13/11/2011 The Politics Show Wales


13/11/2011

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Later in the programme, South Wales Chief Constable tells us that 70

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miles an hour is fast enough in motorways.

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1881 seconds

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And what is the best way to sell Welcome to The Politics Show in

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Welsh. Coming up, how to tap the economic potential of our young

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people, and what would be best for the economy - .cymru or .wales?

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First up, the recent pile-up on the M5, in which several people were --

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seven people were killed including a couple from Newport, has reopened

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debates on the speed limit. The South Wales Chief Constable, Peter

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Vaughan, has told us he believes the current 70 mph limit is working.

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He has been talking about that and other issues which I reported,

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Adrian Browne. My arrival at South Wales Police

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headquarters in Bridgend came as Peter Vaughan approaches two weeks

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-- two years heading the force. On his day -- on his first day he

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pledged to increase confidence in the fours. Not easy with a

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shrinking budget and police numbers falling.

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But before we got onto the many issues facing him, my time with

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Peter Vaughan began with a drive back to the area where he grew up,

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served as a senior officer and lived, Merthyr Tydfil. We arrived

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at the police station in time for an officer is briefing.

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The beat manager's agenda includes burglaries and a sum of money

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stolen from a safe. As the heavens open, I briefly take to the beat in

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the town centre. Back in a nice, dry Office, local policing

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Inspector Clare demonstrates how new technology is being used to

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back up traditional bobbies on patrol, making it easy to ensure

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officers are where they need to be at the right time.

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Returning to Bridgend there is evidence of more modernisation, as

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Peter Vaughan and his assistant proudly show me the beginnings of

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what is to become a state of the art call centre, handling all calls

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across the force area, another way south poles police is seeking to

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make the service more effective as budgets get tighter. -- South Wales

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police. I spoke to Mr Vaughan about fear of crime, plans to raise the

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speed limit, elected police commissioners and whether policing

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should be involved. I began by asking him what impact the loss of

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hundreds of officers was having on the service. That is the part of my

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job I dislike the most, they are real people with real families

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within our communities, and since the start of the year we have 470

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less jobs than when we started. During this Spending Review we will

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be almost 700 jobs fewer, and it would be disingenuous to suggest

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this will not have an impact. I could say, I need a 20% cut, and

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they would not have paid much attention, but I would -- I have

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been with this organisation for a long time and in some respects we

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do business the same way now as in 1984, and I threw my chief officer

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is a challenge - to redesign their operation, what do we do? But then

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you put the victim, the witness, at the centre of everything you do.

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But in terms of the public generally, you are confident there

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is the same effectiveness on the same -- on frontline as ever?

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as we described, when a police officer arrest someone they will

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take that person to the custody suite and deal with them from to

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start to finish. The more effective they are at arresting them, the

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less time they spend in our communities. With our help, the

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winners can be dealt with the Police Staff working within that

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unit, -- the witness. What is your perception of people's risk of

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crime, people's risk of being attacked in some form? Has saved

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our people compare two years ago? For burglary for example, at the

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moment there are seven forces in the country that are reducing

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burglary faster than we are. Robbery as well - we are doing

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really well in reducing robberies. If he were to give us an overall

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position in terms of crimes in the area, we would hit mid- table. We

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have not got least crime or the most crime. But the public

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perception is a little bit different from that, and people

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perceive that crime is high in the area at the moment. To give you an

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example, in the Cardiff area, half of the population of the area in

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which I police is located within Cardiff, just within its its

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extremities. If we have more than five burglaries per day, we start

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to get worried. And I think public perception is there will be far

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more burglaries going on then actually go on. The message from me

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is we are good at dealing with crime, getting better at detecting

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more crime than ever, and we are determined to continue trying to

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achieve that. We had that dreadful pile up on the motorway recently,

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does that give you some reservations over plans to increase

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the speed limit from 70 miles an hour to 80 miles an hour? It was an

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absolutely tragic incident, and my thoughts go out to the family is of

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those people concerned. We had a family from Newport tragically

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caught up in that, and it is too early to say whether speed was the

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cause of that accident or not. Within the Welsh region, the

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southern Welsh region, we have tried different experiments with

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Gwent Police, on the Mfor the speed was reduced to 50 miles an hour for

