There is a big fuss over the expenses claimed now by civil servants in Wales International, all of which we are assured have been carefully scrutinised.To me much more of a concern is the following that was raised with me this week by a concerned reader of this blog
Since the Welsh rail franchise was devolved to WAG, there has been disarray.people taken on initially to monitor and run the franchise, all recruited from private sector rail and engaged at higher rates than those paid to civil servants - have left within 18 months of taking up their posts.
Apparently all posts have been re- advertised and are yet to be filled.
The Head of Rail is now filled on a consultancy basis at £1k a day for a 4 day week, another consultant on similar money also starting shortly.I do not have any information on what this persons background is.
Also worth noting is that the retiring Head of Transport is also allegedly being brought back as a consultant as soon as he has retired.That is something to watch for.
There are several issues here, including some serious HR ones. I think there needs to be some questions asked of the transport minister and also some further digging to be done to find out why such a vital service is in such a mess.
Where does this fit with the Transport Strategy that came out this week.
How up to speed are the other so called transport experts?
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Welsh people have a right to feel perplexed with headlines like "CREDIT card bills totaling more than £700,000 in a year have been run up by Assembly Government officials working abroad". According to the press, the New York office of International Business Wales (IBW) has racked up "£253,114.73 on credit cards between June 2008 and May 2009" suggesting a "superstar lifestyle".
But what’s the truth behind such headlines?
A few weeks ago I was invited by IBW to attend a biotechnology event in Rosslyn, part of Arlington (just across the river from Washington, DC). At that event were several Welsh hi-tech business owners and high fliers invited from the American biotech community including a Deputy Director of NIH (National Health Institute); NIH has billions of dollars to spend on developing new health care treatments, and NIH is no blushing bride, NIH is hard noised, they file hundreds of patents on discoveries and Wales would benefit immeasurably from increased collaboration with NIH; universities in Wales would get first hand experience of the culture at the NIH, a US government financed agency, which conducts research hand in hand with intellectual property protection to generate jobs and new biotech spin-outs.
Also at that meeting were speakers from Wales including a wonderful speaker from the Institute of Life Science (ILS) at Swansea University, which as the speaker explained to the Americans present, houses one of the world’s fastest supercomputers devoted to health care research; the speaker explained how Swansea University is collaborating with Boots, the chemist retail chain, to boost product development and explained how ILS was open to American investors and government sponsored collaborators like NIH to work with Swansea’s ILS to generate the next generation of health care devices and treatments.
I was invited to help explain, for example, the critical importance of filing patent “continuations” prior to the issue of their parent patent application(s) – a key facet of the American patent system that is rarely understood or appreciated by Welsh biotech start-ups. I also explained to a couple of Welsh start-ups how F2F meetings with American patent Examiners can be used to help them get to a quicker final decision on the merits on their US filings. So this was not just a cordial social event, but a meeting to help Welsh businesses in furthering their business aims in the United States.
If there is anyone at IBW engaged in personal enrichment at the expense of the taxpayer, then by all means discipline or if necessary fire that person, but let’s not jump to conclusions absent hard evidence, and certainly we should avoid undermining the moral of the IBW team who are working very hard to bring investment and job creation opportunities to Wales.
The silence is deafening, no one from any party willing to comment or do anything.
If its about nothing of substance or esoteric then the wee Welsh Bloggies pile in.This is serious why no outrage or no action?
may be they all have cars
Can you be more specific - outrage at Kirsty Williams for damaging Wales by making wild allegations about International Business Wales during a recession when IBW are bending over backwards and working VERY HARD to bring inward investment and job creation opportunities to Wales? Or outrage in the opposite direction?
I can only speak to the IBW operation in the USA - I can vouch 100% for their dedication and extreme hard work. What they do is brilliant on their budget. Yes, there office in the heart of New York City - well, the greatest concentration of investment firms and infra-structure is in the heart of NYC on the east coast of America. It would be better if they had more than one office so that they are not burnt out travelling across the USA, but their budget is what it is and they don’t have offices in Chicago (Midwest) or in SF or LA (west coast).
As to air fares - the United States of America is HUGE and covers several time zones. There is no way IBW staff can drive across the USA to meet with people - it would take them days to get there, and they would lose lots of time.
Yes, they are going to meet with prospective investors in their own environment - how would it look to a prospective investor if they are invited to lunch at IHOP? (International House of Pancakes). The people IBW sale Wales too are at the top of their profession - the executives who can make decisions. IHOP isn't going to cut it.
How this is equated with "high living" beats me - flying in the USA is not 'high living' - it is VERY STRESSFUL. Sleeping away from home in a strange bed is hardly 'high living'. Selling is in itself stressful. IBW staff work incredibly hard to meet with industrial leaders and prospective investors to bring investment and job creation opportunities to Wales.
