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The Chief Executive of the WLGA, Steve Thomas, is - or perhaps I should say was - a fan of Bjork, or so I'm told anyway. You can see why the man in charge of Welsh local authorities might have gone off Iceland's finest, which means she may not be blasting from the car stereo as he heads to the Treasury this morning.

Travelling to London too is Brian Gibbons, the Minister responsible for Local Government: both men on a mission to find out from the UK government how likely it is that Welsh councils, universities, police authorities get back the money they invested in Icelandic banks.

There are suggestions this morning they could get back around a third: which means Welsh local authorities would have lost £40million for good.

Compensation, says Finance Minister Andrew Davies, is 'not an option'.

He's already told public bodies that his door is open to anyone in real crisis and no-one has come calling. If they do there'll be 'advice and assistance' aplenty but no compensation - a case, they might argue, of running the gamut of support from A to, well A. A case of making sure Icelandic banks don't run away from their responsibilities says the Minister and of underlining that well-run authorities should be able to take that sort of knock.

Cold comfort for those who could lose out but at least there is clarity. And clarity, knowing where you stand, knowing how bad things are so you can see the way ahead clearly, is what Wales' business sector hope they'll get in spades at tomorrow's All Wales Economic Summit. A big name for a big meeting and there's acceptance all round that something concrete, something substantial must come out of it.

The agenda has already convinced that it won't.

For the record here it is in full:

ECONOMIC SUMMIT/BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL: 16 October 2008 - Conference Rooms C & D, Crickhowell House, Cardiff Bay

AGENDA

9.00 am -10.45 am

Economic Summit:

1. Presentation by Principality Building Society

2. Presentation by Atradius

3. Credit Crunch: Impact in Wales

10.45 am - 11.00 am Coffee

11.00 am - 12.00 am

4. Planning in Wales BPC 24.01.1
(Business Wales paper)

5. Vulnerable Workers BPC 24.02.1
(Wales TUC paper)

6. VAT on housing refurbishments BPC 24.03.1
(Business Wales paper)

7. Minutes of meeting held on 7 May 2008 BPC 24.04.1

8. Matters arising and updates from previous meetings BPC 24.05.1

9. AOB

Papers to note - Wales Employment and Skills Board BPC 24.06.1
Flexible Support for Business BPC 24.07.1

Add to the pot rising unemployment figures, up 10,000 in Wales to 85,000, a rise of 5.9%. Add that lost £40m and hope that they rise to the occasion.

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