14/04/2016 BBC Wales Today


14/04/2016

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 14/04/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

:00:00.:00:00.

Tonight's headlines: As our biggest health board considers recruiting

:00:00.:00:09.

new nurses from the Far East there are calls for more

:00:10.:00:12.

training places to be made available in Wales.

:00:13.:00:21.

I know that in the NHS in Wales we've got approximately 1,200

:00:22.:00:24.

vacancies and there are insufficient nurses coming out

:00:25.:00:26.

Tonight a union warns selling council-owned farms could be

:00:27.:00:32.

Thousands lost their jobs when the steelworks in Redcar shut.

:00:33.:00:40.

With Port Talbot under threat, we look at how the Teeside

:00:41.:00:43.

I honestly thought my family would struggle.

:00:44.:01:00.

You're not getting a text back, you're not

:01:01.:01:05.

And we'll be finding out why a landscape artist

:01:06.:01:09.

is exhibiting his work out in the open air of the

:01:10.:01:12.

Figures obtained by BBC Wales show that around one in five nursing

:01:13.:01:30.

vacancies advertised by the NHS here last year

:01:31.:01:32.

It comes as Wales' biggest health board today discussed plans

:01:33.:01:37.

The Royal College of Nursing is calling for more training places.

:01:38.:01:42.

Roger Pinney has tonight's top story.

:01:43.:01:53.

It is a busy place. These workers are all from Barcelona today there

:01:54.:02:06.

were more Catalan speakers amongst the nurses than Welsh speakers. All

:02:07.:02:12.

recruited to fill the gaps left by a shortage.

:02:13.:02:16.

I came here because it is difficult to find a job at home and here it is

:02:17.:02:21.

more easily. I expect the UK to be a country with

:02:22.:02:27.

loads of nurses and students of everything and then I live tear and

:02:28.:02:30.

they need loads of nurses. They are very skilled individuals

:02:31.:02:34.

that have come here and they have wrought a lot with them. They have

:02:35.:02:40.

done a lot of things our nurses here haven't done.

:02:41.:02:41.

Today overseas recruitment was discussed by the pretty good holiday

:02:42.:02:47.

health board. 1100 nursing vacancies were advertised last year and just

:02:48.:02:51.

over 200 of those were filled from overseas. -- Betsi Cadwaladr

:02:52.:02:56.

University health board. They have been changes over the last 20 years,

:02:57.:03:01.

not least the way nurses are trained. It used to be done on the

:03:02.:03:06.

wards and they got paid for it but now they go to university. It now

:03:07.:03:12.

takes three years to train a nurse. Sickness is common to all nations...

:03:13.:03:19.

Looking abroad for NHS staff is nothing new, it is why many

:03:20.:03:24.

immigrants came in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Now Welsh health boards are

:03:25.:03:28.

looking to places like the Philippines and India. 50 years ago,

:03:29.:03:34.

shortages were caused by the speed at which the health service was

:03:35.:03:38.

growing but now it is because there haven't been enough university

:03:39.:03:43.

places. We have got between six and eight applications for every

:03:44.:03:47.

training place for nurses in Wales and the system here means we haven't

:03:48.:03:50.

got sufficient funding to be able to train the sufficient numbers that

:03:51.:03:56.

each health board needs. Welsh Labour said they provided an ?85

:03:57.:03:59.

million training package and they are committed to training the right

:04:00.:04:05.

number of NHS staff. The Welsh Conservatives promised a real terms

:04:06.:04:11.

increase. Ukip in Wales say they will change the system so training

:04:12.:04:16.

nurses will no longer have to go to university. Plaid Cymru want to

:04:17.:04:21.

train and recruit into the NHS an extra 5000 nurses. Whilst

:04:22.:04:25.

prioritising investment, the Welsh Liberal Democrat say, would ensure

:04:26.:04:30.

the shortage is tackled. Putting a fresh crop of home trained nurses on

:04:31.:04:36.

the wards will take time. We need is now.

:04:37.:04:38.

A farming union is warning that selling farms owned by Wales'

:04:39.:04:41.

Around 10% of farms owned by local authorities have been sold

:04:42.:04:47.

in the last five years according to figures obtained by BBC Wales.

