Latest news with #Ardal
South Wales Argus
10-07-2025
- Business
- South Wales Argus
Distress caused by Monmouthshire care at home changes
New domiciliary care contracts were announced earlier this year as part of a major shake-up in which a council moved from having six firms providing care to people in their own homes to using only three providers. The revamp also saw the south of Monmouthshire split into three areas with firms awarded contracts for either Chepstow and Tintern, Caldicot or The Levels including Magor. Labour councillor Jill Bond said Caldicot, Portskewett and Sudbrook had been worst hit by the changes as Magor-based Lougher Home Care lost contracts in those areas, and is now only the provider for The Levels. She said some of society's 'most vulnerable' hadn't felt consulted over the changes and only found out their carers would change after the decision had been made. The Caldicot West End councillor told the council's social services chiefs and officers from procurement body Ardal: 'There was no representation for those people who perhaps only see a carer four times a day. 'People I've spoken to say there has been lots of distress, I'm sure that wasn't your intention but that is what happened.' Officers were appearing before a special meeting of the council's performance and overview committee to look at how contracts were awarded after the full council, in April, ordered a review due to the fallout with clients unhappy at losing carers and workers opposed to moving to new employers. At the time the procurement process began in July last year the county council had to meet 2,801 hours of care for 191 people in south Monmouthshire. It had written to those affected but only received 45 responses and Cllr Bond said many only found out when told by their carers. She said: 'They are not able to open their mail.' Portskewett Conservative Lisa Dymock said: 'Just 45 replies and only five individuals attending a focus group should have raised a red flag.' She wants the department to involve local councillors when it runs the process for moving care contracts in central Monmouthshire, later this year, and the north of the county to the new structure of block contracts. Social services director Jane Rogers said it was an 'oversight' on her part a proposed decision report on the new structure was added to the cabinet's forward planner late which could have given backbench councillors the opportunity for 'pre-decision scrutiny' before being considered by cabinet in May 2024. Ms Rogers said the council had three key objectives in moving to block contracts with one provider for each area, instead of using a wider range of firms and buying care packages on an ad hoc basis, which were to commission high quality care, to maximise cost effectiveness and to improve and standardise terms and conditions for care workers. The committee was also told contracts could be for up to eight years, with payment upfront, which the council believes will allow care agencies to offer more stable employment. Officers also outlined the procurement process including why inspection reports didn't form part of the process, which they said would penalise new entrants but firms were able, and encouraged, to provide case studies to demonstrate their experience and quality. Councillors also questioned why testimonials couldn't be provided for evaluation and Ms Rogers said legal advice would need to be taken on whether those could be included in future procurement exercises. Officials said quality and pricing were judged separately before being looked at together with a final decision made on a 60 per cent quality and 40 per cent price basis to award contracts to the 'most economically advantageous' bidder in line with legislation. The committee will provide the council's Labour-led cabinet with notes on the hearing while a wider review of the council's procurement process, also ordered by the full council, is still to be conducted.
Business News Wales
10-07-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
New Guide Launched on How to Do Business with 'Ardal' Councils
A new guide designed to help suppliers and contractors understand how to do business with the Ardal Councils has been launched. This guide aims to help organisations understand how the Ardal Councils – Cardiff, Torfaen, Monmouthshire, and the Vale of Glamorgan – buy goods, services and works. It also sets out how potential suppliers can increase their chances of finding out about opportunities and bidding for work. Ardal is the new name for the procurement service run by Cardiff Council, which delivers the council's collaborative partnership with Monmouthshire, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan. The guide outlines the procurement processes, legal frameworks, and opportunities available to organisations looking to supply goods, services, or works to local authorities. It provides clear instructions on how to register for opportunities via platforms like Sell2Wales and Proactis and explains the four procurement routes adopted by all Ardal Councils. The guide also details the selection criteria, tendering procedures, the tendering Do's and Don'ts and evaluation methods used by Ardal Councils, ensuring transparency and fairness. The guide promotes socially responsible procurement, encouraging suppliers to align with Ardal's values around community wellbeing, carbon reduction, ethical employment, and commitment to paying the Real Living Wage. It supports SMEs, third-sector organisations, and consortia in accessing public contracts, and offers practical advice on submitting competitive bids. Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation and Performance, Cllr Chris Weaver, said: 'This new guide has been developed to make our procurement processes more accessible, transparent, and inclusive. By clearly outlining how to do business with the Ardal Councils, we're opening the door to more local businesses, social enterprises, and SMEs—helping them compete fairly and contribute to our shared goals of community wellbeing, sustainability, and ethical employment. I encourage all potential suppliers to take advantage of this resource.' To read the new guide, visit the Insight and News section of the Ardal website.
