:00:00. > :00:16.With five months to go until the Assembly elections in May,
:00:17. > :00:18.a studio audience put their questions on the service, the
:00:19. > :00:21.economy and much more to the First Minister, Labour's Carwyn Jones.
:00:22. > :00:31.Good evening and welcome to The Wales Report.
:00:32. > :00:33.You join us tonight for a special programme.
:00:34. > :00:36.It's been an eventful year in politics and next year is shaping
:00:37. > :00:39.up to be just as busy with the Assembly elections on the horizon
:00:40. > :00:42.and a possible in-out referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.
:00:43. > :00:44.So what are the burning issues that you want to discuss?
:00:45. > :00:48.Are you happy with the way the way your health service is being run?
:00:49. > :00:50.Are schools in Wales getting top marks from you?
:00:51. > :00:52.Is the Welsh economy a source for optimism or concern?
:00:53. > :00:54.Tonight, we have a studio audience who have
:00:55. > :00:57.plenty of questions for the man at the helm here in Wales, the First
:00:58. > :01:01.Remember, you too can have your say on social media.
:01:02. > :01:10.But first tonight, MPs are currently debating.
:01:11. > :01:14.That was on whether the UK should join on the bombing of so-called
:01:15. > :01:27.Islamic State targets in Syria. I would have voted against. I think
:01:28. > :01:32.the Prime Minister has not made the case for air strikes on their own.
:01:33. > :01:37.But if you want to bring peace to Syria, you have got to have a plan.
:01:38. > :01:42.Which ground forces do you support in order to do that? If you do that,
:01:43. > :01:47.what air strikes do you need? None of that has been done. At the end of
:01:48. > :01:51.the day, my greatest fear is we will end up with air strikes and the
:01:52. > :01:55.whole thing will be forgotten about. Nobody will do the work that is
:01:56. > :02:00.needed for peace and security in Syria. Then needed to be a
:02:01. > :02:06.statesman-like attitude from the Prime Minister and what did we see?
:02:07. > :02:10.He said anyone against him was a terrorist sympathiser. Regardless of
:02:11. > :02:16.how MPs vote tonight, their views should be respected, but I did in
:02:17. > :02:20.the case has been made. What about your party? You have a leader in you
:02:21. > :02:27.against military action and yet a man who would like to be Foreign
:02:28. > :02:33.Secretary for military action. We are in government in Wales. But
:02:34. > :02:37.there are different views within the Labour Party and the Conservative
:02:38. > :02:48.Party. Every Conservative MP will back -- will not back military
:02:49. > :02:58.action. I have not seen anything that will lead to peace and security
:02:59. > :03:01.in Syria. The debates on military action can carry on.
:03:02. > :03:05.Now, let's move on to our first topic - the Welsh NHS.
:03:06. > :03:06.Our first question tonight comes from Chris O'Callghan,
:03:07. > :03:10.With ever increasing demand on the NHS but only limited resources and
:03:11. > :03:20.It's a real challenge for governments around the world. Our
:03:21. > :03:24.health budgeted 46% of our total budget. We spend more on health than
:03:25. > :03:33.ever before. We have had new bills going up and Aberystwyth, Swansea,
:03:34. > :03:39.but we know that there is ever demand. We see it in orthopaedics
:03:40. > :03:43.and A But we are determined to keep the current situation, which is
:03:44. > :03:46.we spend more than England per head on health and continue to spend what
:03:47. > :03:50.we need in the health service the people want. Of course there are
:03:51. > :03:56.pressures and of course there are challenges. But if you look at what
:03:57. > :04:00.we have done in terms of increasing funding and the numbers of doctors
:04:01. > :04:06.and nurses, we're in the best position ever in that regard. You
:04:07. > :04:12.work in health service? I have worked in the NHS for 12 years now.
:04:13. > :04:19.I have concerns about the cancer care provisions in Wales. When you
:04:20. > :04:24.look at scanning, we provide very limited services for referral
:04:25. > :04:30.criteria is wearers NHS England have up to 18 reasons why having a scam.
