Christmas arrives early with Gimmick Government

Hundreds of 10 and 11-year-olds in some of Wales’ poorest areas will be first to benefit from a new scheme to provide free laptop computers to children, it was announced today.

The pilot project, which will cost £700,000 over the next two years, will initially see 1,200 school children in Communities First and Flying Start areas receiving the machines.

Conservatives have denounced the Assembly Government move as an expensive gimmick.

The scheme was a key pledge in the Labour-Plaid Cymru coalition One Wales pact, with Labour Education Minister Leighton Andrews saying computers are now as essential as books and pens.

Plaid made the provision of a laptop for all 11-year-olds a central plank of its 2007 Assembly manifesto in which the party claimed: “The laptop is today’s equivalent of the pencil.”

The Assembly Government will provide £300,000 in 2009-10 and £400,000 in 2010-11.
Laptops funded through the pilot will belong to the school or local education authority but it is expected children will have the opportunity to use these for learning at home or in community buildings such as public libraries.

Children who receive laptops – plus their parents or carers – will be asked to sign guidance on “safe and appropriate” use of the internet.

The Welsh Language Board has agreed to provide free software for installation on the laptops.

Mr Andrews, launching the scheme in Newport today, said:

The Welsh Assembly Government made a commitment through the One Wales [coalition pact] to pilot the provision of laptops for children.

Computers have become as essential a part of school life as books, pens and paper. Having access to computers provides clear educational benefits such as offering pupils more creative learning experiences and giving them the opportunity to do projects and research on the internet.

A priority is to ensure that children from Wales’ poorest neighbourhoods gain experience with computer technology.

Rhondda AM Mr Andrews said:

A key element of the laptop pilot is to support digital inclusion. Research has shown that if you live in more deprived areas, you are more likely to be digitally excluded.

This is why the pilot is being carried out in schools within Communities First and Flying Start areas. Schools should therefore have arrangements for ensuring that the children receiving laptops are those most likely to benefit.

The project’s proposals offer innovative ways of using laptops to encourage children to engage in learning. They should also help pupils to improve their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills. I look forward to hearing the views of teachers, pupils and parents in the participating schools as the pilot progresses.

The Assembly Government will provide £25,000 of funding for staff training and evaluation.

Shadow Heritage Minister Paul Davies was not impressed:

This expensive and ill-advised scheme makes even less sense in this tough financial climate, particularly given that the gap in average spend per pupil between Wales and England has risen to £527.

This money could have been used elsewhere within the education system.

Yet again, the Welsh Assembly Government has failed to recognise the real priorities for education in Wales. Our schools need adequate funding not more gimmicks.

Philip Dixon, of education union ATL, gave an enthusiastic welcome to the announcement.

He said: “It’s an educational double-whammy. It’s improving children’s skills and tackling deprivation.

“They have to have those skills if they are going to survive in life and we know unfortunately in deprived areas the take-up of broadband and IT is much more limited.”

Plaid education spokeswoman Nerys Evans welcomed the funding:

In today’s world, many children are familiar with using the latest technology and new media. Integrating that into the way they learn from an early age is a natural step that can have a range of advantages for them.

Making this technology available in our schools is one way of ensuring that those who may not have the opportunity to use a computer at home do not lose out as a result. At a time when money is extremely tight, we have to look at using public funds in the most cost effective way. So looking at innovations such as the use of laptops in schools is an important step forward.

Thought of the Moment... Carwynista

A Changing Wales, and at a Faster Pace?

Not only is Wikipedia showing that Welsh Labour leader and First Minister designate Carwyn Jones is a Rt Hon, and before even becoming First Minister, but I also discover that the Welsh media is abundant with absent script, short sentenced 'new' Welsh speaking AMs who have taken the opportunity to step out into the sunshine for the first time since Autumn has ended and Winter has begun.

Please form an orderly queue before a warm Winter chat and confirmation on the FM's balcony.

Looking back, what surprises me? A large and more than generous donation to the campaign. How desperate can one person be? Surprise? On second thought, no!

Playing the Regeneration Game

Rhondda AM Leighton Andrews has ruled himself out as a contender to replace First Minister Rhodri Morgan as leader of Welsh Labour. The rest of us did that a year last September.

Hurry up and take the photograph David, because now we're on our own.

