28/06/2011 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Our top story:

Students' tuition fees - even the people running the system warned

Our other headlines tonight: Nearly 500 jobs and 20 years of

manufacturing ends as production stops at Bosch.

What is the atmosphere like today? Very composed. A lot of people

finish in today, a few tears here and there, especially with the

women, but very composed. We have been very professional.

Also tonight: Life after your death - doctors

question the Welsh Government's plans to change the law on organ

donation. Campaigners trying to save

coastguard stations take their battle to Downing Street.

And high streets are struggling - will cutting parking charges save

stores and woo out-of-town shoppers?

A lot of customers come in for two or three hours a day. They are not

going to pay �5 to look at Good evening. Students and parents

might admit university tuition fees aren't the most straightforward of

subjects. Tonight it's emerged they're not alone. The people in

charge of administering the fees aren't too confident either. E-

mails released after a Freedom of Information request by the Liberal

Democrats show the chief executive of the Higher Education Funding

Council for Wales warning that nobody understood the Education

Minister's public statements. Tonight, the Welsh Government said

there was "no confusion". There was anger on the streets in

November as thousands protested against UK government plans opening

the door to a higher tuition fees. The Welsh government's solution

made headlines. The education minister announcing that students

from Wales would have any fee increases paid for them. Students

ordinary resident in Wales going to university in 2012 will be no worse

off than if they had gone to university this year. This is a

made in Wales policy which demonstrates the benefits of

devolution. Now e-mails published under the Freedom of Information

Act reveal that more than two months after this statement, senior

officials did not understand the policy. Among them, the chief

executive of the body which will implement it. On the 1st February,

he wrote, we are concerned that the Minister may be exposed to

criticism. That the official account does not make sense. If we

do not understand the official explanation, we cannot help explain

it to others. I think a lot of people are wondering whether it is

possible to maintain a quite generous student support system the

way you're actually subsidising Welsh students wherever they study.

It is a laudable ambition, has a fine principle, but the cost could

be substantially greater than people anticipated. I think what

the e-mails revealed in this latest episode is that people were

questioning some of the basic assumptions being made right

throughout. In February, the chief executive of the funding council

sent another e-mail said he did now understand the statements but only

after talks with Welsh government officials. Members of the public to

not have that luxury. It is a policy that could cost up to �2.3

billion over nine years. For the education minister, he must explain

how the sums add up. I think this was a good idea. It looks like it

was drawn up on the back of an envelope now. It depends on so many

variables, so many different things that you cannot predict. My view is

that the minister could well be caught out on this. The Assembly

Government said this was fully costed and affordable and we want

them to keep their promises. They made that promise in the lead-up to

an election. It is important they don't do what the Liberal Democrats

did on a UK level. The Welsh government has a lot resting on

this policy. It denies there is any confusion and says discussions of

this sort are common. In just under four hours' time,

workers at the Bosch car parts factory near Cardiff are finishing

their last day of production. The German company announced it was

phasing out its Welsh operation 18 months ago, with the loss of 900

jobs. Our business correspondent, Nick Servini, is at the factory in

Miskin. Nick. A very sad day for the staff but

everybody is talking about the professionalism with which they

have been working over the last few months. 500 of them have been

working flat out until this week. They have been very busy in terms

of production. But much of the machinery in this huge site behind

me has stopped and the work has gone to Europe -- Eastern Europe.

It marked the final chapter of an Era that lasted 20 years for a

major employer in Wales. Workers on the day shift at Bosch

pour out of the factory after their final day of production. As the

last alternator for the car industry rolled off the

manufacturing line, many now face an uncertain future. It is a bit

scary, I suppose. People have got mortgages to pay and other bills.

The cost of living is rising all the time and it is going to be

difficult. Their jobs in the area are few and far between and they

are not as well paid as Bosch. lot of people are finishing today,

a few tears, especially with the women, but very composed in there.

