Archive for the ‘Blogs’ Category

Local MP Guto Bebb held a public meeting in Penrhyn Bay last Friday evening.  A meeting attended by local residents in St. David’s Church hall allowed them to quiz Guto on a wide variety of subjects including Europe.

Guto has recently been selected to sit on the Welfare Reform Committee and took this opportunity to address those present on these proposed changes that will affect everybody.

The event was filmed by Penrhyn Bay resident, Mel Woosey who is currently in the process of setting up a Community TV Company.

Guto holds regular surgeries and public meetings across the Constituency. Dates and locations can be found in the North Wales Weekly News Community News section and on the website gutobebbmp.co.uk.

It was confirmed this week that Guto has been invited to be a member of the Welfare Reform Bill Committee which will be steering this Bill through the Committee Stage.  Guto has always had a huge interest in this subject and is delighted to be able to make contribution to what could well be one of the most important bills of this Parliament.  To this end, Guto is keen to hear YOUR VIEWS which you can send by email or post.  Guto will also be arranging a public meeting during the Easter Recess so that interested parties may come and present their arguments to him.  Don't miss your opportunity to have your say.

The Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the Spring Forum at Welsh Conference. 

In his speech he said:

 It’s great to be back in Cardiff.  This time last year I said the dragon of Welsh Conservatism would roar once more......and look what happened last May.  From Aberconwy in the North, to the Vale of Glamorgan in the South from the mountains to the valleys, the message rang out the Conservatives are back – back in Wales, back in government, back serving the country we love once more.

And this wasn’t just the pendulum swinging our way again. It was because of the out-and-out hard work of the team here in Wales.  The team at the top – Cheryl, Nick: thank you for everything that you’ve done.  And to the team on the ground you fought that election last May with guts, with passion and with perseverance and we will need every ounce of that fighting spirit for the Assembly elections this May.

Let us get out there and show Labour that they cannot take Wales for granted.  And together we must tell people about the policies that you campaigned for and we are delivering.

We said that work should always pay and today, thanks to Iain Duncan Smith and his brave reforms of welfare, that is what is happening – we are ending that benefits culture once and for all.  We said we’d had enough of politicians handing British powers over to Brussels as though they were theirs to give rather than ours to keep and now thanks to William Hague and the referendum lock he’s bringing in, that can never ever happen again.

 We said – you know what? – here is a novel idea: isn’t it time our children learned about the great history of our country in school? And I can tell you that thanks to Michael Gove, our island story is going to be told once more.  We said we’d freeze council tax – we’ve frozen it.  We said we’d cap immigration – we’ve capped it.  We said we would honour those fighting out in Afghanistan to keep us safe at home.  And the operational allowance for our brave servicemen and women – we have doubled it.  

So my friends we’ve begun to fix all those things that need fixing in our country and we can’t expect the media to tell people about it – we’ve got to get out there and do it ourselves.  I get a lot of letters these days, and a lot of emails, and I have to say they’re something of a mixed bag.  But I did get this email just a couple of weeks ago from a man from Leicestershire called Ray.  This is what Ray said: 

“Dear Sir, as a long-time Labour supporter, I find myself horrified at this government.  When you were elected, I was determined to despise every move you made and rub my hands in glee each time I heard of the latest new horror you were about to inflict on this country. I’ve been gearing myself up for months to have a good old rant about you. Then you have to go and spoil it. The policies you are making, the changes you are making, appear to be good for this country. Please do something horrible before my world is shattered.”

I’m sorry Ray – I’m going to keep on disappointing you.  So people tell me lots of things. There’s never a shortage of advice in this job.  But I tell you – I’ve never heard anyone say this: “What I really want – what would really restore my faith in politics – is the Alternative Vote system.”  We’re amongst friends, so let’s be clear what the campaigners for AV want us to do.  They want us to ditch a voting system that has served our democracy for centuries that is used by almost half the electors on the planet and that, yes – is simple, it’s clear, it’s decisive, which time and again has given people the power to kick out tired governments.  And for what? 

