Latest news with #Walescast
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wales could lose 'half a billion' in welfare reforms
The UK government's disability welfare reforms could cut the incomes of people in Wales by £466m by 2029-30 according to new analysis. Data analytics company Policy in Practice told Walescast that almost 190,000 people are likely to be affected - 6% of the population. Brian Evans from Swansea, who receives support for multiple health problems, said the uncertainty meant he was constantly anxious with "the worry of what's going to happen to me". The Department for Work and Pensions said it would not compromise on protecting people "who need our support", and that reforms "will mean the social security system will always be there for those who will never be able to work". Benefits crackdown unveiled with aim to save £5bn a year by 2030 People 'terrified' by benefit reforms - Labour politician Wales losing billions in unclaimed benefits - report Mr Evans, 62, receives the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for which eligibility will be tightened under the reforms. PIP was designed to cover the extra costs of being disabled, and Mr Evans uses it to run his mobility car, which he fears losing. "I haven't got a television because I can't afford one, everything's being spent," he said. "So if things are cut back any further I really don't know how I'll manage." When the changes were proposed in March, First Minister Eluned Morgan asked the UK government for an assessment of their impact on Wales specifically. The Department for Work and Pensions has published an impact assessment for England and Wales. The analysis by Policy in Practice, which has been working with the Welsh government and local authorities in Wales to encourage people to claim the benefits they are eligible for, breaks down the impact of the reforms on each region. Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil and Neath Port Talbot were the worst affected areas per head of population. Sam Fathers, of Policy in Practice, told Walescast that for some people the reforms could mean "knocking 60% of their income out in one hit" and cutting thousands of pounds per year among people on some of the lowest incomes in the UK. But he urged people not to panic because the proposals were currently at the consultation stage. The number of working-age people claiming health-related benefits in the UK has increased by 45% since 2019-20. The UK government proposed the reforms to save £5bn a year by 2020-30, though the number of claims is still expected to grow. Ministers have said the plans would offer a £1bn package of extra support for people to return to the workplace, with a "try before you buy" approach enabling people to try a job without automatically losing benefits. "Anything that will get people back into work is welcome," said Mr Fathers, but he added that even "the very best campaigns around employability with disabled people have got about 5% more people into work". He said Policy in Practice had modelled the impact of getting up to 10% of claimants back into work and even in that scenario Wales would see "an increase in the levels of poverty". Labour Member of the Senedd, Mick Antoniw, called for the UK government to work with the Welsh government to reform the welfare system. "Some of these things aren't thought out," he said. "What we don't have is a clear anti-poverty agenda that is the driving force of policy change." "A Labour government is there to resolve poverty and help people into work," said Antoniw. "There are a lot of good things that are happening, I just think that the messaging has been the wrong way round and the driving force has probably been the wrong way round." The Department for Work and Pensions said: "The majority of people who are currently getting PIP will continue to receive it. "We will never compromise on protecting people who need our support, and our reforms will mean the social security system will always be there for those who will never be able to work, and their income is protected. "We have also announced a review of the PIP assessment, and we will be working with disabled people and key organisations representing them - including in Wales - to consider how best to do this."
BBC News
07-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Simon Hart: Drakeford dented trust in UK government during Covid
Mark Drakeford "dented people's confidence" in the UK government during the pandemic, the Welsh secretary at the time has Hart said it was "exactly what you don't want" in a national crisis, telling the BBC Walescast podcast of his "frustration" with the then Labour first "was selecting all the things that worked and claiming them as Welsh government, and then being very public about the things that didn't work, and saying that they were UK government", said the ex-Conservative Welsh government said: "All decisions by Welsh ministers related to Covid-19 were based on evidence and always made in the best interests of Wales." The former Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire MP has published diaries on his time in the UK cabinet, first as secretary of state for Wales under Boris Johnson and then as Rishi Sunak's chief whip, enforcing party "Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip" Hart makes clear his frustration at the relationship between the two governments, particularly during the Covid -19 also comments on Mr Drakeford's appearance at a Remembrance Day event, calling him a "scruffy old university lecturer with dirty shoes".Hart told Walescast Drakeford was a "very nice man", but "he'd never made any secret" of the fact he was no "massive fan" of said he felt Drakeford helped to create a "false" impression that "nice Mr Drakeford - and he is a very nice man - had all the solutions, and nasty Mr Johnson caused all of the problems"."I thought that was a very lazy politicisation of a very serious situation and I thought Mark Drakeford was party to that," said Hart."It wasn't necessarily about political advantage."The consequence, said Hart, was messaging to the public that was not as clear as it might have been to "minimise the risk of the pandemic causing even more mayhem". Hart said he wrote the book to ask the question "what went wrong?" between December 2019 and July 2024, when the Conservatives went from an 80-seat majority to a general election "drubbing".In a separate interview with BBC Politics Wales, to be broadcast on Sunday, he said "we have to ask ourselves the question, how on earth did this happen?""That is a spectacular fall from grace and, unless we're prepared to look in the mirror and say 'ok let's be serious about what we did well and what we did badly', we will continue to make those mistakes.""I don't think it makes particularly comfortable reading at times", he told "went from comedy to tragedy very quickly, as I went from being patient and well-meaning to irritable and disillusioned at times, if I was honest", he stopped short of saying the Conservative Party was "ungovernable", characterising his account as more of a "description of politics more generally"."Keir Starmer suddenly found he was hitting exactly the same headwinds as we'd hit fairly early on in his tenure," said Hart."Big majority, new government, all of that - yet it was still difficult." 'Bumps in the road' On his time as chief whip, Hart's book contains anonymised and shocking stories of MPs in various compromising positions - including accounts of sexual harassment and visits to brothels."The examples I've put in the book probably occur in other industries too, it's not unique to politics," he said."Perhaps the scrutiny around politics is a little bit more intense."To Politics Wales he said he does not think candidates, MPs and ministers are given "the proper amount of support, training, mentoring, guidance that would be absolutely standard practice in a normal workplace"."They were actually very good people who just hit a lot of bumps in the road. "Had we done enough to help them avoid those kind of catastrophes? "Not always, I don't think we did it that well."The Walescast interview is available on BBC Sounds and the BBC Politics Wales interview will be broadcast on Sunday 9 March 10:00 GMT on BBC One Wales and can then be seen on BBC iPlayer
