12/01/2016 BBC Wales Today

Our top stories: Jasmine Lapsley died choking on a grape.

The coroner says there needs to be more ambulances on duty

in the summer when the tourist population increases.

A jasmine was failed by? Welsh Ambulance Service. She was denied

the life-saving care she so desperately needed. They say they

have learnt lessons from this tragedy.

Now disagreement among pro-European parties about the referendum.

Thousands work in our steel industry.

Unions and bosses have been meeting as fears grow over jobs.

Are job centres doing enough for people with disabilities?

And we're in for the coldest night of the winter so far -

And there's more rain, sleet and some snow in the forecast.

Good evening. The parents of a six-year-old girl who died in

holiday in Gwynedd after she choked on a grape have accused the

Ambulance Service of letting down their daughter. The coroner

concluded Jasmine Lapsley died accidentally, but she called for a

major overhaul of the way the Ambulance Service operates in rural

areas. Roger is there for us tonight. Yes, the inquest lasted six

days and it exposed a string of shortcomings in the way the

Ambulance Service Trust responded to the call from the length of time it

took for the ambulance to get there and mistakes by the Ambulance

Service including a vital piece of equipment to a lack of confidence

among community first responders. Jasmine Lapsley's parents Robert and

Kathleen still looking to the central question, how well people in

rural areas are served by the Welsh Ambulance Service. They believe they

and their daughter were let down. Jasmine was failed by the Welsh

Ambulance Service. She was denied the opportunity for life-saving care

she so desperately needed. The coroner has identified there is

still a risk to life for people in jasmine's condition, whilst

resources are inadequate and she recommended changes need to be made.

Jasmine Lapsley, just six years old when she died. She'd been on holiday

with her family. She was playing cards. She choked on a grape. Her

family called 999. That was at 20. 32. Community first responders

arrived 22 minutes later at 20. 54. The ambulance and paramedics came at

20. 57. An RAF helicopter arrived shortly after and she was in

Intensive Care in Bangor at 21. 43, a full hour after the first 999. The

family's holiday home was on the Gwynedd coast. They'd travelled

there from their home in Liverpool. There were frantics efforts to help

her while she waited for the ambulance to arrive. One expert

witness said there was just a three to five-minute window in which she

could have been saved. After that her chances were virtually zero. The

coroner said she accepted evidence which suggested oxygen was getting

through to her lungs well into the incident. The inquest heard of

persistent failures to meet Welsh Government ambulance time targets.

In 65% of the most serious cases ambulances should arrive within

eight minutes. The coroner was told that in Gwynedd up to August last

year response times fell well below the target. We have learnt a lot

through the tragedy and we've made some improvements already since that

day and we have learnt more through the inquest over the last week about

more improvements we can make. There are significant changes we have made

but I think there is always more to learn, and we certainly will be very

seriously considering the conclusions that come out from the

inquest today at the highest level in the Ambulance Service so ensure

there is anything more we can do, we will. Had she lived she'd now be

approaching her eighth birthday. It's due at the end of this month.

Her family have said throughout they want lessons to be learned from her

death. The coroner Nicola Jones said she wanted lessons to be learned as

well. Among her recommendations, actions to plug the gap in ambulance

air cover, particularly after 8.00pm at night, when ambulance - air

ambulances don't fly. She also says there should be more resources in

rural areas in the summer months when tens of thousands of visitors

flock to north-west Wales, swelling the population. The coroner clearly

believes more should be done. Back to you.

Thank you. Arriva Trains

in a long-running row over working conditions.

Their union, Aslef, said its members will walk out on Monday,

They staged a 24-hour strike last week as people returned to work

A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering of a man

in Briton Ferry, near Neath, last week.

The body of Kevin Barry Mahoney was discovered in a lane behind

A post-mortem has so far failed to identify the cause of his death.

Police are trying to find the clothes Mr Mahoney was wearing

the evening before his body was found.

No date's been set for a vote on whether we should leave or remain

in the EU, but there's already disagreement among the pro-European

parties here about their approach to the referendum.

The First Minister took part in a debate with the UKIP leader

damaged efforts to stay in the EU because he was too negative.

Here's our political editor Nick Servini.

