g4EKApV5s3xCVvnlak6v3WuqgVPk_tTVDSS6jQB5alNrihEW0N83prNoEdSZSaODSmbZ8AK7F9z0Otke9rANW_gTjPReSDXjwsWaq6PCs9BHPyCrrA-MgrH5zpwxfnEgJ__IXEcPoIU5Bv0MTLzXxby22I68P92jV1KFpGBHIePu1uTECcQ/s660/IMG_0602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="438" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDQruVwp8g4EKApV5s3xCVvnlak6v3WuqgVPk_tTVDSS6jQB5alNrihEW0N83prNoEdSZSaODSmbZ8AK7F9z0Otke9rANW_gTjPReSDXjwsWaq6PCs9BHPyCrrA-MgrH5zpwxfnEgJ__IXEcPoIU5Bv0MTLzXxby22I68P92jV1KFpGBHIePu1uTECcQ/w424-h640/IMG_0602.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So what will the cost to the economy be of a safer speed
limit in residential areas? <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The headline figure that has been estimated is 4.5
Billion. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is an arresting figure, but it isn’t really what it
seems. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As part of the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7645576064908755419/727835385723052391">Explanatory
Memorandum</a> we have to publish we have to produce an estimate of costs
and benefits. And we have to use the approach set out in the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7645576064908755419/727835385723052391">UK
Treasury’s Green Book</a> for evaluating schemes. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And we have to try and put a financial value to this, but of
course there are some things you cannot measure: the grief to a family of a
child killed on their street; the social value of meeting neighbors in the street
and chatting, the absence of stress from engine noise that is louder in a
street with a 30mph limit. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those things and more aren’t captured by the Treasury Green
Book. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It measures what it can, and it tries to put a monetary
value next to it. And as the Explanatory Memorandum makes clear there is a lot
of uncertainty about these figures. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In transport schemes this is mostly around the estimated
value to the economy from journey times. The approach generally assumes that
the faster people get places, the better it is for the economy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now that will be true about some journeys, for example
deliveries, but not true about others, like visiting your granny. If
I’m a minute late getting to the dentist is that really harming the economy?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our analysis shows that individual journeys will on average
only be affected by one minute, and most journeys affected by less than 2
minutes. Very small and hard to reliably monetize. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the Green Book requires us to add up every minute lost
and multiplying it by 30 – because the analysis has to cover a 30 year period.
And that’s where the figure of 4.5 Billion impact on the economy comes
from. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There's lots it doesn't capture though. The <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7645576064908755419/727835385723052391">Explanatory
Memorandum </a>(p32) says It is important to note that there are a number of
wider benefits such as reduced noise pollution, broader impacts health impacts
from active travel, increased social interactions, retail spending and land
values that are not included in this calculation. Moreover the increases in
individuals’ travel time are likely to be small and so there is uncertainty
about the opportunity cost of that time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An estimated impact of 1 min on journey time needs to be set
against an average annual reduction of 9 fatalities, 98 serious injuries and
219 slight injuries, and an average annual increase in cycling and walking
trips of around 11 million. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In Spain, where the speed limit on the majority of its roads
dropped to 30km/h in 2019, there have been 20% fewer urban road deaths,
with fatalities reduced by 34 per cent for cyclists and 24 per cent for
pedestrians.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And if you have to put a monetary value on human life we
should remember the average cost of a police reported fatality collision
in Great Britain is £2.3 million (using 2021 prices) and in Wales there were 28
fatality collisions on 30 mph roads in 2022.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even the latest version of the Green Book, which we used for
our impact assessment, recognises the inherent problem in this kind of
approach. It says that ‘Value for Money is a balanced judgement based on the
Benefit Cost Ratio which brings together social costs and benefits including
public sector costs over the entire life of a proposal, together with
decisively significant unquantified deliverables, and un-monetised risks and
uncertainties’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The latest version of our Welsh Transport Appraisal
Guidance, published in draft last year, requires the element of the
value-for-money assessment based on journey times to be calculated and
presented separately to enable decision-makers to take a view as to the
relevance and validity of the journey-time element. So that’s what we did for
20mph. And, as the Explanatory Memorandum shows, when you exclude the journey
time disbenefits, which as I have explained are contestable, the net present
value of the policy is a positive £1.9bn.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-2980071569523133592023-09-13T01:14:00.004-07:002023-09-13T01:14:49.641-07:00Lower speeds save lives<i>Speech to the Senedd on September 12th 2023</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-3MfHs-f9-UKS2yGCBkcnZlhx9Szk_kRS-O8tdvUZdfk2CKDgIO9gH3t9lz6LCpu5iGtJynlPpFztjD2NFzVDeOZ2B3mRgvIpRMLoUKkgmA2XGTPJ57FUbg6EcJY09sOUqcHJvTgYPd7rqxJs2P6DlWIc5TaPdxqei3-1ls1HONs51KBBr73K5E_1Js/s1200/1687099530449.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-3MfHs-f9-UKS2yGCBkcnZlhx9Szk_kRS-O8tdvUZdfk2CKDgIO9gH3t9lz6LCpu5iGtJynlPpFztjD2NFzVDeOZ2B3mRgvIpRMLoUKkgmA2XGTPJ57FUbg6EcJY09sOUqcHJvTgYPd7rqxJs2P6DlWIc5TaPdxqei3-1ls1HONs51KBBr73K5E_1Js/w640-h360/1687099530449.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br />From Sunday most roads with a 30mph speed limit in Wales will be changing to 20mph.<br /><br />This is the biggest step-change in community safety for a generation.<br /><br />It will save lives, prevent injuries and encourage more people to walk and cycle.<br /><br />It make our streets safer for all road users, including car drivers, and improve the quality of life for everyone in local communities.<br /><br />On the two occasions when we debated the approach we are taking on 20mph there was cross-party support– including in 2020 from the Conservative benches, and their group leader at the time – and the policy was backed with significant majorities.<br /><br />Change is never easy and as we have got closer to 17th September, and with greater awareness of the need speed limit coming into affect, concerns are being surfaced.<br /><br />People’s natural anxieties about change have not been helped by blatant misinformation being cynically spread by the Conservatives in Wales.<br /><br />Under our Standards of Personal Conduct in this Senedd the rules state that Members must act truthfully. I regret to say that Conservative members are falling short of that standard in the false claims they are making about this policy – a policy many of them voted for in this siambr.<br /><br />I want to take the opportunity today to set out the facts.<br /><br />The hardest hitting fact is that if a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle moving at 30mph, they are around five times more likely to be killed than if they are hit at 20mph.<br /><br />It’s simple, lower speeds save lives.<br /><br />It’s not just me saying that – those are the exact words of Dr David Hanna, a consultant in paediatric emergency at the University Hospital of Wales. It is his job to deal with the consequences of children being hit by cars travelling at 30mph and more.<br /><br />He has described the devastating, life-changing injuries children, young people and their families have to deal with as a result of road traffic collisions – more than half of which occur on roads where the speed limit is currently 30mph.<br /><br />Being struck by a moving car is the biggest cause of serious injury in children.<br /><br />Public Health Wales estimates we can expect to see a 40% reduction in collisions; six to 10 lives saved every year, and somewhere between 1,200 and 2,000 people avoiding injury every year in Wales once we’ve moved to 20mph.<br /><br />As well as reducing human misery this will also ease pressure on our over-stretched emergency services.<br /><br />Casualty prevention savings, which include reducing the need to attend so many road traffic collisions and reducing the flow of injured people needing treatment at A&E, is expected to save £92m in the first year alone, and for every year after.<br /><br />As the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Frank Atherton says: “Not only will slower speeds save lives and reduce injuries, it will also help keep people healthier and reduce the burden on the NHS”.<br /><br />Llywydd, a 20mph default speed limit will pay for itself three times over from savings to the health service in the first year alone.<br /><br />This is not a policy that has been rushed, it has been four years in development in close partnership with local authorities, the police and key delivery organisations.<br /><br />We have piloted it in eight communities across Wales.<br /><br />In St Dogmaels, in Pembrokeshire, the first of the trial areas, 20mph has already proven itself.<br /><br />A car driver avoided hitting a young boy crossing the road because, in their words: “Luckily, I was doing 20mph. At 30mph I would’ve hit him.”<br /><br />There was no need for an ambulance, no need for the police, and thankfully, no need for the parents of that child to hear bad news at the hospital.<br /><br />Many of us are parents and grandparents, we understand the fear of traffic, and know why most people support slower speeds on the streets they live on.<br /><br />And we know that the fear of traffic leads to many children being kept inside to avoid the risk of harm – robbing them of the experiences many of us had of exploring our neighbourhoods and having fun with friends.<br /><br />All this contributes to the Obesogenic environment that NICE has warned us is adding to the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes and obesity.<br /><br />In Spain, in London, in Edinburgh – and soon in Ireland too – speed limits have been reduced to 20 and casualties and deaths are falling too.<br /><br />The evidence for change is very strong and is not disputed.<br /><br />My focus throughout has been to do all we can to concentrate on the practicalities of implementing the new speed limit to ensure its success.<br /><br />In May 2019 I set up a Task Force Group to test our policy intent with experts and practitioners. Led by the widely respected independent transport expert Phil Jones it spent over a year considering the best way to bring in the change and find a consensus. The group included local government officers, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Road Haulage Association amongst others.<br /><br />The task force group report recommended that we move away from short sections of road being reclassified as 20mph and instead said we should change the underlying default speed limit.<br /><br />We should move from the current situation where local roads – called restricted roads – have a default 30mph speed limit where cases can be made for the speed limit to be reduced to 20mph, to a default 20mph limit, where the case can be made for 30mph.<br /><br />There is no “blanket” 20mph, as the Conservatives claim. We are following the approach that the experts recommended.<br /><br />Local highway authorities will retain the power to vary the speed limit according to local circumstances.<br /><br />Each of them have undertaken a thorough assessment of their roads and applied the Welsh Government exceptions guidance and their local knowledge.<br /><br />This has been a significant piece of work and I am extremely grateful to all local authorities who have helped to ensure that the change goes as smoothly as possible.<br /><br />There is inevitably some local variability in how the Exceptions criteria has been applied in each of the 22 local authorities, and by the Welsh Government on the Trunk Road Network. We have encouraged councils to take a common-sense approach recognising that the character of some stretches of road suits 30mph, where people and vehicles don't mix.<br /><br />This is the biggest change in road safety in a generation and despite all the efforts it is unlikely to be flawless on day one.<br /><br />For example, we know that some Councils will have all their signs up on Sunday, and others have decided to take a different approach in sequencing the change.<br /><br />It will settle down. And where communities think councils have got some stretches wrong there will be an opportunity to reflect and revisit.<br /><br />But we do expect, based on the experience in the pilots, that the new approach will be welcomed by and in local communities.<br /><br />It will take a while to adjust.<br /><br />As a driver, I find driving at 20mph feels slower.<br /><br />But just as lots of people didn’t like wearing a seat belt as first, people adjust.<br /><br />As people adjust, we’ll be taking a proportional approach to enforcement.<br /><br />Excessive speeders will be fined and given points, but while drivers are getting used to the new 20mph limit, and if they are not breaching it excessively, they will be offered roadside engagement sessions, where available, with GoSafe and the fire and rescue services, as an alternative to prosecution.<br /><br />I know there are concerns that the new speed limit will add significantly to journey times.<br /><br />The early data from the trials shows that the new limit has succeeded in reducing average speed limits without a significant impact on journey times.<br /><br />This is because most delays occur at traffic lights and at junctions; I’m sure we’ve all been overtaken by a car only to meet them again at the next set of lights.<br /><br />At 20mph there is less breaking and speeding up. This not only reduces harmful particulates from tyres and breaks, which helps air quality, but also means that the average journey is only around 1 minute longer. And it is more efficient. A steady 20mph for many cars will achieve better fuel consumption and use less energy.<br /><br />But most importantly it will save lives. For all the discomfort of change we must not lose sight that this will reduce deaths, it will improve the quality of life in communities by cutting noise pollution, and will feel safer and lead to increases levels of walking and cycling. And there is very strong evidence to support each of these points.<br /><br />That’s why Wales is following Spain to make 20mph the default speed limit on local streets. And others will follow.<br /><br />This is all part of our vision of making Wales stronger, fairer and greener. And I am confident we will look back at this change with pride.<br /></div>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-9599809408991458832023-06-22T06:49:00.000-07:002023-06-22T06:49:08.645-07:00This is not a drill!<span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Speech to the RTPI Cymru Wales Planning Conference<br />Holland House Hotel, Cardiff, 22nd June 2023<br /><br /> <br /></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEildGLGashho3kJ5ZFMT5XcMXVpXSZwgtJQBsLp-QjaoMxVBKQVeWaYMZcp3kMnIcGaCrIN40zHtjRIb4c8Q7Ci4VqGqUnUGpiIKrU3tJSKLa8w7-23bakSQ5oyZeeikQOgQooDefzmkMSFWikRcBMxgXYbq9MXaDMaMcmKuDkK_BwEoUSoq11uUiZlHuY/s800/IMG_0350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEildGLGashho3kJ5ZFMT5XcMXVpXSZwgtJQBsLp-QjaoMxVBKQVeWaYMZcp3kMnIcGaCrIN40zHtjRIb4c8Q7Ci4VqGqUnUGpiIKrU3tJSKLa8w7-23bakSQ5oyZeeikQOgQooDefzmkMSFWikRcBMxgXYbq9MXaDMaMcmKuDkK_BwEoUSoq11uUiZlHuY/w640-h426/IMG_0350.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />I'm here to talk about you. <br /><br />At last year’s conference my colleague Julie James kicked off a conversation about the health and well-being of people in the planning profession. We really are grateful to the <a href="https://www.rtpi.org.uk/find-your-rtpi/rtpi-nations/rtpi-cymru/latest-updates/the-big-conversation/">RTPI for conducting their ‘Big Conversation’</a>; and for gathering views on what it means to work as a planner in Wales. <br /><br />This is a really important issue for us. Because not only do we care about you, but Wales really needs you. <br /><br />You are pivotal to helping us respond to the biggest challenges we face. <br /><br />But you’ve told us through the RTPI’s conversation with you, and there is no sugar coating this, that there are planners today working in exceptionally challenging circumstances, and this is taking its toll. <br /><br />There’s no glib response to that. The workforce has shrunk, and the world load has increased. <br /><br />In the 12th year of an austerity policy the strain is being felt right across public services. <br /><br />I know many of you feel worn down.<br /><br />And as all of us here know, when the Local Planning Authority are under pressure, those submitting applications, those looking to invest, those who will build the houses, the energy schemes get frustrated too. <br /><br />And the experts and specialists planners you rely on are also under pressure, and that impacts on the system day-to-day as well. <br /><br />As Max Boyce said, Duw it’s hard. And trust me I know what it’s like to be treated as a punch bag! <br /><br />I know Julie intends to meet with the RTPI in the coming weeks to get into the findings in the ‘Big Conversation’ report, and discuss what they can do in their role with oversight of the profession; and what she can do in her role as the Planning Minister. <br /><br />She also intends to meet with stakeholders across the built and natural environments to see what each of us can do to ensure that working as a planner is not something that negatively impacts on well-being and health. <br /><br />So let me just say a sincere thank you. We recognise what you are facing; we are grateful. And ‘we need you’, <br /><br />Wales needs you.<br /><br />The babies being born today in the Heath hospital, and in every community across Wales need you. <br /><br />A baby born today will be 83 years old in the year 2100. <br /><br />And unless there are significant reversals in our emissions our towns and cities will be uninhabitable, sea level rises of more than 2 meters will put much of Newport, Cardiff, Swansea, and Llanelli under water. <br /><br />Heatwaves will be more frequent and long-lasting, causing droughts, global food shortages, mass migration, and increased spread of infectious diseases. <br /><br />It may sound like something out of Mad Max but this is the consensus of the world’s climate scientists. It may feel unreal but the data is solid and the UN Panel on Climate Change in its last report said that the most recent emissions levels are at the ‘upper end’ of what was projected. This is not a drill! <br /><br />All the efforts up to know have been to keep global warming within a limit of 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial levels by 2050. This has been regarded as so-called ‘safe’ levels. <br /><br />And look what’s already happening in the last few months. In April the Mediterranean and North Africa experienced an extreme heatwave with Temperatures up to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/04/27/spain-portugal-record-april-heat/">20C higher</a> than normal which scientists say was “at least 100 times more likely” due to climate change. <br /><br />- Cyclone floods in New Zealand <br /><br />- Droughts in large parts of central South America <br /><br />Last summer the UK Health Security Agency issued its first-ever <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/heat-health-advice-issued-for-all-regions-of-england">level 4 heat-health alert</a>, signifying a “national emergency”. In Wales we didn’t come out of drought until October, and that was followed by the wettest March in over 40 years. <br /><br />We are currently experiencing one of the most severe marine heatwaves on the planet in the shallow seas around the UK and Ireland <br /><br />All this when we are within ‘safe limits’ of global warming. <br /><br />But all the carbon we’ve emitted since the Industrial Revolution is already in the atmosphere. Further temperature rises are locked in. <br /><br />We’ve not heeded the very clear warnings to date and the 1.5 degree threshold is highly likely to be breached. And we will move beyond safe levels into what the scientists have categorised as ‘catastrophic’ levels of warming. <br /><br />And I know there are people who say, I don’t mind it being a bit warmer, and I don’t really care about biodiversity. A senior politician said this to me recently. Not only is this staggeringly myopic but it also misses the enormous economic impact of these climate shocks. <br /><br />An environment that can’t sustain mass food production, wild weather upending infrastructure and provoking mass-migration because people can’t live on their land, is also an environment that implodes the economy. <br /><br />I’m not trying to depress everyone but we need some honesty about the trajectory we are on. <br /><br />In my lifetime global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average <br /><br />More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and likely to be lost within 20 years - the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. <br /><br />To give just one example that is easy to relate to lets look at corals. <br /><br />Warm water coral like red coral can live for hundreds of years. These organisms are highly sensitive to warming. In the 1.5ºC scenario the IPCC projects a loss of 70% of warm water corals. Beyond a 2ºC increase, virtually all warm water corals disappear. And this has knock-on effects for the whole eco-system. <br /><br />Now I mention all of this for a reason. This all looks quite bleak. But it is not inevitable. The Italian philosopher Gramsci described the ‘pessimism of the intellect, but the optimism of the will’. <br /><br />It is not inevitable. With will it can be changed. <br /><br />And you are critical to meeting this challenge. That baby born earlier this morning in the Heath is relying on your profession to secure a safe and resilient place to grow into adulthood into. <br /><br />Now we know the constraints you operate within – that we all operate within. In fact the Welsh Government has a unique view of the whole planning system. <br /><br />We see all your local development plans and the issues you face. We see the developments of national significance, planning appeals and call-ins. We see the major regeneration schemes and the investments made by both the public and private sectors. <br /><br />We discuss planning issues with local authority leaders, developers, industry representatives, communities, academics, students, charities and NGOs. We have inboxes focussing on developments big and small across the whole country. <br /><br />Taking all of this insight together, and given that I believe we already have the fundamental planning tools in place, the conversation I want to stimulate is how we can mobilise the optimism of the will to make sure we rise to the challenge of our times. <br /><br />Lets be frank, there are times when schemes come to our attention – at all scales, and in all places – where we at not embracing the thinking required to deliver the change we need to see. <br /><br />Now believe me I understand it is hard to challenge business as usual and established economic orthodoxies but that is exactly what you as planners must do. <br /><br />One of the Comps in Llanelli, Bryngwyn school, put out its thought for the week on social media on Monday and it caught my eye, it said ‘Behold the turtle – it makes progress only when it sticks its neck out’. <br /><br />It isn’t easy to challenge the assumptions and thinking we bring to the plans and schemes we are involved in. But we must not dress up old approaches in new language. We cannot afford a ‘tick box’ approach to planning. We must all face up to the choice between what is right and what is easy. <br /><br />Think about the day you retire and you are asked to write a letter to that baby being born today, think about what you’d say to them about why when you saw the science you didn’t act <br /><br />Out of town developments that undermine town centres. Inappropriate new developments in flood plains. Road based, car orientated places that create obesogenic environments that actively discourage cycling and walking. Poor quality housing in the wrong location. Destruction of habitats. Loss of green infrastructure. Drive through coffee shops, look alike town centres and identikit houses. <br /><br />Is it unfair to blame planners for all these things? Yes, of course it is, because you work in a political environment, with powerful market forces, competing interests and a whole myriad of contradictory opinions. <br /><br />We recognise that you’re under resourced, definitely undervalued and probably under paid. Nothing in planning is easy and everyone thinks they can do it better. <br /><br />But - if we are to advocate that the planning system is the best tool we have to address the issues I’ve outlined, I believe we also have to recognise that the planning system has played a part in getting to us where we are. And has a critical part in getting us out if it. <br /><br />We believe our national planning policy sets out the path we need to follow. It’s all there. The policies say all the right things. <br /><br />And we’re strengthening them. An updated version of PPW will be out in the Autumn, and Infrastructure (Wales) Bill was introduced in the Senedd last week will create a new ‘one-stop-shop’ consenting regime, where necessary permissions, consents, licences and other requirements can be obtained as one package. <br /><br />But for all that, we know that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Time and again, the words on a page are not reflected in decisions. That’s what we all need to take responsibility for changing. <br /><br />It is not acceptable to have developments that have advanced a long way into the planning process that are silent on biodiversity. Or which haven’t properly engaged with the communities that will be most affected. Or which are out of town, with big car parks and no access by more sustainable means. <br /><br />If listening to me today, you think – we already do this. Good. Do it more. <br /><br />If you think – it’s easy to say all this, it’s much harder to do – that’s right but we are going to have to do it. <br /><br />It is not easy. But nor will the future we are heading towards be unless we change. <br /><br />Just as we have done with our new approach to road building, we need to confront orthodox thinking and apply the lens of future generation thinking. <br /><br />Lets challenge each other to get things right. What more can we do, what more can you do. <br /><br />It may not always feel like it but you are valued. Your work is really important. And it has a vital part to play to helping us all navigate the profound challenges we all face. <br /><br />Remember, it is understandable to be pessimistic. But let us all summon the optimism of the will. <br /><br />We’re not here for long, so lets make what we do count.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><br /><br />Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-52604377915545697862023-04-20T04:37:00.003-07:002023-04-26T01:24:35.838-07:00Salt in an open wound <p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Speech to Rail Cymru 23 Conference at Holland House Hotel Cardiff, 20th April 2023</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UGU7LBRQz_A2s_DDkj1RhAp1D5YYIP3mf9EFjg0_kTrXq-rHOBb2ITl28NwNOHQbfudyv7tWCV4hEnQTHOzHYpiF2rluTa9X2RykL4BQELSwt53RgnBGagiHyFBbcgRt8O4kBg-e4CjFfSdqgxnCvUHo8IhTYUlNWrGb4hvSiqJSgeRfZ0qwROHf/s3291/IMG_0826.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1781" data-original-width="3291" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UGU7LBRQz_A2s_DDkj1RhAp1D5YYIP3mf9EFjg0_kTrXq-rHOBb2ITl28NwNOHQbfudyv7tWCV4hEnQTHOzHYpiF2rluTa9X2RykL4BQELSwt53RgnBGagiHyFBbcgRt8O4kBg-e4CjFfSdqgxnCvUHo8IhTYUlNWrGb4hvSiqJSgeRfZ0qwROHf/w400-h216/IMG_0826.jpeg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Thanks for the chance to make a contribution, it’s a good opportunity to share some honest reflections on all that is going on in rail and some of the stark challenges ahead. </span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a0eeec78-7fff-503e-e063-97e320250537"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope you are not expecting a bland speech peppered with platitudes. What I hope to do is give an unvarnished view of where I think we are in the hope and expectation that being clear about what we need to do will help us all to make improvements. I hope you take it in the spirit it is intended, a collective challenge rather than a pointed criticism. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite what you may have read I am a regular rail user, and have been all my working life. In fact last year I swapped my second car for a folding electric bike, and I’m now a regular on the train to Llanelli. I experience first hand the frustrations that rail passengers have become all too familiar with.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I must confess, it’s a little awkward bringing up with my fellow passengers that I am in fact the Transport Minister! Because when your train is cancelled, or replaced by a bus, or overcrowded, you don’t really want to hear of the £1 Billion Metro that’s going to transform services in Cardiff and its valleys, or about the £800 Million investment in brand new trains that are running on the Rhymney line; that’s not much comfort when a two-car 150 trundles up in Llanelli, already nearly full. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I bore myself in interviews when I say things will get better, soon…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And of course they will, in large part because of the determination and dedication of the all the people working really hard to keep the current trains running, and to deliver the long promised transformation. And hats off to them. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course things will get better. But marketing melts in the face of the intensity of experience.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to pay particular tribute to the small team who run the TfW twitter account! They fill a void that has long existed in public transport - they tell passengers what is going on. We’ve still got a lot to do in this regard. It is a horrible, disempowering experience being a passenger when things go wrong; and the feedback is always the same: ‘we just want someone to tell us what’s happening’.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Twitter team do a great job. And I recommend you look at the messages they reply to every day. Here’s just a random sample from earlier this week. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Tuesday Debbie tweeted ‘This morning I went to get the 0711 train from Llandaff to Queen St and it was cancelled. Standing room only on the 0726. Told at the station that next week my train is not running at all! Waste of time buying my railcard.’</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aly tweeted: ‘Wales wants people to ditch their cars and use public transport. 8.11 Ebbw Vale line train to Cardiff today only two carriages and rammed by the time it reached Rogerstone. Like travelling on a cattle truck. Not doing much to encourage commuters !!’</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bille tweeted: ‘First train was cancelled, second one delayed and horribly overcrowded. Now it’s kicked us off in central instead of going to queen street. I am sick of the Barry service being such a mess everyday. I already leave over an hour earlier for work and I’m still late!’</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now I realise that running a railway is very difficult. And that Jan at Transport for Wales, Nick at Network Rail, and the team at Amey, are working incredibly hard to improve day-to-day performance. I also appreciate that there are good reasons for all of these situations, and obviously all the people who have daily positive experiences don’t take to social media to talk about the mundane success of their daily commute. As James Price has said TfW’s performance has been steadily mid-table when compared with other operators around the country, and will get back there soon..</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But even so, you can’t see the photos of overcrowding, or the awful experiences people report, without acknowledging that the day-to-day reality facing many rail passengers in Wales has been pretty bleak for a while.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It will get better. But it's not better yet, and we should have the humility to acknowledge that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are not running a railway for its own sake, we are running it to help improve people’s lives and we should never lose sight of that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nobody who has travelled on the new Stadler units, or the CAF trains we’re currently testing up in North Wales, will deny they are fabulous. They are. And the more people who travel on them, the more we will be able to address the jaundice and fatigue understandably felt by passengers and staff.