Today’s announcement of the closure of coastguard services in Swansea has provoked the predictable range of responses from political spokesman. But Conservatives and Lib Dems currently making regretful noises should take a closer look at a document entitled Protecting our Seas and Shores in the 21st Century.
This is published by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (an agency of the Department for Transport) who are charged with rationalising coastal services. Their revised conclusion on why the Swansea office should close is quite revealing.
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| No financial reasons |
“.. in the light of a further review of the potential costs of vacating the existing sites in Swansea and Milford Haven, which has shown that there are no financial reasons to favour either location, that the coastguard centre at Milford Haven should be retained rather than the centre at Swansea.
This reflects the Department for Transport’s significant existing presence in Swansea with both the DVLA and its Shared Services Centre located there, and the Department’s decision to place the Shared Services Centre in the private sector, as one of only a small number of Shared Service centres for central Government, creating opportunities for expansion and growth in employment opportunities.”
So, the closure proposal is nothing to do with maritime safety or protecting the shores or even finance costs – just a straightforward business decision based on a peculiar assessment that Swansea is apparently receiving too much in the way of publicly-funded investment.
3 Comments:
Can’t wait to read about Suzy Davies and Peter Black demanding a recount.
Looks like Stephen Crabb has done the business. The Swansea MPs have been outwitted and I doubt that they can raise the same kind of popular local support between them.
One wonders how long the DVLA will last in it's present form? What with cloud computing and the cost of data input in bangalore. The print end needs to stay physically in the UK; but the clerical/admin side which accounts for the majority of jobs in DVLA Morriston, could be replicated in say India where literate people are willing to work for a dollar a day.
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