TCC Questions from students from St Richards Gwyn in Flint

Accountability meeting questions St. Richard Gwyn

What changes will you put in place if elected, to ensure suitable jobs for those lucky enough to graduate?

3 main areas, training, plan for growth and encouraging regeneration in local communities in Wales.

5000 training grants a year

Its a valid concern, many employeers are concerned about the relative skills shortage in Wales. Its a fact that other countries have skills and productivity that are higher – this stems partially from underfunding in education but thats another conversation! We need to ensure that the high level of youth unemployement in Wales attracts employeers who see the potential in Welsh youth. We will offer grants of up to £2000 to employeers who take on an unemployed person who is aged under 25 and has a training need. The employer will apply for this grant and we will ensure that the grant is for training that will benefit the Welsh economy. For example we wouldnt allow funding of courses in areas that are over subscribed or are not relevant to the area (gold mining!). This will ensure that companies are encouraged to help people get a foot hold on a career AND it helps them!

As liberal democrats we are not going to have a top down approach to which courses we are going to fund. Quite frankly we are not all experts in the next big business field and it would be arrogant to think so, therefore we will be open minded to what companies want to use the grant for. This training can be in whatever form the companies want – assuming it passes our earlier criteria – if they want it to be academic, masters based, PHD etc that is fine if it brings prosperity, if they want it to be an accredited courses from a further education college again that is fine as well.

If there is an over demand for this scheme (which we expect as it is a good scheme for individuals, companies AND Wales) we will focus it on small businesses as they are often times the groups that need the leg up – larger companies can swallow the cost themselves. This grant is good for youth unemployment and it will ensure that people have a chance at becoming whatever they want to be in a vibrant Welsh economy.

Welsh Stock Exchange/Jobs and Growth Innovation Programme

We will ensure that businesses in Wales have the access to capital that unfortunately isnt always there from banks. The Welsh Stock Exchange will ensure that small businesses become growing businesses which ultimately become HIRING businesses. This is a long term plan and will ensure that we are helping people start their careers for years to come.

We will also establish a Jobs and Growth Innovation Fund (worth £20m a year) that will have specific remit to fund new and modern tech and invest in new programmes that will make sure that modern business have infrastructure and facilites to create jobs in Wales. This money can be used to fund research for green industries (which make no doubt IS the next multi billion £ sector), aerospace firms like Airbus in Broughton or to help build infrastructure and skills in new and growing areas. Finally the Welsh Lib Dems will encourage this money to be used for smaller businesses to get business mentoring to help them grow and become the next companies to provide us with Dragons on Dragons Den or to allow universities to develop intellectual property which means that Wales can increase the number of patents we have based here – again bringing money into Wales which will ensure that jobs are available for people in Flintshire for years to come

Council Regeneration

Finally there will also be chances for Local Authorities to attract jobs to the local area. We believe that by giving councils new powers to regenerate areas through what they receive in business rates. This model is already being used in Scotland and is being looked at by England – We have been left behind with this and its a travesty. If we can encourage local authorities to fund business regeneration it will encourage jobs and will ensure that younger people neednt fear a live being unable to contribute.

Therefore in summary, we will invest in training our new work force to be the best it can be, we will provide the infrastructure for growth and we will encourage investment and regeneration to ensure jobs are there for people!

What initiatives will you put in place, if elected, to ensure affordable housing for young people?

Being a relatively new home owner I understand the position first time buyers are in. Asking for huge deposits whilst facing wage freezes and uncertain financial futures is tough. We want to change that. The price of houses is largely down to a supply and demand issue. There are simply not enough houses being built and we would like to increase the amount of construction and the renovation of empty properties to fulfil the need. Estimates say we will need over 250,000 new homes by 2026.

I will support the Welsh Liberal Democrat plan to bring empty properties back into use with the Wales-wide Empty Homes Programme. This will

• Give grants to owners of long term properties to renovate their property and bring it back into use. In exchange the owner will have to use the property as social housing for 10 years.
• Allow councils to charge additional council tax on empty properties. This compensates the community for the wasted house and provides an incentive for the owner to bring it back into use
• We will also make it easier for councils to return empty properties to use by streamlining the Empty Dwelling Management Orders. Basically making it easier to get houses back on the market which means supply will increase whilst demand decreases

We will help authorities and housing associations to borrow cash and to use grants to turn properties into homes to rent. This influx of housing will decrease demand for homes and will ensure prices come down. Welsh Lib Dems will also support first time buyers in Wales by offering 'shared equity schemes'. This will enable people to partly own their homes making home ownership cheaper and a more realistic possibility.