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: inherit; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the first day the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stadler 231’s were running on the Rhymney line, I popped on one for a short stretch to see for it myself. One of the guards told me that when the train had arrived in Bargoed that morning the passengers had waited on the platform after it had opened its doors, they just could believe this swanky new train was for them!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On one level I thought it was comical, but also poignant. Because it tells us that after decades of underinvestment, in the dying days of British Rail, then a zero-growth franchise, our expectations are now set so low. Passengers in Wales are used to being treated as the runt of the litter when it comes to our rolling stock - always hand-me-downs. A world where even the tired old trains we got were better than the ones they replaced.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That era is at an end.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the end of next year 95% of passengers will be travelling on newly built trains, many of them assembled right here in Wales. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We should celebrate that, but it’s hard to visualise it now we are in the interregnum. The new is not yet born, and some of the old are dying on their feet - the recent performance of the 175s has been bitterly disappointing. We are working hard with CAF to get them back into service, and to keep them there, but we’ve been hit by one set-back after another. I want to pay tribute to the team at TfW who have been on heightened problem solving alert throughout, and there are encouraging signs that we’ll have the fleet back in service within the next couple of months. Fingers crossed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So there is a huge amount to do - across the whole industry - if we’re to rebuild that boringly reliable service James Price once talked about, and that passengers across Wales should quite rightly expect.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we’re serious about persuading people to choose public transport instead of the convenience and comfort of their car, we need to seriously improve the alternative.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People want public transport to be convenient, reliable and cost effective.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People will do what it is easiest to do. If we want more people to use public transport then we need to make public transport the easiest way to get around. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When it was hard to recycle people didn’t do it, now we’ve made it easier, people do. Wales now has the third highest rate of recycling in the world because we have taken friction out of the system. We’ve made it easy. And as a result we’ve managed to cut carbon emissions from waste by 64% since 1990 - the UN’s baseline year for measuring emissions. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By contrast in transport we’ve been focusing on making it easier and quicker to drive than to use the bus or train. And as a result transport emissions have been the slowest to fall of any sector. Despite leaps in vehicle technology emissions have fallen by just 6% since 1990. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we repeat that rate of progress over the next 30 years we will fail to reach Net Zero. 17% of our carbon emissions in this country come from transport, and we will not reach our overall targets unless transport plays its part in getting us onto a low carbon trajectory. And we can't rely on technology and electrification alone, we also must achieve modal shift - the independent Committee on Climate Change is very clear about this: electric cars are necessary, but not sufficient. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am under no illusions about how difficult this is to do. But I am also certain that it is do-able. And we must all confront the consequences of our failing to do this.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I worry that the increasingly alarming warnings from scientists are washing over us. ‘We’ve got enough trouble in the here-and-now’ why make things even harder in the short-term by worrying about 2050?", that’s a view I hear. But of course that’s a staggeringly myopic approach. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The impacts of global warming are happening here and now, and unless we urgently start doing things very differently we face very real hardship. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we just look at this just through the narrow prism of the rail industry we get a sense of how devastating man-made climate change is proving to be. It has been nearly a decade since Network Rail published its Climate Adaptation Wales Route impact assessment which showed that 34 miles of track in Wales is already vulnerable to overtopping, coastal erosion and storm surges. The North Wales coast line is one of the most vulnerable in the UK.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since that report the science has hardened and the UN says that emissions are rising at the higher end of expectations.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that’s just one example. Droughts, species extinction, mass migration that will make the ‘small boats’ experience look trivial, and two metre sea level rises are all coming our way. Unless, we act.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The truth is that while we have plans in Wales that will help us meet our next carbon budget. We don’t yet have a plan for the period to follow. If we are to avoid what the scientists categorise as ‘catastrophic climate change’ we must make greater cuts to our emissions in the next 10 years than we’ve managed over the whole of the last 30 years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The challenge is acute. And transport needs to do far, far, more if we are to meet it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Meanwhile the UK Government are directing a managed decline of the railways in Wales. Not only have they failed to invest in improving our network but they are now planning to worsen the performance of it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Network Rail has recently set out its asset management plans for the five year period starting next year and Wales has had the second worst settlement in the UK - with funding going down by 0.1% in cash terms at a time when costs are going up. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The effect of this will be a managed decline of the railway in Wales.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The programme for Network Rail’s Control Period 7 points to an increase in infrastructure failures and deteriorating assets which will result in speed restrictions, reduced reliability, more service failures, and either stagnant or worsening performance.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It will take the rail network in 10 - 15 years to recover from this set-back. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only bright spot is that the CP7 settlement will deliver a very marginal gain in Wales’ on time performance, but that’s due to Welsh Government interventions - new trains, more, better trained staff and improvements to legacy fleet performance.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At a time when the Welsh Government are investing almost £2 Billion to improve our railway, decisions made in Whitehall will actively undermine that progress. By forcing Network Rail to consciously plan for a 15 year decline in rail performance in Wales the UK Government are endangering our ability to meet our legally binding climate targets, and undermining their own policy of Levelling Up. It is unacceptable, and rubs salt into an already open wound.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We already have the indignity of having just 2% of our network electrified in comparison with 40% in England. And we had to swallow a u-turn on electrification to Swansea. We shouldn’t be buying new diesel trains, but we’ve been forced to because of the UK Government’s failure to electrify. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And to compound that, investment in High Speed 2 is being prioritised over the rail network in Wales. Worse still we will not get a penny in funding because it is classed by the Treasury in London as being a scheme that benefits the England and Wales - even though not a metre of track is in Wales, and its own business case shows a negative impact on the Welsh economy every year of around £200 million.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s outrageous. Now the Secretary of State for Wales justified it on the basis that because HS2 would be going to Crewe that would help passengers in north Wales. But now the leg to Crewe has been severed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It really is a shocker. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many of you will know that Peter Hendy, the Chair of Network Rail, has recently been enobled. In his maiden speech in the House of Lords last month he set out his thoughts as an independent cross-bencher. As you’ll know even better than me, Peter is a man who chooses his words carefully - that rare breed who’s respected right across the political spectrum.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It wasn’t a long speech. But of all the issues he could have drawn attention to, one of the few he chose was the lack of a HS2 consequential for Wales. In a typically understated way he said it was ‘strange’ - and that ‘something is amiss’ in the way the Barnett formula was applied.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is not an insignificant intervention. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And it would be an absolute disgrace if the speculation is correct and a similar approach is to be taken when classifying the Northern Powerhouse rail schemes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only have the UK Government consistently short-changed Wales when it comes to investing in the rail infrastructure they have responsibility for, but by denying us a spending share of investment in England they are preventing us from delivering our own devolved responsibilities.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is a legitimate democratic choice for the Tory Government in Westminster to underinvest in the railway. You only have to go back to the 1980s to see that they’ve got form on that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it doesn’t recognise devolution. It doesn’t account for the specific needs of people and communities in Wales, nor the historic underinvestment in our railway, or the policy direction of the elected Government of Wales. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, there’s a philosophical and practical misalignment at the heart of the current industry. That’s true of the operating model and, and it’s true of the rail funding arrangements for Wales.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t blame Network Rail for this. I know their team here in Wales are highly skilled and incredibly dedicated - I saw that first-hand in the aftermath of the Llangennech derailment in my own constituency. But because of the way their funding settlement is allocated, and the way Network Rail’s own business units are carved up - with Wales lumped in with England - they’re operating with their hands tied behind their back, working to different, and very often conflicting, marching orders to the rest of the transport system in Wales.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s a now become a real problem.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The way we do rail in the UK is broken. Just as deteriorating water quality levels symbolise the failure of the privatisation of the water industry, and the contraction of the bus network underlines the failure of privatisation of the bus industry, the folly of rail privatisation is not hard to spot. It shouldn’t be cheaper to drive to London, or fly to Edinburgh, than catch the train. It’s as plain and simple as that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no systematic plan to grow rail use across the UK. Instead we have a reactive, almost crisis-management approach, with no better example of its failure than the handing back of almost every franchise to the DfT. That is not a sign of success.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It also presents a grim legacy for an incoming Labour Government, if we manage to secure one. The list of demands will be long and expensive, and I have no doubt that the Treasury in London will be advising a new Chancellor and Secretary of State on the challenges of properly applying the Barnett formula for HS2. And that’s why I want to see a clear commitment in the next Labour manifesto for fair funding for Wales, and the devolution of rail powers so that our democratic mandate to deliver on our climate targets can be delivered in tandem with our other powers.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We want a good relationship with the UK Government. I’ve had an initial positive and constructive meeting with Mark Harper where I stressed that we want to be part of the proposed Great British Railways - as partners, not stakeholders. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We know it's not easy being in Government; in Wales we too are having to grapple with the everyday challenges of running a railway. And as the Operator of Last Resort we are not immune to the funding pressures facing the rail industry elsewhere - rising costs, reduced revenue, changing travel patterns.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People work from home more, commute less at traditional peak times but travel more for social reasons. These are the facts on the ground and we must adapt our thinking to respond to them. Are we running the right number of services at the right times of day? Are the frequency of services right for the level of demand? We need to look at all of this, not least because of the impact of the UK Government policy of Austerity. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As you know better than anyone the sheer cost of running a railway is eye watering – particularly for a Government that can’t borrow money – or miraculously find it down the back of the sofa like they seem to be able to in Westminster. We’re noticing a pattern of late that new announcements are made but when we ask where our share of the money is only to be told there is none.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As you all know intimately the cost of all infrastructure projects have increased very significantly as a result of Covid, Brexit and inflation. This has hit our budget significantly. The Metro is now a £1 Billion project, and the assumptions of passenger growth, and in-turn farebox revenue, that ran through the franchise are having to be reset. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This poses invidious choices. As a Minister my priority is modal shift, and I am mode agnostic as to how we achieve that. Something like 80% of public transport journeys are currently carried by bus but meeting the increased costs of rail limits the funding I have available to throw a lifeline to the bus sector that is facing significant cuts in routes and services. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our bus system is fundamentally flawed and we are seeing evidence of profound market failure. Buses are a public service and the commercial model has failed to serve very many communities, and that is why we are introducing the most far-reaching reform package of any part of the UK in our forthcoming bus Bill. Our plan is to enable One Network, One Timetable, and One Ticket. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally the promise of an integrated system of rail and bus can begin to be realised. That is critical to achieve our climate targets, and of course it is part of the answer to our financial pressures because the cheapest way to run a railway is to get people to use it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So it is essential that we think about rail as part of a sustainable transport system. That’s something the rail industry has been reluctant to confront in the past, but it now must. Not only because scarce resources demand we demonstrate value, but because it is critical to achieving our modal shift imperatives. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">James Price, Scott Waddington and I talk about the concept of Transport for Wales 2.0 – a truly multi-modal organisation that is outcome focussed and totally mode agnostic.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TfW was set up to build a Metro but the next phase in its development needs a far wider vision. I see Transport for Wales as a behaviour change organisation, and rail is just one way that is to be achieved. It needs to sit alongside bus, active travel and private transport. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is not just about infrastructure, it is about changing hearts and minds, and infrastructure is one way of achieving it. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lets stop thinking of the concept of ‘passengers’ and start thinking about people, their lives and their needs when we are designing and delivering transport services that will change behaviours.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A good rail offer is obviously an important part of getting people to use their cars less but very often it will be bus that is the right, and best value solution, to connect communities.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TfW has a pivotal role to play as a ‘guiding mind’ in our new bus architecture, and is already building its role in delivery of active travel interventions. This will be allow it to play a pivotal role in making our multi-modal vision a reality, but we can’t afford to wait for that – James knows that I want to see TfW 2.0 become real as quickly as practicably possible and I think that fundamental change in mindset is an opportunity for the wider rail industry too.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I announced our response to the Roads Review in February it was remarkable to see some of the different ways in which the civil engineering and construction community responded.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, there was some of the resistance you would expect – industry is instinctively self-sustaining and there are those who just want to carry on in the same way as they have done for generations, building more roads and bypasses – blinkered to the context of the climate change emergency and severe reductions in funding.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But there were others - many more than I expected in fact - who recognised the opportunity to do something different here in Wales. As a small country, with a very different set of policies and priorities, that was being watched by the rest of the world with interest.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part of that is generational - certainly - but this will create opportunities for those within the rail industry here who truly embrace that multi-modal way of thinking and planning that we’re seeking to foster in Wales.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Integrated transport is not just about timetables but about cross-fertilising thinking. Whether it’s developing joint communities of practice across transport modes, opportunities for genuine innovation in engineering and transport planning, a digital transformation that to date remains woefully unexploited, or building on some of the new freight opportunities that are emerging to connect with last mile delivery. And potentially much, much more besides.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re doing some of it already. On the lines north of Queen Street, where many of you will have hopped off this morning, there’s a transformation taking place on the Core Valley Lines.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More and more Overhead Line Equipment is in position, new signalling equipment is being installed, and many decades’ worth of overgrown vegetation has been removed – change is on its way and suddenly it’s becoming very visible.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now I’ve heard the CVL transformation described as the most innovative railway project currently being delivered in Europe and the biggest transformation of the railway in Wales since the Victorian era.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that’s all well and good – very interesting for the anoraks, the engineers, and the enthusiasts, I’m sure.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But if I’d been around when we’d fired the starting gun, I would have framed it for what it really is: the most important and ambitious transport behaviour change project ever conducted in Wales – a turn up and go railway that will give people real choice, flexibility, and freedom – turbocharging modal shift in one of the most concentrated population centres in Wales.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is the true scale of our aspiration for transforming transport.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It shows what we can achieve when the levers, and the funding are in our own hands.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And it points us towards the change we need across the whole of our railway in Wales – not just here in Cardiff and its Valleys.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re going through a tough time at the moment. But we are investing a significant amount of money in making it better, and the fruits of that are beginning to be seen. And we will do more. Rail is a vital part of our vision for a sustainable transport system. We want to give people more choices, better choices, of how they move around. That will deliver social justice, improve people’s everyday lives and build our resilience to climate change. And is a key enabled of prosperity - modern successful economies have modern successful public transport systems.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s what we want for Wales - a country that is Stronger, fairer, greener</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-14061954390013915132023-02-14T07:44:00.004-08:002023-04-26T01:26:05.804-07:00The Welsh Roads Review<i>Speech to the Senedd, 14th February 2023</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3GT5vV-3DbfDpcq3UOcHGw_m04HlGoUxtHKnKdk19T66mpbdzFapyY66ekD6gVIifft_M92eDbUPCq44SeGi2uhPqAQiN3uEBs1CEwEX8o1QK0_r1bVxKEOkGPP-JR5i1QNg5HCKSGR-Hu2G9_cBKN7NYKQIhPYUXOWtyso4WfY-zBC6HwiPjZkV/s1280/IMG_1075.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3GT5vV-3DbfDpcq3UOcHGw_m04HlGoUxtHKnKdk19T66mpbdzFapyY66ekD6gVIifft_M92eDbUPCq44SeGi2uhPqAQiN3uEBs1CEwEX8o1QK0_r1bVxKEOkGPP-JR5i1QNg5HCKSGR-Hu2G9_cBKN7NYKQIhPYUXOWtyso4WfY-zBC6HwiPjZkV/w640-h360/IMG_1075.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i> <br /><br />Today we are publishing the final report of the independent roads review panel. <br /><br />This is a landmark report of international significance. I’d like to thank Dr Lynn Sloman and her fellow panellists. Their report is detailed, authoritative and compelling, and the Welsh Government accepts its core principles and the new approach it sets out. <br /><br />When we published the Wales Transport Strategy two years ago, we committed to start upon a llwybyr newydd - a new path.<br /><br />The publication of this Roads Review, along with the National Transport Delivery Plan, and our new Roads Policy Statement, represents a major step forward on that journey. <br /><br />Let me be very clear at the outset, we will still invest in roads. In fact, we are building new roads as I speak - but we are raising the bar for where new roads are the right response to transport problems. <br /><br />We are also investing in real alternatives. Today’s National Transport Delivery Plan sets out a five-year programme of investment in rail, bus, walking and cycling projects. <br /><br />Modern successful economies have modern successful public transport systems. Ours has withered on the vine of privatisation and that must change. <br /><br />Of course, doing that in an age of austerity is very challenging. Not only are we not getting our share of High Speed rail investment, but the UK Government is pushing many bus services over a cliff edge, as well as slashing our capital investment budgets. Even if we’d wanted to keep progressing all the road schemes in the pipeline we just do not have the money to do so. Our capital budget will be 8% lower next year in real terms as a result of the last UK Government budget. So when the Conservatives criticise us they should remember the financial reality of their making: the roads programme is simply unaffordable. <br /><br />With fewer resources it becomes even more important to prioritise. The Roads Review helps us to do that. <br /><br />Road schemes take many years from the first plan on a page to the first shovel in the ground. This means most of the schemes currently in development in Wales were conceived before we declared Nature and Climate Emergencies, and before we set stretching policy commitments in the Wales Transport Strategy, the Programme for Government and Net Zero Wales. <br /><br />The Roads Review looked at each of the 55 schemes in development and tested them against our current policies. The panel sets out their detailed view on each one in their report, along with a set of purposes and conditions for future road investment. <br /><br /><div>They report says we need to do more to look after the roads we already have and pay more attention to supporting the movement of freight. I’ve today published a Written Statement on a review of our approach to road maintenance, and we will also be publishing a Freight Plan later in the year. <br /><br /></div><div>We need roads, but we need to remember roads are not just for cars. The panel said we need to give greater priority to buses and active travel networks in road schemes. <br /><br />The report also says that where there are road safety concerns we should be looking first to reduce speeds in collision blackspots. And when we do take forward a new scheme we should opt for the one with the lowest environmental impact. <br /><br />About a third of the carbon generated from road schemes comes from the materials used in constructing, lighting and maintaining it over its whole lifecycle: Steel, concrete, asphalt, water; everything that goes into a road scheme has a significant carbon footprint of its own. We need to reduce this embodied carbon, through innovation, but mostly by making the most of what we have. <br /><br />The central argument presented by the Roads Review Panel is that we can’t build our way out of congestion. <br /><br />When looked at in isolation there is often a case to be made for a by-pass or an extra lane, but cumulatively it exacerbates the problem. <br /><br /></div><div>In the short-term creating new road space often speeds up a car journey and makes it more attractive than a public transport alternative. This encourages more people to drive. But over time this generates more journeys, with people travelling longer distances. This then creates extra traffic and congestion. <br /><br />It also results in retail and residential developments popping up close to the new junctions, as we have seen right across Wales. These places usually have few public transport or active travel options and so people have little choice but to get to them by car. This produces even more traffic. <br /><br />As people drive more, fewer people use public transport, which results in fewer services being viable, leaving people with even fewer alternatives. <br /><br />This disproportionately disadvantages women and people on low incomes who we know from the data are most dependent on public transport. <br /><br />For those who feel forced into running a car to access work the costs can be punitive. Studies have shown that the poorest households can spend up to a quarter of their income on transport costs, putting them into transport poverty. Not only have our transport policies been running counter to our climate policy, and our planning policy, but they have also been running counter to our social justice policies and that has to change. <br /><br />Our approach for the last 70 years is not working. As the review points out the by-pass that was demanded to relieve congestion often ends up leading to extra traffic, which in time brings further demands for extra lanes, wider junctions and more roads. <br /><br />Round and round we go, emitting more and more carbon as we do it. <br /><br />This is an internationally recognised trend which academics call induced demand. The panel report says very clearly that schemes that create extra road capacity for cars should not be supported. Instead, they recommend greater attention should be given to schemes that focus on demand management, coupled with improvements in public transport and active travel. “This”, they say, “will help to reduce non-essential traffic and make capacity available for essential road users including freight operators”. <br /><br />We have accepted the report’s case for change. <br /><br />We will not get to Net Zero unless we stop doing the same thing over and over. <br /><br />Where we can create an easier alternative to driving let's do so; it is an approach that will bring multiple benefits and it will help those who have no alternative to the car to go about their business.<br /><br />That’s the best way to address congestion and costs for businesses in the short term. And in the longer term, economists have warned us that the knock-on consequences of rising temperatures will trigger annual falling rates of GDP, bringing profound harm to jobs and investment. There is no long-term conflict between the environment and the economy, our policies will help both. <br /><br />The National Transport Delivery Plan we are publishing today lists the road schemes that we will continue to develop over the next five years. Where the Roads Review Panel has recommended a scheme should not proceed we will not be progressing with that scheme as planned. But where there is an agreed transport problem we will work with scheme sponsors to identify a solution that meets the new tests for investment. <br /><br />Our roads policy statement makes clear that we will continue to invest in new and existing roads, but to qualify for future funding the focus should be on minimising carbon emissions, not increasing capacity; not increasing emissions through higher vehicle speeds, and not adversely affecting ecologically valuable sites. <br /><br />For those roads that are designed to link to sites of economic development, the report made a series of suggestions, and I have asked Cllr Anthony Hunt, the Leader of Torfaen Council, and Cllr Llinos Medi, the leader of Ynys Mon Council, to work with us to find a practical way of allowing for growth sites that is consistent with our planning and transport policies. <br /><br />Let’s remember what Julie James and I said when we took up our posts: in this decade Wales has to make greater cuts in emissions than we have in the whole of the last three decades combined. Greater cuts in the next ten years than the whole of the last 30 - that’s what the science says we need to do. <br /><br />We know what’s coming. Our task is to future-proof Wales. <br /><br />I would urge members to read the Roads Review Panel report in full. None of this is easy, but neither is the alternative.<br /><br />The UN General Secretary has warned that unless we act decisively now we face a “climate catastrophe’. <br /><br />If we are to declare a Climate and Nature Emergency, legislate to protect the Well-being of Future Generations, and put into law a requirement to reach NetZero by 2050 - we simply have to be prepared to follow through. <br /><br />I am very grateful to the Roads Review Panel for helping us set out a way to do that.<br /> </div></div>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-3510797216462301472022-12-08T08:49:00.002-08:002022-12-09T01:54:31.436-08:00We have to re-wire the systems<p>Speech to <i>Local
Transport Summit 2022. </i>Future Inn, Cardiff Bay, 8th December 2022</p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p>
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEJaJ7kyh1uwgquuDvLifemqtlDu79qDVRkjakCUL267aYgwXYdu6x6J9LeAD7ZFxRx-AuJegGldpXrrKbIDY2O76BRNYwgamXc5TS9xY2BWGzaaUMs0UNRtx87r2qwFz6hCM7rAZHROpAP-AYrDSCPwpJYb0PPQOd9uQCFQmF7CeKPP5S8tKrKsOq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEJaJ7kyh1uwgquuDvLifemqtlDu79qDVRkjakCUL267aYgwXYdu6x6J9LeAD7ZFxRx-AuJegGldpXrrKbIDY2O76BRNYwgamXc5TS9xY2BWGzaaUMs0UNRtx87r2qwFz6hCM7rAZHROpAP-AYrDSCPwpJYb0PPQOd9uQCFQmF7CeKPP5S8tKrKsOq=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">15 years ago I was working across the road as a Political
Correspondent for ITV when I took a punt and left to join what was a then
little known engineering charity called Sustrans. I didn’t own a bike, and my
move perplexed by mother! “Does it come with a pay rise?” she innocently asked.