:04:31. > :04:33.How do we move ourselves up to parity the NHS England? Any other
:04:34. > :04:40.points on comparing the health service in Wales and England? Any
:04:41. > :04:44.other experiences? The gentlemen of the vendor back. I am concerned
:04:45. > :04:49.about the amount of cancer patients have to move to England to get
:04:50. > :04:52.reasonable treatment. If you look at what is happening with cancer, you
:04:53. > :04:56.have a quicker route to treatment in Wales than England and we know that
:04:57. > :05:00.from our own figures. You get access to approved cancer drugs more
:05:01. > :05:05.quickly as well. The other point is that England had its Cancer Drugs
:05:06. > :05:09.Fund and it is disappearing. What we want to do is make sure people had
:05:10. > :05:14.access to the treatment that would work for them as quickly as
:05:15. > :05:19.possible. In terms of the issue here, in terms of scanning, we
:05:20. > :05:23.always look at ways to review the procedures we used to make them more
:05:24. > :05:27.effective. We do know that when it comes to the urgent route with
:05:28. > :05:31.cancer treatment and the nonurgent route, it's not a competition but we
:05:32. > :05:37.are ahead of England. We want to make sure it stays that way. Any
:05:38. > :05:42.other points from the audience? We be at preventative health care such
:05:43. > :05:46.as eco-therapy which has been approved around the world to help
:05:47. > :05:51.people's mental and physical well-being and also save money for
:05:52. > :05:58.the NHS? We are always looking at ways to encourage preventative
:05:59. > :06:02.health care. We know that if we can ensure that fewer people smoke, we
:06:03. > :06:05.will see fewer people with heart disease and strokes further down the
:06:06. > :06:10.line. We try and get the balance right. It's difficult because we
:06:11. > :06:14.know that demand was goes up in a deep, orthopaedics and other areas,
:06:15. > :06:19.but it is important not to lose focus of the need to ensure that
:06:20. > :06:24.people are in a position where they avoid having serious conditions as
:06:25. > :06:33.they get older. Can I ask about GP 's surgery? In your 2011 election
:06:34. > :06:39.pledge, it was to improve access to GB's surgeries but that has actually
:06:40. > :06:43.gone down and Wales now has fewer GP's surgeries. Access to GPs has
:06:44. > :06:50.gone up in terms of evening access and weekends. Statistics say they've
:06:51. > :06:55.gone down. We know more surgeries are open in the evenings than ever
:06:56. > :07:00.before. The challenge is to ensure consistency across Wales. In
:07:01. > :07:07.Bridgend, they are open some evenings, an online appointment for
:07:08. > :07:11.operations and ordering prescriptions, and we need to make
:07:12. > :07:21.sure that good practices extended to other surgeries. It was 11% in 2013
:07:22. > :07:28.but down to 7% in 2014. I can only talk from my own GP's surgery. When
:07:29. > :07:32.I first registered there, they were opened five and a half days a week
:07:33. > :07:36.and now they are open three. If you are ill on a Tuesday or Wednesday,
:07:37. > :07:41.you need to go somewhere else or wait until Thursday or Friday, and
:07:42. > :07:47.in the New Year, the surgery itself will close down. It closes at 4pm as
:07:48. > :07:52.well. There is no reason for that. They are mainly private contractors
:07:53. > :07:56.rather than employed by the NHS but there are good examples of surgeries
:07:57. > :07:58.are opening in the evenings when it is more convenient for people,
:07:59. > :08:03.people being able to make appointments online and over the
:08:04. > :08:10.phone. That is being rolled out across Wales and there's no reason
:08:11. > :08:14.why surgeries can all have that. We'll Wales's share of the extra
:08:15. > :08:18.money given to the extra health service be ring fenced like in
:08:19. > :08:23.England? We already spend more than England does and that will continue.
:08:24. > :08:27.We are absolutely in the position where we will continue to spend more
:08:28. > :08:33.on health in Wales per head than England doesn't that will continue
:08:34. > :08:38.in the future. It isn't ring fenced? Effectively, it is, because England
:08:39. > :08:43.are spending less than we are. We have had ?110 million extra. We know
:08:44. > :08:46.that prices will go a further so it is a cut in real terms but a chunk
:08:47. > :08:53.of that money will be used to make sure that we will spend the amount
:08:54. > :08:55.of money per head the people expect. People will compare us and we will
:08:56. > :09:05.stay head of England. Gentleman at the end there. On the subject of
:09:06. > :09:10.funding, it's true I think that the Welsh NHS uses an awful lot of
:09:11. > :09:15.agency workers. Why not pay your staff a little bit more, recruit
:09:16. > :09:20.more and not make millionaires out of those running the agencies? We
:09:21. > :09:26.encourage local health boards to do exactly that. Sometimes, it's not
:09:27. > :09:30.possible. More and more doctors are working as locums than ever before.
:09:31. > :09:35.But we want to make sure that the vast majority of staff permanently
:09:36. > :09:38.employed. Occasionally, agencies will be used, but that's not
:09:39. > :09:46.something we would want to see the norm. The gentleman in front there.