Our plan for a Community Bill of rights also has bearing on this issue – we want to hand more power over to communities with regards to planning law. This will mean being able to purchase a second home in another community will be more difficult. Tightening up this planning area will mean that local communities will be able to utilise the local housing for people in the area, this will increase the supply, lower the demand and mean that more people are able to get a foot on the ladder in Flintshire.

Welsh Liberal Democrats will bring more private money into the sector through the Welsh Housing Investment Trust.

WHIT would lever an additional £100 million of capital market investment to make the Social Housing Grant go further.

This new body would invest directly in property including property leased to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs).

It would enable us to overcome many of the barriers facing social housing in Wales by ensuring that funding was there to build, maintain and expand affordable housing in Wales.

Finally, this is linked to the wider economic question. We don't want people in Flintshire crippling themselves financially to afford mortgages. When we kickstart the economy we will ensure people have the security to make their payments, raise their living standards and be able to contribute to the wider economy by getting more skilled, better paid jobs!

So to summarise, there is a problem, not enough houses are available, we need to make them available by ensuring investment in areas in need of regeneration, filling empty properties, finding private sector money for the area of social housing and offering shared equity schemes for new owners.

What would you do to counter claims that we have a South Wales Assembly Government?

I wouldnt, however I would attempt to clarify where the blame for this lies. The buck stops with out elected representatives. Basically I think we need harder working AM's as quite frankly at the moment they are ineffective. Let me give you some facts about our level of representation in North Wales. This is not a witch hunt against any specific AM's. They can defend their own voting records on issues but its worth knowing how much of the cake we get in North Wales:

The WAG instigated an economic recovery program aimed at ALL of Wales. It was designed to help us get out of the economic rut we face. This Single Investment Fund and Economic Renewal Programme invested £48 million in Wales which sounds excellent but when we dig down. It equates to just over £10 per person in North Wales, compared to £24 to everyone in South Wales! If we dig deeper Wrexham, a massive industrial base not far from here got 0.68p, compared to Newport in the south (song) which got £70!!!

Not too long ago (2007) we had a furore when the Labour Plaid Government in Cardiff wanted to make all patients in Wales attend southern hospitals for Brain surgery – fairly complicated stuff! It was more important to send them to a Welsh hospital rather than 30 miles down the road to Liverpool! Thankfully there was a climb down from Labour who relented rather than send desperately sick people on a 400 mile round trip. Why wasnt a North Walian approach considered first?

In North Wales we are underfunded again with regard to arts and culture. The bottom 5 funded councils are all in the North and Flintshire is dead last! Flintshire is the home of Theatre Clwyd, one of the premier culture centres in the UK, never mind Wales and it comparitably less funding that South Wales? Is it the WAGs fault? It is the standard of representation, I would go for the latter!

Considering there is issues with north/south we would hope that transport links where a major concern of the WAG and specifically North Wales AM's however again we are not represented – this just underlines the question that raises as to whether we do have a Southern Assembly? There is a new high speed train that goes from Holyhead to Cardiff stopping in all North Wales constituencies – apart from the most populous (FLINTSHIRE!) Why do our AM's not do something about this? Arriva who run it say its a WAG issue and we have AM right here in Flintshire who are not standing up for us when vital services like this are being proposed? Indeed something else to consider is that in Wales there is a public transport planning committee which helps build up Welsh transport links – but ALL of the representatives are from south Wales!

What are our representatives doing!!!! Why is Flintshire and the north being overlooked?? Its not the Assemblies fault, its an institution. Its not the fault of South Wales AM's, quite frankly they are doing a great job and I would be proud to know my AM was working so hard for my constituency! We need to ask searching questions of our own representatives. Why does South Wales get so much? Is the fact that you consider yourselves to be safe seats mean u dont have to work hard for your constituencies or is it that they are out of their depths?

Policy Questions

Havent posted a blog in a while, have been so, so busy with work.  I have a new job and juggling this with the campaign has been hard - worthwhile - but hard!  Leafleting is going well and i am talking to dozens of voters every day.  Issues that are constantly cropping up included the AV referendum, both for and against, education and what Cardiff does for us.  Its nice to see that people are getting more and more engaged in the political process, hopefully im getting the chance to make people think a little differently!

