PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

This blog has previously discussed the merits of social entrepreneurship . Given this, it is worth noting the article in the Independent on Sunday regarding the EiA programme being operated in London by an ex-city trader. Could the same type of programme be established within our more deprived areas by Welsh social entrepreneurs? It would certainly be conducive for Welsh policymakers to examine this option given the high rates of NEETS in Wales and the need to get more of our young people to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset.

As some of you are aware, the Welsh Conservatives have set up an economic commission to look at policies for the future. I am honoured to be chairing this group and will be taking evidence, for the first time today, in Cardiff. By undertaking a 'select committee' format, we will hear from businesses, academics and a range of representative organisations, including the FSB, the Welsh Tourism Alliance, the CBI and the EEF. We will be following this up with other meetings around the country. We hope to be able to offer a new fresh approach to economic development and, at the very least, offer the business sector an opportunity to put forward their views on the future of the Welsh and UK economy.

It's not often you find this blog agreeing with the First Minister but I wholeheartedly welcome the points he made on Structural Funding last Tuesday. "If the exchange rate stays where it is today, then we will have 15 per cent more money over the next six or seven years. In the same way that we suddenly got this £40 million windfall of European funding, we will get an extra £300 million over the next six years, if the exchange rate stays where it is today. Although, of course, it will make it more stressful to find the match funding, so this is not unalloyed good news. However, it is good news and it means that you can do more provided that you can get the project up and running and delivered in the time period". Given the state of the country's economy, it is vital that Wales, and the Welsh Assembly Government, ensures that the extra £50 million per annum is spent to make a real difference. For those projects that can prove themselves successful in the first couple ...

Greetings from Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I have been attending the ICSB World Conference on Entrepreneurship for the last few days. With hundreds of delegates from all over the world, it has been a great event where academics, policymakers and practitioners have engaged in full and frank discussions on a range of issues. The highlight for me was a presenttation by Professor Zoltan Acs, who revisited the 'gazelles' work by David Birch which originally inspired me to set up the Wales Fast Growth 50 . The report is here and it should be required reading for any policymaker interested in developing the enterpreneurial potential of their nation or region.

Last week, I received a copy of a fascinating proposal that would provide a railway transport system within Wales that would connect North and South Wales. Its main premise is that, no matter how much we desire it, the construction of an effective, modern North-South road link would cost many billions of pounds which are far beyond the budget of the Assembly. The proposal, written by the community group “Ein Blaenau”, goes on to state that a viable North-South rail link, as an alternative to a national road link, is needed in Wales, not only for transport and mobility reasons, but also for social, economic and cultural reasons to create a sense of ‘one country’. More relevantly, given the increasing need to decrease CO2 emissions and the output of carbon as EU legislation begins to kick in and oil becomes more expensive, any such improved rail network could also be used to for the transport of freight across the country, thus reducing the number of lorries on our roads. So what is the ...

Disturbing article yesterday on house price falls in Wales. It suggests that Wales has done better than the UK average during the last few years in terms of the value of housing, with Welsh house prices increasing by 188 per cent since 1998, slightly higher than the UK average of 176 per cent. However, this trend is reversing just as quickly According to the latest figures from the Land Registry for property transactions completed in April, the average home now costs £153,864, some 5.9 per cent down in a month. Those areas which have had 10 per cent price decreases include Merthyr Tydfil and Pembrokeshire which means that any young person in those areas who has saved up a small deposit to buy their first home are already in negative equity. Other counties which look set to follow this trend include Torfaen, Conwy, Swansea and Newport."

Two months ago, the Welsh Assembly Government heralded a ‘new era for business support’ with the aim of making Government backing for new or growing enterprises “faster, simpler and more responsive to their individual needs.” Of course, the real question is whether the small firm sector will get the support it requires or whether the Assembly Government will continue to focus its efforts, as it has done during the last nine years, on offering large financial incentives in the form of regional selective assistance grants, for large companies to locate to Wales. Some would argue that the latter situation will prevail and only this week, the Assembly Government provided major support to HSBC in creating 250 call centre jobs in Newport over the next couple of years. I am big fan of HSBC and no one can blame them for taking advantage of such generosity when such a massive grant is waved in front of them by the Welsh Assembly Government? I am sure that any company of whatever size in the sa...

According to the Western Mail today , Rhodri Morgan has admitted that £40 million will have to be returned to the Europe because the Assembly does not have the matched funding. Why such a defeatist attitude? Is the First Minister trying to tell us that Wales doesn't have the businesses, universities and colleges that could not come up with the necessary matched funding to invest this money? Give me two months and I could ensure that all that money is spent in a way that would benefit Wales and the Welsh economy. What Rhodri needs to do is to get WEFO to be more flexible over the rules and the rest of the economic development team to put their thinking hats on. They should not assume the worst but proactively look for opportunities to use this funding before we have the shame of sending back this money to Europe.