:09:47. > :09:51.The staff have the timings of 12 hours for nurses and doctors. How do
:09:52. > :09:56.you expect them to work the next day, 12 hours again? I work for
:09:57. > :10:03.eight hours, so the motivation and effort they do is too much and how
:10:04. > :10:09.will they cope every day? Is this to do with junior doctors? Every
:10:10. > :10:13.doctors in hospitals. Bear in mind that England is staring down the
:10:14. > :10:19.barrel of a junior doctor's strike. My point is that they're human
:10:20. > :10:30.beings. If you hire other doctors, they can facilitate to their
:10:31. > :10:35.families. There will be occasions when people have to be brought in in
:10:36. > :10:39.northern to cover perhaps surge in demand. That will be normal within
:10:40. > :10:47.the health service where that demand surges. I have seen every time in
:10:48. > :10:52.the hospital... Sometimes, they have to be hospitalised. Every time they
:10:53. > :11:00.do 12 hours, sometimes they do overnight, 36 hours. Let's go back
:11:01. > :11:03.to our question. Do you feel that the health service has improved
:11:04. > :11:09.after 15 years of a Labour government? We are on a turning
:11:10. > :11:16.point and it could go either way. We need more money for our patients to
:11:17. > :11:21.get better care. Just once that there is worth bearing in mind, our
:11:22. > :11:23.budget has gone down by more than ?1 billion in the last four years but
:11:24. > :11:29.we have managed to keep health spending up. At the end of the day,
:11:30. > :11:36.we have seen a 10% cut from our budget. Despite all that, we have
:11:37. > :11:44.managed to keep health spending ahead of England but also, four
:11:45. > :11:49.years ago, health was 41% of our spending an hour to 46%, so we have
:11:50. > :12:00.taken difficult decisions despite cuts coming from the Tories. You
:12:01. > :12:04.also have one health service in special measures and confidence is
:12:05. > :12:07.at an all-time low. You had a decision last night where you have
:12:08. > :12:14.got the bosses rolling back on reorganisation. A few years ago, you
:12:15. > :12:17.said the NHS would collapse about reorganisation. Reorganisation is
:12:18. > :12:23.not happening in your policy is collapsing. If you look at Betsy, it
:12:24. > :12:29.is common for this to happen, but it has happened in Wales. We ensured
:12:30. > :12:34.that it was put under special measures in order to see work done
:12:35. > :12:39.to get it where we were last night. Let's face it, if the Welsh
:12:40. > :12:42.government did not take action it did, we would not have seen the
:12:43. > :12:47.report produced last night and there would not been the opportunity to
:12:48. > :12:51.continue with consultant led maternity units in Betsy. That has
:12:52. > :12:55.happened because of the action taken by the Welsh Labour government.
:12:56. > :12:58.Let's move on to the economy. Our second question tonight
:12:59. > :13:00.comes from Yahya Pandor. Wales still qualifies to receive
:13:01. > :13:03.handouts from the EU, there are lots of people on benefits and
:13:04. > :13:05.empty shops on our high streets. After 15 years of Labour government,
:13:06. > :13:18.why is Wales so poor? There are some reasons that are
:13:19. > :13:25.there because of what happened in the 80s, the fact that we lost so
:13:26. > :13:29.many that time. But if you look at our economic figures, we had the
:13:30. > :13:38.best foreign direct investment figures, I got investment into
:13:39. > :13:47.Wales, from Canada, India, in the North, all because of the work we
:13:48. > :13:52.did. We have also had the most successful job placement scheme in
:13:53. > :13:56.Europe. We had 17,000 youngsters who had an opportunity of a work
:13:57. > :14:00.placement and 80% of gone on to other jobs or further and higher
:14:01. > :14:04.education. That's because we listen to businesses. Businesses were
:14:05. > :14:07.saying, we would like to take somebody on but we cannot afford the
:14:08. > :14:16.time or money to train them so we have now a bridge that gap.
:14:17. > :14:24.The one thing we won't do is what happened in the late 1980s and the
:14:25. > :14:28.1990s was the government saying to come to Wales because the wage rates
:14:29. > :14:32.are so low, the lowest in Europe. Those days are long gone. The
:14:33. > :14:36.investment now is for highly skilled and highly paid jobs. Earnings in
:14:37. > :14:41.Wales are lower than in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England, why is
:14:42. > :14:45.that? They are. Some of that is historic but the gap is closing. We
:14:46. > :14:48.know that. If you look at domestic household income which measures
:14:49. > :14:59.income according to where people live, that gap has been closing for
:15:00. > :15:02.a long time. There are challenges to make sure that investment is spread
:15:03. > :15:05.around Wales and it does not will go to the north-east and the south-east
:15:06. > :15:08.and if you look at the work that has been done in Swansea there is a
:15:09. > :15:12.fantastic new campus for college and a railway station and that is all
:15:13. > :15:18.designed to bring investment into that part of Wales. A few hands up.
:15:19. > :15:22.Historically you look at the Welsh economy and we have always merged
:15:23. > :15:26.with Liverpool and Manchester, we can just look at those areas now I
:15:27. > :15:29.just wish. If you boys were not there, we would be working a lot
:15:30. > :15:35.harder with them and benefiting from the boom in the south-west of
:15:36. > :15:38.England and Bristol. More corporation across-the-board is?
