Abuse victims 'want Woolf to quit'

31 October 2014 Last updated at 02:35

Victims' groups are expected to tell child abuse inquiry officials Fiona Woolf should step down as its head.

One victims' representative told the BBC he had "zero confidence" in the inquiry, which he said - in its current form - would be a "whitewash".

The first person appointed to lead the child abuse inquiry - Baroness Butler-Sloss - stepped down in July.

The Home Office said Mrs Woolf had shown a commitment to openness, and that it remained confident in her.

A meeting between victims' groups and inquiry officials will take place on Friday,

The largest group attending the meeting, the NSPCC, has declined to give explicit backing to Mrs Woolf.

It said the inquiry should be judged on its work rather than who leads it, but that it should get under way.

The inquiry, announced in July, will look at whether public bodies and other institutions did enough to protect children from sexual abuse, from 1970 to the present day.

Mrs Woolf, the Lord Mayor of London, has also faced questions about her links with Lord Brittan, who was home secretary in the 1980s.

Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz has said correspondence sent by Mrs Woolf raises more questions, after it emerged that a letter from her to Home Secretary Theresa May was re-written seven times.

Mr Vaz said the later versions gave "a sense of greater detachment" between Mrs Woolf and Lord Brittan, who was home secretary in 1984 when ministers were handed a dossier on alleged high-profile paedophiles.

'Amended' facts

Mrs Woolf has already appeared before the Home Affairs Committee once, telling it she lived in the same London street as Lord Brittan.

She told the committee she had invited him and his wife to dinner on three occasions, and had two dinners at their house between 2008 and 2012 - but said he was not a "close associate".

But she was asked for more details after a photograph emerged on the official website for the Lord Mayor's Dragon Awards, showing her talking with Lady Brittan and the veteran journalist Martyn Lewis, all of whom were judges on the awards panel in October 2013.

Mrs Woolf had said that the last contact she had with Lady Brittan was in April 2013.

In her letter, published on the Commons Home Affairs Committee website, Mrs Woolf said she had mentioned that Lady Brittan was a judge at the Dragon Awards, adding: "The photograph captures one moment of an entire evening and I do not recall any substantial interaction with Lady Brittan, among the scores of other guests."

She also sent the committee seven drafts of her letter to Mrs May, after she was appointed to head the inquiry.

But Mr Vaz said drafts of the letter showed that "words, and sometimes even facts, have been amended".

He also said it was extraordinary that Mrs Woolf had not written the first draft of the letter and added: "The final version gave a sense of greater detachment between Lord and Lady Brittan and Mrs Woolf than her previous attempts."

He said the committee would consider whether they would ask Mrs Woolf back to answer more questions at their next meeting.

'Incredibly important'

A victim of historical child sexual abuse has launched a legal challenge to Mrs Woolf's appointment, claiming she is not impartial, has no relevant expertise and may not have time to discharge her duties.

But Downing Street has said it has "full confidence" in Mrs Woolf being able to carry out the inquiry.

Mrs May said Mrs Woolf had "a long and distinguished career throughout which she has demonstrated the highest standards of integrity".

A Home Office spokesman said: "Fiona Woolf wrote to the home secretary to disclose anything she thought might cast doubt on her impartiality as chairman of the independent panel inquiry into child sexual abuse.

"Her letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee further demonstrates her commitment to openness and transparency in the course of her duties.

"We remain confident Fiona Woolf and the panel members can carry out their duties to the highest standards of impartiality and integrity."

Baroness Butler-Sloss stepped down before the inquiry began, saying she "did not sufficiently consider whether my background would cause difficulties".

Her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general in the 1980s.

Labour's shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper said Mrs May had "totally failed" to get the inquiry going months after it was announced.

"This child abuse inquiry is really important but it will completely fail if no one has confidence in it - and particularly if victims do not trust it.

"It won't work if there is a perception that information has been covered up. Nor will it work if there are continual unanswered questions.

"Theresa May urgently needs to show her appointed chair and expert panel have the independence, impartiality and credibility with victims to take forward this incredibly important work."

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Person missing after fireworks blaze

31 October 2014 Last updated at 08:34

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Footage of the fireworks going off as the blaze took hold

One person is missing after a large blaze at a fireworks factory that saw two people taken to hospital.

Dramatic bursts of fireworks and thick smoke could be seen as the fire burned in Stafford on Thursday night.

Although the blaze at the unit of SP Fireworks was brought under control, firefighters remained at the scene through the night.

The emergency services said they were working with the family of the person who remained unaccounted for.

In total four people were hurt in the fire, which started at about 17:00 GMT and tore through the building on the Baswich Industrial Estate.

'Mayhem'

At its peak, the blaze was being tackled by about 50 firefighters.

Staffordshire Police said the site would be searched once the fire was completely out, as the operation moved into an investigation into the cause of the fire.

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Tim Hyde from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue: ''It's too unsafe to enter the premises''

Supt Jane Hewett said: "On Friday we will continue to investigate this incident and work to ensure everyone is accounted for.

"Sadly, at this stage, we believe there is a person unaccounted for and our focus remains tracing those at the factory shortly before the explosion.

"A joint investigation into the incident is already under way, which will work to establish the cause and circumstances immediately before the fire."

West Midlands Ambulance Service said four people were treated at the scene and two needed to be taken to hospital - a man in his 40s with serious burns and a man in his 60s who had inhaled smoke.

A number of roads in the area were closed and businesses and homes were evacuated.

Eyewitness Robert Hine said he first heard an "enormous bang" at about 17:20.

"It was like November the 5th 10 times," he said.

"There were fireworks going off in all directions, bangs, great plumes of black smoke.

"I assumed someone must have set fire to a great load of fireworks.

"It was mayhem."

Police said they planned to reduce the size of the cordon around the scene in the early hours so Baswich Lane could reopen to traffic.

Tilcon Ave will remain closed and cordoned off while the investigation continues, and all the businesses accessed via Tilcon Ave will remain closed and sealed off for the time being.

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'Do more' to tackle aid corruption

31 October 2014 Last updated at 08:19

The UK government is not doing enough to tackle "petty corruption" in countries to which it gives aid, a report by a scrutiny body says.

The Department for International Development "has little understanding of what is and is not working" in its anti-corruption efforts, according to the report.

Dfid says it had plans to tackle corruption in each country it funds.

But Labour says the report should "send shockwaves" through the government.

The report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact - a public body which scrutinises UK aid spending - looks specifically at the impact of anti-corruption programmes on the poor.

It says Dfid has not "developed an approach equal to the challenge" and is not focusing enough on the poor.

The ICAI gives the department an "amber-red" rating - the second lowest, indicating "significant improvements" were required.

'Paying bribes'

In its report, ICAI says Dfid "does not fully understand which of its activities are even addressing corruption", does not know how much it was spending on anti-corruption overall, and, in some cases, systems that forced the poor to pay bribes "were perpetuated and not tackled by programmes".

In Nepal, the Local Governance and Community Development Programme ran from 2008 to 2013 and involved Dfid and 12 other partners.

But the ICAI report says: "We heard about citizens needing to pay bribes to government officials or to forge documentation in order to receive funding for projects supported by LGCDP."

