:00:19. > :00:21.The ambulance service is again under fire after failing to meet
:00:22. > :00:23.its target for reaching life-threatening incidents.
:00:24. > :00:26.That's despite the Health Minister demanding improvement.
:00:27. > :00:27.Opposition Conservatives said 'urgent answers' were needed.
:00:28. > :00:38.More now from our Health Correspondent Owain Clarke.
:00:39. > :00:45.It is an emergency service that all too often find itself on the front
:00:46. > :00:52.pages. Just look at these headlines, they catalogue delays,
:00:53. > :00:56.disputes and departures and a crescendo of complaints. And that's
:00:57. > :00:59.just in the last month. But this isn't a new phenomenon. The
:01:00. > :01:04.Ambulance Service here has been under fire for quite a while. It's
:01:05. > :01:10.been reviewed and audited more often than any other part of the Welsh
:01:11. > :01:17.NHS. The most recent review in April last year called the big changes
:01:18. > :01:21.after finding fundamental flaws. Across Wales, the Ambulance Service
:01:22. > :01:25.has failed to meet its response time target for the most urgent calls in
:01:26. > :01:27.every month except one since the summer of 2012. So what are the
:01:28. > :01:55.headlines today? In August, there is also a big difference
:01:56. > :01:58.across the country. The buck stops with the Labour health minister,
:01:59. > :02:02.cannot come up with excuse after excuse in the chamber and try and
:02:03. > :02:05.pass the buck back to the health boards. They are dealing with a
:02:06. > :02:12.difficult financial settlement as a result of cuts imposed by the Welsh
:02:13. > :02:16.Labour government and the end result is that patients are facing the
:02:17. > :02:19.brunt of it. The Welsh government says it is disappointed but points
:02:20. > :02:24.to improvements over the last six months. It claims its two thirds of
:02:25. > :02:34.the way through a plan to turn things around. They say much staff
:02:35. > :02:38.has been recruited. Swansea University is where much of the data
:02:39. > :02:43.generation has been trained. Demand for this course is high, and
:02:44. > :02:47.students come from far and wide. Most say they are keen to stay in
:02:48. > :02:50.Wales when they qualify, despite having first-hand experience of the
:02:51. > :02:57.pressures while on placements with Cruise. The guys are really under
:02:58. > :03:03.pressure, they are doing immense work but they don't have the days of
:03:04. > :03:09.all of somebody gets sick, everyone has two relate that back onto each
:03:10. > :03:14.other and they take the brunt. It is a family more than a workforce.
:03:15. > :03:16.There is no doubt some front-line staff feel frustrated and
:03:17. > :03:20.undervalued and unions have threatened industrial action. So
:03:21. > :03:24.until the most important targets are met, it could take quite some time
:03:25. > :03:28.for this emergency service team make the headlines for the right reasons.
:03:29. > :03:30.A man, described by prosecutors as timid and vulnerable,
:03:31. > :03:34.has told a court how he worked on a farm for 13 years without pay.
:03:35. > :03:37.Darell Simmester said he lived in a shed and washed in a horse trough.
:03:38. > :03:40.A father and son from Newport - deny forcing him to work
:03:41. > :03:57.Living sometimes in fear, working seven days a week for no pay,
:03:58. > :04:00.today Darell Simester told the jury at Cardiff Crown Court what
:04:01. > :04:04.his life was like on Cariad Farm. He said he met the defendants,
:04:05. > :04:12.a father and son known to him as "Big Dan" Doran
:04:13. > :04:15.and Dan Junior after he was offered bricklaying work by a man who
:04:16. > :04:17.picked him up off the side of the road.
:04:18. > :04:19.It was when that work was finished he was taken to the farm
:04:20. > :04:28.where he remained for 13 years. He said he was giving shape to live
:04:29. > :04:32.in. He told the court that at night he slept on a city and covered
:04:33. > :04:37.himself with the jacket he had worn during the day. At one point, ease
:04:38. > :04:42.of the shed had become infested with rats. He told the jury that the
:04:43. > :04:44.toilet he used was broken, it didn't flash and he had to wash in a horse
:04:45. > :04:49.trough. He worked looking after horses
:04:50. > :04:52.from seven in the morning until 10 or 11 at night,
:04:53. > :04:54.only twice in 13 years did he get a day off, once to visit a fair in
:04:55. > :05:08.Brecon and once on New Years Eve. He told the court have his health
:05:09. > :05:12.had suffered. On one occasion he said he had fallen off horse onto a
:05:13. > :05:20.concrete floor. When he was taken to hospital, he gave a fulsome name. --
:05:21. > :05:22.a false name. He said someone had told them to do this and he felt
:05:23. > :05:29.terrified, terrible. He said the Dorans shouted at him
:05:30. > :05:30.when he did his work wrong and he felt frightened.
