The latest podcast from Phil Evans and Robert Lloyd.

The Big Cwtsh (Episode 28) is now on Soundcloud.

The Ospreys team to play Toyota Cheetahs at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday 8^th September 2018, KO 5.30pm, is as follows:

15 Dan Evans; 14 George North; 13 Scott Williams; 12 Owen Watkin; 11 Tom Williams; 10 Sam Davies; 9 Aled Davies; 1 Nicky Smith; 2 Scott Otten; 3 Tom Botha; 4 Bradley Davies; 5 Alun Wyn Jones; 6 Dan Lydiate; 7 Justin Tipuric (Capt); 8 James King.

REPLACEMENTS – 16 Scott Baldwin; 17 Rhodri Jones; 18 Alex Jeffries; 19 Adam Beard; 20 Sam Cross; 21 Tom Habberfield; 22 James Hook; 23 Joe Thomas.

Tom Williams makes his Guinness PRO14 debut

The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury:

Dan Baker – Knee

Olly Cracknell – Shoulder

Ma’afu Fia – Achilles

Gheorghe Gajion – Hamstring

Keelan Giles – Knee

Paul James – Shoulder

Will Jones – Shoulder

Lesley Klim – Hamstring

Rob McCusker – Calf

Sam Parry – Bicep

Luke Price- Fractured tibia

Gareth Thomas – Shoulder

Ospreys Head Coach, Allen Clarke, said:

”It was great to kick off the Guinness PRO14 season with a win against Edinburgh last weekend. A tough encounter with no quarter given by either team, the result was great for the whole squad, reflecting the efforts of all the players and management who’ve worked tirelessly throughout the summer.

“I was especially pleased with the boys’ character, particularly as we were unfortunate not to register at least one try early in the game. Momentum is important. It builds confidence and a thirst for more success. As always, there are areas to improve.  It’s early days and we are a new squad with new players and new coaches but the atmosphere in the camp is excellent.

“Toyota Cheetahs are another quarter finalist team from last season. They will offer a different threat with game breakers throughout the team and we need to be ready for that but, as always, we will focus on our own and game and what we can bring to the contest.”

Forthcoming Fixtures

Fri 14 Sep – 7.35pm KO – Munster v Ospreys – Irish Independent Park

Sat 22 Sep – 7.35pm KO – Ospreys v Benetton Rugby – Liberty Stadium

Sat 29 Sep – 4.00pm (Local) – Zebre v Ospreys – Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi

Sat 6 Oct – 3.00pm – Scarlets v Ospreys – Parc y Scarlets

The Scarlets face a thrilling challenge in the Guinness PRO14, despite it only being the championship’s second round of action.

The West Wales region will welcome champions Leinster Rugby to Parc y Scarlets on Saturday 8^thSeptember, in the first home game of the season.

Despite injury fears earlier this week Head Coach Wayne Pivac has named a strong side to take on the Irish side on Saturday night.

Five internationals, Leigh Halfpenny, Johnny McNicholl, Hadleigh Parkes, Samson Lee and Jake Ball, have been cleared fit for a return to action and will line up in the starting XV against Leinster.

Looking ahead to the opening home game of the season Pivac said; “Against Leinster physicality is required across the board. We saw that from last season, there was a gap between ourselves and Leinster in terms of the physical stakes, the boys understand that and we’ve been working hard on that.

“It’s a game we’ve looked forward to, because they are the benchmark, both in this competition and in Europe. They wiped us off the park in Dublin the first time, we played better the second time but they were still deserved winners.

“It will be a good yardstick for us. We’ve got disruption within the squad, that’s well documented in terms of injures, but they will have disruptions too.

“It’s going to be an interesting encounter and a tough game, no matter what team they bring!”

Scarlets to take on Leinster, Parc y Scarlets, Saturday 8^th September, KO 19:35;

15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Tom Prydie, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies, 1 Rob Evans, 2 Ken Owens ©, 3 Samson Lee, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Steve Cummins, 6 Blade Thomson, 7 James Davies, 8 Josh Macleod

Replacements; Ryan Elias, Phil Price, Werner Kruger, Lewis Rawlins, Ed Kennedy, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Paul Asquith, Ioan Nicholas

Unavailable due to injury; Aaron Shingler, Jonathan Davies, Rhys Patchell, Wyn Jones, Uzair Cassiem, Dylan Evans, Jonathan Evans, Will Boyde, Angus O’Brien.

By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants. This column appears in the Pembrokeshire Herald, the Carmarthenshire Herald and the Llanelli Herald.

British house prices grew by a weaker than expected 2.0 percent in August.

That’s according to the mortgage lender Nationwide Building Society.

House prices slipped back to a level last seen in June, when prices rose at their slowest in five years.

The slowdown is the latest sign of how the housing market has slowed since the 2016 Brexit vote.

Economists taking part in a poll for the news agency Reuters had expected prices to rise by a stronger 2.7 percent.

In monthly terms, prices fell by 0.5 percent in August from July.

The Reuters poll had pointed to a 0.1 percent monthly increase.

Nationwide’s measure of house prices was showing increases of about 5 percent a year shortly before the 2016 referendum decision to leave the European Union.

Britain’s overall economy has slowed since the vote.

Nationwide said it continued to expect house prices to rise by 1 percent in 2018.

A Reuters poll published earlier this week showed economists expect house prices to increase nationally by 2 percent this year and next.