Continue reading the main story

ICAI's report rightly highlights some of DFID's work which reflects our zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption"

End Quote DfID spokesman

The report says that it has concerns that "the general principle that aid should first 'do no harm' had been breached".

Graham Ward, ICAI chief commissioner, said: "We saw very little evidence that the work Dfid is doing to combat corruption is successfully addressing the impact of corruption as experienced by the poor.

"Indeed there is little indication that Dfid has sought to address the forms of corruption that most directly affect the poor: so-called 'petty corruption'.

"This is a gap in Dfid's programming that needs to be filled."

The report said some British aid had "perpetuated" corruption but the government argues that it has a "zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption".

'Asleep at the wheel'

But it says that all its plans, while tailored to meet the needs of each country, are based on tackling "the root causes of corruption by building strong institutions and requiring good governance".

It says UK police have investigated more than 150 bribery allegations made against UK companies and people in developing countries - recouping £120m of stolen assets.

The government pointed to several initiatives - including one in Nigeria, where it helped to establish 633 facility health committees to help the poor get access to healthcare without having to pay bribes.

"Additionally, DfId funds UK police units and crime agencies to investigate the proceeds of corruption by foreign officials through the UK," a spokeswoman said.

"Internationally, the UK is leading the drive to clamp down on corruption through the G20, World Bank and IMF programmes."

But Labour said the report was "damning" and suggested International Development Secretary Justine Greening had been "asleep at the wheel".

Shadow International Development Minister Alison McGovern said: "This is about many of the world's poorest people having to pay bribes for life's essentials - food, water or even safety - setting back the cause of poverty reduction and severely reducing the effectiveness of UK aid."

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Alcohol 'should have calorie labels'

31 October 2014 Last updated at 00:10 By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

Alcohol should have a calorie content label in order to reduce obesity, according to public health doctors.

The doctors warn a large glass of wine can contain around 200 calories - the same as a doughnut.

Yet the Royal Society for Public Health says the vast majority of people are blissfully unaware.

Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said "great strides" had been made with labelling food, and that the government will look at the issue.

The drinks industry said it was open to the idea of calorie labels, but that labelling drinks with units of alcohol was more important.

The UK is one of the most obese nations in the world with about a quarter of adults classed as obese.

'Startling'

Food already comes with calorie information, but alcohol is exempt from EU food labelling laws.

And the European Commission is considering whether drinks should also carry such information.

Research by the Royal Society for Public Health suggested the measure would be popular with British drinkers.

The RSPH's chief executive, Shirley Cramer, told the BBC: "Quite startling really - 80% of adults have no idea what the calorie count is in anything they're drinking and if they do think they have an idea they totally underestimate it anyway.

"It could help the nation's waistlines as well as probably reduce alcohol consumption."

In a small pub experiment conducted by the society, people who were told the calories content of their drink consumed 400 fewer calories in a session.

How many calories

• A large 250ml glass of 8% wine is 170 calories
• The same amount of 14% wine is 230 calories
• A 275ml alcopop can be 170 calories
• A pint of 4% beer is more than 180 calories
• Four pints on a night out equates of two-and-a-half burgers or 73 minutes of running
• In comparison a sugary doughnut comes in around 200 calories

Source: Royal Society for Public Health, Drinkaware

Estimates suggest 10% of an adult's calorie intake comes from alcohol.

Gram for gram it is the second most calorie-dense source of energy, just behind fat.

'Open to discussion'

The Portman Group, which represents drinks manufacturers, said it took the health consequences of drinking "very seriously" and provided calorie information on the Drinkaware website.

In a statement it said: "Drinks producers can play a key role in informing and educating consumers and are open to further discussions about calorie information.

"However, it is essential that alcohol content, not calorie content, should primarily inform consumer decision-making."

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said the government had been dragging its feet on the issue.

"A calorie-count on wine and beer bottles can't come soon enough.

"Just one premium lager contains by itself contains enough calories for a small meal and, added to the meal itself, eats up a chunk of anyone's maximum allowance."

Ms Ellison said: "It is very positive to see that people want more information to help them lead a healthier life.

"We have made great strides in food labelling and customers can see at a glance the calories they are consuming on many products.

"While it is already possible for alcohol producers and retailers to display calorie content on their labels, we will continue to look at what else can be done to help people make healthier lifestyle choices."

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Double contest for Scottish Labour

31 October 2014 Last updated at 08:11

Scottish Labour is seeking both a new leader and a new deputy leader following the resignation of Anas Sarwar.

The Glasgow Central MP announced he was standing down from his role as depute on Thursday evening.

He is currently interim leader of the party following Johann Lamont's departure and will remain in that role until her replacement is announced.

Contests for the leadership and deputy leadership will run concurrently.

Ms Lamont quit last Friday, and accused Labour's UK leadership of treating Scotland like a branch office.

Mr Sarwar's resignation came after fellow MP Jim Murphy announced he was entering the leadership race against Lothian MSPs Neil Findlay and Sarah Boyack.

If Mr Murphy were elected and Mr Sarwar remained deputy leader it would leave the Scottish Labour Party without a leader at Holyrood.

The Glasgow Central MP said: "I have come to a decision I believe is in the best interest of the Scottish Labour Party.

"It's my intention to hand over the leadership to a new team on 13 December.

"I think it's also right that we have a concurrent leadership and deputy leadership election.

"This will allow a Scottish Labour party, its members and affiliates the opportunity to not only elect a leader, but a new leadership team focussed on winning in 2016."

Lothians MSP Kezia Dugdale and North East Scotland MSP Jenny Marra could be possible candidates to succeed Mr Sarwar as deputy leader.

Date	Event
Friday, 31 October	Nominations officially open
Tuesday, 4 November	Nominations officially close
Monday, 17 November	Voting gets under way
Saturday, 13 December	New leader elected

Labour leader Ed Miliband was in Scotland on Thursday evening to attend a party function in Glasgow.

In an interview with the BBC he admitted Labour faced a "big challenge" in Scotland and he said he would work closely with whoever was elected as the new Scottish leader.

His visit coincided with two opinion polls which indicated a dramatic fall in Labour's Scottish support.

The polls, by Ipsos/Mori for STV and by YouGov for The Times, suggested the SNP could have many more MPs in Scotland than Labour after the general election.

Mr Miliband said: "I'm going to work with whoever is elected as the new leader in Scotland and I will look forward to working with them.

"We face big challenges to show how we can change Scotland, how we can change it economically, how we can change it so there are stronger powers for the Scottish Parliament."

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Sickness benefit cuts 'considered'

30 October 2014 Last updated at 00:06 By Michael Buchanan Social Affairs Correspondent, BBC News

Ministers are considering drastically cutting the main Employment and Support Allowance sickness benefit, internal documents seen by the BBC suggest.

New claimants, judged to be capable of work with appropriate support, could be given just 50p more per week than people on job seekers allowance.

Current recipients get almost £30 per week more.

The Department for Work and Pensions said the ESA proposals were not government policy.

The papers reveal that the government has also been forced to hire extra staff to clear the backlog on the benefit.

Some 100 healthcare professionals are being hired to carry out fitness-for-work tests. The staff, who will be employed through the Pertemps agency, will help to reduce a backlog of more than 600,000 cases.