Last week, it was decided that Welsh children and pensioners should be given free access to all historic sites run by the Assembly Government. At first glance, this looks an excellent initiative and it was broadly welcomed by tourism chiefs across Wales. However, many will be disappointed that it will not come into force until September 1st and will therefore have no actual effect on this year’s main holiday season. The other issue regarding this scheme is that it is confined only to those living in Wales and all visitors will have to prove their residency and age, adding massively to the bureaucracy and complexity of administering the scheme. Will you have to bring your gas bill with you for your kids to gain entry to Beaumaris Castle? How will hassled heritage staff cope with having to argue with people over their residency credentials? Apart from the issues of managing such a scheme, the Minister may also be missing a trick in his drive to support the Welsh tourism industry and ther...

Simply bloody brilliant! It was one of best concerts I have been to and having last seen Bruce in 1989, I regret not making the effort to go and see him again until last night. Best moment of the night? When he played Thunder Road, of course, although Jungleland, Because the Night and the Rising came close. For Cardiff, it was obviously a bit of an economic bonanza. Friends from Pwllheli came down last minute and we couldn't get a table at a restaurant anywhere in the city centre. We eventually ending up having a pub meal in the Halfway in Pontcanna! A great day out listening to the greatest rock and roll artist living today.

During the past 12 months, politicians have become aware of the importance of social entrepreneurs and community businesses in delivering solutions that actually make a real difference to deprived areas. Last week’s statistics showed that child poverty in Wales and the UK as a whole is getting worse. As a result, leading figures have called for an end to the “old-fashioned mechanisms of bureaucratic top-down state intervention” to deal with critical issues such as this and have called instead for a greater emphasis on ensuring delivery from social enterprises that understand the needs of their local communities. Given this, many will welcome a recent publication from the Aspen Institute in the USA which calls for a greater partnership between government and social entrepreneurs to find creative and sustainable solutions to society’s problems. So what were the key findings of this groundbreaking report? Firstly, it showed that social entrepreneurs are in a unique position to help gover...

There has been a little niggle at the back of my mind about all the latest Convergence funding, which is being sprayed around like confetti at the moment by the Welsh Assembly Government, possibly because it is a year and a half behind schedule. What is going on in the rest of Wales that does not qualify for this funding? Certainly, the GVA /head in Swansea (which qualifies for EU funds) is higher than that of Powys (which does not). In addition, Flintshire and Wrexham - which does not qualify -has seen one of the largest falls in GVA /head of any area in the whole of the UK since 1997. With a large part of the business base in those areas which does not get access to such funds,how is the Assembly Government going to ensure that they are also supported to help grow the whole economy within Wales? Will try and put my thinking hat on this and come back in a few days time.

The BBC has just reported that 600 beds are to be lost at Cardiff's two main hospitals. According to an assembly government strategy, there was "too much reliance on acute hospitals in Wales". Has the Assembly learnt nothing from last year's reconfiguration debacle? This is not about patient care but about cutting costs in the NHS and it is a scandal that so many administrators continue to be employed when such vital services are cut. On a wider note, it will be interesting to see the reaction of local AMs in Cardiff to this proposition , particularly that of the Party of Wales, given their opposition last year to hospital closures during the Assembly campaign and must, if they are in government with Labour, be supporting this latest cut in the NHS in Wales.

Today, we have launched the search for the fastest growing firms in Wales. The Wales Fast Growth 50 project , which celebrates its tenth anniversary, is a unique initiative that is firmly established as the list of business success which entrepreneurs across Wales aspire to. It is a constant remainder of the vast entrepreneurial potential that exists within the Welsh business sector, with growth performance by businesses that is as good as any to be found across the regions of the UK. The 2008 list of the fastest growing firms in Wales will appear in a special anniversary supplement which will be published by the Western Mail on Wednesday, October 29th 2008. Every year, the Fast Growth 50 project goes from strength to strength. Since its launch in 1999, 295 growth firms across Wales have featured within the nine supplements published by the Western Mail. Whilst some of these businesses have closed or been taken over during this period, it is conservatively estimated that, collectively,...

I sometimes despair at at our national press. The biggest story today, without a doubt, is that of child poverty levels rising and yet there is absolutely nothing on this critical issue anywhere in the Welsh press. BBC Scotland are covering the data for Scotland but I have yet to see anything on the Welsh figures. No press releases from the Assembly Government and nothing on their statistics pages. Do they think if no-one mentions it, it will go away? Anyone else out there had any luck?

A report issued last Friday claimed that businesses in rural parts of England do less well than those in urban areas and are failing to reach their full potential. The study, written by the Commission for Rural Communities , argued that English rural areas had up to £347 billion a year of untapped potential, and that the barriers to business development remain affordable housing and transport. The recommendations for improving this situation include an economic minister to oversee support of rural economies, a rural finance forum to tap into private and public money and a rural innovation initiative to encourage entrepreneurs and ensure access to resources such as broadband. Of course, what applies to rural England also applies to Wales and I would argue that the problems highlighted in the report are even more acute here in our country. Only last week, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported serious problems of affordability , sharp increases in homelessness and a limited housing supp...