The local paper, The Flintshire Chronicle, is running a very commendable set of articles in bringing politics home to the people of Flintshire.  They have asked the A&D and Delyn candidates from all parties a set of questions that will clarify party positions and give the readers the chance to hear from candidates.  This will continue in the run up to May 5th and this Thursday will be the first edition to print the answers!  Please see below and let me know what you think (there is a word limit of 200 if u think its brief:

If elected, what would you do to encourage more businesses to establish themselves in Flintshire, creating jobs and boosting the regional economy?

As a Welsh Liberal Democrat, I believe that getting Wales moving again economically should be one of the main aims of the Assembly Government. Under Labour, Wales has not fulfilled its potential. We are the least competitive nation in the UK, we have falling levels of business start ups and few internationally competitive businesses. We will change this by creating a Welsh stock exchange to allow capital to flow into fledgling Welsh businesses that cannot access it elsewhere. We must ensure that small businesses in Wales are encouraged to settle here by allowing the local councils to redevelop areas through business rates. This will drive regeneration of areas as well as creating jobs in them.

I also think it should be an aim of the next Assembly Government to reduce the bureaucratic red tape on small businesses so that they spend more time creating jobs for the people of Alyn & Deeside rather than jumping through hoops! Finally, I will campaign for setting up a Jobs and Growth Innovation Programme. This will help modernise the Welsh economy by establishing business mentoring schemes and will upgrade old manufacturing sites for new businesses in order to create jobs for Alyn & Deeside.

What will your party do to help young people in Flintshire get a foot on the housing ladder?

Being a relatively new home owner I understand the position first time buyers are in. Asking for huge deposits whilst facing wage freezes and uncertain financial futures is tough. We want to change that. The price of houses is largely down to a supply and demand issue. There are simply not enough houses being built and we would like to increase the amount of construction and the renovation of empty properties to fulfil the need. Estimates say we will need over 250,000 new homes by 2026. We will help authorities and housing associations to borrow cash and to use grants to turn properties into homes to rent. This influx of housing will decrease demand for homes and will ensure prices come down. Welsh Lib Dems will also support first time buyers in Wales by offering 'shared equity schemes'. This will enable people to partly own their homes making home ownership cheaper and a more realistic possibility.

Finally, this is linked to the wider economic question. We don't want people in Flintshire crippling themselves financially to afford mortgages. When we kickstart the economy we will ensure people have the security to make their payments, raise their living standards and be able to contribute to the wider economy by getting more skilled, better paid jobs!

What can be done to improve the standard of education in Flintshire and
Wales?

I feel that there are four things that we must do to improve the standard of education in Flintshire and Wales. Firstly, we need to ensure that teachers are given the correct training to ensure that they can deliver a first class service to our children. Secondly, we should reward the excellent teachers that we do have by extending pay flexibility so local education authorities can encourage higher standards from them. Thirdly, we need to reduce the curriculum in Wales. The Labour/Plaid coalition has made it mandatory for 6^th forms and colleges to offer at least 30 different subject courses. This has meant that local councils are forced to try and reorganise educational priorities which is not only expensive but means that schools may well focus on the quantities of courses over the quality! Finally, we need to close the massive funding gap that Labour have allowed on their watch. Welsh Liberal Democrats will introduce a Welsh pupil premium to target the most disadvantaged of our students with £2500 of extra funding - thats £3m extra in our area - to ensure that they are never left behind and will have the same opportunities as their cousins across the border in England.

Wales CAN do better!

With elections in Wales, Scotland and England looming, more than ever people are looking for answers to the severe questions that face our nation. These questions mainly revolve around the shocking state of the economy, and how our world has been turned upside down. It is far too easy to play party politics and heap people with blame for the mess. What we need to do as politicians and voters is question what we do now.

All of the politicians and parties want the same thing: a prosperous economy based on green credentials; a well-funded health service and a vibrant school system. How we get there is the difference! The Liberal Democrats are making massive changes in Westminster. We are a party that has 8% of MPs in the Commons but this has translated to 65% of our party's manifesto in the Coalition agreement! The shocking waste that is the Trident renewal has been postponed in this parliament; pensioners will have their retirement secure with the triple lock guarantee, and the most poor amongst us are being lifted out of income tax all together. We can and must choose our representatives based on what they can get done!

Liberal Democrat principles are at the heart of the national fightback. We need to ensure that in Wales we have similar values based on fairness in the Senedd. Only the Liberal Democrats will ensure that people who need social care are given control over how it will work for them. Only the Liberal Democrats will scrap the £8 million WASTE that is the airlink between Cardiff and Anglesey and only the Liberal Democrats will kick start the Welsh economy by establishing a Welsh stock exchange for the infusion of capital our businesses desperately need!