Without any solid evidence of malpractice the 'leader' of the Welsh Lib Dems has hurt Wales, and has done so in the middle of a recession. If there is anyone in IBW who has engaged in personal enrichment through the illicit use of a credit card - then fine, discipline that person, but there is NO EVIDENCE of such acts - just Ms. Williams claims that IBW staff are living the ‘high life’.
These people are worth their weight in gold. Wales needs them. These are people from private industry who have taken pay cuts to work at IBW - why? Because the guy who heads them up BELIEVES IN WALES. He is totally focused on using his team of workers to bring inward investment to Wales. He wants jobs for Welsh families, he wants it so hard you can see it in his words and actions. I know, because I have met the guy and his team - these are wonderful hard working ladies and gentlemen - they are willing to put themselves through hell and back to sell Wales. These are the very people Wales needs to rebuild its economy.
It's unbelievable that a leader of a Welsh political party, to score cheap political points, would undermine this team's VITAL work based on nothing of substance.
I would like to see Kirsty Williams sell Wales to high end prospective investors at an IHOP in the middle of Iowa, Alaska, North Dakota - IBW need to be in the heart of the American economy, they really need offices in Chicago and on the west coast, but their budget doesn't stretch that far, so they have to operate out of one office and put up with long haul flights, times spent away from their families, and the stress of dealing with living away from home. I know one of them recently lost a loved one, and was not able to fly back in time to hold their hand before they passed away. Kirsty Williams should hold her head down in shame. These are hard working professionals, not hogs living the high life.
well done for bringing this to light, it does need to be looked in to by the Opposition parties at the very least, especially in light of Ieuan Wyn Jones transport plan announced today where improved rail service were a sizeable part of the proposal.
The sad thing is that after this week our AM's are on their summer break until September, Rail Travel could well not end at the bottom of the pile again in the Autumn.
I think the issue (that CW maybe missing) concerning the "Macysgate" was using taxpounds (to coin a phrase) for personal use. Put it this way if cabinet ministers travel coach, why are civil servants traveling first class? especially when Welsh hospitals are in such a state, and our kids are educated in dilapidated schools, that would outrage most people. The answer could be what has the IBW done for Wales? How much has it benefited Wales directly.
However this post concerns transport. I would like to know what the WAG is doing about the expensive train travel? and the crazy situation with the buses?
Is it fair to limit the IBW guys to economy class when they are have to travel huge distances across the USA given the fact they only have one office on the east coast to cover the whole of the USA?
What about airliners that have just economy and no business class, and only first class. A return flight from their NYC (east coast) to the west coast is a long haul flight - then they are expected to be bushy tailed and meet with and sell Wales to a group of business leaders.
It would be a false economy to force IBW staff to fly economy class, they would arrive feeling cramped - also, it is pretty hard working a laptop in economy - much easier in business class (if available) and if business class is not available then "first class" which might be called that by the airline but might be priced as 'business class' thus equating that 'first class' with business class.
The office budget doesn't stretch to anything more than one office - I would suggest it is a false economy forcing IBW staff to cover the USA from one office on the east coast, but the allocated office budget is what it is, and IBW staff are obliged to travel very long distances and be away from home far more often than if they had IBW staff in say: Chicago (to cover the Midwest) and SF or LA (to cover the west coast).
As it is IBW staff have to cover the entire USA from one office on the east coast.
Frankly, IBW staff do an excellent job covering the whole USA from a single office on the east coast.
Perhaps my fellow Brits don't fully understand that the USA is a huge country with three time zones (plus two others if you go outside the continental USA (Hawaii, Alaska).
I don't know if their single office on the east coast is also expected to cover Canada - another huge country.
What do you want? Them to arrive with crouched knees and needing more time to recover. Personally it takes me several days to recover from flying across the USA in economy class, I have to get stand up for most of the flight to avoid getting cramp from so many hours sitting in a tight seat.
Standing up on airliners in the USA is not exactly liked by the crew or fellow passengers.
And there is a much deeper issue here - Wales needs these guys to work at 110% for Wales - to sell Wales. Kirsty Williams could have raised any issues she had without attacking the IBW staff - these are not faceless civil servants, but family men and women who are expected to work unsocial hours over very long distances.
Unbelieveable and enough to make you weep! When are appointing bodies going to realise they need to appoint people who know something about the job?
a lot of the comments here are psoitive about IBW and they do good work of that there is no doubt.
The USA has a number of offices still, but how about markets that are more importnat to Wales -have we an office in Germany-no despie it being more importnat in terms of both investment and trade, France - no, Italy, no, a scandinavian Hub?no, a benlux hub......we should be asking what is the basis for such resource in the states? the stats suggest markets such as France and Germany, Italy and Spain,are being undersold compared with the US. Lets get some evidence behind our trade policies.
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