“No”; “How about a company car?” When I said I was getting a hand-me down
fold-up bike she thought I’d lost hold of my senses. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Being new to the world of sustainable transport, and having
the perspective of an outsider, it quickly struck me that the challenge is a
structural one. Like lots of practical third-sector organisations, the charity
was focused on doing good works, and not on re-wring the system. ‘Why should we
have to pay to maintain the National Cycle Network when it is a public good’
was the question often posed by John Grimshaw. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why indeed? At the same time the National Assembly for Wales
was about to get some limited new powers to make laws and the call had gone out
for ideas. And that’s how the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2016/sep/06/wales-gives-cyclists-legal-right-to-propose-new-bike-routes">Active Travel Act</a> was born. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why should Highway Authorities only focus on moving cars
around? What if there was a statutory duty to think about pedestrians and
cyclists and provide and maintain a network for them too? </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But of course with only 2% of journeys made by bike the
issue had what political scientists like to call ‘low salience’ - nobody gave a bugger. So I set about
assembling a <a href="https://senedd.wales/senedd-now/news/petition-calling-for-further-powers-for-the-assembly-to-encourage-active-travel-delivered-to-llywydd/">broad coalition of organisations </a>that represented issues which
might offer greater levels of traction – the BMA and RCN spoke to the health
benefits, </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The National Union of Teachers gave their endorsement to the
educational benefits, BT and Royal Mail added their seal of approval for the
benefits of action on congestion and climate action. <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This coalition showed the society-wide benefits of active
travel, and the legislation was spawned – the world’s first – now sees every
Council in Wales publishing maps of where there are current routes, consulting
people on where infrastructure should go, and publishing a map of future
aspirations on which funding bids are based. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s not perfect, there’s lots of issues to get right before
it achieves its potential, but it begins the work of rewiring – of
mainstreaming active travel as a proper travel mode, not the preserve of the
eccentrics or the weekend enthusiast. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve started with this example because I wanted to explain
what’s behind my approach as Deputy Minister for Climate Change - You’ll
notice that my title isn’t Transport Minister and that’s a deliberate statement
of intent by Welsh Government that we need to look at transport through the
lens of climate change. What we’re trying to do amounts to a pretty significant
package of reform. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From September all local roads with homes, shops, community
centres or schools will have a default speed limit of 20mph; at the same time
will be introducing into our Senedd a Bill to franchise the bus network. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our reforms will allow us to create <a href="https://gov.wales/one-network-one-timetable-one-ticket-welsh-government-sets-out-plans-change-way-we-travel">One Network, One Timetable, and One Ticket</a>. A different approach to the partnerships with the
bus industry being pursued in other parts of the UK, ours draws inspiration
from the European model of creating a Guiding Mind to design and run a network
of routes that put people before profit. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As I speak, new trains are rolling off the production lines
in Newport and are already <a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/new-trains-north-wales-rail-23012166">in service on the Conwy valley line</a>. By 2024, the
vast majority of journeys will be made on brand new trains, half of which will
be assembled in Wales. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This marks an £800 Million investment in creating additional
capacity and delivering a much more attractive experience. For too long Welsh
passengers have had to settle to cascaded rolling-stock. We are no more the
runt of the litter. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And our Billion pound <a href="https://tfw.wales/projects/metro/south-wales-metro">Metro project</a> is, according to Terry
Morgan, the former Chair of CrossRail, the next most ambitious project on the
UK railways today. Not only are we building a new railway on top of an existing
railway whilst it is still operating, but we are innovating with departures
from industry standards to allow bi-mode tram-trains to run on newly
electrified lines, and through old tunnels. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anoraks will appreciate the significance of that, passengers
will appreciate a real step-closer to our ambition of a turn-up-and-go Metro
service for Cardiff and its hinterland. Elsewhere in Wales, our plans in the
rest of Wales are at different stages of development. <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We have allocated over £50 million to the <a href="https://tfw.wales/projects/metro/north-wales-metro">North Wales Metro</a>
over the last 3 financial years. Our Metro schemes will also focus on how
we can integrate Active Travel into our existing public transport networks more
effectively so that people feel confident to walk, wheel or cycle in their
areas, and have safe places to leave their bikes. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lord Terry Burns, the former Treasury Permanent Secretary
who led a successful<a href="https://gov.wales/south-east-wales-transport-commission"> transport Commission for the south east </a>is now doing the
same for the north. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Looking not just at main rail and the road corridor across
the coast but grappling with how rural areas can contribute to modal shift too.
His interim report early in the new year will start a focused conversation on
what practical steps we need to take next. I hope to see what we’re now seeing
in the south east – a pipeline of schemes being worked up in a joint <a href="https://tfw.wales/projects/burns-delivery-unit#:~:text=The%20Burns%20Delivery%20Unit%20was,active%20travel%20in%20the%20region.">delivery unit</a> with local Councils, Transport for Wales and the Welsh Government, held to
account by a small independent delivery board. We need to keep that
momentum and show people that change for the better is coming. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because we have to show people that there is a better way,
we can’t just say ‘No’ to schemes, we have to show what else we are going to
do. Helping them, by making the right thing to do, the easy thing to do. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think we were brave – and we were right – to say No to a
new M4 four years ago. And it is not insignificant that when Sir Peter Hendy’s
<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/union-connectivity-review-final-report">Union Connectivity Review</a> – set up by Boris Johnson in the hope it would give
him cover to over-rule the Welsh Government – concluded instead that the
approach set out in the Burn report was a better option. We’ve now got to
deliver, and the UK Government must play its part in providing the railway
infrastructure we need as part of the overall plan. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We were right, and brave, to set up an <a href="https://gov.wales/roads-review-panel">independent review of road schemes</a> too. Lynn Sloman and her powerful group of Commissioners have
delivered a first-class report to us advising on future roads policy. They have
made point by point recommendations on each of the 55 roads schemes that are in
the pipeline. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They already reported on two of them and recommend we cancel
them because they are not compatible with Welsh transport policy, planning
policy or Net Zero policy. They have similar views on some others, and
suggested changes on some more. We are deep in the work of assessing their
recommendations and intend to announce our conclusions when we publish our
<a href="https://gov.wales/national-transport-delivery-plan-2022-2027">National Transport Delivery Plan</a> in February. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">None of this is easy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But for too long nobody in Government in any part of the UK
has been willing to challenge the orthodox view that tackling transport
emissions is too difficult and too expensive. ‘There are three pillars to
sustainable development you know and we can’t trade off the economic one for
the environment one’ was what I was told by a senior transport official 15
years ago. That thinking is still alive and well in the world of economic
development and transport all across the UK. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And it needs to be challenged. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is worth reminding ourselves of some facts. Since 1990,
the base year, we’ve managed to cut our carbon emissions from waste by 64%,
industry and business have brought down their emissions by 36%, the same in the
energy sector; from buildings we’ve reduced emissions by a quarter, even in
agriculture we’ve cut emissions by 10%. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But transport has decreased the least – just 6% since 1990. <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If we repeat that over the next 30 years we will fail not
just our environment, but our economy. This hotel will be underwater by 2050
according to latest climate predictions. The steelworks across the road will
not be creating jobs, or steel, when the sea levels rise by a meter or more. We
can try and justify sticking to the status quo as much as we like, but we’ll be
having the argument in dinghy's. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">None of us want to confront that. I don’t. It terrifies me.
And it is human instinct to smooth edges, pull punches and kick cans down the road. The climate science
community have for a long time cautioned against alarmist language for fear of
putting people off, making them feel powerful. But that is changing. The
science is becoming more alarming. And the language being used by the<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/08/1097362"> UN Panel on Climate Change is becoming more stark</a>: “Climate change is happening with
catastrophic speed – devastating lives and livelihoods on every continent,”
said the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Gueterres most recently in Egypt. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just yesterday the RSPB in Wales said that <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63873129">one in four birdspecies in Wales were now in ‘serious trouble</a>’. 1 in 4 bird species. It used to
be the tree-huggers who talked about ‘planetary collapse’ now it’s the RSPB </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We have got to face up to this. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">17% of our emissions come from transport, and transport must
play its part in getting us on to a low carbon trajectory. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been at this a while now and I know it is easier to say
than it is to do. We are dealing with generations of culture and
practice. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m delighted that Prof Phil Goodwin is in the audience.
We’ve never met but I’ve been an admirer from afar. Phil has been the vanguard
of pointing out the clothing deficiencies of the transport empire. But
rational analysis isn’t enough to budge orthodox thinking. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that brings we back to my opening point, we have got to
change the wiring. The primacy of car transport is deeply embedded in all
aspects of our thinking and practice. The Welsh Government has said the right
things for a number of years, our planning policy, Future Wales, is undoubtedly
progressive. And yet Carmarthenshire council, for example, has just consented to yet another
drive through coffee outlet in an out-of-town location. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We can’t just write policies, we have to change practice and
thinking. And we have to re-wire the systems. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="https://gov.wales/llwybr-newydd-wales-transport-strategy-2021">Wales Transport Strategy</a> published last year puts modal
shift at the heart of our policies. For the first time, we’ve set a target
of 45% of trips to be made by sustainable modes by 2040 – that compares to 32%
now. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges prioritises
traffic flow; the treasury Green Book 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. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are multiple of examples of this where the system has
been fixed to produce the same outcome. To see off the here-today-gone-tomorrow
reformers. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s worked before, and it can work again. But it would be a
pyric victory. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The climate crisis is real. It is here. And transport can’t
continue to get a free pass. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To change it requires leadership. Not the heroic leadership
of a vainglorious politician, but the quiet, day-to-day distributed leadership
of each of us. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not only can be avert the worst impact of climate change but
we can create civilized communities, improve the quality of life, advance
social justice and create a resilient economy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don't normally quote people in speeches, not do I usually writ them down, but I thought you were worth it. I’d like to finish with the word of Robert Kennedy. He
delivered them in South Africa at a time when we hoped winds of change were
blowing through the continent. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others,
or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and
crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring those
ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression
and resistance.” <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Together, let’s send ripples, let’s build a current. Let’s be
able to look our grandchildren in the eye. <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p></p>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-39429772536543613622022-05-19T02:44:00.007-07:002023-03-15T01:09:07.139-07:00Free pass rescinded - Transport and Climate Change<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXSFrhY14LsFJjuTwhQqSKKOcjmoZddcdF3yGpyMr4GoBpozPOEwR-vps5UqIecGqJTA3x4XR23pcbbiMOst2Wj4Wg8TQnDA8dHKE24iZ9MAeo2Mjk0-9b-DaGJI3taybCS7thNgn5-wBKOmE5KiMVGHAi6jShA8hb-2HdNQx8h3CnwjB10l-SHAm/s4096/FKrg19iUYA09x2S.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2731" data-original-width="4096" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXSFrhY14LsFJjuTwhQqSKKOcjmoZddcdF3yGpyMr4GoBpozPOEwR-vps5UqIecGqJTA3x4XR23pcbbiMOst2Wj4Wg8TQnDA8dHKE24iZ9MAeo2Mjk0-9b-DaGJI3taybCS7thNgn5-wBKOmE5KiMVGHAi6jShA8hb-2HdNQx8h3CnwjB10l-SHAm/s320/FKrg19iUYA09x2S.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><i><br />Speech to the Highway Authorities and Utilities Committee, 19th May 2022</i><br />
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Thanks for the chance to make a
contribution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">In the Welsh Government transport now
sits in the broader Climate Change portfolio. Our First Minister has crafted
one large Ministry that is bringing together the principal drivers of carbon
emissions to give us the best chance of delivering on our legal commitment to
reach NetZero by 2050.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Under the leadership of two Ministers
for Climate Change Transport sits alongside planning, housing, energy, the
environment, and regeneration to help us to align our policies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">It’s a big portfolio; meeting NetZero
is an even bigger challenge.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Transport has until now been given a
free pass when it comes to emissions reductions on the grounds that it is a key
economic driver. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The UN Panel on Climate Change is
pretty unequivocal in its analysis that if we don’t get emissions under control
our economy faces catastrophic damage. Al Gore called it an ‘inconvenient
truth’, and he wasn’t wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We’ve now declared a Climate
Emergency. Every country in the world has pledged to do it’s bit to hit the
tougher target of NetZero emissions within the next 30 years. It is the only
way to avoid temperature rises that will destroy the ability of our eco-systems
to support our society. Inconvenient, but the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Since 1990, the base year, we’ve
managed to cut our carbon emissions from waste by 64%, industry and business have
brought down their emissions by 36%, the same in the energy sector; from
buildings we’ve reduced emissions by a quarter, even in agriculture we’ve cut
emissions by 10%. But transport has decreased the least – just 6% since 1990.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">If we repeat that over the next 30
years we will fail. 17% of our carbon emissions in this country come from
transport, and transport must play its part in getting us onto a low carbon
trajectory.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I am under no illusions about how
difficult this is to do. But I am also certain that it is do-able. And we must
all confront the consequences of our failing to do this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Like the UK Government, the Welsh
Government gets independent advice from the UK Committee on Climate Change on
how to put ourselves on a ‘balanced pathway’ to NetZero by 2050. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">They tell us that in the next 10
years we have to make deeper cuts in carbon emissions that we have managed over
the course of the last 30 years - Faster progress in the next decade than the
whole of the last three decades.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">That is going to be very tough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The good news is, it is do-able. And
the UK Committee on Climate Change have set out a way it can be done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">If there’s only one thing you take
from this speech please let it be this: we cannot rely on electric vehicles
alone to achieve NetZero.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Decarbonising our fleet of car is
necessary to hit our targets. But it is not sufficient.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The UK Committee on Climate Change
say that in addition to switching to all electric vehicles, we also need to
reduce the miles we travel and the number of journeys we make.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We need modal shift.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">And that means re-thinking the
approach to transport that has guided us over the last 70 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">In Wales we are starting to confront
what that means.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">A year ago we published a <a href="https://gov.wales/llwybr-newydd-wales-transport-strategy-2021">transport strategy </a>that for the first time puts modal shift at the heart of our policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We’ve set a target of 45% of trips
made by sustainable modes by 2040 – that compares to 32% now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">And we’ve committed to a 10%
reduction in car mileage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We’ve said we don’t want people returning
to the morning commute after Covid, we want to <a href="https://gov.wales/remote-working">maintain 30% of people workingremotely</a> on an ongoing basis.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We are in the middle of developing
one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in Wales in modern times in
the form of the south Wales Metro – a circa £1 Billion programme to create a
turn-up-and-go public transport system.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We’ve just published the most far
reaching bus reform programme in the UK. Our ambition is captured in the title
of our <a href="https://gov.wales/one-network-one-timetable-one-ticket-welsh-government-sets-out-plans-change-way-we-travel">White Paper</a>: ‘One Network, One Timetable, One Ticket’ <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We are investing record sums in
active travel and have the world’s first piece of legislation requiring Highway
Authorities to plan and develop a network of routes for walking and cycling –
the Active Travel Act.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Next year the <a href="https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2020-07/20mph-task-force-group-report.pdf">default speed limit on restricted roads in Wales will be 20mph</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">And we’re empowering Councils to
<a href="https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2020-10/welsh-pavement-parking-task-force-group-report.pdf">crack-down on pavement parking</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">This all requires a shift in funding
to sustainable transport and we have frozen all new road development and have
set up a Roads Review Panel to examine each one - 55 schemes – to test whether
they are consistent with our new transport strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We’re not saying we won’t build any
more roads but we are saying they cannot be the default answer to transport
problems.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I’ve asked the Roads Review Panel to
come up with criteria for when new roads can be justified. And I want them to
identify savings that will allow us to improve sustainable transport, as well
as to better maintain the roads we have – and to reallocate roadspace as we go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">None of this is easy. I am prepared
to be unpopular because, frankly, the science terrifies me. And I want to look
my grandchildren in the eye and tell them I tried my best to take action when
presented with the evidence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">This is the biggest challenge of our
generation. Each of us faces a choice to be part of the solution, or part of
the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">If we get this right the changes we
make will bring benefits to our communities. Investment in sustainable
transport infrastructure will create jobs; improvements in buses will help
tackle poverty; mainstreaming active travel will clean our air, improve health
and raise the quality of life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I understand the three core themes of
your convention are “Collaboration, Connectivity and Climate”. Let us work
together to devise solutions to the profound challenges we face. We can connect
people in a way that improves communities and tackles the climate challenge. To
do that we must collaborate. The members of the Highway Authorities and
Utilities Committee are part of the solution – we cannot do it without your
help, your skill and your commitment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p><a href="https://vimeo.com/713715082">https://vimeo.com/713715082</a></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-37527567899361433092021-10-01T12:12:00.002-07:002021-10-01T15:11:58.722-07:00 Renewing from within<h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Tudor Watkins Memorial Lecture, delivered to the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brecon Labour Party </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">1st October 2021</span></h3><span id="docs-internal-guid-efbde574-7fff-5053-f21c-55d8d378d862"><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for the honour of giving the Tudor Watkins Memorial Lecture. Tudor not only remains in the memory of our movement as one of the generation of Labour MPs who made possible the creation of a welfare state and National Health Service after the Second World War, the ‘revolution without tears’, but he was also a significant figure in the history of devolution. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When he was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Brecon and Radnorshire in 1945 the dominant view in the Labour Party was that the problems faced by working people were best addressed by one strong central Government, a Labour Government. The workers of the world should unite, right? And anyway, as Nye Bevan famously asked in the first St Davids Day debate in the House of Commons in 1944, ‘what </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the difference between a Welsh sheep and an English sheep?’</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having just lived through a terrible war based on the idea that there was a superior race many in the Labour movement had no truck with anything they considered representing Nationalism. Even the modest proposal for a Welsh Grand Committee of MPs was seen as suspect.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But there was a counter-view, a different tradition in the Labour movement which did not see central control of the economy as the sole way to deliver socialism. And it was to that tradition that Tudor Watkins belonged.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the chargrain of the Welsh Regional Council of Labour (the WEC of the 50s) Tudor Watkins was among the few Labour MPs who carried the banner of the Parliament for Wales campaign in 1950. There were protests that it was ‘very bad form’ for Tudor to be sharing platforms with Lady Megan Lloyd George, still at that stage a Liberal. He was even threatened with disciplinary action from the Parliamentary Party. It didn’t stop him.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the National Eisteddfod met in Ystradgynlais in August 1954 Tudor Watkins spoke from the stage at a mass rally of 800 people in favour of a Welsh Parliament. As his fellow campaigner, S.O Davies, the maverick Labour MP for Merthyr - famed for always wearing wing collared shirts - told the crowd, “I am an uncompromising socialist, but socialism can never materialise in Wales unless we can be free to apply its principles to our own way of life”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As history attests, it was this argument that eventually won through, with the help of Tudor Watkins. It was neither a straightforward nor a swift path but during his time as Member of Parliament for Brecon and Radnorshire the office of Secretary of State for Wales was created, and his friend James Griffiths, the Member of Parliament for Llanelli, was the first to serve as Wales’ voice around the Cabinet table.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jim himself was a pivotal figure in this fight but he acknowledged what he called ‘the contrary pulls of country and cause’. Practical politics often throws up dilemmas which sometimes force detours. When S.O Davies brought forward a Private Members Bill at the end of 1954 to legislate for the creation of a Welsh Parliament, Jim Griffiths knew it was not the right time. Though sympathetic, he found himself leading the opposition to the Bill. Tudor stuck to his guns, and supported the man in the winged collar.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like Tudor Watkins Jim Griffiths was a collier. But his long ascent through the South Wales Miners Federation taught him a thing or two about gradual advances and bureaucratic politics. Tudor stuck his neck out, Jim knew when to rein it in. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That didn’t stop him fighting from within though. He tried, for example, to persuade his colleagues in the Attlee Government to create a single Welsh body for gas and electricity as they built a nationalised industry. He failed, sadly, and we got what became SWALEC and MANWEB, the consequences of which we are still living with today as we try and fashion a power grid that meets the demands of climate change. More on that later.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Jim’s caution, and reputation as a ‘reconciler’, did put him in a key position to influence later events as a loyal deputy leader of the Labour Party to Hugh Gaitskell, where he used his position to get the commitment to create a Welsh Office and a Welsh Secretary into the Labour manifesto.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The story goes that Nye Bevan and Jim Griffiths took their argument to the corridor to settle. As always it came down to power politics in the end. Just as Neil Kinnock 30 years later decided not to waste his political capital in facing down the devolution lobby in the party, Nye too decided to hold back and fight what he considered were bigger battles in the Labour movement.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tactical differences aside Jim, and Tudor Watkins, came from a similar tradition in the Labour movement. These colliers mined different veins of the coalfield to Bevan and Kinnock. Jim and Tudor anthracite miners, Nye and Neil from the seams that produced steam coal (which as my father reminded me from his own experience in the labs at Abernant colliery, was a far inferior product!).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abercraf and Cwm Amman produced a different, richer, vein. The upbringing and lineage of Tudor Watkins and Jim Griffiths, on the western edge of the South Wales Coalfield, imbued in them an instinctive understanding of these different traditions: Christian socialism (chapel), Welsh-speaking, semi-rural. It wasn't just the anthracite beneath, they tapped into a confluence of subtly different cultural strata too. A fusion of languages, and familial connections, meant that for them the boundary between rural and industrial, English and Welsh speaking, religious denominations was less distinct. The Marxist class analysis only took them so far. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This remains a lively dialectic in the Labour movement. We don’t discuss it in these terms anymore but the schism is rarely far from the surface. Just last weekend Keir Starmer said in his 11,000 word essay wrote "Nationalism is just one arm of the rise of identity-based politics in the Western world that has done immense damage to the progressive cause”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He went on to say, "By dividing people into smaller and smaller groups and diminishing the experiences of others, we atomise our society ever more and keep potential allies and friends at arm's length”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sir Keir, who made efforts to be photographed wearing an England football jersey at key moments through the summer, instead emphasises the importance of patriotism. Again he wrote “Nationalism represents an attempt to </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">divide </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">people from one another; patriotism is an attempt to </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">unite </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">people of different backgrounds. Nationalism is about the casting out of the other; patriotism is about finding common ground. Nationalism is the flag as a threat. Patriotism is the flag as a celebration”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's a difficult dance. And always has been.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m with Tudor Watkins and Jim Griffiths on this one. And Mark Drakeford. And Welsh Labour voters. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But these are complex, diffuse, and potent forces. And we must tread carefully.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The debate that Tudor Watkins was a part of was ‘should Welshness be expressed in political institutions?’