Former Economic Development Minister, and subsequently Finance Minister, Andrew Davies says that he asked over and over again for data on performance but was fobbed off by senior officials. He added:

“It’s been a long time coming. I don’t blame ministers for this, I hold responsible senior management and senior civil servants in the Department of Economic Development and Transport responsible for the effective waste of £100m of public expenditure.”

“The weaknesses of the Technium concept have been identified over many years. Audit reports have said it is very good in principle but delivery is poor. There was no strategy for the roll out of Technium and it was flawed in terms of its day-to-day management.”

He has written to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee calling for an investigation. The Permanent Secretary’s response is fairly lukewarm. Her spokesperson said: “We are focused on supporting ministers during this challenging period and have no wish to comment on anecdotes.”

If the Permanent Secretary is nonplussed it is hardly surprising. Tradition in Government is that Ministers take resposnibility for the actions of their civil servants and that if they cannot get cooperation then they ask for a change of officials.

A number of Welsh Ministers have already taken this course of action so it is puzzling as to why Andrew Davies was unable to do the same. His attempt at protecting his own legacy by blaming his officials for everything that went wrong under his tenure as a Minister is transparent and blatant.

It is right that the Auditor General finds out what went wrong and who is responsible but if it proves to be a Government failing as Andrew Davies alleges then it should be him who takes the brunt of the blame not those who worked for him.

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Mr Davies said he was unconvinced that structural changes to senior management had delivered savings of £505,000. The Swansea West AM held the economic development portfolio from 2002 until 2007 and is concerned by how long it has taken to apply the recommendations of a series of wide-ranging reports.

He said that on at least one occasion the committee felt it was “unable to scrutinise legislation” because of “insufficient detail”.

Interestingly, one of Mr. Davies’ coalition allies was less than impressed, questioning his motives for raising these matters:

Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks queried why Andrew Davies was taking this approach to his questions, saying: “I’m bemused to a certain extent that a former minister is now saying these things and I think we as a committee need to reflect on where Andrew is coming from.”

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Mr. Davies claims that previous plans to create a sector approach to business support had met with “total resistance” from some senior civil servants:

Mr. Davies said that while he had been Minister for the Economy and Transport he had set up the Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG), headed by Ford executive Richard Parry-Jones and other leading business figures, who were tasked with helping to bring their considerable private sector expertise to shape a new strategic direction for WAG’s business support.

The former minister said that his increasing sense of frustration at the performance of some civil servants was one of the reasons why he has decided to stand down as an AM.

Nobody should underestimate the difficulty of combating institutional conservatism but we should also remember that Mr. Davies was a leading member of the Government that dismantled key economic quangos so as to reportedly gain more control over the implementation of policy. He demonstrated then that he was capable of removing perceived obstacles to his policies, does he really expect us to believe that he was subsequently incapable of working with the departmental structures he helped to create?

One of the problems of course is the culture that surrounded that reorganisation, which Mr. Davies helped to foster. As with the subsequent health changes the Labour Government insisted that there should be no redundancies and so created possibly hundreds of jobs to slot former quangocrats into.

They were responsible for an over-bloated bureaucracy at a time when other bodies funded by the Welsh Government were being encouraged to slim down. I would not be surprised if some of the staff brought into the civil service as part of that reorganisation are still on ‘gardening leave’.

What sort of example is that to others? The point is that Labour Ministers put themselves in the position of preaching to businesses without getting their own house in order first.

If Mr. Davies considers that he failed because he was let down by those who worked for him then maybe it is a good thing that he is stepping down from the Assembly. He has always been good at talking up his own performance but the truth is that he was a mediocre and partisan Minister whose accomplishments can be measured on the fingers of one hand.

The former Finance Minister leaves behind an over-staffed, unfocussed civil service, an Assembly budget that is stuffed full of fat and inefficiencies and constant echoes of his sanctimonious preaching about partnership at a time when his own government failed to get a grip on that agenda for its own directly-funded services.

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That is reflected in all the coverage, even by the now politically-correct BBC, even though the festival organisers themselves do make an attempt to deal with the issue in the range and diversity of the events they put on. Not surprisingly one of the worse offenders is the Guardian itself, who recently published an article by Homa Khaleeli that suggested that the festival was being taken over by politicians, as if this invasion was unusual and game-changing.

