12/10/2012 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight, gas and electricity customers here

reeling from news of another hike in their bills. This family already

have a duvet in their lounge to keep warm. Now, they'll cut back on

food to afford the higher prices. Instead of two pieces of bread with

their dinner, it will be one piece Also tonight. Police say they'll

continue their search for April Jones for as long as there's a

realistic chance of finding her. The residents of a housing complex

near Risca who fear for their safety after cuts to services.

Good evening. It's a must-win game for Wales tonight. Captain Ashley

Williams says the players are determined to beat Scotland for

under fire manager Chris Coleman. And meet the new principal

conductor of the BBC Wales National Orchestra, all the way from Denmark.

Nearly half a million people in Wales will see their gas and

electricity bills rise again this winter after British Gas and Npower

both announced price increases. Swalec has already announced a rise

for Monday. The changes could see the average dual fuel customer

paying �100 more a year. Family budgets are already stretched.

The fire is off and Jackie Robinson and her small daughters are under a

duvet. This mother of four from Cardiff already pays �60 a week for

energy. This price rise is the final straw and will mean serious

sacrifices. Food, that if they have two pieces of bread with their

dinner, I will have to cut it to one piece so that I can stretch it.

Obviously, they have their slippers on and everything. But we have not

hit the really cold snap yet. So that is the part that is going to

worry me. British Gas has announced a six % increase. They are not

alone. Scottish Power, which supplies North and Mid Wales has

not announced anything yet but all companies claim rises are

unavoidable. North Sea gas is declining and we import much of our

gas and pay the market price for that. We are in competition with

economies like China. Secondly, there is Updating of the pipes and

wires which have been around since the 60s. We have to upgrade that

now. Consumer Focus Wales say that the average cost of energy will be

�1,209 a year and �100 more for people who do not pay by direct

debit. Patricia Rich uses more an issue city than most because she

has emphysema and need a ventilator to help her breathe at night. How

household energy costs are now spiralling out of control. I was

paying so much money a few months ago, �50 a week on each. I had

pension credit but I had a mortgage to pay as well. I was borrowing

money to pay bills. It is estimated 400,000 households in Wales already

struggling to pay their bills. I am joined by Clare Francis who is

head of content at MoneySupermarket .com. Many people will be concerned

about these rises. Is there anything they can do to reduce

their cost? He yes, as we have been hearing, people have been

struggling. The good news is that there are savings to be made. There

are cheaper deals available. You can save about �200 a year by

switching. The best deals are online. You can fix the tariff for

the next two Winters. The other thing that is worth doing is that

many companies are offering free loft insulation. Offers like that

are worth taking advantage of because your home becomes more

energy efficient and that brings down your bills. Finally, there are

discounts schemes available to it the more vulnerable, the elderly

and those on low incomes. So people should give their energy suppliers

a call to find that they are eligible. So potentially saving

�200 a year by switching suppliers, that sounds appealing but how easy

is it to switch? Some people have been with us it -- with the same

supplier for years and it may seem daunting to switch. Many households

have never switched and there is a belief that it is complicated and

hard. It is not, the gas and electricity comes in in the same

way it is just the company who supplies it that changes. If you go

online, you can identify the cheapest chat -- tariff. You will

be asked for your current supplier and the amount you are currently

paying. It will display the cheapest tariff and you can click

through and you new provider will arrange the transfer for you. Or

you have to do is provide a meter reading at the time the transfer

takes place. A secondary school in Gwent has

been closed until further notice because of an asbestos scare.

Caerphilly Council says it's taking "immediate and decisive action"

after receiving a structural report on Cwmcarn High School. It said

it's working on alternative plans to accommodate the 943 pupils

elsewhere. Police in the Machynlleth say they

will carry on the search for April Jones untapped -- as long as there

is a realistic chance of finding her. 46-year-old local man Mark

Bridger has been charged with murdering her. An appeal has raised

a huge amount a matter of days. They have been searching for 11

days. Mark Bridger was renting this house in the village, file -- five

miles from Machynlleth. He has been charged with the abduction and

murder of April Jones and attempting to pervert the course of

justice. The five-year-old was last seen playing near home on the 1st

October. Police focused on the river that runs through land nearby.

