07/10/2013 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Out top story.

Lose weight if you need an NHS operation. The vast majority of us

now think patients across Wales should diet to get surgery.

If you don't put yourself in a position where that treatment will

be effective, that treatment would be available to you. -- will not be

available to you. Our other headlines tonight.

This man was mayor of Denbigh, now he's on trial for setting off

explosions. The court hears he blew up a car for a thrill.

They're top of the class, but when it comes to maths, Wales just can't

add up at GCSE. £500,000 of public money used for

unlawful payments - the council at the centre of a police

investigation. And hundreds of children offered the

MMR jab after more measles cases. Good evening. The vast majority

people in Wales believe the NHS should insist that overweight

patients try to lose weight before having a non-urgent operation.

That's already the policy at Cardiff and Vale Health Board, but a new

poll for BBC Wales reveals that 82% of us believe health boards across

Wales should adopt the policy. 66% agreed the NHS spends too much

treating conditions that result from poor diet and a lack of exercise.

But 73% didn't want the Government telling us what we should eat. The

poll marks the start of a new season of documentaries called Live Longer

Wales, designed to encourage us to think about living a healthier

lifestyle. Nick Palit reports. Weight matters from the first moment

of our lives. Our genes are important but in this age of cheap,

abundant food, we face a lifetime of temptation. In Wales it is a battle

we are losing. Following in the footsteps of the US, the culture is

now having a detrimental affect on our health. According to one of the

world's leading experts on obesity, that is the case. All these things

form a perfect storm of fact those which makes it almost inevitable.

The Welsh figures are very similar to what we are seeing in the United

States. Berry high numbers in children, and certainly it is a

crisis by any standard. And that crisis becomes all too clear when

you see the figures. Obesity in Wales is worse than England and

Scotland. Three out of five Welsh adults are either overweight or

obese. And one in three children are overweight or seriously fat. Type

two diabetes, heart disease, hip and knee replacements, or the result of

burdening the body with too much weight and, in turn, burdening a

struggling NHS. I am not in favour of penalising people but I am in

favour, if you present yourself for an operation, and because of your

weight you are less likely to benefit clinically from that

operation, then before you offered that treatment, you will be expected

to go on a weight management course provided for you, free for you to

attend, convenient for you to get to, but if you don't put yourself in

a position where that treatment will be effective, that treatment will

not be available to you. But is obesity now pervasive that being fat

is the new normal? Their seamstresses at this factory think

so. It does not matter what size you are, it is your personality, how you

treat people. I would not want to lose weight. I am happy as I am. And

they are not unusual. Levels of obesity are more prevalent in the

South Wales valleys area where a quarter of adults are obese. In

Merthyr Tydfil, it is even worse. That is why parents here are being

invited to take part in publicly funded cookery classes, teaching

them to prepare healthy meals to stop their children getting the same

bad habits that they grew up with. My children are getting older now

and I don't want them to be growing up and going for the cheap stuff

when you make it yourself it is more healthy. In Wales, we are at the

bottom of the British league for cycling and walking and we spend

bottom of the British league for more time watching TV than anywhere

else in Britain. Today's couch potatoes are tomorrow's hospital

patients. At this rugby club, they have had problems recruiting young

players. A lot of children like to watch sport but when it comes to

doing something, they prefer to be in front of the computer. Baroness

Finlay Grey Thomson was asked to chair a review by the government on

how to get children more physically active. We want PE to be a core

subject and we want teachers to be properly trained in how to deliver

physical exercise. The health service was set up when hunger and

being underweight was the big worry. Now it is the disease of abundance,

obesity, that is the underlying cause of numerous health problems.

If it is not tackled, it is the taxpayer will have to pick up the

bill for the consequences. Dr Sharon Hopkins is from Cardiff

and Vale Health board. What evidence is there that being thinner before

an operation is a good thing? We have got a huge amount of everyday

-- evidence that being overweight when you are undergoing surgery

causes all sorts of increased risks. Problems with bleeding,

problems with needing more anaesthetic, breathing problems,

wound healing problems, and sometimes more infections after the

operation. It is one thing to put out a message and tell people to go

on a course, but is it working? Are people losing weight? The patients

we have had through the weight management programme to date are

losing weight but we know that losing weight is a difficult thing

to do. It is very difficult for many people. What we are trying to do is

support people and give them the opportunity to think about why

losing weight might be good and most people want the best possible

outcome if they are undergoing surgery. The start point is about

asking them to think about their health, understand the risks, and

get them on those courses thinking about their own weight. If combating

obesity for pre-surgery patients is about their own weight. If combating

such a good thing, why not say, give up smoking, give up drinking? We

have done that with tobacco. Part of the policy we have introduced in

Cardiff and the Vale also talks about smokers. Anybody who smokes

and comes at two a planned operation, we have asked them to go

on a smoking cessation course. Again, like weight, it is a very

difficult thing to do, to quit smoking, and we understand that, so

we are trying to encourage people to get onto this programme. For

smoking, even stopping your smoking eight weeks before your operation

makes a big difference. Thank you very much.

