09/04/2014 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight, an exclusive report on the roll out of

superfast broadband. It's claimed not enough people are taking it up

because it's not being promoted well enough by the Welsh Government.

Nantymoel in the Ogmore Valley is one of the latest places to get

connected. Did you know it has come to the Ogmore Valley? Yes I did. Not

many people do know. Waiting too long for vital financial

help. Cancer sufferers like Jane face delays getting new disability

benefits. A bilingual maths lesson but tonight

a call for primary school children to be taught in three languages.

It was battered by the storms but now I have cash injection to help

the resort get shipshape in time for the start of the tourist season.

And he designed the iconic Guggenheim museum in New York. We

look back at the life of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who died 55

years ago. Good evening. The former head of BT

in Wales has told this programme the take up of super fast broadband is

too slow here because the Welsh Government isn't doing enough to

promote it. The ?400 million project, half of which is public

money, aims to make high speed internet available in almost every

corner of the country. This exclusive report by our Political

Editor, Nick Servini. That is a slow pace of life in nine

tomorrow at the top of the Ogmore Valley but it now has superfast

broadband as part of a multi-million pound roll-out across Wales. It is

the result of the biggest deal of its kind signed by BT in the UK.

Wales has low levels of superfast broadband access. This is an attempt

to change that. The man who used to run the BT in Wales and now advises

the communications watchdog leaves the benefits could be felt quicker.

The evidence from elsewhere in the UK is if you put in a

disproportionate effort on stimulator and demand and mobilising

your business community you should get faster take-up rates and greater

take-up rates than so far we have seen in Wales. Wales has a tendency

to lag. Communities across Wales will see dramatically quicker

broadband speeds as a result of replacing the copper wire that comes

to cabinets like this with fibre cables and around ?200 million worth

of public money is being spent rolling it out to communities like

this where it is not profitable enough for commercial companies to

do it on their own. The question is, do people know about it? I didn't

know it was you. Would you use it? Yes if I knew it was there. I am

always on my phone and if I had Wi-Fi it would be great. It would

make a lot of difference to a lot of people. A lot of people go shopping

and things like that online and if they want to buy clothes and things

and people can't get out. Everybody needs broadband speeds. You can't

find out much if you don't have the Internet any more. It is the only

way to get information. Do you think it should be promoted more?

Definitely. ?27 million of public money has been sent on the project

so far and it aims to give most of us access to superfast broadband by

2016. Just over ?300,000 has been spent on marketing. Take-up in the

areas that have had it for a year stands at 19%. When you look at the

intervention areas, you will find the take-up is higher than in the

pew early commercial centres. Where Welsh Government has been in charge

of promoting it it has been most accessible. I would suggest that

what we need to do is make sure that the Internet service providers

themselves promote and market it as well. Broadband for most in this

valley led other parts of Wales is now up to speed. Whether they take

advantage of it is another matter. The company in charge of bringing in

a new form of disability benefit has apologised to people who've had to

wait for their assessments. MPs say people with cancer and other serious

conditions are having to wait too long to be assessed for the Personal

Independence Payment. Paul Martin reports.

It has been a tough few years for Jamie Roberts. Diagnosed with our

cancer in 2011 she has also suffered side-effects from her chemotherapy

meaning she cannot go back to old job as a photographer. Used to

receive disability living allowance but has been waiting for months to

be assessed for the benefit replacing it. You try and keep

yourself as healthy and fit as you possibly can so that you can cope

and manage the next lot of treat and. You are trying to manage the

worry that you have about keeping a roof over your head. Personal

independence payment is worth between 21 and hundred and ?38 a

week. Around 100 and -- 140 adults are being moved onto it by 2017.

