Author: Rhys Gregory

A new Welsh Government initiative aimed at helping unemployed people who are interested in starting their own business to overcome hidden barriers opens this week. As part of its commitment to supporting people through the coronavirus pandemic and beyond, the Welsh Government is working with partners such as Chwarae Teg, Mubo, Assadaquaat Community Finance, Jobcentre Plus and Network She so that disabled people, those from BAME backgrounds, women and young people not in education or training, can access targeted support to help them start their own business. Economy Minister Ken Skates announced the opening of the £1.2m business start-up Barriers…

Health Minister, Vaughan Gething, has announced a new set of experimental measures for emergency departments. Developed alongside front line clinicians, the three new measures will provide much greater context about the timeliness and quality of care in emergency departments. The measures will better record what happens to patients when accessing emergency care than existing targets, and should help to drive improvement in patient care. They will be published monthly, on a national basis initially, from today (Thursday, 19 November). Mr Gething said: “These new measures, developed alongside clinicians, will give us all a much better picture of the care provided…

Exactly a year since it was introduced, the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill will provide increased opportunities for public participation and transparency in local government. The Bill will reduce the voting age in local government elections to 16 and 17 year-olds and extend the franchise to foreign citizens legally resident in Wales, allowing them to have a say in how their communities are run. This reflects the rights of 16 to 17 year olds and qualifying foreign citizens to register and vote in the Senedd elections next year. Greater diversity amongst elected members in principal councils will also be…

Work is progressing well on five major school investment projects underway in Swansea. More than £50m is currently being spent on new buildings and improved facilities at Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr, Bishopston Comprehensive, the new Pupil Referral Unit in Cockett and new schools for YGG Tan-y-lan and YGG Tirdeunaw. It is part of a £150m investment in schools in Swansea jointly funded by the council and Welsh Government under the 21st Century Schools and Colleges Programme. Cllr Jennifer Raynor, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Education Improvement, Learning and Skills, said: “Although working within heightened safety rules due to the coronavirus pandemic, I’m…

A Swansea road, closed to vehicles since October 2019, is set to rebuilt to make it safe again. Graig Road in Morriston has houses along one side of the road and a grass banking along the opposite side. Following a landslip in 2019, Swansea Council closed a section of the route to vehicles where the slip had occurred. Since then the Council has been working with geotechnical experts to assess the stability of the route and come up with a solution to stabilise the banking and reopen to the road. A report to Cabinet on Thursday 19 November will seek…

A pilot recycling scheme launched in Swansea city centre in 2019 has led to a huge increase in recycling. Shoppers in the city centre helped Swansea Council recycle more than 145,000 recyclable items over the trial period including plastic & glass bottles, cans and coffee cups and reduce contamination rates by 30%. The increase in recycling is the result of a joint partnership between the council, environmental charity Hubbub and the Swansea Environment Centre. In September 2019, the partnership led to the launch of the #intheloop recycling initiative with the introduction of 119 revamped recycling points around the city centre,…

Intelligent automation is helping improve services for those in need in the Caerphilly county borough. In 2019 Caerphilly County Borough Council became the first local authority in Wales to introduce process automation for front line services.  Having seen its success in helping to free up staff time, the Caerphilly Supporting People team were keen to explore how the same approach could be applied to their roles in social care. The Supporting People team receives referrals for potential new cases from a range of sources, including GPs, schools, Police and a range of other third sector organisations.  The referrals are typically…

Cabinet has agreed an updated £4.5m funding package for the future 21st Century Schools investment at YGG Aberdâr – which will help meet demand for Welsh Medium pupil places and provide an on-site childcare setting. At their virtual meeting on Tuesday, November 17, Cabinet considered an Officer report outlining the updated total costs and funding package for the scheme. In September 2018, Cabinet approved a 50% Council contribution for an estimated £3.3m investment to provide four additional classrooms – raising the capacity of the school by 60 pupils to meet the local demand for places. However, Tuesday’s report to Cabinet…

Cardiff Council’s Planning Committee have today approved plans to build a new Fitzalan High School on land next to the Leckwith Stadium in the Canton area of the city. The developmentrepresents a £63.5m investment in the local community and will see the existing Fitzalan High School replaced with a new-build 10 form entry school, which will accommodate up to 1,500 students between the age of 11 and 16, plus a sixth form. The new school will offer comprehensive sports facilities including a multi-use games area, 3G pitches and a new indoor swimming pool, replacing the current pool which is already…

Self Assessment customers should be alert to criminals claiming to be from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). As the department issues thousands of SMS messages and emails as part of its annual Self Assessment tax return push, HMRC is warning customers completing their returns to take care to avoid being caught out by scammers. The annual tax return deadline is on 31 January 2021. The department knows that fraudsters use calls, emails or texts to contact customers. In the last 12 months, HMRC has responded to more than 846,000 referrals of suspicious HMRC contact from the public, and reported over…