14/03/2016 BBC Wales Today

tomorrow. There's more on that on the BBC News Channel.

On BBC One, we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

Our top stories: They've passed the inspection, but a warning

tonight over budget cuts to public health and fears of another fatal

Food poisoning has an appalling impact on the people

We know that from experience

A new specialist neonatal centre in North Wales is a small

The bus company boss who denies fraud and false accounting on bus

pass fares worth half a million pounds.

Working parents will get free care for their children from the time

they're nine months old if the Liberal Democrats win

In tonight 's sport, England's Cho Mahler under investigation for

calling Samson Lee gypsy boy. Wales says there is no place in the game

for such a remark. They're the front line of protecting

public health, but there's a warning tonight that cuts

to Environmental Health budgets could leave Wales facing another

outbreak of food poisoning like the e-coli outbreak

in which a five-year-old boy died. The Chartered Institute

of Environmental Health says the impact of further job losses

could be catastrophic. Obviously everything is nicely

packaged. Inspecting premises like this butcher 's near Haverfordwest

is just one function carried out by an vendor -- environmental health

officers. This shop gets a clean bill of health and it's not always

that way. On occasion we come across premises which are infested with

mice or cockroaches. You can come across a premises which was swimming

in sewage. Officers like Peter are responsible as well for monitoring a

quality, dog control and public health and other duties. According

to the chartered Institute for environmental health lots of stuff

across Wales could compromise the health and well-being of the most

vulnerable members of society. Food poisoning has an appalling impact on

the people who are involved in it. We know that from experience of the

E. Coli outbreak. My concern is it so -- only a small step between cup

and love and you have another rig of food poisoning. We need enough staff

to make sure that standards are being monitored and that people know

they are being monitored so they don't take short cuts and strain get

away with it. It is an alarming prospect that Julie Jones. In 2005

person was among the children who fell ill after eating E. Coli

infected meat from a butcher who are supplying schools. He is living with

the consequences of what happened. He is 20 now. It scarred me for

life. I never want to be like that again. In every trade corners are

cut but it's never going to change but they have to be monitored. They

have to be finances in place to allow environmental health officers

to monitor these people to prevent this happening again. That is always

going to be somebody out there who thinks they can cut the corner. Back

in Pembrokeshire cuts of ?300,000 are being made to the budget that

the council here says it would mean losing experienced staff. What's

coming down the line from Cardiff on a regular basis but no follow -- no

money following it makes it difficult. We can attach some

budgets because they had agreed they are protected so we have to look to

find them. In Pembroke show we are trying to make sure the services of

quality and yet change the way we do things. That means food outlets like

this one who score consistently high will be trusted to stay that way

without regular inspections. The government says councils have

acknowledged their funding settlements are better-than-expected

and it's up to individual authorities how they used the money

available to them. A state of the art neonatal centre

for North Wales has moved a small step closer after the Welsh

Government gave the green light The unit will be able to treat many

more seriously ill and premature babies who would normally be taken

over the border. Matthew Richards is at Glan Clwyd

hospital for us tonight. The Sub Regional Neonatal Intensive

Care Centre, or SURNICC, would be based here,

reducing the travel time But some campaigners hope that it

won't be blighted by the recruitment problems which have affected

maternity services here. Little Seren is ten days old,

born prematurely at just 27 weeks. Her father, Alex, has had to travel

from Bodedern on Anglesey to get to Glan Clwyd, a journey

of over an hour. But other North Wales parents

currently have to head to Merseyside A dedicated unit here will make

a big difference Knowing that we have got a facility

on the way and the care they do here, the instruments, the

specialist, that isn't a word to explain the power of what they can

do. The Health Minister has approved

a provisional business case for the centre which

could open in two years. It gives confidence to people in

North Wales that this specialist part of the jigsaw because people

are to travel much further away, that will now be available closer to

home. We have deliberately put it where we are going to because that

is where the most needy families are to be found. I hope the people in

North Wales will take confidence from the fact this is definitely on

track, definitely going to happen. Many protested against plans

by Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board to temporarily remove consultant led

maternity services from Glan Clwyd They won that battle but this

charity campaigner says he's suspicious that the long gestating

project has received a boost just The announcement was made in May

2014 and we were so pleased about that but Carwyn Jones said he was

not gone to kick it into the long grass but the grass seems to be very

high at the moment. Despite the staffing issues

of the past, doctors at Glan Clwyd say the SURNICC will be a leading

centre of excellence that is already attracting a lot

of interest from medics. Recruitment in medicine is a problem

wherever you are. The development and the new money provided allows us

to go out there and say, look we are developing a new service and you can

be part of this and it has helped us in recruiting more staff.