:04:48.:04:49.

The Farmers Union of Wales says it could hamper young people's chances

:04:50.:04:52.

of gaining a foothold in the industry.

:04:53.:04:54.

Gwenno and her husband and their children

:04:55.:05:07.

and Annie share their time between Talsarnau

:05:08.:05:09.

where she currently keeps a handful of animals.

:05:10.:05:12.

The dream is to get their own place but so far they have

:05:13.:05:15.

failed in their attempt to get their foot on a ladder.

:05:16.:05:18.

They have applied for a council farm twice and on both

:05:19.:05:20.

I have tried a few times now and it has been unsuccessful so far. We

:05:21.:05:28.

came near last time and had an interview, getting down to the final

:05:29.:05:33.

three but we fell at the final hurdle and it was very

:05:34.:05:37.

heartbreaking, to be honest. I am going to keep on trying and see

:05:38.:05:42.

where we get. Figures compiled by BBC Wales show that 495 France are

:05:43.:05:47.

now council owned and 56 have been sold in the last five years. Powys

:05:48.:05:53.

has the most. In Flint, eight have been sold and there have been to

:05:54.:05:58.

sales of farms on Anglesey and in Wrexham. A farming union has warned

:05:59.:06:03.

this could be disastrous for the industry, especially for young

:06:04.:06:07.

people trying to get involved in farming. This is significantly

:06:08.:06:13.

worrying numbers. The union has worked for a long time with county

:06:14.:06:16.

councils to make sure they keep county farms going. We are in a real

:06:17.:06:28.

role -- frugal economy. We need to people to be able to stay in the

:06:29.:06:34.

countryside. Most council say they have no

:06:35.:06:37.

immediate plans to sell more farms but several are open to possible

:06:38.:06:43.

opportunities if they arise. This will add to further frustration for

:06:44.:06:48.

this family as they try to get their foot on the housing ladder.

:06:49.:06:52.

Former footballer Ched Evans will find out if his appeal

:06:53.:06:54.

against his rape conviction has been successful next week.

:06:55.:06:57.

The 27-year-old was jailed in 2012 after being found guilty of raping

:06:58.:06:59.

a 19-year-old teenager in a Rhuddlan hotel.

:07:00.:07:01.

The prosecution says it'll seek a retrial if Evans wins his appeal.

:07:02.:07:05.

Two South Wales policemen in their 30s will appear in court

:07:06.:07:07.

in June over allegations relating to another officer.

:07:08.:07:09.

PC Jeremy Fowler faces allegations of sexual assault and PC

:07:10.:07:12.

Matthew Davies faces charges of assault.

:07:13.:07:13.

The alleged incidents are said to have happened two years ago.

:07:14.:07:22.

Tributes have been paid to the former National Poet

:07:23.:07:25.

of Wales Professor Gwyn Thomos who has died at the age of 79.

:07:26.:07:29.

Born in Blaenau Ffestiniog, he translated many works,

:07:30.:07:31.

including Shakespeare, into Welsh and the Mabiniogion into English.

:07:32.:07:36.

He also had 16 volumes of poetry to his name.

:07:37.:07:42.

That's what the Welsh Liberal Democrats promised today

:07:43.:07:47.

as they published their Assembly election manifesto.

:07:48.:07:49.

It includes key priorities, such as more nurses and smaller

:07:50.:07:52.

class sizes, which they say reflect the public's desire for "good

:07:53.:07:54.

schools, good hospitals and a vibrant economy."

:07:55.:07:59.

Our political reporter James Williams went to the launch.

:08:00.:08:11.

With the assembly vote fast approaching, it is the Welsh Liberal

:08:12.:08:17.

It is not the usual setting for a Liberal

:08:18.:08:20.

manifesto launch but the

:08:21.:08:26.

Liberal Democrats say that they have chosen a GP's surgery for a reason-

:08:27.:08:29.

to reflect the focus on improving public services.

:08:30.:08:31.

And they say this document, the manifesto, is a road

:08:32.:08:33.

map for an ambitious, optimistic and pioneering Wales.

:08:34.:08:35.

What would the Liberal Democrats do if they were in power?

:08:36.:08:38.

