27/01/2016 BBC Wales Today

Tonight's headlines: The grandparents of a disabled

teenager who needs round the clock care, win a legal challenge

Judges say cutting their benefits for having a spare room

We wouldn't be able to have the help with Warren

Without the help we can't look after him.

Also tonight: Gwent Police's Chief Constable tells us that

a significant number of his staff have left the force

What's a fair price to pay for an airport?

Disagreement tonight as the auditor general publishes his report

And Wrexham council turns to crowdfunding to ensure these

regimental flags can go on permanent display.

Good evening, In tonight's sport, it's ten days to kick off.

The captains prepare for battle as Wales aim to bring home

The family of a disabled teenager from Pembrokeshire have

won their legal battle against the so-called bedroom tax.

Paul and Susan Rutherford care for their 16-year-old grandson,

Warren, who has an extremely rare chromosome disorder.

Court of Appeal judges have ruled that it's discriminatory

to reduce their housing benefit for having what was deemed

The UK Government says it will appeal against the ruling.

Warren is unable to walk, talk or feed himself.

He suffers from a rare chromosome disorder and needs 24 hour care.

That's down to his grandparents to provide.

Paul Rutherford and his wife Sue look after Warren around the clock

in this specially adapted three bedroom bungalow.

With Paul's health getting progressively worse,

carers stay overnight at the house in Clynderwen.

But under the so-called "bedroom tax", this is a spare room and that

means a cut in housing benefit for the Rutherfords who say the room

We have an awful lot of equipment that Warren needs to have as well.

Nappies, toys and all sorts of things that we can't keep

in his room becasue that brings up health and safty issues

It just wouldn't be a viable proposition at all.

We wouldn't be able to have the help with Warren if we were in a smaller

property and without the help we can't look after him.

Paul showed me around the bungalow to demonstrate how every bit

of space in this property is utilised.

The UK Government's aim is to encourage people to move

to smaller properties and save around ?480 million a year

But today the Court of Appeal ruled the so-called bedroom tax

is "unlawful", ruling in favour of the Rutherfords and a seperate

case of a single mum who relied on a 'panic room'

to protect her from a violent ex-partner.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions say

they fundamentally disagree with the court's ruling and have

already been granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

They say they know there will be people who need extra support.

That is why they are giving local authorities more than ?870 million

in extra funding over the next five years to help ensure people

in difficult situations don't lose out.

But that's little comfort to Paul and he lives in fear of having

We're relying on the council saying, OK, they are a deserving case,

If the government decides not to give the council that money

any more, or the council finds there is more pressing

needs for that money, we're not go to get it.

While the UK Government plan to appeal Paul says he will fight

this for Warren every step of the way.

The BBC's legal affairs correspondent is Clive Coleman

What are the legal implications following the ceilings? These

rulings mean that members of two distinct groups have been unlawfully

discriminated against. Those are disabled children who need

night-time care, children like Warren. The Child poverty action

group which supported Warren and the Rutherford in this case estimate

there are thousands of young children in that situation. Also, a

smaller group of female victims of domestic violence who have faced

such a threat their properties have two be strengthened and secured

including in the case that is a friends of the Court today, the

provision of a panic room. People within those two groups have been to

buy the court today that this so-called bedroom tax unlawfully

discriminate against them. However, the government has said to repeal

and it has got leave to appeal. Nothing actually has changed and

nothing will change until that will appeal is heard the Supreme Court,

that will happen at the end of February. They will link these two

cases with another legal challenge by adult disabled people who say

they need an additional spare room because of their disabilities.

