A&E demand unsustainable - watchdog

9 May 2013 Last updated at 08:21

Levels of demand on NHS accident and emergency departments in England have been described as unsustainable by the head of the health service regulator.

Care Quality Commission chairman David Prior said there was no guarantee that another disaster like that at Stafford Hospital could not happen in future.

Hundreds of people are thought to have died after receiving poor care there.

Mr Prior's comments came at a conference hosted by health think tank the King's Fund.

'Out of control'

Pressures on accident and emergency departments across the NHS in England have been increasing in recent months.

Continue reading the main story

It has been clear for some time that pressures have been growing in A&E.

For the past decade the numbers attending the units has been rising year-on-year. There are now more than 21 million visits a year - up 50% in a decade.

There is a combination of reasons why they have grown, including rise in number of people with chronic conditions such as heart disease that end up having emergencies, the ageing population and problems accessing out of hours GP care. A&E units have also had problems recruiting middle grade doctors which creates staffing problems.

But until recently hospitals had just about been coping.

However, the harsh winter seems to have tipped A&E units over the edge.

In the past few months the waits patients face have hit their worst levels for a long time.

The four-hour target - 95% of patients have to be seen to in this time - started to be breached in many places. Since the start of April the NHS overall has missed it.

There are signs with the weather improving so have waits, but not as much as many would have liked.

The problem is that A&E is the safety net of the NHS - the place people go when there is no other option. If it breaks there is a real problem.

The number of patients having to wait longer than the government's four-hour target before being admitted, treated or discharged increased.

Mr Prior, who took over the running of the regulator in January, said attendance at accident and emergency departments was rising at an unsustainable rate.

He added that there was no cast iron guarantee that there would not be a repeat of the situation at Stafford Hospital.

Mr Prior said: "Emergency admissions through accident and emergency are out of control in large parts of the country. That is totally unsustainable."

Mr Prior is also reported to have suggested the large-scale closure of hospital beds and investment in community services.

He added: "The patient or resident is the weakest voice in the system. It is a classic market failure - the user doesn't know nearly as much as the professionals, even with the internet."

Lack of confidence

Mr Prior is not alone in proposing a radical shake-up of A&E services.

The College of Emergency Medicine, which represents casualty department doctors, believes between 15% and 30% of patients admitted could be treated elsewhere.

Care minister Norman Lamb told the same conference that people had lost confidence in the services provided when their GP surgery was not open.

"We have out-of-hours care that too often falls down," he said.

"People end up with the default option of A&E because there is nothing else that they are confident in."

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Clegg 'to block childcare reforms'

8 May 2013 Last updated at 22:30

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Newsnight's Allegra Stratton says childcare reform has become a key issue for the coalition

Nick Clegg has told Conservatives he will block government reforms to adult-child ratio limits for childcarers, BBC Newsnight has learned.

In meetings over recent days he said he could no longer back the plan to increase the number of children nursery staff and child-minders can look after.

The deputy prime minister's veto could have funding consequences for the government's entire childcare package.

The ratio changes are set to be implemented in England in September.

Whitehall is now waiting for Prime Minister David Cameron to begin "horse-trading", in the words of one source, with the Liberal Democrats over the policy, or let it sink.

Insiders indicated they were hopeful they could persuade the deputy prime minister to change his position.

But Mr Clegg's spokesman said he "remains to be persuaded" that changing the ratios, as originally envisaged by Tory education minister Liz Truss, was a good idea.

• CURRENT
• Under one and one-year-olds 1:3
• Two-year-olds 1:4
• Three-year-olds and above 1:8 or 1:13 (teacher-led)
• PROPOSED
• Under one and one-year-olds 1:4
• Two-year-olds 1:6
• Three-year-olds and above 1:8 or 1:13 (teacher-led)

The reform, a high-profile element of the government's drive to reduce childcare costs, has run into fierce opposition.

In one survey, conducted by the National Children's Bureau, out of 341 early years staff interviewed, 95% said they were concerned about the policy.

The government's own adviser on childcare, Professor Cathy Nutbrown, has said the ratio plans "make no sense at all". In February, a coalition formed against the changes called Rewind on Ratios, run by the pre-school learning alliance and supported by - among others - Mumsnet and Netmums.

Statutory ratios for carers per child vary depending on age and setting. Those for children aged one-and-under are set to rise from three children per adult to four children per adult. Those for two-year-olds are set to rise from four to six children per adult.

Ratios for three-year-olds and over would remain at eight or 13 children per adult, depending on whether a qualified graduate was present.

Ms Truss has championed the reforms, saying they will bring Britain into line with other European countries including France and Sweden.

She says that allowing minders to care for more children - providing those minders have higher qualifications, a parallel reform she has proposed - would lower the cost of childcare and improve quality, by enabling the profession to attract those with higher salary demands.

Sources told BBC Newsnight that if the deputy prime minister does block the plan there will be funding consequences for the entire childcare package, which also includes £1,200 tax breaks on childcare for working parents - a central offer of the coalition government as they try to bring down the cost of living.

Britain has some of the highest childcare costs in the world, with many mothers with two or more children saying it does not make financial sense to work.

Mr Clegg's spokesman told Newsnight: "The delivery of good quality, affordable childcare is one of Nick Clegg's biggest priorities in government.

"He has looked very closely at proposals to increase the number of children each adult can look after - and at the very serious concerns raised by parents and childcare providers in the recent government consultation.

"Nick remains to be persuaded that this is the right thing to do for very young children. Or, crucially, to be persuaded that this would actually help families with high childcare costs. This continues to be discussed in government."

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Heritage projects get lottery boost

9 May 2013 Last updated at 00:53

Lottery money has been given to six major heritage schemes totalling £68m to help them push forward with full plans for funding to preserve sites.

They include £9.1m plans at Silverstone motor racing circuit, Northamptonshire, and a £16.8m project at the former BBC studios at Alexandra Palace in London.

The six proposals will each receive hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Heritage Lottery Fund chairwoman Dame Jenny Abramsky said the projects were "hugely deserving" of support.

The Silverstone project is to preserve its motor racing heritage, while the Alexandra Palace scheme is to restore and re-open the BBC studios' Victorian theatre.

There is also a £12.2m bid to transform the last surviving ship from the Battle of Jutland in World War I, HMS Caroline, into a visitor attraction in Belfast's Titanic Quarter.

'Tell stories'

A £9.8m project would develop a new archive centre documenting Cornwall's heritage at a historic brewery in Redruth.

Some £10m is required for the redevelopment of Aberdeen Art Gallery.

Plans to restore and open 800-year-old Auckland Castle in County Durham to the public are also put at £10m.

The castle has a collection of paintings by 17th Century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran.

Former motor racing champion Sir Jackie Stewart welcomed the financial backing for the proposals at Silverstone, where he won the British Grand Prix in 1969 and 1971.

He said: "This grant is hugely important as a first step in helping the British Racing Drivers' Club and Silverstone to ensure that the heritage of British motor sport can reach a far wider audience than before and cements its importance for future generations."

Dame Jenny added: "From Cornish tin mining, to the development of motor racing and the history of broadcasting, these projects all reflect a real desire to tell the stories of important aspects of the UK's heritage and as such we felt they were hugely deserving of the Heritage Lottery Fund's support."

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Warning over council service cuts

9 May 2013 Last updated at 01:07

Millions of people face losing libraries, sports centres and museums if "significant" further cuts are made to council budgets, a report says.

The Local Government Association says potholes could go unfilled and street lights could be switched off, with funding for some services down by 90%.

It is warning the government against making more reductions in the 2015-16 public spending review.

But the coalition called the warning "shrill and alarmist".

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents council leaders, has "mapped out" the likely impact of a 10% funding cut to county councils and unitary authorities in England in 2015-16.

It predicts that, on average, they would have to save £30m on top of the reductions already made.

'Mathematical certainty'

This, it argues, would mean reducing spending on a "broad combination of non-statutory services which might include children's centres, museums, libraries and sports centres, as well as reduce road maintenance budgets, increase bus fares and switch off streetlights between midnight and dawn".

Continue reading the main story

Rather than predicting the end of the world, the LGA would be better to help councils deliver the savings from improved procurement, joint working and better property management"

End Quote Brandon Lewis Local Government Minister

The LGA says that "almost all of councils' money would have to be spent on explicit statutory responsibilities like social services, waste collection and concessionary travel, meaning that the money available for all other services, such as libraries, road maintenance and leisure facilities would have been cut by 90%".

There is a risk councils "will no longer be in a position to provide key services, which are every bit as important to the public as those provided by emergency services, the NHS and schools", it adds.

