:00:00. > :00:00.and on BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.
:00:00. > :00:09.Tonight's headlines: As our biggest health board considers recruiting
:00:10. > :00:12.new nurses from the Far East there are calls for more
:00:13. > :00:21.training places to be made available in Wales.
:00:22. > :00:24.I know that in the NHS in Wales we've got approximately 1,200
:00:25. > :00:26.vacancies and there are insufficient nurses coming out
:00:27. > :00:32.Tonight a union warns selling council-owned farms could be
:00:33. > :00:40.Thousands lost their jobs when the steelworks in Redcar shut.
:00:41. > :00:43.With Port Talbot under threat, we look at how the Teeside
:00:44. > :01:00.I honestly thought my family would struggle.
:01:01. > :01:05.You're not getting a text back, you're not
:01:06. > :01:09.And we'll be finding out why a landscape artist
:01:10. > :01:12.is exhibiting his work out in the open air of the
:01:13. > :01:30.Figures obtained by BBC Wales show that around one in five nursing
:01:31. > :01:32.vacancies advertised by the NHS here last year
:01:33. > :01:37.It comes as Wales' biggest health board today discussed plans
:01:38. > :01:42.The Royal College of Nursing is calling for more training places.
:01:43. > :01:53.Roger Pinney has tonight's top story.
:01:54. > :02:06.It is a busy place. These workers are all from Barcelona today there
:02:07. > :02:12.were more Catalan speakers amongst the nurses than Welsh speakers. All
:02:13. > :02:16.recruited to fill the gaps left by a shortage.
:02:17. > :02:21.I came here because it is difficult to find a job at home and here it is
:02:22. > :02:27.more easily. I expect the UK to be a country with
:02:28. > :02:30.loads of nurses and students of everything and then I live tear and
:02:31. > :02:34.they need loads of nurses. They are very skilled individuals
:02:35. > :02:40.that have come here and they have wrought a lot with them. They have
:02:41. > :02:41.done a lot of things our nurses here haven't done.
:02:42. > :02:47.Today overseas recruitment was discussed by the pretty good holiday
:02:48. > :02:51.health board. 1100 nursing vacancies were advertised last year and just
:02:52. > :02:56.over 200 of those were filled from overseas. -- Betsi Cadwaladr
:02:57. > :03:01.University health board. They have been changes over the last 20 years,
:03:02. > :03:06.not least the way nurses are trained. It used to be done on the
:03:07. > :03:12.wards and they got paid for it but now they go to university. It now
:03:13. > :03:19.takes three years to train a nurse. Sickness is common to all nations...
:03:20. > :03:24.Looking abroad for NHS staff is nothing new, it is why many
:03:25. > :03:28.immigrants came in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Now Welsh health boards are
:03:29. > :03:34.looking to places like the Philippines and India. 50 years ago,
:03:35. > :03:38.shortages were caused by the speed at which the health service was
:03:39. > :03:43.growing but now it is because there haven't been enough university
:03:44. > :03:47.places. We have got between six and eight applications for every
:03:48. > :03:50.training place for nurses in Wales and the system here means we haven't
:03:51. > :03:56.got sufficient funding to be able to train the sufficient numbers that
:03:57. > :03:59.each health board needs. Welsh Labour said they provided an ?85
:04:00. > :04:05.million training package and they are committed to training the right
:04:06. > :04:11.number of NHS staff. The Welsh Conservatives promised a real terms
:04:12. > :04:16.increase. Ukip in Wales say they will change the system so training
:04:17. > :04:21.nurses will no longer have to go to university. Plaid Cymru want to
:04:22. > :04:25.train and recruit into the NHS an extra 5000 nurses. Whilst
:04:26. > :04:30.prioritising investment, the Welsh Liberal Democrat say, would ensure
:04:31. > :04:36.the shortage is tackled. Putting a fresh crop of home trained nurses on
:04:37. > :04:38.the wards will take time. We need is now.
:04:39. > :04:41.A farming union is warning that selling farms owned by Wales'
:04:42. > :04:47.Around 10% of farms owned by local authorities have been sold
:04:48. > :04:49.in the last five years according to figures obtained by BBC Wales.