The Editorial Policy of Leighton Andrews AM

The blog of Leighton Andrews AM - holding up the fine tradition of blogging Ministers:

Editorial Policy
This blog does not publish anonymous comments, unless they are really witty and I like them. If you have something to say, then have the courage of your convictions and use your name or an identifiable alias. Even then I reserve the right not to publish comments that are malicious, defamatory, stupid, pointlessly cynical or boring.

There are very few [no] comments on the 'Look at Me' blog of Leighton Andrews AM, and that's only if you include the posts on Cardiff City FC. Senedd Whip demands to have him removed from the No. 33 spot on Iain Dale's list of Top-40 Welsh Blogs. Partly for its pointless use of space on the web, and mainly for being the definitive boring political blog.

Poor Policies on Poverty

The impact of government policy in reducing poverty in Wales in the past 12 years has been “at best marginal”, a leading anti-poverty adviser has claimed.

In an essay entitled Still Living on the Edge? published in the University of Wales Press academic series Contemporary Wales, Prof Dave Adamson, who helped shape the Welsh Assembly Government’s Communities First initiative, claims:

1. There has been little change in poverty levels in many communities since 1996;
2. Many adults in deprived areas expect to be limited by illness and this illness is not always due to industrial disease;
3. Educational failure is the foundation of poverty in Wales, and;
4. It was difficult to see any specific impact from WAG policies on poverty.

Prof Adamson, of the University of Glamorgan, has also cast doubts on whether the Communities First programme – which has spent millions on seeking to regenerate Wales’ poorest communities – could achieve its stated aims.

In an update to his groundbreaking 1996 essay Living on the Edge, Prof Adamson says:

Specific localities still bear the hallmarks of deep poverty, and the impact of government policy is at best marginal. For the residents of those communities there has been little change since 1996 and they can be seen very clearly to be still ‘living on the edge’.

In reference to statistics which suggest that 25% of the population in Wales at any one time will have failed to achieve five GSCEs, and will continue to fail to benefit from adult educational opportunities, Prof Adamson says:

This educational failure is the foundation of poverty in Wales and relegates a significant proportion of the population to labour market failure and consequent patterns of low income, unemployment and benefit dependency.

The geographical concentration of this population in the most disadvantaged localities in Wales presents an almost insurmountable barrier to the regeneration of our poorest communities.

On the disproportionate health problems of certain Welsh communities, Prof Adamson says:

Contrary to stereotypical expectations, these statistics are not solely the result of injury and industrial disease inherited from coal mining, steel production and heavy manufacturing. Limiting long-term illness is evident in all age groups at higher rates than elsewhere in the UK. Communities First areas I have had first hand experience of include Maerdy (62.2% with long term limiting illness), Penygraig (57.5%), Penywaun (60.8%) and Treherbert (57.9%).

Health aspiration is extremely low and local populations expect adulthood to include illness as a feature of life. Many young people carry caring responsibilities from an early age, with devastating impact on their educational achievement and their own health expectations.

To sit in a public event in such communities is to observe community members in their 30s and 40s with severe mobility problems, respiratory difficulties, obesity, visible dental damage and no expectation that things could be different. The overall impact on the quality of life is immeasurable.

In his analysis of anti-poverty initiatives undertaken by the Assembly Government, Prof Adamson states:

Despite considerable rhetoric to the contrary, Government in Wales has not yet created a more unified and ‘joined up’ approach to poverty which recognises the articulation of education, health and housing within the overall dynamic of poverty.

Responding to UK and Assembly Government aims to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020, Prof Adamson writes:

Clearly any assessment of progress toward that objective is premature and the 2010 review will be a critical verdict on WAG’s progress towards the 2020 target. It is difficult yet to see any specific impact from WAG derived policies.

On the impact of Communities First, Prof Adamson refers to criticisms made by the Wales Audit Office, which concluded that regeneration policy was over-complicated and had poor strategic links with other policy and funding streams, including Objective One.

Currently, it is clear that whilst many communities have responded with remarkable speed and confidence, this has neither been matched by Assembly Government funding or mainstream programme bending to assist them achieve regeneration of their communities.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said last night that there were no quick fixes to a poverty legacy that stretched back decades:

We are making good progress in tackling poverty and disadvantage across Wales. Child poverty in Wales has declined from 35% to 29% since 1998-99, a steeper decline than the UK average.

