Browse content similar to 02/06/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight on the Wales Report, after the April Jones murder trial, calls | :00:08. | :00:14. | |
for robust action to restrict access to pornographic images online. | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
Passengers at Cardiff at a 15-year low. What can the Government do to | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
get the business off the ground? Is Wales taking science seriously? A | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
new drive to get school children to embrace the global possibilities. | :00:28. | :00:37. | |
:00:38. | :00:41. | ||
Welcome to the Wales Report, where we look at the decisions affecting | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
lives across Wales and we question the people making those decisions. | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
The week has been dominated by the trial and the conviction of Mark | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
Bridger for the murder of five-year-old April Jones. Details | :00:53. | :00:59. | |
have emerged of his obsession with violent pornography. It has led to | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
renewed calls for tougher restriction, including action by the | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
big search engines to block access to extreme sites. Joining me is the | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
chief executive of Children in Wales and from the forum on children. It | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
has been a harrowing trial that people have followed in Mid Wales | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
after the dreadful events in Machynlleth. What lessons have you | :01:25. | :01:31. | |
learnt from it? The biggest lesson is this is not new. Holly and | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
Jessica in the past died. We had a lot of interest from the public | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
from, the media - everyone was horrified. Then it is yesterday's | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
news. What we have to do this time is keep up the momentum to deal | :01:43. | :01:51. | |
with, what is sadly, a growing issue, that the volume of images | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
that are horrendous, vile - the trade in those images and the | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
increasing number of hits on those images on the internet are growing. | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
When we look at the availability of these images and it is clearly easy | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
to access them for those who are minded in that way, what practical | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
steps are you suggesting? Very often people say, look this is the nature | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
of the internet - it is there, it is free, it is accessible. If people | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
twoont do evil and wicked things they need to be caught, but you | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
cannot put restrictions on the entire web. It is time for the | :02:28. | :02:34. | |
public to stand up and be counted. There is an African proverb which | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
says it takes a whole village to raise a child. It takes a whole | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
community to raise our children. We have a good Welsh comupty, but | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
across the -- community, but across the world. We need to stand up | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
against the search engine companies. At the moment, what they are saying | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
is, well, you can report it to us and then we will close the site | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
down. That is the reaction response. We want a default response, where | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
these images - because they are all illegal. You are not allowed to | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
abuse a child. You are not allowed to produce an image and not allowed | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
to put them on the internet - they are illegal. It has to be stopped. | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
You are talking about a blanket ban, a block, in effect? Yes.How would | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
that work? I am not a technical person, but what we have to say is | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
that society does not want these images on the internet available. | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
There's a lot of our campaigns which have been helping parents to have | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
information for them to control the access, for children to be aware of | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
not going off with strangers, to tell parents everything, but it is | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
fundamentally wrong that the responsibility is with those | :03:44. | :03:50. | |
individual parents and children. It has to be developed. In fairness, | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
the UK has got a bill going through Parliament at the moment on Internet | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
access, which is an appropriate, inappropriate information there. But | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
it is a global issue. It is ironic that we are talking about a dreadful | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
case in Wales where it has emerged that this stuff is available online, | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
easily, and yet we are meant to be far more advanced, you say, than | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
other countries. It makes you think what is available elsewhere. I have | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
worked with colleagues in other countries who are busy trying to | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
protect their children from worse access than we have got. We have to | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
remember too that those images of the children and I say images, they | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
are actually a record of concrete abuse and rape of individual | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
children. They may be from the Philippines, they may be from | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
Latvia. They may be from Cardiff. We don't actually know. We have to cut | :04:47. | :04:53. | |
off the source. A final point, we have not mentioned the role of | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
Government in this. We have mentioned the parliamentary bill. Do | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
you think Government is proactive enough in this area? There is a | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
willingness. I don't think the pace of change is sufficiently fast. We | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
need to make sure that we are keeping the pressure up and not | :05:10. | :05:16. | |
accepting excuses. Thank you for coming in. There are 33,000 | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
