5 4 South Wales Echo Wednesday, 26 October, 2011 Wednesday, 26 October, 2011 South Wales Echo

Max Boyce appears

live at Aberdare
ABERDARE Veteran entertainer
Max Boyce will return to Rhondda
Cynon Taf for a concert
tomorrow.
A full 38 years after he shot to
fame after releasing his album
Live At Treorchy, he is appearing
at the Coliseum Theatre in
Aberdare.
Coun Robert Bevan, cabinet
member for culture, said: Max is
an icon and we are proud to
bring him to a stage near you.
Bertin to stand for
Barry Court ward
BARRY An Independent
councillor has announced he will
be standing for the Barry Court
ward in 2012.
Richard Bertin, who was first
elected in 1999, quit the Labour
Party after allegations of bullying
and will now stand as an
Independent in next years local
elections.
He said: It would be a great
honour and privilege to serve the
Court Ward again.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Welsh student applications fall
Police hunt pair who
attacked man in street
A MAN was grabbed by the throat
and punched several times before
being kicked by two robbers who
stole his mobile phone and wallet.
The attack happened yesterday
at around 5.20am on Thesiger
Street in Cathays, Cardiff.
The victim originally began
talking to his attackers as they
drove past in a Peugeot 207 car.
After they had stopped, one of
the men got out the car and held
the victim against a wall by his
throat before punching him
several times.
Having fallen to the floor, the
victim was then kicked by the
second man.
Both men then searched his
pockets before taking his mobile
phone and his wallet.
Police are now investigating
and are trying to trace the two
attackers and their car.
The first is described being
white, around 5ft 6ins tall and
was wearing a grey hoodie and
grey tracksuit bottoms.
The second is also described as
being white, around 6ft 2ins tall,
wearing a black hoodie and
jeans.
Anyone with information is
asked to call Cardiff CID on 029
2052 7420 or Crimestoppers
anonymously on 0800 555 111.
THE number of
Welsh students
applying for a place
at university has
fallen, new figures
have shown.
Data released
yesterday by the
Universities and
Colleges Admissions
Service (Ucas)
reveals that there
were 8.3% fewer
applications this
week than at the
same time last year.
In the first snapshot
of 2012 trends, there
were 2,004
applications from
Welsh students 182
down on the 2011
intake.
The drop is the
smallest of the UK
nations, with Welsh
students seemingly
feeling the benefit of
next years tuition fee
subsidy.
The Welsh
Government will
ensure
Welsh-domiciled
learners continue to
pay around 3,400 for
their studies from
September 2012,
despite a trebling of
tuition fees.
But a marked fall in
the number of
English learners, who
do not have the
benefit of a
government subsidy,
applying to courses in
Wales will be of
concern to Education
Minister Leighton
Andrews.
Staff workingfor neighbouringVale
of Glamorgancouncil eachtookthree
days fewer sick.
A council spokesman said: The
council has 18,000 employees and
unlike some local authorities, has
in-house services such as waste man-
agement andsocial serviceswhichare
not office-basedjobs andtraditionally
have higher rates of sickness due to
the nature of their work.
Significant progress has been
made in reducing sickness levels,
however continuing to improve man-
aging absence across the council re-
mains a priority she added.
The council also highlightedits suc-
cess in reducing the average number
of days lost to sickness per employee
from 13.3 in 2007/8.
The spokesperson added: In cases
of persistent absences and when all
other avenues have
been explored, the
council does resort to
dismissal.
In 2010/11, there
were 108 dismissals
which is a 69% in-
crease on 2009/10.
Despite the council
first identifying sick-
ness as a problem in 2005, measures
put inplacetotackletheissueappear
to have been applied only sporad-
ically.
Schools in Cardiff reported 9,367
separate staff absences over the
course of 2010. Only 4,153 of these
resulted in the recommended return
to work interview des-
pite reminders from
council officers.