:15:39. > :15:42.That is true, economically that is right and that is why we have
:15:43. > :15:46.announced plans to work with the Northern Powerhouse in England. It
:15:47. > :15:49.is normal in other parts of Europe so why should it be different in
:15:50. > :15:53.Wales? The reality is that if we look at the south-west of England,
:15:54. > :15:57.it is a competitor for us as well and we have to make sure that people
:15:58. > :16:01.will come to Wales. We have never had a higher profile at
:16:02. > :16:06.international level which is why we are seeing the investment. Today I
:16:07. > :16:09.was opening a new office in Cardiff bringing 700 jobs into Cardiff
:16:10. > :16:14.because of the work we have done to work with businesses to get those
:16:15. > :16:20.investments in. What about North Wales? If you look at air bus and
:16:21. > :16:25.also a Japanese company that we have coming into Deeside. We have
:16:26. > :16:30.opportunities on angle side -- Anglesey and Lockheed Martin are
:16:31. > :16:34.working with the college to maximise the opportunities for local people
:16:35. > :16:39.when the power station is built and comes online. We need an UK
:16:40. > :16:42.Government to do its bit. What happened to electrification? We were
:16:43. > :16:46.told the mainline would be electrified by 2018 and now it is
:16:47. > :16:51.Twenty20 four, and the message that gives out is that Swansea is somehow
:16:52. > :16:54.the end of the line. Where is the work being done on the tidal
:16:55. > :16:58.agreement in Swansea Bay which could create thousands of jobs, nothing.
:16:59. > :17:04.We are doing our bit but we need a UK Government to do its bit as well.
:17:05. > :17:10.The man at the back. You keep coming back in regard to the economy to
:17:11. > :17:13.Swansea and Steve 's side, but what about Blaenau Gwent and areas like
:17:14. > :17:19.that that do not have major towns and cities? If you look at Ebbw
:17:20. > :17:25.Vale, the new development at the steelworks, we know that Merthyr is
:17:26. > :17:28.attracting jobs and the general dynamics, we know that they are
:17:29. > :17:33.looking at Merthyr and other jobs are there as well. Why? Because of
:17:34. > :17:36.the work that has been done at the heads of the valleys and making our
:17:37. > :17:40.communities more connected and the work that has been done with
:17:41. > :17:43.transport. One of the reason is way above is attracting investment is
:17:44. > :17:47.the fact that we opened up a railway line and made sure that it was more
:17:48. > :17:50.connected as a town, not just for bringing people into Cardiff but
:17:51. > :18:14.investment at Ebbw Vale as well. The other thing that is important is
:18:15. > :18:17.broadband. Broadband in the 21st-century is the equivalent of
:18:18. > :18:19.railway lines in the 19th century, if you are not connected then you
:18:20. > :18:22.are not connected with your market. By April 20, 1796 present premises
:18:23. > :18:24.in Wales will have access to superfast broadband, the market
:18:25. > :18:26.would never deliver that. We are paying for it to make sure that
:18:27. > :18:29.wherever you live in Wales you have access to that level of speed. A
:18:30. > :18:32.feeling the poverty gap in Wales for some people. Any comments on that?
:18:33. > :18:34.The gap is widening between the cities and the more industrial...
:18:35. > :18:36.The chap the specs. I was going to say do you think we are attracting
:18:37. > :18:39.investment and business without subsidy because it is good to be in
:18:40. > :18:42.Wales or with Welsh government subsidy? The financial support we
:18:43. > :18:46.give is important but all governments do this. Everybody puts
:18:47. > :18:49.a financial package on the table and if we did not do it we would be
:18:50. > :18:52.trumped by everyone else, but it is more than that. People are saying
:18:53. > :18:56.that they like having a government they can talk to and it is
:18:57. > :19:00.accessible, they can get decisions because they are taken very quickly.
:19:01. > :19:03.That is the advantage of our size and having a government based in
:19:04. > :19:07.Wales. They also say that we have the skills that they need. If you
:19:08. > :19:10.are a business the financial package is one thing but you have to make
:19:11. > :19:13.sure that you have the business there to keep the business going and
:19:14. > :19:16.we find people saying they are happy with the people that they have in
:19:17. > :19:22.Wales and they like their commitment and their skills and that message is
:19:23. > :19:27.getting out there. The gentleman there. You mentioned superfast
:19:28. > :19:33.broadband as a key investment but why did we not look at 4G and five
:19:34. > :19:41.June rather than putting cables through? You are right about the
:19:42. > :19:45.cell phone connections but we do not directly control or pay for those.
