Browse content similar to 22/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight on the Wales Report... Is there a crisis brewing in the | :00:00. | :00:14. | |
care sector? The Welsh government is urged to bring much tougher | :00:15. | :00:16. | |
regulation of home care workers. We talk about income tax. And we ask | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
what powers are needed to boost the Welsh economy? | :00:22. | :00:23. | |
And the challenge of keeping Welsh politics in the headlines. But is | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
more media coverage the same as more scrutiny? Stay with us for the Wales | :00:27. | :00:28. | |
Report. Good evening, welcome to the Wales | :00:29. | :00:39. | |
Report, where we take a look at the issues making an impact on lives in | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
Wales. And we question some of those making the decisions. | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
On tonight's programme, vulnerable adults who receive home care in | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
Wales are potentially being put at risk by a lack of regulation and | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
inconsistent standards of training. That is according to a leading Welsh | :00:56. | :01:03. | |
charity. The vast majority, over 94% of professional care workers in | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
Wales, are not registered with a regulating body. And they currently | :01:07. | :01:08. | |
don't need any formal qualifications. Many in the sector, | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
including qualifications. Many in the sector, | :01:13. | :01:13. | |
the way, say change Every day, tens of thousands of | :01:14. | :01:34. | |
vulnerable people across Wales relied on paid carers to come into | :01:35. | :01:41. | |
their homes. They may be elderly or disabled and need assistance with | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
vital tasks like taking medication, and sometimes that carer will be | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
their only contact with the outside world. So how do we know whether our | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
home carers at up to the task? The Ansett is we don't. Some workers do | :01:58. | :02:06. | |
not need to have altercations and don't have to be registered with the | :02:07. | :02:14. | |
regulator. The Wales Report has been contacted by a carer who is deeply | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
worried about the situation. She wants to remain anonymous, but in | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
e-mails still does that when she first darted as a carer she had very | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
little training, despite having no previous experience. Training took | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
place over eight weeks and was unpaid. Then there was a period of | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
shadowing, going out with an experienced carer watching care put | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
in practice, but only as good as the person you are shadowing all stop | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
then you got your order and out you went. The lack of qualifications | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
means most workers only in the minimum wage, and some only paid for | :02:53. | :03:01. | |
the time the hard-working, not travelling between appointments, so | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
moral is low, and there is a high turnover of staff. Sickness rates | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
were very high, adding more pressure to the carers, as they had to take | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
on the calls, staff leaving weekly, and a newly inducted member of staff | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
lasted half a day in one company. According to a survey by the union | :03:24. | :03:31. | |
Unison, that of -- who pay and conditions is having a shocking | :03:32. | :03:33. | |
effect on the work horse and on care. | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
The workers are undervalued, with no constituency with regard to | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
training, or expectations when they are in the client's home, and | :03:45. | :03:52. | |
unfortunately, all of the conditions could lead to a real crisis, a real | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
high profile problem arising in the future. Currently, the only legal | :03:58. | :04:04. | |
high profile problem arising in the requirement is that home carers must | :04:05. | :04:04. | |
be checked to see if they have requirement is that home carers must | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
criminal record, and must be given requirement is that home carers must | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
basic induction. It is the responsibility of the key | :04:14. | :04:15. | |
inspectorate responsibility of the key | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
carry those out. But is that happening? The Wales Report has | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
found that the inspectorate does not always ensure those checks have been | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
done. Of the 50 home care reports we looked at on their websites, 28 did | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
not look into staff records at all. That is because the inspectorate | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
only check the fools that records every three years. The Czechs in | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
between those do not have to be comprehensive. Charities working | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
with honourable people are concerned that is not enough scrutiny. The | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
system is not robust enough at the moment. The regulator has a job to | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
do. We are very concerned that vulnerable people being provided | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
care in their own homes might not be getting the level of protection | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
deserve. That is why the UK home care Association would welcome | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
statutory regulation for all care workers, leaving it would help | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
monitor records. People must be sure the key worker coming into their | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
home is trustworthy, has all the necessary checks and is absolutely | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
