:00:00. > :00:17.in a moment with analysis of that debate between Nick Clegg and
:00:18. > :00:22.Good evening. The proportion of ambulances turning up on time to the
:00:23. > :00:26.most urgent calls has reached a new low. Figures show less than 53% of
:00:27. > :00:28.emergency responses to life-threatening calls arrived at
:00:29. > :00:35.the scene within eight minutes last month. Opposition parties say the
:00:36. > :00:39.situation is a "national disgrace". But the Health Minister is now
:00:40. > :00:49.planning a major overhaul of how performance is measured. Here's our
:00:50. > :00:53.Health Correspondent, Owain Clarke. In an emergency, sometimes every
:00:54. > :00:58.second counts, and driving a car means this paramedic can weave his
:00:59. > :01:04.way more quickly through the traffic. It is a priority call from
:01:05. > :01:08.the parents of a baby having a fit. The idea of a rapid response vehicle
:01:09. > :01:13.is to get there quicker than an ambulance and provide immediate
:01:14. > :01:20.treatment. The baby responded well after overheating, but just in case,
:01:21. > :01:23.back-up arrives. If speed is important, it is clear that the
:01:24. > :01:28.Welsh ambulance service is struggling to keep up. This graph
:01:29. > :01:37.tells the story, it has consistently fallen short of the target. Today's
:01:38. > :01:44.figures show that in February, the performance reached a new low.
:01:45. > :01:50.Ambulances in England and Scotland perform much better. It emerged that
:01:51. > :01:56.the police had set targets should be suspended on one weekend when the
:01:57. > :01:59.weather was at its worst. The minister went further than blaming
:02:00. > :02:06.the weather, arguing ambulance targets themselves are flawed. They
:02:07. > :02:11.get to somebody in eight minutes and that person does not survive but
:02:12. > :02:14.they have met the target. They get to somebody in nine minutes, that
:02:15. > :02:18.person survives and the target has been field. It is not measuring what
:02:19. > :02:25.is important for the outcome for patients. New performance indicators
:02:26. > :02:29.are on the way, focusing on quality and not speed, in other words, the
:02:30. > :02:34.effect any treatment had on a patient. One example would be to
:02:35. > :02:39.measure how long it takes to bring life-saving drugs to a patient who
:02:40. > :02:44.has had a stroke or a heart attack. It has also been suggested targets
:02:45. > :02:47.could change. Opposition parties claim any attempt to ditch the
:02:48. > :02:54.current target would be a backward step. The Minister must commit to
:02:55. > :02:59.monitoring and publishing the response time for ambulances, he
:03:00. > :03:05.cannot simply change the target because of his government's failure
:03:06. > :03:12.to meet it. What we are doing is looking at the outcome of patients
:03:13. > :03:15.and the care we provide. The government rejected the accusation
:03:16. > :03:21.that these are an attempt to bury bad news. It insists the targets
:03:22. > :03:24.will continue alongside the new targets. Opposition parties have
:03:25. > :03:27.criticised the Welsh Government, after MP Ann Clwyd was prevented
:03:28. > :03:31.from giving evidence to the Assembly about the NHS. A proposal was put
:03:32. > :03:33.forward to invite the Labour Cynon Valley member to give details to the
:03:34. > :03:36.Health Committee about correspondence she had received from
:03:37. > :03:40.patients, but the idea was voted down by Labour AMs. A Welsh Labour
:03:41. > :03:48.spokesman said it would be constitutionally inappropriate for
:03:49. > :03:51.her to speak to the Committee. The company behind plans for a Severn
:03:52. > :03:54.Barrage, Hafren Power, has lost its second chief executive in six
:03:55. > :03:57.months. Mike Davies was appointed in November. He now intends to create a
:03:58. > :04:05.new business to pursue the 25 billion pound energy project. Obese
:04:06. > :04:08.children in Wales are having to wait until they're adults to get some
:04:09. > :04:11.treatment to help tackle their weight. That's the finding of a
:04:12. > :04:14.committee of Assembly Members. Wales has the highest rate of childhood
:04:15. > :04:20.obesity in the UK. The Welsh Government said it would respond in
:04:21. > :04:23.due course. Half the schools in Wales were either wholly or
:04:24. > :04:30.partially closed today by the latest in a series of strikes by the
:04:31. > :04:34.National Union of Teachers. It's all part of a long running dispute with
:04:35. > :04:36.the UK government over pay and pensions. Teachers marched to the
:04:37. > :04:41.National Assembly to show their feelings. Here's our education
:04:42. > :04:45.correspondent Arwyn Jones. It was the same picture in hundreds of
:04:46. > :04:51.schools. Empty playgrounds and locked gates. They and thousands
:04:52. > :04:58.like them had a day off school. Over 200 teachers descended to show their
:04:59. > :05:01.opposition to proposals to change their pay and conditions, the most
:05:02. > :05:08.contentious being a move to performance related pay. We all try
:05:09. > :05:13.to do our best, but in Wales we have some of the most deprived
:05:14. > :05:17.communities in the UK. In the leafy suburbs you can get children to
:05:18. > :05:31.achieve with far less effort than in the valleys unveils of Wales. --
:05:32. > :05:35.vales. I think it is invidious to set one teacher against another.
