Courts to be hit by two-day strike

31 March 2014 Last updated at 01:14

Solicitors and probation officers in England and Wales are staging joint action against changes introduced by the Ministry of Justice.

National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) members are going on strike over "dangerous" government plans to outsource 70% of the service.

Criminal defence solicitors will walk out in protest against cuts in legal aid fees.

The action starts at noon and is scheduled to last for two days.

The government said the reforms were necessary in each case.

Up to 14,000 people are expected to take part.

Magistrates' and crown courts in major cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are expected to be affected.

The London Criminal Courts Solicitors' Association (LCCSA) said police stations would also see delays due to a reduced number of solicitors working.

'Untried and untested'

It is the third time solicitors have staged a walkout, and Napo's second strike, but the two sets of workers have never joined forces to take action before.

They are due to gather at Westminster on Tuesday afternoon for a rally and will then march to the Ministry of Justice.

Under the ministry's plans, most probation work, supervising low and medium-risk offenders, would be outsourced to private firms and voluntary groups.

Napo general secretary Ian Lawrence said: "The government plans to outsource 70% of the probation service are untried and untested.

"It is a dangerous social experiment that we believe will lead to a reduction in rehabilitation and fragmented risk management, placing the public at risk."

While it was a difficult decision for union members to take strike action, "the public needs to know how these changes will impact on risk management and ultimately public protection", he added.

Justice minister Jeremy Wright said: "It is very disappointing that Napo has chosen to strike when we are making positive progress towards the implementation of these vital reforms.

"We are pleased that Napo, along with the other probation trade unions, has recently ratified a national agreement on staff transfer that will provide a series of protections for probation staff.

"We are therefore surprised that they have now chosen to adopt this unhelpful course of action."

'Nightmarish reality'

Solicitors have warned that those accused of crimes could be at risk of miscarriages of justice if they do not get a "decent" lawyer, due to the legal aid cuts.

Nicola Hill, president of the LCCSA, said of the joint action: "As the government dismantles the criminal justice system, risks are being taken which threaten public safety and the right to a fair defence.

"The MoJ is taking a gamble on outsourcing the supervision of the most persistent offenders on release from short-term prison sentences.

"Meanwhile, as the justice secretary scrimps on legal aid, the risk of the innocent going to jail is set to become a nightmarish reality."

Historic day

The LCCSA has estimated that two-thirds of legal aid firms will close when the cuts are introduced - a total of 1,000 across England and Wales.

Matt Foot, founder of the Justice Alliance, which is fighting against legal aid cuts, said: "This is the first day in history when solicitors and probation have taken joint action not to work the courts.

"They are united against a minister of justice who is listening to no one, not even government-funded reports."

Solicitors last took part in a walkout on 7 March, along with criminal barristers, which caused widespread disruption.

Last week, barristers called off industrial action after the government agreed to delay its proposed legal aid cuts until at least the summer of 2015.

Legal Aid Minister Shailesh Vara said: "We've always said we want to do all that we can to help lawyers facing fee cuts.

"We've spoken at length with them and made changes to our initial plan as a result. But this government is dealing with an unprecedented financial challenge and the Ministry of Justice has no choice but to significantly reduce the amount it spends each year.

"Our final package does mean fee reductions, but we've staggered them to try and ease their impact."

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Network Rail plans £38bn investment

31 March 2014 Last updated at 08:06

Network Rail has announced a five-year plan to invest £38bn in rail infrastructure.

It includes the construction of new tracks, the renovation of stations and the upgrade of existing lines.

The announcement comes after it emerged that Network Rail was expecting a record fine of £70m for delays suffered by passengers over the past five years.

It blamed congestion and extreme weather for the delays, but said it was disappointed by its performance.

'Bigger, better'

In a statement accompanying Monday's announcement about its investment plans Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail, said: "Passenger numbers in recent years have grown far beyond even our own industry's predictions, so it's vital that this investment over the next five years helps meet the continuing increase in demand for rail travel.

"Bigger, better stations, more tracks and longer platforms, electric-powered trains, reopened railway lines and fewer level crossings - all will help deliver more frequent, more comfortable, more reliable journeys and a safer, better-value railway for everyone," he said.

The plan, which runs from 2014 to 2019, includes:

• Up to 700 more trains a day between major northern cities
• 20% increase in the capacity of London's commuter trains
• 850 miles of track to be electrified
• An east-west rail project connecting Oxford and Milton Keynes
• Upgrades for stations including Birmingham New Street and Manchester Victoria

In addition to those new projects, £13bn will be put into replacing and renewing old tracks, points, fencing and platforms.

'Punctuality priority'

David Sidebottom, acting chief executive of rail watchdog group Passenger Focus, said: "The £38bn investment for Network Rail over the next five years is welcome, particularly during difficult economic times.

Continue reading the main story

I don't think in this century we should be having railways that are out of action for two months as we've suffered in Dawlish"

End Quote Mark Carne Network Rail chief executive

"Passengers should ultimately see an improved rail service bringing the things they tell us they want: improved punctuality, reliable trains with more seats."

Alluding to the fine expected to be imposed on Network Rail for delays, he added: "Punctuality should be a particular focus given the priority passengers give to it."

Mr Carne told the BBC that "huge growth in passenger numbers over the past five years" had contributed to punctuality issues.

"The train network is becoming more and more busy, and that's why we have to invest again to increase the capacity, to improve the reliability still further," he said.

Network Rail says it also wants to improve the network's ability to withstand extreme weather.

Mr Carne said: "Over the next five years we will work tirelessly to improve the resilience of our railway, targeting investment in areas we know are vulnerable to nature's impact and reducing the likelihood of damage and disruption."

Storms in February destroyed the main line at Dawlish in Devon, cutting rail services to Cornwall.

"I don't think in this century we should be having railways that are out of action for two months as we've suffered in Dawlish," Mr Carne told the BBC. "It's quite clear we need to invest further in improving the resilience of our network."

Network Rail expects the line to reopen on 4 April.

Dawlish was just one example of a town cut off from the network by bad weather, Mr Carne said. Network Rail has just reopened the line to Hastings after several weeks of closure due to landslips.

"We've suffered an enormous amount of damage to the railway right across the network, and that's one of the reasons why our punctuality figures have been lower than we would have liked."

"We need to do more to improve the resilience and to provide the passengers with the kind of service that I think they rightly deserve," he added.

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Tax cuts 'biggest for 20 years'

31 March 2014 Last updated at 08:51

Chancellor George Osborne is set to hail what he says is "the biggest reduction of business and personal tax in two decades".

As a raft of tax changes take effect, he will say stability and confidence are returning to the economy.

And he will herald measures encouraging people to seek work, including a scheme requiring the long-term jobless to carry out tasks for their benefits.

Labour claims Mr Osborne has already made households £900 a year worse off.

This week, the amount of money people will be able to receive without paying income tax on it rises to £10,000.

Corporation tax is being reduced to 21%, alongside cuts to employers' National Insurance contributions and changes to business rates.

'Creating jobs'

In a speech in Essex, the chancellor will describe the tax cuts as the "biggest for a generation".

Continue reading the main story

While millionaires have been given a huge tax cut, millions of hard-working people have seen their taxes go up."

End Quote Chris Leslie Shadow Treasury Secretary

He will highlight the rise in the personal tax allowance from £6,500 to £10,000 since May 2010, enabling people to keep £700 more of their income.

"These are the biggest cuts to personal and business taxes for two decades... this week you will keep more of the money you earn.

"This week your business can keep more of the money it makes, so you can invest, expand and create new jobs."