I hope that in May people vote for change in Wales.  As a nation we are NOT better off than we were 4 years ago.  In many ways we have stumbled and this has hindered our children and burdened our most vunerable citizens. In May lets make sure we change this!

Pete Williams

Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Welsh Assembly in Alyn & Deeside

National AV Referendum

A lot of people have approached me with regards to the AV referendum in May and what it means to them. I cannot overemphasise how important this referendum is to us all and how we can finally change a broken electoral system in the UK. The First Past the Post (FPTP) set up encourages a system of 'jobs for life' by allowing far too many MPs the luxury of a safe seat, secure in the knowledge that a minority of total votes will keep them in power. Under AV this will change – we will be able to demand that MPs sit up and work for their communities because if they don't, it will be far easier to replace them!

AV means that we get more choice. No longer would we have to pin our colours to one specific mast. Our politicians will have to work for all of us rather than 'special interest' groups. This can only be a good thing because it means that our local representative can only govern if the majority of people from a community support them! Under the present system we can end up with people making decisions for us whom most of us don't want.

It's important to note that AV is a simple, tried and tested system. It only requires that voters are able to count and it is used by many countries successfully. FPTP has left the United Kingdom with hung parliaments many times over the last century. AV doesn't fix this but it also doesn't make it any more likely. Australia, which uses AV, has returned its first hung parliament in 38 elections. Canada, which like the UK uses FPTP, has permanent hung parliaments. This shows that the 'No' campaign's charge of creating backroom politics is baseless. If we vote 'Yes' in this election, we will have more control over who we want to be in charge.

I hope that as a nation we can get behind the proposed changes. As a country we are moving away from the traditional two-party system as the last general election showed. The Liberal Democrats achieved 23% of the vote, the Greens achieved their first ever seat in Brighton and over 3 million people voted away from the traditional parties. We cannot disenfranchise this many people by supporting a system that keeps new voices silenced. AV is not proportional representation (which I think we do need), but it is a step in the right direction to making politics local, representative and accessible.

Pete Williams

Liberal Democrat Welsh Assembly Candidate for Alyn & Deeside

Why I got into politics

Recently I was asked why I got involved in politics. I am not a career politician, politics is not what defines me or pays my mortgage but it does affect me. I want to get involved because I cannot just accept the status quo. The issues that we face regarding the future of our economy are going to transcend the current generation. They will not be fixed after the end of the next parliament, nor will they go away if we ignore them. I want to be a part of the solution and I believe that how we prepare our children is the answer.

The under funding in Welsh education is an absolute travesty and it shocks me to my core that it isn’t an issue that is filling the papers. Under the Labour-Plaid coalition, the average Welsh student has £604 less invested in their education than their cousins across the border. Pupils in England are getting more money spent on them whilst Welsh teachers have more students to teach with less resources! The Welsh Conservative plans are even worse: cuts that have been proposed equate to nearly £130 million of the local education budget. This is a further £277 cut for each of our students! Our children in Wales are our future - they are going to grow the new economy and ensure that Wales is strong and stable for years to come. It is our sacred trust to ensure that they are well prepared for an increasing competitive and international jobs market. The Welsh Liberal Democrats want to introduce a Welsh pupil premium to follow our children from nursery to leaving school. This will target the most disadvantaged children to ensure that they have the right skills and are not left behind. I will proudly support the Welsh pupil premium and I hope you do too.

This is when I realised that my family are why I am involved in trying to change our society. I will not stand still whilst we seemingly accept second best for our future. Our children deserve the best start in life - this is the moral thing to do and more importantly it is the right thing to do. If we prepare our children for the future, they will create wealth, pay taxes and improve on the world that we leave them. This surely should be the mantra that all politicians follow and I am proud to say I will do my best to ensure people ask the challenging questions of the powers that be!

English Defence League

It was with a heavy heart that I read about the EDL protests in Shotton last week. The EDL are a single issue party who do not deserve the ink that is wasted on them. The proposed cultural centre in Shotton is potentially a good thing for the local community. It is NOT going to be used solely for Muslims, it will be open to people of all religions and for this the Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society should be given credit. I hope and pray that the people of Shotton are not taken in by the inflammortory rhetoric of the EDL, chants such as 'burn a poppy, burn a mosque' which were used and signs saying 'Stop the paedophile invasion of England' are not helpful and racist in their assumptions. There is nothing wrong with peaceful protest, in fact I welcome it if people feel aggrieved but shameful chants and bigotted banners have no place in civilised society.

If such behaviour wasnt so disgusting I would be amused by the fact that the irony is lost on the ENGLISH Defence League as they were actually in Wales.