The LGA wants the removal of ring-fencing of health and schools budgets, which could, in part, "be much more effectively spent on council services such as pre-hospital care for the elderly and infirm, or early intervention services for troubled children and their families".

Chairman Sir Merrick Cockell said: "In many council areas we have now reached a stage where noticeable cuts to local services are a mathematical certainty unless the next spending round places local government finance on a sustainable footing.

"The government has to take steps which deliver long-term efficiency across the whole public sector and encourage government agencies in local areas to work together to find ways of improving services and making savings."

But Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis said: "Every bit of the public sector needs to help pay off the deficit by the last administration.

"The LGA's shrill and alarmist claims lack credibility, given councils are losing £2bn a year from uncollected council tax, £2bn from fraud and are sitting on £16bn of reserves. The LGA's own research shows that since 2010, residents' satisfaction with their councils has actually gone up, despite the need to make savings.

"Rather than predicting the end of the world, the LGA would be better to help councils deliver the savings from improved procurement, joint working and better property management."

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Offender supervision plan under fire

9 May 2013 Last updated at 08:28

Senior probation officers have attacked plans to offer private companies and charities payment-by-results for supervising people released from jail.

Supervisors would be paid according to how well they prevented reoffending in inmates' first year after release.

But the Probation Chiefs Association said the payment-by-results plan was "untried and untested".

Defending the plan, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said it was "all about reducing crime".

Mr Grayling told BBC Radio 5 live: "The truth is that reoffending is currently rising.

"600,000 crimes a year are committed by people who are going round and round the system."

He confirmed that for the first time, the government will be spending money on people who go to jail for less than 12 months.

In a separate interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme he said: "The biggest block of those that reoffend are those that are in prison for less than a year... they leave with only £46 in their pocket and that's it."

The current system supports some 250,000 ex-offenders a year, he said, while the new plan would bring another 50,000 or so people jailed for up to 12 months into the net.

He told the Today programme: "We have a system at the moment where only around 25% of probation time is spent working with offenders.

"There has got to be room for efficiency in the system - and for the big section that aren't getting support," he added.

MPs are set to continue debating the government's legislative programme as set out in the Queen's Speech, focusing on home affairs.

The so-called payment-by-results measures will affect about 65,000 offenders a year in England and Wales - the majority of whom would at present receive no supervision at all when they leave jail.

Currently, there is no statutory supervision for those sentenced to less than 12 months once they are freed.

Offenders serving longer terms are monitored by the probation service for about the same length of time as their prison sentence - for example, an offender given an 18 month sentence will serve nine months in prison, and nine months on licence in the community.

'Best value'

Under Mr Grayling's plans all prisoners, whether they are let out after two weeks, two months or two years, will receive support for a minimum of 12 months to help them find accommodation, get a job or training and tackle any alcohol or drug problems they may have.

Continue reading the main story

A two-week prison sentence becomes a year and two weeks of being trapped in the criminal justice system"

End Quote Andrew Neilson Howard League for Penal Reform

It will mean supervision for 50,000 prisoners sentenced to less than a year and extra monitoring for 15,000 who are given prison terms of 12 months to two years.

Unveiling the plans, Mr Grayling said: "This is all about ensuring we deliver real, long-term rehabilitation and support - that there's somebody, a mentor, to work alongside a prisoner for a good period of time."

The justice secretary said he was not "setting the rules" on levels of supervision - some offenders will be monitored intensively, others less so. But the prison estate will be reorganised so that most offenders are released into the area where they will be supervised.

The objective is to reduce recidivism rates, but he said he did not anticipate a "sudden drop-off".

The latest figures, published by the Ministry of Justice, show that 46.9 % of adult prisoners commit a further offence within a year of release. For those sentenced to less than a year, the figure is 58.2 %.

Mr Grayling said: "I expect - and aim to see - a steady, step-by-step reduction year by year."

However, the government is not providing any extra funding; the supervision, under a system of 21 contracts, will be the responsibility of voluntary groups, charities and private companies, who will be paid in full only if a certain proportion of offenders don't commit further crimes.

Contracts will be awarded on the basis of "best value and innovation" in tackling re-offending.

'Dead horse'

Sue Hall, chair of the Probation Chiefs Association, questioned whether the system would be robust enough to ensure that the "behaviour you pay for is the behaviour you want".

She said: "Payment by results is untried and untested in the community at the moment, where the supervision of offenders is concerned... we don't actually have any hard evidence."

Sarah Billiald, also of the Probation Chiefs Association, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she would ask Mr Grayling why he was replacing a good service with an untested one.

She said: "Our message is to ask really, why, when you have such a high performing service... it has met all its targets... why would you not build on that success rather than dismantling it later?"

Responding to her question on BBC Radio 5 live, Mr Grayling said: "There's good work being done in the probation service but the truth is that reoffending is currently rising.

"There is some really first rate work being done in the voluntary sector and I'm looking to capture the best of the public and private sector."

Andrew Neilson, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, argued that the plans represented "an admission of the abject failure of short-term prison sentences".

"These plans set people up to fail. Rather than scrapping short prison terms, the government is creating disproportionate sentences for minor crimes, so that a two-week prison sentence becomes a year and two weeks of being trapped in the criminal justice system."

The government should make greater use of community sentences rather than "flogging the dead horse of short-term prison sentences," he concluded.

But the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust (Rapt), which provides drug treatment services for offenders, welcomed the idea of enhanced monitoring and support.

Mike Trace, Rapt's chief executive, said it would be possible to achieve greater supervision without significantly more resources - as long as the process didn't get bogged down in bureaucracy.

"If we can get very creative and very efficient methods of supervision we can improve it," Mr Trace said.

"If we end up with very much paperwork exercises that offenders are not motivated or inspired by, we end up with the same old problems."

Colin Lambert, a former prisoner and now project manager at the offender charity St Giles Trust, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was a "great idea".

"It makes no sense to put people in prison for a short period and then let them out in exactly the same situation or worse than when they went in

"I know that they are saying payment-by-results is untested, but what we have now doesn't work so we need new ideas," he said.

St Giles, which works with ex-offenders, is involved in a number of payment-by-results programmes already, Mr Lambert added.

"It's the sort of work that St Giles has been doing now for a number of years."

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Jimmy Tarbuck held in abuse inquiry

6 May 2013 Last updated at 18:38 ET

Comedian Jimmy Tarbuck has been arrested over an allegation of child sex abuse dating back to the 1970s.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed that a 73-year-old man was arrested in Kingston upon Thames on 26 April.

The entertainer and quiz show host - who has an OBE for services to showbusiness and charity - was released on bail pending further enquiries.

A police statement said he was questioned about an alleged assault on a young boy in the late 1970s.

North Yorkshire Police says Mr Tarbuck's arrest came after information was passed on by Metropolitan Police officers working on Operation Yewtree.

The force stressed that this arrest "is not part of Yewtree, but a separate investigation" by North Yorkshire Police.

Operation Yewtree was set up following the death of Jimmy Savile in 2011, when hundreds of sex abuse allegations came to light about the former DJ.

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55,000 free nursery places needed

6 May 2013 Last updated at 20:16 ET By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter

A flagship government scheme to offer free nursery places to disadvantaged two-year-olds could be hit by shortages and delays, it is feared.

Nursery providers and local councils say some areas may not be ready for the national roll-out to 130,000 toddlers across England in September this year.

Some 75,000 places have been found. The government is working with councils and providers to find the remaining 55,000.

South-east England, Birmingham and Manchester are struggling the most.

The scheme to provide 20% of disadvantaged two-year-olds with free part-time early education places was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in the autumn of 2010 as part of a package of measures to boost the educational achievement of children from poorer homes.

It was an extension of a Labour scheme, and is due to be expanded again to 260,000 children in September next year.

But only 75,000 places have been secured just four months before the September roll-out, of which 70,000 are on existing pilot schemes.

'Geographical mismatch'

James Hempsall, who is overseeing the delivery of the Achieving Two-Year-Olds programme, shrugged off concerns, saying local authorities, who now have a duty to ensure sufficient places, were reporting a "high level of confidence for delivery in September 2013".

He said work was focusing on vacant places and creating more flexibility, such as asking nurseries to provide a third session on top of the traditional morning and afternoon sessions.

Continue reading the main story

TWO-YEAR-OLDS WHO QUALIFY

• Toddlers from first term after second birthday
• Parents on certain means-tested benefits
• Those in local authority care

But Dr Jill Rutter, research manager at the Family and Childcare Trust, said it was a real struggle in poorer areas where the places are needed but where there tends to be less nursery provision.

"Local authorities are doing their best but there will be gaps in September 2013 and very possibly in 2014."

She added: "There is a geographical mismatch and so new places have to be created from scratch."