Mint
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Ukraine is inching towards robot-on-robot fighting
A brutalist complex somewhere in Kyiv, strewn with rubbish and weeds, offers a vision for Ukraine's survival on the future battlefield. At one end is a recruitment office, where lines of 20-somethings are receiving their first orders. At another sit trenches, obstacle courses, and the 3rd Assault brigade's 'Kill House", a training ground for military robots. This is where the elite brigade is stress-testing the unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) Ukraine hopes will soon begin to carry the burden of war in place of men. UGVs are already rolling around the front lines, with the 3rd Assault Brigade among the pioneers. They have not yet appeared in large numbers, though that moment may be near. In spring Ukraine announced plans to deploy 15,000 ground robots. Some key players predict that the face of the battlefield will rapidly change this summer, likening the proliferation of UGVs to the explosion in aerial-drone manufacturing in 2023. 'We don't have the men to counteract Russia's meat-wave," says one manufacturer. 'So we'll send our own zombies against theirs." There are currently about 40 mostly private Ukrainian firms producing some 200 UGV models. They fall into three tribes: logistics (petrol, water, evacuation); engineering support (mine-laying, mine-sweeping, communications); and, to a lesser extent, combat-support roles (platforms with grenade launchers, drone-hunting turrets). Most UGVs are beefed up before being deployed to front-line roles, with brigades typically adding cameras, extra comms or electronic-warfare protection. The war's widening 'grey zone"—10km of ground either side of the contact line, watched and punished by drones—is spurring demand for the most robust robots that let men stay underground. 'Stark", who runs the Kill House's 'UGV Academy"—a university for ground robots—says machines are already substituting for squads of soldiers in particular scenarios. Mule drones can transport tonnes of materiel to the lines. New evacuation drones like the Ardal can spare stretcher teams from becoming sitting ducks under drone-heavy skies. The latest mine-layers can lay dozens of anti-tank mines in a single run, a task that once required sappers to be sent out, over and over again. The Hyzhak ('Predator") uses artificial intelligence to identify and shoot drones out of the sky from 200 metres away. Its brother, the Liut ('Fury" ), a 7.62mm machine-gun platform, first bared its teeth in an ambush operation during Ukraine's incursion into Kursk last August. Vasyl, the founder of UGV Robotics, which produces the Liut, says the Russians were so surprised by the novelty that they immediately gave their positions away, letting other Ukrainian units target them. In the early days the UGV operators needed to be close to their prototypes to stay in range, often no more than a kilometre away. 'Shadow" and 'Shura", members of another brigade using UGVs, the 92nd, recall a time when they had to accompany their vehicle by foot to the front, a task that would be suicidal today because of Russian drones. Today, they can connect to them via Starlink from swivel chairs in command posts far from the front-line positions in the Kharkiv region. 'We can control the vehicle with the full situation mapped out on screens in front of us," says Shadow. 'One of us can be piloting, the other drinking Coca-cola or on a smoke break." But the operators do not foresee an era of robot-on-robot warfare just yet. Ground robots are some way from replacing infantry, they say. 'I think they will obviously support logistics, to help here and there, yes," says Shura. 'But never to replace infantry." The most immediate brake on mass deployment is communications. Starlink fails in difficult terrain or beneath trees. Mesh networks, where drones connect to each other to give data multiple paths to travel, can collapse if crucial nodes are lost. Viktor, an engineer of the Burevii design-and-production bureau, which makes UGVs used for logistics and kamikaze attacks, says the current technology probably needs an AI or machine-vision upgrade before mass use in active combat becomes realistic. That could be a year away. Another factor limiting a UGV revolution will be the availability of skilled operators, he says. 'We have very few who have completed enough missions and are still alive." Ukraine is winning in the UGV race at the moment—largely because it has to. The Kremlin, whose army is increasing by 8,000-9,000 men per month, probably does not feel anything like the same imperative. Equally, there is nothing to say that Russian UGV drone development will not go the same way as the first-person-view drone market before it. That is to say, Ukraine's innovation ecosystem opens up the technology, before Russia's industrial system copies, standardises and scales up on the best of it. But even though Ukraine's UGV developers acknowledge that the best of their creations will eventually be copied, they say even a modest shift can have real meaning. 'It will be a success if we replace 1% of our manpower needs on the front," says Vasyl. 'And I think right now we can do quite a bit better than 1%." © 2025, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on
Daily Mirror
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Death in Paradise fans floored as 'favourite' star is in another crime series
