Specialist

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Investment Direct February 2011 edition

See the links below for examples:

Travel costs drive up inflation – May 2011

Investment Focus: Jupiter Ecology Fund – April 2011

Ethical investing doesn’t mean sacrificing returns – April 2011

Investment Focus: JP Morgan Global Consumer Trends Fund– February 2011

Passive vs active funds feature – January 2011

Investment Focus: M&G Global Dividend Fund – January 2011

Economist expresses concern over temporary funding fix

UK government assurances on funding levels in Wales are unsatisfactory, according to the chair of the review of the country’s finances.

In November last year, the Wales Office said the Treasury had agreed to ‘take action’ if Wales became disproportionately disadvantaged by the Barnett Formula, which sets the relative funding levels for the UK nations.

But Gerald Holtham, chair of the Independent Commission for Funding and Finance in Wales, told the Commons Welsh affairs select committee that ‘an ad hoc fix [to the formula] if Wales moans enough is not the way to go’…Full article.

Barnett Formula

News story on reaction to the Holtham Commission's first report

Welsh political leaders have welcomed the report of the Holtham Commission on funding for Wales and called for early implementation of its proposals…Full article

AMs to vote on devolution referendum

Welsh Assembly members will vote next week on whether a referendum should be held on greater law-making powers for Wales.

First Minister Carwyn Jones tabled the proposal on February 2, saying the Welsh Assembly Government was asking for a referendum on whether ‘laws which affect the people of Wales – the laws under which our government works – should be made in Wales’.

The vote in the Assembly, scheduled for February 9, would be the trigger for the first minister to write to Welsh Secretary Peter Hain requesting a referendum.

This would then have to be put to both UK Houses of Parliament for approval.

But the process is already dogged with uncertainty as the Welsh Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said they would not support the motion unless they received assurances that a future referendum would not be held on the same date as the Assembly elections in 2011.

The WAG needs at least 40 votes out of 60 for the motion to be carried, and will need opposition support to ensure sufficient votes are secured. Full article

New Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones has promised to increase education spending from 2011.

In his first outing at First Minister’s Questions on January 12, Jones, who was elected Welsh Labour leader on December 1, told Assembly Members he would seek to boost the education block grant, a commitment made in his leadership campaign.

Questioned by Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams on whether he would introduce a supplementary budget to increase allocations to education, Jones said: ‘I intend to keep to the promise I made and that is to look at increasing spending along the lines you mentioned from 2011 onwards.

‘We already have a substantial education budget and one thing I would certainly never want to do is make promises that are unaffordable.’ Full article

Giving the Welsh Assembly full law-making powers over the 20 devolved policy areas would substantially improve the current system, a landmark report has said.

The findings of the All Wales Convention, a 16-strong committee set up to investigate the appetite for further devolution in Wales, said that a ‘yes’ vote in a referendum on the issue was obtainable in the right circumstances.

Polling research showed 47% in favour of full law-making powers. Convention chair Sir Emyr Jones Parry told Public Finance that the consultation process – which began in January – had been ‘evidence-based throughout’ and a united report had been easily achieved.

‘It is not for me to be arrogant enough to say is it conclusive. [But] I’m a scientist, and I think the evidence leads very clearly to a conclusion that getting all the powers at once is better for a whole range of reasons. That’s what the people of Wales have told us and we believe that.’

The convention found that full legislating power over the 20 devolved areas for Wales would be more efficient, allow a more strategic approach to legislating, provide greater clarity and be more consistent with democratic tradition.

Jones Parry told PF that ‘democracy should be based on people understanding what their responsibilities and rights are, how they’re governed and how these processes work – and at the moment there is a fog’.

Under the current system, proposals by the Welsh Assembly Government to legislate in a certain area have to be scrutinised and passed in Cardiff and Westminster.

These include ‘framework provisions’, where sections on Welsh powers are included in Westminster Bills.

The convention’s report also looked at the workings of the current system and has made a series of recommendations. Full article

Work in progress feature

Feature on the devolution debate

Welsh voters were lukewarm about devolution over a decade ago. But now the All Wales Convention is gauging citizens’ support for wider law-making powers – and meeting with some success. Paul Dicken reports

You could be forgiven for being pessimistic about the work of the All Wales Convention, the body set up to stimulate discussion on the future of devolution. In the midst of the recession, it has too start encouraging public debate on the National Assembly and gauge opinion on whether full law-making powers should be devolved. Conservative leader David Cameron might have struck a chord on his recent visit to south Wales, when he criticised ‘endless arguments about more and more processes’ around devolution, and urged people instead to talk about real concerns, such as jobs and credit for business.

Even at the best of economic times, tackling governance in Wales would be challenging…Full article

Child poverty story

Progress on reducing child poverty in Wales has been ‘inadequate’ and the economic climate should not be used as an excuse for shying away from the problem, the children’s commissioner for Wales has said.

In his second annual review as commissioner, Keith Towler said child poverty was a ‘child rights issue’ that existed in any environment, perhaps becoming more important when the ‘prevailing economic situation is in a downturn’…Full article

Home Care charges

Charity warns over home care proposals

The Welsh Assembly Government’s proposals to bring consistency to charges for home care services might mean some people will pay more than they currently do, campaigners have said…Full article

Article on plans for mental health services

MPs in Westminster have backed a backbench AM proposal to give the Welsh Assembly Government legal powers to reform mental health services.

The Legislative Competence Order (Health and Health Services and Social Welfare) has been proposed by Conservative AM Jonathan Morgan, who also chairs the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee. It is the first non-government LCO proposal to get this far.

Morgan told Public Finance that the order would give the WAG powers to improve services for people before they became seriously ill, bringing together health and social services…Full story

Assembly Government publish draft budget

The Welsh Assembly Government has announced it will protect health and youth employment budgets from cuts while spending across the public sector is restrained.

The WAG’s Draft budget 2010/11, published on October 5, said that Wales had to deal with less funding than expected from Westminster. There was also a shortfall in capital funds after projects were brought forward as an economic stimulus measure.

Finance Minister Andrew Davies said the budget involved ‘making tough decisions’.

‘Our approach to living within tighter budgets is framed around efficiencies – that means focusing on reducing costs and obtaining greater value from our investment rather than reducing services,’ he said.

Areas that will receive significant additional funding are programmes to tackle youth unemployment, boosted by £20m; health services, which will receive £50m to support structural changes and demand increases; and local government, which will be given £34m for organisational reform.

Any additional money is a result of ‘reprioritisations’ of funding and projected savings. In health – the largest area of spending – further initiatives will save £91.6m. Full story

Assembly Government forced to revise targets

The Welsh Assembly Government is revising its labour market strategy after conceding it is going to miss a key employment target.

The Plaid Cymru-Labour coalition governments One Wales agreement aimed for 80% of working age adults to be in employment by 2011. Ministers now believe this will be missed. Currently, 69.7% of people in Wales over the age of 16 are classed as economically active.

A paper to the WAG Cabinet, presented by Education and Skills Minister Jane Hutt, said the UK Department for Work and Pensions programmes would achieve only around half the increase in employment needed. Even that was ‘optimistic’ given the recession.

Hutt expects the labour market strategy to ‘help significantly by streamlining and integrating the wide range of interventions at the all-Wales and local levels…Full article