This was backed up by the chairman of the Local Government Association, David Simmonds, who acknowledged a mixed picture nationally.

He said areas of south-east England, Birmingham, Manchester and Bradford were struggling, despite their best efforts to make enough places available in the right areas.

'Bureaucratic shuffle'

Mr Simmonds said: "We are determined to get there but at the moment there is some uncertainty, and some providers are saying we are not sure we can recruit the staff, we are not sure we can get the buildings we need built in time. Uncertainty is not what mums and dads want. They need to know where their children will be going."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I don't know how they are going to deliver the remaining balance in such a short period. Nurseries will have to train staff and they will have to increase the size of their buildings"

End Quote Neil Leitch Pre-School Learning Alliance

He said the process was being complicated because money for the scheme was being fed through a grant made specifically for schools, which was causing a "bureaucratic shuffle".

The Department for Education is expecting to pass to councils early this month a list of names and addresses of which children have been earmarked for the places.

But Mr Simmonds said: "It doesn't leave much time if there is going to be a big discrepancy between need and availability."

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, which represents 14,000 nurseries, said: "I don't know how they are going to deliver the remaining balance in such a short period. Nurseries will have to train staff and they will have to increase the size of their buildings."

Cross-subsidy fears

Dr Rutter highlighted the problems faced by London, which she had recently researched. She said space was limited, with many nurseries already operating at full capacity, but that an extra 24,100 places were needed by September next year.

She added: "Traditionally with the three and four-year-old places, private providers have been able to finance it by relying on working parents buying extra hours for their children at a higher cost than the subsidised rate.

"But this group of children is the 20% of the poorest and this isn't going to happen because their parents are not working. So the cross-subsidy system won't work.

"As a result, a lot of the private and voluntary providers are refusing to offer places for two-year-olds."

Nurseries are being offered at £5.08 an hour per child by the Department for Education (DfE) through the direct schools grant.

'Plenty of time'

Mr Hempsall said the vast majority of children would make use of places made from capacity released within the sector, but he acknowledged that it was a "challenge" to deliver the programme and that there was "a lot more work to be done".

Once local authorities had the details of which children were to benefit from the free places, he said, they would be able to map their supply to where the disadvantaged children lived.

But he stressed that there was "plenty of time" for nurseries to carry out any of the simple building adaptations likely to be required.

And he said that transport arrangements might have to be put in place for children who could have to travel across local authority boundaries to take up their place.

A DfE spokesman said: "Through the Achieving Two-Year-Olds programme we are giving councils and providers support to make sure they have enough capacity for early learning for two-year-olds, encouraging parental demand, and improving the quality of provision.

"Already some 70,000 children are benefiting from this investment in early learning for two-year-olds."

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Lord Lawson calls for UK to exit EU

7 May 2013 Last updated at 03:59 ET

The former chancellor of the exchequer, Lord Lawson, has called for the UK to leave the European Union.

Writing in the Times, he said British economic gains from an exit "would substantially outweigh the costs".

He predicted any changes achieved by David Cameron's attempts to renegotiate the terms of the UK's relations with the EU would be "inconsequential".

But Downing Street said the prime minister remained "confident" that his strategy "will deliver results".

Mr Cameron is facing calls to bring forward a promised referendum on the UK's EU membership.

He says he will hold a vote early in the next parliament - should the Conservatives win the next general election - but only after renegotiating the terms of the UK's relationship with the EU.

However, Lord Lawson said any such renegotiations would be "inconsequential" as "any powers ceded by the member states to the EU are ceded irrevocably".

The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said Lord Lawson's intervention was a "big moment" in the EU debate.

Regulatory 'frenzy'

The peer - who was Margaret Thatcher's chancellor for six years - voted to stay in the European Common Market, as the EU was known in 1975, but said: "I shall be voting 'out' in 2017."

He said he "strongly" suspected there would be a "positive economic advantage to the UK in leaving the single market".

Continue reading the main story

You do not need to be within the single market to be able to export to the European Union, as we see from the wide range of goods on our shelves every day"

End Quote Lord Lawson

Far from hitting business hard, it would instead be a wake-up call for those who had been too content in "the warm embrace of the European single market" when the great export opportunities lay in the developing world, particularly Asia.

"Over the past decade, UK exports to the EU have risen in cash terms by some 40%. Over the same period, exports to the EU from those outside it have risen by 75%," he added.

Withdrawing from the EU would also save the City of London from a "frenzy of regulatory activism", such as the financial transactions tax that Brussels is seeking to impose.

Lord Lawson said his argument had "nothing to do with being anti-European".

"The heart of the matter is that the very nature of the European Union, and of this country's relationship with it, has fundamentally changed after the coming into being of the European monetary union and the creation of the eurozone, of which - quite rightly - we are not a part.

"Not only do our interests increasingly differ from those of the eurozone members but, while never 'at the heart of Europe' (as our political leaders have from time to time foolishly claimed), we are now becoming increasingly marginalised as we are doomed to being consistently outvoted by the eurozone bloc."

'Clear timetable'

At the local elections last week, the UK Independence Party - which campaigns for the UK to leave the EU - made substantial gains, while the Conservatives lost control of 10 councils.

The UKIP surge prompted a call from senior Tory MP David Davis to bring forward the planned referendum - while other Conservatives, including former chairman Lord Tebbit, urged Mr Cameron to take steps to give the public more confidence that a referendum would indeed take place if he wins the next general election.

Reacting to Lord Lawson's comments, a Downing Street spokesman said: "The PM has always been clear: we need a Europe that is more open, more competitive, and more flexible; a Europe that wakes up to the modern world of competition. In short, Europe has to reform.

"But our continued membership must have the consent of the British people, which is why the PM has set out a clear timetable on this issue."

'Serious divisions'

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that leaving the European Union would "make us less safe because we cooperate in the European Union to go after criminal gangs that cross borders".

He said it could put 3m jobs at risk and made it difficult to deal with cross border threats like climate change and would also see Britain "taken less seriously in Washington, Beijing, Tokyo".

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said Lord Lawson's intervention "legitimised" his party's longstanding argument that the UK could prosper outside the EU while exposing "serious divisions" in the Conservatives.

Former Labour Europe minister Peter Hain said he totally disagreed with EU withdrawal but believed Lord Lawson was right in suggesting David Cameron's approach could not succeed as "EU members will not agree Treaty changes".

Political commentator and Times' comment editor Tim Montgomerie told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the article would add fuel to the debate on Europe within the Conservative Party that Mr Cameron had hoped could wait until further down the line.

"Lord Lawson will give much more confidence to those people who do want to leave the EU to go public with those views," he added.

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'Kill cord' key to boat deaths probe

7 May 2013 Last updated at 04:06 ET

Police investigating the deaths of a father and his daughter in a speedboat accident in Cornwall have said a "kill cord" device is a key focus.

A kill cord attaches to the boat's throttle and driver so if the driver goes overboard the engine cuts out.

BSkyB sales boss Nick Milligan, 51, and his eight-year-old daughter Emily were thrown from the boat in the Camel Estuary, off Padstow, on Sunday.

Four other family members struck by the boat were taken to hospital.

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Video shot by a witness showed the moment the speedboat was brought under control

Police said Mr Milligan's 39-year-old wife Victoria and their four-year-old son Kit remain in hospital with "serious, potentially life changing injuries", while their two other daughters Amber, 12, and Olivia, 10, suffered minor injuries in the accident.

Continue reading the main story

Without doubt, without his [Mr Toogood's] intervention, we could have been dealing with a far more serious situation"

End Quote Matt Pavitt North Cornwall coastguards

The injured family members were hit by the 8m (26ft)-long Cobra rigid inflatable boat (rib) - which can reach speeds of about 50mph (80km/h) - while it was going round in circles.

The boat, which belongs to the family, who are from Wandsworth in south London, was stopped after a local waterskiing instructor Charlie Toogood jumped on board.

Mr Milligan had been managing director of Sky's advertising sales division, Sky Media, since 2004.

Fitting the kill cord has been standard practice by manufacturers for many years, said Richard Falk, training manager and chief examiner at the Royal Yachting Association (RYA).

"It is possible for the operator, the driver of the boat, to connect the kill cord to the throttle so the engine will work but they don't connect it to themselves.

"If they then move away from that throttle or steering position the engine won't cut out," he said.

'Heroic efforts'

He said he could not comment on the Padstow incident, but where a kill cord was not operating properly and a driver went overboard the prospect of a power boat turning in circles as it did in the Padstow tragedy was a rare "worst case scenario".

Police and coastguards praised "brave and heroic" efforts made by Mr Toogood and other local people to rescue the family.

