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'...knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens...' (Jimi Hendix) |
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Mick Bates |
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Press Releases 2007 |
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| 2007 |
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Welsh Liberal Democrat Social Justice spokesperson Mick Bates today branded government plans to cut civil service jobs in Wales "senseless". Mick was speaking before today’s Assembly debate on Public Services Employment in Wales. Wales is set to lose 5,000 civil service jobs by 2008, according to figures established by the Public and Commercial Services Union. The cuts are set to hit jobcentres, Department of Work and Pensions offices and tax offices in particular. Mick Bates said: "These plans are centralisation without sense. PCS members tell me that in the tax office, the building compliance department is moving from Cardiff to Belfast. Except they′ve just realised there are no Welsh speakers in Belfast. So they′re putting on training for people to answer Welsh callers. “Where′s the logic? And if there′s too much work from Wales for them to do in Belfast, they′re going to send it to Scotland. "Responsibility for monitoring the Minimum wage in Wales is moving too. They′re going to Manchester. Where′s the logic in that? "There are 75,000 pieces of tax information on the floor of the Cardiff office that need re-coding. They′re not recoding them because of staff shortages. “This will eventually impact on the general public. When tax codes are wrong, when Welsh speakers can’t get good service and unemployed people cannot get to the jobseekers’ office. "Gordon Brown’s efficiency drive is more about saving money than improving services and will lead to unemployment in areas that need jobs. This is a false economy which will hit Welsh public services and consequently, all of us who use these services."
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