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Adkins biddable amount of time -- and accidents dropped. I can see

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why people would call for a reduced speed limit, but for me 70 works at

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the moment. Again, it is for Gwent Police, but we will see how the

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various -- the variable speed limits will have an impact on

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accident. If I am driving reasonably at 70 miles an hour, and

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there is a pile up and I am caught up on it, I am more likely to be

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harmed if I am doing 80 rather than 70. I think the signs of speed is

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the faster you go, the more impact when you hit an object. -- the

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science of speed. Personally I think 70 is OK. The plead that I

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would give his, all too often I am driving on the road and I seek the

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signs indicating a speed of 40 miles an hour, and people pass my

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car at 70 or more. The signs on the motorway are there for a reason, to

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give people advance notice of what is going on in front of them. So I

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would recommend that when we are aware of something happening, we

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will port advisory speed limits in, they are they for a reason. There

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are a lot of things happening politically, one of which is

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elected police commissioners next year. That will change things a bit.

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What you make of it as a concept? In November next year we will have

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a police and crime Commissioner for South Wales. But I personally

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didn't think what we had was good with in our area, and the reason I

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say that is that we have got seven local authorities covered by the

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South Welsh police. Of those seven areas, but our politicians

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representing those areas. I have got a great mix of diversity, race,

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gender, previous experience on that Police Authority, individuals that

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are used to working at a significant level in other

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organisations, and that provides us with a number of touchstones. We

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have seen that in the performance in our area improving, and our

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inspectors regard so it was police as one of the four moths to

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improving forces in the country. That is my staff doing their job

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properly, and it is going to be difficult for one person to take on

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that real mix of experience and diversity. It is an act of

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parliament, it will happen, and my cup is normally half full, and if

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we get the right person it will work. From the police service

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perspective we are determined to make it work, because the stakes

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are too high if you get it wrong. Because the people that suffer will

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be the committees of Wales. other thing being talked about, a

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bit more now, is the possibility of devolving the police to the

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assembly. Would you be in favour of that. Personally, yes. It seems a

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funny place sometimes to be one of the few public services that are

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not devolved, and we constantly work with devolved services, the

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fire service, the ambulance service, our local authorities, all looked

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towards Cardiff Bay. We are not in that position at the moment, the

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Welsh chief Constable's really enjoy the relationship we have got

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with the assembly members within Cardiff Bay. We get a lot of access

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to those individuals, and we are able to make our points to them in

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a way that we wish that we could do with Parliament. There are some

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advantages of being controlled by the Home Office, and also working

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closely with the Welsh Government, but I personally think that we

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would benefit from being devolved. Thank you very much.

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That was Adrian Browne putting the questions to Peter Vaughan. Of the

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many gloomy indicators generated by the global financial crisis, high

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youth unemployment is a common concern. The sharp rise in the

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jobless young has hit most countries including us here in

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Wales. But the latest figures due next week, have fears that the

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trend is reversed. This generation could find it harder to get on than

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the last. James Williams reports. 330 miles from their starting point

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in general in the North is England, a group of the young unemployed

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completed the final leg of their epic march. Charing -- channelling

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the spirit of the original Jarrow marchers who delivered a petition

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to the Government of the day, the core group of 20 matches were

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joined by hundreds of people from across the UK, to call for action

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on rising youth unemployment. 24, an unemployed chef. If there

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were jobs, people would be working. They were put money back into the

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economy. The latest figures show there are more than 27,000 young

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people in Wales on jobseeker's people in Wales on jobseeker's

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allowance. 3,500 more than the same time last year. Of those unemployed,

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time last year. Of those unemployed, the number claiming for more than

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six months has increased by more than 40%, however the picture is

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than 40%, however the picture is than 40%, however the picture is

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than 40%, however the picture is than 40%, however the picture is

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than 40%, however the picture is than 40%, however the picture is

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than 40%, however the picture is complicated by the fact that at the

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same time there are almost 30,000 same time there are almost 30,000

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unfilled vacancies in Wales. Not every young person finds themselves

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in this situation. Jonathan it is a 4th year apprentice toolmaker.