We have been very professional. Many of the staff leaving today

have worked here for more than a decade. They will pick up

redundancy cheque -- cheques worth more than a year's salary. That

should give them some support if it takes a long time to find a new job

at. It gives them a good cushion to prepare themselves for any

unemployed period they may have or to take them forward with some

solidity of cash behind them. It is a good cushion and it will give

people the opportunity to not be too concerned in the immediate

future about how they are going to pay the bills. Bosch came to Wales

20 years ago thanks to a �20 million grant from the Welsh

Development Agency. It then invested more than �120 million at

the site employing an average of 1,000 people. But it decided to

pull out of Wales after a 45 % drop in sales in the recession. It moved

production to Hungary where labour costs are a third less than they

are in Wales. In a statement, Bosch said that throughout these

difficult circumstances, the workforce has shown at standing

level of dignity and commitment. For many of those staff, new work

is being found. We spoke with Colin Tucker 18 months ago as he was told

he faced losing his job after 15 years at Bosch. He has now

retrained and works for this firm making axles for trailers. It is

very depressing to be unemployed. You are out on your own, you miss

your colleagues, after working in a large environment where everybody

knows your name, you are a person on your own. With such a well-known

name like Bosch on their CVs, many people will find jobs but much

depends on the general economy and whether new vacancies become

available. This plant was one of the headline

grabbing investments of the late '80s and '90s - the result of

government policy to try to attract foreign-owned manufacturing firms

to come here. So what's happened since then and where are the jobs

of the future going to come from? Sian Lloyd reports.

Travel 10 miles down the M4 and you find one of the few remaining

successful headline inward investment stories. Production

began at Ford in Bridgend a year before Bosch opened. Two decades on

and there are plans to expand the workforce. 30 miles east in Newport,

launched in a fanfare of publicity, Korean manufacturer LG famously

never got its silicon chip plant off the ground. The question now is,

how does Wales create jobs? Different experts have different

views. We need have entrepreneurship alongside key

Investment. I would like to see a focus on encouraging greater

entrepreneurial culture like we had when the Welsh government

introduced the Order permission action plan a decade ago. If we can

have those twin engines of large companies, small companies and

entrepreneurs working together, the Welsh Cup -- economy will grow and

lift itself from the bottle of -- bottom of the league table for the

UK. We need to concentrate on making Wales more attractive to

investors. We need to invest in colleges and make sure people are

skilled and equipped to deal with the requirements of the private

sector. And it also means, make it can better but -- competitive so

that people who are going to come here to make money can keep more of

it. Does that mean Wales has got the right to raise a few pop

independently? I think it probably does. But varying tax powers would

need more powers for the Welsh government. The only good news from

the Bosch closer is that the site has been closed -- sold. The good

thing about the site is its proximity to the M4. Secondly, the

rich manufacturing heritage in South Wales, just as there is in

Gloucestershire, so there is an excellent source of potential

workers for the future. The news that the site will not be empty for

long has been welcomed by the Government. They say it recognises

the strength and skills of the workforce.

Some grounds for optimism at least. This was the single biggest blow to

the Welsh economy as a result of the recession. Let's get some more

reaction with Dr Peter Wells of Cardiff University. We spoke 18

months ago when that announcement was made. Picking up on some of

those points, will we ever see a manufacturing foreign owned

Investment again coming in to Wales? In some respects, this is

the end of any era. On the other hand, it is a symbol of the start

of the New Era. The automotive industry is changing incredibly

quickly in terms of the key technologies and who is important

in the industry. This opens up an enormous market opportunity for new

investment to come into Wales. Surprisingly, I am quite optimistic

for the future. So it is not all one-way traffic to countries like

Hungary? The advantage enjoyed by those low-cost countries was one of

the reasons why jobs have been sucked out of Wales. But I see some

of those advantages being eroded in the future by exchange rate changes,

and increased labour costs in those countries, and transportation costs.

That opens up more opportunities for countries that want to be close

to the markets they serve. That applies in the automotive industry.

Thank you very much. A very sad day for the workforce here, finishing

on a slightly positive note. Much more to come before seven

o'clock: Doctors question the Welsh

Government's plans to change the law on organ donation.

And so many of our high street shops are dying, will cutting the

cost of parking win back out-of- town shoppers?

