22/01/2012 Sunday Politics Wales

In Wales... Live in 2012. The Business Minister's promise of five

enterprise zones. And how about heating, lighting and water for

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1768 seconds

under a tenner a week? That is the Welcome to Wales Sunday Politics.

It has been a bruising week for Welsh retell with Peacocks going

into administration. Does the Business Minister see positives for

the economy? I have been talking to Edwina Hart. Thinking of buying a

home next year? They could be good news on heating costs. Warming up

beach chairs for 20 minutes, the Liberal Democrats MP, Jenny Willott

and Jocelyn Davies. We have got the Conservative Party conference next

month. One that could suggest with tongue in cheek that they could

always gatecrash your conference, bearing in mind that they are a

part in coalition. I am not sure they would be completely at home. I

think we are far too democratic for the Tories. On a serious note, how

valuable are the party conferences in Wales? They are costly and not

everybody turns up. Do you have a future for three-day conferences?

Well, I think we made a profit on our conference. It is a nice time

of year to be in London. I cannot remember having to cancel a

conference ever. Possibly it's something came up in unforeseen

circumstances, like a foot and mouth, I cannot understand how

would a why they can sort this one. Otherwise you cannot keep in touch

with members. The first weeks of 2012 have been very unsettling for

thousands of workers employed by Peacocks. 249 staff, almost half

the head of its workforce in Cardiff, were made redundant on

Thursday after the company went into administration. It is cold

comfort for the workers that unemployment in Wales fell slightly

between September and November. With GDP figures out this week and

unemployment at 8.9 % in Wales, I asked Edwina Hart if she was

concerned about the economic prospects. They remain

disappointing. The difficulty through the economy in terms of

unemployment continues. It is important that the Assembly looks

at a range of areas properly. We have launched a micro business

strategy and people are saying, why worry about micro businesses when

big companies are suffering? But these businesses employ people in

various places. Micro businesses are defined as between one and nine

people. We must get these others in place. When people have got

entrepreneurial skills and wants to develop businesses, they must be

encouraged into the economy. One by the British Government is trying to

stimulate the economy is by creating enterprise zones. That has

come under criticism, your party, for delaying more details about

enterprise zones. It was promised in the autumn will stop our I am

not sure why this has come from --. I am not sure why this has come

from. I take that with a pinch of salt. But this was promised before

Christmas. But at the end of the day you'll find not all details are

finalised everywhere. They will be live in 2012. We have had

appropriate discussions with partners about the boundaries. I

cannot say, I think the boundaries should be dead. We must have a

proper discussion. We must have proper discussions with ministers.

We must look at transport infrastructure. I have to fairly

assess other applications coming in. We have got capital allowances to

be given. We must make sure that I do not think the decision in

December could have been altered and then make another decision of.

I must look at everybody's benefit in terms of how I use these

resources. In terms of capital allowances, we had just finished

some discussions with the Treasury and we are going to have more

detailed discussions. I did not think the criticisms from other

politicians are so good a good at all. But we are looking at places

in direct competition like Herod the chair. They do not have capital

allowances. -- Herefordshire. whether it is true or not, we have

got a perception that they are marching ahead. I am not sure that

is correct. Enterprise zones had already been announced. We have had

interest expressed by individual companies. Not everybody has

publicised what deals might happen and might not. I am confident we

will have the policy right in Wales in terms of enterprise zones.