Do you realise that under the system they propose, candidates who come third can actually end up winning?  Just think about that.  Just imagine it’s the Olympics, London 2012.   We’re all watching the 100 metres.  Usain Bolt powers first over the line.  But then he gets to the podium, it’s the guy who comes third who gets the gold.  We wouldn’t put up this in the Olympics what on earth are we doing thinking about it for our politics.  Let me ask everyone in this room a couple of questions:   

Do you want a system so undemocratic that your vote for a mainstream party counts once, while someone who supports a fringe party like the BNP gets their votes counted several times?

Do you want that?

 Do you want a system so obscure it’s only used by three countries in the whole world – Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea? Do you want that?  So - no to AV.  Let us take our argument to the British people, let’s give it everything we’ve got and let’s win that referendum in May. 

When we came into office ten months ago, we inherited a dreadful mess.  A broken economy. A broken society. A broken politics.  The worst of this inheritance was the state of the public finances.  I will never forget sitting down, going through the books and seeing some of the spending decisions that were made by the last government.  They had left a £38 billion black hole in the defence budget.   One pound out of every four we spent was borrowed.  We were spending - this country was spending £120 million a day – that is each and every day – just on paying the interest on our debt.  And yet even with these bills piling up, Labour were still signing blank cheques and giving the green light to multi-million pound projects we couldn’t afford.  And we’re still uncovering them today.   

Because of those PFI contracts, in one hospital it cost £333 to change a light-bulb. What on earth did they think they were doing?    I say, let’s make this a light-bulb moment for the country: never, ever trust Labour with your money ever ever again. 

They were setting up our country for the complete car crash of falling market confidence, higher interest rates, higher taxes, more bankruptcies and more job losses.  But in the end, this isn’t just about the economics. It’s also about the morality of it all.  They were happy just to pass these debts on to our children because they didn’t have the guts to do something about it.   

Now, we have set out a credible plan to balance the books. We are making the necessary cuts in public spending.  Yes, the road ahead will be hard; this year in particular.  But the plan is right.  Our credit rating has been confirmed. Market interest rates are lower. We’re on course to balance the books by the end of this Parliament.  What we’re doing might not be popular – but it is the only way.  The other way is the cowardly way, the irresponsible way and that has never, ever been the Conservative way.  

But I want to be clear about something today: our plans for government go so much further than just sorting out the deficit and balancing the books.  Remember who we fought the election for.  I know who I fought it for.  The stream of mothers who told me they were desperate to find a good school for their children.  The people who told me they were sick of going out to work knowing their neighbours were on benefits – but had no intention of getting a job.  It was for the businessman who wrote to me in tears because he was going to lose everything he worked for – all of it crushed under the weight of regulation. 

That’s who we fought the election for.

Now remember what we fought the election for: our values – the Conservative values that we knew could improve people’s lives and make our country better. We believe in responsibility – doing the right thing even if it’s the difficult thing, and understanding our obligations to others. That is why I am so passionate about building a bigger, stronger society.  The idea at the heart of this is something everyone in this room instinctively understands.  That if we want a better country and a stronger society, we must all play our part.  That’s why we’re opening up public services, devolving more power, encouraging a new wave of volunteering, asking people to take more responsibility because responsibility is what the Big Society is all about. 

We believe in real fairness.  Not the phoney fairness we’ve seen in this country for too long, where people who do the wrong thing get rewarded and people who do the right thing, who work hard, pay their taxes, who stay out of trouble get punished.  We mean real fairness – yes, help for those who cannot help themselves but also that sense that reward should be linked to behaviour.  It’s fair that when someone goes to work, they give something of what they earn to support the person who can’t work.  But here’s the deal: the person who can’t work, needs to prove it – and if it turns out they can work but they refuse to: they cannot live a life on benefits.

We also believe in real compassion.With the spending cuts we’ve got to make, we have made the conscious choice to look after the most vulnerable people in our country.  We’ve protected the NHS – and by the way, the Conservatives are the only party in Wales promising to do the same here. We’ve protected schools – with extra funding for children from poorer backgrounds.  We’ve protected the families with the least – with an extra £180 in tax credits in this year alone. And we’ve protected our elderly too – by finally doing what every government promised but never ever delivered and that is restoring the link between earnings and pensions. 