skill for the intimate personal care B may be delivering. The Welsh | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
Government has no recognised the current system is not fully | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
protecting vulnerable people in their homes. It wants to bring in a | :05:37. | :05:43. | |
new law that would change the inspection and regulation regimes | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
here in Wales. Under the plans, a new body would be set up, called the | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
National Institute for air and support, and that, the government | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
argues, would improve all aspects of care. But there are criticisms that | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
the proposals do not go far enough. Controversially, there is no plan to | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
register all home care workers. The we would welcome that registration, | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
although that would bring a high level of bureaucracy. But we do not | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
believe vulnerable people should be put at risk and every risk possible | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
should be mitigated with registration and universal | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
registration would be the best way forward. And the carers themselves | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
would like their role to be seen as more professional, recognising their | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
vulnerable work. Each call presents a whole different set of needs, very | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
diverse needs, for the most honourable client group, they rely | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
on you totally and quite often you are the only person they may see. | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
Many believe unless real changes are made to home care, and June, in | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
future the potential for problems will be huge. -- and soon. If the | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
situation continues, we will go from will be huge. -- and soon. If the | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
one crisis to the next. The vulnerable people will not get the | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
one crisis to the next. The services needed and deserved. There | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
could be disasters ahead. Personal disasters. On the | :07:17. | :07:27. | |
receiving this care. Helen Callaghan reporting. Joining | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
me now is the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Labour's Gwenda | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
Thomas. Thank you for coming in. My pleasure. One thing to say | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
straightaway, lots of carers delivering a very good service. | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
Yes. Before we discuss potential problems. Shouldn't every key worker | :07:51. | :07:57. | |
bee registered? When you are talking about a workforce of over 70,000, | :07:58. | :08:04. | |
and we have ended consultation on the new White Paper on registration | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
and inspection, I am analysing those responses at the moment. And I have | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
to make the point that, in Wales at the moment, we are registering more | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
workers than we have ever done before. This is a step-by-step | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
approach. The principle that anyone going into someone's home, | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
especially vulnerable people, should be registered so we are safeguarding | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
not just standard but the person cared for. That principle is surely | :08:34. | :08:39. | |
one you would agree with? And it is the utmost priority for the Welsh | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
Government that the safety and dignity of people receiving care is | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
the most priority to us. When you talk about raises during the whole | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
work force, the film made the point that, since last month, it is a | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
requirement or home care managers to be registered, and when you look at | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
other countries, Wales is taking vast steps towards registration, and | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
it is fundamentally important for us to realise that the establishment of | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
the Institute of care and support will be a huge step forward and the | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
code of this principle will be developing training and building on | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
the excellent work of the care Council, which has gone on in recent | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
years, developing excellent training and creating career pathways. When | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
you talk about the vulnerability of people cared for, often at home, and | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
the carer is the only person they will see, they are dependent on that | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
person. Again coming back to the points of confidence and trust in | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
the system, how can they have full confidence they aren't being | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
protected if we don't have the kind of registration that is being called | :09:51. | :10:00. | |
for? We are considering a response, but this is a huge workforce. A | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
workforce that sometimes moves quickly, and people working for | :10:07. | :10:07. | |
three months then moving on. Is that quickly, and people working for | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
part of the problem, such a big turnover that the bureaucracy puts | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
part of the problem, such a big registration process? -- fool | :10:21. | :10:20. | |
registration process? No not putting as of, but we have to look at this | :10:21. | :10:30. | |
