25/02/2014 BBC Wales Today

sunshine and showers continuing. And that is all from the BBC News at

six. Welcome to Wales Today.

No cuts to special needs education - the police are called in Powys as

protestors disrupt a council meeting to sign off savings.

Our other headlines tonight: Will the services that older people use

be hardest hit by local council cutbacks?

Les is 37 stone - are obese people being denied access to life-saving

treatments available in England? This is a ticking time bomb. This is

going to spiral out of control. We've already said that for many of

these patients the ship has sailed. Countdown to the Commonwealth Games

- Wales' netball team's preparations are well underway.

And a century of coal - remembering the miners and their families at

Point of Ayr colliery. Good evening. How to pay for help

for children with special needs is one of the biggest challenges facing

councillors as they aim to balance their budgets. In Powys today a

decision to close assessment centres was put on hold for EU amid protests

and disruption. Protesters arrived in their trolls

this morning. Some campaigning about cuts to libraries, some about

elderly care and others about special needs services. This protest

was organised largely on social network sites.

A bus was organised that brought them here to deliver one very clear

message. This man is one of the children who could have been

affected. Don't let him mess around cause he

will go off and play. Instead of doing his work that's what he does

because he doesn't know how to do it. But now he has been mates to do

his work and the difference is amazing.

Councillors decided not to close the specialist units for now.

Some units may be preserved but we have to get quality of provision

throughout the county because that is not present at the moment.

Success for some of these protesters but not all of them.

Sian Steele is moving her whole family. Her son has Asperger's

syndrome, a form of autism, and other needs. Independent experts say

he is not being given the support he needs. The school which could

accommodate his needs is over 100 miles away. My child has got a

disability, a head and disability. Every child has a physical

disability and wants to have provisions put in that gets done.

But because it is a mental disability, it is a head and

disability, there is no provision and it doesn't matter. The school

costs tens of thousands of pounds every year.

The council there pay for it but Powys refused to do the same.

I'm sure it there are more children than Rhys so we could cure rate for

all of them. Going over the border shouldn't be a barrier. The council

say they want comment on individual cases but...

The fight goes on. Well, that meeting finished without

a decision on how they'll make overall savings of ?20 million.

Arwyn, there will be tough decisions ahead for councils around Wales when

it comes to education spending. Yes and what we saw in Powys today

wasn't a cast-iron guarantee for the future of these units. Tough

decisions will still have to be made. Special educational needs can

be difficult for councillors cause they cost so much more but the

council still have an obligation to provide an adequate level of

education for every child in the authority. When we are discussing

council cuts, the spending on schools is supposed to be

ring-fenced. But increasingly I am speaking to teachers who are saying

budgets are being squeezed and we are being asked to provide for

things we didn't have the pay for in the past, things like rubbish

collections and leisure services. The budgets are being protected but

the cause of the additional demands they are being squeezed.

As local authorities across Wales try to make savings, the Older

People's Commissioner for Wales says our elderly population will be hit

hardest by the cuts. Sarah Rochira says losing community services could

lead to bigger, more costly consequences in the future.

85-year-old I rub believes life is for living and life is lived here.

I sit in the same cheer every time and we have a chat.

The local authority wants to close the centre, part of ?70 million of

cuts over the next four years. The centre of Eira's world is about to

disappear. She has failing eyesight and certain tasks can be difficult.

I couldn't see so closing the centre is going to be really hard for me.

The Older People's Commissioner for Wales says that Eira's situation is

typical. I think older people

typical. beginning to do the portion of --

disproportionately hit. It is going to put them into a

position of greater frailty and fall ability that Mac vulnerability than

they need to be. If I didn't come here, I wouldn't

see anyone. I would just be waiting till the end. You would feel very,

the word is disabled, which I am, but you would feel it. You would

feel that all the world has forgotten about you.

The chief executive of the Local Government Association says there

may well be long-term consequences of short-term savings. The skill of

cuts is such that the budgets of local authorities are declining and

that means that the scale of services declines.

That is a horrible fact of life. If you haven't got the money to invest

in the first place, you have got to cut them back.

The council will vote on the budget tomorrow. Eira and her friends can

only wait and hope. More on this story on Week In Week

Out, here on BBC One Wales, at 10:35pm tonight.