Under the new system there are more assessment on the situation is

reviewed more readily but MPs say they are concerned that people are

having to wait too long to get an assessment. There are huge delays of

six months or more. There are two big problems. It is leaving some

vulnerable people like cancer sufferers without any financial

support and it is a huge drain on the taxpayer. At Westminster debate

this morning the minister responsible said he was responding

to the concerns. The real truth is that there will be people who

benefit from it and people that will not. What they need is decisions and

we need to communicate with these people much better. The system is

run in Wales by the private company capita which had this message to the

people who had to the people that await. I would like to apologise to

each and every one of them. It is not the place I want this business

to be at. Those in live running at taking longer than routine business

so we are doubling our health professional workforce. Jane is

still waiting for the chance to prove she needs this benefit. The

government says anyone who's had to wait for assessment will have

payments backdated. I'm joined now by Helen Powell, a

leading welfare benefits advisor for the cancer charity Macmillan. We

heard Capita apologising for delays in assessing people for the new

benefit. How have the people you help found the new system? McMillan

have got 13 welfare advisers across Wales. What is being reported back

to us is that it is very difficult for people affected by cancer at the

moment because the delays are causing a great deal of distress. In

one part of Wales at 61 claims have been made and only nine decisions

have been made. In another area only three decisions has been made. They

say they are going to double the number of people carrying up the

assessments. What impact will that have? I'm not sure it will totally

solve the problem but it will help. In all honesty the system and

process itself is quite flawed. There are more problems than just

manpower. We are being told there is a state of confusion in tins of

getting appointments. Appointments are being cancelled and even when

you have the assessment it can be months before you receive a

decision. The government says personal independent payments are

better because people are assessed regularly and changes in their

condition can be monitored. Is that your experience? Any assessment

process causes great stress so people affected by cancer, they

might be in the middle of treatment and the last thing they need is to

be continuously asked to complete more forms.

David Cameron has once again repeated his criticism of the Welsh

Government's record on the NHS in Wales, describing it as "a shambles"

during Prime Minister's Questions. In what has become a regular spat,

the First Minister said Mr Cameron was using an old trick to divert

attention away from his own problems. Our health correspondent

Owain Clarke is at Westminster tonight. Even a Cabinet resignation

couldn't keep the Welsh NHS out of Prime Minister 's questions. On some

counts this was the 31st time David Cameron used prime ministers

questions to attack the Welsh NHS performance. He was answering a

question by the Tory MP Alan Cairns who suggested Welsh soldiers might

be at a disadvantage because of longer waiting times in Wales. Even

the denial of that by the Welsh Government earlier this week it was

interesting to note David Cameron did not focus on that specific issue

but once again he did broaden it out and renewed his attack on Welsh

Labour 's health record. There is a truly dreadful record when it comes

to Labour 's NHS in Wales. You see a huge contrast now with the NHS in

England properly funded, well-run, meeting the key targets and the

shambles in Wales. Coincidently at exactly that time Carwyn Jones was

answering questions on Radio Wales and he had back claiming the Prime

Minister did not give two hoots about the Welsh NHS and was using an

old trick to develop diced -- David attention from his own problems. Is

there any way of judging who is right here? What is the state of the

NHS truly? We might get a definitive -- definitive answer on Friday

because an influential study will be published with the aim of comparing

and contrasting how the four health care systems in the UK are

performing. They will measure them against each other. Six academics

have spent two years on it and it should give us a clear picture and

we will bring you the details on Wales today.

A jury's heard how one of Britain's most promising sailors was urged to

go faster before their speedboat crashed, leaving a schoolgirl brain

damaged. Cardiff Crown Court heard how Nia Jones. On the left.

Accelerated but then collided with another boat after dark. She and

Eleni Morus have admitted piloting the boats without navigation lights.

But they deny speeding and not keeping a proper lookout in Cardiff

Bay in October 2010. An inquest has opened into the death

of a teenager after what his family has claimed was years of bullying.

15-year-old Simon Brooks, who was from Tonyrefail, died four days

after a suspected overdose, having left a message alleging he was

bullied. The inquest was adjourned until July.

The jury in the trial of former Shadow Welsh Secretary Nigel Evans

has retired to consider its verdict. 56-year-old Mr Evans from Swansea

denies nine charges including rape and sexual assault against seven

young men. Welsh should become the main

language of the foundation phase in the next decade and a foreign

language should be taught in primary schools. Just two of the suggestions

made in a consultation document from Plaid Cymru. The party says that

developing a trilingual nation would benefit Wales economically and

culturally. Nicola Smith reports. Bilingualism in action. These six

and seven-year-olds at St Woolos Primary School in Newport are

learning maths and Welsh is interspersed throughout. Three to

seven-year-olds in Wales learn through the foundation phase through

play and language and communication are key parts of it. But Plaid Cymru

would like to take it further. The children enjoy it and they love

using language and they use it followed her earlier round the

school. So the children would lap up the challenge as would we. Plaid

Cymru's consultation paper suggests that in ten years' time, half of all

English medium primary schools like this one would use Welsh as the main

language at Foundation Phase. To do that they say an intensive

recruitment and training programme would be needed to ensure enough

teachers are available and able to teach in Welsh. So what do parents

here think? The idea sounds wonderful but how practical it is, I

really don't know. I think it is nice to have a generalisation and

having a background of being able to talk a bit of Welsh but having it

intends in school can be a bit confusing for the children. Another

proposal is to teach a modern foreign language at primary school,

closing a skills gap and reap longer term economic and social benefits.

