Deputy First Minister not responding to economic crisis

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 19th May 2009

Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats has today questioned whether Ieuan Wyn Jones is capable of running two busy and important government departments while being the Deputy First Minister during the worst economic downturn Wales has seen in decades.

Welsh government statistics revealed in a Freedom of Information request show that the Deputy First Minister failed to reply to over a quarter (28%) of his correspondence while other Ministers receiving more and slightly less correspondence were answering over 90% in the target 17 working days.

MinisterItems of correspondence for Ministerial answerItems of correspondence answered within 17 working days (%)Edwina Hart179393%Ieuan Wyn Jones81872%Jane Hutt69292%Jane Davidson64390% Kirsty Williams said,

"At a difficult time when businesses are struggling and people are worried about their livelihoods, the Deputy First Minister, the head of the department that is responsible for the wellbeing of our economy doesn't seem to be responding to the economic downturn in Wales.

"Compared with his Labour colleagues who receive the most correspondence, the Deputy First Minister's response rate is very poor. If Welsh businesses treated their customers this poorly, they wouldn't last long. Why should we tolerate this with our government ministers? The people and businesses of Wales deserve a government department that is able to respond to the economic crisis. The First Minister's mantra of agile government for fragile times should be more like fragile government in agile times.

"Some Labour AMs have even questioned whether he is capable of holding both Economy and Transport portfolios while being the Deputy First Minister of Wales.

"While I fully understand that responding to correspondence is not the main function of a government department, it is however a good indicator of what is going on in his department.

"I am still waiting for correspondence I sent to him in December 2008. What if my letter was about a struggling company in Powys needing advice and help? Given that the Deputy First Minister's department blundered on the FS4B in mid-Wales and Pro-Act is becoming more like Slo-Act, my confidence in his ability to hold two important posts within the government is dwindling rapidly."

Ends

Back in March 2008, the Deputy First Minister refused to attend a Finance Committee because he was too busy during "this current economic climate".

During that Finance Committee meeting, Ann Jones questioned whether the DPM was capable of running two government departments in difficult economic times.