Dafydd Wigley and I have agreed and disagreed in equal measure during the last few years.
However, his article in last week's Daily Post is one that I cannot but endorse wholeheartedly.
Unfortunately, I only have access to the Welsh language version on the Daily Post website. I have therefore translated the relevant bits in the hope that they capture the spirit of his argument.
"If the Government is to maintain the current numbers of doctors, nurses and policemen, then the only possibility of creating any savings will be through a stunning change in the way that government operates and a new mindset within the Civil Service
I remember one very senior civil servant in Wales stating that he would rather make no decision whatsoever than making the wrong decision. Doesn’t that say it all!
We have to step back form the mindset which says that we cannot make a decision because of a lack of analysis - a mindset which leads to every subject being analysed a hundred times before any sort of decision is made – and which leads to unacceptable delays in decision making and thousands of staff hours devoted to complete the process. Decisions are taking in the private sector through processes that are more efficient, cheaper and quicker.
Bureaucracy needs to be cut back along with the amount of reports and documents emerging from Government and the collection of unnecessary information. We must release teachers, nurses and policemen from the never ending burden of filling in endless paperwork to produce statistical information that no one will read.
There will be a price to pay for such changes and this involves a higher risk as a result of making the wrong decision Those who are employed as managers within the public sector must take personal responsibility for decisions made."
There is very little I can disagree with in this excellent article.
Given this, perhaps Dafydd can explain why the Plaid-led economic development department responsible for key areas such as business support, infrastructure and European funding is drowning in bureaucracy, form filling and needless paperwork which is strangling the business sector.
Some of the horror stories I have heard include seven paper forms to be filled in before any support can be given to startups, 100 page business plans for European support projects, months before funding decisions are made and, worst of all, every small and insignificant decision having to be approved by senior directors before they can go ahead.
If his own Plaid Cymru ministerial colleagues cannot get their house in order, then what hope is there for the rest of the Labour dominated Assembly Government in ensuring that our public sector becomes more efficient and effective and, most importantly, provides quick and easy support to industry.
However, his article in last week's Daily Post is one that I cannot but endorse wholeheartedly.
Unfortunately, I only have access to the Welsh language version on the Daily Post website. I have therefore translated the relevant bits in the hope that they capture the spirit of his argument.
"If the Government is to maintain the current numbers of doctors, nurses and policemen, then the only possibility of creating any savings will be through a stunning change in the way that government operates and a new mindset within the Civil Service
I remember one very senior civil servant in Wales stating that he would rather make no decision whatsoever than making the wrong decision. Doesn’t that say it all!
We have to step back form the mindset which says that we cannot make a decision because of a lack of analysis - a mindset which leads to every subject being analysed a hundred times before any sort of decision is made – and which leads to unacceptable delays in decision making and thousands of staff hours devoted to complete the process. Decisions are taking in the private sector through processes that are more efficient, cheaper and quicker.
Bureaucracy needs to be cut back along with the amount of reports and documents emerging from Government and the collection of unnecessary information. We must release teachers, nurses and policemen from the never ending burden of filling in endless paperwork to produce statistical information that no one will read.
There will be a price to pay for such changes and this involves a higher risk as a result of making the wrong decision Those who are employed as managers within the public sector must take personal responsibility for decisions made."
There is very little I can disagree with in this excellent article.
Given this, perhaps Dafydd can explain why the Plaid-led economic development department responsible for key areas such as business support, infrastructure and European funding is drowning in bureaucracy, form filling and needless paperwork which is strangling the business sector.
Some of the horror stories I have heard include seven paper forms to be filled in before any support can be given to startups, 100 page business plans for European support projects, months before funding decisions are made and, worst of all, every small and insignificant decision having to be approved by senior directors before they can go ahead.
If his own Plaid Cymru ministerial colleagues cannot get their house in order, then what hope is there for the rest of the Labour dominated Assembly Government in ensuring that our public sector becomes more efficient and effective and, most importantly, provides quick and easy support to industry.
Comments
So in effect this is based on hearsay?
Read the report of Phil Cooper's presentation to the Assembly:
"http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/02/26/business-support-for-small-firms-hampered-by-bureaucracy-91466-23014364/"
or Kevin's Morgan's review of the state of economic development in Wales
http://merchmerthyr.blogspot.com/2009/04/devolving-our-way-to-relative-economic.html
If you think everything is rosy in the Labour-Plaid world, perhaps you should read Eurfyl ap Gwilym's's damning critique of economic development during the last ten years of devolution
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/04/22/spending-cuts-must-bring-wag-culture-change-91466-23441397/
or Dafydd Wigley's own critique of the bureuacracy surrounding European funds
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/business-news/business-news/2008/10/29/wigley-where-s-all-that-wealth-55578-22140036/
I agree with all these individuals that we simply are not getting the right type of return to help the welsh economy and nothing has changed since the new colaition was formed.
If you disagree, perhaps you can show me where the management of economic development differs at all since the last labour Government?
Certainly not in terms of reducing business rates - Plaid's flagship policy which was developed by Wigley and which has been thrown aside since they assumed power
"..perhaps you can show me where the management of economic development differs at all since the last labour Government?"
Well one very significant thing has changed since the 2007 election, namely the separation of WAG from the Assembly.
We do need to re think how government operates along the lines set out by Dafydd Wigley. However both the Labour and Conservative governments at UK level have added to the burden of paperwork with the gathering of useless management information etc. The conservatives did it because they were suspicious of the public sector and wanted to avoid wasting money, end result more time wasted, Labour do it to retain the illusion of control.