organisations in the voluntary sector in Wales. They are an | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
integral part of Welsh life, including charities and community | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
groups and they deliver some essential services. Many parts of | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
the sector say they are in crisis. Amid concerns that the sector is not | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
fulfilling one of its key rules - objectively scrutinising the | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
policies of the Welsh Government. They say the delivery of services is | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
being damaged. An official consultation on the relationship | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
between the Welsh Government and the so-called third sector is due to | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
conclude this summer. David Williams has been taking a ride on the third | :05:54. | :06:01. | |
sector merry go round. Just over a decade ago, they were | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
throwing money at it, tempting people aboard for the ride - it was | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
the golden age of funding for what is called the third or voluntary | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
sector in Wales. That's the sector which occupies a space between | :06:15. | :06:23. | |
Government, the public and the private sectors. Voluntary sector | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
organisations had all sorts of grant opportunities. They were able to | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
take on a lot of new staff, they were able to develop new ways of | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
working. Lots of innovation happened. Just before the start of | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
the economic downturn, the mood music changed, as funding from the | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
lottery and Europe either reduced or was diverted elsewhere. The third | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
sector in Wales gets more than 20% of its income from the Welsh | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
Government. That's more than �300 million a year. But it comes at a | :06:58. | :07:04. | |
price. In return, the third sector is expected to contribute advice, | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
intended to help the Welsh Government formulate policy. But | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
some have found contact with their political masters difficult. A lot | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
of the people I have spoken to have described it as a faceless | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
organisation. It is quite impenetrable when you try and use | :07:20. | :07:27. | |
the website. It is not very user friendly. Dr Rumble has been | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
examining the relationship between the Welsh Government and its | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
voluntary partners. Responses to her interviews resonated with the | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
sector's growing dissatisfaction. With their anonymity preserved, we | :07:41. | :07:47. | |
air some of those concerns for the first time. There are lots of | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
charities in Wales, yet we see the same old faces on the committees. I | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
think it is because half these people are not going anywhere. They | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
are livers. They will stay there until they retire. The third sector | :08:00. | :08:10. | |
partnership in Wales can aaccused of You are aware that you could be | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
biting the hand that feeds you. We could be a lot more critical, but | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
what is the point? It is difficult to negotiate the Welsh Government | :08:21. | :08:28. | |
because it is such a behemoh. eyes of some of its own critical | :08:28. | :08:35. | |
friends, the Welsh Government has seen -- is seen as something of a | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
monster of biblical proportions. The monster, as some see it, is | :08:39. | :08:47. | |
represented in Wales in the shape of a one-party state, in what amounts | :08:47. | :08:53. | |
to this in the bay. In Wales, you evoke that polyian's name at your | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
peril and you whisper these things rather than shout about them, in | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
case, as one of those voices we heard earlier put it, you bite the | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
hand that feeds you. Everyone knows hand that feeds you. Everyone knows | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
that Wales is a Labour country. If you look at the next election you | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
would expect to be working a Labour Government. Why would you rock the | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
boat if you know at the next election there'll be no regime | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
change and it will be more of the same? If you thought at the next | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
election there would be a kon or a Plaid Cymru Government, then you | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
would work harder... And lobbying those organisations? And trying to | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
get what you want to see into their manifesto pledges. The man who heads | :09:40. | :09:46. | |
the umbrella organisation for 33,000 voluntary organisations in Wales | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
disagrees with the suggestion that his members are constrained by the | :09:51. | :10:00. | |
existence of a one-party state in Wales. Civil society and charities | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
will dedevelop their own manifestos and ideas. For one party?Which will | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
be one term and which they will seek to pursue in a variety of ways. | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
Sometimes that will be working with Government, of whatever political | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
persuasion. These are not hugely politicised issues. Sometimes it | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
will be having to campaign and to make it clear that the standard of | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
service is not up to it. That is not being afraid of Government, because | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
most organisations are not dependant on central Government money for | :10:35. | :10:42. | |
their policy work. Unsurprisingly, political opponents of Labour are | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
not convinced that the current structure of public bodies in Wales | :10:45. | :10:53. | |
is a healthy one. My fear of course is that the Labour Party are an | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
extremely tribal party in Wales. They tend to favour relationships | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
with the bodies that are supportive of it and therefore we don't get | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