Seren is receiving the best of care from staff at Glan Clwyd.

By her second birthday, it's hoped many more

This project was given one point formerly an pounds last year to

improve infrastructure at the hospital and for new transportation

incubators. This extra money, a few weeks away from the assembly

elections, some of the staff feel this five and ?1000 has been

committed today as a vote of confidence in their ability to

ultimately produces something that will help a lot of parents and

future children and babies to be born in the future.

A Cardiff boy who was scarred for life after being attacked

by his neighbour's dog five years ago has been

Erfan Ali was six when the Rhodesian Ridgeback jumped through a broken

Michele Skinner was ordered to pay the compensation for not properly

A Cardiff Council worker has been jailed for two and a half years

for stealing ?35,000 from a children's fund.

Caroline Wooton-Thomas stole the money from a petty cash account

while working for the children's services team, but blamed colleagues

for stealing the money she spent on gifts and family holidays.

The judge said he "observed fake tears and not a jot of remorse".

Steelworkers in Port Talbot find out this week if they're among the 750

at the Tata plant to lose their jobs.

The losses were announced in January and all staff have been invited

to attend meetings at the plant's academy over the next few days.

It's been claimed that the managing director of a Gwynedd bus company

doctored the books to make it appear it was carrying more bus pass

John Hume denies falsifying documents and a fraud worth nearly

Arriving at Caernarfon Crown Court today, John Hume.

He was managing director of Padarn Bus in Llanberis after it

merged with another local bus company.

He had, the prosecution said, a controlling role over the finances

In this case it is accepted that a fraud took place.

What is at issue here is whether John Hume had anything

When he was managing director Padarn Bus over-claimed nearly half

a million pounds for carrying bus pass passengers.

After he was suspended the company continued to claim to the tune

of another third of a million pounds.

Another former director of the company has already admitted

Padarn Bus went out of business in 2014 when the fraud

At one stage it ran 43 buses with more than 70 staff.

It had contracts with Gwynedd Council for school bus runs

Like other bus companies it was paid through the council for carrying

passengers who were travelling free under the Welsh Government

According to the prosecution, what John Hume did was change dates

in the recording system so that effectively some passengers

In one month alone Padarn Bus claimed for 50,000 bus pass

journeys when there had only actually been 37,000.

That meant the company was paid ?30,000 more than it

It was a dishonest doctoring of the paperwork,

John Hume denies fraud and false accounting.

The trial is expected to last a week.

Let's take you back to our main story and the warnings that cuts to

environmental health budgets could lead to another outbreak of food

poisoning. Hugh Pennington is emeritus

professor of bacteriology He led the inquiry into the 2005

e.coli outbreak in Wales. The Chartered Institute

of Environmental Health would protest about cuts

to E=environmental health They have a point. They are a

professional body but they have a point. It is something I have been

going on about in Wales for a long time. The problem with environmental

health is if they are doing their job properly nothing happens. There

aren't any food poisoning outbreaks. They are essential, going in to make

sure businesses have the right procedures in place for protecting

the public. We know that words like E. Coli which caused that terrible

outbreak in 2005 are still around. So I am concerned that if any

further cuts occur it raises the likelihood we will get another rig.