This sort of compassion is in our nature. 

Go to almost any community hall, any neighbourhood association or any charity sale up and down the country and you’ll find members of this party. And just as we show compassion at home, so we show it abroad too. While Labour were doing those dodgy deals with dictators in the desert remember, we – the people of this party – were out volunteering in Rwanda, building schools and teaching English, showing what real compassion means in practice.  I know that for some protecting the aid budget is a controversial decision.  But just think about what it means. It means that in four years’ time, we won’t just have paid down our deficit.  This country will also have vaccinated more of the world’s poorest children than there are people in the whole of England. We’ll have provided access to safe drinking water to more of the world’s poor than there are people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined. Because of what we’re doing, mothers who otherwise would have died agonising deaths in childbirth will actually see their babies go on to be children and grownups. With your hard-earned money, we are saving lives – and everyone in this country should be deeply proud of that.Let’s show that same solidarity in our support for those out on the streets of North Africa and the Middle East today. 

When Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, this party stood by those who wanted to reject Communism and embrace freedom.  And today, this party stands for and stands by those reaching for freedom in the Arab world. On Libya, our strategy is clear.  We will continue to intensify pressure on that regime.  We will continue to state clearly that international justice has a long reach and a long memory, and those who commit crimes against humanity will not go unpunished. We will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected by this crisis, and continue to demand access for aid agencies to reach those in need. And we will continue to plan, with our allies, for every eventuality.  

But let me repeat one thing, it is time for Colonel Gaddafi to go.

Now in just over two weeks’ time, George Osborne will present his Budget for Growth.  That’s why today I want to focus on another value that runs deep, really deep in this party.  It’s about the hunger to get on in life.  The spark of initiative.  The courage to make your dream happen.  The hard work to see it through.  I’m talking about enterprise.

 Enterprise is vital for our economy – we all know that. In this country we have got to to undertake a fundamental rebalancing of our economy.  Less debt, more saving. Less borrowing, more investment. Less dependence on financial services, more new industries, exports and trade.  But for we Conservatives, enterprise is about more than money, more than the economics of growth and GDP.  We understand that enterprise is not just about markets it’s also about morals.  We understand that enterprise is not just an economic good, it’s a social good too.  We understand this because we understand what it’s like in a way that our opponents simply don’t.

 Look – I know - all political parties have their fair share of lawyers, lecturers and advisers. I should know and a lot of them work very hard.  But I think one of the great things about our party – the Conservative Party – is that at our roots we are the party of builders and businesswomen; electricians and engineers; roofers and retailers.  At its beating heart this is still a party of start-ups, go-getters, risk-takers.  What drives us is getting things done – and what drives us mad is the bureaucracy, the forms, the nonsense that get in our way.  We’re the party of practical men and women, people with a passion and a mission to build a business and see it grow not just for the money, not for the glory but for the simple reward and deep satisfaction of seeing your efforts pay off.  We are the party of enterprise. And let me tell you – right now, right here today in Britain 2011, we have got the most almighty job to do.  Because for over a decade in this country the enemies of enterprise have had their way.  Taxing.  Regulating.  Smothering. Crushing.  Getting in the way.

 There is no shortage of enterprise in this country.  You see it in the 30,000-plus new firms that were started in January this year alone. I see it in the ideas and the energy of all the entrepreneurs I meet- I get to meet some extraordinary people in this job. British people selling curries to India and fashion to France.  The enterprise culture is alive and well in this country now we just need an enterprise government to go with it. So I can announce today that we are taking on the enemies of enterprise.  

The bureaucrats in government departments who concoct those ridiculous rules and regulations that make life impossible, particularly for small firms.  The town hall officials who take forever with those planning decisions that can be make or break for a business - and the investment and jobs that go with it. The public sector procurement managers who think that the answer to everything is a big contract with a big business and who shut out millions of Britain’s small and medium sized companies from a massive potential market. So you want to know my strategy for growth?