You can see much more on this in the first episode of Live Longer Wales

tonight at 10.35pm here on BBC One Wales. And online at

bbc.co.uk/livelongerwales. A former mayor got a thrill from

setting off dangerous explosives near his home, a court has heard.

John Larsen denies six counts of possessing explosives, arson and

causing an explosion. The blasts caused shrapnel to smash windows and

damage cars. I interviewed John Larsen back in

April as an eyewitness to the explosions which had been spreading

fear among residents for weeks. He talked of his concern that simply

could be injured but soon after he was arrested and charged with

causing the debtor nations. The prosecution barrister says he used

in cancer packed with parts of fireworks and metal ball bearings to

cause the explosions. He told the court it was highly likely the

defendant was getting a thrill out of what he was doing and the

attention he was getting by speaking to the media. He also said he had an

active interest in pyrotechnics. Police found files on his computer.

The prosecution say police seized evidence from his home, including a

book on pyrotechnics and a bag of ball bearings, fuse wire and

chemicals. It is claimed he told police he owned flash powder and

Flash paper which he bought legitimately from an online Magic

store. The court also heard from a neighbour, Caroline Williams. She

said her and her fellow kennels had grown fed up after months of

sickness nights to do these explosions. She sat at one evening

and saw John Larsen through the window come out of his house, bend

down while looking at a car across the road, and then go back inside. A

few minutes later, she said smoke started to come from one of the cars

and she had a very loud bang. He denies six charges and the trial is

expected to last two weeks. The MP for Caerphilly, Wayne David,

has a new job. He's been appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to

Ed Miliband, acting as the Labour leader's eyes and ears around the

House of Commons. Mr Miliband reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet today.

The Pontypridd MP, Owen Smith, keeps his job as Shadow Welsh Secretary,

Labour's main spokesman on Wales at Westminster.

A man who admitted posting offensive comments online about murdered

five-year-old April Jones has been given 120 hours of community

service. 25-year-old Liam Young from Ayrshire in Scotland sent messages

on Facebook mocking the search for the schoolgirl, whose body has never

been found. He was the boss of a charity that

promoted race equality in Wales. Within the past hour, the Crown

Prosecution Service has said there is sufficient evidence to charge Naz

Malik with theft and fraud. The All Wales Ethnic Minority Association

was wound up in March after its public funding was withdrawn

following claims of financial mismanagement. Here's our political

editor Nick Servini. Over in 11 years, AWEMA was given

millions of pounds to Bruno -- promote the needs of people from

ethnic minorities but ten years ago BBC Wales first raised questions

about the charity which was run from Swansea. Naz Malik and finance

directors were sacked by AWEMA in February 2012. A report found what

they called a complete lack of oversight of the financial processes

and controls. In March last year, public funding was withdrawn and the

charity was wound up. There was criticism of the Welsh government.

The Wales Audit Office says warnings were not heeded for a decade. Last

February, South Wales Police was called in to investigate. Today we

were told that Naz Malik will be charged with theft, and fraud by. As

a age. The Crown Prosecution Service says there is sufficient evidence

and it is in the public interest to charge Naz Malik with the offences.

South Wales Police said they were now be issuing a summons against him

and he will be charged when he attends court at a date and venue to

be confirmed. Nick, this developed into quite a

political row didn't it? Big news tonight and a big political story

over the years. This charity was wound up after receiving about £7

million in public money over a 10-year period. That report from the

audit office criticised the Welsh government for a lack of oversight

for the money that went to this charity and the way it distributed

to the other bodies. As a result, the opposition parties seized on it,

accusing the Welsh government of ignoring repeatedly the warnings

about this charity over the years. The first minister said the

government had nothing to hide. Even the country's top civil servant told

a committee of Assembly Members one of the reasons why ministers did not

intervene more quickly was because of a keenness to promote race

equality. There will be development of the police front as a result of

the news tonight. Behind-the-scenes, we are told, work has gone on to

improve the way grants go to charities like this.

Much more to come before seven o'clock.

Hundreds of children offered the MMR jab as the measles outbreak spreads.

And the table tennis team-mates, beating Europe's finest, back home

after going head-to-head for the European title.

It's one of the essential skills school leavers are expected to have

when applying for jobs, but the education watchdog has raised

concerns about pupils' poor performance in GCSE maths. In a

report out today, they say the proportion of our youngsters getting

the very top grades is well behind their English counterparts. Here's

our education correspondent Arwyn Jones.