Many people have been sent home after an exhausting period since

the search began. They have been replaced by officers from other

Welsh forces and across the border. I have had to send him home, I have

a duty of care to those people. We have to look after each other and

ourselves. Their commitment is outstanding and so is that of our

colleagues from across the country who have come up. I have had the

opportunity of speaking to some of them. The effort of volunteers to

support the police continues. Food is being donated and today, it was

revealed that an appeal fund has raised almost �200,000. It has come

from America, we have had money from Scotland, taxi-drivers, it is

international. Messages of hope and pink ribbons are everywhere.

Tonight, during the international in Cardiff, Wales and Scotland

footballer as well wear a pink ribbon on their tracksuits as a

message of support. The Secretary of State for Wales

has been urged to visit four-mile Remploy workers in Wrexham to

explain why the bid to buy the company has not been accepted. The

Department for Work and Pensions says it has not received a viable

bid. All we need to happen it is for the board of Remploy to say yes,

and we are not asking them for money. We just want them to

negotiate. Elderly people living in Naish

specialist sheltered housing complex in Crosskeys near Risca say

their health is being put at risk in order to save money. They say

care is being withdrawn to save money by Caerphilly council.

89-year-old Muriel Tucker's biggest fear is falling. So when she broke

her pelvis, she gave up her home of 20 years and moved here for extra

support. If I fell down here, somebody was here to see to me.

by Caerphilly Council, this is called an extra care scheme. The

idea was to promote independence for people who do not need all the

care a residential homes provides. But it is looking to make savings

like all care homes. So it decided to cut -- the country council

decided to cut the number of hours a. It says that the needs of people

can be met by people coming in occasionally. In a statement, the

council said that the current situation is not sustainable and

the option that has been agreed is the best way forward. The national

charity for all the people in Wales say that such schemes have should

be seen as part of the way forward as more or the people want to live

independently for longer. Extra care homes are really important

because it is a halfway between residential accommodation and care

accommodation. It helps to maintain their independence. David Porter

who has progressive dementia came here from other accommodation.

they were not here, I don't know how I could manage. Muriel Tucker's

de Coeur says that her mother is so distraught she has said that if the

changes go through, she would rather die. I was hurt. After their

attempt to lobby the council failed, the resident pro have caught on the

old people's Commissioner to fight their case.

Still ahead tonight, all the day's sport, it is rugby this weekend and

a must-win game for Chris Coleman's men tonight. The Tartan Army have

arrived, it is a Wales or Scotland Subtitle That's it.

Join me here on BBC Two at 11.20pm The Welsh Government has criticised

what it describes as misleading statements made by the chair of

governors at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Barbara Wilding has

raised concerns that the Education Minister is supporting the creation

of a "super university" in south east Wales without knowing the

costs or risks involved. The Welsh Government says he hasn't taken a

decision, and has absolute confidence in his officials. The

outgoing head of the body that funds higher education here

believes a business case isn't always available at this point in

the merger process. You can't at a stage like this. You need to look

into how quickly things will happen, the sequence. Only then can you

start to put costs together. You have to have the imaginative leap

first. We think we should raise our sights to a vision for what is best

for the people of Wales. It comes as Swansea Metropolitan

University and the University of Wales: Trinity Saint David

officially merge today. Let's talk to the former Vice Chancellor at

Swansea Met, now the new university's Senior Provost. So

what will this merger mean for current students, what changes will

they notice? Current students will hardly notice anything. They will

still have the same programmes by the same people in the same places.

That is part of our objective of business as usual. So well anything

changed, then? Of course. We have now gained a royal charter. In fact,

the third oldest royal charter in higher education in England and

Wales. The ranking order is the Oxford colleges, the Cambridge

colleges and ass. That seems about right to me. On a more serious note,

it is going to... Willetts save money? Mergers can save money, but

that is not the primary objective of them. The primary objective is

to simply do things better and do more of them. Barbara Wilding,

chair of governors at Cardiff Met which is facing a merger, expressed

her concerns - job losses, high costs, high risk. Is she right to

be worried? Of course, both myself and the new vice chancellor of the

Combined University have made pledges that there will be no

compulsory redundancies as a direct result of the merger. So in our

case, that is not the case. I cannot speak in detail about what

will happen in the south-east, but I would hope, and it is possible to

undertake mergers without either redundancies or campus closures.