Thank you. How much should new police

officers be paid? It's a question being asked tonight

by Gwent Police's Chief Constable, who says a "significant number" have

left the force for higher paid jobs. Well, the starting salary

for a police constable is between ?19,000 and ?22,000,

that's slightly less than a newly-qualified teacher

and about half as much The Heads of the Valleys

along the top here. He used to be a police officer

with the Gwent force but after ten years, changes to pensions and a job

offer which paid him significantly more as a train driver

he left. You see a vast amount of police

officers now seeking alternative employment,

seeing the grass is greener outside the police which you haven't

in previous years and it is I don't think thei pay

is necessarily the only issue Today, Gwent Police has announced it

will be replacing the likes of Gareth with new recruits

from outside the force for the first time since 2013, a total of 100

positions to replace more than 300 I had two members of staff who have

left us both of whom became train drivers, which is a great profession

and they are looking forward But both said they wanted to remain

as police officers but financially, I think some of the things

that our staff have to deal with, I think if the public

really saw some of the things they do face day

to day, financial recompense for that is not always

as good as it might be. It is always something we've got

to look at across the country. But Gareth and some of his former

colleagues say this isn't just about money, cuts

from the Home Office, fewer police officers

and reorganisation within the force Morale has nosedived significantly

in the last couple of years in The conditions of the job

are suffering in the eyes I asked people in Abergavenny

to write down what they thought the starting salary

for a constable should be. If I tell you they start

on ?19,000-?22,000 depending on experience, what do you think?

Is that about enough? To start on, I'd say

that is about right. I work in retail

so I earn a lot less. So if I say, it is ?19,000-?22,000

when the first sign up. No, I think they should start

on a little bit more than that. The Home Office is broadly in charge

of how much many police forces get. They say police pay is higher

than other emergency services with early retirement

and a better pension than many. Pay is one aspect of their story

but so is pressure, doing the same job

with fewer people. All four party leaders

in the Assembly have written to the Prime Minister

objecting to holding the EU There's been speculation that

David Cameron plans to hold the in-out vote a month

after May's Assembly elections. But the Labour, Plaid Cymru,

Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders say this

could confuse voters. The Welsh Government's being accused

of overpaying when it bought Cardiff An original valuation put it

as being worth between ?20 Ministers bought it for ?52 million,

after another valuation took into account other potential

benefits of public ownership. Our business correspondent,

Brian Meechan, is at the airport. This has turned into a row over

value for money. The question many people are asking is, how did a

valuation of ?30 million turn into a bill for ?52 million? It has to be

said that the Wales Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, says

ministers did perform due diligence. You do what you are supposed to do

when you are buying a company. Valuations are tricky. If you early

business you will be looking at future profits but if you early

government, you are interested in the economic impact including links

to their British Airways maintenance site just next door. The auditor

here has said it is too early to decide whether this was value for

money. The projections at the time

of acquisition really looked forward over 25 years in terms

of the potential future growth The valuation that the Welsh

Government undertook were centred on a positive assessment

of growth over that period. Really, we don't know,

apart from in the long-term, how the

airport is performing. In the short term,

it is falling short against some of the assumptions for performance

in the first five years. We all know ultimately something is

only worthless in the gears willing to pay for it, in this case the

Welsh Government said this there but have become an embarrassment and

they wanted to take it over. The company that owned it wasn't that

interested or concerned about selling. They held all the cards. It

is widely been thought of in the business community that the Welsh

Government had overpaid for the airport and the Welsh Conservatives

are saying today issued the Welsh Government is's attitude towards

public funding. The clear thing out of this report

and other estimations the Welsh Government have paid for Cardiff

airport is they paid over the odds. Carwyn Jones announced

he was going to buy the airport I've never heard of a purchaser

doing that before but then when it isn't your money

perhaps that is what you do. If you talk to the Welsh Government,

they say they had to come in and rescue this place. We have seen

passenger numbers increase. They will tell as in the last year there

has been a 13% increase in footfall in another of passengers coming

through. We have seen an increase in improvement of the facility so they

say it is moving in the right direction and it'll be worth it.

Budget cuts prompt Wrexham council to appeal for donations,

to help preserve these regimental flags for the town.

And as ultra fast broadband heads to Swansea, one of Wales' richest

men tells us better connectivity will encourage the best

New data measuring how effectively ambulance staff in Wales deal

with 999 calls has been published for the first time.

