11/01/2012 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines:

Plans to redraw the political map of Wales. The number of MPs would

be reduced from 40 to 30. If they are less MPs, you have less to pay

out. In one sense it is better. But then, the MPs have bigger areas to

Also in the programme tonight: Behind the bands - the school

scores that reveal the position of your child's comprehensive.

Mother of two Tracey Sheen died after she and her husband put a

barbecue inside their tent. A warning tonight about the dangers

of carbon dioxide. And blooming early - the mild

winter weather brings out the flowers, more than double the

Good evening. It's the biggest shake up of the political map for

nearly 70 years, and will force some MPs out of a job. Today, plans

have been unveiled to reduce the number of constituencies in Wales

from 40 to 30. Each will have around 75,000 voters. The plans

will only affect elections for Westminster. Assembly

constituencies stay the same. Some of the more eye-catching changes

include in the South - parts of Caerphilly are joined in a new seat

with Cardiff North. In the West, South and West Pembrokeshire come

together, and a new seat of Caerfyrddin is created for

Carmarthen. And in the North, Anglesey and part of Arfon join to

become Menai ac Ynys Mon. Now, you're able to have your say

on the plans and we'll be getting reaction from around the country.

Roger Pinney is in Beaumaris for us tonight. Our parliamentary

correspondent David Cornock is in Westminster. Hywel Griffith is in

Caerphilly, where parts of the constituency could merge with

Cardiff North. Hywel, what does that mean for the seat? Of quelled,

to ditch any, the Labour vote has been as solid as the walls of the

castle behind me. However, if it combines with Cardiff North, that

is currently held by the Conservatives. It would make this

seat far less come -- predictable come the next election in 2015.

Labour, as well as the other parties, are having to consider

these plans very carefully tonight. Some MPs are considering their

political future. Let's take a look at the picture across Wales with

this report. It will be the biggest change for over 67 years. A new law

means a higher number of voters in each seat so 10 fewer

constituencies in Wales. They haven't been any political

considerations. The commission looks at existing boundaries of

local authorities, constituencies and also considers local ties and

community links in particular areas. Anglesey will join the mainline.

Plaid Cymru might be concern about the disappearance of a certain

seats where they regularly challenged. Success for Labour MPs

know there will be less seas for them to compete with. The proposal

is bad news for Wales. It sees Welsh representation being reduced

by 25% and that can only be bad for Wales is in tears in the UK. Voters

he had mixed views of being part of a new seat. Caerphilly and Cardiff

North. I think it is bringing more people together, isn't it?

Caerphilly is Caerphilly and Cardiff is Cardiff so they are two

separate areas. In south-east Wales, the Cardiff region will lose one

seat. The Liberal Democrats might be concerned that their powerhouse

of Cardiff Central might be no more. Will they be as strong? At the

other end of South Wales, other seats would go as well. It's might

worry this current MP. Part of his seat would go into the new seat.

The sheer size of some proposed constituency has got some people

talking. No more so than in New Town which will be under South

powers which covers an area of nearly 4,000 square kilometres.

They should get more MPs, they should find more MPs for different

locations and all that, spread them out and they should do something

about the towns. One Lib Dem have already represents a large

constituency isn't boring. People would be put off because the seeds

are bigger. If the interests of wares are at heart, plenty of

people want to represent them. names of the new constituencies

will also cause debates. The public consultation on the proposals will

continue until April 4th. The final recommendations will have to be

made by October 2013. Here in North Wales, the proposed changes are

just as dramatic. I'm in Beaumaris. For many years, it Haydon Bridge

had its own representation. But Anglesey has had its own MP for the

best part of 500 years. Today, I travelled across North Wales

gauging reaction. Politics used to be such a simple process. When it

for the first built Haydon Bridge Castle,... Crucially, as far as

this is concerned, how many voters are needed to his send a

representative to Parliament? On Anglesey, recent political history

has been chequered. Plaid Cymru took the seats from the Tories

before losing it to Labour. The constituency has always been

defined by its geography. Now, it may fall victim to the numbers game.

Too small to stand alone. A merger is proposed with parts of a

neighbouring town, a process that will see bigger seats with more

voters. My constituency has been halved. As far as the new quiz is

concerned, it is an enormous constituency. It goes from the sea

in the north to meet Wales. Serve in that constituency will be quite

a challenge, just in driving around. Along the coast, another castle.