And while he will say employment is growing three times faster than any recovery on record, he will add that "it's no good creating jobs if we're also paying people to stay on welfare".

He will claim the government "inherited a welfare system that didn't work" and that "people were just parked on benefits".

"Frankly, there was not enough pressure to get a job. Some people could just sign on and get almost as much money staying at home as going out to work," he is expected to say.

His Help to Work scheme comes into force this month and will mean those who have been out of work for three years or more face losing their benefits if they do not undertake tasks such as clearing litter and graffiti or attending a job centre every day.

'Taxes up'

Mr Osborne will add that the government was "backing businesses by cutting their taxes so they can create jobs, cutting the tax on hard-working people so their job pays, and holding back welfare rises and imposing more conditions on those claiming the dole, so that getting a job pays more".

In the Budget earlier this month, Mr Osborne froze fuel duty until next year, reduced duty on beer and promised a tax-free childcare subsidy of up to £2,000 if the Conservatives win the next election.

But shadow treasury chief secretary Chris Leslie said working people were facing a "cost of living crisis" and that the chancellor was "giving with one hand but taking away much more with the other".

"While millionaires have been given a huge tax cut, millions of hard-working people have seen their taxes go up.

"There have been 24 Tory tax rises, including the VAT hike which has cost families with children an average of £1,350 over the last three years.

"Labour would deal with the cost-of-living crisis by freezing energy bills, cutting business rates for small firms and expanding free childcare for working parents."

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'Cinderella' cruelty law considered

31 March 2014 Last updated at 09:19

The government is "seriously" considering introducing a new offence of emotional cruelty to children, the BBC understands.

The proposed change to neglect laws in England and Wales would see parents who starve their children of affection face prosecution for the first time.

It follows a campaign for a "Cinderella Law" from charity Action for Children.

Government sources said the measure was "being looked at very seriously", and that it was "more likely than not".

Ministers are looking to introduce the measure ahead of the next election, the BBC understands, but sources stressed it was not yet a done deal.

The Daily Telegraph reported it would be introduced in the Queen's Speech in June but it is understood this might not be the case as it would not require a separate piece of legislation - it could instead be added on to an existing bill.

Action for Children's chief executive, Sir Tony Hawkhead, said the change would be a "monumental step forward for thousands of children".

'Terrorising a child'

Robert Buckland, a Conservative MP who has backed the charity's campaign, said the current law was outdated, having been based largely on legislation first introduced 150 years ago.

Continue reading the main story

This proposal is not about widening the net, it's about making the net stronger so that we catch those parents and carers who are quite clearly inflicting significant harm"

End Quote Robert Buckland Conservative MP

He said non-physical abuse could cause "significant harm" to children.

"You can look at a range of behaviours, from ignoring a child's presence, failing to stimulate a child, right through to acts of in fact terrorising a child where the child is frightened to disclose what is happening to them," Mr Buckland told BBC Radio 5 live.

"Isolating them, belittling them, rejecting them, corrupting them, as well, into criminal or anti-social behaviour."

He said the new law would not criminalise parents for being nasty, but for their criminal behaviour.

"This proposal is not about widening the net, it's about making the net stronger so that we catch those parents and carers who are quite clearly inflicting significant harm on their children, whereas they should be nurturing them and loving them," Mr Buckland said.

He added that it would also give police a "clearer way" in which to work, he said.

The campaign was also backed by Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams, who introduced a private member's bill on the issue last year, the late Labour MP Paul Goggins and Baroness Butler-Sloss, a former judge who was president of the family division of the High Court.

'Abhorrent crime'

The Children and Young Persons Act of 1933 provides for the punishment of a person who treats a child "in a manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health (including injury to or loss of sight, or hearing, or limb, or organ of the body, and any mental derangement)".

Mr Williams's bill would add a further category of harm for which the perpetrator could be punished: impairment of "physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development".

Child neglect was made a punishable offence by the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1868.

The Ministry of Justice said it was "considering ways the law can support" protecting children from harm.

A spokesman said protecting children from harm was "fundamental" and that child cruelty was an "abhorrent crime which should be punished".

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New inquests to probe fans' deaths

31 March 2014 Last updated at 09:32

Fresh inquests are to begin in Warrington later into the deaths of 96 football fans who lost their lives in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

The inquests were ordered in December 2012 when the High Court quashed the original accidental death verdicts that had stood for more than 20 years.

It came after new evidence was revealed by the Hillsborough Independent Panel about Liverpool FC's FA Cup semi-final where the men, women and children died.

The inquests are set to last a year.

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"Over the coming year new light will be shone on Britain's worst sporting disaster", reports Judith Moritz

All the victims were Liverpool supporters watching their team play Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's ground.

Continue reading the main story

The coroner, a serving Lord Justice of Appeal, a very senior judge, is being assisted by five lawyers, five counsel to the inquest, three solicitors and of course there are lawyers representing all the families of those who died who wish to be represented, the authorities, the police, the emergency services and so on.

When the coroner selects individual jurors they will be told they have to set aside up to a year. They will not be sitting continuously for that period, they will have to take a break, but nevertheless it is a considerable period of time.

Obviously, they will be asked about any particular connections to the tragedy at Hillsborough and they will be checked to make sure that they really can serve this considerable period of time.

The coroner could record a verdict of natural causes; accidental death, unlawful killing; an open verdict; or these days, they often give a narrative verdict, where they set out in some detail what they believe to have happened.

The inquests, being heard by a jury, are being held in a purpose-built courtroom, the biggest in England and Wales, in an office building in Birchwood Park, in Warrington.

Unseen footage

Proceedings will begin with the selection of 11 jurors who are expected be sworn in on Tuesday.

Lord Justice Goldring, a Court of Appeal judge who is acting as coroner, will open the hearing with a statement to the court.

Families of the victims will be invited to read out "background statements" - or what they are calling "pen portraits" - of their loved ones.

The hearing will then break for several weeks for lawyers to consider new pathological evidence into how each of the 96 died.

Over the course of the inquests, jurors are expected to hear evidence on themes including stadium safety, emergency planning, crowd management and the response of the emergency services.

The court will also be shown hitherto unseen BBC footage recorded on the day.

There are two separate inquiries running alongside the inquests.

Operation Resolve, led by former Chief Constable of Durham Jon Stoddart, is a criminal investigation into events leading up to the disaster, as well as the disaster itself.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is looking into allegations of police misconduct arising from the aftermath of the tragedy.

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Prince George photograph released

29 March 2014 Last updated at 22:01

An official photograph of Prince George with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been released ahead of their tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The eight-month-old is pictured in his mother's arms while Prince William holds their dog, Lupo.

In the image, taken by royal christening photographer Jason Bell, the family is looking through an open window at their Kensington Palace home.

The Cambridges are due to arrive in New Zealand on 7 April.

They then fly to Australia on 16 April and their three-week tour ends on 25 April.

First tour

In the new image, the blond baby prince is wearing a pale blue jumper bearing his name, while his mother wears a cream-coloured blouse and his father a shirt with rolled-up sleeves.

Prince George, who is third in line to the throne, is not looking directly at the camera like his parents - instead, he is smiling at the black cocker spaniel next to him.

Other than a glimpse of the curtains, little of the Cambridges' renovated Kensington Palace home can be seen in the photograph.

It is the first official picture of Prince George to be released since his christening last October.

The visit to Australia and New Zealand will be his first official overseas tour. The trip echoes the Prince and Princess of Wales's visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1983 when the couple took William, then aged nine months, with them.

The tour will begin in Wellington, where the Cambridges will be greeted with a ceremonial welcome to New Zealand, called a Powhiri in Maori.

