The Invitation to Tender (ITT) has been advertised on the Sell2Wales ePortal.

The PSO air service will:

• improve accessibility, enabling the opening up of new markets and encouraging greater investment in North West Wales
• support the tourism sector by improving access to the region

The new operator will be encouraged to maximise patronage on the route through strategically focused pricing and marketing plans and to use innovative yield management approaches to maximise social inclusion.

The operator must comply with the Civilian Aviation regulations for Disabled Persons and Persons of Reduced Mobility.

Transport Secretary Ken Skates said:

“The Cardiff to Anglesey air service has seen significant passenger growth during the last 12 months. I aim to further develop this growth and the travel opportunities provided by this vital link between north and south Wales by securing a new operator for the service for the next four years.

We are looking to secure a reliable, experienced, established operator who shares our ambition to grow and develop the Cardiff to Anglesey route including working with us on options to move to a larger aircraft and to deliver improved connectivity for north Wales.”

The new guidance forms part of a range of Welsh Government initiatives that will contribute to preventing obesity in Wales, and help ensure more children can achieve and maintain a healthy weight as they grow and develop.

Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething and Minister for Children, Huw Irranca-Davies are launching a 12 week consultation on new standards and best practice guidance for food and nutrition, such as the provision of meals, snacks and drinks for 1-12 year olds in childcare settings. 

Children attending childcare settings from a young age may be receiving up to 90% of their food and nutritional intake, including snacks and drinks, in those settings, if they attend full day care. Encouraging children to eat a balanced diet made up of a variety of nutritious foods can help establish positive eating habits to take into later life and adulthood. 

The new standards and guidance includes accompanying menus and recipes for settings. It aims to support settings to meet the childcare regulations for food and drink, but to also help parents in being more aware of what settings offer their children.

The guidance sets out up-to-date, evidence-based food standards and how to implement them in practice so that childcare settings can:

• Serve a range of tasty, nutritious meals to help develop good eating habits
• Ensure portion sizes are appropriate for the age of the children
• Serve snacks that are nutritious, with little or no sugar and salt
• Provide healthy drinks that are hydrating and protective to teeth i.e milk and water. 

The Child Measurement Programme for 2017 shows that around a quarter of children (27.4%) aged 4-5years old are classified as overweight/obese in Wales. 

Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething said:

“Eating nutritious food is essential for children in their early years. This helps to achieve healthy growth and development, protect teeth from decay and sets the foundations for their future health and wellbeing. 

“Nutrition guidelines are only one element of this Government’s work to prevent and reduce levels of obesity. Through the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017, we are developing a 10 year strategy to put in place the building blocks that will help us halt and ultimately reduce levels of obesity and increase the proportion of people who are a healthy weight.”

Ministers will launch a consultation on the obesity strategy later this year which will aim to test a range of ideas and proposals with communities across Wales.

Minister for Children, Huw Irranca-Davies said:

“Our vision is for children from all backgrounds to have the best start in life. 

“The early years can have a positive influence on food preferences as a toddler begins to have a decisive say in the foods they choose to eat. The evidence shows that eating habits adopted in early years will be taken forward into later childhood and adult life. 

“Childcare settings provide an ideal opportunity to encourage young children to eat well and learn about food.”

Housing and Regeneration Minister, Rebecca Evans and Minister for Children, Older People and Social Care, Huw Irranca-Davies made the announcement during a visit to an Extra Care housing and care scheme being built in Maesteg. 

The Integrated Care Fund, set up to support the integration of health, social care and housing , will receive a £75m boost over three years, in a bid to create more large-scale housing which integrates social care as well as other innovative approaches to the integration of health and social care. This capital funding is in addition to the £50m revenue element of the Fund announced in April this year. 

The fund will support the aims of “A Healthier Wales: our Plan for Health and Social Care” – which recognises the significant role appropriate housing can play in moving health and social services closer to communities.

The fund will help improve long term planning and increase the focus on how homes can make a difference to health. 