The level of ab-
sences by school staff
was so severe that the
mutual supply fund
through which Cardiff
schools pay cover staff
was 20% overspent in
2010 requiring contributions from all
local schools to cover the shortfall.
Emma Boon, campaign director of
the Taxpayers Alliance, said that the
scale of the absences suggests that
there is a deeper problemthat needs
addressing.
Giventhe current pressures onthe
public finances it is crucial that sick-
ness rates are reduced where pos-
sible, as everydaylost costs taxpayers
money, she added.
The bill to taxpayers comes against
the backdrop of savage reductions in
council expenditure.
In February 22m in spending cuts
were announced in the citys annual
budget.
The money spent on agency cover
staff alonewouldhavebeensufficient
to keep open the last two council-run
care homes, Roaths Ty Mawr Home
andCaeGlas HomeinRumney. Their
closure was announced earlier this
year in a bid to save 1.15m.
As part of efficiency savings
amounting to 8.7m, 350 jobs are to
be axed, whilst grants to community
schemessuchasgymnasticsclubsand
youth groups have been culled.
The council had previously been
under fire for proposals to spend
13.9m over two years on salary rises
aimedat balancinggender inequality
in pay.
A workplace health survey pub-
lishedbytheCBI andPfizer earlier in
the year claimed that British workers
take 190 million sick days a year,
costing employers 17bn.
A CULTURE of sickness absence at
Cardiff council cost the taxpayer al-
most 17m of public money last year,
an internal report has revealed.
Employees at the local authority
took an average of 11.5 days off each
as a result of illness costing the
council 15.1m in sick pay.
A further 1.7m was spent hiring
agency staff as cover.
Theeye-wateringscaleof thebill for
sickness absence comes amid severe
cuts imposed on the authority as a
result of a drop in its real-terms fund-
ing from the Welsh Government.
Theworst rateof absencewas inthe
councils waste services department,
where employees took an average of
21 days off ill last year, treble the
national average of 6.5 days.
At one stage, almost one in every
seven employees in the department
were off sick.
Across the council, more than 100
people were sacked last year as a
result of their sickness absence
records.
Thefindings of thereport havebeen
condemned as deplorable by one
councillor, while campaign group the
Taxpayers Alliance said the figures
were evidence of a deeper prob-
lem.
Other departments with a partic-
ularly high rate of absence included
adult services, whichincludes carefor
theelderlyanddisabled, alsosuffered
from high rates of absence.
Workers in the department took an
average of 18.5 days off with poor
health.
The internal report by the councils
own policy review and performance
committee citedcultural factors con-
tributing to high absenteeism and
suggested measures ranging from
fundingMRI scansat privateclinicsto
providing complimentary therapies in
order to address the problem.
Incentives suchas prizedraws, small
gifts, letters of recognition and ad-
ditional annual leave were also con-
sidered in the report.
These were eventually rejected as
attendance is a contractual require-
ment which should not require in-
centivisation.
Conservative councillor Craig
Williams blasted the statistics as
absolutely deplorable.
The council has spent six years
trying to crack this problem and an
enormous amount of money has been
wasted, he added.
Citing staff morale as a huge is-
sue, Coun Williams suggested that
the council uses the forthcoming job
evaluations it has planned for all staff
to address what he described as the
endemic problem of absenteeism.
While public sector employees are
more likely than workers in the
private sector to take days off unwell,
the problem is particularly acute in
Cardiff.
In 2009/10 the council was the third
worst performing of the 22 Welsh
councils for absenteeism.
