08/03/2017 BBC Wales Today

So

So that's

So that's Newsnight

So that's Newsnight with

Welcome to Wales Today. Our headlines tonight:

Businesses here tell us what they make of the budget.

There's an extra ?200 million for Wales.

And the abandoned slate quarries in Snowdonia being turned

into a pump storage power station.

Good evening.

In his first budget, the Chancellor said investing

in training and big projects will improve living standards

but he's been criticised for not backing specific projects for Wales,

like a city deal for Swansea Bay.

But Philip Hammond has given the Welsh Government an extra

?200 million to spend over the next four years.

Here's our economics correspondent Sarah Dickins.

In Resolven, the products they design and make enable other

companies to become more efficient, more productive.

This is what the Chancellor is wanting of the UK economy,

to be leaner, perform better.

The only sustainable way to raise living standards is to improve our

productivity growth.

Simply put, higher productivity means higher pay.

Investment in training and investment in infrastructure

will start to close this gap.

The latest official figures show that in the UK the amount we produce

each hour is 30% less than workers in the States.

And 35% less than workers in Germany.

So productivity in the UK is underperforming.

That might be because we're not a skilled or our machinery is less

efficient, but the bad news for Wales is that when we go

to work, we produce even less than other parts of the UK.

29% lower than the UK average.

Businesses in the Swansea Bay area had hoped that the Chancellor

would give the go-ahead for a city deal for the region,

promising greater investment.

That didn't happen today.

We were very disappointed that after hopes were raised last week

in relation to the Swansea Bay city region deal, there wasn't a single

announcement in the budget today about moving that project forward.

That's a project that could be transformational for the economy

of the west of Wales.

While we wait to see if that does get the thumbs up,

how does Wales catch up?

This is a company that always has to be ahead

of the game to win business.

It's done that by continually improving the way it does things

and growing its people skills.

In an attempt to increase productivity across the UK,

the Chancellor is investing in skills training and particularly

in new vocational exams.

That's for England.

It's too early to know if the Welsh Government will follow.

Anything that's happening and developing on the training front

has to be commended and encouraged.

We're still catching up in the UK from a legacy of perhaps even

decades of lack of investment in developing people to come

into engineering and manufacturing.

There's no doubt the wheel has turned with that.

These engineers are employees and therefore there is no change

today in what they will pay in National Insurance and income tax

but for nearly 200,000 people in Wales who are self-employed,

they'll see what they pay in National Insurance rise by 1%

in the pound from April next year.

In effect, a tax increase.

Young, low income self-employed people, which there are a lot of,

because it's the only way they can get work, by being self-employed.

Window cleaners, people who clean your drives, you know,

there's lots of small self-employed people only earning just

above the minimum wage.

The previous Chancellor launched the Northern Powerhouse

and Philip Hammond gave the go-ahead to a Midlands Engine strategy.

Although there was no announcement for a city deal for Swansea today,

the UK Government says it is committed to signing it

as soon as possible.

That could help to close the gap between Wales

and the rest of the UK.

As predicted, the Chancellor announced a ?2 billion investment

for social care in England to help deal with the pressure

of an ageing population.

The Welsh Government will get funding as a result but it can spend

that money on what it likes.

After calls for it to fund social care here too,

the Finance Secretary wouldn't commit, but told us it's something

the Cabinet will consider.

Pressures on social care are real and we have tried to recognise them

already but we as a Cabinet will look at all the different

priorities that we have in Wales, in education, health,

local government, and then we will try and use the modest

amount of money we've had today to the best effect to meet

the needs of Wales.

Barclays has confirmed it's closing its mortgage centre

in Cardiff next year with the loss of 180 jobs.

144 of the posts are being moved to Liverpool and Leeds.

Staff at the centre have been given the option of redundancy

or applying for relocation.

The move is part of a major restructuring

at the bank to cut costs.

Major decisions are being taken in Wales that are not

reflective of its diversity, according to the Equality

and Human Rights Commission.

It found disabled people made up only 3.7% of public

appointments last year, and only 6% of chief

executives in the top 100 businesses are women.

Hundreds of women from Wales joined a protest in London against changes

to the state pension scheme, which raises the retirement

age for them to 65.

The Department for Work and Pensions says the decision

achieves a long-overdue move towards gender equality.

The first pump storage power station to be built in the UK for more

than 30 years is to be constructed in former slate quarries

at Glyn Rhonwy near Llanberis.

The developers say it will help the UK meet carbon reduction targets

but there is some local opposition.

Roger Pinney reports.

Above Llanberis, the Glyn Rhonwy quarry system, abandoned for years

but now set to come to life again.

Two quarries will be turned into reservoirs which will each hold

a million cubic metres of water.

They will be linked by a tunnel.

Pump storage power stations work by using cheap electricity

when demand is low, at night for example, to pump water

from the bottom to the top.

It's then held there until demand rises, the price goes up,

they released the water, generating electricity,

which is then sold to the Grid at a profit.

The technology isn't new to Wales.

Across the valley the much bigger Dinorwig Power Station has been

generating power this way since 1984.

Pump storage systems balance supply.

They can give the Grid a quick boost when it needs it.

This scheme has its critics.

Opponents took concerns chemical pollutions from the old quarries

would reach nearby Llyn Padarn to Natural Resource Wales.

We just hope by bringing what we have to their attention

that they will be extra careful with the environment and that NRW

will take a very close look on what they are up to.

It's estimated the new power station will cost around ?160 million.

Work on it is expected to start next year.

Rugby, and the Wales coach says it's a chance to redeem themselves.

Rob Howley is sticking with the same side that lost to Scotland

for Friday's Six Nations game against Ireland.

Howley has resisted calls to bring in fresh faces

after only one win in three.

Ireland are also unchanged.

Unlike Wales, they can win the title.

We've got, I suppose, the opportunity to go out at home

in front of our home supporters and deliver a performance which,

first and foremost, the players are proud of and, equally as

important, for the supporters to support that.

It's going to be a huge game on Friday night.

Let's see what the weather has in store.

Behnaz has tonight's forecast.

We had a bit of a north-south split today.

North Wales enjoying the best of the sunshine.

Tomorrow most of us should see some sunshine

and it is a largely dry story as well.

Tonight, a little bit of patchy rain.

That will clear.

Overnight it's dry with variable amounts of cloud

and also some clear skies.

Overnight lows getting down to six Celsius.

It should be a frost free night for most of us.

Tomorrow we have a weather front in the south, also high pressure

building from the south.

A lot of dry weather to look forward to but rain will reach us

as we head into Thursday night.

First thing tomorrow morning, a little bit of cloud.

Some brightness as the day goes on.

A breezy start but the wind will ease as we head into the afternoon.

For the rest of the British Isles, we have this weather front bringing

rain to the south-west, a few showers for Scotland,

in between a lot of dry and bright weather to look forward to.

Temperatures ranging between nine and 15 Celsius.

In Wales tomorrow afternoon, a lot of dry weather

but we will start to see the cloud increasing from the south and west.

Temperatures getting up to 14 Celsius and much lighter winds

before the end of the day.

Tomorrow night, a cloudy night to come.

We will see some patchy rain making its way in from the west.

But another frost free night with temperatures getting

down to five Celsius.

Some mist and fog reforming.

On Friday, patchy rain, a little bit of dry weather in between.

Temperatures getting up to 12 Celsius.

The weekend is looking pretty unsettled.

Saturday will start off on a wet note, becoming drier

for a time, some sunshine.

Temperatures getting up to 13 Celsius.

Sunday we have some heavy showers to deal with.

That's Wales Today.

Thank you for watching.

From all of us on the programme, goodnight.