Enlightened Public Service

Twice in the last six months I wrote to members of the Welsh Assembly Government. Now before you think me some crackpot, these are probably the only two times I’ve written to a government.

The first foray was part lark just to see the answer I’d get. BBC Radio Wales weekly broadcasts “Wales@Work.” Each air date, an e-mail comes with the evening’s topic. The 30 October program during Small Business Week featured the Minister responsible for attracting and growing business in Wales, Leighton Andrews. Talking with the show’s producer I discussed my experience expanding a business two years earlier. She asked me to send a question:

Why do the WAG and its support agencies make it so tedious for people to apply for funding to help bring business and technology jobs to Wales and why is so much paper-based data needed? The process was so slow and laborious we binned the application and went it alone rather than wait for checkers to check one another.

Minister Andrews said on-air that if I wished to contact him, he would see that I got a more formal reply… I took him up on his offer. I sent the question in more detailed form to his press officer and also queried where return on investment data could be found for WAG investments. All I could see were claims of funds granted and wanted to see what success existed for the hundreds of millions of pounds funnelled through various consultancies. We are talking about business, so it should be easy to track progress against outlays? (I know, even I’m having a hard time here keeping my tongue embedded in cheek.)

His press agent promised a “speedy response” in a reply that, duly noted, came within 30-minutes of my submission. And then… they dropped off of the face of the earth, the electoral and fiduciary duty ended with that reply. An official e-mail arrived 8-days later from the WAG acknowledging receipt and stating their policy “it could take up to 17-working days for a reply.” A few days before Christmas, despite the earlier date on the letter and many more than 17-business days, (26 to be exact, plus 8 days after the press agent reply) the official non-reply, reply came.

(Click on each image to see a full screen version - note the handwritten date and salutation....)






Had holiday preparations not beckoned, I might have followed up and it seemed silly to throw good time and effort after bad. I made a stop-investment decision feeling, as a businessman, time could be better spent elsewhere. The WAG wants to be the main business entity for Wales. As a businessman and taxpayer I want to know how and why they are uniquely qualified to be in that business? How are our funds spent? What sort of return do they get? Alas though there seem to be many noses on this teat and nothing happen unless someone gets their cut of the action.

We’ve all witnessed less than enlightened displays of self-interest and nothing will stunt the growth of business faster than maintaining the status quo. As one who participated in trade missions from Miami with The Beacon Council in the 1980s (long before the allure of South Beach), the guiding principle behind those mission was always – no one person or body could ever stand up and say “look what I did” because there was an unspoken truth the Welsh business community still needs to learn – there is no “I” in team.

We participated out of a sense of duty and a deep love for our community. We wanted it to grow and thrive (as it does) and to be a true melting pot with its racial and ethnic diversity as the drawing card and focal point of pride. And… we knew there was enough business to go around and we all rowed the boat together in the same direction, captain-less but not rudderless, our businesses would benefit in time. The increases in both firms I represented at that time is evidence we were on the right track – do right and good first ultimately meant you would do well and not the other way around.

That is the lesson we must learn here if we truly want Wales to join in the EU boom rather than being a legend in its own mind. Otherwise, the over-arching business poverty consciousness where everyone knows the cost of everything, the value of nothing and no one moves unless seeing direct personal benefit is visionless, small-time thinking inaction (deliberate typo).

After reading the minister’s non-reply reply (and aside from wondering if Sir Humphrey was alive, well and working in Wales), I wondered why I bothered to ask in the first place?

Oh and the weblink he points to for success stories, yup – a 404 webpage not found error.