Author: Rhys Gregory

The Welsh Government has announced that free Welsh lessons will be made available to anyone between 16 – 25 year old and to all education practitioners. From September, 18-25 year olds will be able to enrol free-of-charge on courses with the National Centre for Learning Welsh. Most courses are currently held online in virtual classrooms, using Zoom or Teams, with in-person courses also available. Learners will be able to access courses tailored to their own level of Welsh, from taster and entry courses through to advanced and proficiency levels. 18 – 25 year olds will not be asked to pay when…

Tens of thousands of social care staff who will be eligible for the real living wage from April will receive an additional £1,000 net payment as the Welsh Government invests in the sector. Deputy Minister for social services Julie Morgan today announced a further investment of £96m to support staff, on top of the £43m to introduce the real living wage. The additional payment, which will be made to some 53,000 people, comes amid the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. Deputy Minister Julie Morgan, who has previously worked in social care and has had weekly meetings with the sector throughout…

A new transport commission that will develop a pipeline of transport schemes for north Wales has been announced today by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters. The North Wales Transport Commission follows the model of the commission set-up after the cancellation of the M4 relief road in south east Wales and will also be led by Lord Terry Burns, former Permanent Secretary of the UK Treasury. The announcement follows recommendations from the Welsh Government’s Roads Review Panel and the recently published Union Connectivity Review by Network Rail Chair Sir Peter Hendy for a ‘multi-modal’ review of the A55…

The Welsh Government has confirmed a consultation on proposals for a local visitor levy will launch in autumn 2022. Rebecca Evans, Minister for Finance and Local Government, said a levy would enable destinations in Wales to be enjoyed for generations to come. Tourism provides a substantial economic contribution to Wales with tourism-related expenditure reaching more than £5bn annually in 2019. A tourism tax would raise revenue for local authorities enabling them to manage services and infrastructure which makes tourism a success. The Welsh Government’s Programme for Government, and the Cooperation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru, both contain…

Wales will gradually begin to relax some of its remaining coronavirus protections as cases continue to fall, First Minister Mark Drakeford today announced. From 18 February the legal requirement to show a Covid Pass to enter certain venues and events will be lifted and from 28 February face coverings will no longer need to be worn in all indoor public places. The changes will be confirmed on Friday, following the first three-week review of Wales’ alert level zero measures. The latest results from the ONS Coronavirus Infection Survey suggest levels of infection have recently fallen, but community transmission rates remain…

City Hospice, Cardiff’s only supplier of home-based specialist palliative care, has been adopted by Space2B at The Maltings as its Charity of the Year for 2022. Space2B at The Maltings is the ultimate divergent business hub in Cardiff city centre, with 87 businesses and around 600 staff working out of The Maltings. Space2B provides serviced and self-managed, ultra-modern office suites with on-site parking and a professional, friendly reception service as well as meeting and boardroom facilities, a free gym and on-site restaurants. It also offers virtual office space for those working from home but wanting a personalised call answering service…

If you are in the process of selling your property, you may be wondering where to start. It can be extremely intimidating and overwhelming, especially if you have little to no knowledge or experience of the real estate market under your belt, but by familiarising yourself with the following helpful tips, you can find out everything you need to know and simplify the entire process to guarantee a stress-free sell for you and your loved ones. Research the various costs involved It can be tempting to assume that because you are selling your home as opposed to buying a home,…

In the era of do-it-yourself home remodels, homeowners worldwide are tearing out old pipes and floors and knocking down walls and ceilings. But in their efforts to renovate their houses, they may expose themselves to toxic asbestos.  If you have always dreamt of owning a house, the appeal of purchasing an older building and transforming it into your DIY project to give it a custom touch is understandable. Even if it’s an exciting endeavour, you may get ahead of yourself without being aware that asbestos is lurking in your recently bought house.  What is asbestos? Asbestos is a mineral resistant…

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital solutions across a plethora of industries, and healthcare is no exception. Electronic medical records that are growingly used in today’s digitalised environment have revamped the way patients’ data is stored and processed. What is the electronic medical record? Electronic medical records, or EMR, are digitised versions of paper medical records on hardware or cloud. EMRs are used to gather patients’ health information, including medical history, treatment plans, medications, allergies, previous visits, test results, and more. A doctor can’t know each patient’s medical data; EMR ensures all the information required to provide better…

Openreach today announced it will create and fill around 250 additional jobs across Wales during 2022 – including more than 200 apprenticeships – as it continues to invest billions of pounds into its UK broadband network, people and training. The new recruits will be based across all parts of Wales including Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Powys, Pembrokeshire, Swansea, Cardiff and Newport working to build and connect customers to the company’s ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband network. The mammoth build is on track to reach 25 million UK homes and businesses by December 2026 and has already reached more than 425,000 properties…