Appropriate housing can support people to maintain their independence and can provide the right environment for people leaving hospital – reducing delays in discharging patients. It can also support older people, people with dementia or learning disabilities, or complex needs, and enable social services to provide them with more effective care. All of this can help the NHS and social services operate more effectively.

Rebecca Evans and Huw Irranca-Davies visited the site of Maesteg Extra Care Scheme, a development of bungalows, extra care apartments and residential care bedrooms and a range of communal facilities including dining room, lounge, laundry room, salon, activity rooms and communal gardens. The scheme is due to be completed in November this year and will provide housing for older and vulnerable people in the local area. 

Rebecca Evans said:

“This significant funding boost is aimed at helping those who need it to receive the right support, whether they are older people with complex needs and long term conditions, people with learning disabilities, children with complex health needs, or carers. 

“We recognise how important housing can be to health. Housing can make a real difference in the lives of people – helping older people stay independent and out of care homes or hospital, for example.

“A three year programme will allow health boards, councils, housing associations and other bodies to plan carefully and manage larger projects to meet the needs of people locally. I am looking forward to seeing many more projects like this one come to fruition.”

Huw Irranca-Davies said:

“This significant increase in funding will help to deliver more projects that help people to live the lives they want to lead, while meeting their healthcare, or social care needs. 

“Crucially, it will also help ensure that people can be discharged to appropriate support when they no longer need a hospital bed, freeing up NHS resources. 

“Not all the funding will be about delivering housing-based projects, but we will continue to focus on providing seamless services, care closer to home, and helping people to live independent lives.”

“This is a bold strategy which reflects the diversity of opportunity our woodlands and trees offer and the essential part they play in our lives. I am determined that people who want to plant trees have certainty about the kind of woodland we need and the places where trees can be planted.  In the right place, it should be straightforward to plant the right tree. 

“Woodlands and trees play a vital role in Wales and bring a wide range of benefits for our environment, our economy and our own health and well-being. I welcome the updated ‘Woodlands for Wales’, which supports woodland expansion, responsible woodland management and is a strategy which can be taken forward with confidence.” 

The latest statistics from the UK Department of International Trade show that in the 2017-18 financial year,  overseas companies created 3107 new jobs in Wales – an increase of more than 20% on the previous year’s figures. 

Meanwhile the number of overseas jobs safeguarded stood at 1515 taking the total number of overseas jobs supported to 4622. 

The new jobs were the result of 57 foreign direct investment projects based in Wales , with 53 of these  of these supported by the Welsh Government. Of these 57 projects, 30 came from companies based in Europe, 15 came from companies based in North America, nine came from Asia Pacific and three came from the Middle East. 

In addition Wales attracted  80 projects from other parts of the UK and benefitted from 14 multi sited projects that were part of wider UK investments. 

Economy Secretary, Ken Skates said: 

“These latest figures, and the 20% increase in new jobs created in Wales by overseas companies,  shows that Wales continues to have a strong record in attracting inward investment. This success is providing a real boost to our economy and  translating into thousands of new and safeguarded jobs in communities right across Wales. 

“Inward investment, alongside growth of indigenous business remains a key driver of our economy and our Economic Action Plan sets out how we will continue to maximise opportunities to bring further investment and jobs here  to Wales.

“Over the last year we are a proud to have welcomed Spanish company CAF to Wales, who will build our first modern train manufacturing facility, creating 300 new jobs in the process. Meanwhile following Welsh Government support for companies such as Dubai based Hotpack Packaging, KK Fine Foods and life sciences firm Ipsen are creating hundreds of jobs in North Wales. 

“These sorts of wins can have huge impact on our economy and we will continue working hard to build on our success.”

The statistics also show that the total number of Welsh Government supported jobs fell significantly when compared with the previous year. The Economy Secretary explained that the 2016-17 job supported  figure was unusually high. This was because it had included  the safeguarding of nearly 7000 jobs at Tata that were secured following a package of Welsh government support.