Better schools 'give London success'

27 June 2014 Last updated at 02:03 By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent

The "dramatic improvement" of exam results in London has been driven by improvements in schools and not changes in the pupil intake, say researchers.

A study has been examining how state school pupils in London, including the disadvantaged, get much better results than anywhere else in England.

Researchers say that the transformation of London's results is now providing an international role model.

Tony McAleavy, research director, says it could be "replicated elsewhere".

The study, Lessons from London's Schools, examines how the capital's education system has gone from being considered a failure to a beacon of high achievement in little more than a decade.

Exam results and Ofsted inspections now show state schools in London as higher performers than anywhere else in England.

Performance data

The research, from the CfBT Education Trust, says there is no single "magic bullet", but improvements are the result of four overlapping initiatives.

These are identified as:

• London Challenge, which provided targeted support and advice for schools
• the growth of academies
• the improved support of local authorities
• the impact of Teach First, which recruited young graduates to teach in disadvantaged schools

Mr McAleavy says these initiatives helped schools to become more focused, better organised and to make better use of data to track the progress of pupils.

The report says that the difference has been better schools and not the changing population of London.

The increasing concentration of wealth and better educated parents was not the driving factor for the improvements in results.

Mr McAleavy says that the changing fortunes of London schools has not been about improvements in any particular ethnic group - as all ethnic groups have been on an upward trend.

The research argues that the improvements have been about changes to the school system - rather than the intake.

And the report says this provides some lessons for others wanting to apply the same model.

These include:

• the systematic use of performance data
• intervention when schools are underachieving
• introducing new types of education provider
• making teaching attractive to talented and ambitious young graduates

'Professional ethos'

Ben Rogers, director of the Centre for London think tank, which also supported the research, said: "As our analysis shows, the improvement did not come about by accident.

"Schools got better because policymakers, school leaders and ordinary teachers developed a sense of shared mission, and a stronger professional ethos."

Continue reading the main story

A decade ago London was one of the worst places to be born into a low-income family in terms of educational outcomes"

End Quote Brett Wigdortz Teach First

Brett Wigdortz, chief executive of Teach First, said: "This excellent report confirms that one of the most fundamental factors for ensuring fair educational outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds is the quality of teachers and leaders in schools.

"A decade ago London was one of the worst places to be born into a low-income family in terms of educational outcomes.

"This has been transformed in only a few years.

"Unlocking why London schools have improved against the odds should be a priority for the education community because it proves there does not need to be a gap between young people from low-income communities and their wealthier peers."

This is the latest attempt to explain the rapid improvement in London's schools.

Earlier this week the Institute for Fiscal Studies published a report arguing that improving results in secondary school were a long-term consequence of earlier improvements in primary schools.

It identified the introduction of specific programmes to improve literacy and numeracy in the late-1990s.

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PSNI call for murder probes limit

27 June 2014 Last updated at 05:01

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Matt Baggott on the need to "separate the past from the present"

The outgoing chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has said his force should not investigate Troubles-related murders from before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Matt Baggott told the BBC that a new way must be found to deal with such cases.

He made the comments in an interview marking his final day in office.

He told the BBC that there was a "need to separate the past from the present".

"I think how ever that is done, the PSNI should no longer be accountable for dealing with issues that pre-date the Good Friday Agreement," he said.

'Different authority'

"We have to create a situation where police resources are focused on the here and now, without taking away from the needs of justice or victims.

"But that can be done in a different place, under a different authority."

Northern Ireland attorney general John Larkin QC said last December that there should be no further police investigations, inquests or inquiries into any killings pre-dating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

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The conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century is known as the Troubles.

More than 3,600 people were killed and thousands more injured.

During a period of 30 years, many acts of violence were carried out by paramilitaries and the security forces.

Mr Larkin's proposal prompted First Minister Peter Robinson to say it was "effectively an amnesty" and that those who were victims of the Troubles had a right to expect prosecutions.

More than 3,500 people were killed during three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland.

Mr Baggott, who has been a police officer for 37 years, first took up the job as head of the PSNI in August 2009.

His tenure in Northern Ireland included overseeing what was described as the safest G8 summit ever held, a policing operation praised by protesters and US President Barack Obama.

However, he also found himself heavily criticised by unionists and nationalists over how police dealt with flag protests and parades.