Since October, response time targets have been dropped

Now, the results of treatment for patients and their overall

When the call comes through, paramedic James is ready to respond

as quickly as possible. But since October the time it takes to arrive

at the scene is less of a priority and less a life is at risk of stock

response time targets have been dropped for all but the most urgent

cases, red calls. What is more important is the outcome for the

patient. When I do turn up what do I do, is what I am doing worthwhile

and making a difference to that patients? 24 new ambulance quality

indicators have been introduced monitoring the way the service

responds to call-outs. From the way patients are assessed to the

treatment they receive. This call out to a road traffic collision is

classed as Amber which means the lead these injuries are deemed to be

by threatening. It means for the ambulance staff, there is doubt I'll

get time for them to arrive here but having said that James and his rapid

response vehicle did Getty very quickly. The computer tells us later

that we had arrived in seven minutes and the patient is on her way to A

at a nearby hospital within half an hour. Today's figures show the vast

majority of the 70,000 or so patients attended to by ambulances

between October and December last year ended up in a handy. -- has of

Almost 12,000 hours were lost due to delays. It is a transparent

information that measures the efficiency of the Ambulance Service,

the clinical care given by the Ambulance Service and the patient's

experience of that care. What is important is for the first time the

improvement agenda for Ambulance Service will be patient experience

and clinically focused rather than just focused on how quickly we can

get ambulances to calls stop what is the address of the emergency? Call

centre staff have more time to consider which response would be

more appropriate for nonlife threatening calls. It is a

multidisciplinary team. We got a paramedic on the clinical best, a

nurse of the clinical desk, we've got NHS Direct. It is about

improving patient service, improving morale for paramedics as well

because they are going to the patients that need their skill set.

Some questioned whether changing the way performance is measured is about

diverting attention from years of missed time targets. Bosses insist

the changes make the service more transparent focusing on the impact

paramedics have on patients rather than the time it takes to reach

them. One of Wales' richest and most

influential businessmen has told this programme that improving

broadband connectivity is key to attracting some of the best

brains in business. Sir Terry Matthews was at the launch

of BT's trial of ultra-fast Local business people will among

some well-known faces in Swansea's BT Tower as the company introduced

its latest technology. Ultrafast broadband. This technology could

play a big part in creating a stronger economy for the Swansea

area if it is rolled out here full-time. We have a great

university graduates but more often than not they take. If the

infrastructure is provided here, brought and, found the league and so

one, that's broadband, you are attracting some of the best brains

to create start-up companies. We are more familiar with superfast

broadband but BT says for the majority of us ultrafast could be up

to five times quicker. Around 100 customers are a mix of homes and

businesses will take part in a pilot as Beattie tries to understand more

about it. Once we have that inside and can see how households and

businesses really consume this bandwidth, the intention then is to

roll the technology out and hopefully to reach 10 million

customers by 2020. The tech help in Swansea is a place for entrepreneurs

to get their business ideas off the ground. They believe the faster the

broadband are great are the opportunities for small business to

grow. More bandwidth means lower latency which means faster

connections which you can do more things. For a small business, the

practical advantages, maybe we won't see them now but in 12 months when

people get used to the things they can do with a faster broadband.

It'll be a game changer. There are still parts of Wales waiting for

broadband. There was government says 100% of homes will be connected in

the next 18 months. In Swansea, it is how the latest technology will

play a part in the future development of the city.

Wrexham Council is turning to crowd-funding to preserve

the regimental flags of several veterans' groups.

Budget cuts have forced it to appeal online for public donations.

It hopes to raise ?12,000 and if it succeeds, it may use the same method

The standards of the Eighth Army, Normandy, Korean and Burma Star

veterans are a key part of Wrexham's Remembrance Sunday parade.

As the bearers get older there's a need to ensure someone will keep

But Wrexham Council is looking to save ?45 million over three years

and has to find another source of income to pay for it.

Crowdfunding through websites like Kickstarter and Spacehive

allows any idea to attract public donations.

If the target is reached the project goes ahead,

Wrexham's got a huge history as a garrison town,

has a military connection with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

We think this is something that people would want to be part of,

that they can share the pride we have with us in this project.

The appeal aims to raise ?12,000 to display the standards

in the council headquarters together with information

I was the standard bearer for the Burma Star in Wrexham for years.

I think it is respect for those that didn't come back

and for the future generations to know what they did.

Crowdfunding is seen as a modern 21st-century way of raising money

A century ago in this part of the world miners

were asked to dig into their pockets to fund things like welfare halls.

In Wrexham there is a theatre, The Stiwt, which is trying to raise

That was originally funded by the miners in 1926.

