South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle’s blog: August 21

In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle gives his take on recent news.

Cuts

Caerphilly County Borough Council is currently inviting residents to have their say on how services are delivered in the future.

The authority like all other councils faces very difficult choices with Welsh Government financial support set to reduce over at least the next couple of financial years.

I note from the online questionnaire that people are asked to rate the various non-statutory services as high priority, low priority and non priority.

I support all efforts to engage the public and obviously as part of that the more information provided the better so people can make informed choices.

For instance, under the question on asset management rationalisation it mentions non corporate buildings. I’m not sure the public will understand what they are so a simple explanation would be very useful.

Of course, in any survey like this, it is important that the organisation consulting goes into the exercise with an open mind. It is no good going through the motions of consulting, asking for suggestions and not acting on them if they are good and viable.

The survey is available on on the council’s website and I would urge Observer readers to have your say.

Well Done

I want to congratulate all A-level students in Caerphilly county borough who deserve huge praise for their efforts.

It was impressive that the overall pass rate for pupils who took WJEC exams was up on the Welsh average.

The results are the culmination of two years of hard work both by the students and their teachers. Parents who gave their children all the support they could should also take a bow.

I wish pupils all the best for the future whether they are going on to university, training or moving into the workplace.

The GCSE results are out today and I’m sure there will be plenty more celebrations in homes up and down the county borough.