Browse content similar to 05/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Later in the programme: Det Tomorrow is deadline day for the | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
peacocks. What other hopes for its future and that of the Welsh | :01:32. | :01:42. | |
:01:42. | :01:42. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1755 seconds | :01:42. | :30:57. | |
Hello, I AM Aled ap Dafydd and on the Sunday Politics and Wales we | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
will discuss the future for Peacocks as the deadline runs to | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
make a bid for the troubled retailer. | :31:05. | :31:10. | |
Do private developers get away Wishaw changing our local a 30s? We | :31:10. | :31:15. | |
will have a special report. Sitting comfortably, ready to react | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
other Conservative MP Alun Cairns and the Liberal Democrat Assembly | :31:19. | :31:26. | |
Member Eluned Parrott. You sign this letter, do you | :31:26. | :31:33. | |
realise this is a valuable industry in Wales? My scepticism about when | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
the industry has been on the record for a long time. I think it is | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
inefficient, expensive and drive some peoples energy bills. That is | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
what we should focus on. Some subsidies like those for wind | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
turbines should be cut because we are in hard Financial Times, would | :31:51. | :31:56. | |
you cut it? I wouldn't at the moment. We need to reach around the | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
UK that we have a good energy mix and that means stable, secure | :32:00. | :32:06. | |
supplies. We need different means of generating electricity to | :32:06. | :32:13. | |
achieve that. So to pull the rug out a -- of one particular energy | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
has run at the moment. There is more discussion to come. But what | :32:17. | :32:23. | |
next for a Peacocks? And will political intervention kick-start | :32:23. | :32:29. | |
the Welsh economy? Tomorrow is the deadline for anyone | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
interested in making a bid for the retailer which is currently in the | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
hands and the administrator. Our business correspondent, Nick | :32:36. | :32:40. | |
Servini, has a looking at the story that has taken Peacocks from the | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
high street to the headlines and a very challenging economic climate. | :32:45. | :32:48. | |
Shop staff leave the company to like not knowing if they have a job | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
tomorrow. It is one of our biggest companies. | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
Now talks have broken down with its lenders. We found out in the | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
morning who has got their jobs. is sad. We come back tomorrow and | :33:00. | :33:08. | |
then we leave the company. final deadline for bids for | :33:08. | :33:13. | |
Peacocks is on Monday and it will not just affect the 250 people that | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
work at the Cardiff headquarters, but those who work in the retail | :33:17. | :33:22. | |
outlets in just about every major high street in the UK. This was | :33:22. | :33:31. | |
Britain's largest UK -- retail collapse. This was because some I | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
Water Lane levels of debt. -- eye watering. If there is any comfort | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
for the staff who work for this company, it is that the trading | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
performance of the store or and this firm was never the problem. It | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
was always the debt. As a result, you would have thought there is a | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
chance this company can be bought as a growing concern and as much of | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
it can remain intact as possible. But at the same time it is a tough | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
trading environment out there and it is a brutal world for any | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
company in administration. Two weeks ago the administrators told | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
us that this company needed to be slimmed down. The next morning 250 | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
people, that is have the staff to work at their headquarters, were | :34:14. | :34:21. | |
made redundant. Just over a week ago we were told that someone -- | :34:21. | :34:26. | |
companies were interested. We now understand that that figure has | :34:26. | :34:32. | |
been whittled down to six serious runners and riders. Probably the | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
best case scenario for the staff here is that if Peacocks retains | :34:37. | :34:43. | |
itself as a single entity in Cardiff, a distribution network in | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
South Wales. If this business is snapped up by another major | :34:48. | :34:52. | |
retailer, it already has an existing headquarters elsewhere in | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
the UK, if that happens, the jobs here are likely to be more fun | :34:57. | :35:04. | |
rubble. -- vulnerable. There is never a good time to have | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
a corporate failure like here. You have to say at the moment it is | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
particularly tough, with the UK economy hovering close to recession. | :35:14. | :35:21. | |
Unemployment in Wales stands at 180,000, nine - my nearly 9% of the | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
working population. And how to boost the economy is occupying the | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
minds of not just people in the private sector, but in Government | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
as well. Behind me is where we're going to have one of the new | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
enterprise zones and Wales. This one for our financial services and | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