in a sensible way. We are registering more than many other | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
countries, but I will take seriously all responses to the report, and | :10:34. | :10:41. | |
underpinning this, I think it is the utmost importance of developing, | :10:42. | :10:48. | |
valuing, because I do not think the social workers and social care | :10:49. | :10:51. | |
workers are valued enough within our society, recessional lies that work | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
force and develop the training and that is taking forward, and we have | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
invested tens of millions over the last few years in training, and that | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
extends right across the public, private and voluntary sector. And we | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
will want to identify senior people to have a responsibility in law for | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
the workforce that they are employing, and that they do employ a | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
proportion of that work force who are qualified to our required level. | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
That brings me to the final point about qualification, and perceptions | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
of, I suppose, education of the workforce, because so many are | :11:36. | :11:37. | |
earning very little money, minimum wage, and there are clearly problems | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
of commitment in the sense people feel they have to move on, not happy | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
with the conditions they have, and lots not having qualifications. A | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
matter of bringing up standards in lots of areas? Indeed, and we are | :11:53. | :11:59. | |
well on the way to do that, and we have to professionalise the | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
workforce in order to value it and improve services and the quality of | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
provision. Bank you for coming in. -- thank you. | :12:09. | :12:14. | |
Back in November, Prime Minister David Cameron and his Deputy Nick | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
Clegg came to Cardiff to unveil their proposals for new financial | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
powers for the Welsh Government. They included powers to set income | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
tax, if the people of Wales approved them in a referendum. The secretary | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
of Wales, David Jones, has welcomed the move calling for the ballot to | :12:28. | :12:34. | |
be held sooner rather than later. He said it will make the Welsh | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
Government more accountable. Income tax powers, and the more favourable | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
income tax rate in Wales, will be good for the Welsh economy. | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
First Minister Carwyn Jones has described the new powers on offer. | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
As pretty useless. This is what he had to say to the Welsh Affairs | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
Select Committee on Monday. I am somebody who I suspected regarded as | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
fairly strong with regard to the devolution of powers, but on this | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
issue, I cannot make a case for Wales that would demonstrate | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
evolution of this model of income tax varying powers, without there | :13:13. | :13:20. | |
being reform of the funding system, would be something | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
being reform of the funding system, net benefit. Joining | :13:24. | :13:24. | |
being reform of the funding system, economist and Welsh Government | :13:25. | :13:26. | |
advisor Gerald Holtham. Thank you for coming in. Let us talk | :13:27. | :13:33. | |
advisor Gerald Holtham. Thank you are the useless currently? Very | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
difficult to use. -- to vary them. In the present-day, politicians | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
binding from tax difficult. Look at the Scots, never using the powers | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
they have add. And when have we last had an increase in income tax? When | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
Gordon Brown removed the 10p, tremendous furore. It is a difficult | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
power to use at the best of times. And if you want the government to | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
use it, both up and down, you need as much like stability. The | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
arrangement being proposed here is very rigid, and that will ensure it | :14:10. | :14:16. | |
is never used. When we talk about a lockstep system, what is meant by | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
that? Normally there are three bans for income tax. Rahm 10p up to | :14:24. | :14:30. | |
30,000, in 40p up to 150000 and then above that you pay ?45. A government | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
can normally change the marginal rate for each of those bands | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
separately. The way the Welsh power is being devolved is like this. 10p | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
is going to the Welsh Government and the rest is going to the UK | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
government. If the Welsh Government changes its rate, everybody's rate | :14:51. | :14:58. | |
changes. So the person who is paying 45p then 10p is going to Wells. If | :14:59. | :15:06. | |
the Welsh Government changes to 8% then everybody's marginal tax rate | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
goes down. What is the logic? Because the argument that has been | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
made with as much charity I can assemble, is complete nonsense. They | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
want to preserve the progress of the system, how much it redistributed | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
between income groups, for the centre. Westminster. The reason that | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
does not make sense is that this system does not do that. Are likely | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
to ever see a referendum on these particular proposals? I think it is | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