However it remains unacceptable that more than a quarter of our children remain in poverty in the 21st century. We acknowledge that education has a tremendous potential to tackle poverty. It is for this reason WAG is implementing innovative programmes like Flying Start and the Foundation Phase in Wales. Communities First Partnerships across Wales are at the heart of regeneration projects in their communities. However they must not be seen as part of an isolated regeneration programme. They complement the considerable work that is going on elsewhere.

We accept that the rate of progress has varied between Communities First areas. This is not surprising as different communities have differing levels of disadvantage and have had varying levels of support over the years to address it.

Comment of the Week

Reviewing the comments on this blog I came across this piece of public relations:

I have to say, all these attacks on Leighton seem to be driven by jealousy. He is a highly effective and popular local AM who, unlike most of them, also happens to attract half-decent staff who happen to know their arse from their elbow.

Its no coincidence that Huw Lewis and Leighton Andrews have the best researchers in the Labour group. They are talented and exciting politicians who allow their staff the freedom to work on their own initiative so they always attract the most talented, loyal and long-serving helpers.

Carwyn's office, on the other hand...

It seems the role of political researcher is one to promote the leadership of their particular Assembly Member before Rhodri Morgan stands down. Hmm... if I'm a researcher and work for him while he's an AM/Deputy Minister, I wonder what my job description will be when he's Labour Leader/First Minister...

Leighton jumping ship... again!

Matt Withers from 'Wales on Sunday' in a new post on his blog, 'All aboard the Miliband Express' speculates on

... the growing number of Labourites, seeing the way the prevailing wind is blowing, are being lured by the fresh face, boyish charms and fighting talk of Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Rhodri Morgan thinks any kind of leadership bid would be "suicide". But at least one of his Labour ministers is keen to be intellectually linked to the man known as 'Brains'. Here's a press release sent out by Deputy Regeneration Minister Leighton Andrews today:

LABOUR Minister Leighton Andrews [MW: an outside, outside contender for leader of Welsh Labour] says that that genuine community empowerment must be at the heart of the next phase of devolution.

The Rhondda AM, who co-ordinated the successful Yes for Wales campaign in 1997 will speak of the need for "double devolution" - echoing a phrase first used by Foreign Secretary David Miliband in his role as Environment Secretary in February 2006.

Speaking during a Community Housing Cymru debate at the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff, Mr Andrews will say:"It is not just about transferring law-making powers from Westminster to the Assembly - we should be championing the transfer of more power to our communities as well. Double devolution, in other words."

Gosh - and this from the man who once wrote: "The success of Gordon Brown as the new Prime Minister provides a strong lesson for Welsh Labour on how to renew itself in office seamlessly. We must ensure that we build on the platform that Gordon Brown has built for us."

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or even loose endorsement in this case. If you can switch from one political party to another in order to suit your needs and political outlook, why not from one leader to another within one party?

A turning point in the blogosphere...

I have to agree with Ordovicius in that it's good to see Deputy Minister Leighton Andrews AM having something to blog about for a change...

I see Leighton Andrews is continuing his one-blog protest against the Assembly Commission. Well, at least it has given him something to blog about for a change.

Keep it up Leighton, but please feel free to compulsory blog about Cardiff City FC on Sunday morning - there's only so much others can do on your behalf ;)

Is Leighton Andrews Committed to the Coalition?

Assembly Government insiders are suggesting that members of First Minister Rhodri Morgan’s team are trying to undermine Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones.

On the one hand the Plaid Cymru leader’s diary is being overloaded with engagements, so he is left with no time to think.

Another is that Deputy Regeneration Minister Leighton Andrews, the Labour AM for Rhondda, is letting it be known that although his responsibilities come within Mr Jones’ Economy and Transport portfolio, he does not regard the Plaid leader as his line manager.

Instead, Mr Andrews is said to be insisting on a direct reporting line to the First Minister. The allegations, which are strongly denied by the Assembly Government, come in the wake of tensions between Labour and Plaid over when a “Yes” campaign for the next devolution referendum should be set up.