the centre of Cardiff. It is one of a number being set up across the | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
country. All in an attempt to maintain growth in the economy. | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
Meanwhile for the staff at Peacocks, more pressing matters of the next | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
few days. They will find out if they will have a job or not. | :35:56. | :36:01. | |
That was Nick Servini. We will look at the wider economy at the moment. | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
We know that there are roughly half a dozen interested parties going to | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
make a bid for our Peacocks. Are you encouraged by the amount of | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
people showing an interest? Absolutely. I think the staff will | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
take some comfort for that. If they are six viable bids coming through. | :36:18. | :36:28. | |
What we need to hope is that those bids are ones to take their company | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
Hall as -- forward as a whole and retain as many jobs as possible. As | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
administrators are appointed to get the best possible deal for the | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
creditors, not for their economy as a whole or the staff who work for | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
the organisation in question. thing is to have a quantity of beds | :36:48. | :36:55. | |
and then the quality of beds. We have seen in terms of another party | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
of their Peacocks Group, the new owners have decided not to take on | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
around and 60 stores and there is talk about a third of their work | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
load -- workforce losing their jobs. Peacocks is a different structure | :37:10. | :37:16. | |
and the stores are making money. I think we need to expect that the | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
stores will be OK. There might be some changes in other areas. By | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
enlarge the stores are OK. The prize has to be the headquarters | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
based in Cardiff. I think things like private equity investment | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
might be better than in competitor buying out the stores, because all | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
the competitor will do is shift the head office functions to wherever | :37:38. | :37:44. | |
they currently operate from. Rather than maintaining the Peacocks as a | :37:44. | :37:51. | |
separate brand, Peacocks's headquarters. In their report, we | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
heard there was never a good time for such a collapse to happen. With | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
unemployment out nearly 9%, do you anticipate things will get worse | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
before they get better? I think it is very difficult to say. We are | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
starting to see the first green shoots. The World Trade | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
Organisation have given the UK economy as a whole a picture of | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
growth for the next year. And stronger growth will be seen in | :38:17. | :38:22. | |
other places in Europe. I AM hopeful that we'll start to see a | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
corner being turned. I AM concerned that the Welsh Government has a | :38:26. | :38:34. | |
strong role to play. The structure of the and employment market is | :38:34. | :38:40. | |
such that I worry their young people are not able to get onto the | :38:40. | :38:46. | |
career ladder and the first places. You talk about youth unemployment, | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
there around one million young people currently unemployment. The | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
collision Government chose to axe the future growth fund. Was that | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
regrettable? Not at all. The current programmes have shown that | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
even people now have been long-term unemployed, 20 presenter finding | :39:06. | :39:13. | |
work. You talk about a new programme. That was introduced in | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
2011. They are now 133,000 young people unemployed. That seems to | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
suggest the new programme has failed. Not at all. The news that | :39:24. | :39:28. | |
was presented this week showed how successful the new programme is. | :39:28. | :39:35. | |
The economic criteria in context has changed. In general, Wales went | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
into greater decline when the economy in the UK was not growing. | :39:40. | :39:45. | |
The economy in the UK is in difficulty, but there are some | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
signs of green shoots that we are seeing. But what I AM more worried | :39:49. | :39:53. | |
about her is the economy in Wales, partly because of the education | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
standards and Wales are poorer than the rest of the UK and because of | :39:57. | :40:04. | |
the inward investment performance. I AM worried about their planning | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
rules that a very different. Welsh Government is creating | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
enterprise zones. They are creating these nine months after they have | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
been running in England. They will be up and running in April. Many | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
people are suggesting that these will be the cure to the ills of the | :40:21. | :40:27. | |
economy. Is that the reality? single pill is going to be the cure | :40:27. | :40:30. | |
for the disease which is the structural problems in the Welsh | :40:30. | :40:38. | |
economy. These include education and training. They also include | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