quite unlikely as things stand. It is very easy to lose this | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
referendum. If you say to people that they need power to change taxes | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
than the initial reaction will be, "do I want to do that?" Hodges and | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
are not any more popular in Wales than anywhere else. We never know | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
whether a referendum will be on the issue or whether we like the | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
politicians. They are taking a big risk. And for what? For a power that | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
there are unlikely to be able to use. And Observer who would maybe | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
take on board what you were saying would also come back and say that it | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
is very odd for politicians, or stakeholders involved in this | :16:17. | :16:17. | |
process, not to want more stakeholders involved in this | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
even of the powers are not stakeholders involved in this | :16:22. | :16:24. | |
would like them, or not set out in the way they would like. Actually, | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
would like them, or not set out in the natural thing for you to want | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
would be to have more powers in order to realise your own policies. | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
Is that not right? I think if you would say to Welsh politicians that | :16:35. | :16:35. | |
they could have these powers then they would not refuse them. They | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
might never use them but at least they would be on the shelf, as it | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
were. But you are asking them to fight a referendum for them. I think | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
that is the point. It is not just theoretical. Somebody has to go and | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
knock on the door and ask people to vote. One of the problems in Wales | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
is that we are having referendum is not on big issues of principle but | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
on fairly technical matters. Nobody's tax is going up as a result | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
of the referendum but it is being organised in a different way, | :17:08. | :17:10. | |
different people can live it. You have to explain lockstep. You will | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
probably get a turnout of 20%, as we did for the last referendum, which | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
was about whether you have powers to legislate on 30 do is use with 14 | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
exemptions. -- 32 issues. It is a bad and able to get into that we | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
have these very detailed referendum instead of the question of whether | :17:31. | :17:32. | |
we want a parliament with powers. We are doing these very detailed things | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
and I think the politicians are getting a bit punch-drunk. All of | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
this, in the wider context of how you improve the wider economy -- the | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
Welsh economy. How do you boost the Welsh economy? 7.1% unemployment in | :17:48. | :17:55. | |
the UK, 7.2 in Wales. The picture has been improving in many parts of | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
the country. Thinking in terms of what Wales needs, not just tax | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
powers but other economic powers, how would you explain the picture? | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
There is no quick fix, really. There are two things that the Welsh | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
Government needs to focus on. The first is education and training. The | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
great Irish success, before their disaster in 2007, was really based | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
on a huge investment in education, much higher proportion of Irish kids | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
get to tertiary kids than the UK, certainly than Wales. -- treachery | :18:28. | :18:35. | |
education. Our standards are slipping behind the UK and the best | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
places in Europe. We have turned that around. If you're going to get | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
technical businesses here, large businesses wanting to establish, | :18:44. | :18:45. | |
they want a trained workforce. That is the first thing we have to do. | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
That is a long job, not a six-month effort. It is a 60 year effort. The | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
second thing is infrastructure. If we wanted to be able to move people | :18:57. | :18:59. | |
and goods around and our infrastructure is not great, we do | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
not have a very late topography, all those mountains. We have to improve | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
that. -- a very friendly topography. There is a programme needed of | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
investment to put the country in a better position. Is the Welsh | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
Government engaged in putting together a programme to answer those | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
things? It has started to put together an infrastructure plan, | :19:24. | :19:25. | |
which if that were to come to fruition would be a step forward. | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
There is certainly a big focus on education now. I do | :19:31. | :19:32. | |
There is certainly a big focus on they're going to succeed in turning | :19:33. | :19:34. | |
the corner but these people are talking about it. | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
the corner but these people are very much for coming in. | :19:39. | :19:40. | |
the corner but these people are Do Welsh politicians get the | :19:41. | :19:42. | |
scrutiny they, and the voters, deserve? The Assembly's Presiding | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
Officer, Rosemary Butler, believes the decline of the newspaper | :19:46. | :19:48. | |
industry in Wales and the dominance of London- based media has led to | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