:19:46. > :19:49.The companies have said they will extend coverage across Wales but in
:19:50. > :19:53.other parts it is inexplicable. Anglesey is flat spotted many parts
:19:54. > :19:56.you cannot get mobile phone reception it does not seem to make
:19:57. > :20:00.sense to me so they need to invest the money and making sure we get
:20:01. > :20:05.mobile phone reception as well across Wales. What we did was look
:20:06. > :20:08.at broadband particularly, the cabling to make sure we had
:20:09. > :20:13.superfast broadband available for as many premises as possible. Some are
:20:14. > :20:16.difficult to reach but there will be other solutions for them. It means
:20:17. > :20:20.that where ever you are in Wales, which of the village of living, you
:20:21. > :20:24.will have access to the level of broadband speed that is available in
:20:25. > :20:29.Cardiff. A question from down the front here. It is great and to be
:20:30. > :20:33.commended that we are getting new jobs into Wales but new jobs means
:20:34. > :20:37.either new people coming into Wales or it means people moving around
:20:38. > :20:40.Wales and ultimately we are facing a housing crisis in Wales, so what
:20:41. > :20:45.will we do about housing these people? You are right to say that
:20:46. > :20:49.with some businesses they do bring some of their people investment in
:20:50. > :20:54.time they are replaced with people locally. I give you an example, a
:20:55. > :20:57.film -- creative industries and film production is really booming at the
:20:58. > :21:00.moment and they bring their own people in but then they create
:21:01. > :21:05.opportunities for training for local people and they create jobs locally.
:21:06. > :21:10.An example I had last week was of a scaffolding company in Merthyr that
:21:11. > :21:14.is going great guns, providing reading for the film sets. In fact
:21:15. > :21:18.it does provide jobs for people even though some people have been brought
:21:19. > :21:22.in originally. You mentioned housing. We know that we have helped
:21:23. > :21:25.to buy as a scheme that is helping people to buy their own houses and
:21:26. > :21:30.we're on target to build the houses that said we would build which is
:21:31. > :21:34.about 10,000. We know, of course, that many of those houses have to be
:21:35. > :21:38.affordable, things like shared equity schemes are important and
:21:39. > :21:45.also affordable houses to rent. Those things are important in terms
:21:46. > :21:49.of the mix. Can I bring you back to the original question which kicked
:21:50. > :21:54.off in terms of European funding. ?2 billion comes into Wales over six
:21:55. > :21:58.years or so. Your predecessor said in 2000 that it was a
:21:59. > :22:01.once-in-a-lifetime chance for Wales and we still qualify, 15 years on.
:22:02. > :22:07.Are you disappointed or ashamed that we still qualify? I do not want to
:22:08. > :22:11.qualify again. We want to be in a position where we have less money
:22:12. > :22:15.and that much is true. What we are seeing in terms of job creation and
:22:16. > :22:19.investment that is coming in is incredible. I see our young people
:22:20. > :22:24.are much more likely to setup their own businesses than my generation
:22:25. > :22:28.ever were. We never lacked the skills in terms of people having the
:22:29. > :22:31.good ideas but they often lack the confidence to set up their own
:22:32. > :22:34.businesses and now that is changing and I want to see that change
:22:35. > :22:37.because I came from a background when I was self-employed before I
:22:38. > :22:41.came into politics and that is the big change that we are seeing. It is
:22:42. > :22:44.one thing to bring jobs in but what is important is to ensure that they
:22:45. > :22:49.are jobs that are well paid and they will stay in Wales and that is what
:22:50. > :22:52.we have aimed at and that is what we have done in terms of the jobs that
:22:53. > :22:58.are coming. You paint a pretty rosy picture of the economy here in
:22:59. > :23:04.Wales. We have a straw poll now, who feels that since devolution the
:23:05. > :23:08.economy is on the up? One person. Who feels it is perhaps not on the
:23:09. > :23:13.way up, it is suffering and going down because of devolution? You
:23:14. > :23:19.would rather go back to pre-devolution anybody? Yes. Let us
:23:20. > :23:30.hear from you, the gentleman in the leather jacket. You want to go back
:23:31. > :23:34.to pre-devolution? Definitely. I am from Newport and I am a
:23:35. > :23:42.Monmouthshire man and we never supported anyway and frankly I think
:23:43. > :23:45.we got it right. Carwyn Jones is very impressive in what he just said
:23:46. > :23:48.and if he had just walked into the room and you did not know that we're
:23:49. > :23:52.in the Senate coming up for 16 years I think it would be very impressed.
:23:53. > :23:56.The main thing is that we still have an unemployment rate at 1% higher in
:23:57. > :24:00.Wales than in the rest of the country and it seems to vary from
:24:01. > :24:04.month to month. We catch up one month and then we go out to sink the
:24:05. > :24:10.following month, which is rather... It doesn't seem to be a steady ship.