Scotland has baby just announced four enterprise zones and it has

been introduced in Northern Ireland. -- just announced. For every 13

jobs lost in the public sector, it is said that just one is created in

the private sector it. We must have more confidence in the private

sector. They are very pleased with the way that we have engaged with

them. They say that we are good in dealings with them. We will help

the workforce with skills and everything. I do not send when I am

asked these questions that we get confidence in the Chamber and that

they are in the same world. We have got more than 200 million floating

around in the Treasury coming to Wales. There has been discussion

with the Liberal Democrats about that. Will you be making a case to

the First Minister that a big chunk of that money should come to your

portfolio? We do have consequences and they do go into reserves and

discussions to take place. We have to prioritise. We must recognise

that we must prioritise money carefully into all manifesto

commitments and particularly we must help the economy. That is what

we have done. You must put your house in order before asking for

extra money. That was Edwina Hart. We will talk about enterprise zones

in a minute. But I am sure be depressing economic concern for you

is the future of Peacocks. Particularly in South Wales, the

impact could be sued if we lose the jobs. It is almost 1,500 jobs. --

could be massive. It is a worrying time for employees. Putting

politics aside with who has done what and who has been slow off the

mark, what practical steps can politicians make to tried and

safeguard jobs? It is difficult late in the decor politicians to do

very much, to be honest. Much more needed to be done earlier to

prevent Peacock's going into administration. A lot more could

have been done working with the banks. Particularly what the part

state owned banks like RBS, who played a significant part in desk.

We must learn lessons from what happened here to make sure it does

not happen to other big employers. The banks, when they are making a

decision about whether or not to invest additional resources into

companies, they must look not just at the financial side, but the

social side as well. A company like Peacocks was operating at a profit.

It was running at a profit and it was a good brand with potential to

keep employing and keep making money and to be successful. RBS

should have taken that into account and other creditors when making

decisions will stop when you were in government you set --. When you

were in government you set up a reactor programmes. What is your

reaction to Peacocks? A buyer should have been bought. We must

look at business being made sake. We should have looked at training

and helping towards our opportunities. But it will be cold

comfort for people that have lost their jobs, when we talk about

things that could have happened but it is too late. Certainly, RBS were

bailed out by the taxpayer and they had endured these people have lost

their job when it was a profitable business. On trying to kick-start

the economy, on enterprise zones I asked the Business Minister if it

was a perception or a reality that Wales was behind enterprise zones.

What is your take on that? I am not clearer now about the enterprise

zone and what it means to be in the enterprise zone. We have had some

announcements before we understood what it would actually mean. We

have got the Cardiff council coming in front of my committee, the

Finance Committee and I was told... That we have got significant

financial leaders which will come to the help of businesses which

were set up in enterprise zones and the Minister was saying that due

process must take place before enterprise zones can be set up.