They will see a yacht race, visit a rugby stadium and a vineyard, and there will also be Maori engagements in Christchurch and Dunedin.

During their time in New Zealand, they will attend a ceremony in Blenheim to recognise the sacrifice of members of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces in the First World War.

There will be a similar commemorative ceremony in Canberra, Australia.

Their Australian itinerary includes visits to Uluru in the Northern Territory, as well as Sydney and Adelaide.

The duke and duchess will also visit an area of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, that was hit by bushfires last October.

Their 11-strong entourage includes Prince George's new nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, and a hairdresser.

Celebrity photographer

Prince William has made a number of official trips to Australia and New Zealand in the past, but Catherine is yet to pay an official visit to either country.

The couple passed through Brisbane airport on their way back to the UK at the end of their South Pacific tour in September 2012, however.

The duke had paid an official visit to New Zealand and Australia in March 2011. He went to Christchurch shortly after it suffered an earthquake and also visited Queensland and Victoria, which had been hit by floods.

It is the third joint official trip abroad for the duke and duchess, following a visit to Canada and the US in July 2011, shortly after they were married, and their South Pacific tour.

Before taking official photographs following Prince George's christening at St James's Palace, Bell was known for his celebrity subjects.

His images from the christening included one of the young prince with his father, grandfather Prince Charles and great-grandmother, the Queen.

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Crossrail digs up Black Death victims

30 March 2014 Last updated at 00:00 By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News

Skeletons unearthed in London Crossrail excavations are Black Death victims from the great pandemic of the 14th Century, forensic tests indicate.

Their teeth contain DNA from the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis and their graves have been dated to 1348-50.

Records say thousands of Londoners perished and their corpses were dumped in a mass grave outside the City, but its exact location was a mystery.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

This discovery solves a 660-year-old mystery. It's a hugely important step forward"

End Quote Jay Carver Lead archaeologist, Crossrail

Archaeologists now believe it is under Charterhouse Square near the Barbican.

They plan to expand their search for victims across the square - guided by underground radar scans, which have picked up signs of many more graves.

Crossrail's lead archaeologist Jay Carver says the find "solves a 660-year-old mystery".

"This discovery is a hugely important step forward in documenting and understanding Europe's most devastating pandemic," he said.

"Further excavations will follow to see if - as we expect - we are coming across a much bigger mass burial trench."

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Scientists enter the pit and examine the skeletons discovered

Between 1347 and 1351 the "Great Pestilence" swept westward across Europe killing millions of people. It later became known as the Black Death.

Continue reading the main story

The plague

• The plague is one of the oldest identifiable diseases known to man
• Plague is spread from one rodent to another by fleas, and to humans either by the bite of infected fleas or when handling infected hosts
• Recent outbreaks have shown that plague may reappear in areas that have long been free of the disease
• Plague can be treated with antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline
• Source: World Health Organization

It arrived on Britain's shores in 1348 and is believed to have wiped out up to 60% of the population at the time.

In London, two emergency burial grounds were dug outside the walls of the City. One has been found at East Smithfield, while the other is known to lie somewhere in Farringdon.

In March 2013, Crossrail engineers uncovered 25 skeletons in a 5.5m-wide shaft - alongside pottery dated to the mid-14th Century.

Samples from 12 of the corpses were taken for forensic analysis. In at least four cases, scientists found traces of the DNA of the Yersinia pestis, confirming they had contact with the plague prior to their death.

To pinpoint which historical plague outbreak the "Charterhouse 25" could have fallen victim to, the researchers used radio carbon dating.

They determined the burial ground was used in at least two distinct periods - the earliest within the Black Death in 1348-50, followed by a later outbreak in the 1430s.

In a bid to understand just how far the grave extends across the square, Crossrail approached the University of Keele to undertake a forensic geophysics survey - using ground-penetrating radar.

The initial scan detected signs of further burials across Charterhouse Square and also the foundations of a building - possibly a chapel.

"We will undertake further excavations in Charterhouse Square later this year to confirm some of the results," said Mr Carver.

The skeletons provide a rare opportunity to study the medieval population of London, according to osteologist Don Walker, of the Museum of London Archaeology.

He said: "We can start to answer questions like: where did they come from and what were their lives like?

"I'm amazed how much you can learn about a person who died more than 600 years ago."

Analysis of isotope levels in the skeletons' bones and teeth indicate that:

• Many of the skeletons appear to suffer signs of malnutrition and 16% had rickets.
• There is a high rate of back damage and strain indicating heavy manual labour.
• The later skeletons from the 1400s had a high rate of upper body injury consistent with being involved in violent altercations.
• 13 of the skeletons were male, three female, two children, the gender was undetermined in the other seven skeletons.
• 40% grew up outside London, possibly as far north as Scotland - showing that 14th Century London attracted people from across Britain just as it does today.

Mr Carver said: "We can see from the people here that Londoners weren't living an easy life.

"The combination of a poor diet and generally a struggle means they were very susceptible to the plague at that time and that's possibly one of the explanations for why the Black Death was so devastating."

By sequencing the ancient bacterial DNA, researchers hope to understand how the plague has evolved and spread over the centuries.

Globally the infection still kills 2,000 people a year, including countries like Madagascar. Antibiotics are available, but if untreated the disease kills within four days.

Scientists hope to confirm whether the 14th Century strain was the grandmother of all plague that exists today.

The £14.8bn Crossrail project aims to establish a 118km-long (73-mile) high-speed rail link with 37 stations across London, and is due to open in 2018.

The excavations have already unearthed Roman skulls washed down a lost river, a Bronze-Age transport route, and the largest piece of amber ever found in the UK.

The latest announcement comes ahead of a Channel 4 documentary, Return of the Black Death: Secret History, on 6 April, which follows the Charterhouse Square discovery.

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Crackdown on nuisance selling calls

30 March 2014 Last updated at 00:01

Telemarketing companies that hound members of the public with unwanted calls could become easier to penalise under new government plans.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller wants to allow the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to take action against offending companies more easily.

And the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will consult on imposing heftier fines.

The ICO received 120,310 complaints about "unsolicited marketing calls" between April and November last year.

'Unwanted'

Currently firms can only be punished if "substantial damage" is caused to householders by nuisance calls, but Ms Miller's plans will consider if this threshold can be lowered.

"Nuisance calls must stop. At best they are an irritation and an unwanted intrusion, at worst they cause real distress and fear, particularly to the elderly or housebound," she said.

"People need to feel safe and secure in their homes. The rules are clear - people have the right to choose not to receive unsolicited marketing calls. We will work to ensure their choice is respected."

The MoJ will launch a consultation tomorrow on whether firms that break the rules should face fines of up to 20% of their annual turnover.

Under the new rules, claims management companies (CMCs) could also face punishment if they buy leads generated by other firms who bombard customers with unwanted cold calls.

CMCs advertise widely on TV, newspapers and the internet, encouraging people to sue for personal injury compensation, and for other losses.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: "The Claims Management Regulator already takes tough action against companies which break the rules, suspending and closing down rogue firms, but now these fines will give us an extra weapon to drive bad behaviour out of the industry."

The Fair Telecoms Campaign group welcomed the announcement, but said it did not go far enough in dealing with the distress caused by constant nuisance calls.

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Police seek outsiders for top ranks

30 March 2014 Last updated at 02:37

A move to fast-track external recruits into senior policing roles for the first time is about to come into force in England and Wales.

A second fast-track scheme for some graduate recruits will enable them to rise from constable to inspector in three years.

PM David Cameron said the move would make the police more open and diverse.