They are promising more nurses on hospital wards, also

:08:39.:08:40.

?42 million over five years would be spent on

:08:41.:08:49.

ensuring there were normally no more than 25 pupils per infant class.

:08:50.:08:52.

The party would scrap tuition fees subsidies,

:08:53.:08:54.

with students from Wales instead receiving a living support

:08:55.:08:56.

They would build 20,000 affordable homes over

:08:57.:09:05.

five years and would end the Anglesey-Cardiff air link.

:09:06.:09:07.

We have been listening carefully to people in the run-up to these

:09:08.:09:10.

elections and we have found that after 17

:09:11.:09:12.

years of devolution and the

:09:13.:09:13.

Welsh Labour government dominating that government, people are

:09:14.:09:15.

frustrated that the basics aren't getting done for them.

:09:16.:09:19.

That is why in this manifesto we are committed

:09:20.:09:22.

on focusing on public service delivery.

:09:23.:09:24.

Kirsty Williams says she can't get away

:09:25.:09:32.

was the Party's terrible mistake of breaking

:09:33.:09:34.

coalition with the Conservatives in Westminster.

:09:35.:09:37.

She says she won't make those same mistakes.

:09:38.:09:41.

Recent elections haven't been kind to the

:09:42.:09:43.

Lib Dems to say the least, they have suffered a series of devastating

:09:44.:09:46.

Party officials here are stressing the difference between the

:09:47.:09:50.

Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Party colleagues in Westminster.

:09:51.:09:54.

But the Party has lost hundreds of

:09:55.:09:56.

thousands of voters in Wales since 2010

:09:57.:09:58.

and opinion polls suggest they

:09:59.:10:02.

could lose some, if not all, of their five AMs.

:10:03.:10:04.

The party knows it is in

:10:05.:10:06.

Let's get a bit more now about those proposals to cut class sizes.

:10:07.:10:14.

Our education correspondent Bethan Lewis is here.

:10:15.:10:16.

Bethan, what exactly is the proposal?

:10:17.:10:20.

At the moment there are rules on class sizes for the youngest

:10:21.:10:23.

children, aged between four and seven which say -

:10:24.:10:25.

apart from a few exceptions - there shouldn't be more than 30

:10:26.:10:28.

That's the aim but at the last count just over 7% of pupils

:10:29.:10:36.

Now the Lib Dems want to reduce the limit further to 25.

:10:37.:10:49.

Now, how do they do that in practice?

:10:50.:10:52.

Well, it'll mean more teachers - and that would cost.

:10:53.:10:56.

The Lib Dems say they'd allocate ?42 million to do that over

:10:57.:10:59.

The Lib Dems says fewer pupils in a class means teachers can focus

:11:00.:11:13.

more on child's individual needs and that helps boost standards.

:11:14.:11:15.

For example let's look at what the OECD say.

:11:16.:11:21.

They're the international organisation which runs the PISA

:11:22.:11:23.

test - tests which have shown that Wales' 15-year-olds perform worse

:11:24.:11:29.

at reading, maths and science than other parts of the UK.

:11:30.:11:34.

What they say is with limited cash, spending on boosting skills

:11:35.:11:38.

and status of teachers is probably more effective in raising standards

:11:39.:11:43.

Teaching unions have warned that bigger class sizes can impact

:11:44.:11:49.

The Lib Dems think cutting infant class sizes is a good way to improve

:11:50.:11:57.

childrens' education, others think there are more

:11:58.:11:59.

effective ways to use scarce resources.

:12:00.:12:17.

One of Ukip's most high profile candidates in next

:12:18.:12:19.

month's Assembly election, Neil Hamilton, says the party

:12:20.:12:21.

infighting in Wales is a squall rather than a storm.

:12:22.:12:23.

He was responding to comments by the party's leader Nathan Gill,

:12:24.:12:26.

who said he wouldn't have chosen candidates from outside Wales

:12:27.:12:28.

And on the campaign trail today the Welsh Conservatives have been

:12:29.:12:32.

at a brewery in Barry highlighting their plans to abolish

:12:33.:12:34.

business rates for small companies and help communities to take

:12:35.:12:37.