It was most high-profile evident so far in Wales as we approach the

referendum on whether to leave or remain in the EU. The First Minister

based his arguments on what companies have been telling him

about their wish to remain in. Companies I speak to say it's

important we have access to the single market members of the EU

because we see Wales as our base for the EU. What you're saying is those

people's views are not important. Nigel Farage accused him of

scare-mongering over a predicted loss of jobs which wouldn't make any

economic sense pointing to the example of Airbus's giant wing

making plant. You're quite right to talk about Airbus in Flintshire.

It's not just important for jobs in Flintshire but actually rather

important for Airbus because they make the wings. If they didn't, they

wouldn't make any aeroplanes. They're interdependent. The central

argument from the First Minister throughout is a withdrawal was too

much of a risk for the economy. Today in First Minister's Questions,

Leanne Wood accused him of being too negative. A new you'll is possible I

believe just as a new Wales is possible but you failed to put that

positive vision in that debate last night. We got an insight last night

I think as to how you intend to approach the period leading up to

the referendum, and I hope that you will reflect on last night's debate.

The leader of Plaid Cymru and I have had discussions, sensible

discussions where we talked about how it might be possible to put in

place a cross-party campaign in order to put the case of Wales's

membership of the European Union and now she fails to outline how she

would have done anything different. But her attack responsed this

response from the Liberal Democrat Assembly member Parrot who tweeted

if Wales want to remain in Europe it's not wise for their leader to

drive wedges between people on the same side. What this is about is how

politicians persuade people to support a particular cause, in this

case to remain in the EU. Plaid Cymru members here want there to be

a positive vision set out to stay in but senior Labour figures I have

been speaking to today are pretty relaxed about the accusation that

has been thrown at them. They say it's unreal estatesistic to expect

an EU referendum campaign carried out without them warning of the

serious economic consequences of a withdrawal. Organisers last night

had hoped to kick start a debate about EU membership. So far they

How have been proved right.

How much of a problem is it for the part

How ies who want to remain in the EU if they disagree about the way

When we get a date there will be official leave and remain campaign

groups set up but I think this could be a problem particularly if the

referendum is held in the summer, AMs, like we have seen today will,

inevitably be sucked into this debate. With Assembly elections

looming, they're going to find it very difficult to agree with each

other. It's pretty obvious Labour would like the construct a very

positive narrative but they're more than willing to base their arguments

on the fear and concerns that people have about a withdrawal. I think

this issue may have been raised in a different way if Carwyn Jones more

effective in the way he debated with Nigel Farage last night, but the

truth is he wasn't, and many people believe he came off second best. As

a result we have had the comments today. By contrast, of course, UKIP

don't have these problems of trying to get agreement from other parties

and they'll be hoping to generate momentum as a result of that debate

last night. Thank you. Unions and Tata steel bosses met

today to discuss the position It comes as the company

is undergoing major reorganisation with growing fears about the future

of Tata's Port Talbot plant Our Economics Correspondent Sarah

Dickins is in Port Talbot tonight. Well, Jamie, what we know is this

steelworks isn't just important to this community here - 4,000 jobs, as

you say. It's very important to the Welsh economy. Because it's the

biggest steelworks in the UK it's very important to the whole of the

UK as well. We know it's losing a lot of money, reportedly a million

pounds a day. That has been going on a long time. Quite frankly, that is

not sustainable and the Indian owners Tata Martino know that. They

have been -- Tata Steel. It's particularly unsustainable when

there is no evidence of demand around the world increasing in the

next year. What we have now is outside consultants, unions and Tata

Steel management trying to work on plan for survival. It's called

rationalisation in the jargon. What it means is cutting jobs to try to

save the plant. This plant has been through that many times before and I

must say many times before and survived. The harsh reality is what

I think we're looking towards now is this plant, this community, having

to lose hundreds of jobs in the near future to save the plant in the

longer term. That's the sort of language that behind the scenes is

being talked about. When finally a plan has been developed, it will

ultimately go to the board meeting of Tata Steel in Mumbai next month.