infrastructure, for example the lack of access to broadband that | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
many of our towns across Wales have. But in central Cardiff there are | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
areas where you cannot access broadband. That is shocking. There | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
are real structural problems. Enterprise zones are a really | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
fantastic opportunity if they you - - if they are used well. There has | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
to be a good level of parish are working between the local | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
authorities to have been successful forbidding -- bidding for | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
enterprise zones. We have to in that discussion there. | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
On to more matters, more than have Welsh local authorities are road | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
money by private developers who haven't had the side on planning | :41:20. | :41:26. | |
deals. -- haven't kept their side of the bargain on planning deals. | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
Merely to play �3 million have gone to councils or the past seven years | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
education, affordable housing and maintaining public spaces. But some | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
authorities have told Sunday Politics they don't even have | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
systems in place to keep track of the payments due to them. | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
There will be a new development year. There will be new libraries | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
and new schools partly funded by the developer in what is known as | :41:50. | :41:58. | |
the sex and one of sex planning agreement. -- planning section one | :41:58. | :42:08. | |
:42:08. | :42:13. | ||
or sex. - one of six. More than half of Welsh councils are waiting | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
for the money owed to them. When we first spoke to these people and | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
Bridgend, the developers of the new houses they're all at the local | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
authority more than �80,000 for education and play facilities. | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
think you should be made available as soon as -- possible. If they say | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
the money is available, it should be handed over Auric competition | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
should be set up to decide what the priorities are. And not put it off | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
from one month to the next and it could be disappearing and no one | :42:46. | :42:56. | |
:42:56. | :42:56. | ||
knows what has gone too. We are chasing up the money. I know that | :42:56. | :43:03. | |
there are other a 30s not doing that. There are a lot of money of | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
the up -- on to a 30s. At a time when there are kickbacks taking | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
place, thousands of pounds going to the coffers and it would make him | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
what a difference to them. Since Sunday Politics investigated, the | :43:17. | :43:23. | |
money due from the developer has been played into Bridgend council's | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
bank account. But there are plenty of Welsh councils still waiting for | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
the cash they are owed under similar arrangements. At least | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
three of authorities do not appear to be keeping track of what they | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
are owed. Anglesea said they could not answer our questions which we | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
answered under the fee minimum information act. The Vale of | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
Glamorgan said it is undertaking a full review to see a fun thing is | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
under -- anything is outstanding. It was recruiting someone to | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
improve things. The Welsh Local Government Association says the | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
councils are trying to be flexible and realistic with developers | :44:00. | :44:05. | |
during in incredibly difficult period. The associate and says a | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
number of agreements are subject to resume causation, but councils | :44:09. | :44:17. | |
remain robust in collecting money they are owed. It can have an | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
effect on council services, increased traffic on roads. If they | :44:20. | :44:26. | |
are not collecting the money then those extra up things have to be | :44:26. | :44:33. | |
catered from from the central budget. The golden pot is long gone. | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
In two years time these at hoc deals between councils and | :44:37. | :44:44. | |
developers will be replaced by any levy system. It aims to provide | :44:44. | :44:49. | |
facilities for committees and a clear and consistent way. A very | :44:49. | :44:55. | |
low levy will be regarded as very desirable by developers and that | :44:55. | :45:01. | |
kind of response might appeal to a particular group of politicians. At | :45:01. | :45:09. | |
the other extreme are very, very high levy designed to raise | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
considerable sums of money for major infrastructure would perhaps | :45:15. | :45:20. | |
be more favourably regarded by other groups and politicians. | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
council budgets being squeezed, it is more important than other that | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
deals with developers worth millions of pounds are honoured. | :45:27. | :45:33. | |
That was poll Heaney reporting. It comes to something but it takes a | :45:33. | :45:38. | |
BBC investigation to have a council paid back the money it is odd. | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
is a subject close to my heart because I love and are now | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