Mr Toogood, from Camel Ski School, leapt on to the runaway speedboat and brought it under control after going alongside in another vessel.

He has declined to talk about the incident.

Matt Pavitt, coastguard sector manager for North Cornwall, said: "Without doubt, without his [Mr Toogood's] intervention, we could have been dealing with a far more serious situation."

Supt Jim Colwell, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said a mechanical examination of the boat had taken place, carried out by forensic experts and Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) inspectors to identify the cause of the "sad and tragic" incident.

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Queen to miss Commonwealth meeting

7 May 2013 Last updated at 04:16 ET

The Queen will not be attending this year's Commonwealth heads of government meeting for the first time since 1973, Buckingham Palace has said.

She will be represented by Prince Charles at the gathering in Sri Lanka in November.

The BBC's royal correspondent Peter Hunt says the reason is the Queen's age and the need to limit overseas travel.

The Queen, 87, is the head of the Commonwealth and every two years leaders meet to discuss global issues.

The Queen was first present at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM) in Ottawa, Canada, in 1973 - missing the first one in 1971 - and has been at every summit since. The last one, in 2011, was held in Perth, Australia.

'Transition'

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "I can confirm that the Queen will be represented by the Prince of Wales.

"The reason is that we are reviewing the amount of long-haul travel that is taken by the Queen."

Continue reading the main story

It is the palace addressing the practicalities of her advancing age - you will see less of her and more of him"

End Quote

Our correspondent said the Queen would not have taken the decision lightly and it was both surprising and significant.

He said it was a significant moment for the Prince of Wales and it was also a symbolic move.

"It is about transition, about preparing this country for an elderly head of state who will be able to do less and less," he said.

"There is no intention of abdication. It will just not happen during her reign. It is the palace addressing the practicalities of her advancing age - you will see less of her and more of him."

By stepping in for the Queen, Prince Charles will be performing one of his most significant duties to date as a future King.

He has never before attended in place of the monarch at the two-yearly gathering of Commonwealth leaders. In 2007, both the Prince and the Queen attended CHOGM in Uganda.

The Queen was forced to cancel her appearance in March at the Commonwealth Day service in Westminster Abbey. It was one of a number of engagements she missed after being admitted to hospital for treatment of the symptoms of gastroenteritis.

Although she is its symbolic head, she has no formal powers over the 54 countries and 2bn citizens which make up the voluntary association.

Concerns have been raised about the choice of Sri Lanka as the host nation.

Campaigners including Amnesty International are calling for the CHOGM meeting not to take place there before an investigation is carried out into human rights abuses in the final six months of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war.

Britain is facing pressure to lead a boycott of the meeting, with Canada's government indicating it will not attend unless specific criteria are met.

But Buckingham Palace said the Queen's decision was not related to the political situation.

"The key point here is that the Queen will be represented, although she is not there in person, by the Prince of Wales," a spokesman said.

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Man who escaped prison van arrested

5 May 2013 Last updated at 16:10 ET

One of the two men who escaped from a prison van in Salford last week has been arrested.

Stevie McMullen, 31, from Salford, was arrested along with two other men suspected of helping him escape after police stopped a car in Lancashire.

Mr McMullen escaped on Tuesday when the van taking him from prison to court was rammed by a car and ambushed by armed men.

Ryan McDonald, 20, also from Salford, escaped with him and is still at large.

Police say he poses a "potential danger".

Mr McMullen was arrested on suspicion of evading lawful custody. The two other men, aged 27 and 25, were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Police stopped the car on the A6 in Lancashire, near to Lancaster University.

Before his escape, Mr McMullen was being transported from HMP Altcourse in Fazakerley, Merseyside to court to face charges of conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit arson, possession of a firearm, and other offences.

£10,000 reward

Mr McDonald was also in the van, travelling to face sentencing for conspiracy to commit robbery.

He has not been found yet, and Greater Manchester Police are continuing to search for him.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood said on Sunday: "On Friday, a £10,000 reward was put forward for information leading to the capture of these two men.

"This full £10,000 reward still stands for anyone who gives us information that leads to McDonald's arrest and will be paid when he is back behind bars.

"I would ask members of the public not to approach this man due to the potential danger he poses, but if you see him then please call the police immediately."

The 20-year-old was sentenced in his absence on Friday to seven years and 10 months in prison after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery following his role in a series of raids on pawnbrokers' shops.

He was convicted, along with two other men and a youth, after admitting to a conspiracy involving a pawnbrokers in Manchester and two more in Salford.

The offenders would approach the shops during the day, smash the windows and steal jewellery from the display.

Mr McMullen and Mr McDonald escaped when the prison van carrying them was rammed by a green Saab on a busy commuter road in Salford.

Three armed men in balaclavas then emerged from the van, carrying an axe, a sawn-off shotgun and a handgun, and forced the guards to free the prisoners.

None of the guards was hurt but the two men and their accomplices escaped.

A 24-year-old man and 28-year-old woman later arrested in Ordsall, Salford, in connection with the escape have been bailed by police until 26 June.

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Fan dies after mid-match collapse

5 May 2013 Last updated at 16:47 ET

A man has died in hospital after collapsing half-way through a Scottish Premier League match, police say.

The man, in his 50s, suffered a suspected heart attack five minutes into the second half of Kilmarnock's home match against Hibernian.

Paramedics and medical staff from both clubs treated the man until an ambulance arrived at Rugby Park stadium and he was taken to a nearby hospital.

Both managers agreed to abandon the match out of respect for the fan.

The stadium was hushed into silence when medical staff and club doctors attended the stricken fan in the west stand.

The referee then stopped the match with the teams drawing 1-1. Players left the pitch as the gravity of the situation became evident.

Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston said: "The length of time the players were off the park was a problem but the overriding factor was respect for the fan and his family.

"He collapsed and was tended to by medical staff of both clubs and was taken to Crosshouse Hospital by ambulance."

He added that he could not reveal any more information about the fan's identity other than to say he was a long-standing season-ticket holder

Later, a Police Scotland spokesman said the man died in hospital.

Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels pointed out that it was the third time he had been present at such an incident while manager at the Rugby Park side.

In March 2012, midfielder Liam Kelly's father died following the Ayrshire side's League Cup final win over Celtic.

A month later, an Inverness Caledonian Thistle fan died during that club's visit to Rugby Park.

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UK business confidence 'improving'

5 May 2013 Last updated at 19:04 ET

Confidence among UK businesses is continuing to improve, a survey suggests, despite slow growth in the economy.

The quarterly Business Confidence Monitor, released by a trade body for accountants, suggest confidence is at its highest level since 2010.

It also forecasts stronger economic growth in the second quarter.

Official estimates suggest the economy grew by 0.3% in the first three months of the year.

The accountants' trade body, ICAEW, and business advisory firm Grant Thornton said improved business confidence would boost the economy further, and they forecast growth of 0.6% in the second quarter.

"There is a gradual improvement in the economy and the recovery is starting to stand on more solid ground," said Michael Izza, chief executive of ICAEW.

"We should not be complacent though. There is still a degree of fragility and the economy is susceptible to knock-backs from events outside the UK."

Business confidence stood at its highest level since the third quarter of 2010.

Confidence was up across all sectors, and in all parts of the country, the survey indicated.

But the survey also found that plans for growth in business investment remained weak.

Consumer spending also remains under pressure, due in part to the fall in real-term earnings over the last year as wage increases stagnate and prices continue to rise.

The findings come despite recent questioning of the government's economic policies.

Last month senior figures in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called on the Chancellor George Osborne to reconsider the pace of the government's austerity programme in the face of slower-than-expected growth.

An IMF delegation is due to arrive in the UK later this week for talks with the government, where the Treasury is expected to defend its policies.

The talks are part of the IMF's annual review of the UK economy, and will involve meetings with the Treasury, the Bank of England, the Office for Budget Responsibility, and independent economists.

The recent growth in the economy, and the avoidance of a triple-dip recession, is widely seen to have strengthened the chancellor's case for austerity.

He has also announced an expansion of the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) in an effort to boost growth in recent weeks.

But the IMF is still widely expected to outline policy recommendations that favour growth over tackling the budget deficit, fearing that the speed and depth of cuts is preventing growth.

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UK block on overseas spouse pensions

6 May 2013 Last updated at 03:25 ET

People living abroad will no longer be entitled to a British state pension based solely on their spouse's work history, under government plans.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said some of those claiming a married person's allowance had never been to the UK.

Some 220,000 overseas residents receive this payment at a cost of £410m a year.

The measure will be part of an overhaul of the state pension, to be included in the Queen's Speech on Wednesday. Existing pensioners will be unaffected.

The Pensions Bill will introduce a new flat rate pension based on individual contributions during a person's working life.