'Fiscal risks'

They will be in addition to any extra staff brought in when a new contractor is announced shortly to replace ATOS. The BBC understands that the American firm, Maximus, has been selected.

Leaked documents this summer showed that ministers considered ESA - formerly known as incapacity benefit - to be "one of the largest fiscal risks currently facing the government".

They also revealed concerns about claimants moving off jobseekers allowance onto ESA.

Giving consideration to cutting the differential paid to ESA recipients in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) - individuals who have to prepare for employment - is a reflection of that concern.

They currently get £28.75 more per week but the documents show plans are being discussed to cut that to just 50p more than jobseekers allowance. People receiving JSA, who are aged 25 or over, currently get £72.40 per week.

Employment and Support Allowance is paid to approximately two million people. Claimants have to undergo a work capability assessment to determine whether they are eligible and at what level.

Labour MP Dame Anne Begg, who chairs the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, said she would support overhauling the delivery of ESA but "did not envisage" any reduction in the value of the benefit.

"That's not reform, that is just saving money. I hope that is not something the government is going to come forward with."

'Best service'

Problems with the current provider, the French firm ATOS, which was appointed by the last Labour government, led to the firm reaching an agreement with the government earlier this year to leave its contract early.

Ministers raised concerns about the quality of assessments being carried out by ATOS which has led to a backlog of cases. The backlog is currently running at more than 600,000.

As ministers focus assessments on new claimants, recipients who should have been re-assessed under the terms of the benefit are not being seen, creating much of the backlog. Most of those receiving Incapacity Benefit, who should also have been assessed, are also not being tested.

The Office for Budget Responsibility said in a report earlier this month that "the backlog of applications encourages claimants previously not found eligible for ESA simply to reapply".

A spokesman for the DWP said "We are committed to supporting those people who are able to work to make the positive move into employment.

"The current work capability assessment contract was inherited from the previous government - and we have taken numerous steps to improve it. We will shortly announce a new provider. No one should doubt our commitment to ensuring that people who need an assessment get the best possible service and are seen in the quickest possible time."

Would you be affected by potential sickness benefit cuts? Send us your comments by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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Schools 'progressing too slowly'

30 October 2014 Last updated at 01:17 By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent

There are 1.6 million pupils in England who are still not getting a good education but there is a failure to deal with under-performing schools, a spending watchdog has said.

A report from the National Audit Office said there was a lack of consistency in tackling under-performance.

Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said she was "appalled" at the lack of progress.

The Department for Education said schools "have been transformed".

A spokeswoman said the report's conclusions were "not supported by the facts" as the proportion of schools rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding had risen from 68% to 81% since August 2010.

Inspecting trusts

The report from the National Audit Office warned that despite £382m being spent each year on monitoring schools and interventions, there are weaknesses in efforts to raise standards.

In particular it raised questions about how much the Department for Education knows about problems at school level, in a system with increasing autonomy for individual schools and academy chains.

Head teachers also argued that it was painting an excessively "bleak picture" of school standards.

"Some academy sponsors are very successful, but the department does not yet know why others are not," said the National Audit Office.

It drew attention to concerns, voiced by Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, that the watchdog cannot inspect academy trusts.

"Ofsted is unable to inspect sponsors and multi-academy trusts so there is no independent source of information about the quality of their work," said the spending watchdog.

Concerns over the oversight of academies emerged in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal in Birmingham - and the report warned of a lack of checks on governors to "prevent risks such as entryism" - where a group of like-minded individuals infiltrate an organisation aiming to subvert its objectives.

"Greater school autonomy needs to be coupled with effective oversight and assurance. The department has made some improvements but has further to go," said Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office.

"There are significant gaps in the department's understanding of what works," he said.

'Red tape'

The report highlighted the 1.6 million pupils in schools which have inspection grades of either "inadequate" or "requires improvement".

Mrs Hodge said the figures from the spending watchdog showed it is "hard to see how formal interventions make any difference", with 52% of schools not improving Ofsted grades after intervention and 59% improving without any intervention.

She said it was a "sorry state of affairs when the department has to rely on whistleblowers to spot declines in school performance".

But head teachers rejected the findings.

"The reality is nowhere like the bleak picture painted somewhat dramatically today," said Malcolm Trobe of the Association of School and College Leaders.

"The evidence from Ofsted is that schools are improving year on year," he said.

'Huge progress'

David Simmonds, chairman of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, said councils needed to be freed from the "red tape" that delayed their intervention.

"Councils want to intervene more quickly, but decades of giving schools "greater freedom" and "protecting" them from council interference means that local authorities now have very indirect and bureaucratic ways to tackle poor performance and improve schools."

Christine Blower, head of the National Union of Teachers, said the findings were a "damning verdict on a government obsessed with change for change's sake and poor on accountability".

Labour's shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said the report was an "utterly damning account" of the government's failure in education.

"It makes clear that the government has no plan for tackling poor standards and simply does not know who is responsible for overseeing schools and the safeguarding of children."

But a Department for Education spokeswoman said "huge progress" had been achieved in improving schools.

"England's schools have been transformed over the past few years with 800,000 more children now being taught in good or outstanding schools since 2010.

"This is a great achievement but we would be the first to admit that the job is not yet done.

"Any child being taught in a failing school is an opportunity lost, which is why we have intervened in more than 1,000 failing schools over the past four years - pairing them up with excellent sponsors to give pupils the best chance of receiving an excellent education."

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MPs set to debate UK drugs policy

30 October 2014 Last updated at 08:04

MPs are to debate government policy on drugs in the House of Commons later.

A group of backbench MPs from all parties will call on the government to conduct a review of the "failing" 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act during the debate, brought by Green MP Caroline Lucas.

It comes as the Home Office publishes two separate reports into different approaches to drug misuse around the world and legal highs in the UK.

The Home Office has said it is not considering any shift in drugs policy.

But MPs want a review to be published within the next 12 months.

Thursday's debate was agreed to by the Commons Backbench Business Committee - after an e-petition calling for an impact assessment of drugs laws was signed by 135,000 people - and its conclusions will not be binding on the government.

But the symbolically important session will focus attention on UK attitudes towards drugs and highlight coalition divisions between the Conservatives and their Lib Dem coalition partners.

Home Office study

The motion to be considered by MPs on Thursday contends that an "evidence-based approach" should be at the centre of an effective drugs policy and calls on the government to consider "all the alternatives to the UK's failing drug laws".

Ms Lucas told the BBC earlier this month the motion "has been deliberately worded so as to be as uncontroversial as possible".

She added that much of the debate by MPs on drugs was "knee-jerk" and that many of the public were "far ahead" of politicians, saying: "There's a lot of evidence that prohibition simply isn't working.

"We want to get MPs recognising that there is a need for a comprehensive debate."

After a visit to South America earlier this year, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg called for a far-reaching change of approach to drugs policy in the UK, focusing more on treatment rather than punishment.

Mr Clegg wants responsibility for drug addiction to be moved from the Home Office to the Department of Health, a move also supported by some Labour MPs.

But although the Home Office minister in charge of drugs policy, Norman Baker, is a Lib Dem MP, Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May has made clear no major changes are on the agenda, maintaining that existing approaches are working.

