It seems that the Welsh Government is following through on its promises about the railway development plan referred to in a previous post. There could still be technical problems beyond the control of the transport minister, however. Apart from the signalling delays referred to in that article , I understand there is a related problem in that the existing diesel multiple units strain to hold on if they meet a red or danger signal on the incline out of Cardiff Central toward Queen Street. Clearly power specification of the replacement units will be critical.
Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Monday, 29 June 2015
CPS uey on Janner
Guido Fawkes reports that our public prosecutor has yielded to pressure over the alleged paedophile behaviour of Greville Janner. I predict that for the reasons in this post, there will be no conclusion.
Saturday, 27 June 2015
Network Rail
This is the official announcement about the shunting into the sidings of Network Rail's electrification projects in England. Note that although the government post-election still sees the Great Western electrification as "a priority", Mr McLoughlin carefully backtracked from any commitment to a date of 2018 for the wires to reach Swansea. We are fortunate that orders for the train sets to operate on the upgraded line have already been placed. The Department of Transport would look rather foolish with electric trains on its hands with no lines to run them on. Cancelling the contracts would not only be expensive but also do no good to the employment figures in the north-east. As it is, the Conservatives had better not drag their feet too much or their seats in south-west Wales may be in jeopardy.
According to news reports on BBC Radio on Thursday, Network Rail blames its failure to keep to plan on the "ambitious" Midland electrification on a lack of qualified staff. But the shortage of appropriately-trained engineers has been known about for three years or more, so that the timetable could have been adjusted well before the election. Another factor is said to be that Network Rail is employing new techniques (presumably to reduce track occupancy time) on the GWR electrification which is already under way and these have proved problematical.
It seems to me that another factor is Network Rail's debt burden, £34bn before the election and likely to exceed £50bn by 2019 according to this report. This shows on the government books. Spreading the £38bn of the electrification programme over five or even ten years is going to look better than concentrating it in three.
According to news reports on BBC Radio on Thursday, Network Rail blames its failure to keep to plan on the "ambitious" Midland electrification on a lack of qualified staff. But the shortage of appropriately-trained engineers has been known about for three years or more, so that the timetable could have been adjusted well before the election. Another factor is said to be that Network Rail is employing new techniques (presumably to reduce track occupancy time) on the GWR electrification which is already under way and these have proved problematical.
It seems to me that another factor is Network Rail's debt burden, £34bn before the election and likely to exceed £50bn by 2019 according to this report. This shows on the government books. Spreading the £38bn of the electrification programme over five or even ten years is going to look better than concentrating it in three.
Friday, 26 June 2015
A chicken, not an eagle
The shadow leader of the house had another pop at the Liberal Democrats yesterday.
Finally, I feel compelled to mention the developing drama in the Liberal Democrat leadership race. Only the Liberal Democrats could manage to have a split when they have eight MPs. This week the right hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) had to apologise after his activists were caught discrediting his rival by calling round the party’s entire membership, which cannot have taken very long, although he earned the endorsement of boxer Frank Bruno, which means that at least he has one big hitter.
Anything to distract from the rather more bitter in-fighting in the Labour Party. But this is the second go she has had a go at our eight MPs this month but only one attempting to attack the fifty-six Scottish Nationalists. Perhaps she was abashed by this roar three weeks ago
Finally, I feel compelled to mention the developing drama in the Liberal Democrat leadership race. Only the Liberal Democrats could manage to have a split when they have eight MPs. This week the right hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) had to apologise after his activists were caught discrediting his rival by calling round the party’s entire membership, which cannot have taken very long, although he earned the endorsement of boxer Frank Bruno, which means that at least he has one big hitter.
Anything to distract from the rather more bitter in-fighting in the Labour Party. But this is the second go she has had a go at our eight MPs this month but only one attempting to attack the fifty-six Scottish Nationalists. Perhaps she was abashed by this roar three weeks ago
And what about the Scottish National party? The vaingloriously self-styled Scottish 56 have now been in Parliament for nearly a month. They promised to make the Scottish lion roar at Westminster—
Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP): Grrr!
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Continuity in transport policy
The BBC has headlined that the Welsh Government will push ahead with the M4 diversion over the Gwent levels in spite of the departure after next year's general election of transport minister Edwina Hart. No doubt they will have increased support from David Cameron, now that he is able to govern alone, on the grounds of its benefits for Welsh business. The FSB in Wales has a rather different view, expressed in that BBC report:
Iestyn Davies of the Federation of Small Businesses said "a £1bn piece of tarmac for around 13 miles" was not a priority for small businesses.
While he agreed the road around Newport was a "bottleneck", he said the money could be better spent elsewhere to support skills or improve transport across Wales.