that vibrant civil society, which is essential if democracy is to work | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
properly. Critics say steps should be taken to ensure greater | :11:13. | :11:19. | |
transparency in the make-up of those bodies which have such an important | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
influence on our lives. We need accountability. It is transparency | :11:23. | :11:29. | |
and what I call for is for the Welsh Government to publish, for every | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
body receiving money for it, that the political affiliation of the | :11:34. | :11:40. | |
senior personnel is published and also the numerous public appointees, | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
running public services in Wales, the political membership of those | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
individuals should be published - all parties. So, is the Welsh | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
Government listening? It says it is. And the consultation exercise | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
announced this month w the aim of reviewing the relationship between | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
the Welsh Government and the third sector is said to be evidence of | :12:01. | :12:08. | |
just that. I understand that this is intended to be more than simply a | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
cosmetic exercise, intended merely to fob off the growing criticism and | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
concern of a Labour-dominated society. It is said to be a genuine | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
response to the concerns now surfacing publicly for the first | :12:21. | :12:28. | |
time. I think, after ten years of devolution it is quite right to have | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
a look. They call it a refresh in terms of how these structures are | :12:33. | :12:40. | |
working. I think... They are all buzzwords. Do they mean anything? | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
think in terms of taking the good of what we have at the moment, building | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
upon that, yes, being honest about what works and doesn't work and then | :12:49. | :12:56. | |
looking at ways of improving that, then that's the way to go. | :12:56. | :13:04. | |
Well, all very encouraging. But in response to this latest consultation | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
exercise will anybody dare to rock the boat and challenge the Welsh | :13:08. | :13:15. | |
Government publicly? Or will it be the usual suspects mouthing familiar | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
platitudes, in fear of having their funding cut? If that happens them it | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
will only re-enforce the perception that this is the usual | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
merry-go-round and Napolean is riding over Wales and when the music | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
stops we will not be any further forward. | :13:36. | :13:43. | |
That was David Williams, enjoying himself. Joining me is Anna Nichol. | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
A policy and research consultant, working to encourage more | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
participation in the third sector in Wales. Good to have you with us. | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
That was depressing in a way. It seemed to suggest that nothing is | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
moving or changing - is that fair? Sometimes by focussing just on those | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
organisations that have public funding, maybe we are overegging the | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
fact that we have a lot of campaigning groups in Wales. We do | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
have independent voices. There are community groups across the country. | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
So if you have an issue such as wind farms or a hospital or a school | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
closing, actually you have a lot of dwroups campaigning. There is -- | :14:25. | :14:32. | |
groups campaigning. There is a lot of groups out there. Those who have | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
received substantial funding, a small group of those charities and | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
organisations that do have particular issues in their | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
relationship with Government. are receiving, as a community, more | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
than �300 million, there is a disincentive there, isn't there, to | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
speak up or say things which might be critical, even if in a | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
constructive way. It can be problematic. This is not exclusive | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
to Wales. This happens across the UK and across the world with Government | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
and third sector organisations. I think certainly for Government and | :15:07. | :15:15. | |
for charities, it is about improving kind of services and the way that | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
policies are delivered in Wales. Government knows if it wants | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
effective policies it whats to listen to first-hand experience of | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
those communities working with individuals or they will not get the | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
effect of policies they want to and deliver services that work. You have | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
worked at the highest level in Cardiff Bay. Are you saying that in | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
the First Minister's office, no matter who that is, they would | :15:42. | :15:47. | |
welcome country wugss which would question -- contributions which | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
would question that - you don't welcome that at all? It is | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
problematic. Certainly, I have seen it not being handled very well and, | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
of course, it is a political environment. Nobody wants to be | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
criticised. The Government itself is nervous oh at being criticised. I | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
think -- nervous at being criticised. I think this | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
relationship, 13 years into devolution, we know that if we are | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
going to make better policy and deliver better services, that in | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
principal this is something which needs to happen. Why isn't there, as | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
I understand it, a comprehensive list of who gets money and where it | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
goes? And that list might be easily accessible - why is that information | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