Its supporters former Labour defence secretary Bob Ainsworth and Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert.

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Penalties 'do not stop' drug use

30 October 2014 Last updated at 08:12

There is "no obvious relationship" between tough laws and levels of drug use, a government report has suggested.

The research compared the UK with countries like Portugal, where possession of small amounts of drugs no longer carries criminal sanctions.

Liberal Democrat Home Office minister Norman Baker said the findings should prompt the end of "mindless rhetoric" on drugs with a new focus on treatment.

The government said it had "no intention" of decriminalising drugs.

Continue reading the main story

Let's look at what works rather than presuming locking people up is the answer"

End Quote Norman Baker Home Office minister

The report comes as the Home Office launches a clampdown on "legal highs".

'Historic'

The report explored different ways in which 13 countries approach drug misuse and compared them with the UK.

After examining a range of approaches, from zero-tolerance to decriminalisation, it concluded that drug use is influenced by factors "more complex and nuanced than legislation and enforcement alone".

However, the report found there had been a "considerable" improvement in the health of drug users in Portugal since the country made drug possession a health issue rather than a criminal one in 2001.

The Home Office said these outcomes cannot be attributed to decriminalisation alone and the UK government had "absolutely no intention of decriminalising drugs."

Mr Baker said treating drug use as a health matter would be much more effective in minimising harm.

His party leader, Nick Clegg, wants responsibility for drug addiction to be moved from the Home Office to the Department of Health - a move supported by some Labour MPs.

In the House of Commons later, MPs will debate a motion put forward by Green MP Caroline Lucas calling on the government to conduct a "cost-benefit analysis" of the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Analysis

Danny Shaw, BBC home affairs correspondent

The divisions within the coalition could not be more sharply exposed.

The official Home Office position is that its drug strategy is working.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat minister with responsibility for drugs, says "radical" change is needed.

Mr Baker's claims have been fuelled by his department's own report, which finds no link between how tough a country is on drugs and how many people use them.

It's an important finding, but the study also makes clear that drug policy is highly complex - approaches which may work abroad can't necessarily be implanted into the UK.

The Home Office barely mentioned the report in its press release, focusing instead on plans to change the law on legal highs.

Mr Baker's intervention has ensured the report takes centre stage.

"Let's look at what works rather than presuming locking people up is the answer," Mr Baker said.

"People are treated as a number, they're given a fine, they're given a caution, they're put in prison and none of that changes their drug habit.

"If we're interested in changing people's behaviour then we need to look at it from a health point of view."

Decriminalisation

Earlier this year Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg pledged to abolish prison sentences for the possession of drugs for personal use.

Mr Clegg challenged David Cameron to look at issues such as decriminalisation, despite the prime minister previously rejecting calls for a Royal Commission to consider the issue.

Danny Kushlick, the founder of the group Transform, which has been campaigning for the legal regulation of drugs in the UK for almost 20 years, said the report was an important step.

He added: "For the first time in over 40 years the Home Office has admitted that enforcing tough drug laws doesn't necessarily reduce levels of drug use.

"Decriminalising the possession of drugs doesn't increase levels of use."

Legal highs

A separate Home Office report calls for a blanket ban on all brain-altering drugs in a bid to tackle legal highs.

Currently, when a legal high is made illegal, manufacturers are avoiding the law by tweaking the chemical compound and creating a new substance.

The government is going to consider legislation introduced in Ireland four years ago that bans the sale of all "psychoactive" substances but exempts some, such as alcohol and tobacco.

Mr Baker said: "From today we will start looking into the feasibility of a blanket ban on new psychoactive substances across the whole of the UK, clamping down on the suppliers and head shops rather than the users.

"This approach had a dramatic impact on the availability of legal highs when introduced in Ireland, but we must ensure it would work here too."

Drug laws in some parts of the world have been relaxed in recent years.

Last year, Uruguay became the first country in the world to make it legal to grow, sell and consume marijuana.

From the start of this year, Colorado became the first US state to allow stores to sell cannabis for recreational purposes.

Have you had a serious drug habit? How was your addiction treated? You can email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

If you are willing to be contacted by BBC journalists please include a telephone number.

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Barclays sets aside £500m in probe

30 October 2014 Last updated at 08:12

Barclays has set aside £500m "relating to ongoing investigations" into currency trading.

Barclays is among several banks being probed relating to alleged rigging of currency markets.

It also set aside an extra £170m to compensate customers wrongly sold PPI.

The bank reported a rise in pre-tax profits for first nine months of the year to £3.72bn from £2.85bn a year earlier as costs and bad loans fell.

Barclays reduced its provision for customers mis-sold interest rate hedging products by £160m, with the bank saying its review of customers sold the products was nearly completed.

The deals were mainly sold to businesses and aimed to control interest rates. As rates fell to historic lows in the wake of the financial crisis, business customers were often stuck on much higher interest rates.

Investment bank pressure

For the three months to the end of September, most of Barclays' businesses saw profits rise except its investment bank and Africa business. Third-quarter pre-tax profit in investment banking shrank to £284m from £465m, a performance chief executive Antony Jenkins described as "disappointing."

"We see [third quarter] results as a clear indication of a deleveraging investment bank under significant pressure," said Chirantan Barua, an analyst at Bernstein Research. The £500m currency trading reserve means it "looks like" the lender is "close to settling", he said in a note to clients.

Operating costs, which includes staff wages, dropped faster than expected, said Mr Barua.

Mr Jenkins is trying to rein in pay and plans to cut 19,000 jobs by 2016, with more than 9,000 to go in the UK.

As part of a new strategy, the investment part of the bank will lose about 7,000 jobs by the end of 2016.

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Thousands of police 'plan to leave'

29 October 2014 Last updated at 00:43

More than 5,000 police officers in England and Wales are planning to leave the service in the next two years, a Police Federation survey suggests.

Of the 32,000 officers who responded, 94% said they believed morale in the service was low or very low.

The online survey aimed to measure the impact of reforms which followed a review of police pay and conditions.

The Police Federation has warned that the service could be left without enough experienced officers.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Forces should not be complacent that they have enough officers to fill their current quotas"

End Quote Police Federation

The federation represents police officers up to the rank of chief inspector in England and Wales.

The survey, which was released to BBC Radio 5 live Breakfast, found 94% of officers believe morale in the service was low, compared with 62% in the armed forces, who were asked the same question.

Some 59% of police officers said their own personal morale was low, compared with 28% of people in the armed forces.

'Experience gap'

In his 2011 report into police pay and conditions, former rail regulator Tom Winsor called for the abolition of a series of allowances and special payments and for a pay system that recognised hard work and merit instead of long service.

Mr Winsor said his recommendations, which included making savings of £60m a year in overtime, would produce savings of £485m in three years.

Reforms, including a £4,000 cut in starting salaries, were then introduced by Home Secretary Theresa May in 2013 after the proposals were considered by the Police Arbitration Tribunal.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Even if morale is affected they go out there and do a great job day in and day out"

End Quote Colette Paul Bedfordshire Chief Constable

The survey asked officers how the reforms had affected morale. Some 91% said that they had felt some reduction to morale following changes to overtime and rest day payments.