:24:11. > :24:13.It is up and down, that's true but if you compare where we used to be
:24:14. > :24:17.which was always way above the UK average, that has been a major
:24:18. > :24:20.difference. We go out there and we sell Wales. One of the biggest
:24:21. > :24:26.opportunities we had was when the regional development units went in
:24:27. > :24:29.England and the competition disappeared and then it has been
:24:30. > :24:34.easier for us to attract jobs into Wales. If we do not sell Wales, no
:24:35. > :24:39.one else will do it. But we have never sold Wales, that is the
:24:40. > :24:47.problem. Where I live you have the top ten cycling, off-road cycling
:24:48. > :24:54.places in the world and we have not even got a decent hotel up there. It
:24:55. > :24:57.could employ... There are 80,000 90,000 people from all over
:24:58. > :25:00.Britain, and we're not talking about people on the breadline comedies are
:25:01. > :25:05.wealthy people who bring their mountain bikes, some of which are
:25:06. > :25:11.worth 6000 ?7,000 a time, so these people are not on the breadline, and
:25:12. > :25:15.we have an area high unemployment and where did the Olympic Miettunen
:25:16. > :25:19.biking take place? It was in Essex. I just cannot... You have a Labour
:25:20. > :25:22.government in power at the time and someone in the Wales should have
:25:23. > :25:28.been banging the table and saying we want the mountain biking, and that
:25:29. > :25:32.is just an example. You have got... I had a cruise to New York a couple
:25:33. > :25:36.of years ago and on the first night there were mostly American people on
:25:37. > :25:41.the ship and the first night had under milk Wood with all Americans.
:25:42. > :25:44.We do not push that Dylan Thomas tours. We have got Richard Burton
:25:45. > :25:51.just up the road and all of these things are tourism for Wales but
:25:52. > :25:57.they never seem to come to anything. We have seen a lot of development
:25:58. > :26:01.with ponds and the visitor centre and a lot of people have let out
:26:02. > :26:06.houses in a village for the mountain bikers because a lot of people want
:26:07. > :26:10.self-catering accommodation so there has been development in that area.
:26:11. > :26:15.We did have a big event in America for Dylan Thomas's centenary. There
:26:16. > :26:19.were events in New York with performances across America, so we
:26:20. > :26:24.did that work. The question I posed you as this, in the last 15 years we
:26:25. > :26:27.have had the Rugby World Rugby union World Cup, the Champions League
:26:28. > :26:30.coming, we have had the Ryder Cup matches test and none of those
:26:31. > :26:33.things would have come come without a Welsh government going into bat
:26:34. > :26:38.for Wales. Without us doing they would never have come in the first
:26:39. > :26:42.place. I talk to Uefa and I make sure that the Champions League came
:26:43. > :26:46.to Cardiff and they fulfil that promise. In years gone by there
:26:47. > :26:50.would have been no want to come to say they would never have come. A
:26:51. > :26:56.quick comment from the man behind two is very angry. If you are that
:26:57. > :27:02.great why did Burberry and Bosch relocate to England? If you really
:27:03. > :27:05.want to stimulate the Russian economy, are you going to seize
:27:06. > :27:15.these income tax powers and drop our income tax rates in Wales? We might
:27:16. > :27:17.come onto that. That is a clothes. There are opportunities with
:27:18. > :27:21.business rates. Now we have control of business rates, which we did not
:27:22. > :27:24.have before, one of the things we are looking at is putting together a
:27:25. > :27:28.competitive package in regards to business rates and that will make a
:27:29. > :27:32.difference. It was a shame that we did not get air passenger duty.
:27:33. > :27:35.Scotland has had it and it would make a huge difference to Cardiff
:27:36. > :27:38.airport and other airports as well and they could become real economic
:27:39. > :27:40.drivers but we have been denied that for some reason, even though it was
:27:41. > :27:43.given on a plate to Scotland. Wales' education system is
:27:44. > :27:48.underperforming in international rankings and progress
:27:49. > :27:52.on literacy and numeracy is slow. Has your government failed
:27:53. > :28:07.a generation of schoolchildren? As somebody who has kids in a
:28:08. > :28:11.comprehensive and came from a comprehensive, I have a real stake
:28:12. > :28:14.in education. Let us look at education. There needs to be
:28:15. > :28:18.improvement in the figures and we have been working the schools in
:28:19. > :28:22.regards to doing that. Education spending is higher per head than in
:28:23. > :28:26.England and we are building new schools, 150 schools have been built
:28:27. > :28:30.or refurbished and Wales in the past few years. I was in Aberdare
:28:31. > :28:34.comprehensive school which was newly built and funded by the local
:28:35. > :28:38.authority and Welsh government and I was in another high school that has
:28:39. > :28:41.been built so we are investing that in our children's futures in a way
:28:42. > :28:46.that just did not happen when I was in school in the 1980s. We have just
:28:47. > :28:50.had the best GCSE results ever in Wales, just confirmed today, and
:28:51. > :28:53.they are more recent than the other figures. I think there is a lot to
:28:54. > :28:59.celebrate and our teachers are doing a great job for us and the one area
:29:00. > :29:04.we now need to focus on is making sure we improve in the rankings. On
:29:05. > :29:08.those rankings, you have change the target and he wanted to be in the 20
:29:09. > :29:10.best performing countries in the world and you change the target
:29:11. > :29:15.because you were not heading that way.