For 180 years the normal way to enter the police has been to join as a constable and rise up the ranks.

The rank of chief constable is to be opened up to applicants from overseas.

'Talented and experienced'

The College of Policing, the professional body for policing, announced the recruitment schemes and said they would bring in "people with more diverse backgrounds and new perspectives".

The direct entry programme is aimed at recruiting 20 "experienced leaders" from the private, public and charity sectors to join as superintendants, the college said.

There are approximately 800 superintendents in England and Wales. The officers have operational responsibilities for local divisions and major investigations.

On the graduate scheme, some 82 recruits can expect to earn £47,000 after three years when they become an inspector.

"Schemes like these will enable talented and experienced people from a range of backgrounds to bring new ideas and a fresh approach to policing," Mr Cameron said.

"We have already slashed red tape and cut bureaucratic targets, this is about opening up policing culture by making the workforce more diverse."

He said he wanted every force in England and Wales to use the schemes.

Policing Minister Damian Green added: "This is the first time that chief constables will be able to recruit talented and motivated leaders from other walks of life, who can bring a wide range of experience and expertise."

The move was recommended by Tom Winsor in his review of police pay and conditions.

But the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, has previously insisted external candidates should not be able to enter the force above the level of constable.

Applications are due to open in April or May with the first recruits from both schemes starting before the end of the year.

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Call for ban on pavement parking

30 March 2014 Last updated at 05:28

Motorists should be banned from parking on pavements because the practice forces vulnerable pedestrians to walk in the road, campaigners have said.

The charity Guide Dogs say blocking the pavement, especially for blind people, is "inconsiderate and dangerous".

There is already a ban on parking on footways on most London streets.

A poll for the charity suggested seven out of 10 people want restrictions for the rest of the country - and eight out of 10 councillors would back a new law.

Susan Williamson, who is completely blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other, said: "Stepping out to get round vehicles is really intimidating.

"It's a constant concern which me and my husband (who is in a wheelchair) face every day and it would be so easily solved by parking on pavements being prevented by law."

'Real danger'

Her concerns were echoed by James White, Guide Dogs' campaigns manager.

"It can be frightening for anyone who is forced to step into a road because the pavement is blocked by a van, car or other badly parked vehicle," he said.

"Now imagine you have to step into a road where you can't see oncoming traffic.

"We want politicians to act, preventing this form of inconsiderate and dangerous parking."

Opinion pollsters YouGov carried out the survey for the charity, questioning 2,352 people in England, Scotland and Wales.

Separately 407 councillors in England and Wales were polled to gauge the views of local government.

Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association's economy and transport board, said: "Inconsiderate drivers parking on pavements cause huge inconvenience and pose real danger to blind or partially-sighted people and wheelchair users.

"That is why councils fully support the call for a new law to end the current confusion caused by different rules for motorists parking inside the capital and around the rest of the country."

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Council criticised over child's care

29 March 2014 Last updated at 01:23 By Sanchia Berg Today programme

Kent County Council has been criticised by the High Court for failing to give a Latvian father the right information when it took his young son into care.

The four-year-old was brought to Kent in early 2013 by his mother. She had divorced his father, who was in Latvia.

When the boy started school teachers noticed bruising on his face, which resulted in him going into care, but the father was not contacted.

Kent County Council conceded that it had failed to act correctly.

Social workers investigated after the boy told them his mother's new partner had been beating him.

The council should then have formally served the boy's father with court papers and told him he was entitled to legal aid as well as an English lawyer.

Continue reading the main story

Now all local authorities will realise what they have to do in these cases and know that if they fail, they'll be held to account"

End Quote Sarah Harman Former family lawyer

But that never happened, even though the court had ordered it.

It was only when the case was moved to the High Court, in September, that the father was properly briefed.

'Enormous concern'

The father told the High Court he had never agreed to his son being taken to England.

When he learned through friends that the mother had taken him there, he did try to find out exactly where he was.

He approached the Latvian police and the local courts, but neither could help him.

He told the BBC he had been "very shocked" to find his son had been beaten and taken into care.

He had always been ready and willing to have his son live with him, he said.

Last month the High Court ruled that the boy should be returned to his father in Latvia, which is where he is now.

The High Court judge said the case had caused the court "enormous concern".

Pelka similarities

Jenny Whittle, cabinet member for specialist children's services at Kent County Council, said she recognised the authority had failed to act quickly enough, and there had been "drift and delay".

But she said the case had strong similarities with that of Daniel Pelka - the boy born to Polish parents but who died, aged four, in Coventry after being starved and abused by his mother and her boyfriend.

Daniel's father had also remained in his home country.

The difference in this case, Ms Whittle claimed, was that Kent had removed the child to care very quickly and he had remained safe.

Susan Jacklin QC, head of the Family Law Bar Association, said that owing to immigration there are growing numbers of cases involving Eastern European children in the family courts and care system.

Sarah Harman, a former family lawyer who campaigned for greater openness in the family courts, said this judgement was important, and showed the value of publishing information.

"Now all local authorities will realise what they have to do in these cases and know that if they fail, they'll be held to account," she said.

Sanchia Berg's report can be heard on BBC Radio 4's Today programme between 0700 and 0900 GMT.

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Currency union comments spark denial

29 March 2014 Last updated at 06:10

Downing Street has moved to dismiss a report in the Guardian suggesting the UK government would share the pound with an independent Scotland.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed minister saying: "Of course there would be a currency union."

Scotland's deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the Guardian story.

But both a Number 10 spokesperson and Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael reiterated the government's position - ruling out a currency union.

"There will not be a currency union in the event of independence," a spokesman for the prime minister said.

"The only way to keep the UK pound is to stay in the UK. Walking out of the UK means walking out of the UK pound."

Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said: "An anonymous, off-the-record quote does not change the stark reality on the currency."

Last month, Chancellor George Osborne said a vote for Scottish independence would mean walking away from the pound.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond accused him of "bluff and bluster".

The Scottish government, led by Mr Salmond's SNP, has argued that keeping the pound and the services of the Bank of England as part of a currency union under independence made sense for both Scotland and the rest of the UK.

But Mr Osborne's declaration that there would not be a currency union was followed by Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Labour's Ed Balls insisting that they would not agree to share sterling if Scotland voted for independence in September.

The Guardian quotes a UK government minister who it says would play a central role in the negotiations over the break-up of the UK if there were a yes vote.

It quotes the unnamed minister as saying: "There would be a highly-complex set of negotiations after a yes vote with many moving pieces.

"The UK wants to keep Trident nuclear weapons at Faslane and the Scottish government wants a currency union - you can see the outlines of a deal."

Sharing sterling

Scotland's Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "This was supposed to be the No campaign's trump card, but as the polls show it has backfired badly - the gap between Yes and No has halved since November, and most Scots simply do not believe the bluff and bluster we had from George Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander."

She added: "The reality is that a currency union is every bit as much in the interests of the rest of the UK as an independent Scotland, and that is why Westminster will agree to one.

"Scotland is the rest of the UK's second biggest trading partner, and not sharing sterling would cost businesses south of the border an extra £500m in transaction costs."

Mr Carmichael said: "The UK government has listened to the views of the governor of the Bank of England and the independent advice of the permanent secretary to the Treasury that a currency would be damaging for all the United Kingdom.

"That's why a currency union simply will not happen."

Voters in Scotland will be asked the yes/no question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?" when the independence referendum is held on 18 September.

The Downing Street spokesperson added: "The UK would not put its taxpayers at risk of bailing out a foreign country and its banks.

"Parliament wouldn't pass it, and the people wouldn't accept it. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong."

