:00:17. > :00:20.Good evening. Concerns about how our children are
:00:21. > :00:24.taught in school were first raised more than six years ago, but very
:00:25. > :00:27.little was done. Wales Today has seen a confidential report from 2007
:00:28. > :00:31.which said the Welsh government lacked long-term vision and should
:00:32. > :00:35.improve teacher training. The recommendations were never made
:00:36. > :00:41.public. But just two weeks ago, nearly seven years later, the same
:00:42. > :00:45.concerns were raised again. 2007. It was the year Wales coach
:00:46. > :00:50.Gareth Jenkins was sacked after we failed to reach the quarterfinals of
:00:51. > :00:53.the Rugby World Cup. Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru joined forces to
:00:54. > :00:58.form a coalition government in Cardiff Bay. Smokers here could no
:00:59. > :01:03.longer light up in pubs, restaurants and other public places. And after
:01:04. > :01:06.protests at the Hindu temple in Carmarthenshire where he lived,
:01:07. > :01:12.Shambo the bull was put down after testing positive for bovine TB. It
:01:13. > :01:15.was also the year the Welsh government ordered an internal
:01:16. > :01:18.review to see how things were going with its education policies. It
:01:19. > :01:22.called for many changes, but why weren't they implemented? The report
:01:23. > :01:27.was commissioned by then education minister Jane Davidson in 2007. By
:01:28. > :01:31.the time it reported back in November of that year, it was to a
:01:32. > :01:35.different education minister, Jane Hutt. It was never meant to be made
:01:36. > :01:37.public. Some of the report's recommendations were implemented
:01:38. > :01:39.four years later by another education minister, Leighton
:01:40. > :01:46.Andrews, including asking the global think tank the OECD to conduct a
:01:47. > :01:49.review of how our schools operate. It also said that there wasn't a
:01:50. > :01:51.clear message tying together the Welsh government's education
:01:52. > :01:59.policies and that teachers needed more support to develop their
:02:00. > :02:01.careers. Of course a lot can change in 6.5 years. Pupils starting
:02:02. > :02:07.secondary school in 2007 would either be in the workplace or
:02:08. > :02:10.university by now. Then there are the problems raised in that first
:02:11. > :02:14.report that have now been addressed by the Welsh government. But what
:02:15. > :02:18.will concern is that some of those issues in the report all those years
:02:19. > :02:23.ago are still there in a report published earlier this month. That
:02:24. > :02:25.report by the OECD came to the conclusion that the Welsh government
:02:26. > :02:28.lacked an overall strategy for education and that teachers needed
:02:29. > :02:36.more support to develop their careers. It so clearly says, "Let's
:02:37. > :02:40.join up all our strands of education. Let's make a coherent
:02:41. > :02:45.whole." Why, oh, why have they not done it? It is inaction at its
:02:46. > :02:50.worst. It is incompetence, and it has let down everybody in Wales. In
:02:51. > :02:54.December last year, Wales fared badly in international education
:02:55. > :02:58.league tables PISA. The education minister told BBC Wales at the time
:02:59. > :03:01.the Welsh government had taken its eye off the ball in their early
:03:02. > :03:07.years of the assembly around a decade ago when it came to standards
:03:08. > :03:11.and performance in schools. I don't think it was just government not
:03:12. > :03:15.listening, I think it was the Welsh nation not listening. We had a very
:03:16. > :03:18.firm sense that we were good at education. The Welsh people believed
:03:19. > :03:28.it. I think the Welsh government believed it. We thought we could do
:03:29. > :03:30.no wrong. We thought we could look at the historic success. We asked
:03:31. > :03:33.the education minister, First Minister and previous education
:03:34. > :03:36.ministers for an interview, but none were available. In a statement, the
:03:37. > :03:39.Welsh government say they know there have been issues around standards in
:03:40. > :03:42.schools, but that its long-term strategy to improve the situation is
:03:43. > :03:46.now beginning to make positive progress.
:03:47. > :03:49.There's been a sharp increase in the levels of recorded violent crime in
:03:50. > :03:54.parts of Wales. Official figures show it was up in both Gwent and
:03:55. > :03:57.South Wales Police force areas. All four regions also showed a 25% rise
:03:58. > :04:03.in the number of sexual offences recorded. But overall, crime levels
:04:04. > :04:09.in Wales fell by 3% last year. There were just over 173,000 offences
:04:10. > :04:13.recorded in total. Plans for a new opencast mine in
:04:14. > :04:16.Rhondda Cynon Taf have tonight been approved by councillors. Keltic
:04:17. > :04:22.Energy says its development at Llwyd-coed near Aberdare will create
:04:23. > :04:25.50 new jobs. There has been some local opposition, with claims the
:04:26. > :04:31.mine will cause noise, pollution and environmental damage.