There was another commitment made by Ms Hart, one which is rather more significant for transport throughout Wales. Rail Wales asserted in its last newsletter that Edwina Hart had in effect endorsed Railfuture's Development Plan* in an interview by Huw Edwards on BBC Wales TV:
She even stated that Network Rail would be an integral component in such a transformation [,] the kind of transformation that we have been advocating for some years, recognising not only the potential improvements this would bring for rail passengers but also the role an expanding network could have in nation-building (her words). For instance, she is thinking hard about Caerfyrddin/Carmarthen to Aberystwyth.
The latter is something that I know is supported by Liberal Democrats in West Wales. The Rail Wales article goes on:
The good news is that, after 2018, it is likely we shall have an interim set-up, much better than what we have now and one which can hopefully lead eventually to the vision as set out by Railfuture Cymru. It was encouraging to hear in the TV programme that Edwina thinks that she and her team have a good working relationship with the Dept for Transport in London - and, contrary to what you might envisage, her feeling is that their mood is not set totally against Wales going it alone eventually and having its own arms-length, not-for-dividend rail company - without interference from Whitehall.
So it appears that Labour is committed to a progressive railways policy. I expect the Liberal Democrat manifesto to go at least as far. Questions will need to be asked of Plaid Cymru (do they still give priority to north-south air links? for instance) and the Conservatives going in to the 2016 election campaign.
* pdf here: http://www.railfuture.org.uk/DL702
Update: The government has decided to rein back Network Rail's modernisation programme. It is not unduly cynical to note the timing of the DoT's discovery that the programme was over-ambitious, a few weeks after the election. More anon.
Iestyn Davies of the Federation of Small Businesses said "a £1bn piece of tarmac for around 13 miles" was not a priority for small businesses.
While he agreed the road around Newport was a "bottleneck", he said the money could be better spent elsewhere to support skills or improve transport across Wales.
There was another commitment made by Ms Hart, one which is rather more significant for transport throughout Wales. Rail Wales asserted in its last newsletter that Edwina Hart had in effect endorsed Railfuture's Development Plan* in an interview by Huw Edwards on BBC Wales TV:
She even stated that Network Rail would be an integral component in such a transformation [,] the kind of transformation that we have been advocating for some years, recognising not only the potential improvements this would bring for rail passengers but also the role an expanding network could have in nation-building (her words). For instance, she is thinking hard about Caerfyrddin/Carmarthen to Aberystwyth.
The latter is something that I know is supported by Liberal Democrats in West Wales. The Rail Wales article goes on:
The good news is that, after 2018, it is likely we shall have an interim set-up, much better than what we have now and one which can hopefully lead eventually to the vision as set out by Railfuture Cymru. It was encouraging to hear in the TV programme that Edwina thinks that she and her team have a good working relationship with the Dept for Transport in London - and, contrary to what you might envisage, her feeling is that their mood is not set totally against Wales going it alone eventually and having its own arms-length, not-for-dividend rail company - without interference from Whitehall.
So it appears that Labour is committed to a progressive railways policy. I expect the Liberal Democrat manifesto to go at least as far. Questions will need to be asked of Plaid Cymru (do they still give priority to north-south air links? for instance) and the Conservatives going in to the 2016 election campaign.
* pdf here: http://www.railfuture.org.uk/DL702
Update: The government has decided to rein back Network Rail's modernisation programme. It is not unduly cynical to note the timing of the DoT's discovery that the programme was over-ambitious, a few weeks after the election. More anon.
Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Bureaucracy stifling English general practice
The Bishop of Chester's contribution to the opening question of Monday's House of Lords session was:
My Lords, I declare inside information, in that my daughter is a trainee GP. I asked her about these issues last night. In Cheshire and Wirral there are vacant training places with no GP trainees to take them. On asking her why people did not want to go into general practice, she said that it is the growing burden of bureaucracy and administration. What do the Government plan to do about that?
This is further evidence for Dr Phil Hammond's criticism, written as M.D. in the last Private Eye:
M.D. takes a simple view on NHS reform: the perfect structure doesn't exist in any organisation, least of all something as complex as the NHS, and it can be profoundly damaging to keep reorganising in the hope of finding it.
The side effects of the ill-judged Health and Social Care Act have been so severe that even lawyers are blowing the whistle to the "Eye". As one put it: "I get so angry when the government says it's reduced NHS bureaucracy. It might have cut the number of managers but the bureaucracy has mushroomed after Lansley's Act. For example, to run community services out of a GP practice used to be simple - a single lease arrangement and contract between the GPs and the primary care trust (PCT). Now the PCT commissioning powers have transferred to the clinical commissioning group (CCG). The PCT's interest as tenant transfers to NHS Property Service Limited (NHSPS). NHSPS is now the direct landlord of the provider of the service and the commissioning contract is with CCG. so now there are four parties to the arrangement to provide simple community services from the GP premises - the GPs, the CCG, NSHPS and the provider. [...] With each added party, there are more hoops to jump through, more people on the email trails, more people at the meetings, more approval processes, more professional fees, more time wasted and greater delay."