. It proved a contentious question in the Labour movement for decades. It is now settled. We have a Senedd, a Welsh Parliament with law making and tax raising powers. The current debate is whether it needs to be bigger, and more powerful, and more plural in the way it chooses our representatives. And my answer to all those questions is Yes.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But there remains a wider question, and it was this one that Keir Starmer was trying to address: What is the future of the UK?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Welsh voice has been a small one in this debate until now. I’m sure historians will judge it a mistake that former First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones was not listened to when he called for a Constitutional Convention to look at the way the UK was working a decade ago. It's not too late, but it does feel like we haven't got long. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keir Stamer has committed a Labour Government to holding a Constitutional Convention, but the emphasis of his recent speeches and writing has been on giving people the power to change local services, like schools, not on creating a stable constitutional framework for the UK. Sadly, he doesn’t seem to be persuaded by our polite arguments yet. But there’s still time for that too.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I do not myself think it is inevitable that Scotland will vote to leave the UK. I did like the slogan, but that was about all, of the campaign to defeat the independence question in 2014. I think we are ‘Better Together’. I like the idea of co-operation between the nations, and that this shared endeavour should have an institutional expression. A recognition that we are more than the sum of our parts. But all parts deserve equal treatment and respect. And it doesn’t feel like that that at the moment. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not currently a happy union. In northern Ireland there’s the prospect of a fresh border poll within the foreseeable future, and in Scotland support for independence persists at around the 50% mark. There are also signs that the ‘English backlash’ Neil Kinnock warned of through the debates of the 1970s is a rising force. The recent book by Richard Wyn Jones and Ailsa Henderson sets out the evidence that a rising sense of Englishness is a potent force. They found that a sense of grievance about England's place within the United Kingdom, and a strong feeling that the state is no longer 'theirs', was a significant factor in the Brexit vote.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">As Keir Starmer’s keenness for his football shirt signals, being seen to understand the concerns of England is key. And it’s important. It has been a neglected strand of political debate. Our party has struggled with it. Just as in Tudor Watkins’ time we struggled to find an expression of our feelings of Welsh national identity in our constitutional arrangements, we now find ourselves in the same pickle over Englishness.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’ve found it easier to talk about regional answers to The English Question than we have to identify coherent and sustainable national, and mutli-national, responses. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's easier for all us to put on a shirt than it is to confront the intellectual and political tensions that come with its consequences.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We do feel awfully embarrassed talking about national identity. Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the Welsh devolution referendum, and I was reflecting recently how little the role and rhetoric of patriotism or nationalism played in Labour’s debates and campaign around that. We talked about democratic reform, scrutiny, accountability, a strategic layer to accompany local government reform, but we talked little of Welshness. But we did dog-whistle it. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When it came to how we packaged our message for a tabloid audience we grabbed hold of Ryan Giggs. I don’t think the poor dab knew what the White Paper said, but the axis of Alistair Campbell and Sir Alec Ferguson saw him drafted into service. We did the same in the 2011 referendum on law making powers, with the help of WRU Chief Executive Roger Lewis, it was Shane Williams we turned to at that time to put on the front of our leaflets. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It seems we’re happy waving the flag on the field, but deeply uncomfortable doing it in the committee rooms.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But we can’t sidestep the growing force of nationalism. I don’t blame Keir Starmer for trying to reframe it as patriotism, but it doesn’t make the problem go away. We need to confront it, and offer a coherent way forward, or left unharnessed these forces will lead to the break-up of the UK and I don’t want that to happen. But if English nationalism is allowed to develop unchecked, and Scoland leaves the Union, Wales faces a very unhappy prospect. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Without Scottish MPs it’s hard to see us winning a majority at Westminster, so we’d be stuck in a centre-right dominated Union of England and Wales, forever outside the EU, with marginal influence on a Government in London - a Government intent on undermining devolution. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jeremy Thorpe famously warned in the 70s that a Welsh Assembly could become a “sort of Glamorgan County Council on stilts”. I fear that in that kind of Little Britain it could become “a sort of Birmingham County Council on stilts”. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In that scenario I fear we may not be far behind the Scots, and that’s not what I want to see.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Welsh Labour’s successful manifesto we promised to establish an independent, standing commission to consider the constitutional future of Wales.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have long favoured a strong form of Federalism as a way of bringing some coherence, and consistency, to the UK as a way of balancing the forces of nationalism. I fully appreciate it is not a panacea, and unless England is interested it is a non-starter, but I’m struggling to see other ways of holding the union together in the face of a UK Government acting in ways which make it harder and harder to sustain the case. And what’s worse is they know that, and don’t seem to care. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They talk of ‘muscular unionism’, but it feels more like unionism on steroids - there’s the appearance of muscle, but as with the anabolic kind the side-effects are causing long-term damage to the rest of the body.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What worries me is that Welsh Labour seems to be the only part of the body politic that is sounding the alarm - we are the canary in the cage. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And we are sounding the alarm because we think a properly functioning Union is worth saving. I do care what happens to the child in poverty in Liverpool as much as I care about the child in poverty in Llanelli. We need a sharing, redistributive union to balance the risk and spread the reward, to fund decent public services in every part of the UK. But just as we took the European Union for granted until it was too late, there’s a danger we do the same with the UK.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Politicians in London didn’t listen to Carwyn, I hope they’ll listen to Mark. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because Mark Drakeford has found a way of reconciling what you’ll remember Jim Griffiths described as ‘the contrary pulls of country and cause’.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been proud to be part of his Ministerial team as he’s navigated our way through the most difficult set of challenges in modern political history in a way which has shown that intelligent political leadership is possible in the digital age. In a way that hasn’t sought to over-simpify complex trade-offs, that hasn’t dumbed-down, or offered glib answers. And internally, within the Government, he has made space to debate and discuss, to test every decision - against evidence and political feeling. He’s not the Messiah, but I do think he has been a case-study in political leadership that will be studied for years to come.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His has been a leadership that has shown both sensitivity and courage. He has not been afraid to follow a different path. We have seen that these choices have proven popular, but we didn’t know that at the outset. We did what we thought was right. Consistent, measured, cautious, evidence-led policy, with an emphasis on compassion - all our choices were informed by careful discussions about the impacts on equality and social justice.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that approach has earned him trust. I was asked less than 10 minutes after I’d received my own astonishing result in May what people on the doorstep had said about him. And I answered honestly, ‘he may not be flashy, but thank God for him’.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That integrity has strengthened devolution. It has illustrated what S.O Davies said on the Eisteddfod stage in Ystradgynlais in 1954, “I am an uncompromising socialist, but socialism can never materialise in Wales unless we can be free to apply its principles to our own way of life”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mark Drakeford is socialist to his core. And a Welshman too. Two sides of the same coin. Country and cause co-existing. And do you know what, it's popular.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The pat on the back is one thing but Kier Starmer and the Parliamentary Party would do well to study the approach. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As would Welsh Labour. And this brings me to the central topic of the lecture, how does Welsh Labour renew from within.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next year marks the centenary of Labour being the dominant Party in Wales. In the General Election of November 1922 the Labour Party took a majority of seats in Wales for the first time. When we reach the centenary of that event, Labour will have been the dominant Party in Wales for 100 years. Not only a unique achievement in any functioning democracy, but in my view a moment of vulnerability too.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can predict now what the commentators and the critics will say. I doubt opposition parties will reflect on their own failure to persuade people in Wales for a full Century that they offer a better path, they are far more likely to suggest our own achievement is in fact some kind of failure.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To give a strong rejoinder to that we need a lively debate within our party to show we still have the energy and ideas to earn the continued confidence of the Welsh people. Mark Drakeford has given us all fair warning that he’ll be standing down somewhere around the mid-point of the Senedd term. So there’s no excuse for when we reach that point to not have underway by then a flourishing debate about the future of socialism in Wales and our party’s role in delivering it.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The bit that doesn’t get quoted so much from my post-election TV interview is the bit where I said we need to renew from within ‘with gusto’. So let me offer some brief thoughts of my own to contribute to that wider debate we need to see. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we approach the 25th anniversary of the 1997 devolution referendum we ought to reflect on the successes of the devolution project to date, but also ought to fairly recognise that it's only been 25 years. 100 years of economic decline was never going to be reversed in a quarter of that time with the powers available. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Campaigners over-promised in 1997 what devolution could deliver on the economy. After all, this remains a largely non-devolved area. But in the next 25 years there’s a suite of things we can do within our powers to make a meaningful difference to the prosperity of our communities.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The context of the next quarter of a century though is a very different one. The United Nations has issued a ‘Code Red for humanity’. A Climate and Nature emergency demands significant changes to the way we go about our business. And it demands them quickly if we are to avoid the tipping points which could see climate change becoming a runaway phenomenon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I’m worried people don’t take this seriously. The science is clear, and alarming. But there’s little sense of urgency.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The science around Covid has been was alarming too but that produced an instant response because it presented an immediate mass threat to life. So why does Climate change, which is already killing people in the developing world and on our doorstep, somehow feels less urgent?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember more than 10 years ago at the Hay Festival hearing Sir Anthony Giddens, one of the world’s leading sociologists, making the point that even though all the experts agree climate change is an urgent issue, for most people, and for most policy-makers, it tends to be a back-of-the-mind one - swamped by more immediate concerns. I recall him saying that he traveled the world interviewing leaders for his book </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Politics of Climate Change </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and they’d all been keen to tell him what needed to be done by 2050, but none had talked about what they were going to do this year and next.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A month from today leaders will be gathering in Glasgow for the latest UN summit on Climate Change, COP26, with a brief to meet the challenge set by the scientific imperatives with political action - To get to the point where we only emit as much carbon as we can deal with - within the next 30 years. It is the challenge of our generation.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the next 10 years we will have to cut our emissions by more than we have managed over the whole of the last 30 years.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And there are no soft targets, we’ve already done the obvious and easier stuff, like shutting coal-fired powered stations. We can’t do that again. So we now face having to go much further and much faster. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ahead of COP the Welsh Government will be publishing our contribution, our plan to cut carbon over the next five years to get us on the right path to reach NetZero by 2050. We’ve got a plan to just about do it, but it won’t be easy and it gets harder beyond the next 5 years. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The UK Government so far have been unable, ideologically and temperamentally, to properly meet the scale of the challenge with meaningful and sincere action, so we, again, have to set our own course.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the backdrop to the debate we as a party face as we look to renew from within. The changes we face are not optional. The only option we have is do we let dramatic change happen to us, or do we take heed of the warnings and try to manage the change. As Raymond Williams, born a Century ago just north of Llanfihangel Crucorney said “To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing”. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are going to have to move mountains to meet the NetZero challenge. So let us design our response in a way that </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">also </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">brings prosperity to our communities, improves quality of life and tackles social injustice. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We face a crisis if we don’t act, but there are opportunities if we do.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me give a few examples.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The UK Climate Change Committee tells us that if we have any hope of meeting our NetZero targets we need to plant 86 million trees in Wales within the next 9 years. 86 million. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last year, just 290 hectares of woodland was planted in Wales and we’ve not managed to plant more than 2,000 hectares a year in my whole lifetime. To meet the 2050 climate target we need to plant 5,000 hectres of woodland a year, every year – and that target goes up significantly for the next decade. So going from 290 to 5,000 hectres, and sustaining it, is a challenge we need to get our heads around. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it brings an opportunity. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the moment in the UK we import 80% of the timber we use for products - like windows, decking, building joists. And of the trees we do harvest in Wales just 4% are currently used to build Welsh homes; the rest we use for low value goods like pallets and fencing. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s a huge opportunity for us to swap out carbon intensive concrete in new houses and use Welsh wood, that not only absorbs carbon as it grows but opens up the opportunity of a whole supply chain. Our coal economy is gone, but a new wood economy is available to us if we mobilise an alliance for change. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Global demand for timber for house building is projected increase by 120%. So we need to change perceptions, instead of burning trees for energy or using them for garden benches, we need to be smarter. Properly done we can increase biodiversity, reduce carbon emissions and create a chain of green jobs and green skills that offer new opportunities for rural communities. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The trees we plant are essential not just for addressing the climate and nature emergencies, but they provide an economic opening too. Let’s not let London investment firms seize the opportunity, let's get our communities benefiting from this. Tudor Watkins warned of the dangers of large-scale conifer plantations owned by absentee landlords. Let's not make the same mistake again.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Stump Up For Trees project at Bryn Arw, near Abergavenny, offers us a model - a farmer-led alliance, focusing on planting trees on unproductive land and capturing the wealth locally through the sale of carbon credits. It’s brilliant. What’s not to love?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m beginning work now on the Timber Industrial Strategy for Wales that we promised in our manifesto. I’m also looking at how we can unleash more renewable energy in a way that captures the benefits, and ownership, locally.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This needs to be our theme as we set about tackling climate change - cutting emissions whilst also nourishing the foundations of our local economies. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is an idea I have championed since being elected in 2016 - the Foundational Economy. The everyday bits of economic activity that we all rely on. The food we eat, the homes we live in, the energy we use and the care we receive: those basic services which every citizen needs.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are ‘wellbeing critical’ in Prof Kevin Morgan’s phase, because the interruption of their supply undermines safe and civilised life. As we’ve seen starkly over the last 18 months.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These aren’t small parts of our economy. They account for four in 10 jobs, and £1 in every three that we spend. Care, food, housing, energy, construction - the industries and firms that are there because people are there. Indeed, in some parts of Wales this basic “foundational economy” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the economy. And investing in it is smart because it's more resilient to external economic shocks. As we saw during Covid, as the penny finally dropped on the importance of these Key Workers.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was privileged to get the opportunity from Mark Drakeford to be the Minister to lead on this agenda in Government. We created a £4.5 Million challenge fund to run 50 trials: supporting housing associations in Blaenau Gwent to look at what firms there are in the area and help them to benefit from spending on retrofit programmes - keeping the money in the local economy and helping with climate change; we supported schools and hospitals in Carmarthenshire to serve local food on local plates; and a scheme to boost the quality of social care in Flintshire whilst also improving the pay of carers.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m pleased that my colleague Vaughan Gething has now announced follow-on funding of £2.5 Million to spread and scale the good practice that emerged. And my colleague the Finance Minister Rebecca Evans has published a new procurement policy to emphasise not just cost but also social value. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Welsh public sector spends close to £7 Billion each year buying goods and services, and we are determined to make strides to stop that money leaking from our local economies. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We need to focus on so-called anchor institutions: local colleges, Councils, hospitals, police. They exist in every part of Wales and they’re called anchor institutions because they’re not going anywhere. So let’s encourage them to use their buying power better so we can make sure more money goes into local pockets. The days of relying on Japanese car factories are over, we need to make more of what we’ve already got.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perhaps our biggest anchor institution is the NHS. And during the pandemic we saw through the prism of PPE supplies the shortcomings of our dependence on cheap foreign supplies for vital supplies. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For masks, and gowns and gloves we’ve come to rely on low-cost goods from long international supply chains. And when the crisis hit, they fell apart. Thankfully Team Wales pulled together. Whereas the NHS in England was fragmented, the more co-operative systems in Wales across health and social care worked as one. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only did we not run out of PPE, we were able to offer help to the NHS in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. And as recent audit reports have shown, we not only avoided rip-off contracts but we spent massively less than they did, and without any whiff of scandal of orders given to political chums. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A key learning was the need for resilient local procurement. We saw from the appetite of Welsh firms willing to re-tool in the crisis that there is a capable band of SMEs who want to supply the public sector, and who are more than able to innovate. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So let's think bigger than PPE. The UK imports nearly £2.5 billion worth of orthopaedic parts every year, the vast majority not from low cost countries we struggle to complete with on price, but from higher cost countries like as USA and Germany. That’s just one example. There are plenty of opportunities where we are spending significant sums, from medical devices to artificial hips, to make more in Wales - giving a boost to manufacturing and building Welsh firms. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’ve now launched a £500,000 ‘Foundational Economy Health Plan’ to make a start. We hope this will result in the NHS spending an extra £8.4m with local businesses, getting the public pound working for Wales. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is another smart example of where we can help to tackle climate change - shortening international supply chains and cutting food miles - in a way that also boots local firms and benefits communities who have often felt left behind.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s lots of potential in this giant Climate Change portfolio to make a difference. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In transport we have a very ambitious target of a zero-emission bus fleet by the end of the decade. It will require hundreds of millions of investment. It’s a climate-must. It’s also an economic opportunity. Instead of buying the buses from China, as is starting to happen, let's do it here. If we can now build trains in Wales again, as we are under our new rail franchise, why can’t we build electric buses? We’re working on it.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We might have over-promised what devolution could deliver in terms of economic change in 1997. We don’t have many direct powers. But there’s plenty we can do through other areas where we have control - meeting the challenge of climate change also affords us an opportunity to rebuild the fabric for local economies across Wales.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These are some thoughts of mine of how we can embrace an agenda for reform. I feel strongly that we need to continually signal our appetite to remain in office and use power for a purpose, using all the levers we have to build prosperity and wellbeing in our towns and communities. This is my truth, Aneurin Bevan famously said, now tell me yours.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let's hear it. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of us - every branch and every member - need to put in the effort to generate ideas for what Welsh Labour should focus on next. We’re not managers, we’re agents of change.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let us approach our Centenary year as the party of Wales not just with history in mind, but with a determination to show we are focused on what more there is to do. Let us renew from within, with gusto. There can be no better mantra than the manifesto which saw Tudor Watkins elected to Parliament in 1945, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let Us Face The Future</span></p><br /></span>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-60359457652835810182021-09-27T05:52:00.002-07:002021-09-27T05:53:15.673-07:00Putting the Foundational Economy into practice to tackle the climate emergency <p><a href="https://wiserd.ac.uk/news/foundational-renewal-transforming-reliance-systems-wake-covid-19"> Speech to WISERD Foundational Economy Conference, September 9th 2021 </a></p><p>I’m in the north for a series of visits to learn about my new portfolio which includes housing,
energy, transport, regeneration and forestry, amongst very many others. It was initially
described as a Climate Change super-Ministry. But it could equally be called a foundry for
the foundational economy. </p><p>Tackling the fallout from global warning, a nature AND climate emergency, and stopping it
getting any worse, is our priority. But as we do it we need to fashion solutions that also
enhance our communities – advancing social justice and growing local economies as we go. </p><p>That’s the lense I look at this job through. </p><p>The scale of the climate challenge is not fully understood by many. In the next 10 years we
have to achieve cuts in emissions greater than all the reductions we have managed in the
whole of the last 30 years. And the cuts get more challenging still in the decades beyond this
one. </p><p>The first thing I did when I sat down with my colleague Julie James, the Minister for Climate
Change, was to scan where our biggest challenges are in order to apply some early energy
to get things shifting. Whilst it is often hard to see the woods for the trees, Wales’ lagging
stats on forestry creation pointed to a real problem that requires attention. </p><p>The UK Climate Change Committee tells us that if we have any hope of meeting our NetZero
targets we need to plant 86 million trees in Wales within the next 9 years. That’s 5,000
hectres of woodland a year, every year – and that target goes up significantly for the next
decade. Last year, just 290 hectares of woodland was planted in Wales and we’ve not
managed to plan more than 2,000 hectares a year in my whole lifetime. So going from 290 to
5,000, and sustaining it, is a challenge we need to focus on. </p><p>I led an initial deep-dive exercise with a small group who were empowered to be challenging,
to identify the barriers to tree-planting and to identify ways of overcoming them. I set
ourselves a non-negotiable and tough short-term deadline, and just before the Senedd broke
for the summer I set out our conclusions and issued a call to arms to get this sorted, and to
do so at pace. </p><p>The point of this example is that here’s an imperative in tackling climate change. Not a nice
to do, but a must do. But it’s also an opportunity. </p><p>We need to change perceptions of Welsh timber being a staple for low value products like
pallets and fencing, to one which is used for precision engineering, high quality, low-carbon
house building: A stimulus for a new programme of high-tech green skills; A source of value
added home insulation products. Demand for all these is rising and will get higher – there’s a
projected 120% increase in global demand for timber for house building. </p><p>But just 4% of Welsh wood is currently used to build Welsh homes. So what an opportunity
we have to disrupt this and create a green dividend for Wales. </p><p>The trees we plant are essential not just for addressing the climate and nature emergencies,
but they provide an economic opening too. Our coal economy is gone, but a new wood
economy is available to us if we mobilise an alliance for change. </p><p>That mantra, ‘an alliance for change’ - Karel Williams’ mantra, has made an impression on
me. And it's not surprising as Karel has been in the thick of the action with me over the last 3
years, helping guide our Foundational Economy Challenge Fund, through the pandemic
working closely with us on how we responded to the PPE challenges in a way that helped
local firms, and since the election bringing his Gramscian blend of intellectual pessimism and
‘optimism of the will’ together, working with me in our tree Deep Dive and on bringing life
back into town centres. I really am grateful to him - and to Kevin Morgan, who has
demonstrated similar commitment and application - for recognising the need to put academic
research alongside practical implementation in the bowels of a devolved government –
working with civil servants and Ministers to tackle familiar problems in fresher ways. </p><p>As a result of this fusion when I announced the results of our Trees Deep Dive I also
announced the beginning of work on a Timber Industrial Strategy for Wales, and a piece of
work on how to draw in finance to fund tree planting in way that keeps control and wealth
within our communities. </p><p>This is Foundational Thinking in action. Building the wealth of communities, harnessing the
everyday economy within our environmental limits. And doing it by building a coalition of the
willing, an alliance for change if you will. </p><p>For my next assignment I’m going to be conducting a similar deep dive exercise this autumn
on the barriers to renewal energy. Same principle – bring together some awkward buggers,
with people who are involved in daily delivery to find a set of levers that help us tackle
climate change AND help us nourish the foundations of our local economies. </p><p>As I mentioned a moment ago this portfolio has, alongside foresty and energy, housing,
transport, planning, the environment and regeneration. In terms of the everyday economy,
there’s lots of potential here. </p><p>In transport we have a very ambitious target of a zero-emission bus fleet by 2028. It will
require hundreds of millions of investment. It’s a climate-must. It’s also an economic
opportunity. But without a deliberate and activist strategy new electric buses will be bought
by our incredibly fragmented bus industry from China and elsewhere – indeed it is already
happening. </p><p>But if we can now build trains in Wales again, why can’t be build electric buses?
