As I predicted yesterday, it seems that WAG's press office is working overtime to try and minimise any criticisms of the Economic Renewal Programme.They have even gone so far as to write a last minute piece for today's Western Mail to try and explain how this new approach will benefit SMEs (whilst conveniently omitting the fact that they have cut support to the vast majority of small businesses in Wales).
Sorry, guys, your arguments just don't stack up and if that is the best you can do, then you need to get a new job.
For example, perhaps the Minister can explain why, in an interview in 2007, he said he was keen to increase business support to start-up companies and said " It is not just about the grant aid which is available, but giving the right advice at the beginning, in areas like the business plan, financial management and securing premises.”
Does he believe that, because of the recession, and new economic circumstances, that start-ups no longer need this business support, especially during the critical fiorst two years of their existence?
What has changed so much that he has now essentially abandoned FS4B, the main scheme for business support, cut business funding by a half to £50 million and is focusing his efforts on six sectors only? Where is the evidence for such an approach?
More relevantly, why is WAG so nervous about a debate on the economic direction for this nation?
Do they seriously think that everyone in the business community will agree with them just because they have done essentially what the CBI has suggested them to do?
It doesn't take a genius to work out that they have let down the small firm sector in Wales and if organisations like the FSB and the Chambers feel constrained in saying so, I can assure you there will be at least one person shouting from the rooftops to make sure everyone knows about this betrayal.
However, I do have one thing to thank the senior civil servants in WAG for.
People always come to me and ask how do you find something different to say every week in the Western Mail?
I must admit that it is sometimes difficult to also motivate oneself to put together 800 words together every week (without the advantage that politicians have of press office doing it for them!).
Anyway, I can now thank WAG for the next few weeks at least, as the ERP has given me the ideal material for my columns in the Western Mail and the Daily Post for the rest of the summer.
I look forward to continuing the debate and deconstructing, line by line, this excuse for an economic strategy for Wales, starting this Saturday.
Thanks a million!
Comments
(Embarrassing silence)
I thought not
Give me a break
Economic Rubbish Plan ,god help us
Anon 7:20PM - you are right. The unemployment data today should focus every mind in DE&T on how this is going to be reduced? Yet no-one can tell us where the jobs are going to be created and how?
VM - I have stopped being disappointed by the fact that the Welsh civil service is more interested in getting advice from outside of Wales rather than from within.
Anon 10:25 - heads will not roll, because the same senior managers are the ones who came up with the strategy that IWJ has just dismissed out of hand (SIF, FS4B).
Anon 10:54 - I certainly don't mean to be harsh on the FSB or the Chamber. It was the FSB, a decade ago, that pushed through the Entrepreneurship Action Plan when civil servants were against it.
However, whilst I understand their difficult position, it is time for them to say what they really think, and sooner rather than later
"My fear is that WAG scrapping the Single Investment Fund and the big idea being that business support will shift online is that it is used as an excuse to cut funding for small businesses and leave big business unaffected. That would be frankly immoral.
"Obviously there are going to be budget cuts and it is fairly sensible to do a review of these services and we are very opposed to waste of any sort. We don’t think we should get special treatment. But if they have manufactured the system so that larger businesses don’t suffer, that would not be acceptable."
Not really sitting on the fence are they...
C'mon, FSB - start a campaign to support small firms in Wales. Don't leave it all up to the prof.
Firstly, it is largely irrelevant to SME's and secondly it ignores the 'elephant in the room' which is how to reform banking and business credit.
I think removal of the so-called 'business support' agencies (like the FS4B) is probably a good thing as we all know that the majority of their personnel are public sector with little or no knowledge of business. They have been there mainly to act as a 'trusted' channel for EU grant funds and to provide simplistic advice to unfortunate people conned by entrepreneurial bullshit and forced by desperation into starting up their own business to get off the dole.
You have (correctly) railed against the 'grant culture' in Wales for years so I don't understand why you are suddenly now in favour of retaining all those agencies (that support this debilitating culture) that the ERP is supposedly now getting rid of.
Along with others, I do wonder,however, exactly who WAG 'consulted' on all of this. There is great suspicion that CBI, FSB and all these other 'national' organisations have little knowledge of or interest in the Welsh economy and do not really represent the views of Welsh SMEs. Although, it is not strictly necessary for the ERP to have consulted business on what is after all a 'political vision' it does show a continued public sector ivory tower stance towards the economy and private sector.
At least, the WAG have now put down a written and considered plan and presumably this is not set in stone. It's a start and maybe you could consider helping to fix it rather than attacking it all summer long.
I completely disagree with your comments of the FSB. We are far and away the biggest business organisation in Wales with 10,000 members. It represents most sectors of the economy in Wales
We have a structure of staff and members all over Wales. This structure gives us more information on businesses in Wales than is even available to the National Assembly.
If you would care to read a little about FSB Wales and its staff, members, policies, structure, achievements and work, you may realize how ignorant your comments are.
BTW, your comments about the ERP are as correct as your comments about the FSB
The problem is that DET ha become a group of lions led by donkeys.
Outsiders like Dylan could offer them the holy grail and they would throw it back in his face.
I, For one, hope the prof rips them to shreds over the next few weeks as their pisspoor strategy deserves such a kicking.
Is it the role of government to provide loans or is that what banks are for ?
Bearing in mind a successful business can get loans from banks, does that mean the Government is expected to provide loans to risky ventures ?
or in other words Win Win for banks again ?
Banks aren't lending, end of. If you think otherwise, then you are truly showing your ignorance
Repayable grants would not need collateral or anything similar to be put up by the entrepreneur and would be used as part of the funding package when banks would not be willing to give the whole amount i.e. the deal would be derisked.
You really haven't got a clue have you.
And what criteria would you set for these loans, or do we just lend money to everybody and hope they pay back the money....
A successful business will be adequately supported by the banks and then there venture capitalist for others. Still cannot see in a time of recession what role government has in providing loans....
Even if I haven't got a clue I still expect a civil answer.
Anon 11:19 - I can only hope that the FSB, as they have done in the past, support the small business sector and that they at least consult with their members over the ERP and then let WAG know the results
CambriaPolitico - to be honest, I don't think WAG is interested in any constructive criticism at all.
Anon 5:40. If I am motivated by political reasons, how come my views are ever so slightly different to the Conservative AMs in the Chamber last week?
Anon 2:54 and Rhys. The whole concept of market failure is that the government steps in to boost the economy when the market or private sector will not.
There are plenty of successful and viable businesses that are still not being given access to financial resources from the high street banks. By the way, Venture Capital only funds around 1 in 10,000 start-ups - who do you think supports the rest.
The idea, which many have mooted, is that grants are converted into repayable grants (loans) so that a proportion of the funds given out are then recirculated in the economy.These can then be backed up by loans from banks that would be more willing to lend as their exposure is reduced. You would use the same system as you have now for grants but more streamlined and, potentially, you could involve the banking system to assess the loans if there was a joint funding package.
One side of the abolition of grants is that they were often used by small firms to get additional funding from banks. That simply won't happen any more and the capital available to SMEs in Wales will be reduced even further.