These pupils in Swansea are among the lucky ones. This is a school

where they get maths right. We make sure there is a rigorous scheme of

work which all teachers add here to. It is robust so that there is no

doubt as to what teachers want to be teaching, what critical --

curriculum ought to be covered. Also a robust assessment procedure where

pupils are assessed on a readily basis. But throughout Wales it is a

different picture. Maths is the low was performing core subject. We fall

quite away behind England. Pupils are struggling with some of the key

pupil blocks -- building blocks of mathematics. This is hampering their

ability to solve problems. These are key building blocks of mathematics

and they should be secured with them when they are in key stage three.

Employers have already raised concern about the quality of maths

when young people go to them looking for jobs. Nearly half have had to

invest in extra maths lessons for school leavers. You hear stories of

people who can't add up, they can't read and write, but it is not just

about the basic end, it is about the new Morrissey skills you need for

the high-end jobs such as engineering -- numeracy skills. This

is one way the Welsh government is trying to tackle the situation,

getting employers into schools to show why it maths matters. These

pupils in Port Talbot are learning how to organise a music festival,

sorting out the stage sizes as well as paying the artists, all using

maths. We need an area for the venue. I want to do science and I

know maths is important for everything. Teaching unions say more

support like this is needed. The Education Minister was not available

to speak today but accepted there were problems in the current system.

I think there is work to be done, particularly in terms of direct

relationship to the everyday world of work and those practical

elements. All employers, almost unanimously, are telling us maths is

something that needs attention. Schemes like this are a comeback for

when people say, why is maths important to me? Today's report

shows why an answer to that question is so important.

£500,000 of taxpayers' money paid out unlawfully. Caerphilly Council

is at the centre of a police investigation into pay rises for

senior staff. Tonight, the amounts involved have come to light.

Detectives have questioned the local authority's chief executive, Anthony

O'Sullivan, who's been suspended from his post. Our reporter Brian

Meechan is at the council's headquarters. Brian, these payments

are higher than first thought? That is right. We now know that £488,000

was spent on these unlawful payments over the last financial year. That

is roughly twice what we had initially thought was the figure. We

also know that around £94,000 has been spent unlawfully on salaries of

five senior figures, including the chief executive and the deputy chief

executive, both of whom have been suspended and have been interviewed

by the police over these payments. The reason why they were judged to

be unlawful was because the chief executive was giving advice on

something that he would actually benefit financially from. It also

came to light that many senior officials were sitting in on

meetings when this was being discussed and the decisions were

being taken, even though they were also financial beneficiaries. What

has come to light today is that they were extra payments, unlawful

payments, that were paid for things like driving allowances and also for

additional annual pay. And what has been the reaction to these details

tonight? Of course, there is still police investigation under way and

also we have the audit office that is investigating further the

council, so there is some sheep business about coming forward --

sheepish less. This is what Plaid Cymru had to say. This is the latest

in a long line of issues which has cast reputational damage on the

authority. I think the public will be outraged that almost half £1

million of unlawful payments have been made. The council will have two

seriously consider whether or not that many will have to be paid back.

Now we do know that the council has already said that it has voluntarily

passed this matter on to its auditors and they will be

investigating it further. But the issue is the concerns that have been

raised in terms of the management decisions that were being made here

and the scrutiny of those decisions and, particularly, in light of the

fact the council budgets are having to be cut and services are also

having to be cut. Three months after the measles

epidemic ended, a new case of the virus have been confirmed in the

Swansea area. Parents of pupils at Cwmtawe School in Pontardawe are

being urged to keep their children home if they're showing flu-like

symptoms and haven't had the MMR jab. One pupil at Cwmtawe School is

known to have caught measles and there are four more suspected cases,

which include a member of staff. Cemlyn Davies reports.

Pupils of Cwmtawe School were among thousands of children vaccinated at

the height of the measles outbreak. But a minority still haven't had the

MMR jab and so these scenes will be repeated tomorrow. That's after

laboratory tests confirmed one of the students here has caught

measles. Two members of the pupil's family, a member of staff and a

second student are suspected of having contracted the virus. All

parents are being informed and any questions they have we have dealt

with, but everything that we can do, we are doing at the moment. We are

liaising with Public Health Wales and the local authority to make sure

that we give all children the opportunity to get the innocuous.

It's just three months since Wales' worst ever measles epidemic was

declared officially over. The outbreak centred on the Swansea area

and led to one man's death. Gareth Colfer-Williams was 25-years-old. In

total, more than 1,200 cases of measles were diagnosed. Long queues

formed at emergency drop-in clinics as worried parents sought to get

their children immunised. 75,000 people were vaccinated across Wales

and yet some 30,000 ten to 18-year-olds still haven't been

inoculated. It does surprise and disappointed that after six months

of onslaught of media reporting, dozens and dozens of children being

admitted to hospital with measles related complications and even a

death in the Swansea area, that so many children remain without a

vaccination. 62 pupils at the school have not had the jab while 142 have

only had one dose. Tomorrow, they will all be offered the full

vaccine. Meanwhile, parents whose children have not been vaccinated

and displaying flu-like symptoms are being urged to keep them away from

the school and the children's events.