When people say ‘spend lots more money’ I say forget it – Labour spent it all.  There’s only one strategy for growth we can have now and that is rolling up our sleeves and doing everything possible to make it easier for people to start a business to grow a businesses. Back small firms.  Boost enterprise.  Be on the side of everyone in this country who wants to create jobs, and wealth and opportunity. I know there’s an enterprise culture in this country.  I know that we’ve got the people, the ideas, the talent, the energy to make things great.  And I’m going to make sure this government does everything it takes. 

So I can tell you today, the Budget in a few weeks time will tear down the barriers of enterprise and be the most pro-growth Budget this government, this country has seen for a generation.  

For a lot of people there’s one simple barrier – they just don’t have the money.  They’ve got a great idea but they’re out of work so they can’t bring it to life.  That is where our New Enterprise Allowance comes in.  If you’re unemployed and have a sound business plan we’ll give you a package of support worth up to £2000 to get you started.  In the very first month of this scheme up in St Helens in Merseyside over two hundred people came forward.  This is really going to take off – why? Because we know it worked when it happened before.  Go to major department stores in this country and you’ll find Superdry clothes –a British brand that’s gone global and is worth tens of millions of pounds.  And you know how it started? From a market stall in the eighties, by a guy who’d been unemployed for nine weeks, but who got one of Margaret Thatcher’s Enterprise Allowances and the hand up that he needed.

But sometimes it’s not the money to start up that holds enterprise back but the money to keep going – the cash flow.  So many businesses are finding it hard to get credit from banks today.  We’ll we’ve got another £10 billion for small businesses from the banks and my guarantee to you is this: I’m going to watch those banks like a hawk and make sure they deliver for Britain’s small business men and women.  What else is it that’s holding enterprise back? 

I think even baby Florence could tell me this one. She tells me quite a lot of things in her own way. Tax and regulation. So yes, we’re cutting corporation tax from twenty-eight percent to twenty-four percent but there is so much more to do.  Someone joked to me the other day that the biggest growth industry in Britain this past decade has been the people writing the rules. But the problem is, it isn’t a joke.  Every regulator, every official, every bureaucrat in government has got to understand that we cannot afford to keep loading costs onto business because frankly they cannot take any more.  And if I have to pull these people into my office to argue this out myself and get them off the backs of business then believe me, I will do it.   

But you know what, some people think that this is all government needs to do – cut tax and regulation and just get out the way.  I don’t disagree.  An enterprise government is an active government using its power and clout to open up new opportunities for business. Government is one of the biggest customers in the country.  We’ve got billions of pounds of contracts to be won but for too long they’ve gone to the same old big players.  So we’re throwing open the bidding process to every single business in our country – a massive boost for small businesses, because we want them to win at least a quarter of these deals.

 But it’s not just small business we need to get behind.  We’re smashing down the barriers for our big-ticket industries too. Britain’s got a real edge in medical research.  In this country today we’re developing the drugs and treatments that are going to banish some of the world’s diseases and save countless lives. But we cannot be complacent about the advantage we have. That’s why we’re bringing in a new ten per cent tax rate on patent income – to encourage companies not just to innovate here but to invest here, to expand here, to employ here and I’ve personally been on the phone to the heads of some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies to get them to do just that.  And here’s another thing I’ve personally been doing.  And that is selling Britain to the world.

 I know some people are disdainful about that.  They see me loading up a plane with businesspeople and say – that’s not statesmanship, that’s salesmanship.  I say this: attack all you want but do you think the Germans and the French and the Americans are all sitting at home waiting for business to fall into their lap?  Of course not – they’re out there selling their goods – and so should we in this country as well and we shouldn’t listen either to those who say we’ve not got much to sell.

 I’ve been to one of the most impressive, massive, hi-tech, large-scale manufacturing plants on the planet and it’s right here in Wales, at Broughton.  There I saw hundred foot wings for the A380 airbus being made by some of the finest engineers wings that are going to take flight in years to come. Yes, of course we need to make more things in this country, but we already have many of the goods and services the world wants to buy.  So let me tell you: while there are contracts to be won, jobs to be created, markets to be defended – I will be there.  If it’s making sure Rolls Royce engines are in the world’s planes, I’ll be there.  If it’s making sure skyscrapers in the Gulf are designed by British architects, I’ll be there.  I’ll be there not just because it’s my job, not just because it’s my duty, - because I but because I passionately believe – no, I know that this country can out-compete, out-perform, out-hustle the best in the world and I’m going to make sure I use every last drop of my energy to make sure that happens for our country. 