That is good public health just about money? No, it's not just about

money. It's also about the seniority, quality and experience of

staff and one of the problem is when you reduce staffing levels it is the

senior people tend to go first. They take early retirement and you are

left with junior staff who may be competent but don't have the

experience of the older people have. This was a problem in the 2005 at

rig. -- outbreak. It is having a feel for whether a food business is

safe or not and that is very important. It is something I have

been going on about for a long time. We are reducing the competence as a

consequence of the senior people going and leaving a hole in the

experience that is essential. Alan's mum raised ?30,000

to pay for the technology. And he says it's the biggest

win of his career. Geraint Thomas is the first Welshman

to win the Paris-Nice race. Working parents will get free care

for their children from the time they're nine months

old if the Liberal Democrats win The party says it would provide 10

hours of free childcare a week, once a family's paid maternity

leave has finished. It's the only party to pledge free

care for children under Our political reporter,

Carl Roberts, has been looking At the moment, parents of all three

and four year olds are entitled to around 15 hours a week of free

childcare, taken across 38 weeks, All the parties vying for power

in May's elections say they'll offer more and the Welsh Liberal Democrats

say they're the only ones who'll Once working parents

finish their parental leave, they'd be entitled to 10 hours

a week for 38 weeks of the year. When those children are aged

between three and four, parents would receive

15 hours a week. Here's what the Welsh Liberal

Democrats' education spokesman, Aled Roberts, had to

had to say earlier. Basically, we have looked

at the research and in particular the Institute for Public Policy

research which has said the biggest barriers to parents returning

to work, are for those children whose parents have finished

their parental leave up until the age of three

and that is why we have responded to what we consider to be the best

evidence based research. The other parties who currently have

seats in the Assembly are focussing Labour is offering 30 hours a week

for 48 weeks a year, the Conservatives 30 hours a week

during term time, roughly 39 weeks of the year,

with Plaid Cymru offering the same. UKIP says it would relax regulations

to increase the supply The party says the main problem

is the limited supply of childcare. Some see childcare policies as vote

winners but a report out last month suggests more free childcare

would make little difference to reducing poverty or getting

more women back to work. All of these pledges will now go

into party manifestos and we can A ten-year-old boy from Swansea,

who had both his hands amputated after an illness, has become

the first person in Wales to be Alan Gifford's mother raised ?30,000

to fund the state of His family says it's made a huge

difference to his life and are now raising money for

a second bionic hand. am ten years old and I live near

Swansea. This bubbly little boy spends his time playing video games

and sometimes even doing his homework. And he has big plans. He

was born with a serious heart defect. It affected his circulation

and slowly his hands turned black. Just that there is third birthday

they said he was well enough to go for the operation to have his hands

removed. After the operation he came through it OK and he was back and

alive, that is all that mattered. Over the past year his family have

worked to raise ?30,000 for a bionic hand. Allen, at his age, has managed

to master as much as I think we are going to be able to with him. Which

is why we decided he needed something to help them. Alan 's hand

was fitted in Scotland where he spent a week learning how to use it.

What we've got here is a silicon socket. It is a forgiving material

and it is comfortable next to the skin. We have zip which allows it to

open up to allow Alan to fascinate. For the first time in seven years

Alan moves his fingers. It was heart-wrenching to see him do that.

I have never seen him using his hand before. Using muscle movement, Alan

is able to complete more complex tasks. It is amazing to watch

because he has never been able to do anything like that without

assistance. When Allen gets back to Wales he is keen to show his friends

what he can do. His teacher says he is already more confident and like a

different child. It is nice to meet you. His family are now raising

money for a second bionic hand. In the meantime, Alan is enjoying many

of the things he always dreams of doing.

You can see more of Alan's story in The Boy With No Hands

tonight at 8.30pm here on BBC1 Wales.

Here and right now, all of tonight's sport with Tomos.

Any decision on whether to cite England prop Joe Marler for calling

Wales' Samson Lee "gypsy boy" is likely to be made tomorrow.

If found guilty, the minimum ban is four weeks.

Meanwhile, the Wales management team has been left wondering what went

wrong following that Six Nations defeat against England.

A game that's sparked numerous talking points.

Listen carefully and you hear England prop Joe Marler calling

Samson Lee "Gypsy boy", referring to Lee's travelling heritage.

Marler has now been cited and a disciplinary hearing will be

There's no place for such comments in the game.

That was the message from the Wales camp today.

The England coach says Marler's half-time apology

I think the matter has been dealt with. Joe said something he

shouldn't have said. He apologise for it. People do make state once in

the heat of the battle that they can regret and he regretted it.

The Show Racism The Red card campaign has worked

with the Scarlets and Samson Lee himself in the past.