Welsh Labour ministers Ken Skates and Lesley Griffiths

:12:38.:12:44.

were at a school in Wrexham to launch the Party's

:12:45.:12:46.

pledge for an Attendance and Behaviour Taskforce.

:12:47.:12:48.

And Plaid Cymru were in Aberystwyth highlighting their pledge to provide

:12:49.:12:50.

free childcare to all children under three if they came to power.

:12:51.:12:58.

And it's their leader Leanne Wood's turn to answer questions on our Ask

:12:59.:13:01.

the Leader programme with Bethan Rhys Roberts tonight,

:13:02.:13:03.

Much more to come on Wales Today: We report on how qualifications are

:13:04.:13:09.

on the rise in Cardiff's Butetown, but jobs remain hard to find.

:13:10.:13:16.

And find out why this artist is planning to float his work

:13:17.:13:19.

in the middle of a lake in Snowdonia.

:13:20.:13:28.

The steel industry here has dominated the headlines in recent

:13:29.:13:31.

weeks as Tata looks for a buyer for its Port Talbot plant

:13:32.:13:34.

with the fate of thousands of jobs hanging in the balance.

:13:35.:13:37.

Just six months ago nearly 3,000 jobs were lost at the SSI steelworks

:13:38.:13:45.

in Redcar, when the owners closed their Teeside base.

:13:46.:13:49.

Nick Palit has been finding out what impact the closure has on this

:13:50.:13:52.

very similar community and has this special report.

:13:53.:13:58.

Steel-making has dominated this part of the world for more than 150

:13:59.:14:01.

If you had a job here, you had a job for life.

:14:02.:14:06.

Last autumn, the industry was hit by a drop in prices and a

:14:07.:14:12.

It meant that here in Redcar, where the site was

:14:13.:14:16.

mothballed once before, production of slab steel

:14:17.:14:17.

Like Tata in Port Talbot, SSI's giant steel

:14:18.:14:23.

plant here in Redcar was

:14:24.:14:24.

built next to a vast expanse of sandy coastline.

:14:25.:14:31.

But the similarities didn't end with this

:14:32.:14:32.

As in Port Talbot, the steel industry was

:14:33.:14:37.

dominant here and people here feared there was no future for the town

:14:38.:14:40.

In the wake of the closure, a government-funded task

:14:41.:14:45.

force was set up to help the steelworkers

:14:46.:14:46.

Of the nearly 3,000 SSI or supply chain workers,

:14:47.:14:53.

1,342 have now moved off benefits and are in full-time

:14:54.:14:56.

work or training and 796 jobs have been created or safeguarded.

:14:57.:15:03.

Amanda leads the local council and administers the ?43 million

:15:04.:15:06.

She admits they still have a long way to

:15:07.:15:12.

go but is particularly heartened by the number of new businesses they

:15:13.:15:15.

About 280 people have come forward and asked for

:15:16.:15:20.

advice and at the moment, 71 people have actually gone ahead

:15:21.:15:23.

and set up their own business, which is great.

:15:24.:15:29.

And they are really diverse businesses.

:15:30.:15:31.

Some are based on hobbies and others on particular skills one such

:15:32.:15:39.

Before we pull over, check your mirrors...

:15:40.:15:44.

Many steelworkers drove large vehicles on the work site but

:15:45.:15:47.

need formal qualifications to transfer those skills to the public

:15:48.:15:49.

Now in the shadow of the former steelworks, for former SSI

:15:50.:15:55.

workers are employed here and they will be

:15:56.:15:57.

training around 100 of their

:15:58.:15:58.

Came up with the idea to start to become a training

:15:59.:16:09.

provider specifically for the guys we have worked for in the steelworks

:16:10.:16:15.

so we went out, knocked a few doors down, found out where we could get

:16:16.:16:19.

funding from and from there we got a ?10,000

:16:20.:16:26.

funding from and from there we got a ?10,000 start-up grant

:16:27.:16:29.

And that is the flip side of the situation.

:16:30.:16:32.

Hundreds of men in

:16:33.:16:33.

their 40s and 50s unable to find a job six months on.

:16:34.:16:36.

Workers like Gary and Cameron Nielsen, who

:16:37.:16:38.

between them have four decades in the steel industry.