A reminder in the Daily Post today (the Liverpool not the North Wales version) of the strong links between Wales and Liverpool. Like many in North Wales, we had family ties to the city, and I still remember the four hour pre-A55 car journeys from Pwllheli to Liverpool to visit relatives in Bootle and, worst still, the four hour journeys back (which always seemed longer!). More importantly, I am still a Reds fan after thirty two years of support!

Here are eight articles on challenges facing the UK economy 1. David Smith in The Sunday Times on whether the economy is grinding to a halt 2. Hamish McRae in the Indy on Sunday on the effect of borrowing on Gordon Brown 3. The Scotsman on whether Scotland will take a bigger hit than the rest of the UK 4. The BBC reports workers being forced to take massive pay cuts 5. The Telegraph suggest that joining the Euro would have made the UK economy even worse 6. CNN on how energy prices are set to rise even further 7. Bloomberg on the need to get oil prices down 8. The Daily Post on how the credit crunch will hit rural Wales hardest

A fascinating report on venture capital investment has shown the major challenges that we face as a nation in attracting the right type of finance to support the technologies of the future. The 2008 Global Venture Capital Survey , published last week by Deloitte, measured the opinions of almost 400 venture capitalists worldwide. It found, not surprisingly, that the USA remains the global leader in technological innovation, although Europe leads the way in fast growing new sectors such as clean technologies and life sciences, particularly within Germany and the UK. For the Welsh Assembly Government’s approach to supporting new innovative businesses, there are certainly lessons to be learnt from German policymakers who have developed an unambiguous and visionary strategy for the development of key sectors. The combination of a strong technology base, entrepreneurial businesses and, most importantly, a well conceived public policy towards clean technologies in Germany has created a new in...

Whilst readers of this blog are familiar with the facts on the Welsh economy, the Western Mail (and Dr Eurfyl ap Gwilym) seems astounded that the Welsh economy is lagging behind the rest of the UK. THE Assembly Government last night admitted the Welsh economy faces “major challenges”. It made the statement as it emerged that the nation has had the lowest economic growth rate in the UK during the Tony Blair decade that began in 1997. Official UK Government figures included in a report on competitiveness in Northern Ireland place Wales at the bottom of the economic performance league behind all other 11 UK regions. The table is headed by London, followed by the south-east of England. Northern Ireland is in third position and Scotland is seventh. Plaid Cymru’s economic adviser Eurfyl ap Gwilym, who came across the table by chance, said: “This is not a good position for Wales to be in. It’s undoubtedly the case that unemployment levels have come down while the employment rate has gone up....

Having been away in Prague last week, I missed the announcement that Golwg, the Ceredigion-based magazine group, had been awarded £600,000 over the next three years to develop a Welsh language news service that will reinforce existing print provision whilst developing the potential of new multimedia technology. I am sure that many will wish Dylan Iorwerth, the editor of Golwg, every success in this new venture. It will not be an easy task, especially given that there will be many critics ready to haul him down, but I believe his vision of journalistic excellence combined with the accessibility of web-based technology can create a new dawn for Welsh language publishing. Given the revival of the Welsh language over recent years, it is about time that the new ways of developing the culture and language of this nation were supported. That is not to say that the Assembly Government should avoid censure for their obfuscation regarding this issue. Many were rightly disappointed at the decisio...

In my spare time during the last few months, I have been working with colleagues in Cardiff University to examine the development of innovation through the utilisation of European Structural Funding within the Objective 1 region West Wales and the Valleys. Unfortunately, the findings to date suggest that there is no real evidence of a step-change in innovation capacity and performance within Wales. Whilst £284 million of innovation projects were supported over a period of five years, the key targets in terms of new jobs, upskilling and new businesses were not achieved. For example, the target of 5,000 gross new jobs by the end of the programme looks unlikely to be reached, with only 24 per cent of the target (or 1192 new jobs) having been achieved. In terms of training places, there has been a considerable shortfall in the number of employees helped through the programme. To date, 6,203 individuals have been assisted, as compared to a target of 15,000 by the end of 2008. With regard to...

Adam Price takes me to task in his latest blog , albeit briefly, over business rates, which I have featured on this blog. I have enormous respect for Adam's views but on this one he is way off the mark. His own party raised this issue in an Assembly debate in June 2008 before they entered into talks with Labour and to now defend Labour's approach to business rates is sheer hypocrisy, regardless of the 'realities of Government'. Indeed, one could argue that the business environment has worsened since last year and the current policy over business rates clearly just isn't good enough, especially as compared to England and Scotland. If Labour do not wish to help small business in wales, then it is up to Plaid Cymru to press their case within the Assembly Government. Welsh businesses are facing increasing financial difficulties, especially within the tourism industry. You only have to read this article to see the concerns of the industry in North Wales. Bringing in bus...