I reproduce the letter here with no further comment as I believe it is self-explanatory.
SIR – It was extremely interesting yet quite alarming to read the Welsh Assembly Government’s response to the Federation of Small Businesses’ call for more detail on transport spending priorities (“Small businesses blast WAG over roads-upgrade funding”, August 16).
The first alarming point was their assertion that we called on WAG to double the transport budget, which was a rather pathetic attempt at throwing a red herring. The quote “we need to double the current level of investment in road infrastructure just to match the spending of our European competitors in France and Germany” is clearly an indication of the scale of the issue, not an actual proposal.
Of course, in the absence of any detail to quote on what they are actually going to do, it is far easier to pick up on something else and turn that into an issue. But I’m afraid that all it has done is made them look idiotic.
The second point, however, is far more alarming. To say that we were consulted on the Economic Renewal Programme and therefore have no right to criticise any of its recommendations is breathtakingly arrogant.
The whole process has hardly been the model of engagement espoused by the Welsh Assembly Government. For example, the consultation document did not ask for specific policy questions regarding the reorganisation of the Department of Economy and Transport, and the resulting document “answered” questions that were simply not asked in the consultation process.
The ERP as it stands now should be going out to consultation, yet there is no formal way to respond, and no period of consultation. Such major change, such as scrapping Flexible Support for Business (FS4B), International Business Wales and the Single Investment Fund, should go out to consultation.
And where was the consultation when choosing the business sectors to focus on? This work was undertaken by the Ministerial Advisory Group, which appeared to work in a silo away from stakeholders. Where was the engagement with the wider business community when choosing the sectors which will benefit from the ERP?
So, against the background of all this scrapping of business structures in Wales, that we should have the very audacity to ask where the money will be focused in future is something the Welsh Assembly Government might, one would think, be prepared for. But it appears not.
Instead it gropes around for immature deflection techniques to straightforward propositions. And that is quite alarming.
JANET JONES
Chair, FSB Wales