This has seen a few political our peoples over the years. There is

nothing new about Alton the size, the shape or even the name of

parliamentary constituencies. This old town was once part of another

constituency, represented by David Lloyd George. Over time, it has

been known by other names. So, what is in an end? Now, the proposal is

to call it north coast Wales. A case here of two into one won't go.

The questioner put to local people, what matters most? The person doing

the job. Size is not everything., definitely, the case of quality.

The local MP is based over there. He is just there. A single MP could

not... The electric... We are just trying to make sure that every MP

roughly speaking reserve the same out of constituencies. In Wales,

that means 10 will lose their jobs. At this end of North Wales, it is a

Labour seat which disappears. What about this issue of Wales losing 10

MPs? A quarter of our parliamentarians made redundant.

Don't you feel sorry that 10 Welsh MPs will be losing their jobs?

So, no sympathy at all? No. I've lost my job, nobody has sympathy

for me. Politics is a fickle business. Edward the first lodged

his forays into Wales from the city of Chester. The government was so

much simpler then. Let's hear from some of the MPs. I'm joined by two

members of the endangered species that is the Welsh member of

parliament. Are you going to miss being aired -- an MP? After

personal level, Montgomeryshire is a seat that I laugh and we worked

very hard to make it a seat. There is that element of personal

discipline that. I shall be looking to put my name forward in one of

the other seats when the boundaries are finally decided. He says it is

disappointing but it is your government? It is not a great

surprise. It is pretty much as I expected. I knew my constituency

was in danger of being split up as soon as the Bill was passed. We

fought the general election and for the people of Britain wanted fewer

politicians, wanted democracy to be less expensive. We implemented what

we said after the election. This is the consequence. This is a

consequence of the government and the Prime Minister should be

defending her policy of deliberately deciding to short

changed Wales. It is not just Labour MPs which are going. Tory

MPs are losing their seats. They are spitting blood behind us in the

House of Commons. They are all moaning about it, as are the

Liberal Democrat sits. They should be saying, saved Wales's voice in

Parliament. I hope the MPs will see sense among his comebacks to the

Commons, keep the number of MPs that Wales has is that of a quarter

losing. Whatever a party, we have a duty to speak for Wales, whatever

our party. I am angry because of the effect of individual MPs and

because Waleses in this is being cut. We did see it like that was

stop we have had these days for months. We delivered a fair result,

we delivered the result we promised before the election and the has

surpassed that Bill and today is it fair consequence by an independent

body. And for a full breakdown of how the

planned changes affect where you live, visit bbc.co.uk/walesnews.

BBC Wales can today reveal the exact scores for every one of our

secondary schools - the scores used to calculate their banding under

the Welsh Government's controversial new system. The

information gives parents further detail on the position of their

children's schools. Ysgol Tryfan in Bangor gets the best score, as our

education correspondent, Nicola Smith, reports.

Since December last year, secondary schools in Wales have been placed

within one of five bands. Band 1 is the highest, and 5, the lowest. To

work out which band a school should be in, they're given points in

areas including GCSE exam performance and pupil attendance

levels. They're rewarded if they've made progress in those areas. The

number of pupils eligible for free school meals is also taken into

account to allow for the challenges of running a school in a deprived

area. Now, parents can see exactly where their child's school sits in

the system. A system designed to see how schools are performing and

which need extra support. The Welsh Government has released a detailed

breakdown under the Freedom of Information Act, following a

request from the BBC. So today, we've learned that Ysgol Tryfan in

Bangor recorded the highest mark possible in the banding system. The

school with the lowest score is Llanrumney High School in Cardiff.

New information - information academics say needs to be used

effectively. If we get into a who's better than who analysis, and

there's a real risk we will, this just ends up being a stick to beat

schools with. In fact, what we really need to be doing is

demanding of Government and local authorities about what resources

are going to be deployed as a result of this banding. This is a

relatively narrow range of performance measures. They are

important, they are interesting, we should be interested about doing

something about them and inquiring why some are doing better than

others but it does not represent all of what a school does. I think

to a large extent, they will be seen as a confusing. This afternoon,

the Education Minister was part of a debate on banding. He says the

system is necessary to identify schools which need the most help to

improve but insists they are not league tables or a means of naming

and shaming weaker schools. Schools in the top bands will be expected

to share their success. Local authorities will have to provide

support to the schools that need it most. The bands will be updated

every year. You can seek full A coroner has warned of the dangers

of carbon monoxide poisoning after a holidaymaker died from fumes

given off by a barbeque. Tracy Screen from Derbyshire was at a

campsite in Gwynedd with her family when she died last August. A

smouldering barbeque had been stored inside their tent.

