PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

One thing you can say about Leighton Andrews is that he is not slow in coming forward. His statement yesterday has sent shockwaves of the 8.0 richter scale variety throughout the entire university sector in Wales. Here is what he said in the chamber yesterday “Wales has been dogged for years by many institutions which are too small to cut a mark internationally, too small to withstand and respond to the growing pressure of international competition, and in danger of wasting resources competing with neighbours rather than looking out from Wales to win reputation and research income. Currently only 36% of institutions in Wales have an annual income which is above the UK median, a situation that has changed little over many years. Additionally, colleagues will recall the findings of the PWC review that only 48% of university spending went on teaching, research and knowledge transfer, and 52% on support services. Today I am pleased to report that, in response to my remit letter, HEFCW has...

In today's Western Mail , Local Government Minister Carl Sargeant states that whilst he is looking for efficiencies across local government, he will stop short of reducing the number of councils in Wales. I believe this is extremely short-sighted, especially at a time when Wales simply cannot afford 22 local authorities across the nation. As I wrote back in October 2008 , "there seems to be a growing consensus that we may have too many local authorities in Wales and it is time for another reorganisation, especially as the current number of councils was arrived at in 1994 and did not take into account the creation of a new devolved government in the form of the National Assembly for Wales. For example, some would argue that there is a strong case for only two councils in North Wales, as was previously the case under Gwynedd and Clwyd prior to 1996, as this would ensure efficiencies and economies of scale that would save money and, in the long run, cut council taxes. Given the c...

The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University has just released another important report which should be of significance to policymakers in Wales. Entitled " The Seaside Tourist Industry in England and Wales Employment, economic output, location and trends" , it examines the myth behind the decline of British seaside resorts and, significantly, has some pertinent facts about the situation here in Wales. In Wales, 20,800 jobs are directly supported by seaside tourism, which generates around £280 million in economic output every year. During the last decade, seaside tourism employment has, contrary to popular myth, actually increased by 1,300 jobs in Wales. However, this is modest compared to the South West of England, which has experienced for more than half of the estimated growth in seaside tourism jobs in England and Wales. Th principal seaside resorts in Wales (i.e. places with a population of at least 10,000 where seaside tourism i...

In a visit to North Wales last week, the Labour leadership candidate David Milliband allegedly "emphasised the need for an alert, fighting opposition keen to protect Wales’ vital manufacturing base and the future of companies like Airbus. Perhaps someone in his entourage should point out to him that the relative importance of manufacturing to the Welsh economy actually rose from 27 per cent to 28 per cent during the last Conservative administration between 1992 and 1997. In contrast, it had declined to 18 per cent of the nation’s economic output since Labour came to power in 1997. That is probably the most damning indictment of Labour’s economic and industrial policies in Wales during the last twelve years. Whilst manufacturing grew by 31 per cent in the five years between 1992 and 1997 under John Major's Government, it has shrunk under the three consecutive Labour Governments we have had since. I fully expect Peter Hain's rewriting of Welsh history to continue but you wou...

Much of the focus from Tuesday’s budget has been on those measures, such as the increase in VAT, that George Osborne has put into place to deal with the economic mess left by the last Labour Government and to cut a government deficit that is currently running at 12.7 per cent of GDP, the largest of any major economy. What many commentators on the left of the political spectrum seem to have conveniently ignored is the simple fact that if you spend more than you can earn, then those lending you the money will charge you interest on those borrowings and this will accumulate over time, much in the same way that an unpaid credit card will accumulate interest payments on any outstanding capital. Therefore, running high deficits every year since 2001 - when Gordon Brown abandoned the previous Conservative government’s fiscal plans - has left us with an overall debt of a trillion pounds, on which we currently pay over £44 billion in interest every year. The Labour Party and its supporters seem...

Last week, we began the search for the twelfth Wales Fast Growth 50 list , the annual project which celebrates the best of Welsh entrepreneurship by identifying the fastest growing firms in Wales. However, by its very nature, the Fast Growth 50 project throws up an interesting conundrum for policymakers in Wales? Currently the generalist approach adopted by the Welsh Assembly Government towards business support is one which focuses on quantity, not quality; one which tries to address the needs of the many and not the few. Of course, some will argue that we shouldn’t put our efforts into those few companies that grow and it would be better to focus on all of the 200,000 businesses in Wales in terms of developing the economy. That may seem logical but the simple fact of the matter is that the vast majority of businesses simply do not grow or, more importantly, want to grow. As a result, focusing only on the wider small business population may not result in greater employment growth at a ...