 So, let this be our vision: A country not just back in the black but back in business. A big society. A prouder people.  And we know the values that are going to get us there. Responsibility. Real fairness. Compassion. And yes – enterprise. I believe in this country’s future. I’m so confident about what lies ahead. And that confidence doesn’t come from here – it doesn’t come from me it comes from out there – from you.  I’ve met ingenious inventors in our labs and razor-sharp kids in our schools ambitious workers in our offices and factories unbelievably dedicated professionals in our hospitals and our police stations and in all these people collectively – in their initiative, their ideas and ambition – there is the promise of a better future.

 At its best and at its most effective the Conservative Party has always been the one that understands the power and the promise lies not in government but lies with the people. A great man said “set the people free” – and that’s what Winston Churchill did when he had his bonfire of state controls.  A lady said “there was almost nothing that the British people could not do” – and that’s what Margaret Thatcher proved, unleashing a wave of enterprise and initiative across our country. Today let the same confidence ring out from this hall and this party we believe in the British people and our power together to build a better future. 

Together we’ll create the businesses we’ll create the jobs, we’ll create the opportunities, we’ll light the spark of enterprise, we’ll fire our economy, we’ll drive our country forward.  And together we will do it.

Llais Newydd dros Gymru” was announced by the party’s Leader in the Assembly, during a speech at Spring Forum at the Welsh Conservative Conference. 

 Nick Bourne AM said: “The Welsh Conservative message at the Assembly elections is a strong one, focusing on our priorities of health, education, economic growth and sound finances.

 “Labour’s had its chance and failed. Health targets are being missed, our education system is going backwards and we are the poorest part of the UK.

“It’s time for a new voice to represent the people of Wales. That’s the Welsh Conservatives.”

 Janet Finch-Saunders who is standing as the Welsh Conservative Assembly Candidate said " I am proud to be fighting to win this seat with some real common sense policies and a genuine focus on the health service for our residents in Aberconwy. For too long we have suffered as we have witnessed the frequent down grades to our local hospital and an absolute withdrawal of our only E.M.I unit"

She added, "Since the Welsh Assembly was formed we have only had Labour and Plaid policies here in Aberconwy - It is time for common sense and it is time for change"

Leader of the Conservative Party in Wales, Mr Nick Bourne A.M. has announced that he has appointed Cllr Janet Finch - Saunders who is the Conservative Welsh Assembly Candidate for Aberconwy as a Special Policy Adviser on Local Government.

This acknowledges the expertise that Cllr Finch-Saunders has gained whilst she has been actively involved within the Conservative Party, in particular as a member and Senior Officer of the Aberconwy Conservative Association.

Cllr Janet Finch- Saunders has vast political experience being recognised as an approved Parliamentary Candidate and Welsh Assembly Candidate, narrowly missing out last time and Janet is also a Conwy County Councillor and has served on Llandudno Town Councillor for the past 17 years,

Janet is currently the Conservative Group Leader and Leader of the Opposition, chairing the main Principal Scrutiny committee. She says; "I am really looking forward to working with Nick Bourne A.M. and the Welsh Conservative Assembly team, as we set out our policies for the forthcoming Welsh Assembly Election Manifesto, the elections of which will be held on May 5th 2011"

It has been a long day at Westminster.

First we had the announcement in relation to the Strategic Defence and Security Review. The impacts are severe as we expected but what is even more shocking is the mess that we were left by the previous Government.

1. In total Labour left us a £38bn black hole over the next ten years. To repeat, they had committed to spend £38,000,000,000 more than the money in the defence budget over the next ten years.

2. The top fifteen (15) spending programmes are currently £8.8bn over budget with the delivery programme for these commitments facing a delay of 32 years UNDER THE LABOUR PLANS!

