PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Having two weeks away on holiday gives someone too much time to think. Blogging has been a lot of fun during the last couple of years but takes too much time every week, especially as I am no longer politically active. You can also, as the man behind Arsembly once said to me over a pint, get too caught up in blogging and just become part of the noise. Given the new job, a new business and too little time on my hands, I have decided to stop posting on this blog for the foreseeable future. For all those who have bothered reading and commenting, many thanks for taking the time. Of course, for those who continue to be interested, I will be carrying on with my weekly column on Saturdays in the Western Mail and in the Daily Post on Mondays. Pob hwyl DYLAN Update: Just as I thought I wouldn't have to blog again for a while....! It would seem that some political mischief makers have been suggesting that I have also resigned from the Conservative Party. Nothing could be further from the tru...

Judging from the responses to the post below, there seems to be at least one individual in Wales who doubts the facts surrounding the current state of the UK economy. However, if any further evidence is needed, this is what has been reported in the last 24 hours alone. The UK economy will shrink next year for the first time since 1991, it has been predicted. Capital Economics forecasts that the nation's GDP will contract by 0.2 per cent over the course of the year. A report on UK retail sales has posted its worst monthly reading since it was first compiled 25 years ago . A balance of 46% of retailers reported a fall in sales in the first half of August compared with a year earlier, said the CBI business organisation. U.K. house prices declined at the fastest annual pace in almost two decades in August after lower mortgage lending and the prospect of a recession discouraged home buyers, Nationwide Building Society said . The average value of a home plunged 10.5 percent to £164,654 ...

Having spent the last week on holiday in North Wales, I have had the opportunity to catch up with many friends working in the tourism and retail industry and to gauge the state of the sector during a difficult period for all Welsh businesses. To say that things are worse than last year would be an understatement, with many complaining that their takings are dramatically lower as compared to the same time twelve months ago. One small retailer I spoke to was over £6000 down on the same week last year and the sight of ‘to let’ and ‘for sale’ signs peppering the high streets of many small towns was enormously depressing. Another popular holiday letting firm actually had a house available next week during bank holiday week - a situation that they had never encountered since they began the business. However, retail and letting outlets are not the only ones which are in trouble, with the restaurant and pub trade suffering as well. For example, I spent Saturday evening having an excellent meal...

The latest mid-year population figures for Wales have been released today. The headline figures are as follows: As at 30th June 2007 there were 2,980,000 people resident in Wales. This is an increase of 14,100 on mid-2006 (0.5 per cent increase), slightly higher than the previous annual increase (12,300, or 0.4 per cent, between mid-2005 and mid-2006) Migration and other changes provided a net addition to the population of 11,800 in the period mid-2006 to mid-2007. This compares to 10,500 for the previous twelve months. The local authority with the largest population increase between mid-2006 and mid-2007 was Cardiff (1.1 per cent increase) The only local authorities which showed a decrease in total population between mid-2006 and mid-2007 were Rhondda Cynon Taf (0.1 per cent decrease) and Blaenau Gwent (0.2 per cent decrease). The number of children aged under 5 in Wales increased by 2.2 per cent between mid-2006 and mid-2007. All local authorities showed an increase in the number of ...

Is this report by Professor Dave Adamson the most important piece of research to come out on the state of Wales since the Assembly was established? Given the recent data regarding our most deprived communities , perhaps the most damning statement of all is that "the impact of government policy is, at best, marginal". Moreover, "whilst many communities have responded with remarkable speed and confidence, this has neither been matched by Assembly Government funding or mainstream programme bending to assist them achieve regeneration of their communities,” I certainly think so and it should be the duty of every Assembly member to get a copy and digest every single word as it goes to the heart of the main problems facing Wales today. Good on Martin Shipton and the Western Mail - both of whom are heavily criticised on the Welsh blogosphere - to pick up on this when it has been ignored by the rest of the Welsh media. The response from the WAG spokesperson is, as usual, predict...