not readingly available? Secondly, do you think it is fair, as Jonathan | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
Edwards was saying, that people should declare political allegiance | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
when representing some of these bodies receiving money? I am not | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
sure whether there is or not a list of which public organisations get | :16:48. | :16:53. | |
funding. I don't see why there isn't. I would image gib it has not | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
been co-- I would imagine that it has not been collated across | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
departments. In terms of political allegiance of charities and | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
voluntary groups n the same way that Government should be open and | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
accountable, I would certainly agree that third-sector organisations, | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
wherever they are receiving funding from should be as open and | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
accountable as possible. We should know who is running these | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
organisations - staff and especially who is the trustees of these | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
organisations. That is a positive principal, indeed whether they are | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
receiving public funding or not. Anna, good to talk to you. Thank you | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
very much. Thank you.Now, from the crisis in the third sector to the | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
crisis at Cardiff airport. We reported on the Welsh Government's | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
controversial decision to take over the airport. Passenger numbers are | :17:45. | :17:55. | |
:17:55. | :18:19. | ||
at a 15-year low. What can be done 25 years in civil aviation is where | :18:19. | :18:29. | |
I have been. Birmingham airport - 51% of the shares are held by the | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
public sector. We work together for a common purpose. It is that we want | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
a successful region using its local airport. We have coined the phrase | :18:39. | :18:45. | |
"great airports for great cities and great airports for great cities." | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
Speak to you later. That was my wife. I think the Welsh Government | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
have to run the airport at arm's length. There are people who will | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
cry foul play if they don't - the European Union being one. A number | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
of airports across Europe have been called to account by the commission, | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
who have said, you cannot vest in this particular operation because | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
you are using public funds and you are distorting the market. The | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
challenge the Welsh Government faces is how you reinvigorate the airport. | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
What you are saying is not just Cardiff airport, you are selling the | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
Welsh economy and the economy of South Wales. Look to the people of | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
Cardiff to use their local airport - that is the key. In the past, they | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
have done so. What we have seen over the past few years is that the | :19:34. | :19:42. | |
attraction of bris toll, or the lack of a-- Bristol or the lack of | :19:42. | :19:50. | |
attraction of Cardiff has had people go to the other airport. Having done | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
the turn-around, put it back into the private sector. | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
Cardiff has some great advantages. It has a - it is a great capital | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
city, a great runway, a maintenance facility. It has the airport it | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
probably deserves. It has all the -- needs all the things to work | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
together. It is no silver bullet. It will take a number of years to put | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
Cardiff back where it needs to be. I hope that Cardiff can wean itself | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
off Government support, ultimately. I have made comments about Cardiff | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
being nationalised. I don't think it is right for Cardiff. I am convinced | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
with the right management it can be successful in the future. We would | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
not like to see the distortion by pulling passengers back with some | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
form of Government subsidy. I hope the Welsh Government allow Cardiff | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
to stand on its own two feet, succeed and become the airport it | :20:42. | :20:52. | |
:20:52. | :20:53. | ||
should be. Well, that was the view from thriving Birmingham Airport. We | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
asked for views about the future of the airport, sad sadly neither was | :20:57. | :21:07. | |
:21:07. | :21:21. | ||
compare them with Birmin fwrks ham -- - Birmingham - what is going on? | :21:21. | :21:29. | |
There has not been investment in the same way we have seen in Birmingham. | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
Something had to ben do stop that. Is the Government right to put the | :21:34. | :21:42. | |
money on the table and take it over? There was little alternative to | :21:42. | :21:52. | |
putting that money in. Until about 1986, all airports were publicly | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
owned. It is a novel thing to have privately-owned airports. Since 1986 | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
you've had more commercialisation of airports and the realisation they | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
have to make a lot of money not just from passengers flying in and out | :22:06. | :22:14. | |
but from what they do in a retail sense. Bristol and Cardiff have a | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
tricky relationship. Some will say Bristol is offering a range of | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
flights and carriers that Cardiff don't have. Therefore it cannot | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
compete. It is investment in the first place. You need routes and | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
investment. That is why I like the suggestion there from what we heard | :22:34. | :22:40. | |
in Birmingham about a private-public partnership. You need to leverage in | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
more private investment to build that new terminal, that new retail | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
offering and develop the new routes that will attract passengers. It | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