fewer people being engaged in Welsh political life. And she's not alone | :19:52. | :19:59. | |
in that view. But with fewer resources in many news | :20:00. | :20:01. | |
organisations, how realistic is it to demand more coverage? Professor | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
Richard Sambrook of Cardiff University School of Journalism, a | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
former head of BBC Global News, presents his own report on the | :20:08. | :20:09. | |
prospects. Its wheels talking about Wales | :20:10. | :20:31. | |
enough? The lack of media coverage and scrutiny of the Welsh Government | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
is a talk topic that has been talked about -- a topic that has been | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
talked about many times, usually in the same newspapers and TV | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
programmes stop because the coverage of the UK government. How many times | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
have you seen Carwyn Jones on the pages of those same newspapers? Here | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
at Cardiff University, we try to teach student journalists the | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
importance of default government and holding politicians to account but | :20:59. | :21:01. | |
there are not many good examples for them to learn from. Welsh media is | :21:02. | :21:10. | |
back in the spotlight, thanks to Rosemary Butler. Gone will be the | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
days of confusing Michael Gove's policies with Hugh Lewis, she wants | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
the people of Wales to have plenty of sources of news about Wales to | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
choose from. So how exactly are they proposing to do this? One suggestion | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
is a journalism hub in the Senedd, working with hyper local media and | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
digital organisations to provide content for new digital channels. | :21:37. | :21:39. | |
Others include better communication facilities at The Senedd, making the | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
data more accessible and ensuring that people are treating enough and | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
helping to train them journalists of the future in the way The Senedd | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
works. All very good but there is a problem here. Pushing information | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
out is just PR. It is not the same as asking the awkward questions and | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
holding politicians to account. That in the new journalism hub in the | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
Senedd, will the journals of the future be encouraged to challenge | :22:04. | :22:06. | |
what they see and hear will be simply become mouthpieces? These | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
plans are just a starting point and will be developed. I cannot help | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
thinking they're coming from wrong direction. It should be ours, the | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
public, whose lives are affected by the decisions taken in the Assembly, | :22:20. | :22:21. | |
public, whose lives are affected by it is ours who should be pushing for | :22:22. | :22:24. | |
more hard-nosed, independent reporting. We care about schools, | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
more hard-nosed, independent communities, hospitals. It | :22:30. | :22:29. | |
more hard-nosed, independent we started to care about how | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
more hard-nosed, independent being made. It | :22:34. | :22:34. | |
more hard-nosed, independent looking for high-quality | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
more hard-nosed, independent decision-makers coming from many | :22:38. | :22:39. | |
different sources. In many ways, we get the media we deserve. But as the | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
Welsh Government gets greater powers, so should be made more | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
accountable. It is time to get wheels on the front page. | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
Joining me now from our Assembly newsroom is the Deputy Presiding | :22:51. | :22:56. | |
Officer, Conservative David Melding. Thank you for joining us. I am going | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
to pick up on the point that he was making there. Is he right to say | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
that the public gets the media it deserves? I think we all have a part | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
to play in the political process. Those that analyse it, those that | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
have to engage with the public. I suppose public engagement itself. We | :23:18. | :23:19. | |
want to encourage people to tell us what they think and ensure that they | :23:20. | :23:26. | |
can participate openly. Distil the democratic deficit that we have in | :23:27. | :23:28. | |
the modern age, with moderately medications, and very fast legs were | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
people cannot quite spend the time they would have in the past in | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
listening to long broadcasts, I think this is all part of the next | :23:37. | :23:43. | |
we need. Do you think the median Wales, broadcast and oppressed, is | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
at fault? I think there are lots of things that we need to do to catch | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
up with the technology we have had in communications. The fact that we | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
are enjoying, or going through, a period that is like the late 19th | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
century, when Mars newspapers started. That -- when newspapers | :24:01. | :24:08. | |
started. That changed the way politics was done and we moved to | :24:09. | :24:11. | |
universal suffrage and the participation in a formal way. Now | :24:12. | :24:18. | |
we are seeing those old patter and documentation breakdown and new ones | :24:19. | :24:21. | |
opening up. Engaging the public is much more difficult now that there | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
are many other things that people want to get involved with. Is your | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