With all the headlines being focused on the increase in VAT in today’s budget, it is easy to forget that if the economy is to grow, then it was critical for George Osborne to put measures into place that will help businesses to create jobs and prosperity over the next five years. Thankfully, he has taken a leap forward in doing this by cutting the levels of tax burdens on businesses that will, hopefully, help them to develop and, most importantly, create jobs in the economy over the next Parliament. These include: Corporation tax cut to 27 per cent next year and to be cut by 1 percentage point a year for next three years to 24 per cent Small companies’ corporation tax rate cut to 20 per cent 10 per cent Capital Gains Tax rate for entrepreneurs extended to first £5 million of qualifying gains Increasing the threshold for employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by £21 a week above indexation which will mean that the number of employees for whom employers pay no NICs will rise by...

Whilst the focus from this week’s budget will be on the reductions in public expenditure, it is worth noting that George Osborne will also offer new firms based outside the three most prosperous regions in the UK a £900 million tax break. Focusing a pre-election promise on those regions hardest hit by the recession, the Chancellor will announce that any company set up outside London, the South East of England and East England will not have to pay employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) for the first ten employees taken on during its first year in business In a long overdue intervention that previous governments have avoided, this will be one of the first taxation measures developed that will directly help those entrepreneurs who are thinking of starting a business by reducing their outgoings during the critical first twelve months. With the Assembly Government calling for a growth in the private sector to combat our dependence on the public sector, this measure could help to s...

Rhodri Morgan is joining the Western Mail as a weekly columnist and will write for the paper every Saturday. The former First Minister said that he was looking forward to his new role immensely. To quote, “I’m going to take a very varied approach. Some of the time I will be looking forward over the next 10 years and sometimes I will be looking back over the past 10 years, when I’ve been so involved in leading Welsh political life. I’ll also be looking at all the things in Wales that don’t involve politics directly.” According to the Western Mail, he has never had a newspaper column before. Having been a columnist for the Western Mail since 2004, it is far more work than you think to come up with a different piece every week. However, someone who has his amazing memory and the ability to quote every fact under the sun should have little problem in producing something that will be enjoyable to read and well written. The danger, of course, is that the column will merely become a weekly ad...

The search starts today for the twelfth Wales Fast Growth 50, the annual project which celebrates the best of Welsh entrepreneurship. First published by the Western Mail in 1999, this unique initiative has become firmly established as the list of business success which businesses across Wales aspire to. Last year’s winning company was Unit Engineers and Constructors Ltd of Pembrokeshire which, since being established in 2004, had grown to an annual turnover of over £17 million in 2008. Overall, last year’s Fast Growth 50 collectively generated £292 million of additional sales in two years at an average growth rate of 107 per cent, and created over 1900 new jobs. This demonstrates the massive potential that exists within the Welsh economy, a trend that the Fast Growth 50 project has been observing every year since 1999. Wales has some great companies that, with the right support, could grow to become world class players. Since the first publication appeared twelve years ago, 351 firms ...

....comes from Thomas Friedman, the US business columnist. Writing in the New York Times about what can be done to create jobs that will drag the US economy back into growth , he states, “Good jobs, in bulk, don’t come from government. They come from risk-takers starting businesses, businesses that make people’s lives healthier, more productive, more comfortable or more entertained, with services and products that can be sold around the world.” Quoting one of the leading innovation specialists in the World, he goes on to state that this could be one of the best time for innovators for three main reasons: “First, although competition is increasingly intense, our global economy opens up huge new market opportunities. Second, most technologies — since they are increasingly based on ideas and bits and not on atoms and muscle — are improving at rapid, exponential rates. And third, these two forces — huge, competitive markets and rapid technological change — are opening up one major new oppo...

According to the latest data from the UK Government , the total value of UK exports for the 12 months ending March 2010 was £231 billion - a decrease of £13 billion (5.3 per cent) compared to the 12 months ending March 2009. During the same period the total value of exports for England fell by 4.8 per cent to £168.5 billion. The largest percentage change in the English regions for this period was for the Yorkshire and Humber region that decreased by 10.9 per cent to £12 billion. Scottish exports rose by 3.5 per cent to £14.8 billion, and exports from Northern Ireland fell by 17.4 per cent to £5 billion. Exports from Wales fell by 16.8 per cent to £8.8 billion, the worst performance by far of any UK region. I have written previously on Wales’ dismal exporting performance , a situation that WAG is simply not taking seriously. Instead, the Minister and his policy team seem to believe that international business is simply about about bringing foreign companies into Wales rather than buildi...

The Institute of Directors (IoD) have just published a paper which highlights the burdens of the UK’s tax regime on small firms. According to the IOD, the combination of the small business rate of corporation tax, national insurance, business rates, fuel and stamp duties and renewable energy levies add up to an effective tax burden of more than 40 per cent for small businesses. Worst still, the report has estimated that the average small business is working to generate profits for the state from January 1st to May 21st every year i.e. nearly five months of profits are being paid to government and not to reinvest in the business or, worst still, to create growth and employment. Whilst a programme of reductions in public expenditure will no doubt help to bring done the government debt, we also need to ensure that we have economic growth that is driven by those entrepreneurial businesses that can create employment in the private sector at a time when public sector jobs will be reduced. Ho...