3. Last year alone the Labour Government increased their spending commitments on defence equipment by an incredible £3.3bn in one year and yet made no additional funding available.

So the background is horrendous to say the least. However, the announcements at least attempted to make sense of the chaos left to the Coalition by the Labour Party – but there was a heavy price to pay.

The loss of the investment at St. Athan in South Wales was a serious blow to my colleague Alun Cairns, the Conservative MP for the Vale of Glamorgan and there are some unpalatable changes in all three services. However, as a result of this review there are important positives which we need to highlight;

Royal Navy

• There will keep a continuous at sea nuclear deterrent
• Seven attack submarines and 19 Frigates and Destroyers will be maintained
• All three naval bases will be retained

Army

• All 36 Infantry Battalions are to be kept
• There will be a new structure of five deployable Multi-Role Brigades
• There will be no changes to Army Units involved in Afghanistan

RAF

• Move to a fleet of Carrier Variant Joint Strike Fighters and a Typhoon Fleet by 2020
• New state of the art Strategic Airlift aircraft consisting of C17s, A400Ms and A330s
• No impact on operations in Afghanistan

Having attempted to digest all these announcements we then met the Minister for Culture, Jeremy Hunt, to discuss his proposed new funding arrangements for S4C. As I was attempting to get to grip with the details the story appeared on the BBC. I suspect that tomorrow will be exhausting. There will be the fallout from the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the funding announcements of the BBC and S4C coupled with the Comprehensive Spending review being revealed at 12.30.

Interesting times!

Guto

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend this dinner at the St. George’s Hotel in Llandudno on Friday night to honour those individuals and groups who work quietly but effectively to make life better for us as a society.

The event, sponsored by Trinity Mirror and Scottish Power, was excellent with an attention to detail which would not be found in many far grander televised award events. The St. George and their staff showed why we as a community should be proud of Llandudno as a tourism destination – I was incredibly pleased to see the way that Llandudno could rise to the occasion so effortlessly.

However, the real success of the evening was the quality and breadth of the award winners. These were people who had turned adversity into opportunity, tragedy into a chance to serve others and often, through sheer willpower, had managed to make a real difference to entire communities and the lives of numerous individuals.

It was humbling and gratifying to see the Aberconwy area walk away with no fewer than five awards. These were;

1. Abigail Williams, from Llandudno, in the Young Person of the Year Category
2. Friends of Queens Park, Craig y Don, in the Team Effort Category
3. Ysgol Nant y Coed, Llandudno Junction, in the School of the Year Category
4. James Singleton, Dwygyfylchi, in the Sporting Champion Category
5. Theresa Evans, Llandudno, in the Person of the Year Category

My sincere congratulations to all and to every other nominee in what was an inspiring evening. As the deputy editor of the Daily Post said;

“we often read about the bad things in society on the front pages of our newspapers but occasionally it pays to recognise and acknowledge the immense good work that is undertaken each and every day in our communities”

Guto

I will be on a panel for a half an hour discussion of the Comprehensive Spending Review tomorrow at 6pm.

Guto

This announcement made during what was a very good week in Birmingham has caused quite a stir. I probably did not help things by responding to questions for Wales Today and S4C which were subsequently used by Newsnight. To ensure that everybody understands my position I will make a few things clear;

1. I do not support the principle of Universal Benefits. At a time of serious financial difficulties for this country it is not clear why high income families should be receiving state handouts.

2. The level of income which can be defined as 'high' is a difficult issue. It was remarkable how a vox pop on Radio Wales in Llanrwst found only one person concerned by the change whilst a similar survey for S4C in Cardiff found every mother expressing doubt about the policy. What this shows is that whilst £44,000 IS a very significant income in many parts of the UK it is not a king's ransom. However, I would be willing to accept a proposal that saw a gradual withdrawal of the benefit at £44,000 if it was based on the family income.

3. The issue of family income is the crux of the matter. As the proposal stands a family with one wage earner on £44,000 would lose every penny of the benefit whilst another family with two wage earners on £43,000 each would retain the benefit even with a family income of £86,000. I simply cannot see the fairness in such a proposal.