'Massive privilege'

Protests over the flying of the union flag started in December 2012 after many people within loyalist communities were angered by the decision of Belfast City Council to restrict the number of days the flag is flown at the city hall.

Mr Baggott said being the chief constable in Northern Ireland had been a "massive, massive privilege".

"It is absolutely the friendliest place that I've ever had the privilege to work and throughout the last five years, which hasn't been without its challenges, we have been buoyed and encouraged all the way along that by some fantastic people.

"It is with a heavy heart that we're going."

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Police deny 'failure' over jihadists

27 June 2014 Last updated at 06:00

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ACC Nikki Holland says police need community help to prevent radicalisation

The head of Wales' counter-terrorism unit has denied that police are failing in their efforts to combat the radicalisation of young Muslims.

It comes after a video showed two young Cardiff men urging others to join a jihadist fight in Syria and Iraq.

The father of one of them - Nasser Muthana - claimed police had failed to win the trust of Welsh Muslims.

South Wales Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Holland said police could not "keep a hold of everybody".

The men are believed to be among 500 Britons fighting in Syria for the militant group Isis (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant).

Brothers

The video, thought to have been filmed in Syria, features Nasser Muthana and Reyaad Khan, both 20 and from Cardiff, along with Abdul Rakib Amin, aged about 25 and from Aberdeen.

Nasser's younger brother Aseel Muthana, 17, has also joined them.

Ms Holland told the BBC: "We're talking about a couple of men; people realise the police can't keep a hold of everybody, but the police are doing the best job they can."

She said she accepted there were difficulties in reaching those most vulnerable to radicalisation, but they were not "untouchable".

"We have a substantial amount of people involved in counter-terrorism for all the Welsh forces - it isn't just for south Wales.

"It's more important in terms of working with the partners ... being able to speak to people and prevent radicalisation.

"It's not something the police can do on their own. We can only work with our partners and the community to prevent radicalisation."

Bomb plot

Ms Holland added: "I don't think Cardiff has any greater problem than anywhere else in the UK.

"What we can say nationally is that people are radicalised through various institutions, education establishments on some occasions, through the internet a lot.

"I don't think you can necessarily pin down how this happened in Cardiff."

The jailing of nine men - three of them from Cardiff - who plotted to bomb the London Stock Exchange was proof that the Prevent anti-radicalisation scheme had been successful in Cardiff, Ms Holland said.

Ahmed Muthana, father of Nasser and Aseel Muthana, has claimed police have failed to win the trust of Muslim communities in Cardiff because the Prevent team was mainly made up of white officers.

Ms Holland, who has been in post for less than a fortnight, said she had yet to meet all of her staff to assess the Prevent team's make-up but said the wider community had an important role to play in the strategy.

"The police can't capture everybody who potentially could be radicalised," she said.

"For me that's about the community being vigilant and parents being vigilant of their own children and what they are becoming involved in.

"Somewhere within our partnership network somebody will be speaking to those people, somebody will be giving us intelligence about those people and I don't think they are untouchable for us."

She said the Prevent team could also be working with primary school children in the future, to gain their trust earlier before they become disenchanted young men.

Earlier this week, Mr Muthana told the BBC he was "heartbroken" by the video featuring his son, while the family of Mr Khan said he had been "brainwashed" into supporting violent extremism.

Zane Abdo, imam of the South Wales Islamic Centre, said he believed the men had been "groomed" by people they had met outside of their mosque.

"These are young men who are very sincere, they want to do something good," he said.

"But you can be sincere and you can be sincerely deluded in what you want to do, and they have been groomed to think a particular way."

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School closed over 'armed man' fears

27 June 2014 Last updated at 08:53

A Cornish school has been closed as armed police search for a 60-year-old man who is believed to have access to guns.

It follows a "domestic" incident at an address in Widegates, near Looe, at about 21:30 BST on Thursday.

The nearby Trenode Church of England Primary School has been closed as a precaution, police said.

A police spokesman said the move was "for safety reasons and because of the ongoing police activity in that area".

Continue reading the main story

Johnny O'Shea BBC Radio Cornwall

---

This is a very rural primary school. The police have closed off the lane leading to the school.

There are no other properties in the direct vicinity of the school. It is very isolated.

