50th anniversary
It was a pleasure to attend a 50th birthday bash in Caerphilly – but it was not for an individual but a company.
PHS, which is a workplace services provider and headquartered on the Western Industrial Estate, was set up in 1963.
I was told that they employ more than 500 people in the town, so a hugely important employer.
And the 50th anniversary celebrations certainly went with a bang. The staff were a real zany bunch and dressed up for the birthday bash in range of fancy dress from the 60s onwards as rockers, hippies, beatniks and Beatles and Dusty Springfield styles and even as the Adams family.
I presented the company with Investors in People award when I was leader of council a while ago. Success has clearly come about by good management and great workers dedicated to provide a quality service.
Phs is a major business with 17 trading divisions across the UK and overseas and I came across their products while on holiday in Scotland. I was told that PHS Direct sells enough toilet rolls to circle the world 12 times and have 250,000 customers.
Good luck to Phs for another 50 years as they are an important part of business life and employment in Caerphilly.
Council tax benefit
The Welsh Government has announced it will review the long-term options for council tax support from 2015/16.
A campaign by Plaid Cymru protected more than 300,000 council tax benefit recipients from a 10 per cent cut in their entitlement after the Welsh Government agreed to fund the shortfall created by the UK Government devolving responsibility and imposing a £22m budget cut.
The priority must be to look at the next financial year and how council tax benefit claimants can be best protected until the new scheme comes into force. This is very important as a result of more wide-ranging cuts in other UK Coalition Government welfare entitlements such as housing benefit.
Lindsay Whittle
Plaid Cymru South Wales East AM