On November 28th 1660, a group of scientists came together in London to hear the young Christopher Wren give a lecture on astronomy. In the discussion that followed, a collective decision was made to form what became the cradle of scientific thought and discovery in the United Kingdom, namely the Royal Society. Since then, similar societies have been set up in Scotland (the Royal Society of Edinburgh) and in Ireland (the Royal Irish Academy) which were formed to bring together the best scientists in both nations for the advancement and recognition of learning, as well as the promotion of excellence in scholarship and research. Yet despite the fact that Wales produced world leadership in areas of science and technology that provided the foundation for the industrial revolution, there has never been a national academy in Wales. Indeed, this nation has been alone in the developed world as having no academy of scholars to support its academic, intellectual and civic life. The absence of su...

Rumours reach me of major changes at the top of the Department of Economy and Transport. It would seem that Sharon Linnard, who is de facto “chief executive” of economic development, is being moved sideways to a post within the health portfolio. Given that there is a general admittance that the economic development department in Wales has, at best, been stuttering to perform properly, is this finally an admittance, by the Minister that things need to change drastically prior to the publication of his ‘economic renewal programme’? Given that many in the business world in Wales have been highly critical of the way that business support has evolved into a bureaucratic nightmare since the WDA was abolished, one has to ask why it has taken the Minister so long to make these changes? The question, of course, is whom the Minister will choose to replace Ms Linnard? If he was really bold, he would go out to general advert and try and attract the best person in the field of economic developmen...

Today, it is reported in the Western Mail that Carwyn Jones will offer “stand up for Wales” and come up with “a positive programme in the run up to next year’s Assembly election” Really? Is the same First Minister who stood up for Wales last February when Liam Byrne, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, stated unequivocally that: “Wales is well funded. Identifiable public spending per head in Wales is 14% above England and in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, the Welsh Assembly Government received an annual average real terms increase of 2.4% compared to the UK average of 2.1%... The Government has no plans to change the Barnett formula.” If I remember correctly, there was total silence from the First Minister on this matter at the time. Indeed, it is worth remembering that after thirteen years of power, Labour did nothing to change the current funding system and, despite Gerry Holtham’s review, it is doubtful that a thorough review of Barnett would have been prioritised by Lab...

Last week, statistics from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply suggested that the UK manufacturing sector was enjoying a revival and was poised to lead the growth in the country’s economy over the next few years . As Sir James Dyson noted in a report on revitalising the sector three months ago , it could, if supported properly by government, play a major part in the future growth of the UK economy. To begin with Dyson suggested that it is critical for the UK economy to rebalance itself away from financial services and property, two sectors which did not generate as much added value as many had suggested. Who can forget that it was a combination of the two sectors in the guise of sub-prime mortgages that led to the massive financial crisis that brought the global economy to the edge of bankruptcy? With policymakers now looking for an export-led growth over the next few years, it is clear that manufacturing – which already accounts for half of the UK’s exports – can be doing...

Yesterday, Welsh universities warned of an impending crisis because of the shortage of available places in higher education later this summer . With applications up by a third in some institutions such as Glyndwr University in Wrexham and Swansea Metropolitan University, it has been estimated that there could be tens of thousands of applicants who will be refused entry despite having the right A-level results. This is because universities, due to funding restrictions, are being stopped by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) from taking on more students despite the surplus in applications. Indeed, Bangor University has been told to reduce its intake by up to 17 per cent for the next academic year. What on earth is going on? Our politicians will scramble to proclaim Wales as a small and clever country and yet the key ingredient for any knowledge economy – the graduates we produce – is being restricted, with the state of the public purse conveniently used as an excuse by those...

Having spent the last week up in North Wales with the family, blogging has been light. With the weather (with the exception of Tuesday) being absolutely fantastic, we had a glorious time. The day we spent on the beach in Aberdaron (or rather on the outside terrace of the Ty Newydd Inn) was the highlight. Good friends, fantastic local food, sparkling conversation, wonderful weather and a vista of 'creigiau Aberdaron' but, fortunately no wild waves of the sea! We were fortunate to have some of our friends from Cardiff up on the Llyn Peninsula with us, but it surprises me how few South Walians actually bother making the journey up to North Wales and instead choose Devon and the hell of the M5 on bank holidays. Certainly, if they had experienced the Llyn Peninsula this weekend, they would even consider going over the border again for their holidays. Yes it is a four hour journey but well worth the trip, particularly given the beauty of mid-wales on a sunny day. And talking of mid-...