Innovative and determined Welsh Government civil servants and Ministers saw the
opportunity of a new Wales rail franchise in 2018 to harness the power of public spending to
create quality Welsh jobs. With targeted inward investment we now have Spanish owned
CAF assembling and maintaining 70 trains in Newport for Welsh passengers. No more hand-me down trains on our railways, made-in-Wales wagons are currently being built and tested
here. </p><p>Lets try and do similar - and better – for the new buses we’re going to need to meet our
climate targets. Let us aggregate demand and create a domestic supply-chain, making sure
we capture the value from this spend in Wales. Again here is foundational theory and practice coming together again. </p><p>We need to aggregate
demand <a href="https://foundationaleconomy.com/foundational-economy-book/">according to the book</a>, so let's roll up our sleeves and do it. Karel Williams, again, is
currently working with civil servants and the brilliant James Davies, head of Industry Wales –
a partnership forged in our Foundational Economy Ministerial Advisory Board, and honed in
the work on PPE procurement - to figure out a plan. Once we have the foundations we’ll
need to marshal another alliance for change to make it happen.
It’s do-able, but only if we set out to do it. </p><p>In housing I’ve asked Debbie Green of Coastal Housing, another pioneer in seeing the
imperative of applying foundational thinking to the work of social landlords, to bring together
a small group to work with us on taking forward the foundational economy agenda in
housing. </p><p>This is a key sector for mainstreaming the principle of social value into practice. And there is
already a lot of good work going on we can build on.
And it's important to say at this point that this work has been building in Wales for years, not
led by the Government but by civil society. And parts of the social housing sector have been
at the vanguard. </p><p>And this is the work of teams. I am acutely that Karel, and Kevin and
Debbie are supported by teams and collaborators who come together to ensure that the
whole is greater than the parts. Practitioners and researchers feeding in ideas and challenge
- doing what Raymond Williams challenged us to do. “To be truly radical is to make hope
possible, rather than despair convincing” he said.
And that is what the foundational economy movement in civil society has been doing. I want
Government to put rocket-boosters under the important work that has taken place to
mainstream and scale it. </p><p>Over two years ago we set up our £4.5 Million Foundational Economy Challenge Fund to
experiment and trial different approaches. This included supporting housing associations in
Blaenau Gwent to examine the local supply chain to help local firms benefit from spending
on optimised retrofit programmes. </p><p>The fund also supported Keith Edwards to take forward the ground-breaking work he and
others begun more than 10 years ago on a ‘Can-Do’ approach to procurement in social
housing. </p><p>That same philosophy is being advanced by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies in
their work for us with 5 clusters of Public Service Boards. The Welsh public sector spends
some £6.7bn each year on procurement, and we are determined to make strides to stop that
money leaking from local economies. </p><p>The emerging focus of the work with local anchor institutions is on localising procurement
spend, and shortening supply chains. The Public Service Boards are showing an enthusiasm
to focus on increasing local sourcing of food, the development of green skills to support our
optimised retrofit programme in social housing, and a specific focus on decarbonisation of
supply chains. </p><p>Again this is work that helps reduce carbon emissions AND brings local economic benefit.
This afternoon I’ve been to Bethesda to see the determined work being done by Partneriaeth
Ogwen are doing on environmental projects and growing social enterprises in ex-slate
mining communities. Helped by the Foundational Economy Challenge Fund and learning
from similar projects and inspiring people in neighbouring communities. Genuinely organic
local leadership, building a movement and an alliance for change. </p><p>I was rightly told off by Kevin Morgan for saying that we were making up the foundational
economy approach as we went. ‘The Basques’, he said. ‘Learn from the Basques! They say
we build the road as we travel” </p><p>Lesson learned. Painfully. </p><p>We are building the road as we travel, one mile at a time. The purpose of our Foundational
Economy Challenge Fund was to trial - to experiment. Forty seven projects were completed
at the end of March and have now been evaluated. My colleague Vaughan Gething, the
Minister for the Economy, has just <a href="https://media.service.gov.wales/news/gbp-2-5m-funding-boost-to-back-businesses-in-the-everyday-local-economy">announced a £2.5m programme t</a>o spread and scale the
good practice that emerged. </p><p>The fund is prioritising work in social care, advancing schemes to help recruitment in the
sector, furthering a programme of work experience for adults with learning difficulties, and
scaling the ‘Micro Care’ model in Flintshire, to improve the quality of care and the pay of
carers. </p><p> In Carmarthenshire we’re giving extra support to the local food sector with funding for
producers to cook and freeze produce for sale. In Gwent we’re backing a further programme
of Community Wealth Building with local anchor institutions. Across the central valleys we’re
funding a programme to grow the digital capability of 1,000 high street businesses to set up
delivery and click/collect services; And in the northern valleys, complementing our work on
tree planting and timber harvesting, we’re supporting a promising project to help deprived
communities manage the landscape that surrounds their villages - to shape, and benefit
from, the environment across their skyline. </p><p>We’re also extending support for a Community of Practice to spread learning and to help
build alliances for change.
The experience of working together on securing PPE supplies in the pandemic was
instructive. We all had a reliance on low-cost goods from a long international supply chain.
And when the crisis hit, it fell apart. </p><p>Thankfully we were very placed to respond with resilience, our professional and planned
procurement systems through NHS Wales Shared Services came into their own. Whereas
the NHS in England was fragmented, the more co-operative systems in Wales across health
and social care pulled together. Not only did we not run out of PPE, we were able to offer
mutual aid to the NHS in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. And as recent audit
reports have shown, we did it at a significantly lower cost, and without any whiff of scandal of
contracts given to political chums. </p><p>A key learning from the experience though was the need for resilient local procurement. We
saw from the appetite of Welsh firms to re-tool in the crisis that there is a willing band of
capable SMEs who want to supply the public sector, and who are more than capable of
innovation. </p><p>And through our joint working with industry, the NHS and social care, we have been looking
at opportunities for re-shoring manufacturing, not just of low cost goods from low cost
countries, but higher value goods which are currently sourced from high-labour cost
countries such as USA and Germany. And there are plenty of opportunities where we are
spending significant sums, from medical devices to artificial hips, that could be made in
Wales. There is significant opportunity, but it will require planned and purposeful intervention
from an alliance for change for the potential to be realised. </p><p>As part of our recent announcement of next steps I’m delighted that we’re funding a
£500,000 ‘Foundational Economy Health Plan’. This is to look at how the NHS can deploy its
power as a major anchor institution to stimulate local supply chains. This will not only
address population health by improving local prosperity, but it will cut carbon with shorter
supply chains. The intention is for our NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership to spend an
extra £8.4m with local businesses, getting the public pound working for Wales. </p><p>On top of this is our manifesto commitment of a Backing Local Firms Fund which will focus
on food; green skills for energy efficient measures in social housing; and social care. </p><p> The public sector has a leadership role to play in stimulating change. But let's be clear that
the prize is wider. While the public sector spends approximately £90m each year on food -
and we want to do more to ensure that benefits local producers. This is the equivalent of the
annual turnover of just one major supermarket to the west of Cardiff. </p><p>The annual overall spend with supermarkets and the hospitality sector across Wales
amounts to £3bn each year. To reduce food miles, and the carbon impacts of food imported
from across the world, our challenge is to deliver a climate dividend, and to bolster local
economies. And our Backing Local Firms Fund will take steps to help this. </p><p>Of course none of this is easy. And to my great frustration none of this can be delivered
quickly either. And that is the challenge we all face. The UN has said that the climate crisis is
a Code Red for humanity. It demands significant changes to the way we go about our
business. And it demands them quickly if we are to have any hope of stopping climate
change becoming a runaway phenomenon. </p><p>The changes are not optional. The option we have is do we let dramatic change happen to
us, or do we take heed of the warnings and manage the change. </p><p>The Foundational Economy movement gives us a framework to help us manage the change
in ways that also benefits the everyday essential services we all rely on. </p><p>As our experience in Wales over the last three years of trying to put these Foundational
Economy principles into practice shows, it can be done: through research, analysis and
action by a co-ordinated alliance for change. </p><p>Growing up I used to love to listen to Max Boyce’s album The Incredible Plan. And you can
do no better for a political philosophy, because as he said, ‘where’s there’s a will, there’s a
way’.</p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Lee Waters MS is Deputy Minister for Climate Change in the Welsh Government</i></p>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-9211139276776891752021-09-27T05:32:00.000-07:002021-09-27T05:32:00.299-07:00It’s time to focus on the everyday economy<p><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><a href="https://www.iwa.wales/agenda/2020/01/its-time-to-focus-on-the-everyday-economy/"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2019-02-15T12:00:43+00:00" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #646464; display: inline; font-family: proxima-nova, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">Published by the Institute of Welsh Affairs on </time>10th January 2020</a></i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Over the last year we’ve been concentrating on putting into practice some of the ideas that have been championed by parts of civil society to strengthen the foundations of our economy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">In his manifesto to become First Minister Mark Drakeford emphasised that his Government would nurture and grow the everyday parts of our economy, with a focus not just on the economic outputs but on the quality of people’s experience of everyday life.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">My colleague Ken Skates set the direction for this new approach in the Welsh Government’s Economic Action Plan, with a recognition of the need to shift away from a sector approach to economic development to one focused on place – making the communities we live in stronger and more resilient. The plan places a greater emphasis on tackling inequality and signals a shift away from big grants to a ‘something for something’ relationship with business.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Of course we should continue to defend our tradable competitive economy but we must pay more attention to the foundations of our economies which locally delivers the goods and services that serve our everyday needs. The industries and firms that are there because people are there. The food we eat, the homes we live in, the energy we use and the care we receive: those basic services on which every citizen relies and which keep us safe, sound and civilised.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">These aren’t small parts of our economy. Estimates suggest they account for four in ten jobs, and £1 in every three that we spend – and in some parts of Wales represent the bulk of activity.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">They are also critical to our wellbeing, because the interruption of their supply undermines safe and civilised life, but they are also more resilient to external economic shocks. Even if a change in the global economy tips the attitude of a large multinational company against investing in Wales, the foundational economy remains. And nurturing it is within our power.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">We don’t simply want to grow these parts of the economy, we want to disrupt them – to change and improve the ways they work. Too often the Foundational Economy is dismissed as being characterised by low skill and poor productivity and therefore undeserving of attention. I want to challenge that. In reconnecting our local economies with the people who live there, and using what we already have to greater effect, we can reshape the way local economies work.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Rather than seeing this part of the economy as a backwater I want to explore how can improve it, for example how we can apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital innovation to improve productivity and user experience in these sectors, and crucially, how we promote a culture of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-05/fair-work-wales.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1578390499557000&usg=AFQjCNF3Ix58jDqZhUCjhTI3jRmwB5KH4g" href="https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-05/fair-work-wales.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #d9000d; text-decoration-line: none;">Fair Work</a>. We don’t want more of the same, we want better. An important part of that is considering how we can upskill people through job progression.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_bold; font-weight: bolder;">A national level approach</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">To do this we have to view and value these activities anew. This demands a more sophisticated understanding of the way the real economy works and inter-relates. We don’t simply have one economy, we have multiple economies. And Government has a role in nurturing this eco-system of loosely coupled and inter-connected parts through creating alliances.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Wales is now a part of a movement that is taking place in cities and regions across the world – in Barcelona the city region is developing a strategic plan for foundational basics, in Austria their Trades Union Congress (TUC) has a foundational campaign under the slogan “good life for all”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">But Wales is the first country in the world to adopt the foundational economy approach at a national level.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Our first step is ‘Experimenting’ with our Foundational Economy Challenge Fund. There is no exact template we can lift and shift to support Welsh communities. The Fund is to trial different approaches, develop a strong Community of Practice, an ‘Alliance for Change’ that will stimulate debate and help spread and scale learning on what works.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">The Fund’s budget of £1.5 million, originally agreed as part of a budget agreement with Plaid Cymru, was increased to £4.5 million as a result of significant interest and quality of applications we received.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://businesswales.gov.wales/foundational-economy&source=gmail&ust=1578390499557000&usg=AFQjCNECRnStOufIyIBbucrgXgsRgjOxpQ" href="https://businesswales.gov.wales/foundational-economy" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #d9000d; text-decoration-line: none;">As a result we’ve been able to support 52 innovative projects across Wales</a>, from food and social care, to construction and regeneration, and from applicants in the public, private and third sectors.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">These sit alongside projects in the the Arfor innovation fund, also agreed with Plaid Cymru as part of a budget agreement. These schemes, focused on supporting the Welsh language though the local economy fit comfortably within the foundational economy approach. Indeed, the foundational economy approach should help deliver our target of 1 million Welsh speakers and allow our Welsh speaking communities to thrive by providing good quality work locally.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_bold; font-weight: bolder;">Pan-Wales pilot projects </span></h3><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Of the 52 experimental trials some are exciting and risky, others are more mundane, but all all worthwhile.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">For example, we are backing Circular Economy Wales to look at adapting the Sardinian <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ft.com/content/cf875d9a-5be6-11e5-a28b-50226830d644&source=gmail&ust=1578390499557000&usg=AFQjCNGpz4W-Nm6wAof-j0wRxWxmV258gg" href="https://www.ft.com/content/cf875d9a-5be6-11e5-a28b-50226830d644" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #d9000d; text-decoration-line: none;">Sardex</a> model for Wales. This new “currency” tries to embed co-operation and trust into local economies and build relationships between businesses that can help them in the long run. The system also enables wealth and skills to be retained locally. I know from my experience that businesses in Llanelli often operate in complete isolation from other local businesses that have complementary skills and strengths, and I hope this project might be a way to help break down those barriers.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://skyline.wales/&source=gmail&ust=1578390499557000&usg=AFQjCNGuv_VIYXY1ZUeOq2wi16K-BDNF-A" href="https://skyline.wales/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #d9000d; text-decoration-line: none;">Project Skyline</a>, across Treherbert, Ynysowen, and Caerau in the Rhondda Valley is looking at the potential of community transfer of public land. Building on a model from Scotland, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.thegreenvalleys.org/&source=gmail&ust=1578390499557000&usg=AFQjCNGLB355dzq3-zATSPgMg76vzPaEIg" href="http://www.thegreenvalleys.org/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #d9000d; text-decoration-line: none;">The Green Valleys CIC</a> want to transform this community’s relationship with its environment, and unlock the potential of the surrounding land to generate revenue through forestry, tourism and green energy. This project aims to explore the ways in which we can make the most of the public land and provide income to rural communities, drawing on successful work in this field in Scotland.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://cwmnibro.cymru/&source=gmail&ust=1578390499557000&usg=AFQjCNHsABOcC5piPjtT-T5Pf5hfLHuoLw" href="http://cwmnibro.cymru/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #d9000d; text-decoration-line: none;">Cwmni Cymunedol Bro Ffestiniog</a>, an umbrella social enterprise in Blaenau Ffestiniog, are also being supported to employ a full time Community Connector, who will support the organisation to develop businesses in the areas of community tourism, renewable energy and digital media – all with the aim of increasing good employment locally and cut down on commuting miles. They will also develop the approach with the intention of adopting a similar community enterprise model elsewhere in Wales.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">From the private sector, we’re supporting Mon Shellfish to work with their local college to develop new products with a longer shelf life – increasing their ability to meet the strict hygiene requirements of schools and hospitals. The CYFLE shared apprenticeship scheme in Carmarthenshire is creating structured opportunities for proper work experience in the construction sector, and Gower Gas & Oil are providing placements for people who fall between gaps in education and employment. There are also a number of projects designed to help small firms win work from large public sector organisations and social landlords.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">In social care, a project to develop the co-operative provision of back office functions is being developed that we hope will ease the administrative burden on Wales’ network of small care providers. This will increase productivity in the sector, and allow organisations to focus on providing quality front line care.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">In Gwynedd, a housing association is looking at using smart home technology to support domiciliary care, enabling residents to stay in their homes for longer. Similarly, Denbighshire are exploring the use of AI to support people in their homes and tackle loneliness and isolation.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">I’m anxious to avoid 52 pilot projects that fizzle out. That’s why our second focus is on ‘spreading and scaling best practice’. Wales has led the way before, but pilot projects and good initiatives have petered out and failed to spread. That has to change.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">The Foundational Economy agenda is a practical expression of the principles laid out in the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. So I am working with the Public Service Boards (PSB) as key partners to help apply what works to all parts of Wales; and in parallel with the Future Generations Commissioner to reform the use of procurement.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Initially we will focus on spreading the success achieved by Preston Council in using local purchasing power to build local wealth. This is an area where Wales has pioneered, but has been overtaken by an English borough Council that has shown commendable leadership. It’s now time that we reclaim the leadership, and go further.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">We are appointing a partner organisation to assist PSBs to maximise the social value of procurement. Together they will identify local providers for goods and services in their areas to maximise local spending. But we need to be smart. We must avoid a postcode ‘invoice counting’ approach, which may produce flattering figures but simply displaces spending from one deprived area to another. Instead we need to develop a ‘relational’ approach to procurement that emphasises supporting grounded firms across the whole supply chain and throughout Wales.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Although we’ll start with spreading the lessons from taking a progressive approach to procurement, the foundational economy agenda is far wider than local purchasing. This is reflected in the diversity of the projects we’re supporting through the Foundational Economy Challenge Fund. The big test we face in this venture is to closely monitor the trials being undertaken and to spot successes that can be scaled quickly. This will not be easy.</p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_bold; font-weight: bolder;">‘Building the road as we travel’</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">To give us the best chance of success we need to work across Government, and to that end I have now created a cross-departmental delivery board in the Welsh Government with the Finance Minister Rebecca Evans.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">We don’t have a fully worked out plan, instead we are, as the Basques put it, ‘building the road as we travel’. We need the honesty to admit that we don’t have a fully worked out blueprint at this stage, and the courage to adopt an experimental approach. Some of our trials will succeed, and others will not, but there can be value in failure – so long as we learn from it. Our intention is to track and capture the emerging learning in an Enabling Plan for the Foundational Economy.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">The third pillar of our approach is crucial – supporting ‘grounded firms’, building the so-called ‘missing middle’, and aggregating local demand to help do so.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">My aim is to increase the number of firms rooted in their local economies, including micro firms, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), social enterprises, co-ops and community interest groups, which in the tradable sectors are capable of selling outside Wales, but have decision making grounded in our communities.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Too often growing Welsh firms are lost to us in a succession of ownership change. Through our Development Bank, and through Business Wales, we are already doing a lot to build and retain firms in Wales. And I’m working with a sub-group of our Ministerial Advisory Board to see what more we can do as we design our next generation of business support services, and I’ve created a sub-group of the Valleys Taskforce led by Josh Miles of the Federation of Small Businesses, to see what more we can do to support SMEs in the Valleys to take forward the ‘Foundational Economy’ approach.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Our primary emphasis is on action, but this agenda presents a policy challenge too. Inevitably, given that we are the first country to adopt the Foundational Economy at a national level, we are innovating as we go. The approach throws up policy tensions as well as delivery challenges, and we are working these through one at a time.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Good progress has been made so far, but as we implement this new approach, it is demanding new relationships and new ways of working within and across Government, as well as between Government, businesses and communities.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">The structural challenges of de-industrialisation many of our communities have faced over the last forty years have deep roots. This is not a ‘silver bullet’ to those issues, but it is an important part of the re-building work that needs to be done – alongside stronger transport infrastructure, enhanced skills support and effective digital connectivity – to make our local economies more resilient for the future. It can be a progressive response to many of the underlying issues that drove people to vote the way they did in the EU referendum of 2016.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">The Welsh Government is kick-starting change. But the dividend will only come at scale if we have alliances for change. We must see co-ordinated working across departments in government, and between public bodies, and from civil society.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">That’s why I’m glad that the IWA are actively working in this area, alongside other work being undertaken by the Foundational Economy Wales network, the Bevan Foundation, the TUC and the Federation of Small Businesses.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">We’re seeing a real will from inside and outside of Government to make this work and push the boundaries of what we can do.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">We will need input from every corner of Wales to ensure that we’re able to change the way in which the Foundational Economy works in Wales, for the good of everyone who lives and works here.</p><div class="meta-outer author-details" style="background-color: white; border-top: 1px solid rgb(208, 208, 208); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 20px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;">Lee Waters is a Labour AM for Llanelli and Deputy Minister for the Economy & Transport in the Welsh Government</p></div>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-82684283601006752102021-09-27T05:27:00.004-07:002021-09-27T05:27:41.903-07:00Fixing the foundations of the Welsh economy<p><i><a href="https://www.iwa.wales/agenda/2019/02/fixing-the-foundations-of-the-welsh-economy/"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2019-02-15T12:00:43+00:00" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #646464; font-family: proxima-nova, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Published by the Institute of Welsh Affairs on 15th February 2019</time><span style="background-color: white; color: #646464; font-family: proxima-nova, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></a></i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MpugsV_JUQ0" width="527" youtube-src-id="MpugsV_JUQ0"></iframe></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In all the debate about the impact of Brexit, it’s important we don’t lose focus on what led to a majority of people in Wales voting to Leave the EU, and what we must do to address their cry of pain.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Communities like the one I represent in Llanelli used the referendum to articulate a sense of frustration that we were being left behind – a feeling that we are expected to absorb the downsides of globalisation without feeling many of the upsides celebrated by the winners from free trade and open borders.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The way our economy has developed has been undeniably uneven. Cardiff is the only part of Wales to match the UK average levels of wealth. Whilst London and the south east of England has flourished, the rest of the UK has struggled. But it’s no use living in one of the wealthiest parts of the UK if housing consumes over half your income – as might happen in Greater London. Meanwhile in Wales far too many people are working in low pay, low security jobs and live in homes that harm their health and wellbeing.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">And though we can point to historically healthy levels of employment, this is to fundamentally misunderstand the way that many Welsh communities feel after decades of deindustrialisation. Given that 40% of people in Wales living in poverty are in employment, it’s simply no longer true that work alone is the best route out of poverty.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mark Drakeford’s election as First Minister has signalled the need for a new emphasis on nurturing and growing the everyday parts of our economy, with a focus not just on the economic outputs but on the quality of people’s experience of everyday life.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Welsh Government’s Economic Action Plan has already set the direction with a shift away from a sector approach to economic development to one focused on place – making the communities we live in stronger and more resilient. It places a greater emphasis on tackling inequality and signals a shift away from big grants to a ‘something for something’ relationship with business.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The next step in that approach is to nurture and grow the foundations of our local economies. Care, food, housing, energy, construction are all examples of the Foundational Economy. The industries and firms that are there because people are there. The food we eat, the homes we live in, the energy we use and the care we receive: those basic services on which every citizen relies and which keep us safe, sound and civilised.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">These aren’t small parts of our economy. They account for four in ten jobs, and £1 in every three that we spend. Indeed, in some parts of Wales this basic ‘foundational economy’ is the economy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Not only are these parts of the economy critical to our wellbeing, because the interruption of their supply undermines safe and civilised life, but they are also more resilient to external economic shocks. Even if a change in the global economy tips the attitude of a large multinational company against investing in Wales, the foundational economy remains. And nurturing it is within our power – the levers are devolved, and can be pulled relatively quickly.