An inquest into the death of a five-week-old baby from

Pembrokeshire has heard that five-week-old baby from

took him off a ventilator without the knowledge of her superiors. Alex

and Bronwyn Rhodes' son, Rohan, was born 14 weeks prematurely in 2012.

He was transferred to St Michael's Hospital in Bristol for surgical

assessment, where he died. The inquest continues.

Ceredigion council has confirmed that a residential care home in

Llandysul has been closed following the suspension of eleven staff. They

say an investigation into the care given to vulnerable adults is under

way. Abigail Neal reports. Anne Jones has just had to help her

mother move to another care home this afternoon after Ceredigion

Council announced the one she was in was set to close.

I have always found everything to be very good there. The staff have been

brilliant. It doesn't matter what time you going, they are always the

same. As far as I could tell, they were all happy there.

Ceredigion council say they have taken the decision to close Awel Deg

care home in Llandysul because 11 members of staff have been

suspended. In a statement, a spokesperson said the suspensions

were to enable a independent investigation linked to protecting

vulnerable adults to go ahead and added that the home will be closed

for at least six months before being re-opened as a dedicated dementia

care centre. And Jones' 85-year-old mother had been there for each year

and wants answers about what led to the suspension is. Why has it gone

like this? They could have

like this? information. And earlier

information. If there were ongoing problems there we should have had

the information before now and should have been kept notified.

A Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales report in May

last year criticised Awel Deg because of its lack of structured

activities, saying residents were under-stimulated, uninterested and

not fulfilled. Apologies for the technical problems

we are experiencing. Wales has one of the highest rates of working

hours lost due to sickness in the UK, new figures show.

Statistics from the Office for National Statistics reveal that the

proportion of hours lost to sickness in Wales is 2.4%, compared to 1.5%

proportion of hours lost to sickness in London. The main cause was back

and neck pain, and minor illnesses such as coughs and colds.

An extra ?12 million has been secured to extend the coverage of

super-fast broadband across Wales. The extra money from the UK

Government will help provide coverage to areas that aren't

already covered, either through the Superfast Cymru programme or private

sector installations of fibre internet access.

It's been described as a ticking time bomb and now surgeons say obese

patients are being denied access to potentially life-saving treatments.

The British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society says patients in

England have much better access to gastric band and by-pass operations.

The Welsh Government says new criteria for this kind of surgery

will be in place soon. In Wales 59% of adults are overweight or obese

Here's Paul Heaney. Here's Paul Heaney.

Less price is 44 years old and nearly 47 stone. He says he has

always been big but when his late wife passed away his eating habits

got worse. His doctor says surgery is an option but he has been turned

down three times. I have to have chronic heart disease

or sleep apnoea so I don't qualify. Some people will be watching this

and saying why don't you change your lifestyle?

Why can't you do that yourself? I have been trying but it is not

happening. If they said there is the line, get

to that line and we can help you but they want.

This lady says she has been on many diets and used appetite suppressant

pills but with her health deteriorating she eventually had a

gastric sleeve operation or most of her stomach was removed. Three years

later she has dropped from a size 26 to a size 12. The doctor said I

would probably die of a massive heart attack within ten years.

I was type two diabetes which I was injecting myself eight times a day

and they were on the verge of putting me on tablets. I had very

high blood measure. Now some surgeons want a change in the rules

here so that more people can access weight loss surgery on the NHS.

We have the fourth highest rate of adolescent obesity in the world and

we have got to make or the government have got to make efforts

to address this. It is not the fact we should be operating, bariatric

surgery is not a cure for obesity but it is part of a package. We need

to change the criteria, make sure there are beds in the hospitals and

make sure people can get their surgery in Wales.

Eight of the ten worst places for obesity in the UK, seven are here in

Wales. The Welsh Government says it is in

considering changing the criteria but is warning that is not the only

way to solve this problem. Les says that surgery would change his life.

Much more to come before seven o'clock.

Countdown to the Commonwealth Games. We're live at Sophia Gardens as

Wales netball team's preparations get underway. And a century at the

coalface - remembering the miners and their families at Point of Ayr

colliery. Small businesses are being urged to

take advantage of the processing power of supercomputers to boost the

economy. Six Welsh universities run a network of the computers, which

are the size of a room. They say they're already helping some smaller

firms. Here's our business correspondent, Brian Meechan.