A political source, who did not wish to be identified, told the Western Mail:

Some members of the Civil Service believe that Ieuan Wyn Jones is being deliberately overloaded with diary engagements. There are days when he is working from 8am until 10pm. According to what is being said, the intention is to tie him down so much that he does not have time to think... As Deputy Regeneration Minister, Leighton Andrews is within Ieuan Wyn Jones’ Department of Economy and Transport. Yet civil servants say Leighton is making it clear that Ieuan is not his line manager, but that so far as he is concerned he reports directly to the First Minister... It seems there could be a subtle game going on, with an attempt to make sure Ieuan gets bogged down in a top-heavy schedule of engagements while having little time to reflect.

The crucial time will come with next year’s Welsh Labour leadership election to choose a successor to Mr Morgan, and whether Leighton Andrews sees himself moving from this father-son, master-pupil relationship into a possible contender [wishful thinking in the opinion of the eligible] for the role.

In the immediate aftermath of last year’s election, Mr Andrews was opposed to a deal between Labour and Plaid, although he later became converted to the coalition when it appeared to be the only option.

Welsh Tory Assembly leader Nick Bourne said, “It is clear there are tensions and differences between the two parties below the surface. But if these allegations are true, it would be absolutely extraordinary. “Leighton Andrews should be prepared to put the record straight and make it clear that he is fully committed to the coalition agreement.”

A spokesperson for Mr Jones said:

The Deputy First Minister and his private office are solely responsible for his ministerial diary and there is absolutely no involvement from either the First Minister’s office or from anywhere else in relation to his departmental responsibilities... It is the case that Ieuan’s diary is very full and that he is busy, but that has been of his own choosing because he wants to be a minister who is seen out and about, travelling the length and breadth of Wales rather than stuck behind a desk in Cardiff... As a deputy minister within the Department for the Economy and Transport, Leighton Andrews reports on a regular basis to Ieuan and keeps him fully appraised of all activities in the regeneration portfolio.

Nothing has changed. Remember this from Miss Wagstaff?

AM Bloggers: A Remedy

Glyn Davies and Peter Black AM have recently aired their views on the Assembly's guidance to Assembly Members blogging.

Glyn Davies lets us know what his close friend Edna thinks of it all - I hope he's paying her phone bill for all these tit-bits he's being offered.

As the most active of current Assembly bloggers, Peter Black speaks from the gallows that Jeffrey Cuthbert has built:

Reading through the note it was difficult not to feel that they were protesting just a little bit too much. In the second paragraph they assert: 'From the outset, we would like to stress that we do not intend to suggest that the use of Blogs by Members be prohibited in any way.' Just four paragraphs later they tell us again: 'Members should not be discouraged from using Blogs – this note is simply trying to make members aware of the potential hazards of using the sites inappropriately.' All-in-all one could not help but get the impression that what they are really saying is that: 'We don't like blogs and we dislike bloggers even more, however we cannot do anything to stop you. If you must persist with this odious activity then watch out, because we are going to get you. 'So much for openness, transparency and the use of new technology.

N.B. Assembly Members that blog could carry on as usual or heed to the advice of the Standards' Committee. There is a third way - playing it safe like this man.

AM:PM Awards 2007 - The Winners

The annual AM.PM Award winners have been announced today in the Senedd, and it looks like they didn't pay attention to my suggestion for categories this year.

The winners this year are:

• Politician of the Year

Ieuan Wyn Jones AM (Ynys Mon), Plaid Cymru Assembly Leader and Deputy First Minister

• Newcomer of the Year

Alun Davies AM (Mid and West Wales - Labour)

• Communicator of the Year

Adam Price MP (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr - Plaid Cymru)

• Campaigner of the Year

Chris Bryant MP (Rhondda - Labour) and Leighton Andrews AM (Rhondda - Labour)

• Most Outspoken

Don Touhig MP (Islwyn - Labour)

My favourite quote from the winners came from Adam Price MP who incidentally still hasn't accepted my friendship request on Facebook. During his acceptance speech he classed himself as the creator of a government. Once the BBC reporter asked if blogging etc is merely a way to become a self publicist, a minute later he changed from creator, to his contribution being of a "small role" - Priceless.

Talking of Facebook, it was nice to see so many 'Facebook friends' trying to get themselves on the tele when Ieuan Wyn Jones was making his acceptance speech. Shameful (lol).