Tracy Screen was staying at the Aberafon campsite at Gyrn Goch near

Caernarfon with her husband Benjamin and two young children.

The family from Chesterfield were spending their second night in a

large tent. Benjamin Screen brought the portable barbeque inside the

main living area believing it had stopped smouldering. But the

cooling charcoal released carbon monoxide which affected all four

family members. He described getting up to use the bathroom and

collapsing. He eventually dialled 999 on his mobile phone but was

disorientated. He called for help from other campsite unit -- users.

They took the children to safety but found Mrs Screen had died.

would like to thank everyone for their support. For everyone who

knew Tracey, there will be a huge hole in their lives. We love her. I

am sorry. Coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones recorded a verdict of

accidental death and stressed that people should take extra safety

precautions when staying on campsite. The combustion process,

the amount of carbon monoxide that is given off is significantly more

from which burns efficiently. tragedy at Aberafon wasn't the only

campsite fatality in North Wales in the past year and the coroner urged

people to consult a safety leaflet produced by the fire and rescue

service. The UK Health Secretary, Andrew

Lansley, says the Welsh Government's policy on breast

implants runs the risk of letting the private providers off the hook.

Yesterday the Welsh Government said private patients here could have

faulty implants replaced. The NHS in England will remove but won't

replace faulty implants from private patients there, if the

companies involved won't. But it'll recover the costs from the

companies. Friends and serving soldiers paid

heartfelt tributes at the funeral of Lance Sergeant Dan Collins today.

Around 300 mourners filled the service while more stood outside St

Mary's Church in Cardigan. The 29- year-old was found hanged on New

Year's Day in a Pembrokeshire quarry. He had been suffering with

post traumatic stress disorder after serving in Afghanistan.

One of the candidates standing in the Plaid Cymru leadership contest

has attacked his party's strategy at the Assembly elections last May.

They lost three seats and shortly afterwards Ieuan Wyn Jones

announced he'd stand down as leader. Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas says the

campaign focused too heavily on criticising other parties. I would

have thought the election campaign would have been about, look what we

have achieved and we will do more but that did not happen. We had

totally unproductive attack on the Labour Party. There are calls

tonight for better ambulance provision in Monmouth. It comes a

year after a mother died days after waiting more than 40 minutes for a

paramedic. Matthew Davies says his mother would be alive today if the

ambulance had arrived on time. He's organised a meeting tonight to

discuss concerns over the ambulance service. Tomos Dafydd reports.

Exactly a year ago today, Jacqueline Davies was having

trouble breathing. Her sister dialled 999. The call had been

classed as immediately life threatening, meaning a paramedic

should've been with her in 8 minutes. But no help arrived for

almost three quarters of an hour. Anyone with common sense looking at

the case would deduce that she would be alive today if they had

been there within half-an-hour of the initial phone-call. Monmouth is

served by one of these, a rapid response vehicle. It cannot take

patients to hospital but it can get to them quicker. But on January

11th last year, the duty paramedic was on a training course. When the

late shift started that day, the vehicle wouldn't start because the

car battery wasn't charged. It was only then that West Midlands

Ambulance Service were asked for help. Eventually a paramedic

arrived at Mrs Davies' home, followed by an ambulance. She was

unconscious. She died in hospital nine days later. The coroner said

there was a significant failing of the Trust and the delay could have

contributed to her death. We have changed things considerably in the

last month or so in the region and by February, you will see high

dependency Service crew available seven days a week. That will reduce

pressure on ambulance resources in the area, dealing with a lot of the

transfers. A year since losing his mother, Matthew Davies says

fundamental improvements are needed to the town's ambulance service.

There are 800 houses planned for Monmouth. This will add pressure on

at the service. His local MP has taken up his case and has met with

the Ambulance Trust. Tonight, Matthew Davies will raise his

concerns at a public meeting, hoping for support for his campaign

to improve the town's Ambulance Service.