There are armed police in the area looking for the man.

I have seen a few people going about their daily business in the surrounding area.

People have been warned to avoid the area and to report any suspicious activity.

A Devon and Cornwall police spokesman confirmed that there were concerns that the man they were seeking could have a weapon.

A police spokeswoman said a "number of roads" had been closed and blocked off by police vehicles.

The police helicopter is on standby, and firearms officers and dog units are at the scene, she added.

The head teacher of Trenode Primary School made the decision to close it after speaking to the police.

The school, which is near the villages of Widegates and Morval, has 75 pupils.

Are you in the area? Do your children attend Trenode Church of England Primary School? Please share your comments with us. You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line 'Trenode School'.

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Summit set to snub UK over Juncker

27 June 2014 Last updated at 09:31

EU leaders meeting in Brussels are expected to confirm former Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker as the next president of the European Commission.

The move comes despite strong opposition from Britain.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said "the odds are stacked against me" over Mr Juncker, but stressed that he would stick to his principles.

He believes Mr Juncker is too much in favour of closer political union and might block EU reform.

Mr Cameron is seeking an unprecedented vote on the appointment, which is usually made by consensus.

However, correspondents say other leaders are likely to ignore his concerns.

Mr Cameron's bid to block Mr Juncker suffered a major setback this week when his allies changed tack.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had given Mr Cameron hope after agreeing to a vote on the issue if there was no consensus.

But both the Netherlands and Sweden - normally close to UK positions in Europe - have since said they will back Mr Juncker.

Jean-Claude Juncker: A man for Europe?

Arguments for and against Juncker

In the past such sensitive appointments have been decided through informal negotiations in the European Council.

With Hungary now Mr Cameron's only supporter, analysts say Mr Juncker is likely to be overwhelmingly backed, even if it does go to a vote.

The BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels says many European diplomats feel that Mr Cameron's approach in the EU is too confrontational, going against the grain of consensus decision-making in the union.

There is speculation that the UK may get a powerful seat on the Commission as a "consolation prize", he says - for example, commissioner for the internal market. But UK officials say they are not negotiating for something else as a trade-off.

Mr Juncker is the choice of the centre-right European People's Party, which won the most seats in the European Parliament in May.

Mr Cameron vowed to "insist" on a vote on Mr Juncker, so that EU leaders would have to justify their support for the veteran politician in public.

Mr Cameron says he is determined to press ahead with renegotiation of Britain's EU membership, followed by an in/out referendum in the UK in 2017, if his Conservative Party wins next year's general election.

"It is the opening step in a longer campaign to secure change in Europe, a better position for Britain in Europe, and a referendum that will be held before the end of 2017," he said.

The row comes a month after anti-EU parties made sweeping gains in European elections. They won nearly a third of the parliamentary seats.

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In 60 seconds: What does UK have against Jean-Claude Juncker?

In a landmark move on Friday the summit leaders signed far-reaching trade partnership deals with three former Soviet republics - Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.

The "association agreements" commit the countries to EU standards, including new customs regulations, quality controls and free market competition.

Russia is suspicious of these agreements and is trying to draw ex-Soviet republics into its own customs union. A senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin told the BBC the deal was in breach of the Ukrainian constitution.

"What [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko is doing is illegitimate thing," Sergei Glazyev said.

On the first day of the summit on Thursday, prime ministers and presidents of the 28 EU states set aside their differences to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One in a ceremony at Ypres, Belgium.

Next steps

27 June - European Council expected to nominate Mr Juncker

1-3 July - First post-election session of new European Parliament

14-17 July - European Parliament votes on nominee for Commission president - expected to back Mr Juncker

September - Parliament grills each nominee for 28-member Commission (one from each member state)

October - Parliament votes on new Commission team

November - New Commission should take office, as should new EU foreign policy chief and new European Council president.

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UK teenager was 'radicalised by imam'

24 June 2014 Last updated at 07:57

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Ali's father believes he has joined Isis to fight in Syria, as the BBC Shaimaa Khalil reports

The father of a British teenager who travelled to Syria to join jihadists believes his son was radicalised by an imam at a UK mosque.

Rahim Kalantar told the BBC his son Ali, 18, travelled to Syria with two friends from Coventry in March and believed he was now fighting with Isis.