Identifying good practice in business support policy is critical in understanding what works best in developing the right infrastructure in creating and developing enterprise and innovation at a regional and national level. However, all too often there is a habit among policymakers to reinvent the wheel when it comes to instigating new policies to support the private sector. That is why a recent publication by the European Commission in identifying good practice in SME policy is to be welcomed. These include a range of projects which could be adopted here in Wales to support the business community. For example, the innovation vouchers scheme from Austria is a simple scheme which tries to encourage firms to take the first step in working with the university sector. In effect, it provides a subsidy of 5,000 euros for small businesses to buy services such as studies on ideas, and support in developing prototypes from the university sector. The reason for the success of the scheme is that ...

Off on holiday to God's own country - so blogging will be light, at best, for a couple of weeks.

As some of you are no doubt aware, Lord Wyn Roberts has undertaken a review of devolution for the Conservative Party. Part of my submission to the review, on the impact of devolution on the business sector, has already been discussed last week. The other part of my submission dealt with my own personal views, as a Welsh Conservative, on the broader future of devolution here in Wales. As many of you are no doubt aware, I stood as a candidate for the Welsh Conservatives in the constituency of Aberconwy during the last Assembly elections. Whilst I am not longer directly active in politics, I remain an interested bystander to the political process. In particular, I have been observing the change in attitudes amongst Welsh Conservatives towards devolution. For example, a recent study by the Institute of Welsh Politics showed that 39 per cent of Welsh Conservatives expressed backing for a law-making parliament with 26 per cent preferring the current Assembly arrangements. Only 27 per cent fa...

Fears about the worsening state of the Welsh economy have been supported by the latest PMI Wales Report from RBS, which showed that the region’s private sector economy was doing worse than ever. According to this authoritative study, indexes for output and new business both hit new lows in July, and Wales registered the fastest decline in private sector employment of any UK region. In July, private sector output in Wales declined for the fifth time in 2008 so far. Moreover, the rate of contraction was the fastest in the history of the survey. The region also fared worse than elsewhere in the UK on average. Consumer concerns surrounding the financial and housing markets had an adverse impact on demand in July, as the volume of incoming new business declined at a series record pace. Of the twelve UK regions, only Scotland registered a sharper fall in new business contracts than Wales in the latest survey period. In line with the trend since last October, firms operating in the Welsh priv...

Earlier this week, I gave a speech at the Parliament for Wales debate at the National Eisteddfod to discuss how further powers could affect the business community. However, it would seem that certain sections of the Welsh Assembly Government have taken umbrage at some of the reported comments from the speech, even though none of them were actually at the event. Of course, it is easy to take such comments out of context so I am taking this opportunity to set the record straight. Let me make my position absolutely unequivocal. In general, I believe that the argument that full powers for the Assembly along the lines of the Scottish Parliament would not help Wales is no longer valid. However, the real issue for the economy, which must be addressed by detailed research, is how further powers can make Wales a more attractive business environment for both inward investors and indigenous businesses. Indeed, I believe that a more radical Assembly Government, with increased devolved powers, coul...

According to the BBC this week , the decision to axe the Communities First scheme in Rhyl at the end of this year has been described as 'disappointing'. Disastrous would be a more apt description and it reflects badly on the Welsh Assembly Government and its commitment to regeneration. As this blog pointed out just over a month ago , three of the five most deprived wards in Wales are based in Rhyl. Yet the decision has been made to scrap the Communities First programme, with everyone to blame but the Assembly Government. If WAG cannot get its act together here in the poorest parts of our nation, what hope is there for the rest of Wales.

In the Daily Post yesterday , the Federation of Small Businesses comes out in favour of greater support for start-ups across the region. I hate to say again, but the first place the Assembly Government could start is with business rates, as I pointed out in the Eisteddfod field earlier this week. Yes, I am going to continue to write and campaign on this matter as it is too important for politicians to ignore. As usual, the Assembly went on to talk about Flexible Business Support Programme which is not focused on the needs of the many but on the needs of the few. Most importantly, it is small shops who are being hit hardest across Wales and the retail sector is largely ignored in any Welsh business support programme. If anyone has any doubts as to how the credit crunch is hitting the small retail trade, go to any high street in Wales. Many are holding on by the skin of their teeth and in the tourist resorts will be facing a long hard winter. So rather than coming out with the usual reh...

