My Meeting With Mark Drakeford, First Minister For Wales
UPDATE: It’s December 2nd and it’s still tumbleweed time…
UPDATE: It’s Friday 14th June and Mark has failed miserably to do ANYTHING apart from sending an email to the minister who responded with zero content, just platitudes. Mark shows his contempt for my complaint by agreeing to write again but two months later… Nothing. Mark is ineffectual and quite obviously not interested in either the democratic process nor resolving my accusation of corruption within his government departments. Shame on you Mr Drakeford!
At the end of September 2023, I asked for a meeting with my MS, the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford. On Friday 23rd February 2024 I was granted that meeting. I can’t calculate the amount of representations I made to have the meeting take place, but at least twenty and perhaps over thirty times I emailed or phoned Mark’s office with responses such as in November, definitely in January etc. In the end, I demanded the meeting and asked for the complaints procedure, which I never received, and threatened to attend the office and wait there, and that did it. The meeting was arranged.
Mark’s office on Cowbridge Road in Canton, Cardiff, is in a one-time residential property and is shared with Kevin Brennan MP. It’s shabby, with a poor internet connection and in need of a refurbishment. I arrived early and was welcomed and quickly was ushered upstairs to an office room by Mark and we got to it.
I was pleasantly surprised by Mark’s good nature and willingness to listen to my complaint, full details of which can be found here:
In short, I assert that Visit Wales is not fit for purpose, that Visit Wales, through gross mismanagement or nepotism, platforms some businesses but refuses to platform other similar businesses and that Wales Outdoors, my business, is disadvantaged in the tourism marketplace because of this.
I detailed my complaint and again was surprised by the interest shown by Mark, evidenced by the questions he asked during the discussion, which were on point and astute.
Mark accepted that the long and ongoing dispute regarding a ‘level playing field for all operators’, which actually began in 2006 although the recent issues of platforming became a problem for Wales Outdoors in March 2020, needed to be resolved. He asserted that if there are rules they need to be followed and he understood that currently, this was not the case with Visit Wales. I informed Mark of the problems associated with dealing with Visit Wales staff, their written acceptance that I am right in my assertions, their inability to act in good faith or in line with their own documented promises and some of the outrageous comments made by Visit Wales staff such as Jason Thomas stating ‘so what’ when I expressed my dismay that no guided walk providers were being platformed by Visit Wales in the year of ‘Wales By Trails’. I also informed Mark that Visit Wales was the only tourism platform in the UK to disallow bonafide tourism businesses entry to their marketing, that I am platformed by many a local authority, by several tourism membership organisations and by the UK government platform, Visit Britain. I also advised that Visit Wales imposes for most too high a bar for entry, a bar that is mountains above that as dictated by UK law through the Adventure Activity Licensing Scheme.
Understanding of my dismay was expressed and acceptance of my claim that since 2006 the Welsh Government had not been able to provide a level playing field seemed clear.
Mark asked me what I wanted from the meeting and I informed him that resolution was in order and that I would be continuing to pursue Visit Wales until resolution had been achieved. Mark said he would ‘stir the nest’ and that he would respond to me directly with his findings.
Do I think that this meeting was useful? Well, for me it was. I can underline this dispute with the Welsh Government knowing I have gone as far as is possible. It’s now in the hands of Mark and also the Ombudsman for Wales.
Will Mark be able to achieve a change of culture at Visit Wales? I’m doubtful. Without penalties for malfeasance, as that is what this dispute is about, Visit Wales staff will continue bimbling along in the knowledge that there have never been and never will be repercussions for their ineptitude, and all to the detriment of tourism in Wales.
And for Wales Outdoors? I believe that the work I have put in to get this far, hundreds of hours of my time, combined with the loss of business due to Visit Wales de-platforming my business whilst platforming other similar businesses, ought to be recognised with a sincere apology and compensation. This is what I mean by consequences. Civil servants ought not to be able to hide behind a wall of bureaucracy and limitless funds to spend on legal advice and representation. Consequences ought to be in the forefront of each government employee’s mind. But we are not there, there are no consequences. And so unless the Ombudsman for Wales finds in my favour, there will be no apology and there will be no compensation.
You can book our walks through the Wales Outdoors Website or, if you are a group, you can book us for a bespoke adventure, you choose the date and time, using the ‘Book Your Guide’ option.
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