development where there has been some controversy about the payments | :45:45. | :45:51. | |
between the develop -- developer and the Council who have not been | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
able to provide you with details of how much money is outstanding. That | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
is a real worry. Yes, some councils a said they are all some money. But | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
to be told we cannot tell you how much is owed his to shopping. | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
will strike a lot of people as being odd is that this is free | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
money for councils. We are talking about a time when councils up and | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
down the country are complaining that services will have to be cut | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
and they are not being funded adequately. Yet again they do not | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
have processes that in place to monitor the money which is owed to | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
them. It is of is that some developers are running rings around | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
some councils. Because of the size of some councils they know their | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
capacity to challenge them and to hold the developers to the letter | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
of the agreement. They are not strong without some court action. | :46:41. | :46:45. | |
Some tactics let developers are views it is that they go quietly | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
out of business as the project comes to an end, so it is difficult | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
to go chasing them and that is what part of the problem is with | :46:52. | :47:01. | |
collecting money. Should there be a tougher sanctions on the? That is a | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
merit and looking at that. There needs to be clear transparency in | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
terms of what money is being paid, or where it is being paid. It is | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
far every project. If you love and a development and you have allowed | :47:15. | :47:18. | |
are supported the extension of a development because it would | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
provide a community centre or because it would provide play for | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
assault is, then it is only right that people in that committee can | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
see how much money has been paid into the local council and where | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
that has been followed through and track. One thing that was mentioned | :47:32. | :47:35. | |
and the report with the changes to the planning system which will be | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
introduced the 2014, will that simplified things? I hope that it | :47:39. | :47:45. | |
will. But the devil will be in the detail. On the face of it they are | :47:45. | :47:51. | |
very clear. The amount of money is set aside any agreement and the | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
payment schedule is set aside in the agreement. The question now is | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
how is that followed through? I AM hopeful that the new levy will take | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
care of it but I AM not convinced. We will keep a close eye. | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
It is our round-up of the goings-on in the Assembly and Westminster. | :48:09. | :48:16. | |
Here is the Regan 60 seconds. -- here is the week in 60 seconds. | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
The chair of the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee was up saying he | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
was astonished that the bother of a critical report had not been | :48:25. | :48:31. | |
contacted. The Welsh Government is investigating allegations of | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
financial irregularities. The Liberal Democrats warned councils | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
could seek to blame school governors far falling standards. | :48:41. | :48:46. | |
Aled Roberts was worried councils could copy others who have applied | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
to suspend school governors. Chris Evans asked employers to be more | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
flexible with workers to live with the chronic condition inflammatory | :48:54. | :49:01. | |
bowel disease. He expressed concern over North Wales police decision to | :49:02. | :49:07. | |
reorganise rapid-response groups. The Welsh Conservatives should have | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
a leader in Wales, that is the view from the Assembly group leader | :49:12. | :49:19. | |
Andrew Davis. He added that the person do not have to be an AGM. -- | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
Assembly Member. Word from Westminster Alun Cairns | :49:24. | :49:30. | |
is that Alan Davies's docks were not welcome. There is a leader in | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
Wales and that is the Prime Minister. The Secretary of State | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
and the leader of the Assembly group work together so that | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
provides leadership at a Welsh level. I do not see what the | :49:40. | :49:46. | |
issuers. You don't agree with it? do not see what the agree - might | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
need is for it at the moment. I see the leader in Wales as the Prime | :49:51. | :49:58. | |
Minister. You have lost a Cabinet Minister in Westminster this week. | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
That is the second to bite the dust since the coalition was formed. Is | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
this beginning to be a problem for the Lib Dems? Not at all. Chris | :50:06. | :50:11. | |
Huhne has done the right thing in standing aside. Obviously we cannot | :50:11. | :50:20. | |
comment on that. A quick prediction on the rugby this afternoon? Wales | :50:20. | :50:30. | |
:50:30. | :50:30. |