News

AM leads debate on safety of children online

Published

11 years ago

November 27, 2013

REBECCA EVANS AM, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, has led a debate at the National Assembly for Wales on the safety of children online.

Mrs Evans brought forward the debate at the Senedd to explore the dangers facing children online following a series of tragic and high profile cases tied to internet use, and the publication of several pieces of research highlighting the challenges facing children online.

Mrs Evans told the Assembly that although the role of internet service providers, search engines and social networks in protecting children lay beyond the scope of the Assembly, “to shrug our shoulders and say that the challenges are too big, or that it is just not our job would absolve us from our responsibility to use every opportunity that we do have in Wales to equip children, parents, teachers, youth workers and so on with resilience, knowledge and support, so that they are best able to deal with the challenges faced by children online day in, day out.”

Mrs Evans explored peer-to-peer issues such as bullying and exploitation, as well as stranger dangers including online grooming, and easy access to explicit adult material which may be extreme or violent in its content.

Mrs Evans said: “Most children now have a phone with internet access and nine out of 10 of them say that there are no parental restrictions on its use. For most children, their virtual lives are synonymous with their real lives, and what happens online affects them offline.”

Tackling cyberbullying

After the recent publication of a Funky Dragon survey which found that over a third of 11 to 17-year-olds in Wales who had been bullied had suffered from cyberbullying, Mrs Evans asked the Welsh Government how it was addressing the unique challenges posed by bullying online.

Mrs Evans said: “Online bullying is relentless; it is 24/7 and it follows bullied children everywhere that they go. They carry it around on the phone in their pocket.”

The Children’s Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler has also echoed these concerns. Responding to the debate, the Deputy Minister announced that “As part of the 2013 Anti–bullying Week, from 18 to 22 November, the Welsh Government will be launching a campaign to raise awareness of cyberbullying and to highlight where to go for help.”

A force for good too

Mrs Evans ended her contribution by being clear that she “did not want to give the impression that cyberspace is a wholly dangerous and nightmarish place to be avoided at all costs.”

“In fact,” she said, “it is quite the opposite. Access to the internet can be incredibly enriching. Children can talk to other children thousands of miles away and develop global citizenship and a sense of responsibility to other people on the other side of the planet. They can have fun and stay in touch with friends, and it is a wonderful learning environment and research tool, a gateway to almost limitless knowledge, and a forum to develop skills and ideas.

“By educating children and those who protect and support them about the safe use of the internet, including recognising danger and the importance of privacy settings and content blocks, for example, we can make the internet a much safer place for them. By helping children to put what they see and experience online into context offline we can build their resilience. There is a huge amount of very good work already taking place in Wales by parents, schools, the third sector, police and others, and I would ask the Government to explore how we could bring all of this good practice together to make the internet a safer place for children.”

Mrs Evans looks forward to meeting with the Deputy Minister in order to further discuss actions to ensure the safety of children online.

Let’s talk about sexts

Modern trends such as sexting – the act of sending sexually explicit messages, photographs, or video content, primarily between mobile phones – are causing children’s charities in Wales concern.

Speaking in the debate, Mrs Evans said: “NSPCC Cymru and ChildLine have warned that many children are frequently taking big risks when making and sending sexual texts, photos and videos of themselves. They found that sexting is considered a normal, everyday activity among young people as young as 13 years old, with around a quarter of them having made photographs or videos to send on to others. Barnardo’s Cymru has also identified what it calls peer-based exploitation as an increasing trend.”

Mrs Evans warned that once the image has been sent on, it is out of the young person’s control and told the Assembly that the Internet Watch Foundation has reported that images are regularly shared around school, uploaded to social networks and sometimes find their way on to paedophile websites. In just 40 hours, an IWF analyst found more than 12,000 images of teens that were originally sent as texts on 70 paedophile websites.

Mrs Evans said that after seeing calls about sexting rise by 28% last year, ChildLine has developed a “fantastic app” called Zipit, which provides witty and safe comebacks that children and young people can use to reply when faced with requests for explicit photos. She asked the Deputy Minister for Skills, Ken Skates AM, to consider how the Welsh Government could promote the app and similar resources.

Responding to the debate, the Deputy Minister asked Mrs Evans to meet with him and his officials to discuss in further detail how sexting can best be addressed.

Parents have a big role to play

Mrs Evans told the Assembly that parents were “probably the most important defence that children have against the darkest elements of the internet,” but added that they sometimes needed support to be able to fulfil that role.

