http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-22608298Liberal Democrat committee member Eluned Parrott accused Welsh Labour ministers of being "far more interested in a having a spat with the UK government than it was in actually helping the people of Wales". She added: "Rather than getting on with the job in hand, the then local government minister chose to enter into a game of tit for tat and point scoring with Westminster. "He continually blamed the UK government for not producing figures he said he needed, but on closer examination we found that not only was this problem not encountered in Scotland and England, but the minister ...

As a Liberal Democrat I will not deny that it has been an interesting couple of weeks. Who would have thought that it would be my party that showed better than our coalition partners the discipline and unity necessary to govern. For all the speculation the Liberal Democrats stand full square behind Nick Clegg in delivering the party's agenda of lower taxes for the poorest in our society, taxing wealth and excess profits from the banks, better pensions and a greener Britain. The danger is that the Tory Party's disunity and infighting will undermine the consensus we have helped to ...

Wales needs its own a whistleblowing hotline to allow NHS staff to be able to anonymously report their concerns. The Welsh Government Health Minister recently confirmed to me in a Written Question that there is currently "no whistleblowing hotline for NHS staff". Instead, staff are expected to contact a number, run by the Royal Mencap Society, that covers NHS and social care employees in both England and Wales. The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling on the Welsh Government to introduce a free hotline that is available solely for NHS staff in Wales. It is absolutely critical that staff working within ...

In the last few days, BBC certainly lived down to the version of its initials ascribed to Christine Hamilton. Gay marriage, while symbolically important, is not a matter of national well-being like the sluggishness of the economy or the inequities of the benefits system. It does not right a major injustice - that was already done by the Act that introduced civil partnerships - yet it occupied a quarter of Monday's PM programme and has dominated the domestic agenda on the BBC News channel. Much as I relish the prospect of the Conservative party tearing itself apart over gay rights ...

Today's South Wales Evening Post reports on an important investment in my council ward with the news that a new school to replace two existing dilapidated buildings is likely to be built in the very near future. The Evening Post piece is slightly overspun by the Council officers who contributed to it but that does not change the fact that this is very good news indeed. As the interim Director of Education says: "The current Burlais school is split across two ageing buildings which need huge amounts of investment to bring them up to modern standards fit for the 21st ...

If it hadn't been for Russell Davies's Song Show on Sunday, I wouldn't have realised that the centenary of Charles Trenet fell this month. It is a remarkable sign of the way we in the UK have turned our back on continental Europe that while the French media are going overboard in celebrating one of the 20th century's greatest singer-songwriters, there is hardly a ripple over here. Yet I can recall in the 1950s that Trenet and Jean Sablon rubbed shoulders on record programmes with the likes of Anne Shelton, Vera Lynn, Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Even Trenet's equivocal ...

Yesterday's announcement by the Education Minister that fixed penalty notices will be issued to parents whose children are regularly absent from school will prove to be counter-productive. The Minister's decision has been based on the results of a consultation carried out between November 2012 and February 2013. I believe this is a disproportionate response to a problem which requires a far more creative response than a fining system. Evidence shows that children from poorer backgrounds are more likely to play truant and achieve poorer educational outcomes. I am concerned that fining parents of truant pupils will cause them even more ...