They crunch the numbers that let The Met Office bring us the weather

forecast. There's my letter and my vouchers

and my Clubcard. Thank you Mrs...

I'm Dottie actually. Yes.

And it was supercomputers that boosted profits at Tesco by making

sense of the vast amount of information the Clubcard give the

company about its customers. Large companies have always been able to

use supercomputers to store and analyse information and make complex

calculations but networks like this one which can run 320 trillion

operations every second is now making that power available to small

and medium-sized businesses. This is making that power available to small

the heart of the HPC Wales supercomputer in Swansea. It is a

network jointly run by Welsh universities and has other sites and

Bangor and Cardiff. Calon Cardio Technology in Swansea

is one of the companies that benefited from it. It is developing

a pump and plan to treat heart failure and the design has been

improved by the speed of the supercomputer.

If you're just using laptop computers it would take us maybe a

few weeks to get the information. Whereas using a supercomputer we can

get results in a few days. A typical work station in an office is a Ford

Fiesta whereas this is like a Formula 1 car.

Sian Hope used to work for British Aerospace and now runs the project.

It is a perfect example of how research and business can come

together and it is also about providing high-level skills in order

to take advantage of all these new technologies.

This doesn't come cheap and has public money from Wales, the UK and

the EU helping to power it. It is a sign of how much they think the

economy could benefit from the centre's artificial intelligence.

Football, and it'll be Billy Barr's first game in temporary charge of

Wrexham tonight after Andy Morrell stood down as player-manager

yesterday. They're away at Luton. Elsewhere, Newport County will be

hoping it'll be third time lucky against Wimbledon. The game's been

postponed twice because of bad weather.

In snooker Mark Williams is safely through the second round of the

Wales Open in Newport beating Tian Pengfei 4-0. But Ryan Day lost 4-1

to Anthony Pengfei 4-0. But Ryan Day lost 4-1

went out 4-3 to Graeme Dott. Wales should have lock Alun Wyn

Jones and centre Jonathan Davies available for the next Six Nations

game against England. Jones is due back in Wales training this week

after missing the France match with a foot infection, while Davies is

expected to play for the Scarlets against Munster after playing just

40 minutes of rugby since picking up a pectoral injury during the defeat

to South Africa in November. His actual fitness is excellent. He

has been working incredibly hard but the conditioners. He just needs to

work shone his match fitness and get confidence. It's that kind of

injury. He could put his shoulder into a tackle and it wouldn't

surprise me if he gets some game time this weekend.

With five months to go until the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow,

Wales' netball team's preparations are well underway. After success

last year, they're hoping for much more in 2014. Starting with a win at

the Northern Cup Championship this week. Kate Morgan is at Sophia

Gardens in Cardiff for us. This is the northern cup. Wales, who

have just led behind me, Scotland and Singapore are all competing.

They were watched last night by Warren Gatland and his wife. They

will be hoping for similar success when they take on Scotland's later.

It is about getting ready for the Commonwealth Games this summer. Four

years ago, the Welsh netball team could only watch from home.

But with a new coach with a straight talking attitude, everything is

changing. I can tell you right now, the one thing that irritates me the

most, it is just being lazy. They have rocketed from 19th to

eighth in the world. They qualified for the Commonwealth

Games in Glasgow this summer, the highlight of the net all calendar.

But there is always a new goal. The aim is to finish fifth in the

world, something that would have been laughed at years ago.

world, something that would have joined by someone you saw and heard

a little of in that piece. You are expecting more this summer.

Yes, this has been a long process for us. We want top five so I am

expecting a lot more from this team. You are ambitious, your ethos is

about hard work and drive. What do you put these girls do?

If you want to represent your country, if you don't put the hard

work in and the time away from friends and family, it is not worth

it. Anyone could do this, but not everyone can do with these girls do

so it is an achievement in itself to everyone can do with these girls do

make the Commonwealth Games. It is fantastic. I don't put them through

it anymore, maybe I did when I started. They want it now so they

are pushing me. They want me to be more cutting edge and I am getting

that with the performances. I'm so happy. It could put the team on the

map but also the sport. I want that. I wanted to be number

one within the schools. I want every child in Wales to be

playing throwing the ball around. There is a great sport for women and

that is the aim I have, for it to be the number one sport for women in

this country. Thank you and good luck for the night.