Sickness absence at Cardiff council cost the taxpayer almost 17m last year
COUNCILS
17M BILL
FOR STAFF
ON THE SICK
Calls for authority to tackle employee absence that is draining resources as workers take 11 days off through illness a year
Thomas Pascoe
echo.newsdesk@walesonline.co.uk
Given the current
pressures on the
public finances it is
crucial that sickness
rates are reduced
SICKNESS DAYS AT
CARDIFF COUNCIL
Average sickness days per
employee in 2010/11: 11.45
Average sickness days per
employee (waste management
department): 21
Target for 2011/12: 10.7
National average: 6.5
Cost of wages for sick staff:
15.1m
Cost of agency staff acting
as cover: 1.7m
Source: Cardiff Council,
CBI/Pfizer Absence and Workplace
Health Survey
Conservative councillor Craig
Williams and Emma Boon, campaign
director of the Taxpayers Alliance
Lynette superintendent absolutely livid over his arrest
A RETIRED police
superintendent called for an
apology from officers who
arrested him and accused him
of fitting up the Cardiff
Five for the murder of Lynette
White.
Richard Powell, 60, told
Swansea Crown Court that he
was absolutely livid that
officers believed the
fabrications of a proven liar
over the word of an officer
who had retired with the
thanks of the chief constable
of South Wales Police.
Mr Powell was an inspector
when Miss White was stabbed
to death in a flat at 7 James
Street, Cardiff, in the early
hours of February 14, 1988.
In the aftermath of the
murder the Cardiff Five spent
two years in jail awaiting trial.
Three of them spent a further
two years in prison after
being found guilty. The
convictions were quashed in
1992.
Now eight former police
officers who helped to
prepare the case against them
are on trial accused of
conspiring to pervert the
course of justice. They have
pleaded not guilty.
In 2003, advances in DNA
led to the arrest of Jeffrey
Gafoor, who admitted murder
and is serving a life sentence.
A jury at Swansea Crown
Court heard that Mr Powell
was a divisional inspector at
the time and had been
involved in the early stages of
the inquiry. He transferred to
other duties in the summer of
1988 and returned to the
investigation when the Cardiff
Five were arrested in
December, 1988.
Mr Powell was arrested in
July 2005.
Officers told him that Mark
Grommek had complained
that he had lied to a jury
about what he saw and heard
on February 14 only because
the police had forced him to.
Mr Powell, he alleged, had
threatened to put him in jail
unless he provided the
statement officers wanted.
Mr Powell said: He is a
proven liar. As far as I know
when I was called back in all
this [the interviewing of
potential witnesses] had been
done. I was not involved.
Mr Powell described the
allegations as a complete
fabrication.
He told the court: I am
being unlawfully detained
here. I want a complete and
absolute apology.
Mr Powell said he kept a
meticulous diary and if the
officers could find it, and his
pocket notebooks from the
day, they would see that he
had not been involved in the
interviewing of Mr Grommek.
Mr Powell retired in 2003.
(proceeding)
Richard Powell denies
conspiring to pervert the course
of justice
Multi-million plan to build 1,800 homes considered
CONTROVERSIAL
proposals to build 1,850
houses next to the Dragon
International Film Studios
site near Brynna will be
put under the microscope
on November 10.
The multi-million pound
scheme on former
opencast land at Llanilid
by Cofton (Wales) Ltd, also
includes community and
leisure facilities, a primary
school, medical centre,
supermarket, shops and
offices.
But the projects critics
argue it is only being
considered after the
Valleywood project, which
promised 1,700 jobs from a
movie studios and theme
park, ran into trouble.
A special meeting of
Rhondda Cynon Taf
councils Development
Control Committee will
consider the scheme along
with three objections.
Residents have
expressed concerns that
the scale of the
development could take
pressure on jobs, roads
and schools in the area
past bursting point.
The 76-hectare site is one
of eight sites earmarked
by the council for major
development.
For Cofton, property
advisers Savills insist
sustainability is at the
heart of its plans, with a
network of footpaths and
cycleways planned.
It says that 70% of the
140 people who viewed its
public exhibition locally
supported the scheme.
Previously, its head of
planning, Geraint John,
said: The plans include a
wide range of facilities
which will not only create
a great sense of
community for residents at
Parc Llanilid but will also
benefit those people
already living in and
around the area.
This is a longstanding
regeneration project and
the submission of this
application marks an
important milestone
towards delivering
development on the site.
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