The survey found the pension age increase had led to 87.2% of officers feeling like their morale had dropped.

The Police Federation's statement introducing the results said: "Our survey suggests 15% are planning to leave the service.

"Forces should not be complacent that they have enough officers to fill their current quotas, it's likely that when the job market picks up these officers will go, leaving an experience gap."

Bedfordshire Chief Constable Colette Paul said her force had been 60 officers short until recently, and told 5 live it had put the force under a lot of pressure.

"We actually have real urban challenges here in Bedfordshire, real strong crime challenges which we had to deal with, so if you're 60 short, because every person counts in a force of our size, it does have a big impact.

"But even if morale is affected they go out there and do a great job day in and day out."

Are you a police officer who is thinking of leaving the service? Have you recently resigned? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

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Disasters group launches Ebola appeal

29 October 2014 Last updated at 07:19

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Saleh Saeed, Disasters Emergency Committee: ''This is a race against time''

An appeal for the Ebola crisis in West Africa is to be launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee.

It is the first time the DEC - a group of 13 UK aid charities - has sought funds over a disease outbreak, which it says is "a sign of how serious the situation has become".

Appeals will be made by all the main UK broadcasters on Thursday.

Ebola has killed almost 5,000 people and infected more than 10,000 in West Africa since the start of the year.

In its 50-year history, the DEC has launched appeals for humanitarian disasters caused by floods, famines, earthquakes, typhoons and conflicts, but not previously for a disease outbreak.

Chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "In West Africa today we are seeing a disease create not just a medical crisis but a humanitarian emergency.

"Without urgent action to stop the spread of Ebola and to help those affected by the crisis, parts of West Africa face catastrophe within 60 days."

Of the 13 DEC charities, 11 are currently supporting work or planning to respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, with the majority of work focused on stopping the spread of the disease and providing support to those affected.

The committee says £25 can provide cleaning kits including bleach, soap and a bucket for three families at risk from Ebola.

Basic protective clothing for three volunteers supporting people under quarantine can be provided for £50 and £100 can buy training for a community on how to keep itself safe from Ebola.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there could be 5,000-10,000 new cases of the deadly virus every week in the worst affected countries by December. Infection rates continue to grow in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Cumulative deaths up to 23 October

The virus spreads through close contact and health officials say stopping the spread of the disease in the areas hardest hit by the outbreak will prevent Ebola's spread to other countries.

In August, the United Nations health agency declared an "international public health emergency", saying that a co-ordinated response was essential to halt the spread of the virus.

By September, WHO director general Margaret Chan said that the "number of patients is moving far faster than the capacity to manage them".

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, Thomas Frieden, said in October that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is unlike anything since the emergence of HIV/Aids.

In the United States, two medical workers in Dallas, Texas, who treated a patient - who later died - tested positive for Ebola but have been released from hospital after treatment.

Spanish nurse Teresa Romero was the first person to contract the virus outside West Africa. She was part of a team of about 30 staff at the Carlos II hospital in Madrid looking after two missionaries who returned from Liberia and Sierra Leone after becoming infected.

Germany, Norway and France and the UK have all treated patients who contracted the virus in West Africa.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

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How Ebola survivors' blood is saving lives

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
• Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%
• No proven vaccine or cure
• Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host

Ebola special report

Meanwhile, Sierra Leone has condemned Australia's decision to suspend entry visas for people from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, describing it as "counterproductive" and "discriminatory".

The move has also been criticised by Amnesty International, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said travel restrictions would severely curtail efforts to beat Ebola.

Also, new US federal guidelines say medics returning from treating patients in West Africa should be monitored but not placed in quarantine.

However, some states say they will continue with their quarantine polices.

To make a donation to the DEC Ebola Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900. You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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New asylum backlog emerges, say MPs

29 October 2014 Last updated at 07:50

The Home Office is facing a fresh backlog of asylum cases, on top of 30,000 unresolved applications dating back to 2007, MPs have warned.

The Public Accounts Committee said the number of new asylum seekers awaiting an initial decision on their status rose 70% in the first quarter of 2014.

Contact was lost with 50,000 people refused the right to stay, it added.

Labour said it showed "failure", but ministers said they were "addressing the backlogs inherited" in 2010.

Home Office minister James Brokenshire said the immigration and asylum system had been "totally dysfunctional" prior to the coalition government taking office. He insisted progress was being made.

Longstanding backlog

The government overhauled the UK's immigration and asylum operations in 2013 after a series of controversies, including a 2011 row over the relaxation of passport checks. That led to the resignation of the head of the UK Border Force.

Home Secretary Theresa May scrapped the UK Border Agency and assumed direct executive responsibility for its Border Force enforcement arm.

She also took control of UK Visas and Immigration and Immigration Enforcement, new bodies created as part of the major Whitehall restructuring.

In a report analysing the impact of the changes, the cross-party committee said performance had "held steady" in most areas since the reorganisation but the Home Office had still "failed to deal" with the longstanding asylum backlog.

It said 29,000 cases dating back at least seven years remained unresolved, with 11,000 people yet to receive an initial decision on whether they could stay in the country.

MPs on the committee also suggested the Home Office was failing to meet its own targets for processing newer claims, which totalled 16,273 in the first three months of 2014.

It partly attributed this to the agency's "botched and ill-judged" decision to downgrade caseworkers working in the area.

Although the decision was subsequently reversed, the committee said it had led to 120 experienced staff leaving, and this - combined with major problems with IT systems - meant the department lacked the data to manage the backlogs and track people through the system.

"It is deeply worrying that the Home Office is not tracking those people whose applications have been rejected to ensure they are removed from the UK," said Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP who chairs the committee.

"At the end of 2013-14, there were over 175,000 people whose application to stay in the UK had been rejected, and they are placed in a migration refusal pool to await removal.

"The number of such cases has not been reduced over time. Some may have left the UK voluntarily but without exit checks it is almost impossible to know."

'In limbo'

Mrs Hodge said the Home Office had asked external contractors to check more than 250,000 case records in 2012 and 2013 but they had been unable to contact more than 50,000 people listed and their whereabouts were unknown.

She said this "particularly disturbing" matter must be dealt with urgently while the Home Office must ensure it had sufficient staff with the right skills to resolve outstanding claims and prevent new backlogs growing in size.

The Refugee Council warned that people caught up in the asylum system were "living in limbo".

"Behind these statistics are individuals, many of whom will have suffered extreme trauma, forced to live day to day in uncertainty while they await the outcome of what could be a life or death decision," said its head of advocacy, Lisa Doyle.

"It is very important that the Home Office makes decisions in a timely manner, but it's even more important that it gets its decisions right first time."

'Years of mismanagement'

The UK considers applications for asylum in line with its obligations as a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1950 European Convention of Human Rights.

The Home Office, which published its latest figures on its handling of asylum applications in April, said the 11,000 figure quoted by the committee was inaccurate.

Initial decisions had been made in many of the outstanding cases, it said, and officials were now considering further evidence provided by applicants with the aim of doing so by the end of the year.

The recent increase in asylum claims was due to instability in the Middle East and North Africa, it added, but also to past failings by the Border Agency which had been addressed.