:29:16. > :29:28.All the indications we have had, the tests that have taken place, they
:29:29. > :29:34.all point in the right direction, so I am confident we will improve. It's
:29:35. > :29:39.important that we have tests. I am a parent and to be able to have tests
:29:40. > :29:42.in terms of literacy in numerous is important to you can compare how
:29:43. > :29:46.your child is doing and how they are doing against their peer groups.
:29:47. > :29:55.That was something that in the past, we didn't get right. To go
:29:56. > :29:59.back to the question, you said you didn't get it right. You have also
:30:00. > :30:03.said in the past you have taken your eye off the ball, you posted. Or do
:30:04. > :30:12.you say to the parents and pupils who were going through the system? I
:30:13. > :30:18.didn't say we coasted. We took our eye off the ball and I think that's
:30:19. > :30:21.fair because when testing was replaced by in school assessments, I
:30:22. > :30:25.don't think those assessments were right. We couldn't work out why we
:30:26. > :30:30.were outperforming English children and then falling behind them after
:30:31. > :30:34.14. That was something to do with the fact that the methods of
:30:35. > :30:39.assessment were not consistent but that has gone now. A importance can
:30:40. > :30:42.measure where their children are. Let's take a comment from the middle
:30:43. > :30:49.here and the lady in pink on the end. I don't recognise the system. I
:30:50. > :30:55.have worked in the sector for 11 years. The last five years have been
:30:56. > :31:00.one of constant change and redundancies and pay cuts and losing
:31:01. > :31:07.colleagues in subject areas. It is constantly changing. When will
:31:08. > :31:10.settle down? And when will we be consulted? Always consulted last
:31:11. > :31:14.when things have happened not when things have happened not when things
:31:15. > :31:21.are taking place. I'm about to go into the fold changes to GCSEs and
:31:22. > :31:26.almost as many years. I am a primary school teacher in Cardiff and I have
:31:27. > :31:31.no objection to tests but I do have concerns that a lot of emphasis is
:31:32. > :31:34.put on statistics and league tables. We have got children living in
:31:35. > :31:39.terrible poverty in the capital city. They can't for breakfast or
:31:40. > :31:47.lunch. What will we do to support the families to do the parenting so
:31:48. > :31:52.that parents -- teachers can do the teaching? We have had a cut of 10%
:31:53. > :31:58.in our budget in some areas of seeing reductions in funding. We
:31:59. > :32:02.know there have been difficulties. We have a budget statement next week
:32:03. > :32:07.and we are looking at ways to make sure that F E is in a less difficult
:32:08. > :32:11.position but it has been hard on the sector. We have not been able to
:32:12. > :32:15.keep up spending on everything given the fact that our budget has been
:32:16. > :32:20.cut by a Tory government in London. We don't have league tables. There
:32:21. > :32:25.were always simplistic comparators. Much better to have a system of
:32:26. > :32:29.testing where teachers and parents know where children are in terms of
:32:30. > :32:34.measuring them against a national standard. There is huge pressure on
:32:35. > :32:39.schools to meet standards when children don't have the basic rights
:32:40. > :32:44.of being a human being. You are right to point out that emphasis has
:32:45. > :32:48.to be placed on improving the life chances of children when they
:32:49. > :32:52.arrive. That is what the foundation phase is there to do. I have
:32:53. > :32:59.examples of teachers on my part of Wales single, children arrive here
:33:00. > :33:04.and they can't speak. Had we get around that? We have doubled the
:33:05. > :33:09.numbers of families who have access to flying start to help parenting
:33:10. > :33:13.skills to make sure the children arrive school school ready. We have
:33:14. > :33:20.seen that weather has not happened. With respect, it isn't working. We
:33:21. > :33:23.are acting as social workers, caregivers, I could list a
:33:24. > :33:29.horrendous stories, just from this week. I want to be able to give
:33:30. > :33:33.those children a chance to live and thrive and live to their potential
:33:34. > :33:41.but they are not even eating. What do you think would help? There needs
:33:42. > :33:46.to be more support for parents and families that isn't coming through
:33:47. > :33:50.schools. It needs to be... There needs to be an extension of the
:33:51. > :33:56.school system so teachers are not doing those jobs as well. I work 70
:33:57. > :34:01.hours a week. I can't keep going. I appreciate that. It's not your job.
:34:02. > :34:07.We have got schemes like flying start and we need to make sure they
:34:08. > :34:12.are effective. But we still have examples of children who come in and
:34:13. > :34:16.they are already behind. The foundation phase will help them to
:34:17. > :34:26.catch up but it is still a lot of work. Lots of concerns in education.