'Unfair and unsustainable'

Current rules allow spouses to claim a "married person's allowance" based on their husband or wife's history of National Insurance contributions.

While increasingly rare in Britain, the practice has become a popular option for people who live overseas and who are married to British citizens.

The number of overseas residents receiving such payments has risen to 220,000 from 190,000 a decade ago.

Mr Webb said sometimes these allowances are claimed by people who never set foot in this country, and that this was unfair and unsustainable.

Continue reading the main story

• Begins April 2016
• Worth £144 a week at current prices
• Flat rate
• 35 years of National Insurance contributions needed for full amount
• Not means tested

He told the Daily Telegraph: "Most people would think, you pay National Insurance, you get a pension. But folk who have never been here but happen to be married to someone who has are getting pensions.

"Say you are an American man and you marry a British woman, you can claim, if she has a full record of contributions, a pension of £3,500 a year for your entire retirement having never paid a penny in National Insurance.

"Most people would think that is not what National Insurance is for."

Once the pensions bill becomes law, any new claims from 2016 would be prevented.

But British pensioners and their families who currently live overseas and make such claims would not be affected.

Norman Cudmore, who served in the RAF for 22 years and worked overseas for another 16 years, lives in the Philippines with his Filipina wife.

"I have contributed to the UK pension scheme for all those years and will qualify for a state pension. I did this so my wife would have some security when I finally pass away," he told the BBC.

"However, now I am being told this will not be the case. It feels the government are not treating their people fairly. It seems to be one rule for those living in the UK and one for those who have left."

The government's overhaul of the state pension system will see a single-tier pension - of £144 a week at today's prices - being paid to every qualifying new pensioner from April 2016 at the earliest.

While many people will gain as a result of the changes, some who currently pay in to a second state pension - which is being abolished - will lose out.

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Police investigate speedboat crash

6 May 2013 Last updated at 04:07 ET

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The empty speedboat was filmed spinning out of control after the incident

Police have begun an inquiry into a speedboat crash off the north Cornish coast which killed a man and his daughter and injured four others.

The pair - a 51-year-old man and an eight-year-old girl - were among six people thrown from the boat in the Camel Estuary, off Padstow.

Four other family members are in hospital with serious injuries.

The vessel was stopped after a local waterskiing instructor jumped on board and brought it under control.

The injured family members are thought to have been hit by the boat while it was going round in circles.

Life-threatening injuries

The four injured are a 39-year-old woman, a four-year-old boy and two girls aged 10 and 12. They suffered leg injuries of varying degrees of severity, John Oliver from South Western Ambulance Service said.

The boat is owned by the family, who are from London, police said.

Supt Jim Colwell of Devon and Cornwall Police said some of their injuries were "life threatening" as well as "life changing".

Continue reading the main story

The screams coming from the people in the water were pretty bad"

End Quote Simon Lewins Eyewitness

"The key lines of enquiry are primarily witness enquiries, those eye witnesses that were at the scene at the time and have already started to provide us with information as to what the circumstances were and what the boat was doing at the time of the incident," he said.

Supt Colwell added that a mechanical examination of the boat, with the involvement of the Marine Action Investigation Branch, would take place "just to make sure there were no factors to do with the vessel itself which may have caused this incident".

The sunny bank holiday weather had drawn a lot of visitors to the harbourside, and the surrounding waters of the Camel Estuary were said to have been calm on Sunday afternoon when the accident happened.

'Heroic' rescuer

At about 15:50 BST, Falmouth Coastguard received a number of reports from members of the public that six people had been thrown from a speedboat.

They reported seeing the boat "out of control for a short time" and striking some other boats, Jo Rawlings, from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, told the BBC.

Dog walker Simon Lewins, from Wadebridge, said he watched as a big, powerful boat going "a bit too fast" suddenly turned right, "depositing" people into the water.

"It kept going off in ever decreasing circles. The screams coming from the people in the water were pretty bad."

The man who leapt on to the out-of-control speedboat was named locally as Charlie Toogood, from Camel Ski School.

He jumped on the boat, managed to stop it and take it away.

"I tell you what, this guy is a hero," Mr Lewins told the BBC.

Coastguards then helped some of the injured as a helicopter landed on the beach, he added.

Kill cord

The injured were being treated at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

Matt Pavitt, the Coastguard sector manager for North Cornwall, said the injured four were "badly shaken up".

He added: "There appears to have been some interaction between the boat and the group of people in the water, which has resulted in a number of serious injuries".

Alex Greig, of Falmouth Coastguard, said safety features in such vessels usually included a so-called "kill cord".

He said: "If somebody is thrown away from the console, it should disable the engine.

"But if it's not working, or not being worn correctly, there is the chance that if you are thrown away from the boat, it will continue to move under its own power.

"The way an outboard engine works, because it hangs loose on the back of the boat, it will actually put the boat into a very tight circle and continue round at the speed it was left going at originally."

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Historian sorry for 'gay' remark

4 May 2013 Last updated at 18:02 ET

Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson has apologised for saying the economist John Maynard Keynes did not care about society's future because he was gay and had no children.

Prof Ferguson, born in Scotland, made the comments at a conference in California on Thursday.

Mr Keynes was an influential British economist who died in 1946.

Prof Ferguson has now apologised "unreservedly" for what he called "stupid" and "insensitive" remarks.

He was asked to comment on Mr Keynes's famous observation of "in the long run we are all dead".

In unscripted remarks during a question and answer session, the high-profile historian and writer said Mr Keynes was indifferent to the long run because he had no children, and that he had no children because he was gay.

'Detest prejudice'

But in a statement posted on his website, he said it was obvious that people who do not have children also care about future generations. The historian also insisted he was not homophobic.

"My disagreements with Keynes's economic philosophy have never had anything to do with his sexual orientation," he wrote.

"It is simply false to suggest, as I did, that his approach to economic policy was inspired by any aspect of his personal life. As those who know me and my work are well aware, I detest all prejudice, sexual or otherwise."

In 1926, Mr Keynes married Lydia Lopokova, a Russian ballerina, and Prof Ferguson also said he had forgotten that she had miscarried.

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Some liver transplants 'avoidable'

4 May 2013 Last updated at 19:08 ET

Some patients with severely damaged livers may not need a transplant as their own organ is actually regrowing, say doctors at a hospital in London.

They made the discovery by looking at a rare group of patients given a transplant while their own damaged liver is left in the body.

Sometimes the original liver recovers.

A study, in the American Journal of Transplantation, suggests doctors can predict which patients do not need a transplant as their liver is healing.

King's College Hospital has a leading liver transplant centre and is one of few places to perform "auxiliary transplants".

They are performed in sudden cases of liver failure caused by overdoses or viral infections, rather than the long-term damage caused by alcohol abuse.

Normally in organ transplants one organ comes out and a new one goes in. However, in this complex operation the transplant is put in beside the old liver.

After any transplant a patient needs to take a lifetime of drugs to suppress the immune system in order to avoid rejection. The drugs leave the body vulnerable to infection.

However, if the patient's liver does eventually recover then they can come off the immunosuppressant drugs and their body will get rid of the transplant.

Continue reading the main story

What we may be able to do is come up with a better set of tests to allow us to identify those patients who are already regrowing and may not need transplantation"

End Quote Dr Varuna Aluvihare King's College Hospital

The transplant is used to get the patient past the critical stage of the illness.

But the recovery happens only in some patients. In the study, the transplant was no longer needed in seven out of 11 patients.

So doctors analysed the detailed chemistry inside the liver cells of patients and looked for differences between those who recovered and those who did not.

Dr Varuna Aluvihare told the BBC: "There was a big difference right from the point of transplantation in the expression of some very small molecules between the group that would, three years down the line, regrow their liver versus the group that never did."

Those molecules regulated the way cells in the liver grow.

"Some of them were already starting to regrow. So what we may be able to do is come up with a better set of tests to allow us to identify those patients who are already regrowing and may not need transplantation.

"So we may be able to remove a group from the transplant list."

The liver does have a phenomenal ability to regenerate. In healthy people it will recover in the space of months even if a large amount is taken away.

People who need a transplant because of acute liver failure are seriously ill. Even if doctors could tell which patients' livers were already on the path to recovery, they would still need to keep those patients alive long enough for the liver to return to form.

Dr Aluvihare argued this would be possible as a small amount of restored liver function would be enough for patients to leave hospital.

He said there are cases at King's of patients recovering while they were on the waiting list.

"I would say five to 10 patients a year we seriously consider for emergency transplantation and then they start recovering.

"That tells us there probably is a pool there and there is probably quite a lot of mileage in identifying people would would recover."

Whether this would work is still uncertain. The team have received funding to look for those chemical differences in the blood of patients.