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Murder charge after hospital deaths

29 March 2014 Last updated at 06:30

A nurse has been charged with the murder of three people following their deaths at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport in 2011.

Victorino Chua, 48, of Churchill Street, Heaton Norris, is also charged with 31 other offences including GBH and attempted poisoning.

He is accused of murdering patients Tracey Arden, 44, Arnold Lancaster, 71, and Alfred Derek Weaver, 83.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Manchester Magistrates' Court later.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said Mr Chua faced one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, 22 counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and eight offences of attempting to administer poison, under the Offences Against the Person Act.

Wider community

Investigators have been examining the contamination of various medical products, between June 1 and July 15, 2011 at the hospital.

They were first called to Stepping Hill following reports that saline ampoules and bags had been contaminated with insulin.

Eighteen patients were deliberately poisoned by contaminated products, according to GMP, and eight later died.

In addition to Ms Arden, Mr Lancaster and Mr Weaver, those who died were William Dickson, 82, Linda McDonagh, 60, John Beeley, 73, Beryl Hope, 70, and Mary Cartwright, 89.

Mr Chua, a father of two who is originally from the Philippines, was first arrested in January 2012 and was later released on bail.

GMP's Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood said: "Our thoughts continue to be with those people who were deliberately poisoned and their families.

"From day one, we made a commitment to those people, as well as the wider community, to thoroughly and robustly investigate what occurred.

"In close to three years we have conducted many painstaking inquiries and engaged with numerous medical experts.

"We are now at a point where we have charged Victorino Chua with a number of very serious offences."

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Two bailed over baby boy's death

29 March 2014 Last updated at 08:05

Two people arrested on suspicion of murder following the death of a baby boy have been released on bail.

The 13-month-old died after emergency services went to an address on Church Street, Preston, on 22 March after reports that he was not breathing.

A man and a woman, both aged 25, had been bailed "pending further inquiries", Lancashire Police said.

A post-mortem examination has been carried out but the exact cause of death has not been established.

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Gay couples celebrate first weddings

29 March 2014 Last updated at 08:34

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Peter McGraith and David Cabreza, John Coffey and Bernardo Marti, and Andrew Wale and Neil Allard were among the first gay couples to marry

The first same-sex weddings have taken place after gay marriage became legal in England and Wales at midnight.

Politicians from the main parties have hailed the change in the law.

David Cameron said the move sent a message that people were now equal "whether gay or straight", but some religious groups remain opposed.

Scotland passed a similar law in February; the first same-sex marriages are expected there in October. Northern Ireland has no plans to follow suit.

In an article for the Pink News website, the prime minister wrote: "This weekend is an important moment for our country.

'Feels safer'

"It says we are a country that will continue to honour its proud traditions of respect, tolerance and equal worth."

The law change would encourage young people unsure of their sexuality, he added.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said "Britain will be a different place" as a result.

He congratulated his party for being part of the reform, saying: "If our change to the law means a single young man or young woman who wants to come out, but who is scared of what the world will say, now feels safer, stronger, taller - well, for me, getting into coalition government will have been worth it just for that."

Continue reading the main story

Jo Black BBC News

---

Every wedding has a photographer but this one had hundreds.

Outside Islington Town Hall, well-wishers stopped in the street to point their smartphones while TV crews fought for the best views.

As the loving couple appeared on the steps, crowds cheered and even sang the tune to Here Comes The Bride - ironic perhaps, since this was a gay wedding with two grooms. Peter McGraith and David Cabreza are one of the first same-sex couples to marry in England and Wales.

The law, passed in Parliament last year, came into effect today. And for some who have campaigned for years, the waiting was over. As the clock ticked past midnight, registrars started speaking, rings were exchanged and the confetti flew.

Not everyone is taken by the idea though. Some politicians and religious leaders still oppose the change. And in Islington, as the two grooms beamed giant smiles, they reminded their guests that the battle for equality is still ongoing.

Labour leader Ed Miliband congratulated those planning to tie the knot.

"This is an incredibly happy time for so many gay couples and lesbian couples who will be getting married, but it's an incredibly proud time for our country as well, recognising equal marriage in law," he said.

However, he warned that the "battle for true equality" was not yet won.

'We accept it'

One of the first couples to take advantage of the change in the law got married at Islington Town Hall in London just after midnight.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell acted as chief witness at a packed ceremony as Peter McGraith and David Cabreza wed after 17 years together.

Mr Tatchell said the couple and all the others getting married had "made history" and "made Britain a more tolerant, equal place".

With a crowd of photographers, journalists and well-wishers waiting, the couple took the opportunity to highlight the international struggle for gay rights.

But Mr Cabreza added: "From a global and political perspective it's great too, but for us it's also about us and our marriage."

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said on Friday night the Church of England would now drop its opposition to same-sex marriage, as Parliament had spoken.

"The law's changed; we accept the situation," he told the BBC.

But some religious groups remain opposed to gay marriage.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said: "We can't just redefine an institution - redefine something that always has been - because we say it's something that we want.

"This is actually very self-centred. This is not about rights, it's about seeking cultural dominance and seeking to redefine marriage for all of us."

There will now be two legal definitions of marriage, says the BBC's social affairs correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti - that recognised by the CofE and many other religious groups, and that recognised by the state.

"The Church of England believes marriage is between one man and one woman for life," the Bishop of Norwich, the Right Reverend Graham James confirmed.

"It's untidy for the law to have two definitions... but I think we can live untidiness."

The law prohibits the Church of England from performing same-sex weddings, and allows other religious organisations to refuse to perform them.

The CofE has urged clergy to support members of the congregation who are in same-sex marriages, but has ruled that priests themselves must not enter into one. The Roman Catholic Church also opposes the change in the law.

Some gay vicars, though, have said they are prepared to defy their bishops by insisting they have a right to marry.

Among them is the Reverend Andrew Cain, who said the Church was entering uncharted territory, but he would not be "frightened" out of doing what he believed was right.

Mr Cain, who plans to marry his partner in the summer, said he intends to do so whether the Church approves or not.

"It is more important to do what is right than to be frightened into not doing what I believe to be true.

"And I won't be frightened by what the possible consequences are for me. I could lose my job, absolutely. Lose my job, my home and my place."

Long-term couple Teresa Millward and Helen Brearley plan to get married on Saturday morning.

The pair, who will wed in Halifax, have not had a civil partnership because they believed it did not offer the same rights as marriage.

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"The certificate we get on the day will be the same as the certificate that my dad has with his wife, that my mum has with her husband, that my brother has with his wife and that my sister has with her husband," Ms Millward said.

"There will be no difference, so in that case, there is true equality."

A BBC survey found a fifth of British people would turn down an invitation to a same-sex wedding - a finding the Roman Catholic group Catholic Voices suggested meant people remained "deeply uncomfortable" with the move.

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Mandatory porn site age checks urged

28 March 2014 Last updated at 00:14 By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

A UK industry regulator has called for the law to be changed to require pornography sites to carry out age checks before granting access.

Video-on-demand watchdog Atvod said the government must act to protect children from seeing graphic adult material.

It said credit and debit card operators would be forbidden from processing payments from British customers to sites that did not comply.

But one campaigner said the action would be a "worthless gesture".

The Authority for Television On Demand (Atvod) said the matter was so urgent that it was "critical the legislation is enacted during this Parliament".

To back up its demand, the body commissioned market research firm Nielsen Netview to install equipment that monitored the online habits of 45,000 desktop PC and laptop users over the course of a month. The volunteers were picked to reflect a cross-section of the wider population.