:16:39.:16:40.

You are not getting a text back, not getting a phone call,

:16:41.:16:46.

I haven't got a clue what I'm going to do.

:16:47.:16:55.

And those sentiments are echoed by Robert Barnett.

:16:56.:17:00.

He worked for a decade in the coke ovens at SSI.

:17:01.:17:03.

Now he travels the north-east of England

:17:04.:17:05.

looking for manual work a day at a time.

:17:06.:17:07.

I just can't find a job around here because everything here is

:17:08.:17:10.

I have worked all my life and certainly not working, it

:17:11.:17:13.

puts a lot of pressure on me and my wife.

:17:14.:17:16.

But David has a more positive experience.

:17:17.:17:35.

He was able to access ?8,500 of task force money to

:17:36.:17:38.

I honestly thought the family were going to struggle and now we're not,

:17:39.:17:44.

It is a better worklife balance and we are near

:17:45.:17:49.

enough urging what we earned on that wage anyway so it is a fantastic

:17:50.:17:52.

enough earning what we earned on that wage anyway

:17:53.:17:54.

so it is a fantastic time.

:17:55.:17:56.

As the future of Port Talbot hands in the balance, they will be

:17:57.:17:59.

watching here closely to see if this very similar community,

:18:00.:18:01.

built on steel, can truly turn itself around.

:18:02.:18:03.

This week the BBC is hearing what it's like to live on a tower

:18:04.:18:07.

For many, the most pressing issue is finding work.

:18:08.:18:10.

Back in 2001, around 40% of residents on the estate

:18:11.:18:12.

That number has now risen to more than 60% yet unemployment rates

:18:13.:18:18.

Butetown's Zack Ahmed reports now on what could be done to help.

:18:19.:18:29.

I am 17 and studying for my A-levels. I want to go to university

:18:30.:18:37.

but I live in Butetown and it is hard to get a job. Unemployment is

:18:38.:18:41.

twice the Welsh average. I volunteer. This man thinks it is

:18:42.:18:48.

going to be helpful if we don't have to leave our postcode.

:18:49.:18:54.

There is a stigma if you use the postcode or have a foreign sounding

:18:55.:18:59.

name. There is a unconscious bias. If you have a foreign sounding names

:19:00.:19:03.

you might not be able to speak English. Some people are moving

:19:04.:19:07.

abroad because they can't find work in Cardiff or they move to places

:19:08.:19:10.

like Saudi Arabia are like my friend.

:19:11.:19:16.

It was about opportunity, I am not getting opportunities in Wales and

:19:17.:19:18.

in Cardiff. There is no denying the reserve

:19:19.:19:23.

language issue in Bhutan. Many households don't have the money and

:19:24.:19:27.

who can speak Welsh or English. This woman has their own idea about what

:19:28.:19:32.

could help. It does shock me there is so much wasted talent Butetown

:19:33.:19:40.

in. We are surrounded by these companies and maybe before they

:19:41.:19:44.

moved in, maybe a condition is if they can take a certain amount of

:19:45.:19:47.

children coming out of schools. I think we need to push the blind to

:19:48.:19:53.

see viz. A recruitment consultant isn't convinced.

:19:54.:19:57.

If somebody is going to be an idiot, you are never going to be able to

:19:58.:20:01.

change that so the only thing you can do is change how you react. If

:20:02.:20:05.

they are not going to interview me because of my name or postcode, why

:20:06.:20:09.

am I going to go into the business and be as awesome as I am in the

:20:10.:20:13.

business. Should it be happening in the

:20:14.:20:16.

21st-century? Maybe. I come from foster care and I

:20:17.:20:22.

didn't have any GCSEs. Do you think they would interview me? It doesn't

:20:23.:20:27.

matter because there is always going to be someone out there who doesn't

:20:28.:20:31.

have a British name. It is time for employers to start

:20:32.:20:35.

seeing as is more than a postcode and a foreign sounding name. We are

:20:36.:20:38.

trying to get employment but we could do for some help from them

:20:39.:20:41.

could do for some help from them too.

:20:42.:20:43.

Breathtaking - the beauty of Snowdonia has always attracted

:20:44.:20:46.

those who wish to capture it on canvas.