She referred to research by web safety organisation Knowthenet which suggested that some parents may be failing to protect their children in cyberspace, simply because they do not understand the net speak that peppers online exchanges.

Mrs Evans said: “For many parents, their understanding of everyday slang starts and ends with ‘LOL’, but they can be sure that their children’s vocabulary is much wider. A Knowthenet survey of 1,000 parents found that the least understood term was ‘LMIRL’, which means ‘Let’s meet in real life’. Also among the least-known acronyms were ‘ASL’, which means age, sex, location and ‘POS’, parents over shoulder.”

Business

UK’s largest semiconductor facility secures major investment

Published

2 minutes ago

March 27, 2025

Tom Sinclair

Newport factory to support 500 new jobs and play vital role in EV supply chain

WALES is set to benefit from a £250 million investment into its advanced manufacturing sector, as US tech giant Vishay Intertechnology commits to expanding operations at the UK’s largest semiconductor facility in Newport.

The investment is a major vote of confidence in Wales’s industrial capabilities and will further strengthen South Wales’s status as home to the world’s first Compound Semiconductor Cluster. It comes as part of the UK government’s Plan for Change to grow the economy, support skilled jobs, and enhance national resilience in critical sectors.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will visit the Newport site today (Thursday, March 27) to formally welcome the investment, which will boost production of Silicon Carbide semiconductors—an essential component in electric vehicles (EVs). These next-generation chips enable faster battery charging, improved energy efficiency, and extended driving ranges.

The development is expected to directly create over 500 high-value, highly-skilled jobs in Newport and support hundreds more across the wider supply chain. The project is backed by the UK’s Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), which supports innovation and domestic supply in critical technologies such as semiconductors.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Under this government, the UK is open for business. This is exactly the type of investment that will help us grow the economy, create highly-skilled jobs, and boost opportunity across the country, as we deliver on our Plan for Change to get more money into working people’s pockets.”

The investment follows the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, where she announced a “new era of security and national renewal.” The Office for Budget Responsibility has upgraded growth forecasts for 2026 and beyond, with households expected to be £500 better off per year by the end of this Parliament compared to under the previous government.

The announcement marks a major step in the UK’s ambition to become a global leader in advanced manufacturing. From 2010 to 2023, the UK saw the fastest growth in manufacturing productivity per job among G7 nations.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:
“This is a huge vote of confidence in the Welsh economy and our plans to make Britain the destination of choice for investment in the industries of tomorrow. Vishay’s investment will help secure a domestic supply of semiconductors for our world-leading automotive and clean energy sectors—key drivers of long-term economic growth.”

Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens added:
“This massive investment by Vishay and the UK Government is a huge boost for Wales’s world-leading semiconductor industry. It will build on the success of our advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, and defence sectors—creating and supporting hundreds of skilled, well-paid jobs across South Wales.”

Vishay’s Chief Operating Officer for Semiconductors and Chief Technology Officer, Roy Shoshani, said:
“This is an exciting moment and the beginning of our growth journey in the UK. With a skilled workforce and strong government backing through the Industrial Strategy, the UK has an opportunity to lead in advanced semiconductor manufacturing—enhancing economic security and helping deliver Net Zero.”

The investment coincides with the Chancellor’s participation in the Invest in Women Taskforce roundtable in Wales, which has secured over £250 million in funding commitments for female entrepreneurs.

The Automotive Transformation Fund—delivered in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)—has already helped unlock more than £6 billion in private sector investment for the UK’s transition to zero-emission vehicles. In addition, the Autumn Budget committed over £2 billion to capital and R&D funding for zero-emission vehicle manufacturing over the next five years.

Mike Hawes, Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said:
“This significant investment in compound semiconductors is a huge contribution to the innovation and advanced technology necessary to drive the future of UK automotive. British-made next-generation semiconductors will create jobs, support supply chains, and enhance the UK’s strategic capabilities.”

Community

West Wales millionaire on the move: Dad drove for months with £1m winning ticket

Published

34 minutes ago

March 27, 2025

Tom Sinclair

A ROUTINE trip to the car to grab a half-eaten bag of crisps turned into a life-changing moment for one west Wales family – when dad Darren Burfitt discovered a forgotten EuroMillions ticket worth £1 million.

Darren, 44, a greenkeeper at Langland Bay Golf Club, Swansea, had kept a handful of lottery tickets in the central console of his grey Citroen DS4 – a place he thought was safe but hadn’t checked in months.

