---

Welsh Affairs

Of course I agree with the hon. Gentleman and make no bones about that, but I am addressing another subject. I hope he agrees with what I am saying about that, as I agree with him on this. Our priority for that part of Wales is to ensure that the economy is as buoyant as it possibly can be and the main ingredient clearly must be well paid jobs. I met the Secretary of State to discuss these matters on 6 February; in fairness, he pledged that he would take them up with ministerial colleagues. I have no doubt that he will do so, but when the Under-Secretary winds up the debate, perhaps he will tell us whether there is any good news yet. I certainly know the right hon. Gentleman well enough to know that if he says he will discuss the matter, he will. Today, however, we hear that Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency staff in Swansea have discovered that they are grossly underpaid in comparison with their colleagues in England. That, I am afraid, is another reason why Wales is different. DVLA workers in Swansea are paid £15,725 in comparison with £18,050 with workers over the border—not in London, but just over the border. The total saving to the Exchequer from that is £17 million—money saved by underpaying hard workers down in Swansea. As Sian Wiblin of the Public and Commercial Services Union said:"““The situation of the DVLA staff highlights the madness of civil service pay arrangements which fail to provide adequate rewards to thousands of hard-working public servants.””" I strongly believe that that must be reversed. We must not allow regional pay to dominate; if it does, we shall never get anything real out of objective 1. If we are not very careful, we will unfortunately become a sweat shop economy. I am sure that no one in the House or outside it would like that. Let me cite the editorial comment in today's edition of the Western Mail:"““Paying less in Objective One areas would also defy the logic of that EU designation.””" It goes on to say that the objective 1 money is meant"““to kick start economic growth. But GDP levels will never go up if regional pay becomes the norm. On a related matter, the plans to cut public sector jobs—at HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions —in Objective One areas suggest one arm of the Government isn't aware what another is doing. What is the point of trying to bring jobs to West Wales and the Valleys through one government scheme and taking them away with another?””" Clearly, that is nonsense, so I hope that at some point Ministers will make strong representations to their colleagues because, as the Western Mail says, this is a step backwards at a time when Wales is striving to become a dynamic modern economy. As the paper concludes:"““It's an idea that should be stopped in its tracks.””" There are many dynamic aspects of Wales today. We have already talked about the university sector. I am playing a small part in bringing industry into proper negotiation and partnership with Bangor university, and I am proud that other universities in Wales are doing the same. We have referred to the great honour bestowed on Cardiff for its two Nobel prize winners. There is no doubt that we are doing well and I am not talking the country down, but there are problems. They are man-made and they can be dealt with. If we can use objective 1 money to create a better economy, we can ensure that that happens without doing anything to damage the economy. Otherwise, we are all wasting our time. I want to mention the issue of compensation for foot and mouth disease. Reference was made earlier to the somewhat cynical way in which mention of compensation for Wales was included in the first draft of a speech, but disappeared the following week when it became clear that no election was going to be called. Last week, the Minister Elin Jones announced an £8.8 million compensation package for sheep farmers in respect of the outbreak of foot and mouth in England last year. That is welcome, although Brynle Williams, representing the Conservatives in the Assembly, said that it somehow underpaid the farmers, selling them short. If he paused for thought, even he might realise that £12.5 million paid in England and £8.8 million paid in Wales is not too bad a comparative figure, especially when it comes from a budget rather than from the Treasury. Of course, we all know that the Government were directly responsible for the outbreak in the first place. Common sense dictates that the Government should have bailed Wales out, but in any event the money was found, and although I do not suggest it is a silver bullet that will immediately deal with all the problems, it will go some way towards dealing with them.