Keep us posted. Thank you. A campaign has been launched

in Tenby against the closure of a day centre for adults

with learning disabilities. Pembrokeshire Council declined

to give an interview, but say they're holding a public

consultation on the future It comes as concerns are raised

about the future of care Maggie Schofield has just come home

from the day centre she loves. Run by Pembrokeshire Council

for adults with learning disabilities, her family says it's

the centre of Maggie's world. Because in the centre

is where everybody go. Pembrokeshire Council say

there is a shift away from dependency and towards helping

people to live more independently. The centre Maggie attends costs

nearly ?350,000 a year to run. The authority says it needs the same

amount again to bring it up to a modern standard,

so they're considering closure Social care is already the most

expensive service It makes up more than a quarter

of Pembrokeshire's total spend, and the cuts they have

to find are getting deeper. ?2 million of savings have been

earmarked from adult social There are big changes afoot

to social care in Wales. This spring a new act comes

into force which will fundamentally change the way services

are delivered, but against this background of severe cuts,

there are fears it could result in local authorities only having

to provide the bear minimum. What's interesting at the moment

is we have a perfect storm. We have local authorities which have

to reduce funding. We have philosophical changes

in terms of how And then, of course, in April

we have the new Social Services and Well Being Act which will come

into force in Wales, which essentially puts a pressure

upon local authorities to find different ways of providing support

for people so they're not reliant In Pembrokeshire they're proposing

keeping two other day centres in the north and south of the county

for those with the most complex needs, but Maggie's family fear

she won't be eligible. If we had no centre,

we would then have to worry We're working age, so,

again, we'd have to consider how and what we do because it wouldn't

be healthy for us or for Maggie The new Social Services Act coming

into force will mean fewer people qualify for traditional

state-funded support. The plan is that others -

families or charities - If they can't, instead of greater

independence, adults like Maggie Children volunteering, planting

saplings, but after the loss of millions of Larch and Ash

trees through disease, And if you're travelling,

watch out for icy patches tomorrow morning with a mix of rain,

sleet and snow for some places The case of a disabled woman

from Wrexham who's struggled to find work after the closure of her local

Remploy factory has been Margaret Foster, who has cerebral

palsy, worked at the factory which provided jobs for disabled

people for 26 years. She's among a quarter of disabled

people who are unemployed, Her MP, Ian Lucas, says the job

centre system isn't working Margaret Foster didn't letter isser

is stop her holding down a job at her local Remploy factory for 26

years, but since it closed in 2012, she struggled to find work. I don't

feel I'm getting enough support. I have been on two Work Choice

programmes, and they don't seem to have fulfilled their citeria really

for me. She thinks Jobcentres could do more to help her. I'd like them

to speak to employers about my disability because I find it very

hard applying for jobs. I think they should ring around employers and

mention my circumstances and say that I'm very willing to try.

Remploy were set up in the 1940s to create jobs for people with

disabilities, including war veterans, but the UK Government

closed factories such as the one in Wrexham because it thought

maintaining disabled workers in what it called segregated factories was

the wrong approach. When the factory closed, Ministers here promised to

help those who lost their jobs to find work in what they called

mainstream employment, but Margaret Foster says the system hasn't worked

for her, and that was a point raised by her own MP in Parliament this

afternoon. Ian Lucas said although she received some disability

benefits, she doesn't get the employment and support allowance

that could help her find work. How can it be that we have a disability

benefit system that presents a case like Margaret, a woman who wants

help to work and is disabled and has been from birth but does not qualify

for the benefit put in place by the Government? But the Government

defended its policy. Of the 54 Remploy factories operated a loss of

49.5 million, amounting to around ?22,500 a year to support each

disabled person. The Government says many of those who lost their jobs

when the factories closed have found work, but that may be of little

consolation to Margaret Foster. Plans for a controversial arts

centre in Wrexham have been arrived by councillors.

The ?4.5 million arts hub will be created at an indoor market

and will include galleries, a performance space

But traders have concerns about the scheme, saying they'll

lose business and that some stalls will be forced to close.

Arts project in unusual places are nothing new here such as these

performances at Snowden or the seaside. It looks set to continue.

sharing floor space with the traders of the People's Market.

Galleries, studios and a cinema will sit alongside stalls selling

Its designers say it will turn an under-used facility

The foot fall for the arts will support the market. We invest every

year in arts and culture. We'll see that reduce in year three to

?78,000. We're getting more for less.

The long-running debate about the arts hub has also,

they say, hit visitor numbers, with shoppers mistakenly thinking

The work will cost ?4.5 million, three of which will come

from the Welsh Government and Arts Council for Wales,

Traders fear the number of stalls could be redoos deuced from 30 to 20

with some losing their jobs. I have to keep looking longer than the

potential two years that we've got in front of us because hopefully

we'll turn the market around. Obviously, there are no guarantees.

