Ynys Môn Liberal Democrats

Responding to the Investigation Report on Funding for AWEMA, Peter Black AM, said:

"For ten years, the Labour government has stood by as millions of pounds of taxpayers money is wasted by a charity that has played fast and loose with public money.

"The Welsh Labour Government was repeatedly warned over the last decade that all was not well at Awema, however, they still continued to throw Welsh tax payers' money at this charity.

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams, has today expressed her dismay at a huge increase in the number of people waiting more than 14 weeks for certain types of specialist therapies on the Welsh NHS.

Figures released today show that the number of people waiting more than 14 weeks for specified therapy services rose over the month from 1,256 to 1,776. There was an overall increase of 450 patients waiting for Physiotherapy.

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams, has spoken of her disappointment regarding patient waiting times in Wales.

By the end of December, a total of 7,699 patients had been waiting more than 36 weeks for the start of their NHS treatment. 25,194 patients had been waiting between 26 to 36 weeks.

Further evidence of Welsh Labour Government inaction over Awema has come to light. A Written Assembly Question reveals how, Jane Hutt, the then Equalities Minister had not met with Awema officials in her new tenure following a critical report of the race charity in 2004/2005

In April 2006, Peter Black, Welsh Liberal Democrat AM asked:

William Powell, Welsh Liberal Democrat Rural Affairs Spokesperson, has called on the Welsh Government to use the opportunity presented by the 'Working Smarter' report to reform fundamentally the Glastir Scheme.

William Powell, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, said:

"Despite there being around 14,000 expressions of interest, fewer than 2,000 farmers have so far signed up to Glastir. By any measure, this is far below the levels expected and the numbers required to make the scheme a success.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have obtained a copy of the 2003 commissioned review into the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association.

The report, published in 2005, commissioned by the then Labour Social Justice Minister following claims of financial irregularities, states in its recommendations that "no further funding is provided to Awema for new projects until AWEMA is able to verify that it has taken a systematic approach to project and performance management"

Commenting on the ongoing crisis where Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Germany have experienced reductions of up to 30% in Russian gas supplies from Gazprom over the last few days, Sir Graham said:

"The freezing conditions across Europe highlight yet again the dangers of being so overly-reliant on Russia for a quarter of our gas. Gazprom has - understandably - diverted its supplies to keep Russian homes warm, leaving many European countries short and prices on the rise."

"And we just don't know what Gazprom will do next."

"But the wind is blowing harder than ever in the Scottish Hebrides and it is 15 C and sunny in southern Spain and Greece. If, instead of building gas pipelines, we were building electricity transmission infrastructure and switching from fossil fuels to wind and solar power, this week's energy outlook would be a different story. European renewables are the answer to our energy security."

"Indeed, the sun is also shining bright as ever in the Sahara. Importing electricity from North Africa would in fact be more secure than Russian gas, due to the larger number of potential trading partners and the fact that electricity cannot be switched off like gas. Electricity is the ultimate 'just in time' product: that which is not transmitted today is lost forever."

Peter Black, Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Equalities Minister, is today calling on the Welsh Labour Government to make public the report commissioned back in 2003 regarding financial irregularities in the equalities body All Wales Ethnic Minority Association (Awema).

The report commissioned by the then Labour Social Justice Minister, Edwina Hart, has never been made public but it does raise questions whether it recommended it was time to stop funding Awema. It has been suggested that the report did recommended stopping funds to Awema but that this was never actioned by Labour Ministers.

"The sheer hypocrisy of Labour to point the finger on bankers' bonuses is staggering. Labour presided over the biggest boom in bonuses this country has seen, from £3.1bn in 2001 to £11.5 billion in 2007. At the same time, they sat back and knighted the financial speculators who led this country to the brink of economic collapse.

"The Coalition Government inherited this economic mess from Labour and has taken decisive action to put the country back on track. We've capped cash bonuses at state owned banks to £2,000 and overall, the bonus pool is smaller than last year and considerably less than under Labour.

"In Government, Liberal Democrats are doing the right thing - implementing the Vickers' proposals to make banking safer in the future, continuing our fight to get the banks to lend more and introducing the banking levy which raises £2.5bn a year. All Labour can do is complain from the side lines.

"While Labour spent thirteen years being intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, Liberal Democrats have made clear that our priority is lifting the lowest paid people out of paying income tax all together."

"Promoting cycling and green transport is the right thing to do and I am delighted Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are taking action.

"This comes at a crucial time. Just five days ago The Times launched a cycle campaign in response to the shocking increase in fatalities among cyclists on our roads.

"It is absolutely essential people should be able to walk to work or cycle to school in a safe environment. The extra £8m for Sustrans will go a long way to achieving this.

"And the £7m for improved rail-cycle links will ensure that we continue to build a transport network which puts passengers first."