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Much ado about nothing?

As Valleys Mam notes, there seems to be an enormous amount of fuss generated about the expenses of International Business Wales in the press today.

Far be it for me of all people to defend the Welsh civil service (that would be a first!) but there seem to be some incongruities in the claims that have been released under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the Western Mail, Kirsty Williams is quoted as saying

"Every taxpayer in Wales deserves an explanation from the Labour-Plaid Government. While we’re in the middle of a recession, it’s disgusting to know that public officials are flying first class, staying in the most expensive hotels, eating in the best restaurants – all at the swipe of the Welsh credit card."

For example, I haven't a clue whether there is actually any evidence for "flying first class" but as far as I am aware, it is civil service policy that staff take business class flights for all long haul flights to destinations such as the Far East and the USA.

In addition, Virgin Atlantic don't actually have first class, only business class, and that the £36,000 spent with the airline would account for around 12 flights between the UK and the USA (we are not talking Ryan Air here!). Similarly, £24,000 with Cathays Pacific would amount to around six business class flights from the UK to the Far East.

As I say, some strange conclusions but nevertheless a very good headline for the Lib-Dems.

p.s. Having visited the place, I would also doubt if "Margarita Murphy's" - one of the restaurants frequented by IBW staff according to the WM - can be classified as a "high-end NewYork eatery" given that the most expensive meal is a steak at a cost of $17 (which is roughly a third of the price that most AMs could claim for daily meals before Sir Roger Jones' review stopped this practice).

Comments

Anonymous said…
well said Dylan,the last thing I would want when selling Wales to American business or an international markets is to looks cheap.There is far too much of this attitude in respect of Wales in all aspects.
Lib Dems, on this one I just cannot see where you are going.
Anonymous said…
Peter Black is still arguing that the civil servants flew first class

http://peterblack.blogspot.com/2009/07/first-class.html

So either Rhodri is lying or the Lib Dems are. Someone will have to apologise.
Thomos Caradog said…
As someone who deals with IBW, this story shows how ignorant the Welsh media is of the standard business process.

I am aware that the New York office has recently got an enquiry from a world leading US based retailer. They were looking at the possibilities of starting their introduction into the EU through Wales.

Would the same people complaining about 1st class travel complain when projects like this hit the floor and suddenly a few 1000 jobs are created?

If you want something to complain about, ask what are the average working hours of a WAG civil servant is, and ask what their holiday entitlements are like. Then, compare with someone of the same income working within the private sector.

Want to know where your tax money is going? Its to fund Rhodri ap Caradog Prichard, a middle ranking project co-ordination manager, to drive up and down the A470 during working hours to talk to Eleri Mair ap Iorweth, a similarly ranked official about spatial plans for Welsh consortium or other such nonsense!
Greg said…
You can be sure that the other regions of the UK are laughing at us over this non-issue.

Yes, let's send our ambassadors out to the USA and the Far East cattle class, let them stay in cheap hotels and then the companies will just roll in.

Working overseas trying to get businesses into a poor economy isn't a bloody holiday - perhaps Kirsty and the rest of her crew should try it sometime.
Anonymous said…
Rodri has apologised so Christy was correct.

The problem with IBW is that they are located in Manhattan the most expensive location in North America, paying the most expensive rents and producing lousy resluts. If they were a business they would have closed down awhile ago.

Its time to close the Chrysler Center down and send them home and start again!
Anonymous said…
The fact that individual civil servants have now been named in the leaked document is wrong.

Geraint Jones is one of the most respected businesspeople in Wales and came out of retirement to work for WAG.

Contrary to what anon says, he has done a sterling job in reorganising the international offices in the USA (which were a mess) and has enabled WAG to punch well above its weight in the international market.

Miss Wagstaff tries to make a joke of bringing Sir Jon Shortridge back to undertake an enquiry into this affair. Well that is the calibre of individual you will end up with as a result of this faiasco and no-one in the private sector will bother applying again.
Anonymous said…
Anon sounds like the Max Boyce story when Max went to tell Mr. Pocock the mine manager about the miner who had been unjustly treated and Max told him how hard this particular miner worked and it was a miscarriage of justice. Mr. Pocock said "thank you Max for bring this to my attention and who is this miner so I can rectify the situation" and Max said "here I am, Mr. Pocock!"

Its not about the one flight its about wasting Welsh tax payers money without producing results. punching above our weight, what a load of crap. Where is the inward investment. Even Rhodri now wants to know what the hell is going on!
Em. said…
The US has a budget deficit of over one trillion dollars, and an economy that is fading, whereas in China they have a 2 trillion dollar surplus, and an economy that is growing this year by over 5%.
So just how many Chinese speaking reperesentatives does the Welsh Assembly currently have placed in China?
Does IBW have Arabic or Russian speakers? (Rather rhetorical, but there you are!)

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