The survey indicated that during that period:

• 6% of children aged 15 years or younger had accessed an adult website
• 5% of visitors to such sites had been under-18
• One website alone - Pornhub - had been visited by 112,000 boys in the UK aged between 12 and 17-years-old
• Of the wider population, 23% of those who had used the net over the month had visited an adult site
• Visitors to adult sites spent an average of 15 minutes looking at them during each visit and typically clocked up two-and-a-half hours of time in total over the month

Atvod added that the survey probably underestimated the scale of the issue since smartphone and tablet use was not included in the figures.

Porn licences

The regulator already forces UK-based sites to carry out age verification checks before explicit photographs and videos can be viewed.

This can be done by requiring valid credit card details, or other personal information that can be cross-referenced with the electoral roll or another ID database.

However, the body said the vast majority of online pornography was downloaded from businesses based overseas, over which it had no control.

To tackle this, Atvod said it wanted all adult sites to request a licence that would only be granted if they had age checks in place. Payment processors would be ordered not to handle fees for premium services - such as higher definition or longer clips - from UK citizens to unregistered sites.

"We're a very substantial market and to access the money that's flowing from the UK would be quite a powerful incentive to introduce restrictions," Atvod's chief executive, Pete Johnson told the BBC.

Mixed reactions

The UK government has already pressured the UK's major internet service providers to use software filters that automatically block adult material unless households specifically ask for them to be turned off.

However, a spokesman for the coalition government indicated it needed time to consider Atvod's request.

"We will continue to work with industry and others to look at where further action could be taken, including around age restrictions," he said.

Labour has, however, already come out in support of the move.

"It is only by threatening to cut off the flow of money that we will force these websites to act responsibly, and payment processors need legal clarity before they can act to help achieve this," said shadow culture minister, Helen Goodman.

However, Sex and Censorship - which describes itself as a free speech campaign group - said the move would prove ineffective.

"It won't make any difference to the sites that give all their videos away for free and sell advertising because they don't need credit card processing," said Jerry Barnett.

"And some sites are already accepting bitcoin and other anonymous online payment systems. A clampdown on card payments would just accelerate this trend.

"Even if implemented, this measure would have no effect on the range of content available to British consumers."

Mr Barnett previously ran a UK-based adult website himself until he was fined for failing to prevent children accessing its content.

'Significant win'

Mindgeek, the Luxembourg-based operator of adult site Pornhub, said it already carried out age verification checks in countries where this was required. But it indicated this did not address the crux of the problem.

"There is no single 'silver bullet' solution to protecting children and adolescents from potentially harmful content and interactions in their digital lives," said a spokeswoman.

"The best solution lies in a multi-layered approach in which the parent assumes the central role."

Atvod acknowledged its proposal was only part of the solution, but it insisted that the scheme could still be designed to make a difference.

"The material that appears on the free services is placed there by the paid services to attract customers to sign up to subscriptions.

"As long as the paid service placed content on a free service without age verification it would be in breach of its licensing conditions and so would not be able to access funds from the UK.

"We're not saying this will stop all children seeing all pornography online.

"But our argument is that even if you reduce the number of children who are accessing hardcore pornography online by 10%, that would be a significant win."

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'20% would spurn' gay wedding invite

28 March 2014 Last updated at 02:18

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"Barely will midnight have struck before gay Britons will... be celebrating their new status as married couples", reports Robert Pigott

About one in five British adults would turn down an invitation to a same-sex wedding, research suggests.

As legislation allowing gay couples to marry comes into force on Saturday, the BBC Radio 5 live survey also found men were nearly twice as likely to spurn the nuptials as women.

The poll of 1,007 people found 68% agreed gay marriage should be permitted, with 26% opposing it.

A gay rights charity said people's attitudes were "incredibly positive".

A spokesman for lesbian, gay and bisexual charity, Stonewall, said it was important to highlight the fact that four in five people would accept an invitation to a gay wedding.

'Bigoted or intolerant'

But Catholic Voices, which represents the Catholic Church, said the findings of the survey reflected the reality that people remained "deeply uncomfortable" with being honest about their true feelings on the meaning of marriage.

Continue reading the main story

As gay Britons celebrate their new status as married couples for the first time in England and Wales their legal status will be little changed.

Civil partnerships - available to them since 2005 - confer virtually all the legal benefits of marriage. But for many it was never enough.

The distinction between the modern invention of civil partnership, and marriage, an institution dating back for centuries, left the impression in some minds that gay relationships were inferior.

For them, only full, visible, equality would do - and politicians agreed. Most religious groups remain opposed - and Radio 5 live's poll shows they are not alone in deeply held objections to gay marriage.

However, with support in wider society growing strongly, faith groups are feeling the effects of internal divisions about an issue that arouses passionate opinions.

Father Edmund Montgomery, a member of the organisation and a Catholic priest in Greater Manchester, said: "As the Church, we love those seeking a same-sex union, but our love for them requires we tell them the true meaning of marriage, something which that fifth of respondents find difficult but have the integrity to do by turning down the invitation.

"In our modern culture it is increasingly difficult to have an open debate without being labelled as bigoted or intolerant."

He continued: "It is a great irony that those seeking to increase tolerance do not extend that to those who disagree with them."

Fr Montgomery, who at 29 is the youngest priest in the diocese of Shrewsbury, said he thought more people might turn down an invitation to a gay wedding were they not concerned they might be regarded as extreme.

He added that, as marriage predates "the State", it should not be the government's place to change its meaning.

With same-sex weddings in England and Wales permitted for the first time from Saturday, the research suggested a substantial proportion of the population had reservations about the issue - with 42% disagreeing that gay marriages were no different from heterosexual marriages.

Of the 1,007 British adults polled by ComRes for the Stephen Nolan Show, 22% said they would spurn an invitation to attend a same-sex wedding ceremony.

'Landmark moment'

Some 29% of men asked said they would not attend, compared with 16% of women.

The research also found that younger people were more likely to support same-sex marriage, with 80% of 18 to 34-year-olds backing it, compared with 44% of over-65s.

Of those polled, women were more likely to support gay marriage than men, with 75% of women for it compared with 61% of men in favour.

A majority of 59% of people asked agreed a person should not be considered homophobic for opposing the legislation permitting gay marriage.

Stonewall said the organisation recognised that not everyone would support same-sex marriage, but that the legislation permitting it should not affect them.

"Same-sex couples are living in committed, loving relationships and people have realised that the sky has not fallen in," the spokesman said.

He said the prevalence of civil partnerships had been an "incredibly important factor" in paving the way for same-sex marriage.

"This is a landmark moment and for the first time ever, someone young growing up knowing they are gay can have the exact same avenues open to them, [and know] that their relationship will be valued the same way their parents' was," the spokesman said.

"As campaigners and MPs have said in the past, the first thing a parent says to their son or daughter when they tell them they are gay is, 'Oh, you'll never be able to get married.' Well now they can."

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Germany offers UK eurozone backing

28 March 2014 Last updated at 05:43

The EU must ensure non-eurozone countries, such as the UK, are legally protected in the event of further European integration, the finance minister of Germany has said.

Chancellor George Osborne and his German counterpart said any changes to EU treaties must "guarantee fairness".

Writing in the Financial Times, the pair say non-eurozone nations must not be put at a "systematic disadvantage".

It comes a month after Germany's leader Angela Merkel visited the UK.

During the visit she and Prime Minister David Cameron discussed possible changes to the EU.

'Optimism'

Mr Cameron has said that if the Conservatives win the 2015 election, he will seek to renegotiate the terms of the UK's membership of the European Union and put the outcome to an in-out referendum of the British people in 2017.