Pete Williams

Lib Dem Welsh Assembly Candidate for Alyn & Deeside

Hello!

Well the last 2 months have been a roller coaster ride, since putting my name forward for consideration as a candidate I have been frantically reading emails, attending meetings and planning how the campaign will run.  Its now official, I was so proud to be nominated by the Flintshire Liberal Democrats last night and I hope I don't let people down.

The job of representing people at any level of government is a huge responsibility.  We are striving to be elected so we can serve the people and in that capacity we must hold ourselves to a higher standard.  I believe that people are disillusioned with politics, many people don't know who their representative is at any level or what these people do!  The politicians who are well know tend to be national figures who are far removed from what goes in Wales, never mind what goes on in Alyn and Deeside.  The other type of politician can be considered more infamous that ‘famous’, the recent by-election in Oldham highlights this - the fact that a sitting MP can use untruths to solidify his power base, and that members of all parties were implicated in the expenses scandal is a stark warning about how politics get its reputation.  I aim to change this, I want people to know me and to challenge me on local and Welsh issues.  If I cannot hear your concerns then we cannot move forward together, my email account is awaiting questions and when I knock on your door I want to speak to people!

I believe that the honour of nomination and hopefully representation puts a burden on myself to do what i think is right, however its a burden I welcome and embrace.  I am in this for Alyn and Deeside, and the pledge I make to the constituents is that all of my campaign will be honest and true.  Its a privilege to stand and I hope I get to meet all of you and to address your concerns.

Thanks

Pete Williams
Welsh Liberal Democrat Prospective Assembly Candidate for Alyn & Deeside

Wel, mae'r ddau fis diwethaf wedi bod yn daith gynhyrfus ar y naw!  Ers cynnig fy hun fel ymgeisydd  ar eich rhan, rwyf wedi bod yn frysur  ateb e- byst, mynychu cyfarfodydd, a cheisio cynllunio natur fy ymgyrch. Bellach, mae'n swyddogol - rwyf yn hynod falch fy mod neithiwr wedi fy enwebu  fel cynrychiolydd y Democratiaid Rhyddrydol ar gyfer Sir y Fflint, ac hyderaf gallaf wneud fy ngorau ar eich rhan.

 

Mae cynrychioli'r cyhoedd  ar unrhyw lefel o fewn y llywodraeth yn anferth o gyfrifoldeb. Rydym yn ymgyrchu ac ymdrechu i wasanaethu'r cyhoedd, felly rhaid wastad anelu yn uchel. Credaf bod llawer o fobl wedi siomi â byd llywodraeth. Nid llawer s'yn adnabod eu cynrychiolwyr (ar unthyw lefel), heb son am ddeall am y gwaith a wnant drostynt! Tuedda'r gwleidyddion adnabyddus fod yn wynebau cyfarwydd cenedlaethol sy'n bell o'r hyn sy'n digwydd yng Nghymru...heb son am wybod am Alun a Glannau Dyfrdwy.

Y math arall o wleidydd yw'r hwn sydd yn enwog am resymau gwahanol; amlygwyd hyn yn yr is-etholiad diweddar yn Oldham - yno, cawsom rybudd clir am mor hawdd bardduir enw gwleidyddiaeth; gall gwleidydd ddefnyddio anwiredd fel sail i'w gais, ynghyd a'r ffaith bod goblygiadau ar ran aelodau'r amrywiol bleidiau parthed y sgandal gwariant. Fy mwriad yw gwrthdroi hyn. Rwyf eisiau i bobl fy adnabod a dangos parodrwydd i'm herio ar faterion lleol a Chymreig.  Oni glywaf eich pryderon, yna ni allem symud ymlaen gyda'n gilydd. Mae fy e -bost yn barod i dderbyn eich sylwadau, ac edrychaf ymlaen i siarad wyneb yn wyneb ar eich trothwy!

 

Credaf bod y fraint o enwebiad ac efallai maes o law cynrychiolaeth, yn enfawr  o gyfrifoldeb arnaf i wneud yr hyn credaf sydd yn 'iawn'. Fodd bynnag, mae'n gyfrifodeb rwy'n ei groesau â breichiau agored. Rhoddaf fy ngair i chi fy mod yn gwneud hyn oll er budd Alun a Glannau Dyfrdwy, a bydd fy ymgyrch yn un gonest a gwir.  Braint yw derbyn enwebiad, ac edrychaf ymlaen i gwrdd â chi oll ac mynd i'r afael a'ch pryderon. 

 

Diolch.