“I kept meaning to scan them, but just never got around to it,” Darren said. “That Sunday morning, my son asked for some crisps and I remembered there was a bag in the car. While I was there, I grabbed the tickets and scanned them on the app.”

One ticket returned a modest £3.60 win, but a crumpled one wouldn’t scan at all.

“It was so scrunched up I had to manually check it against the results,” he said. “When I saw the date and matching Millionaire Maker code, I couldn’t believe it. I just kept checking it over and over.”

It then dawned on him: the winning ticket had been sitting in his unlocked car for four months.

“My car is basically a shed on wheels, held together with mud,” Darren laughed. “I never lock it – there’s nothing of value in there. I dread to think what could have happened!”

His wife Gemma, 34, a teaching assistant, was away overnight at the time. “When I called her, my voice was shaking. She thought something terrible had happened to the kids. When I finally blurted out that we’d won £1 million, she just wouldn’t believe me.”

The couple, who have a four-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, are now planning to buy their first home. Darren also hopes to swap out the unreliable Citroen for a family pick-up truck.

“I’ve always dreamt of seeing the Ashes in Australia,” he added, “but first up is a truck that can get us out on even more adventures.”

Gemma added: “It still doesn’t feel real. I keep pinching myself. We’ve always loved our family caravan holidays, but this changes everything. It gives us real security for our future – and for the kids’ future.”

Darren bought the winning EuroMillions ticket at Morrisons Daily in Penllergaer on the way to a caravan break. The winning draw took place on October 18, 2024, and the ticket matched the Millionaire Maker code JDDF38095, securing the £1 million prize.

Every EuroMillions ticket played in the UK includes a Millionaire Maker code, creating a new millionaire in every draw.

Beyond the chance to win, playing the National Lottery also helps support good causes. Around £30 million is raised each week, funding arts, sports, community groups, and heritage projects across the UK. Since its launch, more than £50 billion has been raised for Good Causes nationwide.

Business

Pembrokeshire consultant shortlisted for UK Startup Award

Published

60 minutes ago

March 27, 2025

Tom Sinclair

CERI CRICHTON, a Pembrokeshire-based business consultant specialising in supporting charities and social enterprises, has been nominated for the UK Startup Awards in the Business, Consulting & Management StartUp of the Year category.

In just two years, her consultancy business, The Round House, has helped organisations secure nearly £1 million in funding, supporting vital initiatives that drive social change.
Ceri founded The Round House to ensure small charities and social enterprises receive the kind of practical, hands-on business support that larger organisations often take for granted.

Her work focuses on building financial confidence, strengthening governance, and helping organisations plan for long-term sustainability.

Her expertise spans fundraising, business planning, project management, and governance, enabling charities and social enterprises to grow, innovate, and deliver impactful work in their communities.

Among the organisations she has supported are Get The Boys a Lift, SNAP Specialist Play, Pembrokeshire Action for the Homeless, VC Gallery and Pembroke Town Walls Trust, along with many others that benefit from her tailored approach.

Speaking about her nomination, Ceri said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be shortlisted for this award. At The Round House, its all about collaboration and fresh thinking to help charities and social enterprises do what they do best. There are a lot of pressures facing the third sector right now, and I feel proud to support the hard work of my wonderful clients across South Wales. It’s amazing to see the difference focus and funding can make, and I feel privileged to be part of that work.”

Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, the creator of the UK StartUp Awards, said: “New businesses are the driving force behind any thriving economy, generating employment, pioneering innovation, and contributing to prosperity across the UK. This year’s finalists embody the very best of entrepreneurial spirit – spotting opportunities and, through dedication, skill, and resilience, turning them into thriving ventures that are making a tangible difference. More importantly, all the winners will go on to represent their region at the 2025 UK National StartUp Awards final later this year”.

The UK StartUp Awards was launched to recognise the booming start-up scene across the UK. The Awards celebrate the achievements of entrepreneurs driving change in their industries.
The cohort of finalists will be considered for the regional prizes by a panel of seasoned judges with experience founding or supporting entrepreneurial ventures. The winners from each region will then be invited to the first UK final taking place at Ideas Fest, the Glastonbury for Business festival in Hertfordshire on 12th September 2025.

Ceri’s nomination reflects her outstanding contributions to the non-profit sector, from securing critical funding to guiding organisations toward long-term sustainability.
The awards take place on Thursday, June 19th in Cardiff.