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Top story
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Base rate cut to 1 per cent
The Bank of England has cut the base interest rate to a new record low of 1 per cent, down from 1.5 per cent, amid growing concern that alternative ways must be found to get the economy moving again. The cut is the fifth since October aimed at encouraging more lending. Tim Smith, partner in charge at accountancy firm PKF in Cardiff, said: “To date, interest rate cuts have not had the desired effect. They have not been passed on by lenders so little impact is being felt. If interest rate cuts continue to have little impact, quantitative easing to get money back into the banking system could become a reality. This will see the central bank buy assets, typically government bonds, from private banks in the financial markets.” The Federation of Small Businesses said rates should have been kept on hold as previous cuts had not stimulated lending, while the Building Societies Association is concerned that savers are being punished by the ultra-low rates.
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Enterprise
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Jones to launch innovation scheme
Deputy first minister Ieuan Wyn Jones will today unveil a programme aimed at helping Welsh companies develop new products, processes and technologies. As part of the innovation scheme, backed by European Union funds, a specialist team from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Flexible Support for Business service will give advice on product development, design and manufacture. The minister will also visit Swansea University’s School of Engineering to discuss plans to set up Europe’s first Centre for NanoHealth. The project is backed by the Convergence European Regional Development Fund.
Fund backs kids' TV series
Wales Creative IP Fund, the Welsh Assembly-backed investor, is investing £290,000 in a comedy series for the BBC’s Cbeebies children’s channel. The fund, managed by Finance Wales, backed Adastra Creative in making Grandpa In My Pocket, starring veteran actor James Bolam. The series was partly filmed in Wales and technical production was done in Cardiff. Series creator Mellie Buse said: “The investment from the Wales Creative IP Fund, alongside the BBC’s investment, ensured that the idea became a reality and the majority of production was based in Wales.”
Green ways to save
Envirowise, the sustainable business advisory service, is hosting three events in Wales to help companies find out how they can save costs through resource efficiency. The free Competitive Climate: Profitable Future events, aimed at all industry sectors, will be held on 4 March at the Best Western Cross Lanes Hotel, Wrexham; 11 March at the Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod Wells; and 12 March at the Vale Hotel at Pontyclun near Cardiff. To reserve a place or obtain more information click here .
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Development
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Affordable project gets going
The Assembly Government has agreed deals worth £15m with housing associations across Wales to deliver up to 300 affordable homes. The cash is the first part of £42m of extra funding announced at the end of 2008. In one example, housing association V2C has acquired seven new homes from Bellway Homes at £956,800, backed by £554,944 from the Welsh Assembly Government. Housing minister Jocelyn Davies said: “The Welsh Assembly Government is determined to deliver on its commitment to provide an additional 6,500 affordable homes. We will continue to use all the levers available to us to achieve this aim.”
Runway helps park take off
Plans to develop an aerospace business park west of Cardiff have taken a step forward with the completion of a £6.5m project to resurface the former RAF base runway at St Athan. The aerodrome at St Athan is owned and controlled by the Welsh Assembly Government but operates under military regulations and is managed by the Ministry of Defence. The runway is seen as a potential attraction for aerospace companies looking to move there. Work to upgrade the runway was completed ahead of schedule by the contractor, Carillion Infrastructure.
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Government
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Assembly bids for language powers
The Welsh Assembly Government has started a process to draw powers from Westminster on the right to legislate on the Welsh language. The transfer of power makes it more likely that private sector companies will be compelled to offer services in Welsh. They are likely to include utilities, transport and telephone companies, and businesses that receive substantial funding from the Assembly and offer services to the public. Such a move could run into opposition from business groups. David Russ, managing director of the South Wales Chamber of Commerce, said: “The last thing businesses in Wales need at the moment is unwanted regulation saddling them with additional costs. Legislation is not the right way to encourage the adoption of Welsh and more effort should be made to quantify the benefits of using the language.”
DC proposal for CF10
Wales should create two Washington DC-style “Districts of Wales” in Cardiff outside the control of the city council, a leading constitutional expert will tell the All Wales Convention on Assembly powers today. Russell Deacon, reader in Welsh governance at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, will put forward a plan to place Cathays Park and the area around the Senedd building under the joint ownership of the Assembly and all 22 Welsh counties. Deacon, who drew up the plan after visiting state and national legislatures in the US and Canada, said: “There are certain demands of a capital city that have to be embraced by the whole nation. At the moment I don’t feel that any of the councils outside Cardiff see it as a capital but merely a local government rival. In turn, Cardiff has few of the trappings of statehood that are apparent in the US.”
Finance gets personal
A plan to help people deal with the economic downturn through action on debt and financial exclusion has been launched for public consultation by the social justice and local government minister Brian Gibbons. It addresses access to mainstream financial services, affordable credit and savings, access to money and debt advice, helping people improve their financial skills and maximising income. It proposes supporting post offices and credit unions to develop new financial products.
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People
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Investment expert joins Cardiff & Co
Cardiff and Co, the public/private agency set up to promote the capital, has recruited inward investment specialist Carys Pugh D’Auria as head of trade and investment. She joins on a two year secondment from the Welsh Assembly Government’s International Business Wales arm where she was responsible for promoting trade and investment in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She will focus on generating investment enquiries for the city region from existing investors and potential investors outside Wales.
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Local government
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Comensura gets capital contract
Cardiff Council has awarded an £8.4m, three-year contract for the provision of agency workers to outsourcing specialist Comensura. The authority believes the contract, covering all its departments, will allow it to make direct cost savings of 5 per cent. The council previously managed agency worker procurement on a service area by service area basis with managers responsible for engaging any agency workers required. The authority said the old arrangement “was costly and inefficient, and lacked transparency and consistency when it came to the rates of pay negotiated”.
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