We just have to hope that's what happens. It's the period in between

that's going to be the real difficult time I think. Building

work is due to start this time next year and last 12 months.

Football and Newcastle United have agreed a ?12 million fee

with Swansea City to sign England midfielder Jonjo Shelvey.

The 23-year-old had a medical at St James' Park this afternoon.

Shelvey moved to Swansea from Liverpool in 2013

A win for I'm not surprised he's leaving the club. His chances since

Alan Curtis have taken over frontal boundary far and few between. He

started the season on fire to be fair to him. He was probably the

best midfield player in the month of August but since playing for England

he hasn't been the same player for one reason or another. Swansea's

targets, for me I look at goal scoring. The problem you have is I

think there's seven - eight sides at the bottom of that table who are

looking for a similar type of player.

Snooker, and Mark Williams is out of the Masters after an entertaining

first round match at London's Alexandra Palace.

It all hinged on a final frame decider, but the Welshman

from Ebbw Vale eventually lost by sixframes to five to five-times

A disease which has killed millions of larch trees in Wales has had

an impact on how much new woodland is being created.

That's according to the Welsh Government.

It hopes to plant 100,000 hectares of new woodland by 2030 to help

reduce our carbon footprint, but it's nowhere near that target.

Jennifer Jones has been to a planting project

in Caerphilly County where the community has helped

Not a common sight perhaps - teenagers up to their knees in mud

in the pouring rain volunteering to plant trees.

We're planning to plant 100 to 150, and we want to plant trees

here today because we want to save our environment.

Over the past three years, 25,000 trees have transformed this

corner of the Upper Rhumney Valley, and the old McLaren and Philipstown

coal tips are now hidden under new woodland.

Our young people have been very much a part of this project, not just in

planting the trees but looking at the seeds, growing them, moving them

forward. There is an intrinsic respect for that environment.

This new forest is part of the Welsh Government's scheme

to plant a tree for every child born or adopted here.

It started seven years ago, which means these little ones each

Each year 35 to 36,000 births in Wales, and so we have to try and

allocate all of those births a tree, and so we're looking roughly at

about 14 hectares of land to be planted each year.

But despite projects like this one in Caerphilly,

Wales is still one of the LEAST wooded countries in Europe,

with trees covering only 15% of the land.

That's compared to a European average of 37%.

The Government plans to create an additional 100,000 hectares

That's an area slightly bigger than Gwynedd, which, it claims,

would be good for the economy and help Wales meet its

But, over the past 5 years, only 3200 hectares of new forest

have been created, and the Government has admitted

that the "significant impact of a disease"

which has already killed nearly 7 million larch trees here,

has "impacted" on its woodland creation aspirations.

It's a huge threat and a challenge in terms of replanting the land

afterwards, and, of course, ash dieback is a huge threat as well.

But fundamentally, the message has to be if we're going to lose lot of

trees, that's all the more reason for getting planting more now and

the sooner, the better. Back in Abertysswg, the local

eco-club students are done digging. The seeds of change may

be sown in Caerphilly, but there's plenty more work to be

done if Wales is to see Snow for some of us

in tonight's weather forecast. Not that low for January,

but cold in the wind. Strong to gale force winds

on the north and west coast. This picture taken by

Cheryl Hamer shows huge waves Temperatures inland falling close

to freezing or below Tomorrow's chart shows low

pressure approaching Ireland a tricky mixture of rain,

sleet and snow in places. Tomorrow morning the de-icer

will come in handy. Dry and cold with a widespread

frost and icy patches. One or two mist and

fog patches as well. During the day, cloud and showers

will spread across the rest The showers heavy in places merging

into longer spells of rain Also some snow on higher ground,

the hills and mountains, mainly above 300

metres or 1,000 feet. The wind lighter than today

with temperatures reaching highs More snow on Pen y Fan,

Snowdon and Cadair Idris tomorrow. The temperature below freezing

and feeling more like -10 Tomorrow night low pressure

will bring more rain and showers. Most of the snow on higher ground

but a little snow is possible in places on lower ground later

in the night with icy patches. On Thursday rain, sleet and snow

will gradually clear. It will brighten-up

during the afternoon. Turning colder with

a brisk north-west wind. Otherwise a lot of dry weather,

more settled with sunshine, Cold into next week but turning

milder later in the week. That's Wales Today. Thank you for

watching. From all of us on the programme, good evening.