colleagues right in saying that there is a democratic deficit when | :24:29. | :24:31. | |
it comes to media scrutiny and that that is partly, as she puts it, the | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
media's fault for not taking an interest in what you are doing in | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
Cardiff? I think what we have seen is that wherever is the control in | :24:41. | :24:46. | |
Wales, decisions are made, then we are seeing excellent quality | :24:47. | :24:50. | |
broadcasting and writing. But there is a difficulty, I think, when the | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
number of journalists is reduced. We do not so specialist political | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
journalists here in the. I have to say the BBC has made some decisions | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
in the last year but political reporting and the extent of news | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
coverage in Wales. We still have high quality but there is a real | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
deficit in the UK level. A lot of what we do is not fully reflected in | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
the output, particularly, I think, with the newspapers. But the | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
broadcasters could improve also. A lot of progress has been made, | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
particularly with the BBC. We go back to that question, one | :25:28. | :25:28. | |
politician said at the other day devolved administrations, why would | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
someone living in York, for example, devolved administrations, why would | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
be interested in what is devolved administrations, why would | :25:39. | :25:40. | |
in Cardiff? I think it is relevant when we are making a decision in | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
Cardiff that could set a new precedent. You had this with organ | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
donation, for instance. There was a shift in policy. It was seen to be | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
very medical in the UK. -- very radical. That clearly could impact | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
people's lives in England and Scotland, if their governments | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
followed suit. I think it is that sort of test. Do we get top coverage | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
then? That is kind of the measure that we need to apply to stop -- do | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
we get proper coverage then? We have other examples of debates we have | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
lit. Although we have had a fair coverage, perhaps not always the | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
level we have deserved. A little more than scrutiny. Wouldn't be fair | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
to say that in order that openness to be there, for the scrutiny to be | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
efficient, ministers also have to be available and willing to be | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
questioned. There are instances, certainly that I know of in Welsh | :26:35. | :26:37. | |
Government, where ministers maybe are not as available as they might | :26:38. | :26:45. | |
be. What would you say about that? I put my dignity Presiding Officer's | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
hat on and say that we sometimes have to be very firm with the stars | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
about Wendy -- with ministers about when and where they make statements | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
and we want them to be available to be questioned in the Assembly. Their | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
lives are demanding. They cannot say yes to every request but there is an | :27:03. | :27:10. | |
issue in being available to the main broadcasters and news outlets. There | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
should be effective fumigation. That is an important heart of scrutiny. | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
How many people can watch first Minister 's questions? But how many | :27:22. | :27:24. | |
people will listen to a news bulletin on the BBC in the morning? | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
I think ministers will be aware of that. Finally, the importance of | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
this, we are moving into a period were clearly election is on the | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
horizon, we are talking about important things like tax varying | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
powers, for example. That process of engagement by voters is even more | :27:42. | :27:44. | |
important than it has been before. It certainly is. I think the | :27:45. | :27:52. | |
effective devolution becomes and the greater range of subjects that are | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
devolved, there is a clear logic in doing as much locally and nationally | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
in Wales, Scotland and England at some point as possible. It is very | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
important if we are going to see big decisions being taken on taxation | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
and perhaps to model the Welsh economy, to make it more attractive | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
than, say, the south east of England, if we want to attract | :28:14. | :28:16. | |
people into Wales that currently are in an overcrowded economic region | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
like London on the south east, we have to engage with people to tell | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
them why it is necessary, perhaps, to make some of the decisions we | :28:25. | :28:26. | |
need to be making that initially to make some of the decisions we | :28:27. | :28:28. | |
might surprise people, if looking at really interesting | :28:29. | :28:30. | |
innovative policy options. looking at really interesting | :28:31. | :28:33. | |
thank you for joining us. My pleasure. | :28:34. | :28:33. | |
That's it for this week's programme. pleasure. | :28:34. | :28:37. | |
We'll be back next Wednesday. In the meantime, you can get in touch with | :28:38. | :28:40. | |
us about the issues discussed tonight, or indeed anything else. | :28:41. | :28:42. | |
Email us at [email protected] and we are on Twitter. Thanks for | :28:43. | :28:45. | |
watching. Good night. Nos da. | :28:46. | :28:52. |