One of Mr Cameron's key negotiating demands ahead of the referendum is that the interests of non-eurozone states must be protected.

In the joint article, Mr Osborne and the German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble wrote that "as the euro area continues to integrate, it is important that countries outside the euro area are not at a systematic disadvantage in the EU".

It is the first time Germany has indicated that countries such as the UK must not be put at a disadvantage by eurozone nations' moves to integrate more closely.

Writing together, the pair said: "So future EU reform and treaty change must include reform of the governance framework to put euro area integration on a sound legal basis, and guarantee fairness for those EU countries inside the single market but outside the single currency."

They said economic recovery in Europe was "vital", but warned that the European economy had "stalled" over the last six years.

The pair wrote that they "approach European reform with optimism", adding that "looking ahead we can create a flexible and outward-looking EU".

Mrs Merkel, who met the Queen during her visit to UK, said after meeting Mr Cameron that she was willing to work with the UK to reform the European Union but warned it would not be "a piece of cake".

And during an address to Parliament she praised the "unparalleled success" of the EU free market but stressed that "we need to change the political shape of the EU in keeping with the times".

She told the UK's gathered political leaders the EU had to become stronger, saying: "In order to attain this goal we need a strong United Kingdom with a strong voice inside the European Union.

"If we have that, we will be able to make the necessary changes for the benefit of all."

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Benefit change 'sees 6% move home'

28 March 2014 Last updated at 08:17

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Marion Smith and her family have been told it will be "decades" before they can move to a big enough house

About 6% of social housing tenants in Britain affected by changes to benefits partly designed to cut under-occupancy have moved home, BBC research suggests.

Ministers claim the policy - dubbed the bedroom tax by critics - will free up big homes and save taxpayers £1m a day.

The employment minister said 6% - 30,000 people - was "not a failure".

BBC analysis of the data from social housing providers also suggested 28% of affected tenants were in rent arrears, a year after the changes came in.

But Employment Minister Esther McVey disputed the figures on debt, saying her own feedback from local authorities and the National Housing Federation found an "indiscernible number" of tenants were in arrears.

She said 50% of people affected by the change were already in debt.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Michael Buchanan BBC News

---

This research suggests the government is on course to meet a key target, namely to cut the overall housing benefit bill.

Few people moving means more people contributing to their own rent. But doing so it seems will come at the cost of another goal - cutting overcrowding.

Many simply can't move, repeatedly failing to find smaller properties. With demand for new homes constantly outstripping supply, too many families are likely to stay in crowded, unhealthy households.

The increase in rent arrears is not only a problem for those tenants unable to pay. While it could lead to evictions and heartache, it is also likely to cause problems for councils and housing associations.

Not only will their debts increase but their ability to invest in new homes will also be reduced. Given they're the main builders of affordable homes, it will be unfortunate if a policy intended to cut overcrowding leads to fewer homes being built.

Among the benefits changes introduced on 1 April 2013 was the removal of what ministers called the "spare room subsidy" - social housing tenants deemed to have one spare bedroom have had their housing benefit reduced by 14%. Those with two or more spare bedrooms had reductions of 25%.

Labour dubbed the change a "bedroom tax" and promised to scrap it if it wins the next election.

'Knock-on costs'

The government had argued there were two reasons for cutting housing benefit for those of working age living in social housing with spare bedrooms - to reduce the benefits bill and to help the 300,000 people living in overcrowded accommodation.

But the BBC research - involving 331 social housing providers across England, Scotland and Wales with Freedom of Information requests submitted to council and surveys of housing associations - found just under 6% of tenants whose benefit was cut had moved house.

It also found that while most were paying their rent, 28% had fallen into arrears for the first time in the past 12 months.

Prof Rebecca Tunstall, director of the centre for housing policy at the University of York, said: "There were two major aims to this policy - one was to encourage people to move, and the other was to save money for the government in housing benefit payments.

"But those two aims are mutually exclusive. The government has achieved one to a greater extent and the other to a lesser extent."

Affected tenants who had not moved were being forced to make up the shortfall in their income, leading to extra pressure being placed on them to make ends meet, said Prof Tunstall.

Continue reading the main story

'We feel trapped'

Marion Smith lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Dyce, Aberdeen, with her husband Mark and their three children. They are currently 36th in line for a new property in the area.

"It can be quite claustrophobic staying here," said Mrs Smith. "We feel kind of trapped in our situation at the moment, so that impacts on us.

"The children are all in one room, so it can be stressful for them. They don't get any space away from each other. Our oldest child is eight and she's at the stage where she's needing a bit of space now and hasn't got the same interests as my youngest child, who's four."

The family had hoped the benefit changes would result in more properties being freed up. "It's not fair for people like us at the moment," Mrs Smith said.

With one property available each year in her area, Mrs Smith said her family faced waiting for "decades". "Realistically, we're going to have to wait until I'm in full-time employment and can start saving for a deposit and can buy somewhere," she said. "We've accepted that, although it's depressing."

Asked if the policy had proved successful, she added: "To some extent it's achieved some of its aims. It's achieved an aim of making a saving in housing benefit for national government, probably slightly less than they'd originally hoped for.

"But there are other knock-on costs. There's a social cost for tenants and a cost of having less efficient and fewer new homes. And you can imagine that those costs can start to mount up.

She said that while tenants in arrears could have been in debt for other reasons, the fact remains that there is "new debt for local authorities and that means fewer pounds to go round to spend on improvements for others".

'Spiralling bill'

Carl Mitchell, assistant director of Riverside Housing Association, based in Hull, said the service had noticed an impact in the past 12 months.

He said: "Approximately two thirds of all tenants affected by the bedroom tax essentially struggle to pay the rent and associated bills.

"So by default that usually means that people are ether falling into rent arrears or having to compromise on other things such as fuel costs and the cost of living in respect of food. So there's a knock on effect elsewhere, it's not just rent arrears.

"From Riverside as a service, the lack of income coming in does mean it impacts on the new build properties that we have to build, and services that we offer to tenants."

Labour's Chris Bryant, the shadow work and pensions minister, said: "Trapped with nowhere else to go, thousands of people have had no choice but to fork out an extra £14 a week.

Continue reading the main story

'I had no choice'

When the changes came into force, Jayne Dennis was one of those who moved from her three-bedroom home.

Ms Dennis said her children had moved out and she was then under-occupying by two rooms, with a cut to her benefits of £12 per room. "With that really, I had no choice but to move," she said.

In her old home, she started to build up arrears. "I was finding it difficult to pay that," she said. "You've got your other bills at the same time. You don't pay it all, you pay like half of it, because you haven't got the money."

She said her old home had been vacant for three months. She said. "You'd think they'd have filled it by now, but no. I think it's because we're out of the way and a lot of people don't like to be out of the way."

"David Cameron's government have pretended this was all about helping people who are overcrowded, but in truth the bedroom tax is a cruel, unfair and appallingly administered policy."

But Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: "It was absolutely necessary that we fixed the broken system which just a year ago allowed the taxpayer to cover the £1m daily cost of spare rooms in social housing.

"We have taken action to help the hundreds of thousands of people living in cramped, overcrowded accommodation and to control the spiralling housing benefit bill, as part of the government's long-term economic plan.

"Our reforms ensure we can sustain a strong welfare safety net, and we are providing an extra £165m next year to support the most vulnerable claimants."

Ms McVey said the benefit change was helping to get social housing tenants out of debt.

"I question your [BBC] figures because actually what I'm hearing back from the local authorities and the National Housing Federation is that an indiscernible number of people are getting in to arrears," she told BBC Breakfast.

"The statistics that we're getting back are that we're helping people to live within their means and move to a property they can afford.

