02/12/2013 Newyddion 9

Testing education in Wales. There's a strong suggestion this evening

that Wales' standing in the international table will be

disappointing. But the head of the PISA tests says

there's hope of improving in future. Concerns among farmers at the Winter

Fair about funding from the EU. Expanding the appeal of the Urdd

Eisteddfod. Are new technology and new competitions the answer?

A new club for Mike Phillips. The scrum-half is on his way to Racing

Metro in Paris. There is a strong suggestion tonight

that there will not be an improvement for Wales in the PISA

international education test results. The results compare pupil

standards in reading, science and maths across the world. One expert

says the missing decade following devolution is to blame for the

disappointing performance. Our reporter Arwyn Jones looks at the

Welsh Government's reaction to the results from three years ago.

the PISA results were declared the years ago, the education minister

said the results were proof that things needed to change. The results

for Britain as a whole were around the average mark. But in Wales, the

score was much lower. Science was down less than 500. The score for

reading was down a lot on the British average. With mathematics,

US result was the same as being six months behind the average.

thought we were good. We had also used education successfully to save

the language, a great success story from which we should learn lessons.

Because we had done that people thought we could do no wrong. We did

not do what others did. Most of the countries had put in place national

programmes to ensure teachers had the bodies of knowledge and the

approach is to be good teachers and help their children. A different

system has been taken on at various schools so that they can improve.

They will need to use various aspects and use everyday

experiences. The bluebells are seeing a better result.

practising the questions, we get more used to answering the

questions. You have to make sure that you read the information

carefully. Those are not the only changes that have been brought

forward. Schools and output in vans according to performance. But it is

not just teaching unions who believe it is not sensible to put so much

emphasis on this. US government has put a lot of emphasis on seeing

whales go into the top 20 in the future. That pace of progress is

possible. Brazil were at the top -- bottom of the league. That the

change we are seeing their could bring Wales to the top 20.

results will be declared tomorrow. Arwyn joins us now. Speaking to

people within the Welsh Government, they are not very hopeful of

tomorrow's results. Mathematics is our poorest subject. The education

Minister said we should not close our hopes too much. When we had the

first results, we were disappointed because we were not as good as

expected. We were even worse in 2010. Wales start to look for in

relation to other countries. When it comes to the changes we have seen

since 2010, perhaps it is too soon to see changes and an increase in

standards. The US government has also run all kinds of courses and

seminars to teach teachers how to set these exams in order to improve

results will stop we should also remember that 14 years of A-level --

Labour government have been seen in Wales. You can be sure that the

opposition parties will have something to say and that they will

be pointing a finger towards the government and the improvements have

not been brought -- brought forward. In the past, we have been at the top

of British results and we have also been performing poorly compared to

the rest of Britain. There will not be any excuses when the next results

are declared in three years time. The results will be out at ten

o'clock tomorrow morning. A man has admitted killing a

17-year-old girl and leaving her body in woodland in Denbighshire.

Georgia Williams from Wellington in Shropshire disappeared in May. Her

body was found off the Nant-y-Garth Pass between Wrexham and Ruthin.

Police searched for her for five days. Jamie Reynolds, who is 23

years old, will be sentenced later in the month.

Two teenage boys were sentenced to a total of 13 years in a young

offenders institution for assaulting a homeless man in Newport. Vladimir

Kazlausks, who is 54 years old, was blinded in one eye and left in a

coma. Kane Price, who is 15, and Ashley Farrow, who is 18, used a

chair leg to beat him. Today was the first day of the

Winter Fair in Llanelwedd and it was a busy day for food producers and

sellers. The Government launched a new food strategy, but one of the

main talking points was cutting direct payments to farmers. During

this month, the Welsh Government should tell the EU by exactly how

much it will cut payments to farmers. The show is much smaller

than the summer show. Farmers fear they will be a cut in European

grants this year. We know they will be 20% less in the CHP. -- CHP. You

can transfer money from pillar one two pillar to. The Minister has many

he has not spent from pillar one. I should he take more out quest to

Mac? There has been a drop of 1.6% in the number of new rules that will

be coming -- in the amount coming. In real terms, it is about 20%. On

top of that, there is a threat that other 15% of that money will be

moved to the rural development. Many farmers are depending on these sums.