Meanwhile, British shop prices rose for the first time in more than five years in August.

But prices rose by less than the broader measures of inflation as retailers continued to battle for consumers.

Shop prices edged up by 0.1 percent in year-on-year terms, ending a run of 63 months of falling prices, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.

The BRC pointed to the impact of a hot, dry summer on food prices and higher international oil costs.

Britain’s widely-followed consumer price index stood at 2.5 percent in July.

But competition among supermarkets and pressure from online retailers has generally pushed down prices in shops.

While retailers were trying to keep a lid on increases, inflationary pressures would grow if Britain fails to secure a deal to smooth its exit from the European Union in seven months’ time, BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said.

“If that does happen, retailers will not be able to shield consumers from price increases.”

The value of the pound has fallen since April on concern among investors about the risk of a no-deal Brexit which could cause delays at borders and hamper the broader economy.

The BRC said food prices picked up speed to rise by an annual 1.9 percent in August while non-food deflation eased to 1.0 percent, the weakest fall since April 2013.

The Bank of England this month increased interest rates for only the second time since the global financial crisis, saying the plunge in Britain’s unemployment rate would create inflation pressure, even as the economy grows only slowly.

Finally, a tax calendar reminder for Wednesday, September 19.

PAYE, Student loan and CIS deductions are due for month to 5th September 2018.

This deadline is relevant to employers who have made PAYE deductions from their employees’ salaries and to contractors who have paid subcontractors under the CIS.

Employers are required to make payment to HMRC of the income tax, national insurance and student loan deductions. Contractors are required to make payment to HMRC of the tax deductions made from subcontractors under the CIS.

Where the payment is made electronically the deadline for receipt of cleared payment is Friday 21st September 2018 unless you are able to arrange a ‘Faster Payment’ to clear on or by Saturday 22nd September 2018. In year interest will be charged if payment is made late. Penalties also apply.

You can find out more about money matters on the Clay Shaw Butler website (under our news for business section) –

http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news/latest-news-for-business

We have a strong and experienced team with great local knowledge all geared-up to helping you get the very best from your finances – whether that is as an individual or as a business.

We stay ahead of the game by putting great store by continual professional development for our staff.

With Investors In People status at Clay Shaw Butler, we care passionately about making sure our staff have all the tools they need to serve you, our customers.

Weblink – http://www.clayshawbutler.com

The team at Clay Shaw Butler can be contacted on 01267 228500.

The team at Clay Shaw Butler are on Twitter. Look for @clayshawbutler.

Hywel Dda University Health Board has been shortlisted for a Royal College of Psychiatry (RCPsych) award for its dedication to improve adult mental health services in mid and west Wales.

The RCPsych Awards mark the highest level of achievement in psychiatry and recognise the work being carried out by teams working in mental health care.

The project team have been shortlisted in the ‘Team of the Year: Outstanding Commitment to Sustainable Service Development’ category, for the Transforming Mental Health Services ‘Journey to Recovery’ project.

The project, which was approved at a Board meeting in January 2018, is the only Welsh entry to be shortlisted.

Over one thousand people engaged in a public consultation which asked people for their opinions on proposals to change how care and treatment is provided to meet the mental health needs of people now as well as future generations. Having worked together with service users, staff, partners, including West Wales Action for Mental Health and the Community Health Council, a new model of care was co-designed for mental health services, built from learning from engagement, co-design, international collaboration and public consultation.

This includes:

• 24 hour services – ensuring anyone who needs help can access a mental health centre for support at any time of the day or night.
• No waiting lists – so that people receive first contact with mental health services within 24 hours and for their subsequent care to be planned for in a consistent and supportive way.
• Community focus – to stop admitting people to hospital when it isn’t the best option and provide support in the community when people need time away from home, extra support or protection.
• Recovery and resilience – services that don’t purely focus on treating or managing symptoms, but instead help people to live independent, fulfilling lives with the help and support they need.

Following the robust and comprehensive public consultation, which closed in September last year and has been awarded ‘Best Practice’ status by the Consultation Institute, an implementation plan was co-produced, reflecting the broad range of feedback received and its analysis.

The implementation plan will now undergo more detailed work around the timescales, processes and potential capital requirements. This work will be aligned with the Transforming Clinical Services programme as the final options for public consultation emerge.

The Health Board has a strong commitment towards working in an integrated way to develop and deliver the proposed model and this will continue to be built upon with all partners to ensure everyone is working together throughout implementation to provide integrated services and the best possible mental health care for people. This collaborative approach has been praised in national awards, with the Health Board winning the NHS Wales Awards 2017 in the ‘Citizens at the Centre of Service Redesign and Delivery’ category and being shortlisted in the Patient Experience Network awards in the ‘Championing the Public’ category.

Joe Teape, Deputy Chief Executive for Hywel Dda University Health Board and Chair of the Mental Health Implementation Programme Group said: “We began this journey three years ago by being clear about the need to move away from a traditional service model to redesigning services for the benefit of local people.

“The Transforming Mental Health Services programme has helped us to think differently about how we approach designing, planning and delivering services locally. With our co-developed model approved for implementation we will work continue to work in a co-produced way to ensure that we deliver flexible, responsive, and accessible mental health services.

“I’m incredibly proud and grateful to everyone whose hard work has helped to get us to this point – it’s truly been a team effort.”

The award winners will be announced at a ceremony in London in November.