Mr Brokenshire added: "UKBA was a failing organisation that could not deliver an efficient immigration system for Britain.

"This is why we split it up into three separate divisions to improve focus on their specific roles in delivering a controlled immigration system and bring them under the direct supervision of ministers.

'Failures'

"Turning around years of mismanagement has taken time, but it is now well under way. We have reformed visa routes to make them more resistant to fraud and cancelled failing contracts. And we are addressing the backlogs we inherited."

But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "This report lays bare how David Cameron's government is presiding over one failure after another in our immigration system.

"Theresa May was very quick to blame the UKBA, but since she took direct control of the border force and immigration system, we have seen backlogs increase sharply and the admission that the Home Office have no idea how many of the 175,000 failed asylum seekers are still here or where 50,000 failed asylum seekers even are."

She added: "David Cameron and Theresa May have failed to deliver on her promise to introduce exit checks, to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, has cost the taxpayer £1bn on failed IT projects and as the report says introduced no processes to rectify these and other failings."

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Care for military veterans 'flawed'

29 October 2014 Last updated at 08:02 By Sima Kotecha Today programme

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Simon Brown, former Army corporal: 'I have had to jump through hoops'

The government is failing to abide by its military covenant, medical experts who treat injured soldiers have said.

Leading professors in psychology and orthopaedics say the healthcare system is not providing veterans with the service they have been promised.

The Armed Forces Covenant, described as a duty of care to the armed forces, states veterans should be "sustained and rewarded" .

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said it was "fully committed" to the covenant.

But Labour's shadow minister for veterans, Gemma Doyle, said the medical experts' comments were a "damning indictment", and proof the government had failed to meet its obligations.

Continue reading the main story

My cheek bones were obliterated, my jaw was broken in four places, I'd lost my left eye totally and there was very little hope of any sight returning to my right eye"

End Quote Simon Brown Army veteran

Shot in the face

More than 200,000 men and women have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

The military covenant states that soldiers could be called upon to make the "ultimate sacrifice" but in return they and their families will be "sustained and rewarded by commensurate terms and conditions of service".

The moral obligation to treat veterans should not stop when service ends, the covenant states, saying veterans should receive priority healthcare from the NHS when they are being treated for a condition dating from their time in the armed forces.

Once a veteran leaves the forces, their healthcare is the responsibility of the NHS.

Simon Brown, a corporal in the Army for more than 10 years, was shot in the face by a sniper in 2006 and was medically discharged four years later.

"The bullet hit my left cheek between the eye and the nose and exited my right cheek between the nose and the ear," he said.

"My cheek bones were obliterated, my jaw was broken in four places, I'd lost my left eye totally and there was very little hope of any sight returning to my right eye."

Almost a decade on, he says he has still not had all the surgery and treatment he requires and insists it is not the fault of staff, rather the system is flawed.

'Good investment'

"It has been long processes - there's been a lot of jumping through hoops you know. I actually had to see a committee to see whether or not I was entitled to free plastic surgery," he said.

If veterans got the treatment they are entitled to they could remain "productive members of society", he said.

"I see it as it's actually a good investment to look after these people and give them the support and help they need."

The main principles of the military covenant were enshrined in law in the Armed Forces Act 2011.

The government says the defence secretary must report annually on the progress made by ministers in honouring the covenant.

However, Professor Neil Greenberg, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said ministers were failing to keep their promise.

The 2010 government-commissioned report by Andrew Murrison - called 'Fighting Fit' - which looked into the care veterans received on the NHS made several recommendations, he said.

Some were implemented - such as the setting up of the Veterans Information Service - but he argues the service is not what they said it would be.

"In my view the government needs to be a bit more honest about what it is delivering and just what it says it's delivering, because the two are definitely not the same," Professor Greenberg said.

'Should do better'

Freedom of information figures show almost 13,000 service personnel have been medically discharged for musculoskeletal disorders since 2001 - those who have lost limbs or have problems with ligaments and joints - with many requiring constant care throughout their lives.

Professor Tim Briggs, a leading orthopaedic surgeon, recently wrote the Chavasse report which outlined the problems former personnel face on the NHS.

Professor Briggs, who said he was "moved" by the sacrifice made by veterans who attended his clinics, said "we can do better and we should do better".

"They weren't aware of the Armed Forces Covenant and finding access to specialist care was sometimes proving difficult and as a result some veterans were falling through the net and we had to improve things."

The military charity Help For Heroes has estimated that 75,000 service personnel could suffer mentally and physically as a result of operations in Afghanistan.

With some NHS staff unaware of the covenant - and veterans not always keen to tell their doctors about their past - the charity has said a government database would help to make sure they receive the care they are entitled to.

Earlier this year, the Conservative MP James Arbothnot told the Defence Select Committee he was disappointed the government kept detailed records of sheep and cows, but couldn't do the same for veterans.

Labour MP Madeleine Moon, who also sits on the committee, said that the government had promised things but not followed through.

She said a renewed focus needed to be on "the long term", and making sure that veterans did not get "lost in the system".

'Proud and grateful'

Health minister Dan Poulter said the government had invested more than £22m in mental health and prosthetic services, "specifically for those most in need".

The investment included 10 regional veteran mental health teams and nine veteran-focused prosthetic centres providing support and care for ex-servicemen and women.

An MoD spokesman said the government had "worked hard to ensure our serving personnel, veterans and families have the support they need and are treated with the dignity they deserve".

"That is why we enshrined the covenant in law in 2011. Since then all local councils have signed up to the Community Covenant, and more than 300 companies have signed up to the Corporate Covenant - including Tesco just this week.

"We are very proud and grateful of the commitment that all those that have signed the Covenants have made and it demonstrates the immense amount of respect and gratitude there is for our armed forces," the spokesman added.

Are you affected by issues covered in this story? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

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Zambian President Sata dies in UK

29 October 2014 Last updated at 08:24

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Zambian President Michael Sata has died while in office, Chakuchanya Harawa reports

Zambian President Michael Sata has died at the age of 77 after receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness, the government says.

President Sata, who was being treated in the UK, died in London's King Edward VII hospital on Tuesday night.

Media said that he died after "a sudden onset [of] heightened heart rate".

It is not immediately clear who will succeed the president. The issue may be decided by the Zambian cabinet which meets on Wednesday morning.

"It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing on of our beloved president," cabinet secretary Roland Msiska said on national TV.

He said that Mr Sata's wife and son were at his bedside.

"I urge all of you to remain calm, united and peaceful during this very difficult period," Mr Msiska added.

The president's death comes just days after Zambia celebrated the 50th anniversary of independence from the UK.

He is the second Zambian leader to die in office after Levy Mwanawasa in 2008.

Obituary: Penny Dale, BBC's former Zambia correspondent

Gravelly-voiced as a result of years of chain-smoking, Michael Sata rose to political prominence in the 1980s. He quickly earned a reputation as the hardest-working governor while in charge of Lusaka and as a populist man of action. But he was also known for his authoritarian tendencies, an abrasive manner and a sharp tongue - and his critics say his nickname of "King Cobra" was well-deserved.

A devout Catholic, Mr Sata had worked as a police officer, railway man and trade unionist during colonial rule. After independence, he also spent time in London, working as a railway porter, and, back in Zambia, with a taxidermist company.