:04:50. > :04:52.The Farmers Union of Wales says it could hamper young people's chances
:04:53. > :04:54.of gaining a foothold in the industry.
:04:55. > :05:07.Gwenno and her husband and their children
:05:08. > :05:09.and Annie share their time between Talsarnau
:05:10. > :05:12.where she currently keeps a handful of animals.
:05:13. > :05:15.The dream is to get their own place but so far they have
:05:16. > :05:18.failed in their attempt to get their foot on a ladder.
:05:19. > :05:20.They have applied for a council farm twice and on both
:05:21. > :05:28.I have tried a few times now and it has been unsuccessful so far. We
:05:29. > :05:33.came near last time and had an interview, getting down to the final
:05:34. > :05:37.three but we fell at the final hurdle and it was very
:05:38. > :05:42.heartbreaking, to be honest. I am going to keep on trying and see
:05:43. > :05:47.where we get. Figures compiled by BBC Wales show that 495 France are
:05:48. > :05:53.now council owned and 56 have been sold in the last five years. Powys
:05:54. > :05:58.has the most. In Flint, eight have been sold and there have been to
:05:59. > :06:03.sales of farms on Anglesey and in Wrexham. A farming union has warned
:06:04. > :06:07.this could be disastrous for the industry, especially for young
:06:08. > :06:13.people trying to get involved in farming. This is significantly
:06:14. > :06:16.worrying numbers. The union has worked for a long time with county
:06:17. > :06:28.councils to make sure they keep county farms going. We are in a real
:06:29. > :06:34.role -- frugal economy. We need to people to be able to stay in the
:06:35. > :06:37.countryside. Most council say they have no
:06:38. > :06:43.immediate plans to sell more farms but several are open to possible
:06:44. > :06:48.opportunities if they arise. This will add to further frustration for
:06:49. > :06:52.this family as they try to get their foot on the housing ladder.
:06:53. > :06:54.Former footballer Ched Evans will find out if his appeal
:06:55. > :06:57.against his rape conviction has been successful next week.
:06:58. > :06:59.The 27-year-old was jailed in 2012 after being found guilty of raping
:07:00. > :07:01.a 19-year-old teenager in a Rhuddlan hotel.
:07:02. > :07:05.The prosecution says it'll seek a retrial if Evans wins his appeal.
:07:06. > :07:07.Two South Wales policemen in their 30s will appear in court
:07:08. > :07:09.in June over allegations relating to another officer.
:07:10. > :07:12.PC Jeremy Fowler faces allegations of sexual assault and PC
:07:13. > :07:13.Matthew Davies faces charges of assault.
:07:14. > :07:22.The alleged incidents are said to have happened two years ago.
:07:23. > :07:25.Tributes have been paid to the former National Poet
:07:26. > :07:29.of Wales Professor Gwyn Thomos who has died at the age of 79.
:07:30. > :07:31.Born in Blaenau Ffestiniog, he translated many works,
:07:32. > :07:36.including Shakespeare, into Welsh and the Mabiniogion into English.
:07:37. > :07:42.He also had 16 volumes of poetry to his name.
:07:43. > :07:47.That's what the Welsh Liberal Democrats promised today
:07:48. > :07:49.as they published their Assembly election manifesto.
:07:50. > :07:52.It includes key priorities, such as more nurses and smaller
:07:53. > :07:54.class sizes, which they say reflect the public's desire for "good
:07:55. > :07:59.schools, good hospitals and a vibrant economy."
:08:00. > :08:11.Our political reporter James Williams went to the launch.
:08:12. > :08:17.With the assembly vote fast approaching, it is the Welsh Liberal
:08:18. > :08:20.It is not the usual setting for a Liberal
:08:21. > :08:26.manifesto launch but the
:08:27. > :08:29.Liberal Democrats say that they have chosen a GP's surgery for a reason-
:08:30. > :08:31.to reflect the focus on improving public services.
:08:32. > :08:33.And they say this document, the manifesto, is a road
:08:34. > :08:35.map for an ambitious, optimistic and pioneering Wales.
:08:36. > :08:38.What would the Liberal Democrats do if they were in power?