Much of the many is being earmarked for landowners to conserve their

land. It is clear a lot of environmental work is needed on top

of the state of nature report in May which showed nature is in poor

condition and they need to be improvements such as in the quality

of water. The Minister says changes are needed and he said farmers need

to be patient. We have a lot of decisions to be made. Some of those

decisions will lead to different decisions for the it is a process we

have to follow and this is to be done through a timetable. We need to

change the system in Wales and we have many decisions to take.

farmers are looking forward to losing money. But the uncertainty is

the worst thing. It has been eight tough year thanks to the weather.

The last thing they will want now is to wait until the New Year before

getting the announcement. Staying at the Winter Fair, the

price of wool has increased threefold during the past five

years. It is because of the demand from China. According to the British

Wool Marketing Board, prices are expected to increase again next

year. At the Winter show, that is well everywhere. There has been an

increase in demand. It is nice because young people have an

interest in Welsh blanket. They know they are getting something good for

their money. People are looking for materials of quality. Before

reaching the stalls, the will comes here. More than 3 million tonnes of

the practice is collected by the marketing board. The places are

expected to rise again over the coming months. There is strong

demand and this is very positive for the industry. And increasing

percentage is exported to China. sheep farmers, the fireplaces are a

boost. If the places and down then people complain. The places have

gone up again so we will be looking forward to next year. -- the places

-- the price. It is difficult to get the place to go up for the part of

the reason is the increase in demand in the market. Because of the

increase in demand, we can do more. We have a chance to absorb the costs

because we can sell more. There's plenty of selling at the Winter

fair. At the site of the accident in

Glasgow, rescue workers have managed to remove the helicopter from the

roof of the pub. Nine people died in the accident, but workers are

expected to find more bodies. The police helicopter fell on Clutha Bar

on Friday night. Energy bills will continue to

increase, but not as much as expected. British Gas and SSE will

cut their bills by �50. Npower intends to freeze its prices until

2015. The announcements were made after the government decided to make

a change to its green levy and benefit payments for those living in

Hairdressing, building walls and changing the oil in a car aren't the

usual activities you'd associate with the Urdd Eisteddfod. But those

skills could become a part of the youth festival in future. A special

working committee has spent two years looking at how the movement

should develop in time for its 100th birthday in 2022. The report

recommends reviewing the current competitions and developing new

competitions in different fields by working with further education

colleges. The committee also suggested that those taking part in

the district Eisteddfod rounds should receive a special invitation

to the National Urdd Eisteddfod Maes. As well as this, targets

should be set for every region to increase the number of competitors.

We'll hear from the working committee's chair shortly, but

first, here's the reaction from some Eisteddfod to do different things

such as hairdressing. People enjoy doing things like this. It is a good

thing. Then there's an idea that the festival is very much a middle-class

festival. These things will help to bring different people in. We need

to keep the traditional. It may become too much like Britain's got

The Chair of the working committee, judge Nic Parry, is here this

evening. What is wrong with the current setup? Nothing. This is

coming at a time of strength. Many bodies carry out reviews when they

are in decline. If we take action now we could avoid losing out.

radical would you like to be? are not radical then we may see

people losing interest. The young people, the further education

colleges, have called for things which are relevant so that they can

take part. Perhaps we will need to build bridges and was if we are to

get rid of some things. You talked about creating an arena for all the

preliminary rounds. That is going to be expensive. The world is changing

and we have to move with it. We have to think about the world the

youngsters are living in the top some of the competitors only get to

perform at their school classroom. We need to offer tickets for those

who do not get to the stage so that they can experience the festival as

well. Roy Noble was talking about his review of the National Festival

will stop. Nobody is talking about joining the festivals for setting up

a permanent site. What would be the ideal festival? At the seaside with

the waves producing the energy required.