The Conservative MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, Stephen Crabb, says

he's "very optimistic" that Milford Haven coastguard station will get a

reprieve in the UK Government's review of its plans to modernise

the service. Today, campaigners fighting to save the station handed

in a petition signed by 20,000 people to Downing Street. Among the

I sailed across the Atlantic by myself. The fact the coastguard was

they gave me the courage to do it and gets people the -- gives people

the courage to walk on the coast parts.

David Cornock joins us live from Westminster. The chances of a

reprieve for Milford Haven coastguard station?

I sense a growing sense of optimism among campaigners fighting to save

the Milford Haven coastguards station. Their argument is being

heard in Government. One of the largest oil and gas ports in

northern Europe does need a local coastguard station. We know the

Government is changing its plans. A U-turn is coming. What we don't

know as of today is the detail of that U-turn by the local MP is

upbeat about the prospect. I am optimistic that Milford Haven

coastguards station will be saved. I hope I am not being presumptions.

There is work to be done. It is great the campaigners are here

today bringing the petition. We want people to make the case about

the importance of Milford Haven. That is significant, not because

Stephen Crabb because he is the local MP, he is a Government whip

and knows what has been going on behind the scenes. He is optimistic

that a U-turn is coming. We should not forget the politics in all this.

There two marginal Conservative seats in Pembrokeshire. Privately,

that is going to be a factor when they make the decision we expect to

come in the middle of next month. Milford Haven is not the only

coastguard station under threat in this review.

There is the UK-wide review, UK plans to modernise the coastguard

service. Holyhead is also at risk and Swansea could go part-time

under the Government's's plans. We will have to wait to see the detail.

Many thanks. Doctors have renewed their support

for a change in the law on organ donation. There was Government

wants to be the first in Britain to introduce a system of presumed

consent. It is assumed that people are in favour of donating their

organs if they die. Some medics argue there is no evidence that it

will help increase donations. We'll hear from doctors and both sides of

the debate but first our health correspondent.

An organ donation can be the gift of life. But every year in wears

fewer than 200 transplants take place and supplied failed -- falls

short of demand. The last Government wants to be the first in

the UK to chase a donation system. P Pollard dying needlessly we want

to make sure the organs are available and that people are

waiting... While the are waiting Fora and organ, we can... Belgium

has a higher organ donation rate than in the UK. Sweden has a lower

rate. Spain has the highest donation rate. Presumed consent was

introduced their 1979. But doctors in Spain want their success isn't

just down to a change in the law. The introduction of transplant co-

ordinators has been equally important. At today's BMA

conference, doctors renewed at their support for a change but it

has opened up a debate over whether Wales has chosen the right path.

Let's hear from doctors and both sides of this argument. Sharon

Blackford is in Swansea and Tony Calland is here the studio. Let's

start with you. You array consultant and submitted this

motion and you know the BMA has long campaigned for this change in

the law. Why are you so against this?

I felt it was a time to have the debate. This is an important

ethical question. The fact that people now trust the UK organ

donation system. By changing to an opt-out we may lose the trust of

the general public. Tony Calland, it is almost unchallengeable in

Wales the presumed consent is not a good idea. If the ideas from

elsewhere is a little bit confusing and not at all straightforward, why

proceed? During the four days of our

conference, 16 people will have died who was sitting waiting for

organs on the organ donation waiting list. We really do need to

have the system that produces as many possible or organs as we can

so that this problem will be improved because we can't go on as

we are. The evidence is not overwhelmingly strong in your

favour, is it? The evidence is confused because they are more

variables than just whether there is presumed consent or not. There

is a whole range of issues which were highlighted by the United

Kingdom Task Force about the number of intensive care beds, the

transplant teams, the number of transplant co-ordinators and the

number of road accidents. Just the thought from you, Sharon Blackford.

Any increase in organ donation is a good thing that doctors should as

Bowers? I agree with that and that is why we wanted to have the debate

so we could have this in the general public's view. It is not

just how we have the legal framework: There is a resource

implications, having more transplant co-ordinators could

increase the number of transplants. Many thanks to you both. On the

second day of Prince Charles will week-long tour of Wales, he has

been visiting a recycling centre in Machynlleth what the pictures of

Cornwall has opened the first part of the museum in Cardiff dedicated

to the city's history. The couple are hosting a reception for their

neighbours this evening in Carmarthenshire.