:08:39. > :08:40.They are promising more nurses on hospital wards, also
:08:41. > :08:49.?42 million over five years would be spent on
:08:50. > :08:52.ensuring there were normally no more than 25 pupils per infant class.
:08:53. > :08:54.The party would scrap tuition fees subsidies,
:08:55. > :08:56.with students from Wales instead receiving a living support
:08:57. > :09:05.They would build 20,000 affordable homes over
:09:06. > :09:07.five years and would end the Anglesey-Cardiff air link.
:09:08. > :09:10.We have been listening carefully to people in the run-up to these
:09:11. > :09:12.elections and we have found that after 17
:09:13. > :09:13.years of devolution and the
:09:14. > :09:15.Welsh Labour government dominating that government, people are
:09:16. > :09:19.frustrated that the basics aren't getting done for them.
:09:20. > :09:22.That is why in this manifesto we are committed
:09:23. > :09:24.on focusing on public service delivery.
:09:25. > :09:32.Kirsty Williams says she can't get away
:09:33. > :09:34.was the Party's terrible mistake of breaking
:09:35. > :09:37.coalition with the Conservatives in Westminster.
:09:38. > :09:41.She says she won't make those same mistakes.
:09:42. > :09:43.Recent elections haven't been kind to the
:09:44. > :09:46.Lib Dems to say the least, they have suffered a series of devastating
:09:47. > :09:50.Party officials here are stressing the difference between the
:09:51. > :09:54.Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Party colleagues in Westminster.
:09:55. > :09:56.But the Party has lost hundreds of
:09:57. > :09:58.thousands of voters in Wales since 2010
:09:59. > :10:02.and opinion polls suggest they
:10:03. > :10:04.could lose some, if not all, of their five AMs.
:10:05. > :10:06.The party knows it is in
:10:07. > :10:14.Let's get a bit more now about those proposals to cut class sizes.
:10:15. > :10:16.Our education correspondent Bethan Lewis is here.
:10:17. > :10:20.Bethan, what exactly is the proposal?
:10:21. > :10:23.At the moment there are rules on class sizes for the youngest
:10:24. > :10:25.children, aged between four and seven which say -
:10:26. > :10:28.apart from a few exceptions - there shouldn't be more than 30
:10:29. > :10:36.That's the aim but at the last count just over 7% of pupils
:10:37. > :10:49.Now the Lib Dems want to reduce the limit further to 25.
:10:50. > :10:52.Now, how do they do that in practice?
:10:53. > :10:56.Well, it'll mean more teachers - and that would cost.
:10:57. > :10:59.The Lib Dems say they'd allocate ?42 million to do that over
:11:00. > :11:13.The Lib Dems says fewer pupils in a class means teachers can focus
:11:14. > :11:15.more on child's individual needs and that helps boost standards.
:11:16. > :11:21.For example let's look at what the OECD say.
:11:22. > :11:23.They're the international organisation which runs the PISA
:11:24. > :11:29.test - tests which have shown that Wales' 15-year-olds perform worse
:11:30. > :11:34.at reading, maths and science than other parts of the UK.
:11:35. > :11:38.What they say is with limited cash, spending on boosting skills
:11:39. > :11:43.and status of teachers is probably more effective in raising standards
:11:44. > :11:49.Teaching unions have warned that bigger class sizes can impact
:11:50. > :11:57.The Lib Dems think cutting infant class sizes is a good way to improve
:11:58. > :11:59.childrens' education, others think there are more
:12:00. > :12:17.effective ways to use scarce resources.
:12:18. > :12:19.One of Ukip's most high profile candidates in next
:12:20. > :12:21.month's Assembly election, Neil Hamilton, says the party
:12:22. > :12:23.infighting in Wales is a squall rather than a storm.
:12:24. > :12:26.He was responding to comments by the party's leader Nathan Gill,
:12:27. > :12:28.who said he wouldn't have chosen candidates from outside Wales
:12:29. > :12:32.And on the campaign trail today the Welsh Conservatives have been
:12:33. > :12:34.at a brewery in Barry highlighting their plans to abolish
:12:35. > :12:37.business rates for small companies and help communities to take
:12:38. > :12:44.Welsh Labour ministers Ken Skates and Lesley Griffiths
:12:45. > :12:46.were at a school in Wrexham to launch the Party's
:12:47. > :12:48.pledge for an Attendance and Behaviour Taskforce.