Welcome to a new blog - Brother Tecwyn . I have a feeling that, even if we have different political views, this may well be a much visited and debated blog over the next few months. Good luck!

According to the new Heritage Minister, it will be a big year for the language, with a Welsh language education strategy being the most important development in Wales over the next 12 months. I sincerely hope that this includes plans for some sort of Welsh Federal College, as I believe it is largely pointless to develop provision for Welsh education opportunities at a primary and secondary level if students then do not have the opportunity to undertake their degree through the medium of Welsh at a tertiary level. Given this, it is important that the market demand is determined so that a proper case for funding can be made to the Assembly. I would also examine the potential to set up a scheme to strongly encourage staff who join Welsh institutions to learn the Welsh language, especially within those institutions such as Bangor or Aberystwyth where there is a large concentration of Welsh language students. From my own personal experience, I was always amazed that on joining Bangor Busin...

At my wedding, my father took great delight in reminding the guests, with the help of a well-preserved tape recording, that I had taken the title role in Theatr Plant Pwllheli's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. As you probably all know, the tale of Joseph revolves around his ability to see the future through his dreams. His life is saved when he is able to predict that Egypt will go through a famine and he is rewarded by the Pharaoh with a post as his most trusted advisor. If I remember the lyrics properly: "Seven years of bumper crops are on their way, Years of plenty, endless wheat and tons of hay, Your farms will boom, there won't be room to store the surplus food you grow. "After that, the future doesn't look so bright, Egypt's luck will change completely overnight, and famine's hand will stalk the land with food an all-time low". There are certainly parallels with the Joseph story with regard to the current economic po...

It's not often I will criticise my party in public but we have really got to pull our finger out over our presence on the web, especially as it is estimated that we only have four active bloggers (and I am one of those!). This despite having a significant presence by individual Welsh conservatives on networking sites such as Facebook . It is disappointing that only Nick Bourne has a blog presence amongst our AMs and that Glyn Davies (who started his blog when down in Cardiff Bay) is the sole parliamentary candidate with an active blog. As far as I know, not one of our councillors is currently blogging. Many will say that they don't have the time to do this but we are all busy people and one of our hardest working shadow ministers, David Jones MP, makes the effort to blog nearly every day. Others will say that there is nothing to write about, so why do I get at least ten press releases every day from the Welsh party? Some have told me that it is a waste of time because the ...

As a graduate of Cardiff University , I am proud that the institution is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. It currently has over 26,000 students, around 6,000 staff and an annual turnover of £370m. In terms of its research profile, it is ranked as seventh out of more than 100 UK universities and, more significantly, joined an elite club of institutions when one of its leading academics, Sir Martin Evans, was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine. Given such high academic ideals, it would be natural for many to think that Cardiff University does little with the business community. However, recent statistics from the Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) Survey – suggest otherwise and that, contrary to expectation, it is the research-led Cardiff University which has the most extensive links with businesses within the Welsh higher education sector. Take, for example, the case of contract research, which consists of a bilateral relationship betwe...

Wales is to scrap its late-night political show Sharp End with current affairs programme Wales This Week now covering Welsh politics. Whilst scrapping its main political programme, ITV has stated that it will be retaining its political team of three full-time staff based at the National Assembly and creating a new role of political editor. However, if they say that viewing figures are the cause of this scrapping of their only Welsh politics programme, then don't put it on at 11.30 on Thursday night. Whilst Assembly researchers stumbling from the Eli Jenkins may get home in time to watch it, the majority of the population won't switch on as they will be in bed (or watching Question Time on the BBC). ITV needed to be bold and create a new programme which embraces politics in Wales. Unfortunately, they have gone down the simple route of restructuring despite being highly criticised by the Assembly's not devoting enough resources to Welsh public broadcasting. Of course, any dec...