This article has been taken to task in today’s paper by the Director of the Open University in Wales and former Welsh Liberal Democrat Party President, Rob Humphreys. He writes:

Homa Khaleeli’s piece of politician-watching at the Hay festival (Invasion of the politicians!, G2, 1 June), with its listing of some welcome visitors, was woefully (and typically for the Guardian) London-centric. Prominent elected representatives of Wales – where Hay-on-Wye is situated – are frequent attendees and speakers. This year the list of speakers and panellists includes the Welsh environment minister, Jane Davidson, the Welsh heritage minister, Alun Ffred Jones (members, respectively, of Labour and Plaid Cymru – the two parts of the governing coalition), and Kirsty Williams, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

A better-informed glance around the festival site on the first weekend would also have revealed Nick Bourne, the Welsh Conservative group leader in the Welsh assembly, the local MP, Roger Williams, and prominent Labour AM Andrew Davies, to name but three. The former first minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan, and the presiding officer of the assembly, Dafydd Elis Thomas, have been distinguished speakers in previous years at Hay. The director of the festival, Peter Florence, has brilliantly described Hay as a “free port” of ideas. It is, nonetheless, in and of Wales. Thus politicians of Wales do not have to “invade” the festival – for better or worse they play their natural part in sharing, transmitting and receiving ideas within Wales and, significantly, across a wider international stage.

Of course it is not just journalists who get it wrong. Last week I sat through an enthralling interview in which Rosie Boycott talked to the historian Niall Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson spoke authoratively and passionately about the ‘national curriculum’ and its treatment of history as if it applied to the whole of the UK, rather than just England. He spoke, and the interviewer did not correct him, as if he were in the heart of England and that all of us, Welsh, Scots and Irish included were blighted by the decisions of previous English Education Ministers in the same way.

Then, as if to rub it in Rosie Boycott pointed out that the new Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, was in the audience and invited him to contribute. He spoke as if he were responsible for the education of all of us and never once acknowledged the fact that he is not, in fact, the Minister responsible for the National Curriculum in the area in which he sat, but just England. Nor did he show any awareness of the devolution settlement. It is at times like these that one regrets rushing off to another event leaving no time to correct matters.

To be fair to the BBC, they have fully educated most of their correspondents and news readers as to the subtleties and nuances of the devolution settlement. I think it would be useful if the same course could be laid on for journalists on London-based newspapers and also for those presenting at Hay on relevant matters.

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That is most probably just as well as it is likely that his Swansea West seat would fall to the Welsh Liberal Democrats anyway, but the timing of this announcement is significant and shows Andrew’s disillusionment with the outcome of the Labour leadership race.

Andrew Davies was a firm supporter of Edwina Hart’s candidacy and is known to have been at odds with Carwyn Jones for sometime. His long and rambling press release, in which a number of the great and the good are lined up to sing his praises, presumably also signals that he will not be staying on in the cabinet either.

That will be a bit of a blow to the Western Mail, who devoted two pages in today’s paper to anonymous Plaid Cymru sources who were arguing for Andrew to be kept on as Finance Minister.

Update: Betsan Powys reports that Carwyn Jones has effectively sacked Andrew Davies by press release. Not a very auspicious start to the new regime at all.

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Giving evidence on his draft budget to the Finance Committee, Andrew Davies struggled to defend his government’s short-sighted plans to cut higher and further education funding by 5% despite the desperate need to re-train those who have lost their jobs and despite the fact that Wales needs to invest in education to prepare for future economic growth.

On several occasions throughout the proceedings he repeated the question, ‘Where is the money going to come from?’ while Labour backbencher Ann Jones helpfully reminded him of an unallocated £50 million he has stashed away in the health budget.

All in all, the Labour backbenchers were unusually vocal and direct in challenging the Minister, and the three of them on the committee – Alun Davies, Lorraine Barrett and Ann Jones – evidently felt passionately about the need to invest in education.

Given that the Labour-Plaid government’s budget singularly fails to deliver what these three AMs think it should, it will be interesting to watch how they vote when the budget is put before the Assembly in two weeks’ time.

Two of the aforementioned AMs were part of a group of six Labour AMs who voted against their government’s plans for a badger cull in Pembrokeshire (to halt the spread of Bovine TB) yesterday. Clearly they are not afraid to vote against their own government when it comes to protecting wildlife. Will the same hold true when it comes to protecting people’s chances of a better future?

That was two of the three. The third?

I don’t hold out much hope. This time a year ago, Alun Davies supported his government’s previous cut to colleges’ budgets – and then had the shameless audacity to campaign against the cuts with the college unions…. outside the very building in which he cast his vote.

No, I am willing to bet that in a fortnight’s time, these apparently vocal opponents of the government’s education strategy will no doubt appear as supine as their Plaid Cymru partners.

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On the capital budget there appears to be mixed messages coming from Ministers. At Plenary on Wednesday the Finance Minister denied categorically that there had been a cut in the health services’ capital budget at all:

Andrew Davies: You are factually incorrect to say that the health capital budget has been cut by an alleged £114 million. What you forget is that the Government was allowed to bring forward capital expenditure from 2010-11 to this year and the previous year, which meant that the allocation for this current year was increased as a result of that reprofiling and was reduced in 2010-11. However, that did not represent a cut because the money was spent this year and the previous year. So, saying that that is a cut is illegitimate.