:12:49. > :12:50.And Plaid Cymru were in Aberystwyth highlighting their pledge to provide
:12:51. > :12:58.free childcare to all children under three if they came to power.
:12:59. > :13:01.And it's their leader Leanne Wood's turn to answer questions on our Ask
:13:02. > :13:03.the Leader programme with Bethan Rhys Roberts tonight,
:13:04. > :13:09.Much more to come on Wales Today: We report on how qualifications are
:13:10. > :13:16.on the rise in Cardiff's Butetown, but jobs remain hard to find.
:13:17. > :13:19.And find out why this artist is planning to float his work
:13:20. > :13:28.in the middle of a lake in Snowdonia.
:13:29. > :13:31.The steel industry here has dominated the headlines in recent
:13:32. > :13:34.weeks as Tata looks for a buyer for its Port Talbot plant
:13:35. > :13:37.with the fate of thousands of jobs hanging in the balance.
:13:38. > :13:45.Just six months ago nearly 3,000 jobs were lost at the SSI steelworks
:13:46. > :13:49.in Redcar, when the owners closed their Teeside base.
:13:50. > :13:52.Nick Palit has been finding out what impact the closure has on this
:13:53. > :13:58.very similar community and has this special report.
:13:59. > :14:01.Steel-making has dominated this part of the world for more than 150
:14:02. > :14:06.If you had a job here, you had a job for life.
:14:07. > :14:12.Last autumn, the industry was hit by a drop in prices and a
:14:13. > :14:16.It meant that here in Redcar, where the site was
:14:17. > :14:17.mothballed once before, production of slab steel
:14:18. > :14:23.Like Tata in Port Talbot, SSI's giant steel
:14:24. > :14:24.plant here in Redcar was
:14:25. > :14:31.built next to a vast expanse of sandy coastline.
:14:32. > :14:32.But the similarities didn't end with this
:14:33. > :14:37.As in Port Talbot, the steel industry was
:14:38. > :14:40.dominant here and people here feared there was no future for the town
:14:41. > :14:45.In the wake of the closure, a government-funded task
:14:46. > :14:46.force was set up to help the steelworkers
:14:47. > :14:53.Of the nearly 3,000 SSI or supply chain workers,
:14:54. > :14:56.1,342 have now moved off benefits and are in full-time
:14:57. > :15:03.work or training and 796 jobs have been created or safeguarded.
:15:04. > :15:06.Amanda leads the local council and administers the ?43 million
:15:07. > :15:12.She admits they still have a long way to
:15:13. > :15:15.go but is particularly heartened by the number of new businesses they
:15:16. > :15:20.About 280 people have come forward and asked for
:15:21. > :15:23.advice and at the moment, 71 people have actually gone ahead
:15:24. > :15:29.and set up their own business, which is great.
:15:30. > :15:31.And they are really diverse businesses.
:15:32. > :15:39.Some are based on hobbies and others on particular skills one such
:15:40. > :15:44.Before we pull over, check your mirrors...
:15:45. > :15:47.Many steelworkers drove large vehicles on the work site but
:15:48. > :15:49.need formal qualifications to transfer those skills to the public
:15:50. > :15:55.Now in the shadow of the former steelworks, for former SSI
:15:56. > :15:57.workers are employed here and they will be
:15:58. > :15:58.training around 100 of their
:15:59. > :16:09.Came up with the idea to start to become a training
:16:10. > :16:15.provider specifically for the guys we have worked for in the steelworks
:16:16. > :16:19.so we went out, knocked a few doors down, found out where we could get
:16:20. > :16:26.funding from and from there we got a ?10,000
:16:27. > :16:29.funding from and from there we got a ?10,000 start-up grant
:16:30. > :16:32.And that is the flip side of the situation.
:16:33. > :16:33.Hundreds of men in
:16:34. > :16:36.their 40s and 50s unable to find a job six months on.
:16:37. > :16:38.Workers like Gary and Cameron Nielsen, who
:16:39. > :16:40.between them have four decades in the steel industry.