They have to set a president. If he gets away with it, whether or not he

was intending to do it, only he will know that, but he's done something

very inappropriate. It's important that these things are dealt with.

Joe Marler has also been cited for striking front row player

Rob Evans and with Tomas Francis allegedly making contact

with the eyes of Dan Cole, the Disciplinary Committee

Sam Warburton meanwhile is undergoing the return to play

For the Wales coaching staff, it's time to ask some questions.

Why did the usual sound defence miss 26 tackles?

And why did it take 60 minutes for the fight back to kick in?

Have I got the answers? Not at this moment in time. To play in a game of

that magnitude in terms of the championship and to giving and

possession, territory, momentum and to build a school of 16-0, it was

disappointing. With the replacements making

a significant impact at Twickenham, Rob Howley admitted

the bench deserves a chance, but he was reluctant to confirm

that there will be changes for the final Six Nations game

against Italy on Saturday. The team will be announced tomorrow

as Wales now aim to finish Geraint Thomas says he expects to be

targeted by other riders following his win in

the prestigious Paris-Nice race. The Welshman said it's

the biggest win of his career. He's only the third British

cyclist to win the race. Geraint Thomas' biggest victory

on the road and it was all taking I can't really believe

it, to be honest. I obviously came here wanting to try

and win and to do as best as I could, but to actually do it,

it is the biggest win for sure in my whole career

and I'm over the moon. Overlooking the Mediterranean,

the Welsh cyclist showed great composure to survive an onslaught

from seven times grand tour winner After 1,300 gruelling kilometres

Geraint Thomas won it by just four seconds, one of the narrowest

margins in the race's The Welshman who made his name

on the track becoming a double Olympic champion has developed

as a competitor on the road. He finished 15th overall in last

year's Tour de France after riding mainly to help the winner,

Team Sky's Chris Froome. And he won the Tour

of Algarve earlier this year. Thomas' talents were

spotted early on. He was part of the Welsh cycling

programme before moving His older juniors coach

told me he's not surprised He always gave 100%

to everything he was doing. The next step after this is

the grand tours so that is the Tour of Italy, the Tour de

France, Tour of Spain. So hopefully at some point

he will get his opportunity to lead But becoming a lead rider

in the Tour de France can wait Geraint Thomas insists he is happy

to support his team leader for now. But he could mount a tour challenge

in two years just before Chris Froome's contract

with Team Sky comes to an end. Wins like this don't

happen too often. Geraint Thomas says

it was the best win of his career. His next challenge will

be the Milan-San Remo Football and Swansea City's head

coach, Francesco Guidolin, is expected to return to the dug-out

for the game against bottom side The Italian missed his side's 3-2

defeat by Bournemouth, the third match since he was treated

in hospital with a chest infection. The Swans are eight points

above the relegation places The Cardiff Devils are aiming

to make it three wins in three games The Welsh side beat them twice

at the weekend at their new home. Saturday's win was followed by last

night's 4-3 victory in overtime The Devils remain two points behind

leaders Sheffield Steelers After a long winter,

spring has finally arrived. This picture taken in Lamphey

on the Pembrokeshire coast. Further north, Porthmadog in Gwynedd

was the warmest place in the UK Not quite so warm today

but 13C is still a few Now, there's plenty more dry weather

to come this week and next week too. Some sunshine but cloudy at times

as well and cold enough on some Tonight will be dry and the sky

will be clear. However, a few clouds will spread

from the east overnight. Lowest temperatures 2C to 4C,

but some places will So another chilly start

tomorrow morning. Here's the picture for 8:00am,

but the whole country will be dry. Some patchy cloud in the north

and east, Powys and Monmouthshire. The best of the sunshine

in the west and northwest. More cloud around compared to today

but still some bright Top temperatures 9C to 12C

with a light to moderate breeze. In the Marches tomorrow,

cloudier than today but dry. In Ceredigion tomorrow,

dry with a mix of The odd spot of drizzle but no

more than that. And during the day it should

brighten-up. The cloud breaking

with some sunshine. The chart for Thursday shows high

pressure over the UK and that means It looks like the dry weather

will continue over the weekend and into next week as well

with subtle differences From all of us on the

programme, good evening.