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have just finished my apprenticeship, and it was pretty

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good. Every day is different, and I'm still learning. Happy in his

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chosen career, Jonathan nonetheless feels that his schooldays could

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have better prepared him for the real world. They could do with more

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people coming in from work places, to give people experiences and get

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people to ask questions and learn more about them. Since I left

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school and came into working environment, it was totally

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different to what I expected. this lack of exposure in formal

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education to the world of work that some see as the root problem. This

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company has been offering Apprenticeships to people -- young

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people for all the 40 years. But they feel their needs to be a major

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attitude changed in order to bridge the divide. 12 years ago, when the

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Blair administration set out the target of 50% of young people going

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to university, what it did do was reinforce some of the negative

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behaviour that said to young people, if you do not go to higher

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education, you have been hurriedly failed. We must get a balanced

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message right. The head of a body representing

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Welsh businesses also agrees that greater collaboration is needed.

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There certainly needs to be much closer working towards the world of

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work and employment and schools. Government can facilitate that.

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There is a lot going on, individually between companies and

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individual schools. A lot of employers try to offer work

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experience to young people, but an think we need to make it more

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systematic. Make it better quality, more vigorous. It -- so that it is

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a bigger part of what schools feel the need to do for.

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One factor has been the introduction of business backed

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colleges offering technically orientated courses. There are too

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technical colleges up and running in England, including this academy

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in Staffordshire. But is the Welsh Government planning on introducing

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something similar in Wales? No, we are very committed to working with

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our further education sector, I think we have had extraordinary

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success in further education. It has been the sector which has

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responded most actively to the Welsh Government's agenda, and we

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want to work closer with business to make sure we have the right

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range of skills available. Beyond the basic skills, employers are

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also concerned about the job readiness of young people. I am

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concerned we have a real focus on literacy and numeracy, and also

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that we explain to young people the importance of developing key social

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skills, but jollity, politeness, customer services. -- punctuality.

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Implementing these lessons will be the best -- the big test for

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decision-makers. For the young, the March may be over, but the struggle

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against being a lost generation continues.

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What is in an name, especially an on-line name? There is debate over

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what would be best for a Welsh domain name -- Carwyn Jones is

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supporting the .cymru name all over the .wales name. He says he will

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support the name that will bring the most benefits for Wales.

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A domain name for Wales on the Web, is the dream for campaigners.

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Originally there was a call for Welsh took -- Wales to adopt .cymru,

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but Wales was overtaken by the Cayman Islands who took that domain.

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Some campaigners are worried the .cymru address will not be favoured,

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and .wales will be the address for the future. Can you confirm your

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Government will only be able to accept an application that includes

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.cymru and .wales? No, it is important week secured any domain

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that gives the best economic boost to Wales.

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The this has been a massive blow to the .cymru campaign. I did not

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think I would see the date when the Prime Minister of Wales says he was

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against having a domain, .cymru. What is the point of having a Welsh

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Prime Minister if he does not fight for the one thing that separates

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people from the outside world, that shows we are a unique culture which

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we has to which we want to share? Were what governments say they are

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committed to supporting a top-level domain name for Wales, and that

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they will shortly invite people to submit their proposals. One company

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believes there may be a bilingual proposal that works.

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Whether it is practically possible in relation to what -- Harrow

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Internet domains are run, is another matter. It may not be

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possible, but we will track our best to ensure that there was a

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bilingual aspect. If it is a tall practical.

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But what would be best for the Welsh economy - .cymru or .wales?

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It depends on the type of organisation. In the cultural side,

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.cymru could work very well. But in Welsh, they may want an impact on

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tourism and heritage, and a different format may also work. It

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will depend therefore in the organisation, the customers,

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creating that immediate impact. We can also think of brands, and

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mention the imagery altogether. The company hats asked the .cymru

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campaign to work with them, but that has been refused. The final

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proposal will be presented to the body that runs International de

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Bains next year. It is Remembrance Sunday today,

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with services being held across Welsh. The service at the Wales

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National War Memorial at Cathays Park was attended by Cheryl Gillan,

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Rodney Berman and Carwyn Jones. thing we sometimes do is forget

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about what has happened in the past and forget the lessons that were

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taught us in the past. We should never forget the sacrifice made by

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so many, and use that to make sure that in the future we give our on

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