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Yahoo
Exclusion for knives 'too simple', says Estyn chief
Understanding why children bring knives into school is better than a blanket exclusion policy, the chief inspector of Welsh education inspectorate Estyn has said. Owen Evans said the "easy answer" was to ban or exclude but he believed there needed to be more nuance. He said there were multiple reasons why a child might bring a knife into school and a one-size-fits-all policy would not work. But the NASUWT union's national officer for Wales, Neil Butler, described the suggestions as "most unhelpful" and said immediate exclusions needed to be a priority to keep everyone safe. 'I'm going to kill you' - how school day turned to chaos amid stabbing Colleague saved my life, says stabbed teacher Mr Evans was talking after a 14-year-old girl was convicted of the attempted murder of three people during a school stabbing in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. "You may have a child that has every potential for redemption but they have fallen into bad practice and we cannot exclude those people from society," he told Walescast. "I think you need to look at why. A lot of children who bring knives to school feel threatened themselves or they feel that other people are bringing knives to school. "We need to tackle the root issues that sit behind that decision," he added. Although knife attacks in Welsh schools are rare, Mr Evans said "we need to learn from it". Bridgend council said it would launch a group to find out "what is going on" after police were called to Bryntirion Comprehensive last week after reports a knife had been found in a boy's bag, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Drive, Mr Butler agreed there needed to be an understanding as to why a child would bring a knife to school, but said the approach could not be nuanced. He described Mr Evans' comments that exclusion shuts out pupils from society as "nonsense" and said exclusion was necessary to keep pupils and educators safe. "If that child who has carried a knife into school is to stay there whilst the psychology professionals assess them, they continue to be a danger to other children in the school," he said. He said exclusion would not mean the end of education for the child, but rather the child could seek out education in a "more suitable setting" other than a mainstream school. "It must be clear that is the outcome, that is the consequence of taking part in that criminal, dangerous behaviour of that school," he said. "It's as simple as that really," he said, adding "we have got to nip this in the bud, we must stop this now and that means clear exclusions for that kind of behaviour". Estyn is currently preparing for the release of its annual report on the state of education and training across Wales. Mr Evans said it could see behavioural issues were increasing in schools. "It isn't across absolutely everything, but low-level disruption and also these more complex needs we are seeing more of. "In primary schools we are seeing children who are not potty trained. Since the pandemic, we are seeing young people coming into schools who can't speak, who can't communicate. "That is an issue," he added. He said there needed to be more support for pupils, teachers and schools but accepted there were issues with capacity. "Where you have strong leadership, clear and consistently applied policies to behaviour and when you have good support measures wrapped around child and the family you can make a real difference to behaviours in that setting. "The support services around that school need to be in a position to pick that up and that at the moment is difficult. "Demand after the pandemic has almost doubled," he said. Wales' Education Secretary Lynne Neagle said a behavioural summit would be held next year to tackle the "complex" problems facing schools. Call for security guards at school gates after stabbing 'Unfair' to call parents into school to change nappies Classroom violence drives teachers from profession
BBC News
06-02-2025
- BBC News
Ammanford school stabbing: Knife exclusions 'too simple'
Understanding why children bring knives into school is better than a blanket exclusion policy, the chief inspector of Welsh education inspectorate Estyn has said. Owen Evans said the "easy answer" was to ban or exclude but he believed there needed to be more nuance. He said there were multiple reasons why a child might bring a knife into school and a one-size-fits-all policy would not work. He was talking after a 14-year-old girl was convicted of the attempted murder of three people during a school stabbing in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. "You may have a child that has every potential for redemption but they have fallen into bad practice and we cannot exclude those people from society," Mr Evans told Walescast. "I think you need to look at why. A lot of children who bring knives to school feel threatened themselves or they feel that other people are bringing knives to school."We need to tackle the root issues that sit behind that decision," he added. Although knife attacks in Welsh schools are rare, Mr Evans said "we need to learn from it". Estyn is currently preparing for the release of its annual report on the state of education and training across Evans said it could see behavioural issues were increasing in schools. "It isn't across absolutely everything, but low-level disruption and also these more complex needs we are seeing more of."In primary schools we are seeing children who are not potty trained. Since the pandemic, we are seeing young people coming into schools who can't speak, who can't communicate. "That is an issue," he added. He said there needed to be more support for pupils, teachers and schools but accepted there were issues with capacity."Where you have strong leadership, clear and consistently applied policies to behaviour and when you have good support measures wrapped around child and the family you can make a real difference to behaviours in that setting."The support services around that school need to be in a position to pick that up and that at the moment is difficult."Demand after the pandemic has almost doubled," he said. Wales' Education Secretary Lynne Neagle said a behavioural summit would be held next year to tackle the "complex" problems facing schools.