:04:32. > :04:36.It's ?2 billion given to our poorest areas to help create jobs and boost
:04:37. > :04:40.the economy. Wales is set to receive European aid for the third time, and
:04:41. > :04:46.according to auditors, the Welsh government is now doing a good job
:04:47. > :04:49.of managing it. Paul Martin reports. It's areas like Caerphilly and
:04:50. > :04:52.Bridgend that have been given big money from Europe to help them catch
:04:53. > :04:58.up economically with better off places. But after the first batch of
:04:59. > :05:04.money between 2000 and 2006, data suggested the areas receiving it had
:05:05. > :05:08.actually become relatively poorer. Many think the funding was badly
:05:09. > :05:14.handled. Several businesses and innovation centres funded by the
:05:15. > :05:18.cash actually ended up closing. Today's audit report looks at how
:05:19. > :05:24.the second wave of money from the EU since 2007 has been managed. I
:05:25. > :05:27.haven't seen any evidence that there was meaningful engagement with any
:05:28. > :05:32.private sector companies that might want to use this. They were trying
:05:33. > :05:35.to create start-ups, but there was no evidence that universities across
:05:36. > :05:41.Wales had steady programmes and students that wanted to use these
:05:42. > :05:45.facilities either. Today's audit reports how the second wave of money
:05:46. > :05:51.from the EU since 2007 has been managed by the Welsh European
:05:52. > :05:54.funding office. We made some major changes to the process for the 2013
:05:55. > :06:02.programme, trying to streamline programme structures and have things
:06:03. > :06:07.be more strategic. There've been more successful. The programmes are
:06:08. > :06:10.on track and some targets will be exceeded by a large margin, and
:06:11. > :06:16.management structures have been improved since the previous
:06:17. > :06:19.programming round. One recent project that has been seen as a
:06:20. > :06:25.success story is the BEACON Centre in Aberystwyth. It helps businesses
:06:26. > :06:28.develop green products. The project has enabled us to have the
:06:29. > :06:31.infrastructure and equipment to work with most companies and research and
:06:32. > :06:36.development projects to start taking some of the ideas that they have
:06:37. > :06:39.worked on in labs and put it on a bigger scale and look at the
:06:40. > :06:49.economic side of it and whether it's a viable process. Here at the
:06:50. > :06:52.forest, business is good. Today's report also makes clear it is too
:06:53. > :06:55.early to tell whether the latest spending programme has had a
:06:56. > :07:00.positive impact on the economy overall. Wales has again qualified
:07:01. > :07:03.for this aid for the next seven years. It means another ?2 billion
:07:04. > :07:10.coming our way, likely to be spent on fewer but bigger projects.
:07:11. > :07:19.There are concerns that dog attacks on livestock are being
:07:20. > :07:22.under-reported. There were more than 300 in Wales in the last three
:07:23. > :07:26.years. Farmers unions say it's a persistent problem, and are urging
:07:27. > :07:32.dog owners to keep their pets on a lead. I think they see a young
:07:33. > :07:40.learner and they are not used to seeing that. Just be aware. Please
:07:41. > :07:43.put them on a lead. Snooker, and Dominic Dale is the
:07:44. > :07:47.second Welshman - after Ryan Day - through to the last 16 of the World
:07:48. > :07:51.Snooker Championships. He beat world number 12 Mark Davis by ten frames
:07:52. > :07:54.to five, and will play rank outsider Michael Wasley in the second round.
:07:55. > :07:59.Derek's here with the weather forecast.
:08:00. > :08:05.Some lovely sunshine for us today. A few showers as well. For tomorrow,
:08:06. > :08:12.not straightforward. Some rain for some averse, but the best of the
:08:13. > :08:17.weather likely in the West dry tonight, clear spells with one or
:08:18. > :08:22.two mist and fog patches forming. Chilly inland with temperatures
:08:23. > :08:25.falling low enough for ground frost in mid Wales. Janeway dried
:08:26. > :08:30.tomorrow. Perhaps the odd spot of drizzle. Bright in the West with
:08:31. > :08:34.sunshine and around mid-morning, we could see rain turning up in the
:08:35. > :08:37.south-east. Across the rest of the UK, rain and showers across southern
:08:38. > :08:43.England will spread into the Midlands. Further north, they will
:08:44. > :08:49.eventually reach Scotland. Heavy and Dundry downpours likely. Quite cold
:08:50. > :08:53.and misty in the North with fog. Dry and bright in the West. Sunshine in
:08:54. > :08:58.Northern Ireland will stop the temperature nine Celsius in
:08:59. > :09:02.Newcastle. There is a risk of rain for the north-east of the country.
:09:03. > :09:08.Writer in the south-west and mid Wales. Sunshine, but even here, the
:09:09. > :09:13.risk of one or two showers. 14 degrees in Aberystwyth. Sharp
:09:14. > :09:18.showers. Dry freight time. The front will move northwards bringing rain.
:09:19. > :09:22.The winds will pick up. The wind and rain tied to this low pressure over
:09:23. > :09:27.the Celtic Sea. On Saturday, the rain will move northwards. Some
:09:28. > :09:31.sunshine, but showers will follow. Some heavy with strong winds in the
:09:32. > :09:38.south-west. Sunday, further showers, heavy in places but with some dry
:09:39. > :09:42.weather and sunshine as well. 14 Celsius. Mixed and breezy this
:09:43. > :09:47.weekend. Some rain, showers, and some sunshine as well. It is not all
:09:48. > :09:50.bad. We can't complain. We're back with updates in Breakfast
:09:51. > :09:53.from 6.25 tomorrow morning. That's Wales Today - enjoy the rest of your
:09:54. > :09:59.evening. Goodnight.