This is something many of our towns and cities are struggling Webb. How

do you compete with out-of-town retail parks? In Swansea, the

answer is to cut the cost of city- centre parking. The council will

charge only a pound from Friday on words. That is down from �4.50.

Swansea set its sights high but while Paris has the Eiffel Tower,

it is more than I saw long the city's Gateway. High street in the

city centre has been suffering and shops are now boarded up. This

reduction and parking prices is hoping to reverse that trend. Paul

Carpenter is assistant manager at this furniture store. He has been

slashing prices and welcomes the council doing the same at the

multi-storey car park. A lot of customers come for maybe a

few hours and they are not going to pay �5 just to look at furniture or

just to shop. They will go to the out-of-town shops. High Street car

park will start charging �1 for half a day. This reduction will run

until November. With the out-of-town shopping that

encourages people to go there because the car parks are free. We

have looked at the situation and we ate one to encourage more people

into the city centre. I have arrive at high street car park and it

tells that the easiest of multi- storey is to find. It is tucked

behind the railway station but local traders are confident this

deal will attract people into the city centre. They hope that this --

we hope this is the start of things to come. Bridgend Council offer �1

parking at certain car parks. Newport offers shoppers free car

parking for the first two hours. This shopper has been lobbying the

council to lower parking prices. Times have been tough but we need

to start with something and we are going to do our best to see if we

can move on. Hopefully, we can increase it with a range of car

parks the stock a summer sale on parking but with most councils

making cuts rather than cut-price offers, a permanent price cuts may

be optimistic. Glamorgan are struggling after the two with their

match -- after their second day against Derbyshire.

If you're watching last night you might have seen this boy winning

his first set in Wimbledon yesterday.

In the first round, I was right there. But in the second set my

game slipped away. It has been an experience, my first Wimbledon. I

managed to win a match yesterday and had a good match today. I think

I am very pleased to cope with the big players. Let's now have the

Welcome to the tennis court, it is very busy. Every court is taken.

Lots of keen tennis players and who knows, maybe an Andy Murray of the

future. We have had a few interruptions at Wimbledon today

but the weather is a race here. Dry, bright and fresh air. It feels more

comfortable than recent days. Temperatures today, 16 Celsius on

Anglesey, 20 in Cardiff. That is lower than recently and about right

for this time of year. Generally dry this evening, if you or showers.

Some party cloud and clear skies and a comfortable lies for sleeping.

Lowest temperatures eight-11 degrees. Tomorrow's chart shows

high pressure in the south of Britain. We will have sunshine and

showers. Tomorrow, some sunshine but the end will be more unstable

than today. Some showers are brewing up. They could be sharp but

they are hit and miss. Top temperatures around 17 degrees

Celsius. They will be a westerly breeze. In the Vale of Glamorgan

tomorrow, some sunshine but it would not rule out a few showers.

Temperatures rising to 17 degrees Celsius. Some tide times for you

What about the outlook was market is looking promising for the rest

of the week thanks to a ridge of high pressure heading our way. The

odd shower but otherwise largely dry and settled. Cool at night but

pleasantly warm by day with a light wind. At the weekend, it is not

looking too bad at the moment. Temperatures around 20 degrees

Celsius. The BBC Wales a roadshow will be in Llanelli on Sunday. Come

along and say hello. You can have a go at Reading venues and presenting

the weather. Sunshine and scattered showers tomorrow. The rest of the

Keep practising! Tonight's headlines. Just two days before

they go on strike David Cameron has told hundreds of thousands of

public sector workers that they are wrong. In a speech aimed at

teachers and civil servant, he said the Government's's planned changes

to pensions are fair and unfair to the tax payer.

It's bad that the biggest ever protest outside the Senedd and the

row over wind farms is not over yet. Protesters say the Welsh

Government's Tan 8 policy setting out where wind fans can be built

has led to plans for hundreds of turbines and pilots'. Tomorrow,

Powys Council has take the step of holding a public meeting at

Welshpool livestock markets to discuss this. We will bring you the