24/04/2014 BBC Wales Today

Good evening. Concerns about how our children are

taught in school were first raised more than six years ago, but very

little was done. Wales Today has seen a confidential report from 2007

which said the Welsh government lacked long-term vision and should

improve teacher training. The recommendations were never made

public. But just two weeks ago, nearly seven years later, the same

concerns were raised again. 2007. It was the year Wales coach

Gareth Jenkins was sacked after we failed to reach the quarterfinals of

the Rugby World Cup. Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru joined forces to

form a coalition government in Cardiff Bay. Smokers here could no

longer light up in pubs, restaurants and other public places. And after

protests at the Hindu temple in Carmarthenshire where he lived,

Shambo the bull was put down after testing positive for bovine TB. It

was also the year the Welsh government ordered an internal

review to see how things were going with its education policies. It

called for many changes, but why weren't they implemented? The report

was commissioned by then education minister Jane Davidson in 2007. By

the time it reported back in November of that year, it was to a

different education minister, Jane Hutt. It was never meant to be made

public. Some of the report's recommendations were implemented

four years later by another education minister, Leighton

Andrews, including asking the global think tank the OECD to conduct a

review of how our schools operate. It also said that there wasn't a

clear message tying together the Welsh government's education

policies and that teachers needed more support to develop their

careers. Of course a lot can change in 6.5 years. Pupils starting

secondary school in 2007 would either be in the workplace or

university by now. Then there are the problems raised in that first

report that have now been addressed by the Welsh government. But what

will concern is that some of those issues in the report all those years

ago are still there in a report published earlier this month. That

report by the OECD came to the conclusion that the Welsh government

lacked an overall strategy for education and that teachers needed

more support to develop their careers. It so clearly says, "Let's

join up all our strands of education. Let's make a coherent

whole." Why, oh, why have they not done it? It is inaction at its

worst. It is incompetence, and it has let down everybody in Wales. In

December last year, Wales fared badly in international education

league tables PISA. The education minister told BBC Wales at the time

the Welsh government had taken its eye off the ball in their early

years of the assembly around a decade ago when it came to standards

and performance in schools. I don't think it was just government not

listening, I think it was the Welsh nation not listening. We had a very

firm sense that we were good at education. The Welsh people believed

it. I think the Welsh government believed it. We thought we could do

no wrong. We thought we could look at the historic success. We asked

the education minister, First Minister and previous education

ministers for an interview, but none were available. In a statement, the

Welsh government say they know there have been issues around standards in

schools, but that its long-term strategy to improve the situation is

now beginning to make positive progress.

There's been a sharp increase in the levels of recorded violent crime in

parts of Wales. Official figures show it was up in both Gwent and

South Wales Police force areas. All four regions also showed a 25% rise

in the number of sexual offences recorded. But overall, crime levels

in Wales fell by 3% last year. There were just over 173,000 offences

recorded in total. Plans for a new opencast mine in

Rhondda Cynon Taf have tonight been approved by councillors. Keltic

Energy says its development at Llwyd-coed near Aberdare will create

50 new jobs. There has been some local opposition, with claims the

mine will cause noise, pollution and environmental damage.

It's ?2 billion given to our poorest areas to help create jobs and boost

the economy. Wales is set to receive European aid for the third time, and

according to auditors, the Welsh government is now doing a good job

of managing it. Paul Martin reports. It's areas like Caerphilly and

Bridgend that have been given big money from Europe to help them catch

up economically with better off places. But after the first batch of

money between 2000 and 2006, data suggested the areas receiving it had

actually become relatively poorer. Many think the funding was badly

handled. Several businesses and innovation centres funded by the

cash actually ended up closing. Today's audit report looks at how

the second wave of money from the EU since 2007 has been managed. I

haven't seen any evidence that there was meaningful engagement with any

private sector companies that might want to use this. They were trying

to create start-ups, but there was no evidence that universities across

Wales had steady programmes and students that wanted to use these

facilities either. Today's audit reports how the second wave of money

from the EU since 2007 has been managed by the Welsh European

funding office. We made some major changes to the process for the 2013

programme, trying to streamline programme structures and have things

be more strategic. There've been more successful. The programmes are

on track and some targets will be exceeded by a large margin, and

management structures have been improved since the previous

programming round. One recent project that has been seen as a

success story is the BEACON Centre in Aberystwyth. It helps businesses

develop green products. The project has enabled us to have the

infrastructure and equipment to work with most companies and research and

development projects to start taking some of the ideas that they have

worked on in labs and put it on a bigger scale and look at the

economic side of it and whether it's a viable process. Here at the

forest, business is good. Today's report also makes clear it is too

early to tell whether the latest spending programme has had a

positive impact on the economy overall. Wales has again qualified

for this aid for the next seven years. It means another ?2 billion

coming our way, likely to be spent on fewer but bigger projects.

There are concerns that dog attacks on livestock are being

under-reported. There were more than 300 in Wales in the last three

years. Farmers unions say it's a persistent problem, and are urging

dog owners to keep their pets on a lead. I think they see a young

learner and they are not used to seeing that. Just be aware. Please

put them on a lead. Snooker, and Dominic Dale is the

second Welshman - after Ryan Day - through to the last 16 of the World

Snooker Championships. He beat world number 12 Mark Davis by ten frames

to five, and will play rank outsider Michael Wasley in the second round.

Derek's here with the weather forecast.

Some lovely sunshine for us today. A few showers as well. For tomorrow,

not straightforward. Some rain for some averse, but the best of the

weather likely in the West dry tonight, clear spells with one or

two mist and fog patches forming. Chilly inland with temperatures

falling low enough for ground frost in mid Wales. Janeway dried

tomorrow. Perhaps the odd spot of drizzle. Bright in the West with

sunshine and around mid-morning, we could see rain turning up in the

south-east. Across the rest of the UK, rain and showers across southern

England will spread into the Midlands. Further north, they will

eventually reach Scotland. Heavy and Dundry downpours likely. Quite cold

and misty in the North with fog. Dry and bright in the West. Sunshine in

Northern Ireland will stop the temperature nine Celsius in

Newcastle. There is a risk of rain for the north-east of the country.

Writer in the south-west and mid Wales. Sunshine, but even here, the

risk of one or two showers. 14 degrees in Aberystwyth. Sharp

showers. Dry freight time. The front will move northwards bringing rain.

The winds will pick up. The wind and rain tied to this low pressure over

the Celtic Sea. On Saturday, the rain will move northwards. Some

sunshine, but showers will follow. Some heavy with strong winds in the

south-west. Sunday, further showers, heavy in places but with some dry

weather and sunshine as well. 14 Celsius. Mixed and breezy this

weekend. Some rain, showers, and some sunshine as well. It is not all

bad. We can't complain. We're back with updates in Breakfast

from 6.25 tomorrow morning. That's Wales Today - enjoy the rest of your

evening. Goodnight.