Death in Paradise fans have been left floored after discovering that former detective, DI Jack Mooney, is also in another detective series, as they branded him their "favourite" Fans of Death in Paradise have just clocked that their "favourite" sleuth, Ardal O'Hanlon, stars in another detective drama. Ardal was the much-loved DI Jack Mooney on the hit BBC show before he departed Saint Marie to join his daughter in London. Since leaving, he's returned to our screens in the Death in Paradise spin-off, Return to Paradise, featuring the series' first female detective. Yet, it turns out Ardal has also been spotted in a different detective series, Sherlock & Daughter, playing Mr Halligan, the butler. On a Facebook fan page for Death in Paradise, one viewer posted: "I see Ardal O'Hanlon is in Sherlock & Daughter as Holmes' butler." This sparked reactions from other fans, with one saying: "I love Ardal O'Hanlon," and another declaring: "Jack was my favourite detective," reports the Express. A fellow fan agreed: "Mine too." Another excitedly commented: "OMG, I need to watch this now." Sherlock & Daughter's plot summary reveals: "Sherlock & Daughter follows Amelia, a young woman who travels to London seeking her father, Sherlock Holmes, after her mother's murder. "She joins forces with the renowned detective to crack a global conspiracy and uncover the truth behind her mother's killing and her own origins. "Initially, Sherlock doubts Amelia's story, suspecting deceit. The series delves into their complicated dynamic as they collaborate to solve the enigma." Ardal joined Death in Paradise in its sixth series, embodying DI Jack Mooney as a man grappling with his wife's recent passing. He saw his character through to the ninth season, ultimately deciding to leave the show as he came to terms with his loss and chose to return to London with his daughter. Discussing his departure with OK!, Ardal O'Hanlon said, "I suppose I didn't think I'd be doing anything for a fourth series. I really thought three series would be the max, you know." He elaborated on the challenges of the role: "Because it's quite a demanding show... It's a tough old show in terms of being away from home for so long and in terms of the conditions that you film in the heat and the humidity." Ardal also touched on the impact on his family life: "I think [Melanie - his wife] found it very tough because we've got three big grown-up kids living in the house and she's got a lot on her plate, so I think she was finding it tougher as the years went on. And I was missing them all hugely as well, so I think it made sense."
Wales Online
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
BBC Death in Paradise fans only just realise 'favourite detective' is in another crime series
BBC Death in Paradise fans only just realise 'favourite detective' is in another crime series Ardal O'Hanlon is best known for his role as DI Jack Mooney in Death in Paradise, but it seems fans are only just realising the actor also stars in another detective series Fans of Death in Paradise have recently discovered that their "favourite" detective, Ardal O'Hanlon, stars in another detective series. Known for his role as DI Jack Mooney in the popular BBC show, Ardal left the sunny climes of Saint Marie to join his daughter in London. Since then, he has returned to the Death in Paradise universe in the spin-off, Return to Paradise, alongside the series' first female detective. However, it appears that Ardal has also featured in another detective series, Sherlock & Daughter, where he portrays the character of Mr Halligan, a butler. On a Facebook fan page dedicated to Death in Paradise, one viewer noted: "I see Ardal O'Hanlon is in Sherlock & Daughter as Holmes' butler." Responses from other fans included: "I love Ardal O'Hanlon," and "Jack was my favourite detective," reports the Express. Article continues below Another fan exclaimed: "OMG, I need to watch this now." Ardal is in another detective series (Image: BBC ) This Morning host fights tears as Grenfell survivor speaks on losing unborn baby READ MORE: The plot of Sherlock & Daughter revolves around Amelia, a young woman who travels to London in search of her father, Sherlock Holmes, following her mother's murder. She joins forces with the renowned detective to uncover a global conspiracy and solve the mystery of her mother's death and her own origins. Initially, Sherlock doubts Amelia's claims and suspects deceit, leading to a tense relationship as they collaborate on the case. Ardal made his debut as DI Jack Mooney in the sixth season of Death in Paradise, portraying a recent widower grappling with the loss of his wife. Ardal O'Hanlon gracefully exited his role in season nine of 'Death in Paradise', deciding to leave the sun-soaked setting and return to London with his on-screen daughter. Ardal O'Hanlon played Jack Mooney (Image: BBC ) Discussing his departure, Ardal shared with OK! magazine, "I suppose I didn't think I'd be doing anything for a fourth series. I really thought three series would be the max, you know." He reflected on the show's challenges: "Because it's quite a demanding show... It's a tough old show in terms of being away from home for so long and in terms of the conditions that you film in the heat and the humidity." Article continues below Ardal also mentioned the strain on his family life, saying, "I think [Melanie - his wife] found it very tough because we've got three big grown-up kids living in the house and she's got a lot on her plate, so I think she was finding it tougher as the years went on. And I was missing them all hugely as well, so I think it made sense." Fans can continue to enjoy 'Death in Paradise' on BBC iPlayer.
