Author: Rhys Gregory

With increased pressure on the food supply chain in Wales during the COVID-19 outbreak, Food Innovation Wales has opened helplines in each of its geographic areas to support Welsh food and drink manufacturers. Companies can contact the helplines for advice and support with food safety, technical issues or guidance on supply chain continuity (e.g. raw material supplies). Food Innovation Wales, backed by Welsh Government, is based at three food centres across Wales. The team of industry experts can help manufacturers of all sizes navigate their way through a range of complex technical and commercial issues. Professor David Lloyd, Food Innovation…

The Welsh Government has announced funding for the Childcare Offer for Wales, with payments set to continue to be paid to local authorities and childcare settings who currently receive payments for children in their care, even where services are disrupted. Childcare settings are not being required to close, and will remain open for the time being. However Welsh Ministers have agreed that where a setting is closed on medical advice, or if children are not able to attend due to Covid-19, funding will still be made available. Funding will also continue where staffing numbers fall to a level that the…

A school in Llanelli has received a Centre of Excellence award for its commitment to delivering a financial education programme to young people. The accolade, which was awarded by the UK’s leading financial charity Young Money and supported by Principality Building Society, has shown Ysgol y Strade as a beacon of best practice for financial education. Ysgol y Strade received the award for delivering a financial programme which was sustainable, effective and had an impact on young people’s financial capability. Over 40% of teachers at the school have been trained to deliver financial education and 400 students have the opportunity…

Welsh bus operator NAT Group has partnered with a local tachograph specialist to monitor all compliance across its drivers and 150-vehicle fleet. The contract will see A1 Tachograph Services accessing driver data on a weekly basis and conducting fortnightly driver and vehicle inspections. The Pontypridd-based organisation has also provided, and will continue to offer, drivers’ hours direction training. Initially hiring A1 Tachographs to complete a one-off company overhaul of its compliance following the appointment of new Managing Director Adam Keen, Nat Group took the strategic decision to retain the specialist agency on an ongoing basis. Established 12 years ago by…

CONWY companies can benefit from new services and facilities at a Llandudno Junction business complex. Conwy Business Centre is currently undergoing a revamp and in partnership with the Enterprise Hub has bolstered its current offering, including fully funded advice, space, events and incentives for firms across the county. The Enterprise Hub – a joint project between Menter Mon and M-SParc – has unveiled a co-working suite onsite, with hot desks to encourage new start-up businesses to base themselves from the Business Centre. There are also conference and meeting rooms in the building. With the reception undergoing a makeover – including…

At around 10pm on March 7, South Wales Police were called to a licensed premises in Barry. A 35-year-old man from Penarth suffered a head injury as a result of a fall and remains at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. At this stage there is no evidence or suggestion of a criminal act, and it appears the injury was caused by an accidental fall. Enquiries are continuing into the circumstances of the incident.

Cardiff Bus is alerting passengers to modified timetables in response to the latest Government travel advice surrounding the Coronavirus outbreak. The operator will be running Saturday timetables across the majority of services on weekdays from Monday, March 23, with weekend services following their regular timetables. These changes have come into effect following the Government’s latest briefing surrounding non-essential travel and will be in place until further notice. All services will follow the Saturday service on weekdays from March 23rd, with the exception of the 12, 15, 64, 65, 65A, 98 and Cardiff MET M1, M2, M3, M4 which will follow…

A social care leader is calling for an urgent and specific support package for struggling care homes and homecare companies in Wales – including an about turn on the decision to refuse to give them swabs to test for coronavirus. Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of Care Forum Wales, said many of the organisation’s 450 members who provide care for 20,000 vulnerable were striving to cope with the massive and unprecedented pressures caused by the outbreak. According to Mr Kreft, many providers had told him they felt “abandoned” by the Westminster government and called on them to provide Wales with the…

The chairman of a leading visitor attraction is challenging the Welsh Government to make an immediate cash injection into the Welsh tourism industry to prevent job losses of around 100,000. Ashford Price, from the multi-award winning National Showcaves Centre for Wales at Abercraf, near Swansea, has warned that the current crisis caused by the spread of Coronavirus dwarfs all previous tourism disasters in the past 45 years, particularly as it comes just before the traditionally busy Easter period. Unless there is an urgent cash injection by the Welsh Government, he predicts the bankruptcy of many tourism businesses and thousands of…

The 2020 Rallynuts Stages Rally, planned for April 18, is the latest casualty of Coronavirus in Mid Wales. The Builth Wells-based rally, organised by Midland Manor Motor Club, has been postponed following the latest directive from the sport’s governing body, Motorsport UK, which has suspended all organising permits with immediate effect. The provisional new date for the rally is August 8. Organisers have been closely monitoring theCoronavirus pandemic and the implications of running the popular gravel rally, which was set to attract a top quality entry to the Mid Wales forests. Motorsport UK has temporarily suspended all motorsport permits due to the…