You can see there is a history particularly within the Wrexham area

Crowdfunding has its risks.

One Pembrokeshire-based scheme raised record backing to produce

The Zanno project was pledged more than ?2.3 million,

but the company couldn't deliver what their video promised.

In Wrexham the flag appeal has already won pledges of ?2,000.

The council says it could be the first of many projects which ask

Just ten days before the Six Nations kicks off,

Wales coach Warren Gatland says his side feel the same

going into this year's tournament as they did before winning

He was speaking at the launch of this year's championship

in London from where Scrum V's Ross Harries reports.

Wales have developed a habit of winning Six Nations titles

But as they sized up their opponents ahead of this

year's addition, they were focusing on the present and not the past.

There's peoples favourites going into it but

until you are two rounds in it is very difficult to predict.

Obviously, Wales knows we believe in ourselves we've got a great

chance of winning but ultimately you have to wait

until a couple of rounds and then you get a better picture

We're going to focus what we have to do

and each fixture and you can get a good idea of what is going on

This is the phoney war, ten days from the start

of the Six Nations all the coaches, the players, the captains

and their sizeable entourages gather here in the Hurlingham Club

in West London to launch the tournament.

The reporters are all looking for their headline, the coaches

generally keep their cards close to their chest.

The unfortunate thing sometimes is you give an honest answer,

an opinion and people think you are playing mind games.

I'm not as smart as people think I am!

Just a simple Kiwi who often speaks from

Wales begin their campaign away to Ireland.

Their last visit to Dublin was for a World Cup friendly and it

But this Ireland team are striving to make history and become the first

team to win three Six Nations title in a row.

Next week we're going to try and be competitive against what is probably

the team that have the most continuity going into this

Wales are massive contenders and a very tough

It's a cliche but also a truism, momentum is key.

Lose in Dublin and Wales facw an up to battle.

Win, and the odds on this trophy returning to Wales

For the first time since 1977, Great Britain will be represented

in the men's and women's singles semi-finals at a Grand Slam tennis

championship that's thanks to the efforts of Andy Murray

Konta's former coach, Welshman Chris Lewis,

travelled with her around the world until 2012.

He says she's always had huge potential.

I think she was always destined or had the opportunity to make

It has taken Jo perhaps a little while longer

than it takes some to transition from that leve of juniors

But certainly it is a fantastic achievement,

It's been so many years since a British female

has done this and the whole country should be getting right

behind her and see if she can do one or two more.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have confirmed they're in advanced

discussions with Cardiff City for striker Joe Mason.

It's expected the deal between the Championship sides

will be completed in the next day or two with the fee believed to be

It's time for a check on the weather.

A much calmer night tonight. It is feeling cold and it is rather

breezy. We should cease and starry skies. Some showers lingering across

mid and west Wales. They will clear. Overnight, we should see some clear

skies and a touch of frost forming away from the coast. A cold night

compared to last night. Tomorrow, with got this weather systems making

in dustup that'll bring in more rain. First thing tomorrow morning,

high pressure in charge so it is a tri- stars though a bit chilly, some

sunny spells and the show was get going. The rain becoming more

persistent as we go into the afternoon and it won't be as mild as

today. Temperatures ranging between 8-10 sources. More rain coming in

from the west tomorrow night. It is a wet night into the early hours of

Friday morning with strong winds. We will see the return of my other

nights. Temperatures no lower than seven Celsius. Uihlein on the strong

winds. -- we will hang on. Gale force winds possible. We're keeping

an eye on a warning for that. There is a warning in place for the rain

on Friday with the potential for some localised flooding. It is a wet

start from the word go, the only positive is it is a mild start to

our morning. Temperatures will be in double figures. Wet weather

continuing into the afternoon. The north-east corner escaping the worst

of the rain but most of us will see a soggy day and the unsettled

weather will continue into the weekend. Saturday, colder conditions

and milder on Sunday. The family of a disabled 16-year-old

from Pembrokeshire have won their legal battle

against the so-called bedroom tax. Court of Appeal judges today ruled

it is discriminatory. The UK Government

says it will appeal. I'll be back with a quick update

at eight, and a full round up From all of us on the

programme, good evening.