I have written to the Chancellor on this issue and the text of the letter is available below;

The Chancellor of the Exchequer

Guto

Update

Interesting view from the Daily Express!

http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/204406

One of the first meetings I had as the MP for Aberconwy was with the Betsi Cadwalader Hospital Trust in order to discuss the issues surrounding the Minor Injuries Unit at Llandudno Hospital. Having highlighted the closure of the unit at night during the campaign and the fact that a permanent closure would save a significant amount of funds for the Trust I was aiming to demand a re-think. Six weeks later I continue to have doubts about aspects of the plans but I do accept that many aspects of the changes proposed are medical led decisions. The consultation process was also clearly transparent and in some ways a model of what a medical led consultation should include.

Before any readers assume that I agree with the proposals being made let us put the issue in context;

1. A steering group to look at the future of LH was set up in 2007. The first meeting was held in July 2007 and the second in October 2007. The papers are available.

2. A review was undertaken by Frank Burns during the period May – Dec 2007. He made 50 recommendations concerning the future of the hospital. The report is also an open document and available to all.

3. A project board was established in June 2008 to consider his report. There were eight working groups established to consider the themes within the report. This included representatives from the League of Friends, CHC and LHAGS.

4. The final report of the Board was published in March 2009. Within this it is recorded that the work group concluded that MIU should close after midnight. It was the project board that decided to investigate nurse led service after midnight with medical support from the GP out of hours services. The board resolved to take advice from Prof. Mike Harmer on the future role of the MIU. The options that he was to be asked to consider were:

• Nurse led with support
• Developed as an out of hours centre – GP’s out of hours contract to be renegotiated in October 2010 and felt that perhaps there was some room to do something creative her.
• Develop as a new build.

5. After the publishing of the report – the Llandudno Hospital project was set up in January 2010. The aim was to consider recommendations of the Burns report and provide detailed plans for;

• Unscheduled Care
• Elective Treatment & Diagnosis
• Rehabilitation
• Women’s Health
• Mental Health

6. To achieve this aim there was to be a project team, a stakeholder group (to include LHAGS), expert support group and a communications group (to include LHAGS).

7. At the meeting of the Stakeholder Group on 24th March 2010 it was AGREED that MIU could not safely be managed without appropriate numbers of qualified staff. It was suggested that doctors were paid more for working at Llandudno but the consultants present said it was a national problem – rather than money. I have investigated this issue since my meeting with the Trust and can confirm that the issue of a shortage of trained doctors / consultants is a current national problem which is worse in Wales at this moment in time.

8. It was AGREED that no emergencies would be admitted after 6pm.

As you can imagine, the paperwork provided by the Trust in support of their decision in relation to the MIU was substantial. I have read and sought advice on many aspects of the recommendations. I continue to be unhappy about issues such as access times and the availability of ambulances in the Llandudno area if the MIU closes as a 24hr facility and as such I have requested a further meeting with the Trust to seek detailed assurances on these issues.

However, it is clear from the paper trail that the proposal to reduce the hours at the MIU has been fairly well documented since 2007 and it is misleading to suggest that this is a bolt from the blue. Even my comments in April alluded to the fact that the cost savings that closure would bring were being investigated in detail prior to the first closure of the MIU overnight at that time.

I have also spoken with or had my staff speak with members of LHAGS and the League of Friends and they have confirmed that the process in their view has been open and transparent. One individual specifically stated that they were “delighted that all the decisions are being made by clinicians and practioners rather than “pen pushers”.

Coupled with confirmation from a Consultant in Cardiff as to the levels of Doctor and Consultant shortage in Wales I have to admit that the case appears to be medically driven rather than financially inspired. And yet....

I remain concerned that the practical impact of the downgrade of the MIU will be a huge blow to the town, the population and the hospital. I will be holding a number of ‘open surgeries’ and ‘public meetings’ during August and September and would ask interested parties to come along and highlight your own concerns. Having read the background papers and copious minutes from numerous meetings I feel that there continue to be questions in need of a response from the Trust and as such will report back following my further meetings with the Trust team dealing with the specific MIU proposal and the wider re-development of Llandudno Hospital.

Guto