24/09/2014 BBC Wales Today

The ambulance service is again under fire after failing to meet

its target for reaching life-threatening incidents.

That's despite the Health Minister demanding improvement.

Opposition Conservatives said 'urgent answers' were needed.

More now from our Health Correspondent Owain Clarke.

It is an emergency service that all too often find itself on the front

pages. Just look at these headlines, they catalogue delays,

disputes and departures and a crescendo of complaints. And that's

just in the last month. But this isn't a new phenomenon. The

Ambulance Service here has been under fire for quite a while. It's

been reviewed and audited more often than any other part of the Welsh

NHS. The most recent review in April last year called the big changes

after finding fundamental flaws. Across Wales, the Ambulance Service

has failed to meet its response time target for the most urgent calls in

every month except one since the summer of 2012. So what are the

headlines today? In August, there is also a big difference

across the country. The buck stops with the Labour health minister,

cannot come up with excuse after excuse in the chamber and try and

pass the buck back to the health boards. They are dealing with a

difficult financial settlement as a result of cuts imposed by the Welsh

Labour government and the end result is that patients are facing the

brunt of it. The Welsh government says it is disappointed but points

to improvements over the last six months. It claims its two thirds of

the way through a plan to turn things around. They say much staff

has been recruited. Swansea University is where much of the data

generation has been trained. Demand for this course is high, and

students come from far and wide. Most say they are keen to stay in

Wales when they qualify, despite having first-hand experience of the

pressures while on placements with Cruise. The guys are really under

pressure, they are doing immense work but they don't have the days of

all of somebody gets sick, everyone has two relate that back onto each

other and they take the brunt. It is a family more than a workforce.

There is no doubt some front-line staff feel frustrated and

undervalued and unions have threatened industrial action. So

until the most important targets are met, it could take quite some time

for this emergency service team make the headlines for the right reasons.

A man, described by prosecutors as timid and vulnerable,

has told a court how he worked on a farm for 13 years without pay.

Darell Simmester said he lived in a shed and washed in a horse trough.

A father and son from Newport - deny forcing him to work

Living sometimes in fear, working seven days a week for no pay,

today Darell Simester told the jury at Cardiff Crown Court what

his life was like on Cariad Farm. He said he met the defendants,

a father and son known to him as "Big Dan" Doran

and Dan Junior after he was offered bricklaying work by a man who

picked him up off the side of the road.

It was when that work was finished he was taken to the farm

where he remained for 13 years. He said he was giving shape to live

in. He told the court that at night he slept on a city and covered

himself with the jacket he had worn during the day. At one point, ease

of the shed had become infested with rats. He told the jury that the

toilet he used was broken, it didn't flash and he had to wash in a horse

trough. He worked looking after horses

from seven in the morning until 10 or 11 at night,

only twice in 13 years did he get a day off, once to visit a fair in

Brecon and once on New Years Eve. He told the court have his health

had suffered. On one occasion he said he had fallen off horse onto a

concrete floor. When he was taken to hospital, he gave a fulsome name. --

a false name. He said someone had told them to do this and he felt

terrified, terrible. He said the Dorans shouted at him

when he did his work wrong and he felt frightened.

Asked if he ever throught of leaving, he said no.

Both Daniel Doran Senior and Junior deny the charge

of forcing another person to perform forced or compulsory labour.

The case contiinues. Support for an independent Wales has

fallen to its lowest recorded level. That's according to a new poll

for BBC Wales. More than a thousand adults were

questioned, as part of research carried out by ICM

following the Scottish Referendum. Just three percent want Welsh

independence. The poll also found a majority

of people in Wales would like to see some benefits devolved,

as well as policing. Labour leader Ed Miliband has

promised to "look at" the funding "difficulties" the Welsh

government faces, if he wins power But he stopped short

of promising to make up any holes. The First Minister Carwyn Jones

claims Wales misses out on ?300 million every year because

of the Barnett formula - used to work out the amount of cash given

to the UK's devolved governments. It is an undertaking that we will

take part of our review, we will look of a particular needs Wales has

because we understand the concerns about the Barnett Formula and the

issues it faces. The Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil

and Rhymney, Dai Havard, is to step The former union official, who's

sixty-four, was elected in 2001. In a letter to local party members,

he suggested the shortlist for his replacement should be

'balanced' - it comes after rows over enforced all-women

shortlists in several Labour seats. Wrexham Council has elected

a new leader - Councillor Mark Pritchard will also take on the role

of Chair of the executive board. Ian Roberts will become

the new deputy leader. The new council also voted

overwhelming to reject any proposal to merge with neighbouring

local authority Flintshire. Football and some developments

tonight in Cardiff City's search Russell Slade - who they were denied

permission to talk to earlier this week - has resigned from his

managerial post at Leyton Orient. Swansea city will face Liverpool at

Anfield after beating Everton 3-0. We have mild weather but not the

ceremony the sunshine, looking cloudy and breezy tomorrow. Some

cloud around but plenty of clear spells, a chilly night in land. The

breeze holding up the temperatures along the coast. Some brightness

first thing tomorrow, especially in the South-East but cloud will

thicken during the day and it's down to upfront bringing in light rain

and drizzle and fragmenting as it moves southwards. Even where it is

blustery and cloudy across western Scotland, still mild 16 Celsius in

Glasgow. Patchy rain and the westerly wind brings in milder air,

highs of 16 in Pembrokeshire. Tomorrow night into Friday, another

front moves South-East so a cloudy night and the dull and damp start on

Friday. A chilly start Saturday but mostly dry, often cloudy, with some

bright spells and more southerly winds, temperatures a touch higher.

High pressure keeping things settled as we head through the weekend.