will not be easy. How do you convince the Ryanairs and easyJets | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
and the rest of it - how do you convince them they need to be based | :22:55. | :23:04. | |
in Cardiff? You will have to develop a meaningful relationship with these | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
low-cost airports and with traditional airports -- airlines. | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
The package will be able how we can offer low-passenger duty. If we had | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
advanced passenger costs in Wales, if we could use that to pass off a | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
more competitive package... effective would it be? How much of a | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
difference would it make? It could difference would it make? It could | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
be very important because it is a big Part of the cost of flying and | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
airports, in particular, airlines in particular would be particularly | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
attracted to somewhere where that cost was reduced substantially. | :23:42. | :23:51. | |
would you say to people out there with sceptical, not to say views, | :23:51. | :23:57. | |
that Cardiff has missed the boat? grew to two million passengers, | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
under the previous owners. They had the right approach. They developed | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
good links with the airlines. They made a competitive offering. I don't | :24:05. | :24:11. | |
think it is impossible to get back to two million a year. Two million | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
should be feasible. Bris toll is -- Bristol is five or six million. | :24:18. | :24:23. | |
a new terminal, some new routes we could get to four million | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
passengers, without much real investment. A lot of infrastructure | :24:27. | :24:35. | |
and investment as well means a lot of things coming down the line. The | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
Severn Barrage, for example. You have electrification. All this will | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
help Cardiff expand its catchment area and make it viable to get to | :24:45. | :24:52. | |
four million. The Department of Transport is predicting they will | :24:52. | :25:00. | |
get to... By 2030, they forecast that will it get to 12 million. With | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
12 million per an number we would have a �1 billion economic asset in | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
Wales. Then we could be really motoring. Can you name a prominent | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
Welsh scientist or engineer? There Welsh scientist or engineer? There | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
are plenty out there. Some are even noble Prizewinners like Sir Martin | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
Evans, but if science is to become a bigger success story, the experts | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
say more needs to be done. Wendy is a physicist on a mission, to inspire | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
the next generation, she believes that working with children at an | :25:33. | :25:43. | |
:25:43. | :25:45. | ||
early age is the key to transforming We have got to secure a supply of | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
future generation of scientists to help the country grow. We need to | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
make sure that everyone in Wales has a better awareness of how science | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
works so they can make informed decisions about their lives. Put | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
your hands up if you like science. Brilliant! Becky is a scientist. She | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
will have lots of fun with you this afternoon, doing lots of | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
experiments. Most primary school students love science. They are | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
naturally curious about the world around them. A lot of research says | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
you have to tackle them now to get their attitudes to science more | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
positive. When they get to secondary school the attitudes change. They | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
don't see the link between the science at school and the careers it | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
can take them to. They get that if they want to be a doctor or a | :26:34. | :26:36. | |
teacher they need science. They don't see the hundreds of | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
opportunities open to them if they choose science at school. One of the | :26:42. | :26:51. | |
problems is the stereotype of science. If you Google the image of | :26:51. | :26:57. | |
science, you get a professor with white hair. Some are even female. | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
This lack of positive role models for secondary schools is a real | :27:02. | :27:10. | |
issue. People talk about this brain Cox | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
effect, this is not really eflected in Wales. | :27:14. | :27:22. | |
One of the problems -- Brian Cox effect, this is not really reflected | :27:22. | :27:28. | |
in Wales. Less than 20% of students at secondary school get taught | :27:28. | :27:34. | |
physics by a physics graduate. It is not to say other graduates can not | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
teach it. It is to say there is a lack of passion for the subject. | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
This can be picked up by the students. In Wales this is perhaps a | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
particular problem. There is a big generation of physics teachers about | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
to retire and these gaps need to be filled by new graduates. | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
One of the things we often hear from teachers is it is so hard to fit | :27:57. | :28:02. | |
everything into the curriculum at secondary school level. There is so | :28:02. | :28:12. | |
much pressure for exam results that they have to bring in extra people. | :28:12. | :28:16. | |
Wales is performing less Wales than countries of a similar size and | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
similar background. So, it is not just a problem for the | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
scientists, there's been research to show across the world the number of | :28:24. | :28:31. | |
science graduates is closely linked to a very healthy economy. So, | :28:31. | :28:36. | |
Wales, it seems we are great about having pride in our local sports | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
stars and musicians, but we are not so good at shouting about the stars | :28:41. | :28:51. | |
:28:51. | :28:52. | ||
of Wales science and engineering. Culturally perhaps we should shout | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
louder about the achievements of Welsh science. Give a big round of | :28:58. | :29:05. | |
applause for Becky. That was Wendy Sadler with that | :29:05. | :29:10. |