:16:41. > :16:46.You are not getting a text back, not getting a phone call,
:16:47. > :16:55.I haven't got a clue what I'm going to do.
:16:56. > :17:00.And those sentiments are echoed by Robert Barnett.
:17:01. > :17:03.He worked for a decade in the coke ovens at SSI.
:17:04. > :17:05.Now he travels the north-east of England
:17:06. > :17:07.looking for manual work a day at a time.
:17:08. > :17:10.I just can't find a job around here because everything here is
:17:11. > :17:13.I have worked all my life and certainly not working, it
:17:14. > :17:16.puts a lot of pressure on me and my wife.
:17:17. > :17:35.But David has a more positive experience.
:17:36. > :17:38.He was able to access ?8,500 of task force money to
:17:39. > :17:44.I honestly thought the family were going to struggle and now we're not,
:17:45. > :17:49.It is a better worklife balance and we are near
:17:50. > :17:52.enough urging what we earned on that wage anyway so it is a fantastic
:17:53. > :17:54.enough earning what we earned on that wage anyway
:17:55. > :17:56.so it is a fantastic time.
:17:57. > :17:59.As the future of Port Talbot hands in the balance, they will be
:18:00. > :18:01.watching here closely to see if this very similar community,
:18:02. > :18:03.built on steel, can truly turn itself around.
:18:04. > :18:07.This week the BBC is hearing what it's like to live on a tower
:18:08. > :18:10.For many, the most pressing issue is finding work.
:18:11. > :18:12.Back in 2001, around 40% of residents on the estate
:18:13. > :18:18.That number has now risen to more than 60% yet unemployment rates
:18:19. > :18:29.Butetown's Zack Ahmed reports now on what could be done to help.
:18:30. > :18:37.I am 17 and studying for my A-levels. I want to go to university
:18:38. > :18:41.but I live in Butetown and it is hard to get a job. Unemployment is
:18:42. > :18:48.twice the Welsh average. I volunteer. This man thinks it is
:18:49. > :18:54.going to be helpful if we don't have to leave our postcode.
:18:55. > :18:59.There is a stigma if you use the postcode or have a foreign sounding
:19:00. > :19:03.name. There is a unconscious bias. If you have a foreign sounding names
:19:04. > :19:07.you might not be able to speak English. Some people are moving
:19:08. > :19:10.abroad because they can't find work in Cardiff or they move to places
:19:11. > :19:16.like Saudi Arabia are like my friend.
:19:17. > :19:18.It was about opportunity, I am not getting opportunities in Wales and
:19:19. > :19:23.in Cardiff. There is no denying the reserve
:19:24. > :19:27.language issue in Bhutan. Many households don't have the money and
:19:28. > :19:32.who can speak Welsh or English. This woman has their own idea about what
:19:33. > :19:40.could help. It does shock me there is so much wasted talent Butetown
:19:41. > :19:44.in. We are surrounded by these companies and maybe before they
:19:45. > :19:47.moved in, maybe a condition is if they can take a certain amount of
:19:48. > :19:53.children coming out of schools. I think we need to push the blind to
:19:54. > :19:57.see viz. A recruitment consultant isn't convinced.
:19:58. > :20:01.If somebody is going to be an idiot, you are never going to be able to
:20:02. > :20:05.change that so the only thing you can do is change how you react. If
:20:06. > :20:09.they are not going to interview me because of my name or postcode, why
:20:10. > :20:13.am I going to go into the business and be as awesome as I am in the
:20:14. > :20:16.business. Should it be happening in the
:20:17. > :20:22.21st-century? Maybe. I come from foster care and I
:20:23. > :20:27.didn't have any GCSEs. Do you think they would interview me? It doesn't
:20:28. > :20:31.matter because there is always going to be someone out there who doesn't
:20:32. > :20:35.have a British name. It is time for employers to start
:20:36. > :20:38.seeing as is more than a postcode and a foreign sounding name. We are
:20:39. > :20:41.trying to get employment but we could do for some help from them
:20:42. > :20:43.could do for some help from them too.
:20:44. > :20:46.Breathtaking - the beauty of Snowdonia has always attracted
:20:47. > :20:47.those who wish to capture it on canvas.