Professor David Warner, thank you very much.

Let's turn to sport now, and it's a huge night for Chris Coleman's men.

Claire's at the Cardiff City Stadium ahead of kick-off. Claire?

Good evening. It's serious business here tonight. Serious weather, too

- the heavens have opened. For Wales and manager Chris Coleman, a

must-win game against Scotland if they are to keep alive any faint

hopes of qualifying for the World Cup. Well, the Tartan Army have

arrived. They've been out on the streets of Cardiff today enjoying

the sunshine. 21,000 tickets have been sold for the game - the

Scottish allocation just under 6,000. But we're expecting a few

more than that in here tonight, and they will make plenty of noise. Of

course, both sides are under pressure, but Wales captain Ashley

Williams says the players owe Chris A manager under pressure? Not so,

according to the players. But Chris Coleman is certainly in the

spotlight. Wales have only scored one goal this year, and have yet to

win under him. But the messages, he is still the man to transform Wales.

I have been in charge for four games, and we haven't won yet. On

the back of somebody who won four out of the last five. But I knew

that when I walked in the door. They want results, and I know that.

But I have been happy this week with the players, and the way they

are going about their business. There is a good mood in the camp.

And the player's second that. All week they have been vocal in their

support. Ashley Williams will captain Wales this evening. He says

Coleman's reputation is on the minds of the players. All the boys

really like him, and we have enjoyed working with him. He is

going to be criticised, obviously, but I don't think he deserves it.

We have let him down on the pitch. We have let him down on the pitch.

The table shows the mountain Wales have to climb. They are bottom

after losing. Over the years, matches against our Celtic cousins

have been just as important. 1977 at Anfield, when both needed a

result to keep their World Cup dreams alive. It was a game that

went down in history, marred by the infamous Joe Jordan handball

incident. It resulted in a contra version -- controversial penalty.

The visitors feel Wales's thrashing in Serbia could inspire a battling

in Serbia could inspire a battling spirit from within. I am worried

about quite a lot of things. Any team that has a poor result will

come out for the next match full of determination to prove that wrong.

So the class of 2012 have a chance to redeem themselves and the

manager tonight. It is another make-or-break battle with the Scots.

Matt Jones joins me tonight. Let's talk about the pressure. Ashley

Williams says they owe the manager of victory. Have they let him down?

I think he will take the captaincy all guns firing. He has fire in his

stomach, and he needs to grab the ball by the horns. It is a

wonderful way of deflecting away from a hesitant squad that we saw

against Belgium, where the talking point was Gary Speed, and wanting

to do this be Gary, because it was his dream. Tonight it was an

apology to Chris Coleman for the performance against Serbia, and

that is what will kick-start this campaign for Wales. It is added

pressure for Chris Coleman, the players and the Scottish side, as

well. Everybody is expecting a massive performance. Everyone is

eagerly awaiting goals, and Wales not leaking any, either. It was

always going to be a difficult transition for whoever took over

Gary Speed. How long do think the fans and the FAW will give Chris

Coleman? I think until the end of his career, a two-year span. Every

manager needs a time and earned his Justice. I will continue to

reiterate this. I don't know any player or manager that has ever

gone through those before, and if it was me representing Wales in

that Richard, I would be finding it very hard every time I came to my

home stadium to play. Enjoy the game, Matt, thank you. He is part

of the radio team tonight. Build up to the game from seven on BBC Radio

Wales and Radio Cymru. And you can watch the highlights on Match of

the Day Wales on BBC Two Wales at 11 tonight. Rugby's Heineken Cup

kicks off this evening. It's never been won by a Welsh region, and the

challenge will be even greater this Only the best sides win the

Heineken Cup, and tonight the quest begins to see if any of our

region's belong in that bracket. The ospreys have shown they can

defeat the biggest teams. Leicester and Toulouse have won the Cup six

We really have our work cut out. For me, it is the one thing missing,

the one thing we haven't been fortunate enough to be part of in

my career. After the start we have had done everything we have gone to,

we have worked hard for each other. Wales's best side this evening, the

Scarlet, could argue that it is We were speaking as a group before.