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UK households 'borrowing to eat'

4 May 2013 Last updated at 23:10 ET

One in five UK households borrowed money or used savings to cover food costs in April, a Which? survey says.

It suggests the equivalent of five million households used credit cards, overdrafts or savings to buy food.

The consumer group runs a monthly insight tracker survey focused on spending and behaviour - 2,000 people took part in its poll.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd described the findings as "simply shocking".

The figures come despite official statistics last week showing that personal insolvencies have dropped to their lowest levels in five years.

Of the households covered by the Which? survey, 43% were headed by people between 30 and 50, and just under half had incomes under £21,000.

The research found that 55% of those using credit to do weekly shopping planned to cut back on food in the coming months, with almost a third saying they had to borrow from friends or family in order to make ends meet.

The study also found that one quarter of people said that they were living comfortably on their incomes and that more than one third - 36% - felt their finances were under pressure.

'Breaking point'

Almost one third - 31% - of those surveyed cut back spending on essentials last month, and they were most likely to be women aged between 30 and 49.

Mr Lloyd said: "Our tracker shows that many households are stretched to their financial breaking point, with rising food prices one of the top worries for squeezed consumers.

"It's simply shocking that so many people need to use savings or credit to pay for essentials like food."

A spokesman for Oxfam said that millions of people were under pressure from a combination of rising prices and stagnant incomes - with their problems added to by cuts to services and safety nets.

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'No change of course' says Hague

5 May 2013 Last updated at 04:05 ET

Foreign Secretary William Hague says the Conservative Party does not need a "drastic change of course" despite its poor showing in local election results last week.

He was responding to a surge in support for the UK Independence Party, which won over 140 seats.

He wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that Tories shared voter concerns about immigration, welfare and living costs.

The elections saw the Tories lose control of 10 councils but retain 18.

UKIP averaged 25% of the vote in the wards where it was standing in Thursday's elections. Labour gained two councils and boosted its councillors by nearly 300.

Contests took place in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities, as well as in Anglesey. About 2,300 council seats were up for grabs in England, in a major mid-term test for the coalition government.

Mr Hague said that while the election results "are better for the government than is usual in the middle of a parliament... they do show that there is a good deal of dissatisfaction and unhappiness in the country, in particular among some traditional Conservative supporters".

"These people are sending a clear message to the government I serve in," he added.

Mr Hague said that the results required a "threefold response" from the Conservative Party.

No 'shortcuts'

Firstly, he said, it must "underline to all those feeling aggrieved that we don't simply 'understand' how they feel - on immigration, on welfare, on bringing down the cost of living - we feel it too."

And the party needs to "relay much more forcefully how we're acting in all these areas", he says.

"The deficit has been cut by a third and 1.25 million new private sector jobs have been created. We have brought in a cap on benefits.

"We have pledged a referendum on Europe. These are the things we came into government to do for the country - and we must shout about them even louder."

'Badly off-track'

Mr Hague also said that the "important" third response must be "a resolve not to fall into the trap of lowest common denominator politics".

"People are tired of bad news. Many want to hear that there's a Plan B or C or D that is a shortcut to success. But to offer shortcuts that will not work would be to cheat the British people, offering them a dead end - and frankly it is patronising them too.

"The truth is there are no easy ways out for our country."

Meanwhile, former Conservative chairman Lord Tebbit has called on the Conservatives to set a date for an EU referendum as part of efforts to win back voters from UKIP.

Lord Tebbit also said Tory policy was "badly off track" and needed a rethink.

He urged Mr Cameron to look at UKIP's policies and consider which were "really Conservative policies that would be attractive to the party and its traditional voters".

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Tory MP in rape inquiry on bail

5 May 2013 Last updated at 04:25 ET

Deputy House of Commons Speaker Nigel Evans has been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault.

The Conservative MP, 55, was questioned about alleged attacks on two men in their 20s, the BBC understands.

Police said a 55-year-old man was arrested on Saturday morning and was interviewed by officers all day.

The alleged offences took place between July 2009 and March 2013 in Pendleton, Lancashire, police added.

Mr Evans has been bailed until 19 June.

Prime Minister David Cameron has been made aware of the arrest, it is understood.

In a statement, Lancashire Police, who have not named the man, said: "A 55-year-old man from Pendleton in Lancashire has today, Saturday, 4th May 2013, been arrested by Lancashire Constabulary on suspicion of rape and sexual assault.

"The offences are alleged to have been committed in Pendleton between July 2009 and March 2013.

"We take all allegations of a sexual nature extremely seriously and understand how difficult it can be for victims to have the confidence to come forward.

"As a constabulary, we are committed to investigating sexual offences sensitively but robustly recognising the impact that these types of crimes have on victims."

'Completely shell-shocked'

Mr Evans, MP for the northern England Tory stronghold of Ribble Valley since 1992, was elected as one of three Commons deputy speakers three years ago.

In more than two decades in Parliament, the Swansea-born MP - who came out as gay to a Sunday newspaper in 2010 - has held some senior posts in the party.

From 1999 to 2001, he was vice-chairman of the Conservative Party. Then, when Iain Duncan Smith became party leader in 2001, he was promoted to shadow Welsh secretary - a post he held for two years.

Mr Evans grew up in Swansea, graduating in politics from the city's University College and joined the Conservatives when he was 17.

He has a strong background in local government, and was first elected as a councillor to West Glamorgan county council in 1985, while managing his family's newsagent business.

He stood twice in Welsh seats before landing the Lancashire constituency he has held since 1992.

After entering the Commons that year, he quickly became a parliamentary private secretary, working for William Hague for two years during his time as Secretary of State for Wales.

Mr Evans, an outspoken right-wing MP and known Eurosceptic, was one of the first MPs to start campaigning against the prospect of a single currency. He has also regularly campaigned against drugs.

Michael Ranson, chairman of the Ribble Valley Conservative Association, said people in the constituency were "completely shell-shocked".

"He is a very popular MP and a very good constituency MP. He's given assistance to a lot of his constituents over many years," he told Sky News.

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Twelfth man charged over shooting

3 May 2013 Last updated at 17:17 ET

Jordan Johns-McKenna has become the twelfth person to be charged with the murder of a man shot in south-east London last year.

Marcus Innocent, 35, died during a dispute with a group of up to 20 people near shops in Kingsman Street in Woolwich last November.

A post-mortem examination found Mr Innocent died from a bullet wound to the stomach.

Mr Johns-McKenna, 20 of Blackheath, remains in police custody.

He will appear before Bromley magistrates on Saturday.

Eleven men, three of whom are brothers, have been remanded in custody.

They are Richard, Jack and Patrick Brennan, aged 28, 21 and 22, from Greenwich; Daniel Burgess, 32, and Perry Sutton, 24, from Dartford; Raffael Scialo, 24, from Greenwich; Dervis Bayram, 23, Kelie-Ray Birch, 19, Jack Humphrey, 20 and Abdirizak Ibrahim Abdi, 24, of Kidbrooke, and John Kiddle, 19, of Eltham.

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Care homes face financial checks

3 May 2013 Last updated at 19:00 ET

Large providers of care homes in England are to have their financial records regularly scrutinised in future to spot potential business problems.

Under the government's plans, the Care Quality Commission and local authorities will also ensure care continues if a company does go bust.

It comes after provider Southern Cross collapsed, causing distress and anxiety to its residents and their families.

Care minister Norman Lamb said the move would give reassurance to people.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will start to make checks on between 50 and 60 of the largest care companies in England, including those that provide care in a person's home.

CQC chief executive David Behan said the measures - to be set out in new legislation - would provide early warning of potential company failures in the care industry.

The CQC will have the power to:

• Require regular financial and relevant performance information
• Make the provider submits a "sustainability plan" to manage any risk to the organisation's operation
• Commission an independent business review to help the provider to return to financial stability
• Get information from the provider to help manage a company collapse

The Department of Health said the powers would bring care in to line with other services such as hospitals and holiday operators, which have procedures to check on the "financial health" of organisations.

Continue reading the main story

The fear and upset that the Southern Cross collapse caused to care home residents and families was unacceptable"

End Quote Norman Lamb Care and Support Minister

In the case of the collapse of a national provider the effects would be felt in many parts of the country, so it would be unfair for local councils to have to deal with the problem, the department said.

Mr Lamb said: "Everyone who receives care and support wants to know they will be protected if the company in charge of their care goes bust.

"The fear and upset that the Southern Cross collapse caused to care home residents and families was unacceptable.

"This early warning system will bring reassurance to people in care and will allow action to be taken to ensure care continues if a provider fails."

Southern Cross, the country's biggest care provider, had thousands of elderly residents at more than 750 care homes across the UK when it collapsed in 2011.