Sport now, and Mark Hughes says he's returned to top flight

management because QPR's ambition matches his own. The former Wales

boss has signed a two and half year contract with the Premier league

club, seven months after walking out on Fulham. Hughes says this was

the right opportunity for him and he's happy to shoulder the

expectation that comes with the job. Some managers feel it is better to

lower expectations but I have never the mark. I have always walked

hand-in-hand with expectation. Fans want to be excited by what is

happening at their football club. Cardiff City will have to turn

around a 1-0 deficit in order to reach the Carling Cup Final after

losing at Crystal Palace last night. The Bluebirds did get the ball in

the back of the net, but it was disallowed by the referee. Claire

Summers reports. It his advantage Crystal Palace but Cardiff feel

they will be able to settle the score at home. Last night, the home

side got the breakthrough just two minutes before half-time. A free-

kick into the Cardiff box should have been the goalkeeper's ball but

Gardner was able to slot it into the open neck. The slim pickings

looked almost fruitful when Kenny Miller scored from this corner,

only for the referee to dismiss it. A decision which in the manager's

mind was the wrong one. I have looked at it again and again and it

is bemusing. The only reason I can find is the referee things he has

made a mistake in giving the corner. None of the players are anywhere

near the goalkeeper. That is what he suggested the file was four. But

it is all to play for at Cardiff City Stadium. The second leg will

be one that Cardiff will fancy. They hold the second best home

record in the championship. We could also know by then be set up

of the new Wales management team. Some bookies have Chris Coleman as

the favourite to take the job. He has returned home from holiday to

the UK today. Llanelli Scarlets number eight Ben Morgan has picked

by England for next month's Six Nations tournament. The 22-year-old

forward, who's originally from Bristol, recently qualified for

Wales on residency grounds, but has opted instead to play for the

country of his birth. The mild weather we've been having

for the past few weeks has been having quite an impact on plants. A

study in Cardiff has revealed that 63 species of wild flowers are in

bloom. That's more than double the average number for this time of

year. Sian Lloyd has more. Clues to this winter's and

unseasonably warm weather are springing up in the most unlikely

places. This busy roundabout in Cardiff is home to several species

of wild flower. This is the command... Experts have recorded 63

varieties flowing around the Welsh capital, more than double the

average for this and of year. would expect five or 10, or even 20.

But this year, a lot of these have continued flowering right through

until January. It is exceptional. Scraps of waste and like this

provide a natural habitat for many wild flowers but it is unusual to

see red clover in bloom in January. At the National Botanic Garden in

Carmarthenshire, horticulturalists have been looking into how it

happens. We have mad fluctuations of climate, extremely cold winters,

extremely wet springs, all sorts of things are happening. It used to

happen once in 10 or 15 years, we would get an odd year but we are

seeing this every couple of years now. It is not just wild flowers

that are affected. Gardeners are reporting changes. The Actual

flowering itself is not concerning. We are telling gardeners to enjoy

them while they last but what is worrying is we have also got

reports of leaf buds swelling. If a lot of plants come out in to leave

at this time of year, they could be in for a shot back -- shock if

there is a frost. There is also be cultivated species like these

winter bedding plants to enjoy. I think the flowers are in for a

shock. There is a change on the way. Temperatures today reached 13

Celsius in Wrexham. Six degrees above average, but it's going to

turn colder. Temperatures on Friday will be closer to 6 or 7 Celsius

with some frost and sunshine. Tonight some dry weather. A few

breaks in the cloud. However drizzle and light rain will become

more widespread overnight. Some mist and hill fog as well. The wind

picking up with lowest temperatures 8 Celsius. Tomorrow's chart shows

high pressure over the Bay of Biscay with a cold front moving

south across the UK. That will bring a little rain followed by

much clearer, colder air. So tomorrow will start very much like

recent days. Dull and damp for some with drizzle. A combination of mist

and drizzle. Light rain in Gwynedd and hill fog as well. Temperatures

in Bala 10 Celsius and breezier than today. So plenty of cloud

tomorrow. A little rain and drizzle spreading south but in the north it

should dry and brighten up during the afternoon. Another mild day.

Top temperatures around 10 or 11 Celsius but temperatures will drop

by a few degrees in the north. The wind gradually easing. Tomorrow

night dry and with clearer skies a colder night. A few mist and fog

patches forming and some frost as well. Friday's chart shows high

pressure over us and that means dry and settled weather. Friday, a nice

day. A cold start. Some frost. A few mist and fog patches as well.

These will slowly lift with most of the country enjoying sunshine.

Temperatures rising to average with light winds. As for the weekend,

generally dry. Some sunshine, frost and a few fog patches. A chilly

breeze picking up on Sunday. Next week may start dry but it looks

like turning more unsettled and windier by the end of Wednesday.

There is a hint of cold weather later in the month.

Our picture tonight is from John Jones. If you're fed up with the

cloudy weather. There is a change on the way. It will be much clearer

and colder by Friday with some Tonight's headlines from the BBC,