But the headteacher here questions whether there's room in an already

full curriculum. The idea of teaching modern foreign languages in

primary school is great but there are more implications to be taken

into consideration because staffing issues and resorting effusion --

issues are significant. The low reading and writing skills in Wales

are part of the mix of the teaching we have in Wales and we have to look

at the evidence of what looked -- works in other countries where it is

natural to have bilingual and trilingual teaching with the

additional foreign-language is in riches the experience of the child.

-- in riches There are 34 different languages spoken in the corridors of

this school. Perhaps one day, Welsh will be the most common one.

Still to come tonight: you're going to lose again tonight. And he was

right, as Newport's play-off hopes come to an end with another home

defeat. Coastal areas hit by severe storms

last winter are to receive more than ?850,000 to them help gear up for

the start of the tourist season. The Welsh Government has announced 17

counties will be able to access funds to repair damage to the Wales

Coast Path. Aberystwyth will also receive ?310,000 to restore its

damaged promenade and our reporter Charlotte Dubenskij is in there

tonight. Good evening and welcome to what has

been a glorious day in Aberystwyth. Very different to the scenes we saw

a few months ago when the severe winter storms battered the

coastline. The government has announced more than ?850,000 to

replace -- repair some of the damage. That money is from the

promenade to help things like restoring some of the railings that

were damaged during the storms. Joining me is one is this manager of

the cliff railway and the vice chair of the chamber of commerce. Is this

many NFO is it too little too late? It is a bit late but it is

definitely needed and we are grateful to have it. It was worrying

for people like myself who were worried we would not have got the

place in any kind of state and I must commend the Council for the

hard work they have done. Businesses have raised concern that not enough

is being done to show that Aberystwyth is open for business.

Has enough now been done? We're getting there. I know Ceredigion

Council tourism organisation has been hard at work and have spent

some money to promote a tag saying Aberystwyth is open for business.

That is the message from here. Aberystwyth is open for business and

many people have already been enjoying the sunshine ahead of the

tourism season. Two people have been taken to

hospital and ten others have been treated after toxic vapour was

released at a factory which makes condiments in Flintshire. The

company says it happened during a routine cleaning process and that

the cause of the incident at the plant in Saltney is under

investigation. Work on a ?13 million replacement

for the Afan Lido leisure complex will begin within a matter of weeks.

Neath Port Talbot Council today approved plans for the centre on

Aberavon seafront which should be opening its doors in late 2016. The

old centre was demolished after being ravaged by fire back in 2009

and the town has already been without leisure facilities for more

than four years. It may lie in the shadow of the

steelworks but with its views across Swansea Bay, Aberavon beach is a

prime location for re-development in Port Talbot. Right at the centre of

this promenade, the original Afan Lido built in 1965, used to be the

cultural and sporting centrepiece of the town. In December 2009 it was

ravaged by fire. Now it's hoped its replacement, to be built a few

hundred metres away, will once again give the community a building to be

proud of. It would be the same as the old facility but the integrated

design will provide comprehensive leisure with the cinema and bowling

alley and other facilities. At a cost of more than ?13 million, the

new centre will have an eight lane 25m pool at its heart, a four court

sports hall, youth club, cafe and community rooms. It'll also get new

gym facilities, which are currently being housed in a temporary building

adjacent to the site. We are excited to get that into a state of the art

premises. Hopefully we will be in the facility as soon as possible.

Campaigner Harry Worth had previously accused the authorities

of dragging their feet in rebuilding the centre. He runs the local

lifeguards, and says a place to teach youngsters to swim is vital.

This town has a very long seafront and a couple of rivers and docs and

reservoirs. It is very important that we have a facility that we can

teach local children water safety and swimming. Work on the new centre

is to start in the next few weeks and the opening should be in around

18 months' time. The Welsh Rugby Union says it will

increase the funding for regional rugby. The WRU says it is still

negotiating the details of a new agreement with the regions but the

second-tier premiership and the grassroots came will receive

increases of several hundred thousand pounds in July.

Cricket, and Glamorgan have won their first match of the season,

beating Surrey by ten wickets at the Oval. They bowled out the home side

for just 82, with Graham Wagg taking six wickets. Openers Gareth Rees and

Will Bragg then eased Glamorgan to victory with an unbroken stand of

156. Football, and Wales' women face

Ukraine in Llanelli this evening in a match that could have a huge

bearing on their chances of qualifying for the World Cup. The

two countries are battling each other for second place in their

qualification group. Here's Ashleigh Crowter.

It is a night when Wales 's World Cup credentials will be tested. They

have seen of lesser opposition comfortably including a 5-0 win in

Turkey. But Ukraine are unbeaten in the group. Wales is only defeat so

far was to England. Three wins has put them in second place where they

need to finish to secure a play-off match as they tried -- try to reach

the finals in Canada. They are the second seeds and they are supposed

to be pushing England. But you know, we are happy with where we are right

now. We are happy with our performances and results. It's

important we focus on us and keep building on what we've done so far.