The firm was brought down by having to pay a £250m rent bill as local authorities made cuts.

After its collapse, other operators had to step in to take over the care of more than 30,000 people.

BBC social affairs correspondent Michael Buchanan said in that case nobody had to leave their care home because other companies took them over, but the government has been keen to ensure such a collapse is not repeated.

A report earlier this week said the number of care homes going bust had almost doubled in the past two years, with the level of fees that local authorities were willing to pay being blamed.

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Paramedic reveals ambulance failures

3 May 2013 Last updated at 19:00 ET By Rob Cave 5 live Investigates

Patients are coming to serious harm and even dying because of ambulance delays, a paramedic whistle-blower has warned.

He says 'lone-response' paramedics at emergencies in the east of England can be stranded for several hours while they wait for fully crewed ambulances.

The ambulance trust serving the region is investigating eight "serious incidents" in March.

They involve delays in getting patients to hospital, including four cases in which people died.

The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) admitted the service had fallen short, and said it was investing in extra staff and ambulances.

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"At least once every shift we are waiting for more than 30 minutes," said the paramedic, who did not want to be named.

"And we're talking about time-critical patients, not someone who has just cut a finger.

"It's happened to me with a patient who was having severe breathing difficulties. I had to wait for an ambulance to come from 50 miles away. Regrettably she passed away before the ambulance arrived."

The EEAS covers Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, a population of almost six million people.

The service needs to find savings of almost £60m in the five-year period to 2016-17.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I cheated death twice... The paramedic was superb, but the delay was disgusting"

End Quote James Sadler

But paramedics say the funding crisis has been compounded by previous management putting too much of its resources into lone-response paramedics at the expense of fully staffed ambulances.

James Sadler was left stranded twice after suffering first a heart attack and then, a month later, chest pains at his home in Sheringham, Norfolk.

On the first occasion, the sole paramedic who attended was told that one ambulance had been diverted to another emergency and a second had run out of petrol. The third ambulance to arrive got him to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital three hours after his family had made the 999 call.

As he waited to get to hospital, his heart stopped beating.

Continue reading the main story

Find out more

Listen to the full report on 5 live Investigates on BBC 5 live on Sunday, 3 February, at 11:00 GMT

"I cheated death twice, first at home and then in the ambulance. The paramedic was superb, but the delay was disgusting. The problem is not getting into hospital," he said.

On the second occasion, a paramedic again responded quickly to a call from his family, but the ambulance arrived late and then broke down at his house. Eventually he got to hospital several hours after the 999 call was made.

Although the trust recorded eight serious incidents linked to delays in March, the problem has been developing since the end of 2011.

Figures released after a Freedom of Information request show that incidents where patients waited for more than 30 minutes after the first responder called for back-up increased from 1,241 in December 2011 to 2,884 last November. The biggest problems were in Essex.

The investigation into the serious incidents will determine if the delays played a part in any of the four subsequent deaths.

A new chief executive, Andrew Morgan, has been brought in to sort out the problems facing the trust. In a report last month, he said senior managers had taken their eye off the ball as they pursued foundation trust status.

Mr Morgan said there had been a lack of "clear and visible leadership from the board".

The trust says it is "seeking to recruit" an additional 351 frontline staff, and is investing an additional £5m in its frontline operations, as part of a plan to improve the service. An extra 25 fully crewed NHS ambulances will also be deployed in areas where delays have been most acute.

"We have to improve our service to better support patients and staff. A number of patients have waited too long for an ambulance and in some areas there has been an overreliance on rapid-response vehicles.

"Our turnaround plan sets out how we will achieve that. The changes we require will not happen overnight, but we are starting to see some improvements in our services," said Mr Morgan.

You can listen to the full report on 5 live Investigates on Sunday, 3 February, at 11:00 GMT on BBC 5 live.

Listen again via the 5 live website or by downloading the 5 live Investigates podcast.

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Radical Tory response to UKIP urged

4 May 2013 Last updated at 02:56 ET

Senior Conservative MPs are urging the prime minister to consider a more radical response to the party's losses in council elections in England.

The UK Independence Party made gains as the Tories lost control of 10 councils.

Former leadership contender David Davis said "more conventional Tory policies" including tax cuts were now needed.

He also called for a planned referendum on the European Union to be brought forward, a move party deputy chairman Sarah Newton said should be considered.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Davis said the Conservatives must break the impression that they are "privileged and out of touch" if they are to stand a chance of winning the next general election.

He said "We have to start convincing the people that we care about the things that matter to them".

'Simplified Tory manifesto'

"So no matter how uncomfortable it makes our metropolitan elite, we have to deal properly with fears over immigration.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We should give the people a say over Europe, ideally before the Euro elections. Otherwise Nigel Farage will characterise those elections as 'the referendum the Tories wouldn't let you have'"

End Quote David Davis

"We have to do more to help conventional families through the hard times, including serious tax breaks for married couples. We should start cutting taxes to regenerate the economy, indeed we should have started years ago when it had more chance of working before the election."

UKIP, which campaigns for the UK to leave the European Union, averaged 25% of the vote in the wards where it was standing in Thursday's elections and won more than 140 seats.

And its leader Nigel Farage said the party had taken its "first substantial step towards a party that can credibly win seats at Westminster".

Mr Davis said UKIP's policies on law and order, immigration, taxation, foreign affairs, and Europe "mimic a simplified 1980s Tory manifesto".

He said the Conservatives needed to be "more straight talking and fewer focus groups; more conventional Tory policies, not because they are Tory, but because they work; less pandering to metropolitan interest groups; and please, please, no more Old Etonian advisers".

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will call a referendum to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Brussels if the party is re-elected in 2015.

But Mr Davis called for this to be held ahead of next year's European elections.

"We should give the people a say over Europe, ideally before the Euro elections. Otherwise Nigel Farage will characterise those elections as 'the referendum the Tories wouldn't let you have'."

'No doubt'

Meanwhile, Sarah Newton, the Conservative Party deputy chairman, acknowledged that the party will have to listen more to voters.

She told the BBC: "MPs will be sitting down with their activists learning the lessons, making sure that we can redouble our efforts to get out on the doorsteps, out into our communities, really listening to people and really telling them about the really good things the government have done."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

It is the day UKIP emerged as a real political force in the land"

End Quote

Asked if UKIP's success would lead to Mr Cameron reviewing his plans for the EU referendum, Mrs Newton said: "I think we should really consider bringing forward the legislation in this parliament that would enable the referendum. So people can be in no doubt."

Earlier on Friday, responding to the success of UKIP in the elections, Mr Cameron said: "We need to show respect for people who have taken the choice to support this party and we are going to work really hard to win them back."

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said the Tory leadership believes any damage can be limited at the next general election.

They intend to subject UKIP's policies to greater scrutiny, said our correspondent.

Contests took place in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities, as well as in Anglesey. About 2,300 council seats were up for grabs in England, in a major mid-term test for the coalition government.

The BBC's projected national share of the vote put Labour in the lead with 29% of the vote and the Conservatives in second place with 25%, UKIP in third place with 23% of votes and the Lib Dems fourth with 14%.

An estimate from a BBC sample of key wards suggests that average turnout was 31%, down 10 points from the last local elections in 2009.

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Towns rewarded for High Street ideas

4 May 2013 Last updated at 03:38 ET

Seven communities in England are to share £1m of government cash for injecting life into their high streets.

It is the latest in a series of initiatives in the wake of retail guru Mary Portas's review into how to rejuvenate struggling town centres.

Rotherham won the top award, £268,058, for bringing in independent shops.

Other awards given by a panel of business groups went to Ipswich, Market Rasen, Gloucester, Altrincham, Herne Hill in south London, and Southampton.

Local Growth Minister Mark Prisk said the seven areas were a "shining example" to communities across the country.

"It is in everyone's interests to see our town centres thrive, and I want people across the country to take inspiration from these towns and look at what can be done when communities work together," he said.

The High Street Renewal Awards aimed to recognise areas "already delivering the most effective and innovative plans to bring their town centres back to life".

But Clare Rayner, from the Support for Independent Retail Campaign, told BBC Radio 5 live the divided money would not go far enough.

"The increase in business rates alone has cost the High Street in the UK £175m in increased taxes, so they're taking that away and giving another million back," she said.

Increase in customers

The judging panel, which allocated the award, visited the towns and cities applying for the fund to evaluate their work.