"We've got to look at this from a full 360 degree angle. It's very difficult, I don't dispute that, but we're doing the right thing."

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30m financial policies to be probed

28 March 2014 Last updated at 08:25

The City regulator is to investigate about 30 million insurance company policies over concerns that customers are subject to "unfair" conditions.

The investigation will include pensions, endowments, investment bonds and life insurance policies sold in the UK between the 1970s and 2000.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will look into policies which penalise savers who want to switch providers.

The FCA told the Daily Telegraph it might "intervene on exit charges".

'Zombie' funds

A large number of policies sold to consumers in the 30 years leading to the millennium include terms which penalise those attempting to switch to a cheaper provider.

Some savers face losing up to half of their savings if they move to another company.

The FCA also said it feared "zombie" funds, which are closed to new clients, are being used by insurers to pay bills from other parts of their businesses.

Details of the investigation will be published on Monday, as part of the FCA's annual business plan.

Clive Adamson, the FCA's director of supervision, told the Daily Telegraph: "We want to find out how closed-book products are being serviced by insurance companies, as we are concerned insurers are allocating an unfair amount of overheads to historic funds.

"As firms cut prices and create new products, there is a danger that customers with older contracts are forgotten," Mr Adamson added.

"We want to ensure they get a fair deal."

Independent pensions expert John Ralfe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the figures "suggest that there's a very large amount of money at stake".

"It's £150bn in total," Mr Ralfe said. "That's quite a chunky piece of work for the FCA to be looking at."

He added that the FCA seemed to be saying that, rather than fining pension companies, the remedy was for individuals to exit these policies without penalty.

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Clegg and Farage clash on migration

26 March 2014 Last updated at 22:06

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Mr Clegg and Mr Farage each had one minute to set out their position as the debate began. Courtesy LBC/Global TV

Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage have clashed over who is telling the truth about EU immigration.

The pair were taking part in a live TV and radio debate about whether Britain should stay in the European Union.

Mr Clegg - who wants Britain to stay in - said the UKIP leader's claims about how many Romanians and Bulgarians might come to the UK were "simply not true".

But Mr Farage denied this and said EU immigration was costing Britons jobs and driving down wages.

The exchanges on immigration were the most heated in the hour-long debate, which ranged across issues such as trade, the Human Rights Act, the EU referendum, gay marriage and political integrity.

'Scare' tactics

BBC chief political correspondent Norman Smith said "there was no knockout blow" and both men had given a good account of themselves and their case.

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Much will be written about who won and who lost this debate. That, though, ignores the reason both men agreed to take part - they knew they could both be winners"

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In a YouGov poll of 1,003 voters, some 57% thought that Nigel Farage had performed best in this evening's LBC debate and 36% Nick Clegg.

Mr Clegg - who stared down the TV lens during his opening statement as he did during the 2010 election debates - made jobs the centre of his pitch to the audience.

Mr Farage said Britain needed to regain control of its own laws and borders, saying the European Union was a "failed project" and it was time to leave it.

He also hit out at the EU's role in the Ukraine crisis, saying: "We should hang our head in shame - we have given false hope - the EU does have blood on its hands in the Ukraine."

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The issue of immigration sparked a fiery exchange between Mr Clegg and Mr Farage. Courtesy LBC/Global TV

The UKIP leader made a few jokes - but it was an earnest, and at times, impassioned battle of wits between two politicians who, despite being former colleagues as MEPs in Brussels, are diametrically opposed on the European Union.

Mr Farage attacked Mr Clegg for being part of the political elite who had "never had a proper job" but the pair mostly steered clear of personal attacks.

Mr Clegg brandished a UKIP leaflet from the Eastleigh by-election, highlighting its claim that 29 million Romanians and Bulgarians were poised to come to the UK - a claim he said was wrong and a "scare" tactic.

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They couldn't bear to look at each other, eyes fixed firmly on the studio audience or TV cameras. "

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Mr Farage said: "I am not claiming 29 million have the right to come to Britain, I am saying 485 million people have the total, unconditional right to come to this country."

He said the accession of eastern European countries to the EU meant that "for hundreds of thousands of people, working in trades like the building industry, we have had a massive oversupply of labour and you've seen your wages go down over the last 10 years as the cost of living has gone up, and that is not fair on working people in this country."

Mr Clegg hit back, saying immigration was good for the economy - claiming the NHS would "collapse" without foreign workers - and denied the UKIP leader's claims that it was uncontrolled.

"I am not prepared to see anyone lose their job on the altar of Nigel Farage's anti-European dogma," he said.

'Crumbling EU'

On trade, Mr Farage said "people like Nick don't think Britain is good enough" to strike its own deals with countries such as India and China.

The UKIP leader said the UK was now "the eurozone's biggest export market in the world" and would hold "the whip hand" in obtaining good terms in any trade negotiations following exit.

But Mr Clegg said: "It's not the 1950s, we can't turn the clock back.

"We have got new powers on the world stage - Brazil, China, India - and we get more clout by being part of the world's biggest economy."

At the start of the hour-long clash, Mr Farage won the coin toss (of a pound coin) to decide who made their opening statement first, but said: "I will ask Nick to open the batting."

"Make no mistake - if we cut ourselves off from Europe, from the countries that we trade with more than anyone else, then our hard-won economic recovery will simply be thrown away," said Mr Clegg.

He said he wanted "a Britain that leads in the world by standing tall in our own European backyard, a Britain prepared to work with other countries on the things we can't possibly sort out on our own."

Mr Clegg said: "We are better off in Europe - richer, stronger, safer - and that's why I will fight to keep us in, for the sake of jobs, for the sake of our clout in the world, for the sake of Britain."

But Mr Farage replied: "This debate is between a tired status quo defending a crumbling EU that frankly isn't working any more, and a fresh approach that says let's be friendly with Europe, let's trade with Europe, but let's not be governed by their institutions."

'Real question'

The UKIP leader said that if Britain was voting now on whether to join the EU, it would be presented with the offer "to join a club that will cost £55m a day as a membership fee, and there will be thousands of new laws over which our own Parliament and you the electorate can make no difference, and mean an open border, unconditionally, to 485 million people from across the whole of Europe - many of them from very poor countries - who can come here to work and live and settle and bring their families".

He said that the UK would also be told it would have to cut links with the Commonwealth and other English-speaking countries as a result of joining the club.

And he told the audience: "I know the result of that referendum: You wouldn't join it."

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Conservative minister Anna Soubry: "What (the public) want is the opportunity to have a referendum. "

The first EU debate was hosted by radio station LBC. On 2 April, round two will be televised live at the same time on BBC Two.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who has promised an in-out referendum if the Conservatives win the next election and Labour leader Ed Miliband, who says he will only sanction a referendum if further powers are handed to Brussels, have opted not to take part in the debates.

Conservative minister Anna Soubry said Mr Cameron's decision not to take part was "not really of any relevance at all" and "the real question" was who could deliver a referendum.

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Jonathan Ashworth, Labour shadow minister: "Is it the big issue on people's minds? I don't know"

Labour's shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Ashworth said it had been an "amusing" debate but did not mean much to ordinary voters worried about the cost of living.

For the Scottish National Party, MSP Aileen McLeod said: "Scotland's always been much more pro-European than other parts of the UK

"Our interests are best served by being part and parcel of the EU."

Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood added: "There are one in 10 jobs in Wales reliant on our membership. Civic society in Wales is united in wanting Wales to remain as a member of the EU.

"So the debate that took place tonight was one that wasn't really focussing on Wales's interests, and Wales's part in this debate."

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