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">If we get it right, the Foundational Economy approach offers the chance to reverse the deterioration of employment conditions, stop the leakage of money from our communities and reduce the environmental cost of extended supply chains. For example in the care sector by linking investment to fair pay and career development.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">What’s more, investing in the foundational economy allows us to spread benefits into those communities where it has proven difficult to attract large companies – communities that in many cases turned to Brexit to express their feelings of dislocation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Welsh Government’s support for the foundational sector will emphasise keeping successful firms locally rooted, and building a firm base of medium sized Welsh firms.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Business support has often concentrated on firms that are able to grow quickly and provide relatively large numbers of jobs, but also firms that are relatively volatile and can be quick to fail. We need to move our focus to the harder task of creating sustainable firms that might grow more slowly, but act responsibly within their supply chains and are able to withstand economic shocks.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Matching the commitment we give to the large ‘anchor companies’ that employ more than 1,000 people in one place, with an equal emphasis on local ‘anchor institutions’ and the network of disparate and scattered local firms, has the potential to nourish the fabric of the communities that have felt left behind.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Our aim must be to increase the number of grounded firms (both micro firms, SMEs and co-ops, community interest companies) which are capable of selling outside Wales, but have decision making rooted in our communities. Too often growing Welsh firms are lost to us in a succession of ownership changes. To tackle the phenomenon of entrepreneurs ‘cashing out’ of their business when they become successful we’ll use the Development Bank for Wales to incentivise owner-managers to keep ownership within Wales, offering “patient capital” to build sustainable firms in Wales.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The call to build up the unglamorous and everyday parts of our economy has come from civil society. Work done by our Universities, the Wales TUC and the Federation of Small Businesses Wales in the last few years has been contributing to a growing view across Europe that Governments need to place more emphasis on the provision of essential goods and services.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">I recently visited Preston in the north west of England – a city roughly the size of Swansea – where they are harnessing the power of procurement spend to support local firms in an approach they call “local wealth building”. The borough Council have pulled together their six local anchor institutions to redirect their purchasing power towards local firms. The local hospital, University, sixth form college, police force and housing association have each scrutinised their contracts to look for opportunities to procure locally.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Without increasing overall costs, or reducing quality – and within existing EU procurement rules – these local anchors have succeeded in increasing local spend from 5% to 18% (with almost 70% of their spend now falling within the wider Lancashire region). Five of the six local anchor institutions are now living wage employers, average wages in the area have been significantly boosted and Preston has come out of England’s “most deprived” areas rankings through this experiment in local wealth building.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In his route map for 21st century socialism Mark Drakeford made a commitment to ask each Welsh local authority to identify their local “anchor institutions” and work with them to audit their contracts to increase the value and volume of procurement from regionally-based SMEs. We are now beginning that work by asking the Public Service Boards (set up under the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act) to work alongside the new Chief Regional Officers (set up under the new Economic Action Plan) to coordinate action from bodies right across the public sector – including Councils, health boards, fire and police forces.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">This approach builds on work pioneered in Wales a decade ago. The Can Do Toolkit was an early initiative in this area to help public sector officers to build community benefits into procurement contracts for social housing. Llanelli-born economist Karel Williams has continued to develop this thinking at the Manchester Business School and has led a team working with Welsh practitioners on an experimental approach to put these ideas into practice.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In Blaenau Gwent housing associations are collaborating with the local council, third sector and Cardiff University to maximise the impact of £4 million worth of contracts on the local economy. In Bethesda in Gwynedd the focus is on developing a new approach to social care. In line with Mark Drakeford’s wish to emphasise the quality of people’s experience of everyday life, and not just on the economic outputs, the project is working on enabling frontline staff to do what they think matters to the people they are caring for, instead of just delivering to a “time and task” prescription. The early results are promising and suggest a better model of delivery that can be up-scaled and rolled out, enabling more people to be supported for less money.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">It’s an experimental approach. There is no exact template we can lift and shift to Welsh communities, though undoubtedly there are lessons we can learn from others. We are now launching a fund with a £1.5 Million of funding (agreed with Plaid Cymru as part of the last budget agreement) to trial different approaches across Wales. We have pulled together a group of experts from a range of sectors to drive the agenda forward, and we are marshalling capacity within the Welsh Government by aligning the different programmes already carrying out work in this area, albeit not self-consciously branded as foundational economy activity.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The shift to a foundational approach will require a profound shift in our thinking and doing. We’ll have to do it while not neglecting the other parts of our economy that we still rely upon, and while we navigate the perils of Brexit. But it’s an approach which promises to address many of the underlying problems of the Welsh economy, and the alienation which marks Welsh politics.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: gt_super_text_book, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: proxima-nova, sans-serif;">Lee Waters is Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport in the Welsh Government.</span></span></p>Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-22164706620365898992018-12-11T09:09:00.001-08:002021-09-27T05:41:27.847-07:00Digital - a way to renew public services?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.iwa.wales/click/2018/12/digital-a-way-to-renew-public-services/">Post on IWA site on 11th December 2018</a></div>
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Digital solutions to problems have become commonplace, but there is a gap emerging between the digital expectations of citizens and the reality of Welsh public services.<br />
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When my son was receiving regular care from a consultant I asked if I could avoid the car journey and a morning’s lost school for him by Skyping into the clinic instead. The answer was no.<br />
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After accessing a GP service via an app on my smartphone within 8 minutes of checking availability, it’s a frustration to then spend 30 minutes repeatedly calling on the phone to get an appointment with my local NHS GP surgery.<br />
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These are just anecdotes based on a few of my own personal experiences, but they demonstrate that the digital expectations that have been set by our everyday experiences of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google (the so-called FANG companies), clash with the reality of the way public services work.<br />
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Citizens expectations are being transformed online. If health, local government and other services fail to keep up with these changing demands, it could seriously undermine support for the values of public services in the future.<br />
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Of course there are complicated reasons why in each of these cases the system is the way it is, but the theme is that our services are often not designed with the needs of the end user in mind.<br />
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A <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/no-point-reinventing-wheel.html">series of reports</a> over the last three years have set out a consistent picture of Welsh public services <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/are-councils-making-most-of-digital.html">failing to capture the potential of digital approaches</a> to improve outcomes. They set out a very similar picture of services falling well short of their potential to deliver easy ways for the public to use everyday services. The widespread use of faxes across the NHS, and the fact that even the smallest local authorities in Wales are using over 100 separate systems to deliver services, is a manifestation of a deeper problem.<br />
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After being a critic on the Public Accounts Committee of the performance of the digital arm of Welsh health service Wales - <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/does-nwis-needs-reboot.html">NHS Wales Informatics Service</a> - I was asked by three Government Ministers (Julie James, Vaughan Gething and Alun Davies) to put together <a href="https://gov.wales/newsroom/science-and-technology/2018/181123-External-Digital-Panel-established-to-aid-public-services/?lang=en">an expert panel to make recommendations for change across the public services</a>.<br />
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The volunteer panel has an impeccable pedigree: Paul Mathews, the Chief Executive of Monmouthshire Council; Anne Marie Cunningham, GP and Associate Medical Director of NWIS; Mark Wardle, Consultant Neurologist and Chair of the NHS Wales Technical Standards Board; Victoria Ford, Director at Perago-Wales, a former Head of Communications for the DVLA and who was part of the team at the Government Digital Service (GDS); Dominic Campbell, interim Chief Digital Officer at Homes England and CEO of FutureGov, and Sally Meecham who has a range of experience carrying out digital change, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of the GDS.<br />
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In the spirit of the openness that characterises the culture of the digital approach I’ve been <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/">blogging throughout our deliberations</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.leeforllanelli.wales/wp-content/uploads/systemreboot.pdf">Our report has just been published</a>.<br />
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The first thing to point out is that we recognise that there is good practice across the Welsh public sector. Whilst some Councils have introduced things like putting its parking services online, and text reminders of bin collections, many are way behind. In the same way some parts of the NHS are innovating, in <a href="https://www.llanelliherald.com/42018/views-digital-innovation-morriston-hospital/">Morriston hospital for example the kidney dialysis service</a> allows patients to make decisions about their treatments by giving them digital access to their information through their smartphone or computer. Other parts of the NHS are still in the pre-digital age - hospital appointment letters are still routinely posted, and it’s not possible to access services online.<br />
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To scale up and sustain this good practice the panel has recommended a significant programme of change.<br />
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We call for the appointment of a Chief Digital Officer for Wales and a Minister for Digital with authority right across the public services; a Digital Strategy that ensures problems are addressed from the point of view of the member of the public who will be using the service; and a team of specialist digital ‘squads’ that can be called upon to help organisations develop workable solutions.<br />
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The panel makes six recommendations to the Government:<br />
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1. Design public services around the needs of the user<br />
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2. Establish clear digital leadership in Wales<br />
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3. Develop and introduce digital service standards<br />
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4. Identify skills and capability gaps and develop a plan to close them<br />
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5. Create an approach to incentivisation and spend controls<br />
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6. Agree a clear and ambitious timetable for change demonstrating pace and scale<br />
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There are two main themes to our findings: leadership and know-how.<br />
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At the moment there is a gap at the top - very few of the leaders of our health boards, local authorities and senior civil service can be said to be confident digital leaders. In fact, most don’t feel embarrassed to admit they don’t really understand it. They will often talk about Digital as an off-shoot of IT. It’s not the same thing, technology is one of the ways digital change is implemented, the key bit about digital is designing services that work for people.<br />
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Those who are successfully adapting services use what they call an agile way of working. Their starting point is to properly understand what the problem is from the point of view of the person who is using the service. They assemble small teams with a mix of skills to jointly tackle the problem through every step of its journey: from end to end. These are teams of digital experts, often drawn from the commercial tech industry and combined with in-house government talent. Peru, Argentina, United States, Mexico, Canada, Italy and Australia are just a few of the countries with such units, joining the ranks of long-evolving government technology programs in pioneers like <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/18/estonia-the-digital-republic">Estonia</a>, Israel and <a href="https://www.tech.gov.sg/About-Us/GovTech-Teams/Government-Digital-Services/GDS">Singapore</a>. They trial as they go - they iterate. This has the advantage of identifying issues early and correcting them, reducing the opportunity for costly mistakes.They build a small solution, test it, fix it and try it again - at each stage referring it back to what the need of the end user is. They are open about their challenges and their failures. And when they get something that looks like it works they scale it up - or ‘build out’. And they keep iterating and improving.<br />
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This is different to the way most organisations - in the private and public sector - have come to address digital problems. Most think digital is about technology, it’s not: But leaders often use the terms digital and IT interchangeably, and tend to approach a problem that can be addressed through procuring an IT solution alone - often via a private sector vendor.<br />
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And the second theme is know-how. One of the main constraints (and there are a few) for real digital change is capacity - there simply aren't the bodies around with the mix of skills required to bring about change. T<a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/can-we-fix-it-yes-we-can.html">he British Gas Data Science Centre in Cardiff</a> have emulated the digital music service <a href="https://support.spotify.com/is/using_spotify/the_basics/what-is-spotify/">Spotify</a> in assembling 'Squads' (or teams) of digital specialists who can be deployed across the organisation to work on solutions to problems that have been identified. These are multi-disciplinary and each has someone with similar skill sets - for example there's a User Researcher in each.<br />
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Each of these Squads cross-pollinates - the specialists don't just work in their own team but they also work across teams with their own expert peers working on other projects. This way silos can be broken down, and experienced shared - and the squads should have access to a wealth of public sector data.<br />
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The panel recommends that NHS Wales, local government and central government each host a number of multi-disciplinary Squads that would work on iterating solutions to user-identified problems.<br />
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The work in each sector would be overseen by a Chief Digital Officer of their own - a CDO for NHS Wales, a CDO for Local Government, and a CDO for WG (and Sponsored Bodies). These would double up as Deputy CDOs for Wales and, together with a Chief Digital Officer for Wales, would provide collective leadership across the Welsh public sector. Together they would provide expert scrutiny and support to teams, inculcate learning by setting digital standards and spend controls, and help upskill the workforce through scaling up good practice. And they’d be accountable to a clear Ministerial lead at Cabinet level.<br />
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This approach would place each part of the Welsh public service on an equal footing. There would be no question of the Welsh Government telling councils what to do, but instead working with them as partners to understand user need and provide capacity to solve problems.<br />
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Each of the multi-disciplinary Squads would share experiences horizontally across their peers working in different parts of the public services, so a user researcher working on a problem in Conwy Council would share experiences with user researchers working on separate problems in National Resources Wales or in Cardiff & Vale University Health Board for example.<br />
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This could help break down the silos within and across public bodies, and make best use of scarce resources. Open and transparent sharing would lead to the realisation of the ‘Once for Wales’ principles.<br />
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We need to use digital to enable us to ask for the <a href="https://www.iwa.wales/agenda/2018/11/without-the-wills-is-there-a-way-for-solicitors/">public services what we actually want,</a> rather than how to put up with what systems we are given. This is a big change agenda. It will require real leadership resources and a willingness to change. If we continue to fail to act on the expert recommendations that have been made we will waste more money and our public services will fall further behind.<br />
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We must not let that happen. We have a responsibility to act.<br />
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<b>Lee Waters is the Welsh Labour AM for Llanelli and Chair of the Welsh Government’s external digital panel.</b><br />
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Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-66829652401028787282018-12-02T03:58:00.004-08:002018-12-02T04:31:59.472-08:00Do we need a CDO for Wales?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We're reaching the end of the beginning of the work of the <a href="https://gov.wales/newsroom/science-and-technology/2018/181123-External-Digital-Panel-established-to-aid-public-services/?lang=en">panel on Digital transformation of public services</a> that I'm leading for the Welsh Government. I'm hoping our initial report will be out in the next week or so.<br />
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One issue we've been debating is whether Wales needs a Chief Digital Officer.<br />
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<a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/its-about-leadership-innit.html">As I touched on in the last blog </a>there is currently a gap at the top - very few of the leaders of our health boards, local authorities and senior civil service can be said to be confident digital leaders. In fact, most feel embarrassed to admit they don’t really understand it.<br />
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Most highly paid people in public organisations can talk easily about money, people and buildings. Some of the better ones actually recognise the importance of culture, but how many can, or more worryingly want, to tell the digital story that will drive their evolution? As one insider told us "Digital in public sector is still largely a space for techies and this needs to change. It needs to become the preserve of the majority, the people that know what life is like in the wind and the rain".<br />
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Very few public bodies have their own CDO, or board level leadership for digital. What's more, there is no Chief Digital Officer for Wales. While the Welsh Government has a Chief Digital Officer (<a href="https://digitalanddata.blog.gov.wales/2018/11/30/cdo-update-transforming-our-services-the-story-so-far/">who has done lots of good things from close to a standing start</a>), her role has no budget, and its writ doesn't run much beyond Cathays Park - and does not extend to the NHS or Local Government. She's the CDO for WG, not for Wales. <br />
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There's a strong argument for having a ‘guiding mind’ for digital developments across all public services.<br />
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The real debate is over what that role would do. Should we be building a strong centre with powers to mandate, set digital service standards, and to veto duplication and waste across the public sector - much like the UK Government did when it established the <a href="https://gds.blog.gov.uk/">Government Digital Service</a>? Or should we have an evangelist that can promote best practice, encourage, lobby, tell a story, but without any powers to direct?<br />
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"The more centralised you go the more vulnerable things are to gridlock of decision making, budget cuts etc. I’d sooner see every public body commit to a serious CIO/CDO role on their management teams as well as a head of design (more importantly almost)" is the view of one experienced digital innovator.<br />
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But is it a false dichotomy? To see real cultural change perhaps we need a serious commitment from each public sector organisation AND a strong leader with status and power to guide?<br />
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The history of public sector organisations in Wales working together is not an encouraging one. If this debate gets caught up in the debate over who has 'sovereignty' it may be doomed from the start. Perhaps there's a middle way?<br />
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One of the main constraints (and there are a few) for real digital change is capacity - there simply aren't the bodies around with the mix of skills required to bring about change. <br />
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<a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/can-we-fix-it-yes-we-can.html">I blogged previously about the approach </a><a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/can-we-fix-it-yes-we-can.html">the British Gas Data Science Centre in Cardiff</a> have copied from from digital music service <a href="https://support.spotify.com/is/using_spotify/the_basics/what-is-spotify/">Spotify</a>. They have assembled 'Squads' (or teams) of digital specialists who can be deployed across the organisation to work on solutions to problems that have been identified. These are multi-disciplinary and each has someone with similar skillsets - for example there's a User Researcher in each. <a href="https://medium.com/productmanagement101/spotify-squad-framework-part-i-8f74bcfcd761">It's worth watching this video to see how it works </a><br />
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Each of these Squads cross-pollinates - the specialists don't just work in their own team, they also work across teams with their own expert peers working on other projects. This way silos can be broken down, and experienced shared. <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AtS-pPVIaiQ/XAPEf6zCuQI/AAAAAAAAEAU/rFGhrmGwP_kr4TeSXrilESePkxjajpdwgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-12-02%2Bat%2B11.27.29.png"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AtS-pPVIaiQ/XAPEf6zCuQI/AAAAAAAAEAU/rFGhrmGwP_kr4TeSXrilESePkxjajpdwgCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-12-02%2Bat%2B11.27.29.png" width="640" /></a><br />
It's beginning to work in British Gas, which still bares many of the characteristics of the large public sector organisation it once was. Could it work in the Welsh public sector? <br />
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If a group of these multi-disciplinary Squads was hosted in the centre working to a common set of digital standards, and under the direction of a high-status Chief Digital Officer, and were able to be deployed across the public services, could this be to a catalyst for wider change?<br />
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Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-34078230069903481412018-11-23T04:53:00.003-08:002018-11-23T04:53:27.266-08:00It's about leadership, innit?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, I'll get to the point.<br /><br />Leaders matter. Digital transformation is hard to do. And its impossible unless leaders 'get it'.<br /><br />But...<br /><br />Digital literacy among the <a href="http://senedd.assembly.wales/documents/s66937/2%20October%202017.pdf">senior civil service of the Welsh Government,</a> the Chief Executives of Local Authorities and Health Boards, and Sponsored Bodies, is generally poor. And the same is true of political leaders.<br /><br />Digital transformation doesn’t succeed by chance. It takes decisive leadership that is prepared to challenge and be challenged, be resilient, make difficult decisions and focus on delivery. <br /><br />The Welsh Government has a Chief Digital Officer (who has done lots of good things from close to a standing start) but her writ doesn't run much beyond Cathays Park. She's the CDO for WG, not for Wales. There is no ‘guiding mind’ for digital developments across all public services to spread best practice, or to set digital service standards, or veto duplication and waste across the public sector. <br /><br /><a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/are-councils-making-most-of-digital.html">When </a><a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/are-councils-making-most-of-digital.html">Socitm assessed the digital leadership of authorities</a> they found that most Councils do not have a Chief Digital Officer, with many still seeing digital as an offshoot of ICT. They found that digital strategies, where they exist (nearly a quarter of Council did not have one), “do not completely embrace the full potential of the digital agenda”. Local Authorities are not making the most of citizen data to design services, not using digital engagement to co-produce services, and not using open data as a key enabler. Socitm also found that there is too little benchmarking with organisations outside Wales.<br /><br />This isn't a counsel of despair, its a call to action. And Socitm did find some good practice, but they argued that digital excellence will only be sustained where there is a culture change, development of digital skills at every level, and a strategy that is embedded across every level of a local authority.<br /><br /><div>
Its much the same in the NHS. There is some great practice in pockets. I visited the Welsh Renal Clinical Network in Morriston hospital yesterday. They've created a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65RYA-ll9jA&feature=youtu.be">digital transformation of the service delivered to kidney patients</a>, including e-prescribing and patient access to their test results and treatment plans. Its saved time and money, as well as improving patient outcomes and the patient experience. <br /><br />It can be done.<br /><br />But they've achieved it despite, not because of the system.<br /><br />The Wales Audit Office report, the Parliamentary review of Health and Social Care in Wales, and the recent Public Accounts Committee report <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/health-checks.html">all identified leadership and skills as a significant issue</a><br /><br />The WAO report pointed out the problem of not having digital represented at board level in the Health Service. And <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/does-nwis-needs-reboot.html">PAC went further in </a><a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/does-nwis-needs-reboot.html">recommending a review of the senior leadership capacity</a> in terms of skill-set and governance within both NWIS and the wider NHS Digital Team. “We were not convinced that the senior Welsh Government officials and top NHS executives have the detailed technical understanding needed to give NWIS a clear direction and challenge its performance and decisions” the committee said. </div>
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<br /><a href="https://www.digitaloffice.scot/digital-leadership/">Scotland's Local Government Digital Office has a programme</a> to equip current and future leaders with the skills they need to deliver digital transformation. Likewise their impressive <a href="https://www.thedatalab.com/what-we-do/skills-and-training">DataLab has a stream of work</a> focused on developing skills and talent, including helping senior leaders understand data and digital and their own role in harnessing it (I should declare an interest, <a href="https://twitter.com/Amanwy/status/1059717287605923840">they gave me some free socks</a>).<br /><br />Shouldn't we be doing something similar (not the socks bit)? Delivering digital capability to the senior leadership across the Welsh public service seems critical to me. The panel is considering recommending developing a mixed model of support for all senior leaders, including training courses and providing Agile coaches and mentors. <br /><br />What would help do the trick?<br /><br />And of course as well as up-skilling senior leaders, we need to do the same for the whole workforce. We need to create a People Strategy that can assess the skills, capabilities and ambition of our public sector workers, and provide the training and support that they need to deliver in the Digital Age. This is also an opportunity to create a diverse and inclusive public sector workforce.<br /><br />What do you think would make a difference?</div>
