Should welfare be devolved to Wales?

It seems the calls last year from the Scottish Council for VoluntaryAction (SCOVO) for welfare and social security to be devolved to the Scottish Government have reached the hallowed halls of Welsh Think Tank land as the Bevan Foundation in conjunction with the IWA’s ‘Changing Union’ project has launched an online survey to assess whether or not welfare in full or part should be devolved to the Welsh Government.

The survey is HERE if you are interested in participating or pass it on to those organisations who would benefit from participating and Bevan's preamble is HERE

For what it worth I doubt there will be any appetite in Wales for devolving something that involves taking responsibility for actions and taking away the comfort blanket of blaming the UK Government or the baby eating Tories for Wales’s ills, but maybe i’ll be surprised.

Natural Resources Body for Wales (additional consultation)

I have to admit missing this first consultation by the Welsh Government earlier in the year to set up the Natural Resources Body for Wales, the new body will be a merger of Environment Agency Wales, Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) and Forestry Commission Wales, it currently has no name and will start work in April 2013.

But with the controversy over the appointment of Peter Matthews a former water industry executive from England who knows little about Wales as it’s Chair plus this new consultation from Environment Minster John Griffiths asking for views on what the Natural Resources body will do. 

With that in mind and the rubber stamping to set the body up by the Welsh Assembly before recess It’s worth all of us taking more interest in what the Welsh Government is doing to our natural resources given how valuable they are. And its good to know that some objections have already been raised  particularly the timber industry, lets see if others follow.

The full consultation documents and details are HERE

New Building, New Politics?

It was quite funny to see so many MP’s worrying about having to move out of the House of Commons for up to five years in order for the Commons authorities to complete major repair and refurbishment work to the building that could cost about £3 billion, more if MP's remain.

The Westminster palaces are historic and a symbol of parliamentary sovereignty and should be preserved for visitors, but if our politicians were smart they would realize the costs of an old building will continually rise and use this as an opportunity after the numerous scandals over decades and general and growing public apathy to commission and build a new UK Parliament building, after all what more powerful symbol of political renewal on these islands could there be.