That sounds like common sense. does but some had been announced

before anything was set up. But all the arguments about enterprise

zones and the questioning and the pressures on the ministers does not

stop people wanting them. Newport wants to be a digital enterprise

zone. I think we have got a lot of interest and I'd think it will be a

feature of the economy in Wales but we need to get it right. We cannot

look at other people's timetables. Perhaps it does not matter with

timetables in England but we need to get it right. When we look at

the last Welsh budget, the people - - the Liberal Democrats could have

been said to have made mistakes. Will you make sure that the money

does go on economic stimulus? wrong to say that we prioritised

that ahead of the economy because we have been tried to support it,

be it. It is absolutely critical that we have a workforce with the

skills that are necessary in the teacher to build the economy and to

be able to work in the jobs we have available. Education in Wales has

been poorly funded and has fallen far behind other parts of the UK

for many years. Clearly we need to have more investment in encouraging

businesses. The enterprise zones are critical to doubt. But they

matter what Edwina Hart said, they are about six months behind England

and we are falling behind. It is not just capital allowance. Other

things could be done to support the development of enterprise zones,

support businesses and encourage growth. We are losing out to

England, particularly across the border where enterprise zones had

already been set up. From next year, people buying new homes in Wales

could pay as little as �7.50 per week for heating, lighting and hot

water. The Wells government believes these savings could be in

reach using green technology, like solar power up. -- the Welsh

government. But could the housing industry be overloaded with extra

cost? The Vision of dramatically cheaper heating, lighting and hot-

water for new homes originally came from the Welsh government more than

one year back. Updated figures on savings are due shortly. Tougher

building regulations are due to come next year. It all mean more

insulation as standard but regulations will not be enough

alone. Homeowners must invest in technology, might heat pumps and

solar power to maximise savings. understand fuel prices are going

one way, which unfortunately is up in the long term will stop we want

to make sure people benefit from lower fuel costs. --. We want to

make sure. We must stop damaging emissions. How has to set

regulations have just come to Wales. -- powers. They want to use them to

cut carbon emissions by 55 % compared to standards in 2006 will

stop builders say that could add --. Builders say that could massively

increase home building costs. The Government thinks it will cost

�7,000 extra. The big things in terms of costs, things will be more

expensive but as technology becomes more widespread, costs will come

down. We could find that in Wales we have got better skills in

renewable technology and from a development point of view, it that

is an area they want to concentrate on and develop them building in

Wales might be a perfect platform. Homes are priced according to local

market conditions. Builders have said squeezed profit margins in

some areas could mean house building will stop. We did not want

to developers going across the borders. We want more homes in

Wales. We want environmentally friendly houses but we have got to

have the balance. It the balance is wrong, that will cause the problem.

We must take and a bridge where in different areas of Wales, we have

got different situations, depending on the market. The industry is very

clever and very efficient with standards and meeting them in a

cost-effective way. I think that we will see a wheel progress being

made by the industry and understanding additional standards

that are being made and making sure that standards are met in a cost-

efficient way. The Welsh government begins consultation on building

regulations in the next few months. It understands it must balance the

extra cost of the new green domes against the long-term savings in

Is that a price worth paying? think you have to get the balance

right. We must be looking at making houses more energy efficient.

Energy bills, if they carry on rising, resources will get further

between. We have got schemes looking at existing housing, like

the Green Deal. But we must make house is more energy efficient. It

must be balanced carefully. We have got problems with the cost of

housing at the moment, particularly for people trying to get onto the

housing ladder. If new houses are too expensive for first-time buyers

to purchase, we will keep on with the problems we have got in the

current market and that is not good for the economy and families.

are a former housing minister. Could you push this kind of thing

crew? Well we had, actually. -- through? We have got the figures

from the seven thousand. If you cannot run at your house on that,

and that includes water for less than �10 per week, it is worth the

extra cost and what we might find his land value might go down a bit

to account for that. But concerns about it being too expensive, I do

not agreed. As soon as you make something compulsory, the industry

steps up. We can be ahead of the game because it is buried important

in terms of your property and tackling climate change. -- very

important. But people have said the priority is to get people waiting

for a house into a house before we start addressing all these other

issues. It has got to be built in as standard, absolute rate. I will

not waver on that at all. -- absolutely. Houses used to be built

without inside toilet. They used to be built without central heating

but all of these things are just accepted now and these things must

become standard. Time for a look back at the week with Adrian in 60

The Welsh Secretary was criticised by Labour for selling their

constituency home weeks before the British Government gave the go-

ahead for a High Speed Rail link nearby. She said she sold her house

in Buckinghamshire because her husband has mobility problems.

Labour wants the Prime Minister to look at whether or not she broke

the code of conduct for ministers. One Indian visitors had been

welcomed to be Senedd it. A review into Plaid Cymru said it had to be

clearer about constitutional aims and perceptions of it as a party of

Welsh speakers. In A surprise move, the Welsh Conservatives cancelled

their party conference two weeks before it was due to take place a.

The party said it will hold a one- day rally instead, allowing members

to focus on council elections. Politicians from all four main

parties united in their support of We have talked about the

Conservative Party conference and Peacocks will stop we will talk

about --. We will talk about where Cheryl Gillan lives or does not

lead. Should it in the constituency they represent? If there is in

cases. I live in my constituency and I would not want to get

anywhere else. -- we have got variations in cases. Generally, you

should live in the area you represent. If it is about

representation and representing the people that elected you, you should

live in that area. If you want votes, you should be living among

them. I did not understand why this person was moving. I do not think

you can have a hard and fast rule that you have to live in an area to

represent it but I think it would probably be better. It you are

asking for votes and you have moved out, people would wonder why but I

think here, they understand why. That is quite an achievement, isn't

it? It does seem to be a popular attraction. It is an be one thing

I'd like is that you can come into the Assembly building and he did

not have to have any official business. We have got visitors

coming to the Assembly, just enjoying the day. Some people have