We spoke of what the night may group would be, and I think it was

Clermont and Leicester were in there. So we picked a tough game,

but we have had tough groups in the past and done well. The Blues made

the quarter-final last year, and a hopeful of a defeat -- of victory.

Sunday's opponents have yet to get a win. They have world-class

players, so it is going to be tough. I don't know what will happen this

weekend. We are coming into the Champions' League of rugby, so I

think it will be a top quality game. The Dragons didn't qualify, so they

are in the second Tia, but they have intriguing opener against the

London Wasps. After an unforgettable summer,

Olympic silver medallist Fred Evans was back at his boxing gym in

Newport today with some fresh-faced sparring partners. The welterweight

from Cardiff was giving a masterclass to local schoolchildren,

hoping to inspire a new generation of boxers. Derek arrived earlier

after the beautiful sunshine and said it was going to rain. You got

The Scots are going to be a bit chilly in their kilts tonight, but

like the Welsh they're used to the cold and rain as well. The fans may

encounter heavy showers on their way to the game this evening, and

on their way home as well. What about the weekend? Well, showers

are forecast. Mist, fog and ground frost, too, but I can promise some

fine weather and sunshine as well. This evening it's a case of dodging

the showers. Heavy in places with hail and thunder. Overnight

scattered showers with some dry, clear weather as well. Chilly -

lowest temperatures three Celsius. Tomorrow's chart shows low pressure

over Scotland. The air over Wales will be unstable with a few

towering clouds. So tomorrow a mixture of cloud, sunshine and

showers. If you catch a shower it could be heavy, but they will be

hit and miss. Some places will stay dry. Top temperatures 10 to 13

Celsius with a chilly west to northwesterly breeze. In

Carmarthenshire I wouldn't rule out a shower. Otherwise dry. Sunshine

in Burry Port with a high of 11 in Llandovery. In Denbighshire there

is a greater risk of showers. Heavy in places, but some sunshine at

times. Temperatures in Llangollen peaking at 11 Celsius. Tomorrow

night showers around the coast. Elsewhere most places dry. Mist and

fog patches forming and turning cold with a widespread ground frost.

Sunday, a cold start. Mist and fog patches will lift. One or two

showers in the north, otherwise plenty of dry weather. Some

sunshine as well. If you're taking part in the Cardiff Half Marathon

on Sunday morning, the weather should be in good shape. Chilly but

dry, with sunshine and little wind. That's the forecast. And good luck

to Wales tonight. It won't be wet all weekend, I promise. The

Football kicks off at 7:45pm. Back A full report on that game in our

evening bulletin at 10:25pm. Well, we've already got a man from

Denmark managing one of our football clubs, now another Dane is

set to take to the stage in Wales. Thomas Sondergaard will lead the

BBC National Orchestra of Wales for the first time tonight. Our Arts

Correspondent Huw Thomas went to Feeling every note, Thomas

Sondergaard prepares for his first He'll lead the BBC National

Orchestra of Wales for the next four years, and promises

performances from a wide repertoire of music. I like a lot of different

music. I am sure the audience in Wales and where we are going to

travel also like many different things, and I will like to do a lot

of different things, because I feel There have been many conductors at

the helm of the orchestra during its 84 year history, performing to

audiences at home and around the Thomas Sondergaard is the first

Dane to hold a bat on, and he has excited the critics. I think the

conductor has the potential to be a real driving force in the new

relationship between players and the audiences across Wales. He is a

very exciting contractor, and a very engaging personality. -- a

very exciting conductor. A busy international schedule means Thomas

Sondergaard will live in Denmark and commute to his job in Cardiff.

And while he has already spent hours in rehearsals, audiences

tonight will finally here at the impact this new conductor is having

on the National Orchestra of why else.

It is coming up to 7 o'clock. The main news: The biggest-ever

investigation into police Ron Dearing is to be carried out into a

damning report on the Hillsborough disaster. It will be decided of any

police should face criminal charges. We'll have a quick update for you