On the fourth attempt, Mr Sata won presidential elections in 2011. At first he looked as if he would keep promises to tackle corruption and create jobs and prosperity. But his term in office was marred by a crackdown on political opposition and a decline in the economy.

'King Cobra'

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Zambia's five leaders in five decades

Earlier this month reports in Zambia said that President Sata had gone abroad for a medical check-up amid persistent speculation that he was seriously ill.

After he left the country, Defence Minister Edgar Lungu was named as acting president.

Vice-President Guy Scott has regularly stood in for the president at official events. But he is of Scottish descent and his parents were not born in Zambia, so he may fall foul of a constitutional clause on parentage which would nullify his candidacy.

Known as "King Cobra" for his venomous tongue, Mr Sata was elected Zambia's president in 2011, defeating the then incumbent Rupiah Banda whose party had been in power for 20 years.

He has rarely been seen in public since returning from the UN General Assembly last month, where he failed to make a scheduled speech.

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John Cantlie seen in 'Kobane' video

27 October 2014 Last updated at 22:43

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The BBC's Bridget Kendall: "He looks like a war reporter, but is a hostage"

British hostage John Cantlie has appeared in a new Islamic State (IS) video in which he says he is speaking from the key Syrian town of Kobane.

In an apparently scripted video, Mr Cantlie says the battle for the town on the Turkish border "is nearly over" and the militants are "mopping up now".

He refers to events of the past two weeks, including a US air drop of weapons for Syrian Kurd fighters.

Kobane has witnessed intense fighting between Kurdish militias and IS.

It is the latest in a series of videos featuring the 43-year-old journalist, who was seized in late 2012.

'Nasty and tough'

The clip, which lasts for five minutes and 32 seconds, also features footage that it is claimed was shot by an Islamic State drone.

In the video, Mr Cantlie says: "Now the battle for Kobane is coming to an end. The mujahideen are just mopping up now, street to street, and building to building.

"You can occasionally hear erratic gunfire in the background as a result of those operations.

"But contrary to what the Western media would have you believe, it is not an all-out battle here now. It is nearly over. As you can hear, it is very quiet, just the occasional gunfire."

He adds: "Urban warfare is as about as nasty and tough as it gets, and it's something of a speciality of the mujahideen."

Kobane has been been under assault from IS for weeks.

Last Monday, militants launched an offensive "on all fronts" against Kurdish fighters, activists said.

The release of the video comes after the death of Mr Cantlie's father Paul, 80, who had recorded a video message from his hospital bed urging IS to release his son.

Hostages

Jessica Cantlie, John Cantlie's sister, has also appealed for ''direct contact" with the militants.

Last week, another IS video emerged in which Mr Cantlie said prisoners of the militant group who had tried to escape had been punished with waterboarding.

He read another apparently scripted message that criticised the UK and US stance on hostage negotiations.

A Foreign Office spokesman said on Monday: "We are aware of a further video and we are analysing its contents."

BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Bridget Kendall said the latest video was "very different" from previous footage of Mr Cantlie because he is shown walking outside "almost as though he is a war reporter for the so-called Islamic State extremists."

The idea that the battle for Kobane is almost over "seems to be the main propaganda message of this video," our correspondent added.

Sources in the Kurdish People's Protection Unit told the BBC that it appeared the video was shot at the School of Industry in eastern Kobane.

They also confirmed IS had its own drones.

Mr Cantlie, an experienced journalist and photographer, has been held captive in Syria twice.

He was kidnapped first in July 2012, but escaped with help from the Free Syrian Army.

He was then kidnapped for a second time when he returned to Syria towards the end of 2012.

Islamic State - also known as Isis or Isil - has taken control of large areas of Syria and Iraq.

Since August, IS has filmed and posted online the deaths of four Western hostages.

They were US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines and Alan Henning, a taxi driver from Salford, who was a volunteer on an aid mission to Syria.

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UK Sport to consider funding policy

UK Sport could be ready to reconsider its 'no compromise' approach to funding elite sport.

The government agency is to launch a public consultation for the first time to decide its future strategy.

UK Sport invests £100m of National Lottery and government money into high-performance sport each year, and its medals-based policy has underpinned Britain's recent Olympic and Paralympic success.

But there has been criticism of this method, and the review will be welcomed by sports such as basketball that have suffered funding cuts.

Others, though, will argue that meddling with a model that has seen the revival of British sporting fortunes is risky.

"We really do want to listen," UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl told the BBC. "We are not arrogant enough to think that we know how to do everything best.

"The questions that we need to ask now, of the nation, of the government, of our partners, are: 'What is it that they want UK Sport to be focused on? What is it they want UK Sport to deliver?'

"We will review what we hear from the consultation, we will refine our thinking and agree a direction of travel in February."

Great Britain's improved medal haul since 1996
Olympic Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Atlanta 1996	1	8	6	15
Sydney 2000	11	10	7	28
Athens 2004	9	9	12	30
Beijing 2008	19	13	15	47
London 2012	29	17	19	65

UK Sport's funding criteria is currently based purely on performance and has resulted in Great Britain moving from 36th in the Olympic medal table at the 1996 Games in Atlanta to third at London 2012 with 65 medals.

However, there have been losers, too. In February, funding was controversially stopped for seven sports - including basketball, water polo and synchronised swimming - because they all stood little chance of winning medals at the Rio 2016 or Tokyo 2020 Games.

Handball and volleyball lost their funding in late 2012, leading to a complete closure of their programmes. The women's indoor volleyball team rose more than 60 places in the rankings and entered the world's top 20 during the four years leading into London, before winning a match at the Olympics.

Between them, Britain's men's and women's basketball teams managed only one win from 10 matches in London, but British Basketball accused UK Sport of discriminating against team and emerging sports and has urged a rethink of the strategy.

"We always listen to what sports are saying and give very careful consideration to whether that means we should be doing something differently," added Nicholl.

"We're hearing quite a few comments from team sports, particularly basketball, sports that are not funded by us in this cycle because they are more than eight years away from developing medal potential.

"And so, the questions we will be asking are: 'Should we dig deeper? Should we extend our remit?'"

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GB basketball 'future in doubt'

In August, Britain's men failed to qualify for the 2015 EuroBasket Championships amid claims the funding cuts had hampered preparations.

GB player Kieron Achara said members of the squad were living off only £15 per day, had to sleep in beds too short for them and were forced to take early-morning flights on budget airlines the day after late-night matches in order to save money.

NBA star Luol Deng said the sport in Britain was very close to collapsing after its £7m funding was cut and there have been doubts that British Basketball will be able to afford to send a women's team to next year's European Championships.

UK Sport has been accused of failing to recognise basketball's popular appeal among young people, while rewarding a number of so-called 'elitist sports', whose participants are largely drawn from the private school system, or which have small bases of participatory support.

For instance, rowing, sailing, equestrianism and modern pentathlon all had funding increased for the 2013-2017 period.

In February, the House of Lords' Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Select Committee reported that "the 'no compromise' approach of UK Sport has delivered medals for Team GB and has clearly improved top end performance".

