(Title Image: BBC Wales)
Steel-maker confirms 1,000 UK job loses
Tata Steel’s European division has confirmed that 1,000 jobs – said to be mainly office-based – are to be cut from its UK operations by March 2021.
Steelworkers union Community said the announcement was poorly timed and called for Tata to reconsider its strategy, blaming the lack of a Plan B following its collapsed merger with Thyssenkrupp.
The Economy & Transport Minister said: “Tata Steel has previously confirmed that they intend to seek to avoid compulsory redundancies and I will be impressing on the company the importance of standing by this commitment.”
Swansea regeneration work to start
Work has begun on a £135million regeneration project in Swansea city centre, which will eventually include a new arena, housing, offices and retail space. Funding was released by the Welsh Government to build a bridge linking the arena site on the waterfront with the city centre.
A Swansea Council cabinet member told BBC Wales: “Swansea needs to reinvent itself, like all cities throughout the UK. Retailing has changed so, therefore, you’ve got to have the leisure attraction, people living and working in the city to make it a vibrant city.”
Black bag waste cut by almost a fifth in six years
The amount of domestic landfill waste produced by Welsh households has reportedly fallen by 17% since 2013 according to the latest waste management figures.
The proportion of domestic waste reused or recycled remained at 63% – the same percentage as 2018.
There were calls for more to be done to address plastic waste. Surfers Against Sewage told BBC Wales: “every time I was walking on the beach I saw the tide bring in new plastic”.
Increase in domestic violence reports
The number of reports of domestic violence in Wales has increased by 83% since 2015, with the North Wales Police area seeing the sharpest increase overall. In total there were just over 41,500 reports during 2018-19 compared to 18,960 in 2015-16.
The increase was said to be down to increased confidence in reporting domestic abuse incidents. The figures were published days after a report from the Wales Audit Office picked out weaknesses in domestic abuse services since the introduction of the Domestic Violence Act 2015.
No secret recording devices found at the Senedd
The Llywydd confirmed to BBC Wales that no secret recording devices have been found on the Assembly estate following an internal security sweep which was launched after an AM recorded the private conversations of the former Standards Commissioner and his staff.
The Assembly Commission confirmed that a police investigation was still ongoing.