:20:47.:20:47.

But now one artist is taking the idea a step further,

:20:48.:20:50.

exhibiting his work not in a gallery, but floating

:20:51.:20:52.

a painting out into the middle of a lake.

:20:53.:20:54.

The majesty of Snowdon. The highest peak in Wales and England and where

:20:55.:21:09.

myth and legend are woven into the fabric of the landscape. This is a

:21:10.:21:16.

freshwater lake 1000 feet below the summit of Snowdon. According to

:21:17.:21:22.

folklore, it is here that King Arthur's sword Excalibur was

:21:23.:21:26.

returned to the lady of the lake. Perhaps there is something magical

:21:27.:21:31.

about this location and why it has attracted one of the foremost

:21:32.:21:34.

landscape artists in Britain for a special project. Anthony wants us to

:21:35.:21:39.

make a connection with our hidden industrial past. This was once the

:21:40.:21:44.

site of copper mines were men lived, worked and died. This is half of an

:21:45.:21:51.

installation. It is investigating the geology and history of the area,

:21:52.:21:56.

and there is so much of it. A way of encouraging that and another excuse

:21:57.:22:01.

to stop and look is a good thing. One of the premises of the project

:22:02.:22:05.

was that we carried everything up by hand and it half replicates what the

:22:06.:22:09.

miners had to do with the equipment. It is physically demanding but it is

:22:10.:22:13.

demanding because the weather dictates you, but that is a nice

:22:14.:22:18.

message because we are continually reminded that the weather is

:22:19.:22:23.

volatile and exciting. The second part of this project will

:22:24.:22:27.

see the artist working underground in Blaenau Ffestiniog in a slate

:22:28.:22:32.

cavern. For now he is concentrating on finishing this piece before it is

:22:33.:22:36.

floated out onto the lake for all to see until autumn.

:22:37.:22:37.

This picture shows sunny spells with a high of 17C in Usk.

:22:38.:22:52.

The air unstable enough to produce some towering clouds.

:22:53.:22:57.

Showers, heavy in places with thunder.

:22:58.:22:58.

Heavy in thundery in places will slowly die down.

:22:59.:23:07.

Some rain in the south and Powys overnight.

:23:08.:23:09.

Tomorrow's chart shows low pressure over southern England.

:23:10.:23:13.

A cold front over Northern Ireland and that is heading our way.

:23:14.:23:19.

Here's the picture for 8:00am in the morning.

:23:20.:23:21.

Some patchy rain and showers in the south and Powys.

:23:22.:23:24.

Drier in the north with a few showers on the coast.

:23:25.:23:30.

But the southwest may get away with a dry, brighter afternoon

:23:31.:23:40.

Highest temperatures in the south 12 or 13 Celsius.

:23:41.:23:49.

Only nine or 10C in mid and north Wales and on the west coast.

:23:50.:23:55.

Tomorrow night a cold front will move southeast, bringing showers.

:23:56.:23:57.

A slight frost in mid and north Wales by the end of the night.

:23:58.:24:06.

The warm air in the south pushed away by colder air moving

:24:07.:24:10.

Saturday will feel chilly with a northerly breeze.

:24:11.:24:13.

Wintry on high ground otherwise a lot of dry weather.

:24:14.:24:16.

Saturday night cold with a widespread ground frost.

:24:17.:24:22.

Some cloud but some bright spells and sunshine as well.

:24:23.:24:29.

Most places dry apart from the odd light shower.

:24:30.:24:35.

The RHS Spring Flower is taking place in Cardiff this weekend.

:24:36.:24:38.

If you're going along, it will be chilly but mostly

:24:39.:24:40.

Figures obtained by BBC Wales show that around one in five nursing

:24:41.:24:49.

vacancies advertised by the NHS here last year -

:24:50.:24:52.

As Wales' biggest health board today discussed plans to recruit

:24:53.:24:57.

nurses from the Far East, the Royal College of

:24:58.:24:59.

Nursing says more training places here are needed.

:25:00.:25:04.

Ask the Leader is next on BBC One Wales.

:25:05.:25:08.

I'm back with an update for you at 8'o clock.

:25:09.:25:11.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS