Following consideration of a business case from the University of Wales Trinity St David, the Economy Secretary has agreed to allocate £3m of capital funding  to support  Yr Egin – a project that will see an innovative hub for the Creative Industries being established in Carmarthen.

Speaking about his decision, Ken Skates said:

“Having considered the overall potential  economic, cultural and educational benefits of this project I am pleased to announce that the Welsh Government will be investing £3m in 2017/18 to support  Yr Egin. 

“The investment will  help to deliver the infrastructure needed to support the University’s vision of a  cluster of creative businesses in Carmarthen. 

“This in turn will help to inject new life into  the local economy, bring additional and high quality jobs to Carmarthen and enhance  Wales’ growing reputation as an enabler of talent, imagination and productivity. 

“It also supports our  wider commitment to promoting Welsh as a living and vibrant language and will  help cement links between academia and creative businesses.

“Our support for Yr Egin will help Carmarthen to capitalise and build on S4C’s decision to locate its headquarters there and will help provide space and networking opportunities for other businesses, the University,  students and entrepreneurs.”

The Welsh Government’s £3m investment will support the construction of a new building to provide accommodation for companies, incubator space to develop new businesses in the creative and digital sectors as well as and  event space, an open auditorium, and  production and edit suites that can be used by both companies and the University.  

In light of the problems with aircraft noise and nights flights in the constituency I have lobbied Ministers, Heathrow and the National Air Traffic Services (NATS). Please find below the letter I have written to Department of Transport in response to their consultation on night flights.

I would also strongly encourage residents to contribute to the consultation which ends on 25 May. The link is available here: http://bit.ly/2m7iTnc.

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow
Education Minister,
commenting on the expected rise in families not getting their first choice of
school on secondary school offer day, said:

“The system for
school place planning is broken.

“The Tories’ unjustified
fixation with Free Schools means new schools are opening in areas which do not
need them and just last week the NAO reported that the Government are not doing
enough to ensure all parents can exercise choice when selecting the right
school for their children.

“The Tories need
to sort this mess out instead of obsessing over a handful of new grammar
schools which will only help a minority of children.”  

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 will be introduced on 6 April 2017.

The 2017 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) is now open for applications, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) announced today (1 March 2017).

By applying online through the Rural Payments service, farmers and agents can now quickly check and update existing personal and business details, as well as view and transfer land and entitlements.

RPA Interim Chief Executive Paul Caldwell said:

Last year a record 80% of applications were received online and we hope to increase this figure for 2017.

Help and support in applying for BPS is available every step of the way through our online guidance or at the end of the phone.

Apply now

From today, farmers and agents can complete their declarations and confirm all information before submitting their completed application online.

Anyone who applied online for the Basic Payment Scheme in 2016 will be emailed all they need to apply online for BPS in 2017. Those who did not apply online in 2016 and did not use an agent will soon be sent a paper form and guidance on how to apply online.

Support available from the RPA

Further support is available from RPA this year through useful ‘How to’ videos. Farmers and agents can find step-by-step guides on transferring land, transferring entitlements and a general overview of how to apply online.

BPS 2017 video

The application deadline for BPS 2017 is midnight on 15 May 2017.

Further guidance and scheme rules can be found on GOV.UK.