Conservatives will no doubt blame Liberal Democrats, and in particular Liberal Democrat peers, for introducing extra checks and balances as the Health and Social Care Bill was amended. But they were only necessary to prevent the privatisation which was enabled by the Lansley plan. (Why this was allowed to be unleashed in contravention not only of all the party manifestos but also the coalition agreement has yet to be explained.) The Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment had been to take out a layer of bureaucracy from the NHS in England without sacrificing its public service principles.
As far as I know, we have escaped the worst of this in Wales - but perhaps if any Welsh GPs are reading this, they can put me right.
My Lords, I declare inside information, in that my daughter is a trainee GP. I asked her about these issues last night. In Cheshire and Wirral there are vacant training places with no GP trainees to take them. On asking her why people did not want to go into general practice, she said that it is the growing burden of bureaucracy and administration. What do the Government plan to do about that?
This is further evidence for Dr Phil Hammond's criticism, written as M.D. in the last Private Eye:
M.D. takes a simple view on NHS reform: the perfect structure doesn't exist in any organisation, least of all something as complex as the NHS, and it can be profoundly damaging to keep reorganising in the hope of finding it.
The side effects of the ill-judged Health and Social Care Act have been so severe that even lawyers are blowing the whistle to the "Eye". As one put it: "I get so angry when the government says it's reduced NHS bureaucracy. It might have cut the number of managers but the bureaucracy has mushroomed after Lansley's Act. For example, to run community services out of a GP practice used to be simple - a single lease arrangement and contract between the GPs and the primary care trust (PCT). Now the PCT commissioning powers have transferred to the clinical commissioning group (CCG). The PCT's interest as tenant transfers to NHS Property Service Limited (NHSPS). NHSPS is now the direct landlord of the provider of the service and the commissioning contract is with CCG. so now there are four parties to the arrangement to provide simple community services from the GP premises - the GPs, the CCG, NSHPS and the provider. [...] With each added party, there are more hoops to jump through, more people on the email trails, more people at the meetings, more approval processes, more professional fees, more time wasted and greater delay."
Conservatives will no doubt blame Liberal Democrats, and in particular Liberal Democrat peers, for introducing extra checks and balances as the Health and Social Care Bill was amended. But they were only necessary to prevent the privatisation which was enabled by the Lansley plan. (Why this was allowed to be unleashed in contravention not only of all the party manifestos but also the coalition agreement has yet to be explained.) The Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment had been to take out a layer of bureaucracy from the NHS in England without sacrificing its public service principles.
As far as I know, we have escaped the worst of this in Wales - but perhaps if any Welsh GPs are reading this, they can put me right.
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Let us not forget about the legal aid cuts
The Independent's James Ashton's pen portrait of Catherine Dixon, the chief executive of the Law Society, draws attention to the fact that the Ministry of Justice is an unprotected department in the face of government cuts.
Around £700m has been taken out of the annual legal aid budget since 2010, leaving 600,000 people no longer entitled to help. The second half of a £220m cuts package is due next month. Contracts for duty solicitors who attend magistrates’ courts and police stations are being cut by two-thirds.
The cost of going to law in civil matters has increased as well.
The most recent increase in court fees means it is now 40 times more expensive to issue claims here than in New York. “If you are a Russian oligarch bringing proceedings here, the court fee is not going to impact on you but if you are a small or medium-sized business trying to recover payment from a larger organisation then it is really significant.”
“If we were a developing country, then establishing a rule of law and access to justice would be fundamental before we start thinking about health and education,” Dixon adds. “Given that, it really is critical that we don’t undermine it.”
Around £700m has been taken out of the annual legal aid budget since 2010, leaving 600,000 people no longer entitled to help. The second half of a £220m cuts package is due next month. Contracts for duty solicitors who attend magistrates’ courts and police stations are being cut by two-thirds.
The cost of going to law in civil matters has increased as well.
The most recent increase in court fees means it is now 40 times more expensive to issue claims here than in New York. “If you are a Russian oligarch bringing proceedings here, the court fee is not going to impact on you but if you are a small or medium-sized business trying to recover payment from a larger organisation then it is really significant.”
“If we were a developing country, then establishing a rule of law and access to justice would be fundamental before we start thinking about health and education,” Dixon adds. “Given that, it really is critical that we don’t undermine it.”
Monday, 22 June 2015
Neath losing its online news services
The Neath Guardian has been devoid of new content for months now. The Neath Voice Facebook page has closed down with the retirement of Peter Hain as MP. The Ferret provides an outlet for some local opinion and Stan carries out a sort of Private Eye service in relation to local politics, but these are not news outlets. The revamped Evening Post website is good - and I like its new email news feed - but it naturally concentrates on its Swansea base.
Reluctantly, I will have to take down my link to the Neath Guardian unless the people behind it can restore the service. The question is, what should replace it, if anything?
Reluctantly, I will have to take down my link to the Neath Guardian unless the people behind it can restore the service. The question is, what should replace it, if anything?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)