:05:31. > :05:36.Asked if he ever throught of leaving, he said no.
:05:37. > :05:39.Both Daniel Doran Senior and Junior deny the charge
:05:40. > :05:40.of forcing another person to perform forced or compulsory labour.
:05:41. > :05:42.The case contiinues. Support for an independent Wales has
:05:43. > :05:46.fallen to its lowest recorded level. That's according to a new poll
:05:47. > :05:48.for BBC Wales. More than a thousand adults were
:05:49. > :05:50.questioned, as part of research carried out by ICM
:05:51. > :05:54.following the Scottish Referendum. Just three percent want Welsh
:05:55. > :05:57.independence. The poll also found a majority
:05:58. > :06:00.of people in Wales would like to see some benefits devolved,
:06:01. > :06:05.as well as policing. Labour leader Ed Miliband has
:06:06. > :06:09.promised to "look at" the funding "difficulties" the Welsh
:06:10. > :06:11.government faces, if he wins power But he stopped short
:06:12. > :06:15.of promising to make up any holes. The First Minister Carwyn Jones
:06:16. > :06:18.claims Wales misses out on ?300 million every year because
:06:19. > :06:21.of the Barnett formula - used to work out the amount of cash given
:06:22. > :06:36.to the UK's devolved governments. It is an undertaking that we will
:06:37. > :06:40.take part of our review, we will look of a particular needs Wales has
:06:41. > :06:41.because we understand the concerns about the Barnett Formula and the
:06:42. > :06:52.issues it faces. The Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil
:06:53. > :06:55.and Rhymney, Dai Havard, is to step The former union official, who's
:06:56. > :06:59.sixty-four, was elected in 2001. In a letter to local party members,
:07:00. > :07:02.he suggested the shortlist for his replacement should be
:07:03. > :07:04.'balanced' - it comes after rows over enforced all-women
:07:05. > :07:14.shortlists in several Labour seats. Wrexham Council has elected
:07:15. > :07:17.a new leader - Councillor Mark Pritchard will also take on the role
:07:18. > :07:20.of Chair of the executive board. Ian Roberts will become
:07:21. > :07:22.the new deputy leader. The new council also voted
:07:23. > :07:25.overwhelming to reject any proposal to merge with neighbouring
:07:26. > :07:30.local authority Flintshire. Football and some developments
:07:31. > :07:32.tonight in Cardiff City's search Russell Slade - who they were denied
:07:33. > :07:37.permission to talk to earlier this week - has resigned from his
:07:38. > :07:49.managerial post at Leyton Orient. Swansea city will face Liverpool at
:07:50. > :08:21.Anfield after beating Everton 3-0. We have mild weather but not the
:08:22. > :08:27.ceremony the sunshine, looking cloudy and breezy tomorrow. Some
:08:28. > :08:35.cloud around but plenty of clear spells, a chilly night in land. The
:08:36. > :08:40.breeze holding up the temperatures along the coast. Some brightness
:08:41. > :08:43.first thing tomorrow, especially in the South-East but cloud will
:08:44. > :08:49.thicken during the day and it's down to upfront bringing in light rain
:08:50. > :09:00.and drizzle and fragmenting as it moves southwards. Even where it is
:09:01. > :09:07.blustery and cloudy across western Scotland, still mild 16 Celsius in
:09:08. > :09:15.Glasgow. Patchy rain and the westerly wind brings in milder air,
:09:16. > :09:19.highs of 16 in Pembrokeshire. Tomorrow night into Friday, another
:09:20. > :09:31.front moves South-East so a cloudy night and the dull and damp start on
:09:32. > :09:34.Friday. A chilly start Saturday but mostly dry, often cloudy, with some
:09:35. > :09:41.bright spells and more southerly winds, temperatures a touch higher.
:09:42. > :09:45.High pressure keeping things settled as we head through the weekend.