:34:27. > :34:31.I must ask you about last night's BBC Wales investigation. This
:34:32. > :34:37.revealed a scam at a private college in Cardiff. Are you concerned about
:34:38. > :34:42.governance and regulation in this instance and specifically, the role
:34:43. > :34:46.of the government in this? It is an English College with a branch in
:34:47. > :34:52.Wales. It is a unique case. We have referred it to the police. They will
:34:53. > :34:57.conduct the investigation is now. There were regulations on the table
:34:58. > :35:04.anyway in order to further control that, so they were already prepared.
:35:05. > :35:08.But you are confident you are on it? Yes, that is why we referred it to
:35:09. > :35:13.the police. There is only one example of this in Wales, so we are
:35:14. > :35:16.fairly confident this is a unique case and there are regulations
:35:17. > :35:24.already repaired to be taken forward which was happening anyway to make
:35:25. > :35:30.sure that any loopholes closed. Let's move on to question number
:35:31. > :35:36.four. It's about devolution. We have heard a lot of discussion about
:35:37. > :35:41.existing devolved powers. What powers do you hope for in the next
:35:42. > :35:47.five years? And what you propose to do if you form the next government?
:35:48. > :35:53.I would not look to increase income tax. If you reducing contacts, there
:35:54. > :35:56.is a hidden Welsh government. The Conservatives said they would cut
:35:57. > :36:02.the higher rate by 5% but the standard rate by 1%. That statement
:36:03. > :36:06.was made within hours of the statement made by the Chancellor.
:36:07. > :36:10.You have to assess the things properly. I would like to do more
:36:11. > :36:13.with business rates. I would love to do a passenger duty. That would be
:36:14. > :36:19.an enormous boost to the Welsh economy. In terms of powers for the
:36:20. > :36:24.future, what worries me the moment is there is a bill on the table in
:36:25. > :36:29.Westminster which would have the effect of reversing the referendum
:36:30. > :36:34.in 2011. There was a referendum on whether the Assembly should have
:36:35. > :36:38.lawmaking powers and yesterday, an act came into force in Wales. We
:36:39. > :36:42.couldn't have done that without those powers. But what we are facing
:36:43. > :36:47.now is someone trying to reverse the result. That is not democracy, it
:36:48. > :36:51.can't be. We need to make sure we are treated with the same respect to
:36:52. > :36:56.Scotland and we are not. We are clear as to who does what we don't
:36:57. > :37:02.have that. We should sit down and work out what the future of the UK
:37:03. > :37:06.as a whole is as well. On income tax, there is likely to be a big
:37:07. > :37:13.issue in the election, you are going to go on as a party, saying, we will
:37:14. > :37:19.not raise income tax? How would that go down here? Anybody happy to pay
:37:20. > :37:28.more income tax? Lots of hands going up. Who thinks the First Minister is
:37:29. > :37:33.right? One. No, more. People are willing to pay more. Why not put
:37:34. > :37:39.them get more into the coffers? If you put up a high rate, there are
:37:40. > :37:46.relatively few rate taxpayers compared to the rest of the UK. In
:37:47. > :37:54.terms of increasing... Putting 1p on the standard rate, it raises about
:37:55. > :38:00.?70 million. In terms of a budget of ?50 billion, it is a huge amount
:38:01. > :38:05.more. In the future, what parties will have to look at is looking at
:38:06. > :38:12.increasing income tax to pay for a specific thing. You don't know when
:38:13. > :38:17.we will have this power, the funding situation we have still precarious.
:38:18. > :38:22.Bear in mind that 80% of our funding must all come from the Treasury and
:38:23. > :38:25.we are funded per head less than Scotland and Northern Ireland. I
:38:26. > :38:30.don't want is this to become an excuse for the Treasury to say, we
:38:31. > :38:37.will look at the fact you are underfunded, racial and money.
:38:38. > :38:43.That's not fair. The question said five years on, so 20 years into
:38:44. > :38:48.devolution, if you are still First Minister, do you want to say,
:38:49. > :38:55.devolution has delivered this, what? Confidence. We as a nation had
:38:56. > :39:01.no confidence at all. We expected to have jobs that were not well paid,
:39:02. > :39:04.we expected to have not very much, our youngsters did not expect
:39:05. > :39:08.opportunities but those days are changing. We have a government in
:39:09. > :39:14.Wales that can sell Wales, that is elected by the people of Wales, that
:39:15. > :39:17.isn't in a position have someone like John Redwood who stayed one
:39:18. > :39:22.night in Wales and was trying to govern Wales. We have a democracy
:39:23. > :39:28.now. If you don't like what I say, you have the opportunity to vote me
:39:29. > :39:29.out. You would have had no such opportunity if I was Secretary of
:39:30. > :39:30.State. If you'd like to get in touch with
:39:31. > :39:34.us about the issues discussed tonight or anything else, email us
:39:35. > :39:37.or follow us on social media. We'll be back in the New Year, but
:39:38. > :39:44.until then, thanks for watching.