Problems are mounting for Wales football manager Chris Coleman as

his injury list keeps growing ahead of Friday's World Cup qualifier

against Macedonia. Defenders Adam Matthews, Sam Ricketts and Danny

Gabbidon are all unavailable, as is full-back Ben Davies, who injured a

hamstring in Swansea's 2-0 defeat at Southampton. Some better news though

for his club team-mate Michu. He's been called up by world champions

Spain for the first time, ahead of their games against Belarus and

Georgia. After a successful European

Championships, two Welsh table tennis stars are back home

celebrating after picking up four medals between them. Rob and Paul

Davies normally train together, but had to go head-to-head for the

European title. Tomos Dafydd went to meet them.

Back in Brecon after a successful championships in Italy. They had

already worked together to win the team event and then both Rob and

Paul swept aside some of Europe's finest to go head-to-head for the

singles title. Training partners for six years, now opponents. Rob got

gold and Paul had to settle for silver. It was a bit surreal playing

each other because we both know each other's games inside out. I think we

are just both glad to be there. I will take it easy for a couple of

days, recover and give him a bit of stick after that is probably best.

But it is all good. He could beat me next week. Rob first picked up a bat

after breaking his neck playing rugby eight years ago. He was

persuaded to take up table tennis by disability sport Wales, while Paul

is no stranger to the big-time. Bronze at the Paralympics. Have

things changed since London 2012? I get a lot more respect than I used

to have before but I think about it as inspiring the future generation

like this young man next to me. It shows that we are on the right path.

And now the new European champion is being tipped to win the World

Championships next year. He is going to do the treble. I think he is

going to win the World Championships and the Paralympics. No pressure. No

pressure at all! That is my dream will stop I don't know whether it

will happen consecutively. I think so. Plenty of encouragement, then.

Who would bet against a Welshman being crowned world champion in

China next autumn? Lets see what the weather has in

store. Here's Sue. After a mild start to October, all

change this week, turning colder by the end of the week. And noticeably

colder. Typical October temperatures are about 13 to 15 Celsius, so

they've been above average this month. A high of 19 Celsius today in

Welshpool. By Thursday, a drop of ten degrees. A maximum temperature

of more like nine Celsius. More on that in a moment, but still quite

mild tonight. Drier in the south and east, but a fairly weak weather

front pushes in to Anglesey and Gwynedd, so a band of patchy rain

slowly spreads south-eastwards through the night. Some mist and fog

patches forming too. Temperatures falling no lower than 14 Celsius for

towns and cities. Tomorrow, a misty, murky start. Some drizzle continuing

to move south-eastwards. The rain will clear through the day. Some

cloud around. Then brightening up later with sunny spells developing,

especially to the shelter of high ground in the east thanks to

westerly winds and temperatures down slightly on today. Feeling fresher.

This colder air mass arrives from the north, pushed in behind these

cold fronts. High pressure develops to the north-west of the UK and the

change in wind direction is significant. These isobars

straighten out, moving from a westerly to a more northerly

direction, introducing that colder air. So Wednesday will be a

transition day. A scattering of showers. Winds gradually strengthen

from the north-west. Some cloud, bright spells and temperatures begin

to drop off. The wind picks up overnight into Thursday - those

northerly winds introduce more arctic air so noticeably colder, but

a drier and brighter end to the week with the return of overnight frosts

in rural areas. Today's picture is from Rob Vaughan. He caught the

early mist in Glynneath looking over the Neath Valley. An autumnal scene,

but we're likely to see more crisp and frosty mornings by the end of

the week. You can send your pictures to us by e-mail or Twitter,

particularly good if they help to tell the weather story. And keep up

to date with what's happening at bbc.co.uk/weather and by downloading

the new free BBC weather app for smartphones.

Tomorrow, your money and how it'll be spent next year. The First

Minister will reveal how his Government plans to spend £15

billion in next year's budget. It'll set out how much will be spent on

hospitals, schools and council services. The lowdown tomorrow at

6.30pm. The headlines again from the BBC.

X-Ray is back in half an hour. We will be tackling the issues that

matter to you. A company boss who promised free bowlers but took

hundreds of pounds from potential customers. And we are helping you

live longer, taking a look at the secret sugar in your diet.

We'll have an update for you here at 8.00pm and I'll be back after the

BBC News at 10.00pm. That's Wales Today. From all of us on the

programme, good evening.