It gave:

• £93,057 to Herne Hill market in South London which set up its site and pedestrian zone from scratch in less than a year
• £88,657 to Old Northam Road in Southampton, where a public-private partnership is turning a Victorian shopping street into a regional antiques centre
• £148,057 to the Altrincham Forward group in Greater Manchester where landlords and retailers are working together to bring empty shops back into use
• £168,057 to Ipswich which is linking its historic shopping area to a new waterfront development and turning an empty department store into a leisure complex
• £101,057 to Market Rasen in Lincolnshire which is setting up community shops selling regional products
• £133,057 to Gloucester, for using tourism to attract more business and boost trade.

Rotherham Town Centre is basing its strategy on the idea that independent shops "help differentiate the town centre offer from that of its nearest competitors". It is said to have seen a 12% increase in customers last year.

Last year, another government initiative following Ms Portas's review saw some 27 areas including Margate, Croydon and Morecambe receive funding and advice from retail experts.

However, Freedom of Information requests seen by the BBC in March revealed that just 12% of money from the first tranche of £1.2m had been spent, while pilot towns had spent only 13% of another £1.5m tranche in July.

Ms Rayner told the BBC: "A lot of people would say that's fine - they're taking their time, they're being cautious. But actually, there were statements made in the Portas review in December 2011 which said there was a real need for urgent action.

"Grant Shapps, former higher street minister… said that these pilots would be the 'vanguard of a high street revolution'. There's not much of a revolution taking place if none of the projects that they proposed are happening."

It also emerged in March that the government's £10m High Street Innovation Fund - set up in 2012 in response to the Portas review - had barely been touched, with just 7% of the money spent so far.

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Lack of kit 'hampers school science'

2 May 2013 Last updated at 17:19 ET By Judith Burns BBC News education reporter

Pupils at many state-funded schools in England are missing out on practical science experiments because of a lack of basic equipment, a report suggests.

A survey of 845 schools by the group Science Community Representing Education highlights "acute" shortages.

On average, secondary schools have 70% of the necessary equipment and primaries just 46%, it suggests.

The Department for Education commented that schools were responsible for deciding how to manage their budgets.

Prof Julia Buckingham, of Science Community Representing Education (Score), said: "Practical science is a low priority when it comes to allocating budgets."

The survey found that levels of resourcing were poorest for biology, with 37% of secondary schools reporting too little equipment for effective practical work.

Almost half said they lacked sufficient ecological sampling equipment such as beakers and nets and more than 60% said they didn't have enough items such as thermometers or blood pressure meters to measure changes in the body.

Teachers funding purchases

In chemistry, some 60% of secondary schools reported too few pH monitors for the study of acids and alkalis.

In physics, 40% of schools and sixth-form colleges lacked enough magnets even for pupils to work in pairs.

Schools also reported shortages of microscopes, eye protection and connecting leads for circuits.

Some 70% of secondary and 37% of primary teachers said they regularly paid for practical science equipment out of their own pockets - "with very few expecting to be reimbursed", says the report.

It raises concerns "that over 80% of state-funded schools do not formally allocate part of the science budget specifically for practical work".

Money spent on photocopying

A representative group of 448 secondary and 397 primary schools were polled on their practical science spending for 2011-12.

In state secondary schools, funding varied from 75p per student to £31.25. The highest-spending independent school put £83.21 per student into practical science. The lowest-spending state primary allocated just 4p.

The report also found that an average of 28% of the practical science budget was spent on photocopying.

Continue reading the main story

Low resourcing for practical work is a long-term problem and not one that is a simple matter of lack of government funding"

End Quote Prof Julia Buckingham Science Community Representing Education

School laboratories were inadequate in a fifth of state secondary schools, according to the report, with "insufficient bench space, a lack of access to fume cupboards... and insufficient space to run and store long-term experiments".

Some 60% of secondary schools said they did not have access to a pond for ecology sampling.

'Source of frustration'

Prof Buckingham said: "Low resourcing for practical work is a long-term problem and not one that is a simple matter of lack of government funding.

"Schools must share part of the responsibility for allocating funding for this important aspect of science learning."

She called for school leaders to use a set of benchmarks developed by Score that outline minimum quantities and standards for equipment and facilities.

"We need to ensure that all pupils are exposed to the excitement and increased understanding of science that carrying out practical work can bring."

Marianne Cutler, of the Association for Science Education, said the issues highlighted in the report were a source of frustration for many teachers.

"At primary level, in particular, the frustration is that the equipment list is pretty basic and inexpensive. There is no excuse for schools not to have sufficient supplies of objects like batteries, stopwatches and magnets."

'Vital for future prosperity'

Russell Hobby, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said that practical science skills were vital for an understanding of scientific method and for many technical careers, adding: "It is not just lack of equipment, however, that stands in the way, but lack of time in a crowded but narrow curriculum."

Malcolm Trobe, of the Association of School and College Leaders, agreed there were "major issues with resourcing in some areas" but cautioned that "benchmarking levels can only be reached if funding to schools and colleges is sufficient".

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "Score is right that practical work is essential for high-quality science teaching. The best schools teach science as a practical as well as a theoretical subject.

"It is of course down to schools to decide how best to manage their budgets so that pupils get the best possible education, but we are clear of the importance of science as a subject vital for our future prosperity.

"That is why it is a compulsory subject in schools and we are raising its importance. Practical work is prioritised in our new curriculum."

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Child sex abuser's sentence reviewed

2 May 2013 Last updated at 23:16 ET

A sex offender spared jail after a judge considered the "impact" on his family is having his sentence reviewed by the attorney general.

Gary Karn, 48, was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence at Norwich Crown Court for sexually assaulting two girls, aged seven and eight.

Sentencing guidelines suggest a prison term of up to four years.

Judge Mark Lucraft said he had to consider the "hardship" prison would cause Karn's wife and two children.

Karn was convicted of three offences of sexual assault following a trial and sentenced on 24 April.

'Worked hard'

His wife had written to the court saying that if he were jailed, Karn would lose his job and the family could lose their home.

Judge Mark Lucraft told Karn: "You are clearly a man who has worked hard and been in employment throughout your adult life, working for local businesses and working to support your family.

"I have to consider the impact on them: people who are not in any way at fault for what has happened, yet might suffer serious hardship."

Announcing Karn's sentence of 18 months, Judge Lucraft said he had considered whether it could be suspended.

"In the light of what I know about the impact on your family, I think it can - just," he said.

Extreme pornographic image

Karn was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, made the subject of a five-year sexual offences prevention order and banned from working with children for five years.

Judge Lucraft said he had taken into account six counts of possessing an extreme pornographic image and one count of possession of indecent photographs of a child, with which Karn was also charged.

The Attorney General's Office said it was considering whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal, which has powers to increase a sentence if it is "unduly lenient".

It said it had received a request from a member of the public for the sentence to be reviewed.

It has until 22 May to decide whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.

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Under-50s' breast cancers top 10,000

3 May 2013 Last updated at 01:30 ET

The number of British women under 50 having breast cancer diagnosed annually has topped 10,000 for the first time, according to Cancer Research UK.

The charity says one case in five in the UK is among the under-50s, though fewer than ever in that age group are dying of the disease.

Higher alcohol intake and childbirth patterns could be factors, it believes.

In 1993-95, 38 women per 100,000 had breast cancer diagnosed, compared with 42 per 100,000 in 2008-10.

In total, more than 49,500 women of all ages had breast cancer diagnosed in 2010, compared with 37,107 in 1995.

The majority of cases occur in older women.

Continue reading the main story

These figures show that breast cancer still affects more and more families every year in the UK and the need for research into the disease remains vital"

End Quote Chris Askew Breakthrough Breast Cancer

However, the incidence rate of breast cancer in women under 50 rose by 11% over that period.

In 2010, 10,068 women under the age of 50 in the UK were told that they had the disease - 2,300 more than the number diagnosed in 1995, Cancer Research UK said.

It says it is not clear exactly what factors are behind the rise, but that increasing alcohol intake and hormonal factors such as having fewer children and having them later in life, and increased use of the contraceptive pill may be playing a role.

Sara Hiom, the organisation's director of health information, said: "Women of all ages who notice anything different about their breasts - including changes in size, shape or feel, a lump or thickening, nipple discharge or rash, dimpling, puckering or redness of the skin - should see their GP straightaway, even if they have attended breast cancer screening.

'Better care'

"It's more likely not to be cancer. But if it is, detecting it early gives the best chance of successful treatment."

Ms Hiom said the improvements in survival rates are linked to research, more awareness and better care, as well as the availability of new drugs that can be used to treat the disease.

The charity said that as breast cancer had affected younger people in the public eye, such as Kylie Minogue, that might have encouraged women to come forward sooner. But that would not explain the rise in the number of cases.

Chris Askew, chief executive of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity, said: "These figures show that breast cancer still affects more and more families every year in the UK and the need for research into the disease remains vital."

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