:20:48. > :20:50.But now one artist is taking the idea a step further,
:20:51. > :20:52.exhibiting his work not in a gallery, but floating
:20:53. > :20:54.a painting out into the middle of a lake.
:20:55. > :21:09.The majesty of Snowdon. The highest peak in Wales and England and where
:21:10. > :21:16.myth and legend are woven into the fabric of the landscape. This is a
:21:17. > :21:22.freshwater lake 1000 feet below the summit of Snowdon. According to
:21:23. > :21:26.folklore, it is here that King Arthur's sword Excalibur was
:21:27. > :21:31.returned to the lady of the lake. Perhaps there is something magical
:21:32. > :21:34.about this location and why it has attracted one of the foremost
:21:35. > :21:39.landscape artists in Britain for a special project. Anthony wants us to
:21:40. > :21:44.make a connection with our hidden industrial past. This was once the
:21:45. > :21:51.site of copper mines were men lived, worked and died. This is half of an
:21:52. > :21:56.installation. It is investigating the geology and history of the area,
:21:57. > :22:01.and there is so much of it. A way of encouraging that and another excuse
:22:02. > :22:05.to stop and look is a good thing. One of the premises of the project
:22:06. > :22:09.was that we carried everything up by hand and it half replicates what the
:22:10. > :22:13.miners had to do with the equipment. It is physically demanding but it is
:22:14. > :22:18.demanding because the weather dictates you, but that is a nice
:22:19. > :22:23.message because we are continually reminded that the weather is
:22:24. > :22:27.volatile and exciting. The second part of this project will
:22:28. > :22:32.see the artist working underground in Blaenau Ffestiniog in a slate
:22:33. > :22:36.cavern. For now he is concentrating on finishing this piece before it is
:22:37. > :22:37.floated out onto the lake for all to see until autumn.
:22:38. > :22:52.This picture shows sunny spells with a high of 17C in Usk.
:22:53. > :22:57.The air unstable enough to produce some towering clouds.
:22:58. > :22:58.Showers, heavy in places with thunder.
:22:59. > :23:07.Heavy in thundery in places will slowly die down.
:23:08. > :23:09.Some rain in the south and Powys overnight.
:23:10. > :23:13.Tomorrow's chart shows low pressure over southern England.
:23:14. > :23:19.A cold front over Northern Ireland and that is heading our way.
:23:20. > :23:21.Here's the picture for 8:00am in the morning.
:23:22. > :23:24.Some patchy rain and showers in the south and Powys.
:23:25. > :23:30.Drier in the north with a few showers on the coast.
:23:31. > :23:40.But the southwest may get away with a dry, brighter afternoon
:23:41. > :23:49.Highest temperatures in the south 12 or 13 Celsius.
:23:50. > :23:55.Only nine or 10C in mid and north Wales and on the west coast.
:23:56. > :23:57.Tomorrow night a cold front will move southeast, bringing showers.
:23:58. > :24:06.A slight frost in mid and north Wales by the end of the night.
:24:07. > :24:10.The warm air in the south pushed away by colder air moving
:24:11. > :24:13.Saturday will feel chilly with a northerly breeze.
:24:14. > :24:16.Wintry on high ground otherwise a lot of dry weather.
:24:17. > :24:22.Saturday night cold with a widespread ground frost.
:24:23. > :24:29.Some cloud but some bright spells and sunshine as well.
:24:30. > :24:35.Most places dry apart from the odd light shower.
:24:36. > :24:38.The RHS Spring Flower is taking place in Cardiff this weekend.
:24:39. > :24:40.If you're going along, it will be chilly but mostly
:24:41. > :24:49.Figures obtained by BBC Wales show that around one in five nursing
:24:50. > :24:52.vacancies advertised by the NHS here last year -
:24:53. > :24:57.As Wales' biggest health board today discussed plans to recruit
:24:58. > :24:59.nurses from the Far East, the Royal College of
:25:00. > :25:04.Nursing says more training places here are needed.
:25:05. > :25:08.Ask the Leader is next on BBC One Wales.
:25:09. > :25:11.I'm back with an update for you at 8'o clock.