On the domestic scene new book counties season continues to tail

off. The pre-match prediction came true as Plymouth cup test with the

tricky Rodney prayed Petch. There was hope for a while after new body

glazed but it didn't last long. Plymouth scored three minutes later

to secure all three bytes. But county of not one at home since the

18th of February. I am getting tired of repeating myself. We have to try

and get as many points as we can until the end of the season. Then we

will re-evaluate and have a busy summer. More positive signs for

22-year-old Emily Hughes who showed why he is so highly rated with this

cool the Birmingham as they lost at Middlebrook -- Middlesbrough.

He's one of the greatest architects of all time. Frank Lloyd Wright, who

died 55 years ago today, designed some of the world's most iconic

buildings. Although he found fame in America, his family were from

Ceredigion and Welsh culture was to have a huge influence on his

architecture. As a new exhibition of his work opens in New York, Carwyn

Jones has been tracing Frank Lloyd Wright's Welsh roots.

It's become his signiature building, dominating the upper east side of

Manhattan. The Guggenheim Museum is just one of more 500 buildings

around the world conceived by Frank Lloyd Wright. He was first and

foremost a designer of houses. He introduced the idea of open plan

living, which we take for granted these days but which was an entirely

new concept in the early years of the 20th century. Throughout his

life he prided himself as being a Welsh-American and it all started in

West Wales. His roots are in Ceredigion and this is where his

mother was born. His grandfather was a Unitarian and a lay preacher. The

family worshipped at this chapel in Rhydowen. But their religious

beliefs brought them into conflict with the local landowner, who was

less tolerant of their faith. They were not free to practice their

faith or politics and so they left the area in 1844 and emigrated to

America. The family settled in Wisconsin, where Frank Lloyd Wright

was born in 1867. His mother encouraged his interest in

architecture, and by the end of the century he was designing houses and

public buildings throughout America. His own home he called Taliesin,

after the ancient Welsh poet. In fact the traditions and culture of

Wales were instilled in him from birth. His family had moved to

Wisconsin from West Wales and I think in Wisconsin they created a

facsimile of West Wales. Poetry, music, the chapel life, agricultural

life. Those deeply affected his outlook on design. The whole organic

idea of this continuity between nature and design. Frank LLoyd

Wright only visited Wales once, towards the end of his life, when he

received an honorary doctorate from Bangor University. He died on this

day in 1959 but his work remains as popular as ever. The Museum of

Modern Art in New York is currently hosting a major exhibition of his

futuristic designs. His thinking changed the course of 20th century

architecture and defined how we live and work in a modern world.

Let's get the weather forecast now. Some lovely sunshine today, Derek.

There was more sunshine than expected today which is a bonus.

There's plenty more dry weather to come over the next few days. Not

completely dry, though. A few spots of light rain or drizzle are likely.

The odd shower but no more than that. So dry this evening. And a dry

night for most of us. Although cloud may bring spots of drizzle to

Gwynedd and Ceredigion. Chilly inland. Mist in Monmouth with a low

of 4C. Milder on the coast. Tomorrow's chart shows high pressure

over the Atlantic. A weak cold front lying through Southern Scotland and

Ireland will move slowly southeast. So here's the picture for 8.00am in

the morning. Plenty of cloud. The odd spot of drizzle but otherwise

dry. Bright in places. Some sunshine on the north coast and Anglesey. The

temperature on Great Orme, 9C with a light breeze. During the morning

more of the country will brighten-up with sunny spells. One or two

showers breaking out in the south. A little rain will spread into the

north and northwest during the afternoon. Top temperatures around

14C with a light breeze. Cooler on the coast with a breeze off the sea.

On Anglesey a dry morning. A little rain in the afternoon. Dry again by

evening. In Monmouthshire tomorrow, generally dry. Sunshine and cloud

with a high of 13C in Abergavenny. Tomorrow evening, spots of light

rain and drizzle will spread southeast. Dry and clearer weather

following from the north overnight with a few mist and fog patches

forming. Friday, a nice day. Dry with a good deal of sunshine. Just

the odd isolated shower. Friday night turning cold with a widespread

ground frost. More dry weather on Saturday. Some sunshine but

generally a lot of cloud and a weak front may bring spots of light rain

and drizzle later in the afternoon and evening. Sunday dry with

variable cloud. Some sunshine and light winds. Next week may start dry

but it looks like the weather will break before Easter.

A reminder of our main news. The former head of the tea in Wales has

told this programme the take-up of superfast broadband is slow here

because not enough is being done to promoted by the Welsh Government.

That is it for now. We will have an update at 8pm. For now, from all of

us here, goodbye.