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Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-55440542449207825922018-11-21T09:03:00.002-08:002018-11-21T09:03:34.137-08:00Does NWIS needs a reboot?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've been blogging about each of the reports written for the Welsh Government in recent years on the state of digital in our public services as part of the digital panel I'm leading for the Welsh Government. <a href="https://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/health-checks.html">My last blog on the subject covered the studies on digital in the NHS </a>and summarised the findings of the Wales Audit Office Report, the Parliamentary Review and the WG's response 'A Healthier Wales'.<br /><br />The final piece of the jigsaw is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report '<a href="http://www.assembly.wales/laid%20documents/cr-ld11822/cr-ld11822-e.pdf">Informatics Systems in NHS Wales' </a>(full disclosure - I was heavily involved in writing it).<br /><br />The limitations of digital in NHS Wales have been features of a series of reports by the National Assembly’s cross-party Public Accounts Committee over the last two years. In its inquiries on <a href="http://www.assembly.wales/laid%20documents/cr-ld10986/cr-ld10986-e.pdf">hospital catering</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.assembly.wales/laid%20documents/cr-ld11478/cr-ld11478-e.pdf">medicines managements</a>, the committee uncovered delays of up to a decade in delivering IT projects. Following the Wales Audit Office report in January 2018 the committee held hearings before issuing a unanimous report, Informatics Systems in NHS Wales, in November 2018. <br /><br />The report said NHS Wales was “still not fully ready to openly recognise the scale and depth of the problems”. <div>
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The Welsh Government has yet to formally respond but<a href="http://www.wales.nhs.uk/nwis/news/49837"> a statement by NWIS suggests it will be defiant</a> when it does.</div>
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In his foreword to the report the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Nick Ramsey said "In 2003 the iPhone was yet to be invented and Google Gmail and Skype were yet
to take off. It was in this same year that the Informing Healthcare strategy was
launched, with an electronic patient record for Wales at its heart. The other
technological innovations of that year have not only been realised, but
leapfrogged several times, and yet NHS Wales remains far away from a seamless
electronic portal for patient records...We trust our inquiry and this report will
be a wake-up call to all those involved in harnessing the power of digital
innovation to improve healthcare in Wales. We believe it’s time for a reboot".</div>
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The Public Accounts Committee said it was deeply concerned about the slow pace of delivery of modern informatics systems across the NHS in Wales; support and oversight arrangements suffer from underlying weaknesses, and - echoing the concerns of the earlier WAO report - added there’s a cultural problem which may be masking wider and deeper problems. <br /><br />“Digital transformation requires an open culture, the Committee found that the culture at NWIS [the NHS Wales Informatics Service] was the antithesis of this. We are particularly concerned at the apparent lack of openness and transparency across the whole system…Troublingly this mind-set seems to be consistent with that of the health boards, and the Welsh Government teams working alongside NWIS, as the Committee found a collective reluctance to openly discuss the true state of progress” the committee said in the opening of its report. <br /><br />Public Accounts Committee concluded that the way NWIS was seeking to achieve its primary project, a full electronic patient record, is outdated. “Though the 2003 vision for an electronic patient record is clear, “it is now quite old”. And by the time a full electronic patient record is achieved, key systems will be out of date”, the report said. It noted that the processes and tools for building software have significantly advanced over the past 10 years. For example the ability to access GPs via smartphones throughs apps stood in stark contrast with the NHS Wales GP application, My Health Online - “which is not delivering anything like the benefits it set out to achieve”. <br /><br />Furthermore the electronic patient record development is based on acquiring separate systems from a number of suppliers. Whilst this was an understandable approach a decade ago (when the programme was begun) the Committee was very concerned about the NHS becoming increasingly dependent on the private sector. “Building our own systems can be a better solution than simply buying them in via large procurement exercises” the report said.<br /><br />The PAC enquiry’s criticisms centred on several themes:<br /><br /><u>Leadership & Governance </u><div>
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The Welsh Government and NHS bodies have not been intelligent clients of NWIS. Given the WAO finding that only 7 of NWIS’ 30 projects were on target for timing milestones, the Welsh Government must consider whether it can have confidence in the competence and capability of NWIS as currently constituted. <br /><br />Despite their “evident dissatisfaction about progress” the report said the committee saw no evidence that health board executives are scrutinising the work of NWIS (indeed there was confusion amongst them about how they would do this). <br /><br />NWIS’ lines of accountability for its performance are not clear. PAC noted that “there is considerable confusion around leadership of informatics in Wales with multiple individuals described in our evidence as having leadership roles and responsibilities”. <br /><br />The committee said NHS Wales lags behind the private sector in having informatics and ICT expertise represented at Board level and were disappointed with the reluctance of health boards to consider this. “We understand the point made by the Chief Executive of the NHS, that other areas can make a case for greater representation at board level and there is a risk that adding more people leads to an unwieldy board. However, informatics is so fundamental to the future of healthcare that we consider the case for stronger board representation to now be compelling” the PAC said.<br /><br />It recommended a review of the senior leadership capacity in terms of skill-set and governance within both NWIS and the wider NHS Digital Team. “We were not convinced that the senior Welsh Government officials and top NHS executives have the detailed technical understanding needed to give NWIS a clear direction and challenge its performance and decisions” the committee said. <br /><br /><u>Resilience</u><br /><br />The Committee heard that some of infrastructure in the NHS’ data centres was over seven years old and needed replacement. <br /><br />There were 21 outages of national systems between January and July 2018 – one outage every 9 days. PAC recommended the Welsh Government set out a clear timetable for putting the digital infrastructure of NHS Wales on a stable footing. <br /><br />NWIS reported that it had been working on replacing this infrastructure over the past two years. £1.32 million funding had been provided by the WG to upgrade the WLIMS (Welsh Laboratory Information Management System) infrastructure, upgrading data storage and replacing 7 year-old hardware which is over seven years old. The committee regraded the proposal by the Director of NWIS to spend a further £6m on replacing servers as “throwing good money after bad, when the alternative is to switch existing system to a modern Cloud infrastructure”. <br /><br />The report found that NWIS needed a greater focus on undertaking routine maintenance, but was struggling to manage the tension between funding innovation and maintaining legacy systems. “It is a no-win scenario with either more delays to much needed new systems or risks of serious incidents and outages. This is essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul and not an acceptable or sustainable position” PAC reported. <br /><br />This approach was typified by the experience of CaNISC, the online computer system for Cancer Services. PAC uncovered that CaNISC has a red risk rating because Microsoft stopped providing support for the system in 2014. Witnesses flagged concerns that it is a cyber-security risk as there is additional work to plug security holes and apply “patches”. The Committee was concerned that it has taken so long to reach the stage of having a business case, when it must have been clear long ago that it needed replacing. <br /><br />PAC found that the evidence received on service outages and resilience was a microcosm of the wider picture. “Funding is stretched, with NWIS balancing the competing priorities of sustaining infrastructure while under pressure to deliver new systems. There are deep concerns about the lack of clarity around accountability and responsibility when things go wrong and putting things right again. We heard of delays in NWIS, in this case in producing reports on the incidents. We also heard of difficulties in sometimes getting NHS bodies to engage with NIWS in identifying the causes of problems. We remain concerned that the issues around system outages have not yet been fully resolved” the PAC report said.<br /><br />The Committee said it saw no substantial evidence of take-up of Cloud services from NWIS, nor grasp of the opportunities presented by the Cloud. It also said it not see sufficient evidence of a deep level of Technological or Digital understanding, and little evidence that the benefits of Cloud computing are being fully identified.<br /><br /><u>Funding & Procurement </u><br /><br />PAC said that without significant additional resources it do not think that an electronic patient record can be rolled-out in a reasonable timeframe. But added: “By additional resources, we do not necessarily mean new money for the NHS that would otherwise go to other public services. A key rationale for the electronic patient record is that it makes services more efficient and reduces mistakes, which are costly to put right. The NHS as a whole needs to take a longer-term, collective view of investment in informatics, on an invest-to- save basis”. <br /><br />The committee was told that the cost of delivering the vision in each NHS body and NWIS’ contribution to National systems is tentatively estimated at £484 million on top of existing budgets, with £195 million capital and £288 million revenue. Of this £484 million, £196 million is identified as needed by NWIS, with the rest required by Health Boards and NHS Trusts. The Welsh Government accepted the Auditor General’s recommendation to carry out a full cost-benefit analysis of the investment. This is tied to wider reviews of the overall approach to infrastructure and system design and prioritisation. <br /><br />“NWIS is currently overstretched and improvement requires far more than simply pouring more money into the existing organisation, which is unlikely to achieve significantly different results” the report said.<br /><br />PAC said the Welsh Government should be very open-minded when looking at the funding options for NWIS. “It is clear that there needs to be a shift away from CapEx towards more revenue-funding. Also, we have the view that Digital / IT is still seen as a cost-centre, rather than an opportunity to improve patient care and experience, and reduce the overall Administration and Clerical budgets” the report said that a simpler and more transparent arrangement is required.<br /><br />During the inquiry, the Welsh Government agreed to adopt the Government Digital Service design principles under a new Welsh technical standards board. The standards adopted by the Welsh Government are based on the principles of the Agile approach to developing digital services. However, the procurement processes run counter to an iterative approach. The ‘5 case model’ for business cases may be too rigid as it involves specifying everything up front. The Committee welcomed the work the Welsh Government is carrying out with the NHS England and the UK Treasury on how to adapt its business case process to allow it to take full advantage of the digital approach and agile approach to developments.<br /><br /><u>Capacity & Capability </u><br /><br />The Public Accounts Committee said NWIS needs between 5 and 10 new senior leaders, and the roles of NHS Wales Chief Information Officer and NHS Wales Chief Clinical Information Officer need sufficient authority and prominence within the Health Service.<br /><br />Capacity also needs to be freed up within the system. There was criticisms of health boards for not sufficiently freeing up clinical time, so that clinicians can getting involved in developing and testing new systems; it noted that the Auditor General’s report found that NWIS’ staff are frustrated at the difficulties they experience in getting clinicians to engage. However, PAC added that leadership should not fall to a small group of interested clinicians. <br /><br />The report noted threats to NWIS’s existing capacity and capability as a result of the persistent criticisms that it had attracted from the reports cited above. PAC said the scrutiny had created reputational damage which had “impacted the attractiveness of NWIS as an employer in a market for technical skills which will always be very competitive”. The Committee argued that a more radical solution be considered. A lot of the work of NWIS is not NHS-specific (this includes cyber security, Cloud computing and software development processes), much of this is undertaken across all of the public services in Wales, especially South Wales which already has well regarded Digital functions such as those at the DVLA and ONS.<br /><br /><b>Recommendations</b><br /><br />1. The Public Accounts Committee receives six monthly updates from the Welsh Government on progress in implementing the digital recommendations in the Parliamentary Review and the Auditor General’s report in order to enable it to revisit these issues.<br /><br />2. The Committee recommended that the Welsh Government set out a clear timetable for putting the digital infrastructure of NHS Wales on a stable footing.<br /><br />3. The Committee recommended a review of the senior leadership capacity in terms of skillset and governance within both NWIS and the wider NHS Digital Team.<br /><br />4. Any additional funding apportioned to NWIS needs to be tied to reorganisation to achieve the improvements that are required. <br /><br />5. We recommend that NWIS look to increase its work with other public bodies, including those from UK Government. This approach could work on a number of levels, from the sharing of good practice on recruitment to the creation of Government Digital Service which could work across multiple agencies</div>
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Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-67293621557694264522018-11-17T03:57:00.001-08:002018-11-17T04:49:36.287-08:00Can we fix it? Yes we can!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So I think we’ve established that things aren’t where they should be, and we’ve known this for quite some time. So what’s holding us back?<br /><br />Stripping it back to first principles I think there are two key issues emerging: leadership, and the concept of who services are designed for.<br /><br />On leadership, it is commonplace for a Chief Executive of a Health Board or a Local Authority to admit (without embarrassment) that they don't really 'do' Digital. When pressed, most will talk about digital interchangeably with IT. Many of our public services leaders are still on analogue mode. That has got to change (more on that in another blog post).<br /><br />On the concept of who <span style="text-align: start;">services are designed for, I was struck by a conversation I had with the leadership at NWIS. When I asked if they had people specifically working on </span><a href="https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-research" style="text-align: left;">User Research</a><span style="text-align: left;"> I was met with blank looks. Whilst they do have people engaged in research and there is some user feedback, there are no posts in NHS Wales - or in Welsh Local Government - dedicated to understanding, designing or testing services from the end user point of view.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Worse still, I don't think there's a clear idea of who the 'user' is for many of our services. Indeed, reading the Welsh Government's key document of the future of the NHS </span><a href="https://gov.wales/docs/dhss/publications/180608healthier-wales-mainen.pdf" style="text-align: start;">A Healthier Wales: our plan for health and social care</a><span style="text-align: start;">, you could be forgiven for thinking that the users that the system is being designed for are the clinicians not the patient.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">In contrast the Scottish Government have adopted a new <a href="https://resources.mygov.scot/standards/digital-first/">Digital First Service Standard </a>which has the need to understand user need as its first principle</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7ad-YCCG2SM/W-_2G53zpOI/AAAAAAAAD-4/adeqTce2ztkEGJkJ-hj_2OTAPPlF2uwoACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-17%2Bat%2B10.43.31.png" style="text-align: start;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7ad-YCCG2SM/W-_2G53zpOI/AAAAAAAAD-4/adeqTce2ztkEGJkJ-hj_2OTAPPlF2uwoACLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-17%2Bat%2B10.43.31.png" /></a><br />
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I visited Edinburgh and met the team working on a new Scottish social security system, they explained how on this major project they were putting a strong emphasis on User-Centred Design.<br />
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This is clearly easier to achieve on new projects (or 'Greenfield' to use the GDS terminology) than it is on legacy projects (or 'Brownfield'), and they acknowledged they had to make trade-offs as this very complex project is implemented to a hard deadline, but the philosophy behind it is clearly the right one. </div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D_3kpzC6uNA/W-_4VVjlPYI/AAAAAAAAD_E/p06J96rZ_r0ZGn032EHAN26faSPGzSZ6gCEwYBhgL/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-17%2Bat%2B10.43.14%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="1149" height="358" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D_3kpzC6uNA/W-_4VVjlPYI/AAAAAAAAD_E/p06J96rZ_r0ZGn032EHAN26faSPGzSZ6gCEwYBhgL/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-17%2Bat%2B10.43.14%2B1.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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The team have developed a user engagement strategy and have embedded User Centred Design professionals in service teams. By consciously building design capacity, and fashioning multi-disciplinary teams, they are working to change the culture of how public services are thought about.<br />
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Instead of approaching digital as we traditionally have thought about IT projects - where once we've procured a new system we've regarded the problem 'fixed' and safely left alone until the system becomes outdated (at which point another big private sector IT system will be procured) - the ideas of continuous improvement familiar to industry should be applied.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WKKt_wscjhY/W-_wl2YDDII/AAAAAAAAD-s/3yPUMudTT-kzGzBvHTRv4mAt4bb0kcm5ACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-17%2Bat%2B10.41.53.png"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WKKt_wscjhY/W-_wl2YDDII/AAAAAAAAD-s/3yPUMudTT-kzGzBvHTRv4mAt4bb0kcm5ACLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-11-17%2Bat%2B10.41.53.png" /></a><br />
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I heard a similar story at the British Gas Data Science Centre in Cardiff. The utility company have a Data Science team based in Cardiff working on projects for the company right across the world. Whilst the utilities are private companies they still resemble the large siloed organisations they were when they were in the public sector, and we can learn from the way they are evolving in the digital age. Peter Sueref, their Data Science Director, explained how they have drawn inspiration from digital music service <a href="https://support.spotify.com/is/using_spotify/the_basics/what-is-spotify/">Spotify</a>. To implement Agile in bringing about digital change the Data Science team have emulated the Squad approach used by Spotify. <a href="https://medium.com/productmanagement101/spotify-squad-framework-part-i-8f74bcfcd761">It's worth watching this video to see how it works </a></div>
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Could this work in public services?</div>
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The current plan for Welsh Local Government is to appoint a Chief Digital Officer based in the Welsh Local Government Association. Should we instead be thinking of a central squad of digital experts that can work across public services (health and local government included) that would use agile project and development methodologies to work on practical problems identified from within the sector?<br />
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I'm attracted to the idea, but what do you think?</div>
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Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-53933179663730388532018-11-14T13:38:00.000-08:002018-11-14T13:39:24.534-08:00Health checks...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The only thing dull about last week's Public Accounts Committee report into '<a href="http://www.assembly.wales/laid%20documents/cr-ld11822/cr-ld11822-e.pdf">Informatics Systems in NHS Wales' </a>report was the title.<br />
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I played a part in writing the report but I'm no longer on the PAC and my focus has shifted to what we do about the problems it catalogued. As previously noted, I'm chairing a <a href="https://gov.wales/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2018/establishingextdigpanel/?lang=en">panel on Digital transformation</a> for the Welsh Government and <a href="http://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/no-point-reinventing-wheel.html">blogging what we're up to and thinking about as we go. </a>And rather than reinventing the wheel I've been looking at the reports already published (but not yet fully acted upon) to see if there are conclusions and recommendations we should revisit.<br />
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And guess what? There are!</div>
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In this post I look at three reports on digital in health: the WAO Report, the Parliamentary Review and the WG's health strategy 'A Healthier Wales' (I've read them so you don't have to!). And won't add my commentary at this stage, but I'll let you digest my summaries, and simply quote Meatloaf: "Read 'Em and Weep".</div>
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<u>Wales Audit Office report</u><br />
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In its January 2018 report <a href="http://www.audit.wales/system/files/publications/NHS_-Informatics-2018%20-%20English.pdf">Informatics systems in NHS Wales</a> the Wales Audit Office examined the performance of NWIS, the NHS Wales Informatics Service, in delivering an electronic patient record over the previous four years. This vision was initially described in the 2003 Welsh Government strategy Informing Healthcare (albeit without a deadline being set), and revisited in 2015 strategy for digital health and social care which found NHS Wales ‘still working towards the goal of delivering a comprehensive electronic patient record’. “In that time, the global informatics market has changed significantly. In the USA, in particular, there has been rapid progress in rolling out electronic health records, albeit in a very different healthcare system. More generally, there has been a growth in open source technology, which is available to use and develop for free, and also greater joint working between different providers of applications to ensure they can communicate with each other” the report said.<br />
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The Auditor General for Wales looked in detail at the delivery of six projects by NWIS as indicators of the wider approach to informatics and found that while the vision was clear the delivery was marked by significant delays.<br />
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The Wales Audit Office found that NWIS allocated 10% of its resources for new ‘projects’ with the rest ring-fenced for pre-existing national systems or contracted services. Of the 30 projects that NWIS was rolling out, just seven were on target for timing milestones.<br />
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The Wales Audit Office concluded that ‘NWIS does not have a clear strategic approach to prioritising which new systems to include in its programme or for prioritising resources to those already in the programme’. Indeed, it found that attempt to prioritise “generally result in NWIS having more, not fewer, priorities”.<br />
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The Auditor General found considerable frustration within NHS Wales, with many of the barriers known to have previously impeded progress in the past still being reported as part of its review. Frustrations on the part of both the health boards and NWIS were having a significant negative impact on the relationships between them: “NHS bodies are deeply frustrated over the slow speed of delivery of national systems. NWIS staff also reported some frustration at what they saw as a lack of direction and engagement from health boards, particularly clinicians, in designing and rolling out new systems’ the WAO found.<br />
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They also found disagreement within the NHS on what the ‘Once for Wales’ principle means in practice. “The description of Once for Wales and interoperability in the 2015 strategy are ambiguous and there are competing interpretations across the NHS. On the one hand, there is a view that Once for Wales means that all organisations must accept national systems developed or procured by NWIS. However, there is also a view that the emphasis on interoperability means individual organisations can develop or procure their own systems, provided they are compatible with national systems and those in other organisations” the WAO report said.<br />
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There was further disagreement on the point at which a system was considered delivered, for example, NWIS considers the Welsh Clinical portal to be ‘live’ however, health boards were reporting that Doctors found the functionality difficult and were instead continuing with paper referrals.<br />
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The report found significant weaknesses in NWIS’ governance arrangements including a lack of independent scrutiny and unclear lines of accountability. Reporting of progress and performance to the Welsh Government and the public tended to be ‘partial and overly positive’. <br />
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The report noted that the NHS had been under-investing in digital capacity for some time. In 2003 the independent review of the NHS by Sir Derek Wanless had recommended that the NHS across the UK should be spending 4% on ICT. However, by 2010-11 total spending on ICT across the NHS (including by NWIS) stood at around 2% of total expenditure, whereas NWIS’ 2016-17 budget is around 0.8% of health spending (excluding depreciation).<br />
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<u>Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care in Wales</u><br />
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At the same time as the Wales Audit Office was reporting so too was the <a href="https://gov.wales/docs/dhss/publications/180116reviewen.pdf">Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care in Wales</a> which published its final report in January 2018.<br />
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Whilst noting that there is much to commend regarding the established of core digital and infrastructure and shared services arrangements in Wales, the expert panel noted the concerns and frustrations of users and providers of digital services in Wales. “Activity is just too dispersed and stretched, and lacks overall commitment around a unified vision and set of priorities. The principal concerns include integration challenges (centred around the need for common standards, and data and systems interoperability), information governance, cultural and behavioural issues, and the limited capacity and capability to deliver change and innovation at pace” the report said. <br />
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Led by the previous Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Ruth Hussey, the Parliamentary Review Wales stated that Wales has “a real opportunity to better leverage its technology and infrastructure assets to deliver a transformed and seamless system”. It set out ten recommendations for change, one of which was to ‘Harness innovation, and accelerate technology and infrastructure developments’ (Recommendation 7), and it set out detailed proposals in an annex to the report.<br />
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Its core principle was that all technological innovations should be grounded in four mutually supportive goals – ‘the Quadruple Aim’ to: a. improve population health and wellbeing through a focus on prevention; b. improve the experience and quality of care for individuals and families; c. enrich the wellbeing, capability and engagement of the health and social care workforce; and d. increase the value achieved from funding of health and care through improvement, innovation, use of best practice, and eliminating waste.<br />
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It set out the following detailed proposals for change:<br />
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• ‘Progressing at pace’ the Digital Ecosystem project developed by NWIS (NHS Wales Informatics Service) and the Life Sciences Hub, providing NWIS and Health Technology Wales with platform access and analytics to accelerate innovation and support product adoption. The focus should be on initiatives which have the maximum impact and reach and generate the most beneficial outcomes, are scalable, support individual and community-based care, and are readily integrated and adhere to common standards. <br />
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• The Welsh Government, together with all digital and infrastructure service delivery organisations in both sectors, should reassess their strategic priorities and the opportunities for more collaborative and consolidated working in the light of its report. This should include enhancing and accelerating the Technology enabled Care Programme, as there may be a shift to primary, social and community care initiatives and associated technology enabled care. <br />
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• Clarifying the ‘Once for Wales’ policy, and agreeing prioritisation criteria to be applied to all existing and candidate initiatives. This should underpin a robust ‘stop, start, accelerate’ review to better focus efforts on a smaller number of key system user-centred initiatives, including regional and local exemplars with ‘national promise’. This requires an aggregated and rationalised view of the full portfolio of digitally-enabled initiatives. Core national ‘foundation’ initiatives, including the Electronic Patient Record (EPR), the gateway/portal for citizens and professionals to access multiple information sources and services, and initiatives delivering significant efficiency benefits, should take precedence. <br />
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• Common standards and platforms should be mandated whenever possible across both health and social care sectors to support interoperability and integration in the future. They should explore the opportunity to integrate and consolidate local authority, LHB, Trust and national infrastructure and systems (which will require a new funding model). Legacy systems should be replaced via an Infrastructure Refresh Plan aligned with a national infrastructure ‘route map’, although the immense challenge here should not be underestimated. Robust infrastructure, system and information security (which includes cyber security) must be of paramount concern, with clear and agreed protocols and principles in place to meet all legal, regulatory and advisory requirements, and with response plans regularly tested. <br />