Yet in an answer to a written question to me the Health Minister states that only £29.2 million has been brought forward from 2010-11. So on that basis there is a clear cut of £86.6 million in the capital budget for health. That means less money for equipment, for making health service premises safe and for modernisation. Of course there is money that the Health Minister can bid for from the Strategic Capital Investment Fund, of which she already had £86 million, some of which will be spent this year. But this will go on specific projects rather than new equipment for example.

The other issue the Minister needs to clear up is her own contradictory statements on capital money brought forward. As I said above, a written answer to me indicated that this amounts to £29.2 million though her report to committee states it is £58.4 million. It is little wonder that the budget process is so opaque when the Minister cannot even produce consistent facts within the space of a single week.

The cost of reorganising the health service is another matter. We have been led to believe in the past that this process will actually save money and yet a sum of £50 million has been put aside next year to pay for it. Anybody wanting to find out where that money is going needs to look no further than this morning’s Western Mail.

They report that NHS chief executives and finance directors displaced by the new arrangements have a guarantee that their existing salaries will be protected for 10 years. Many are earning in excess of £100,000 a year. This is due to the policy of no compulsory redundancies, which means that despite the reduction in senior posts, those who wish to stay are being accommodated.

This is similar to the process that happened when quangos such as ELWa were subsumed into the Welsh Government. Many former employees of that body are working in jobs now that could appear to have been invented to keep them on the books.

I expect some robust questioning on Wednesday.

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Betsan Powys reports on her blog that two websites are already registered ready for the battle ahead. Carwyn4Labour.com is registered to Carwyn Jones, National Assembly, Cardiff, Wales, CF99 1NA just six days ago, whilst Edwina4Labour.com was created and registered yesterday.

Betsan says that the administrative contact for Edwina’s site is Mark Ronconi of Business Web Marketing of Upper Killay in Swansea which is interesting because that surname also crops up in relation to a member of Andrew Davies’ staff. It is likely just to be a business relationship but it also poses the question, does that mean that the Swansea West AM is definitely not standing?

I was at an event yesterday at which Counsel General and current bookies’ favourite, Carwyn Jones was speaking. Carwyn is widely acknowledged to be a strong communicator and is considered to be the best known of all the candidates. However, as he stood up to speak I was accosted by a journalist who wanted to know who he was.

Perhaps a bit more work is needed on the public relations front.

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Star turn this year is Assembly Finance Minister, Andrew Davies who plans to urge Council leaders to protect the most vulnerable in society from the effects of the downturn.

The vast majority if not all of those assembled will of course have this objective as their number one priority. However, it would help everybody if the Finance Minister himself treated such vital frontline councils services with the same importance when it comes to actually doling out the money.

This year despite the fact that the Welsh Government got a 4.6% uplift in their budget, Councils themselves only got a 2.9% increase. This contrasts unfavourably with all other Assembly departments, including Central Administration who had a higher ranking in the Finance Minister’s largesse than the vital frontline services he now wants to protect.

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Instead, Finance Minister, Andrew Davies stepped into the breach in a possible rehearsal for his future leadership ambitions. Once more Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams stole the show with an impassioned plea for the government to take action on child poverty. David Williamson from the Western Mail takes up the story:

The spectators above the AMs gradually drifted away – Mr Davies does not play to the gallery and most AMs were more focussed on their computer screens than any dialogue. But a person who could play a decisive role in the fortunes of the next Labour leader did her best to ruffle him.

Kirsty Williams, the Liberal Democrat leader who will likely one day be involved in coalition negotiations, conveyed fury that child poverty levels in Wales have gone up.

She said: “Child poverty in Scotland has fallen, child poverty in Northern Ireland has stayed the same, and child poverty in Wales is getting worse.”

The circular seating arrangements of the chamber might have been designed to foster consensual politics, but it also means a Government minister can gaze out at Presiding Officer Dafydd Elis-Thomas while keeping his back turned to the opposition leader who asked the question.

Ms Williams sat shaking her head in apparently seething frustration. When Mr Davies started to refer to the record of the last Conservative Government, she shot out: “With all due respect, children in Wales do not need history lessons on the conservatives. They need some help from the Labour party.”

In the gallery, a woman’s voice was heard to remark: “She’s feisty!”And it sounded like a vote of approval. Public passion is a rare thing in Welsh politics, but if Mr Davies can flash it in public before the summer recess, the coming Labour leadership might be rather interesting.

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