:05:36. > :05:40.Even though education is devolved, pensions is still a matter for the
:05:41. > :05:45.Westminster Government. A government report earlier this month
:05:46. > :05:55.recommended devolving paid to the Welsh assembly. -- and major report.
:05:56. > :05:58.That has been argued against by the majority of union members. The
:05:59. > :06:01.recommendation is being considered, but whoever pays them is neither
:06:02. > :06:07.here nor there, according to the unions. We need to deal with what is
:06:08. > :06:11.going on in Westminster, we need to secure the changes with the people
:06:12. > :06:17.who are responsible at this time. The strike comes down to two
:06:18. > :06:20.different views of how to teach our children. For the union, happy
:06:21. > :06:25.teachers are better teachers, but for the government of the UK,
:06:26. > :06:27.performance is better. Investigations are continuing into a
:06:28. > :06:30.possible connection between a salmonella outbreak, and laver bread
:06:31. > :06:34.produced by a firm in Gower. 12 adults have contracted the bug, and
:06:35. > :06:40.the company has removed its laver bread from sale as a precaution.
:06:41. > :06:44.Jenny Rees reports. Seaweed is not that appetising in this state, but
:06:45. > :06:50.if you boil it and mince it, you have what Richard Burton famously
:06:51. > :06:54.described as Welsh caviar. Little has changed in the way laver bread
:06:55. > :07:00.is collected. Love it or loathe it, it is considered a delicacy. But
:07:01. > :07:10.public health Wales is now investigating an outbreak of Salman
:07:11. > :07:13.Eller. -- salmonella. All the samples we have taken has been
:07:14. > :07:19.negative, even up to the most recent samples. We are all clear with the
:07:20. > :07:26.results, but as a precautionary measure, we have voluntarily
:07:27. > :07:34.withdrawn the product. 12 cases have been confirmed. Three people have
:07:35. > :07:37.needed hospital treatment. Currently we are interviewing cases and people
:07:38. > :07:42.with different levels of illness to compare this case to what people
:07:43. > :07:49.usually eat. There will be further investigations at the manufacture
:07:50. > :07:58.centres. Laver bread starts off as seaweed, harvested across the Welsh
:07:59. > :08:04.coast. The company is hosting that if the test results come across as
:08:05. > :08:12.negative, they will be able to restock shelves next week. It may be
:08:13. > :08:14.spring but it is not warming up much yet.
:08:15. > :08:19.spring but it is not warming Temperatures are dropping and we are
:08:20. > :08:23.in for a chilly few days with wind coming from Russia, bringing a few
:08:24. > :08:27.scattered showers. It should start to feel a little bit warmer over the
:08:28. > :08:33.weekend. Some dry weather tonight but also a few showers and sleet in
:08:34. > :08:42.places. I would not rule out frost in places. Tomorrow, a mixture of
:08:43. > :08:50.sunny intervals and showers sums it up. Elsewhere, many places dry,
:08:51. > :08:55.sunshine in Aberystwyth. Across the rest of the UK, a real mix.
:08:56. > :09:02.Scattered showers, some of them heavy, with the risk of hail and
:09:03. > :09:11.thunder. Some sunshine in Belfast tomorrow, easterly breeze. A mixture
:09:12. > :09:18.of sunny intervals tomorrow afternoon, the showers heavy in
:09:19. > :09:24.places, some snow for the Brecon Beacons and the mountains in
:09:25. > :09:29.Snowdonia. Most of the showers will die away tomorrow night, many places
:09:30. > :09:36.becoming dry. We could see some rain affecting parts of the North East. A
:09:37. > :09:43.mixed bag on Friday. Further showers. And easterly breeze.
:09:44. > :09:47.Temperature is a little higher. That set the scene for the weekend. The
:09:48. > :09:56.wind turns into the south-east, temperatures will rise. It will feel
:09:57. > :09:58.more like spring. Good news. That is the news today. Goodbye.