It added: "This approach, however, has an inherent bias against team sports, and fails to help emerging sports, some of which, such as handball and volleyball, generated real enthusiasm at London 2012."

Funding cuts for some Olympic sports since 2012
	2012	2016/2020	%
Basketball	£0 (increased to £7m on appeal in 2013)	£0	-100%
Synchronised swimming	£4.3m	£0	-100%
Water polo	£4.5m	£0	-100%
Weightlifting	£1.8m	£0	-100%
Badminton	£5.9m	£5.7m	-4%
Swimming	£21.4m	£20.8m	-3%

In March, an all-party group of MPs reported that UK Sport's approach "risks the inadvertent disenfranchising of a whole segment of UK society by failing to back an elite team that can serve as a role model".

Nicholl suggests there may now be a shift in emphasis, with participation rates possibly considered when it come to funding.

"One of the points raised by our board is a strong view that we should aim to drive more impact from what we do," she said. "And the impact isn't just in creating the medals and the medallists. It is also through inspiring the next generation to participate in sport and promoting equality and diversity.

"Is it still about medals and medallists? Is it still about Olympic and Paralympic sports? Is it about non-Olympic sports? Do we dig deeper into 12-year pathways or do we stick with eight-year? Is there anything about the funding model and how we calculate how much it costs that needs to change?"

"It is important to refine ways of working and we only really have the opportunity to do that and the beginning of the Olympic cycle.

"Now is a critical time and it will be another four years before we look at this again."

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More landslides as heavy rains hit

28 October 2014 Last updated at 06:57

Landslides have closed the Inverness to Ullapool road and the Rest and Be Thankful as further heavy rains battered the west of Scotland.

Police said there were no possible diversions on the A835 Ullapool road after it was shut at Garve and it was difficult to say when it may reopen.

Drivers were urged to avoid the area. Work is under way to clear the road.

Emergency teams are also being mobilised to the slip on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful.

The A82 south of Fort William partially reopened on Monday after two landslides blocked the road on Sunday.

Police Scotland urged caution on the roads in the west, Highlands and north east.

The bad weather is expected to ease in many areas midway through Tuesday morning.

However, the Met Office said that since Saturday the worst-affected parts of the country had seen 3-day rainfall totals in excess of 150mm (5.9ins).

And BBC Scotland weather presenter Chris Blanchett said 265mm of rain (10.4ins) had fallen in some parts of the Highlands since Friday.

For the latest information on the situation on the roads visit the BBC's travel news page.

You can keep up to date with incidents and roadworks on the motorways here.

Around the country you can check for travel updates from:

Alternatively, for regular travel updates listen live to BBC Radio Scotland and follow @BBCTravelScot.

You can also follow the BBC Scotland severe weather Twitter list.

Below are a number of other traffic information sources.

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Met Office supercomputer confirmed

28 October 2014 Last updated at 07:41 By Jonathan Webb Science reporter, BBC News

Funding has been confirmed for a £97m supercomputer to improve the Met Office's weather forecasting and climate modelling.

The facility will work 13 times faster than the current system, enabling detailed, UK-wide forecast models with a resolution of 1.5km to be run every single hour, rather than every three.

It will be built in Exeter during 2015 and become operational next September.

The Met Office said it would deliver a "step change" in forecast accuracy.

"It will allow us to add more precision, more detail, more accuracy to our forecasts on all time scales for tomorrow, for the next day, next week, next month and even the next century," said Met Office chief executive Rob Varley.

As well as running UK-wide and global forecasting models more frequently, the new technology will allow particularly important areas to receive much more detailed assessment.

For example, forecasts of wind speeds, fog and snow showers could be delivered for major airports, with a spatial resolution of 300m.

The extra capacity will also be useful for climate scientists, who need massive amounts of computing power to run detailed models over much longer time scales.

It will address one of the key challenges of climate projections - to "answer the real questions people need to know", said Mr Varley.

"We can tell you that the global average temperature is going to increase by 3C or 4C if we carry on as we are - but the critical question is what is that going to mean for London?

"What is it going to mean for Scotland? What is it going to mean for my back garden? At the moment the general looks that we can produce really don't answer those kinds of questions," he told BBC Radio 4's Today.

Analysis by David Shukman, BBC Science Editor

For an island nation that sits at a turbulent cross-roads between Atlantic moisture, Arctic cold and continental extremes, our weather is notoriously hard to forecast. Fickle winds, complicated topography and innumerable local influences add to the challenge.

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The BBC's David Shukman says it will be "one of the world's fastest computers"

But because the weather matters so much - to everything from whether to leave home with a brolly to preparing for closed runways at an airport - all eyes are on the Met Office, and the glances are often hostile.

The biggest failures have now entered the national vocabulary: Michael Fish's denial of an approaching hurricane in 1987 and the infamous suggestion of a "barbecue summer" in 2009 when the reality proved relentlessly soggy.

The Met Office asserts that people never notice everyday successes, a gradual increase in reliability that has seen each decade allow the forecasts to reach another day into the future.

The new supercomputer should accelerate that process, crunching bigger numbers at a finer scale and more frequently than ever before.

But it may also raise expectations about accuracy. And, in a country obsessed with the weather, that brings its own risks.

Mr Varley said he was "absolutely delighted" the government had confirmed its investment, which was first promised by the chancellor in the 2013 Autumn Statement.

The new system will be housed partly at the Met Office headquarters in Exeter and partly at a new facility in the Exeter Science Park, and will reach its full capacity in 2017.

At that point, its processing power will be 16 petaflops - meaning it can perform 16 quadrillion calculations every second.

The "Cray XC40" machine will have 480,000 central processing units or CPUs, which is 12 times as many as the current Met Office supercomputer, made by IBM. At 140 tonnes, it will also be three times heavier.

It marks the biggest contract the Cray supercomputing firm has secured outside the US.

"It will be one of the best high-performance computers in the world," Science Minister Greg Clark told journalists at the announcement, adding that it would "transform the analytical capacity of the Met Office".

The improved forecasts, according to the Met Office, could deliver an estimated £2bn in socio-economic benefits, including more advance warning of floods, less air travel disruption, more secure decision-making for renewable energy investments, and efficient planning for the impacts of climate change.

Prof Tim Palmer, a climate physicist at the University of Oxford, also said the announcement was "very exciting news" and emphasised the necessity for more and more powerful computers.

"Unlike other areas of science, you can't really do lab experiments," he told the BBC. "We can only do two things: wait and see what happens, or try and simulate it inside a computer."

This means, Prof Palmer explained, "fantastically complex machines" like the XC40 - and whatever comes next.

"This is the start of an important investment, but it's by no means the endpoint."

The most detailed climate simulations currently being proposed, Prof Palmer said, will need exabytes of storage: another vast increase on the capacity of the Cray XC40, which will have storage capacity of 17 petabytes (a petabyte is one million gigabytes; an exabyte is 1,000 petabytes).

Piers Forster, a professor of climate change at the University of Leeds, said the increased power should "massively improve understanding of extreme weather and climate change", but added: "We also need to support brain power.

"When the Met Office opened some of its computers to work with UK university academics it benefited everyone.

"These problems are too big for one computer or organisation to solve, but as long as our fruitful collaborations continue, we can realise the promised benefits."

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