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• Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) should oversee the development of a cadre of trained clinical informaticians and leaders, who in turn can help strengthen efforts to develop a learning health and care system, and quality improvement expertise. Social Care Wales (SCW) should also ensure that training in digital skills is a priority. The Welsh Clinical Informatics Council (WCIC) representatives could potentially develop into a leadership group of Chief Clinical Information Officers. Programme and project teams should be multidisciplinary from the outset, with appropriate medical and social care involvement and system user input. Users should champion and lead the delivery of new systems, with a keen eye on the challenges of adaptive change (as highlighted in <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/550866/Wachter_Review_Accessible.pdf">the Wachter report</a>). <br />
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• Both NWIS and NWSSP (NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership) should have greater national presence and authority linked to a strengthened national executive and look to extend collaboration (e.g. e-learning). The hosting and accountability arrangements at the Velindre Trust may no longer be appropriate. The Welsh Government should evaluate alternative models for consolidated national governance, including the HEIW arrangement, as well as the leadership seniority and governance board presence of both organisations. This should include considering leveraging the remit of NWSSP to deliver wider public services in Wales, but will require legislative change for NWSSP to provide services beyond the NHS. <br />
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• NWIS, in particular, should review and rebalance its resourcing profile such that design, development and support activities are ‘rightsourced’ with the optimal balance of internal digital, health and social care staff including clinicians and front-line staff, third sector, third party, system users, industry and academia. They should explore opportunities to better pool and share LHB, Trust and NWIS IT resources. Wales should look beyond its national boundaries and exploit co-operative alliances with other national health bodies with a similar agenda, including NHS Scotland where a close relationship already exists. <br />
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• We would support the recommendations from the Informatics Task Force and the resulting Statement of Intent from the Welsh Government to develop a national data resource, with workstreams focussed on information governance, national data resource, clinical information standards and workforce development. Health and care systems must take full advantage of the value that data and information offers to underpin new systems, drive decision making, improve health and care quality and exploit future business intelligence and data analytics initiatives. This will require health and social care professionals to be fully reassured regarding the integrity, security and sharing of data, and for citizens to be fully informed and to have provided appropriate consent. <br />
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• NWIS should finalise and share its design, development and service principles, including agile development opportunities, ‘process before technology’ considerations, evidence based redesign, inclusion, user involvement, and outcomes-based benefits assessment principles (for example, Government Digital Services (GDS) have a set of digital service standards). <br />
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• NWIS and NWSSP should adopt a common, staged and disciplined business case process to underpin prioritisation and investment decisions, in part to ensure that initiatives genuinely add value, and not workload, to professionals and service Innovation, Technology and Infrastructure users. Independent gateway assurance and post-implementation outcomes based benefits realisation and ‘lessons learned’ reviews should be mandated and shared, together with clear internal communications to manifest the value of initiatives to staff, citizens and system users. NWIS and NWSSP should have leading roles on the NWEHVIG (NHS Wales Efficiency and Healthcare Value Improvement Group) to help raise productivity, reduce unwarranted variations and waste, and promulgate best practice (including regarding the Carter report recommendations, where NWSSP is already fully engaged with the NWEHVIG). <br />
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• We understand that NWIS’ 5-year 2016-21 Informed Health and Care strategy requires substantial funding on an all-Wales basis. If so, both prioritisation and technical and allocative savings are all the more crucial, and we would wish to see this clarified, and to understand the impact this may have on the funding envelope for other work. The Welsh Government, NWIS, and Finance Directors should evaluate alternative funding models, including assessing the opportunity to consolidate and integrate LHB, Trust and NWIS infrastructure, systems and resources, and the reinvestment of cashable benefits from change initiatives, and optimise the mix of capital and revenue funding sources. The Welsh Government should consider if core ‘Once for Wales’ funds should be pooled and ring-fenced rather than allocating a subset to LHBs. We assume there is a full current asset register for NHS Wales and professional procurement and contract management processes in place. <br />
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• The existing internal digital maturity assessment should be supplemented with external benchmarking assessments of both NWIS and NWSSP vs. peer organisations and ‘best in class’ to highlight areas of opportunity. This should include resource profiling and stakeholder feedback elements to improve co-production and alignment.<br />
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<u> A Healthier Wales: our plan for health and social care</u><br />
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In its response to the Parliamentary Review, <a href="https://gov.wales/docs/dhss/publications/180608healthier-wales-mainen.pdf">A Healthier Wales: our plan for health and social care</a>, published in June 2018, the Welsh Government recognised the role of technology in detecting illness sooner, supporting better clinical decisions and delivering personalised care which “instead of waiting for something to ‘go wrong’, our system will use all the tools available to ensure that things ‘stay right’”. <br />
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It did not, however, address each of the specific recommendations of the Parliamentary Review. <br />
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The Welsh Government reiterated its aspiration to bringing information from different providers together on an integrated platform through a single electronic patient record. “Having all the information needed about the individual, or about groups of similar people, will deliver better outcomes by helping clinicians at every level to make better decisions” the response stated.<br />
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It committed to ensuring “delivery at pace locally, across organisations and nationally”. It said its ambition is to provide an online digital platform for citizens, to give people greater control and enable them to become more active participants in their own health and well-being. “This will help people to make informed choices about their own treatment, care and support: finding the most appropriate service for their needs, contributing to and sharing information about their health and care, managing appointments and communications with professionals, and working with others to co-ordinate the care and treatment they need, so that it is delivered seamlessly” the response said. <br />
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It acknowledged that Digital technology develops at a very rapid pace, and it expected to see new opportunities and challenges throughout the life of this plan. “We cannot predict fully what those will be, but we will be more agile in how we respond to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, precision medicine and genomics” the report said. <br />
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It concluded:<br />
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“We will invest to develop the skills we need within our own workforce, for example to make better use of clinical informatics, and to drive digital transformation projects. We will also ensure that our digital architecture, and the way we work digitally, is more open to the outside world, in ways that support economic development in Wales, and which offer exciting career opportunities, as well as improving health and social care services. To do this we must focus our efforts through a revitalised ‘Once for Wales’ approach which sets standards and expectations and where common platforms are mandated where there are clear benefits of doing so”. <br />
<br />
And set out a series of measurable action points:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qBsWGar4qog/W-ySYdCj8TI/AAAAAAAAD-M/hyOuJxI8rUUvMrAwhFSSK7HoCGhF7ewqwCLcBGAs/s1600/image1.jpeg"><img border="0" height="401" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qBsWGar4qog/W-ySYdCj8TI/AAAAAAAAD-M/hyOuJxI8rUUvMrAwhFSSK7HoCGhF7ewqwCLcBGAs/s640/image1.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-73549451802283179862018-11-06T11:17:00.001-08:002018-12-11T08:05:51.081-08:00Are Councils making the most of digital?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
So as part of an attempt to open up with work of the<a href="https://beta.gov.wales/written-statement-establishing-external-digital-panel"> panel on Digital transformation</a> that I'm leading for the Welsh Government <a href="http://amanwy.blogspot.com/2018/11/no-point-reinventing-wheel.html">I'm blogging what we're up to and thinking about</a><br />
<br />
I'm conscious that there's already quite a bit of analysis out there on the state of digital in local government and the health service. In my last post I revisited David Jones' report from 2015, and in this post I'm looking again at the report on the digital maturity of Welsh councils.<br />
<br />
In April 2017 digital consultants <a href="https://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/digital-baseline-local-authorities/?lang=en">Socitm advisory published the findings of their research on digital maturity in Welsh local authorities</a>. They assessed how Councils were performing in six ‘digital dimensions’.<br />
<br />
When it came to digital transactions - the extent to which citizens can request services from the local authority website - Socitm found that Councils are not keeping up with the expectations of the public. No local authority provides an end to end, seamless transaction for all service requests. Whilst broadly comparable with councils in other parts of the world they said Welsh local authorities’ direction of travel over the last five years is more volatile than the UK as a whole, and lags significantly behind the customer experience citizens now commonly have with the private sector. Whereas sites like Amazon digitise the whole shopping process, from picking a slot convenient to them, adjusting an order, making payment and providing feedback, councils tend to digitise part of the online transaction, like reporting a missed bin collection and the rest of the process remains paper based.<br />
<br />
Socitm assessed the digital leadership of authorities. Most Councils do not have a Chief Digital Officer, with many still seeing digital as an offshoot of ICT. They found that digital strategies, where they exist (nearly a quarter did not have one), “do not completely embrace the full potential of the digital agenda”. Councils are not making the most of citizen data to design services, not using digital engagement to co-produce services, and not using open data is not seen as a priority nor is it used as a key enabler. Socitm found that there is too little benchmarking with organisations outside Wales, and whilst there is some good practice, digital excellence will only be sustained where there is a culture change, development of digital skills at every level, and a strategy that is embedded across every level of a local authority.<br />
<br />
The appetite for being Smart with Data exists in most organisations the report found, but data maturity is low. ”Big picture, holistic, intelligence based decision making is not well evidenced across the 22 local authorities” Socitm said. Councils manage most data in silos and do not use it effectively to drive faster decision making and service design. The research found ‘substantial appetite’ for more work on data mining and interest in developing a single citizen account portals. However, no local authority volunteered to become part of the GDS (Government Digital Service) pilot for a single system for verifying identities online, preferring to wait for a more mature version of the product, Verify, to emerge. <br />
<br />
Citizen oriented design, the fourth digital dimension examined by the report, is where digital services are being designed from the point of view of what citizens want (as opposed to what the local authority thinks they need). Instead of actively involving citizens in redesigning and changing processes from the start to the end, Councils are primarily focused on achieving short-term savings by moving some transactions online (often procured from private sector vendors). Furthermore, in contrast to other parts of the UK, Councils in Wales are making little use of the GDS design framework because of a lack of awareness or capability to use this approach.<br />
<br />
Levels of digital exclusion are higher in Wales than in England and need to be addressed through access (network infrastructure initiatives, as well as making equipment available), skills, motivation and trust to maximise levels of digital inclusion. Socitm found this is widely recognised in local authority strategies but despite efforts to provide access to Wifi and computers in public buildings, along with digital learning sessions, digital exclusion remains high across most areas of Wales. They conclude that addressing it is “an expensive ambition’.<br />
<br />
The final digital dimension assessed by Socitm was Digital Staff. The report found a lack of evidence that councils were embedding digital skills into their workforce strategies and thinking ahead of the need for digital skills and capabilities in the future. Digitised workflow was present though not mature, and the approach was often driven by property asset strategies to minimise the number of buildings they had manage. Too few were using cloud computing, there was little evidence of the automation of staff processes, such as submitting expenses, nor of the use of digital tools such as Facebook or WhatsApp for collaborating. Socitm said there are likely to be good opportunities for further digitisation of internal processes but 8 of the 22 councils said they did not have sufficient capacity to deliver their digital requirements, The report found some enthusiasm for a central team of digital specialists that could be shared between local authorities to help them grow their own talent in this area.<br />
<br />
Socitm report concluded that digital maturity will never be complete as new possibilities emerge in the marketplace any authority that rests on its laurels will drop down the digital maturity ladder. Its potential use in reducing on services is not being exploited and Councils need to think beyond websites and fragmented process digitisation to truly add value, Socitm said. <br />
<br />
As part of the research project each Council was given their own results from the Digital Maturity self-assessment tool to review their own strengths and weaknesses, and encouraged to inform the Welsh Government on recommendations they were particularly enthusiastic about. It is not clear if this has happened. <br />
<br />
The report made a series of recommendations:<br />
<br />
<u>Short term initiatives </u><br />
<br />
<b>Digital events</b> - digital networking and learning events, addressing a CEO and Director audience, as well as Digital leaders and practitioners. These events should not be exclusively Wales focused; they should be used to inject wider thinking and challenge with speakers from other geographies and sectors as well. <br />
<br />
<b>Establishing a Virtual Digital Hub</b> (an on-line forum for discussion and document sharing as the foundation to bring together the local authorities around the digital agenda and establishing joint priorities) would support more digital networking events. <br />
<br />
<b>Facilitated collaboration</b> There is a need to enable greater collaboration across the local authorities in such areas as: <br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Shaping the digital strategy for the nation, helping to inform the Digital First strategy.</li>
<li>Digital toolkit development or adoption of GDS standards. </li>
<li>Establishing priority projects; smart data solutions, on line account, account verification. </li>
<li>Digital skills development. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<u>Longer term considerations </u><br />
<br />
<b>More shared systems</b> - Each local authority is currently investing in their own digital initiatives. With budgets under pressure and a need for savings an investment strategy would accelerate the delivery of the nation’s digital agenda, more common platforms, joined up procurement activities would help accelerate the digital agenda across the local authorities. <br />
<br />
<b>Tactical digital solutions </b> - Areas of common platform in the medium term could be the investment in a single tool in the following areas: <br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Web chat solutions </li>
<li>Single email system </li>
<li>HR, Finance and Payroll systems </li>
<li>Social media listening and crowd sourcing tool </li>
</ul>
<b>Infrastructure and digital inclusion</b> - The rollout of super-fast broadband “Superfast Cymru” is a critical enabler to the digital agenda. Like other UK Broadband projects there remains an issue with the hard to reach locations and with “take-up”, where the infrastructure is deployed to the pavement hubs, but citizens choose not to procure it for themselves. Further consideration is needed in relation to those areas that will not have super-fast broadband; plans on addressing black spot areas is key. <br />
<br />
<b>Digital citizen insights </b>- There is a substantial appetite to deliver collaborative solutions for managing citizen data and delivering citizen insights. As well as providing a better digital citizen experience, this also can drive better service design. There is an opportunity to explore this; to manage this with pooled data at a Welsh citizen level, rather than at an Individual local authority level. Such a project could drive down costs and deliver more citizen insights, as many citizens are citizens of more than one local authority. It could also form the basis of a truly valuable repository of open data. While protecting individual citizen anonymity, such open data could inform planning and regeneration both from a public sector and a commercial provider’s perspective. A collaborative approach to citizen insight, driving down cost and ensuring consistency, would be welcomed by most of the local authorities that participated in this research.<br />
<br />
<br />
I'd be interested in your thoughts on these finding and recommendations. Are they fair? What do we do about it?</div>
Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645576064908755419.post-88008679220240652192018-11-04T04:11:00.001-08:002018-12-11T08:05:21.443-08:00No point reinventing the wheel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Much has already been written about the state of digital in the Welsh public sector. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">As a starting point </span>the panel on Digital Transformation that I've been asked to lead for the <br />
<a href="https://beta.gov.wales/written-statement-establishing-external-digital-panel" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Welsh Government </a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">has </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">decided to revisit the work done in recent years to reassess the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">findings of other reports and </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">understand why little progress has been in made in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">implementing </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">them. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">And rather than reinventing the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">wheel are there conclusions and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">recommendations from </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">these </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">existing reports that we should revisit?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'll blog on each of them in-turn. T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">he </span><a href="https://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/digital-baseline-local-authorities/?lang=en" style="background-color: white; color: #771100; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-decoration-line: none;">SOCITM report on the digital maturity</a> of Welsh councils<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">, the digital chapter in </span><a href="https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgov.wales%2Fdocs%2Fdhss%2Fpublications%2F180608healthier-wales-mainen.pdf&data=02%7C01%7CRedmond.Strivens%40gov.wales%7C5f43202619064fd71a4308d639aca551%7Ca2cc36c592804ae78887d06dab89216b%7C0%7C0%7C636759811001687241&sdata=WP2P9KGx2uXq4ei4RQ9q0XsZR9hLmkCDGOpeJlLRXsw%3D&reserved=0" style="background-color: white; color: #771100; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-decoration-line: none;">A Healthier Wales: our Plan for Health and Social Care</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">and the WAO report and the forthcoming Senedd PAC report on NWIS. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2015 technology entrepreneur David Jones reviewed digital activity across Welsh local government. The report, </span><a href="http://gov.wales/docs/dsjlg/publications/localgov/151028-why-local-government-must-go-digitial-en.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why Local Government Must Go Digital</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, found that the local government digital world is complex, sprawling and fragmented, with even the smallest local authorities in Wales having over 100 separate systems. It reported that many councils in Wales are ‘behind the curve’, “the default discussion point for most of councils was their website. Several felt that re-designing their site, or adding in new areas of functionality represented a significant shift in their digital presence” the report said. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">David Jones concluded that Digital leadership at the highest level is very limited and patchy, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">and councils are too dependent on buying in private sector solutions and existing technologies, methodologies and working practice are 20 years out-of-date. It found a consensus amongst local government leaders that there has been too much focus on strategy and too little on delivery. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The report found an expectation amongst Local Government that Welsh Government should </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">show </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">digital leadership, but a weariness of past promises and weak delivery that this would </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">happen. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">The Jones review concluded that Welsh local government has no significant </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">capability for digital </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">transformational change, and collaboration and shared leadership are </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">critical </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to developing digital </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">services at scale to unlock savings and improve services. It </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">recommended </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">that the Welsh Government </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">should encourage and enable Councils rather </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">than mandate based </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">on an ‘action orientated’ Welsh </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Digital Framework.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img height="331" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/o-rpC0wel-pqSbgh26R_jVy2-AERBKQY2R96AlQyYBTtDDB_RkWPI8ugpCWgLa65ADswm3k0zL6z5Sbn3KAvODhfVq88gehF00481hHnXmNEwMnGHG-Xk8cX8OJMS69IM26J1iQ4" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The report suggested actions under each of four suggested core principles:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Delivery</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A Welsh Digital Local Government Services team comprising the following expertise </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">would </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">be required: </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">IT Disciplines</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">User research</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Software development </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Testing UX </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Service Management – which already exists across local government:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Social services</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Refuse collection</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Transport</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Parking </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Leadership</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The required engagement needs to exist across all levels:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Policy</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Political (members) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Executive (CEO and down) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Technical (existing IT management x 22) </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The initial total time commitment of any team is likely to be biased towards engagement </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">above </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">technology</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Skills</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The skills necessary to achieve digital transformation do not exist across the public sector </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">in Wales. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">A blend of existing knowledge and new skills will be critical. Given the past </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">experience </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of GDS an </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">emphasis on quality will be very important. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Investment</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Investment will be needed to drive transformational change. However, this should be </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">concentrated on </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">investing in people and upskilling existing staff. There are no obvious </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">requirements for capital spend </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">(but these may appear on further examination…for instance, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">end-of-life vendor software). </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The report set out a timetable for change:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img height="272" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/en3QfbfSIghbxMBAOOIRnDtOjfy1nsBL2QvgJFLIRWAChMyxfk1jlrW4eJ5N-cpV4OpBlZT7F5lyT94g0VMvqj-BnxtOnYadV_aTEvbLn1e1WBIvhIk79JUQemJ62YYiPBfVpsWh" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="424" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Jones review found that stakeholders consistently raised the issue as to whether a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">focus </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">on </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">local government digital should be broadened to embrace and consider wider </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">public services. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">It </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">concluded that it should, especially since a significant part of the work, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">such as infrastructure, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">is </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">common across all public services. The panel recommended an </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">approach based on phased </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">growth, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">focused around four core principles of delivery, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">leadership, skills and investment </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img height="349" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/PswoJpau0dwkg5pSdxD15w4BNtY3dJ3KLFkVRe7eKQwiGzwI9JL-lba5hOkOa8wthyEyaV8ZE9pEyCm4itzoBEYnAZjry_lFCaJxW0fDScabxoj_qMP068K5EYoYBmzYPGXDJ5TU" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="624" /></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e7c5e0f7-7fff-48a6-3dea-1799badc99a8"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">As a first step the panel recommended small team be established with a focus on a large </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">scale IT </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">project that many or all local authorities have an interest in. Crucially, the report </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">recommended that </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the scaling up on the team be programmed in from the beginning. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 17pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Since reporting there has been little discernible action on the recommendations. The most </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">tangible </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">outcome has been the further report by </span><a href="https://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/digital-baseline-local-authorities/?lang=en" style="background-color: white; color: #771100; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">SOCITM report on the digital maturity</a><br />
of Welsh councils<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">, and the proposal to appoint a CDO for Welsh local government which </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">is currently being progressed.</span></div>
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Lee Watershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06809029680913102577noreply@blogger.com3