Welsh language campaigners have criticised a cut of 8% in the budget

for Welsh for Adults courses. The cut is made as a result of a report

commissioned by the Welsh Government. The Government says it

would be difficult not to make cuts. Plaid Cymru argues the cut in Welsh

lessons for adults is deeper than in other areas.

A culture of dependency exists in Wales, which means people are

unwilling to venture into business. That is what we will hear next as

new figures show that Wales is behind the rest of the UK when it

comes to setting-up new companies. Selling building goods of all

kinds. ? Geraint established this business when he was 47 years old.

He was fed up of working for others, he is now the boss, employing 22

people. I can remember going to the bank and saying I wanted to start a

business. I said I wanted to employee people in the local area.

-- imply people in the local area. That employee people in the local

area. I do not know what the answer is as to why more people are not

starting businesses for the visit was easy, everybody would do it.

there are fewer people doing this here than across the rest of

Britain. Last year, just over 9% of Welsh businesses were new companies.

The percentage for Britain was just Welsh people were more likely to

start businesses than other youngsters. In Port Talbot, it isn't

just steel that's being manufactured. Adam was 18 when he

established a film production business. When you are a youngster,

you have less to lose. You do not have a home which is at risk. You do

not have as many bills because you can be living at home with your

parents. It is an ideal time to start a business. Running a business

is always difficult that you must use the tough times to push you

forwards. But as a culture of dependency in Wales which goes back

over a long period. We are looking for a good job in the public

sector. But why not? In Pontardawe, this yard proves we have the

necessary tools. Sport next. It's been a good day for

Welsh scrum-half Mike Phillips for a number of reasons. Iwan has the

details. There are two main reasons. Firstly,

he will be joining Jamie Roberts and Dan Lydiate in Paris. He will be

joining Racing Metro after being sacked from Bayonne more than a

month ago. Secondly, Phillips will avoid any punishment despite these

pictures showing him standing on Quade Cooper's hand. Wales lost to

Australia for a ninth consecutive time, so what next for Warren

Gatland's team? Dafydd Jones has hemisphere teams, the kick the ball

too much. That is a mistake against teams like New Zealand and

Australia. You have players who can be devastating. We have a scheme

which has been successful in the past but it does not necessarily

work against the big three. We need to get the first victory. We could

have won at the weekend. We will have two play a different game with

the ball and not pass it back to them on a plate. Wales might be one

of the favourites in the next six Nations. Is that enough order the

team needs more? -- where does the team needs more? We need to expand

our game and show a little more imagination when we have the ball in

hand. We created a lot of problems in the last ten minutes. But it was

all too little, too late. What about Mike Phillips going to racing

Metro? I know he enjoyed his time in France. I believe this club in Paris

would be ideal. Next Monday night, we shall find out

who the winner of the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year is.

There are five names to consider this year. They are Gareth Bale,

Aled Sion Davies, Leigh Halfpenny, Becky James and Non Stanford. We

shall take a look at the men tonight and we shall take a closer look at

the women on Friday's programme. Gareth Bale has been making a name

for himself this year was up here has attracted a lot of attention and

many. Wales have not had the best of years that the performances by

Gareth Bale have been outstanding. He is now the most extensive layer

was up he scored in his opening game with Real Madrid. It was a golden

summer for Aled Sion Davies. He won a Paralympic gold last summer. The

one at the world Championships this summer. It has been a great dream

that I am very happy. I wanted to do what I achieved this year. I wanted

to show that last year was not just a one off. Nobody scored more points

than Leigh Halfpenny at the six Nations this year. He was also the

top scorer of the British and Irish Lions talk. He has been playing very

well and he does a lot of work of the pitch. He puts in a lot of work

Subtitles unavailable for 1 minutes

to his kicking. The work he has put We'll be concentrating on Becky and

Non on Friday's programme. The main news again. There is a

strong suggestion tonight that there won't be an improvement for Wales in

the international PISA tests. The tests compare the reading, science

and maths abilities of pupils from around the world. One expert says