They are playing and a little over half an hour.

Work has started on a memorial to remember Point of Ayr colliery in

Flintshire and the community which grew up around it. The pit operated

for more than a hundred years before closing in 1996. Now the community

has raised money to erect a monument to commemorate the miners and their

families. Matthew Richards reports. At its height in the '50s and '60s,

more than 700 men worked at Point of Ayr colliery, which produced 200,000

tonnes of coal a year. It was the scene of heated arguments during the

miners' strike of 1984 and one of the local mining union organisers

was a familiar face on TV screens. Today, Ted McKay wants everyone to

appreciate the pits weren't only synonymous with South Wales.

At one time there were maybe 20,000 men. Mining was the main industry in

North Wales for many years. Today, a turf cutting ceremony was

held in the village of Ffynnongroyw which formed near the colliery and

provided most of its miners, among them John Wilshire who spent 20

years underground until he was injured in a mine accident.

He's one of those who wants to re-erect the pit head wheel in a

prominent position alongside the coast road to commemorate Point of

Ayr. It is important to keep it going to

remember these men. I'm not doing it for John Wiltshire, I'm doing it for

everybody, the lads who works, the lads who got hurt and some lads who

did. The ladies here who are widows.

did. The ladies here who are The fear is that without reclaiming

and refurbishing this old equipment, now tucked away in a nearby heritage

park, the community which exists because of the colliery will lose

part of its identity. Generations of men worked in need

this machinery and they decided it was important we are reminded of the

contribution they made as well as the importance of mining to the

whole of Wales. Let's get the weather forecast.

It sounds better than heavy rain and gales. There's even been a few

rainbows today like this one captured on camera by Louise

Williams in Cardiff. It's a similar story tomorrow. Sunshine and

showers. The showers hit and miss so some places dry. There is more rain

on the way but not arriving until after dark. Tonight, plenty of dry

weather although a few showers are likely in the south

weather although a few showers are the Bristol Channel. Breezy on the

coast and colder than last night. Temperatures inland falling low

enough for a touch of frost where the wind falls light. So here's the

picture for 8am. A few showers here and there. Wintry on high ground

otherwise dry. Plenty of cloud but bright in places with some sunshine.

Feeling chilly. Breezy on the coast. A brisk wind on Anglesey. During the

day a few more showers will turn up. Heavy in places perhaps with hail

but hit and miss. Some places will be lucky and have a dry afternoon.

The wind strongest in the northwest. In Montgomeryshire tomorrow, you may

catch a shower but on the whole plenty of dry weather. In Neath Port

Talbot, a few passing showers tomorrow but some dry weather as

well. Eight Celsius in Briton Ferry and breezy. By 6pm tomorrow the next

frontal system will be bringing rain to Ireland and it's heading our way.

Tomorrow evening will start dry followed by rain and strong and

gusty winds. A spell of heavy rain moving east. It should clear during

the early hours. Thursday, a mixture of sunshine and showers. The showers

heavy in places with hail and wintry on high ground. Falling as snow on

the mountains. On Friday there is a risk of rain in places. Followed by

sunshine and scattered showers. Feeling chilly. Temperatures a

little lower, around seven Celsius. Looking mixed for the weekend.

Further rain and heavy showers but some dry sunshine in between.

It is not all bad news for the half term holiday and don't forget you

can keep up-to-date with the weather term holiday and don't forget you

forecast on are whether website. The headlines: A suspected IRA

terrorist will not stand trial for the murder of four men in 1982. He

was given a letter of assurance as part of the Northern Ireland peace

process wrongly saying he was not wanted by police. Relatives of the

victims are angry and frustrated. As councils face balancing their

budgets, the decision to close assessment centres and support units

have been put on hold for a year. I'll have an update for you here at

eight o'clock and again after the BBC News at ten. That's Wales Today,

thank you for watching. From all of us on the programme, good evening.