He said he was sent "down this road" by an imam - who denied the allegations.

Up to 500 Britons are thought to have travelled to the Middle East to fight in the conflict, officials say.

Mr Kalantar - speaking exclusively to the BBC's Afghan Service and Newsday - said he worries about his son Ali "every minute" and that his grief is "limitless".

He said he believed Ali - who was planning to study computer science at university - was radicalised during classes at a mosque after evening prayer.

"He [the imam] encouraged them and sent them down this road," he said.

The BBC contacted the mosque to speak to the imam, who refused to give an interview but said he completely denied the allegations.

Ali is believed to have travelled to Syria with Rashed Amani, also 18, who had been studying business at Coventry University.

Rashed's father, Khabir, said family members had travelled to the Turkish-Syrian border in the hope of finding the boys, but came back "empty-handed" after searching for more than two weeks.

He said he did not know what had happened to his son, who he fears has joined Isis - the militant-led group that has made rapid advances through Iraq in recent weeks.

"Maybe somebody worked with him, I don't know. Maybe somebody brainwashed him because he was not like that," he said.

The third teenager, Moh Ismael, is also believed to be in Syria with his friends. He is understood to have posted a message on Twitter saying he was with Isis.

It comes after Britons - including Reyaad Khan and Nasser Muthana from Cardiff - featured in an apparent recruitment video for jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

The video was posted online on Friday by accounts with links to Isis.

Social media

The BBC has learned a third Briton in the video is from Aberdeen. The man, named locally as Raqib, grew up in Scotland but was originally from Bangladesh.

Lord Carlile, a former independent reviewer of terrorism laws, told the BBC that the Muslim community was best placed to stop jihadists recruiting in the UK.

The Liberal Democrat peer also said the UK needed to reintroduce tougher measures to stop terrorism.

It comes after former MI6 director, Richard Barrett, said security services would not be able to track all Britons who return to the UK after fighting in Syria.

He said the number of those posing a threat would be small but unpredictable.

The Metropolitan Police has insisted it has the tools to monitor British jihadists returning from that country.

Shiraz Maher, a radicalisation expert, told BBC's Newsnight programme that social media was now acting as a recruitment ground for potential jihadists in the UK.

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This footage purports to show Reyaad Khan (C) and Nasser Muthana (R) from Wales

"You have hundreds of foreign fighters on the ground who in real time are giving you a live feed of what is happening and they are engaged in a conversation.

"It is these individual people who have been empowered to become recruiters in their own right," he said.

Lord Carlile also told BBC's Newsnight that the "most important partners" in preventing young Muslims from being radicalised are the "Muslim communities themselves".

"Mothers, wives, sisters do not want their husbands, brothers, sons to become valid jihadists and run the risk of being killed in a civil war," he told the programme.

He also told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that the government should look at reintroducing "something like control orders", which were scrapped in 2011 and replaced with the less restrictive Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPims).

He said: "We need to look at preventing violent extremism before people leave the country and also we need to look for further measures."

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Queen to visit jail and Thrones set

24 June 2014 Last updated at 08:52

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Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness meets The Queen

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit a notorious former jail and the Game of Thrones set on the second day of their Northern Ireland visit.

On Monday, the Queen held separate meetings with Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness.

The Royal couple's first engagement of the day is a tour of Crumlin Road Gaol in north Belfast.

They will then be shown the Paint Hall Studios in the city's Titanic Quarter.

The popular US television series Game of Thrones is partly filmed there, and it is a focal point for the burgeoning film industry in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers will accompany the Queen on a tour of the former prison, where both politicians were held during the Troubles.

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, a former former IRA commander, was held in the prison for more than a month in 1976 on a charge of IRA membership - a charge that was later dropped in court.

The deputy first minister described the Queen's planned visit to the Crumlin Road prison as another "bold step".

"The vast bulk of our people appreciate the effort Queen Elizabeth is making to peace and the reconciliation process and I think many people will look at the visit to the Crumlin Road prison, for example, with a degree of astonishment," he said.

Democratic Unionist Party leader and First Minister Peter Robinson was detained on a number of occasions in the prison during the 1980s for his involvement in protests against the controversial Anglo Irish Agreement.

The jail is now a popular visitor attraction in Northern Ireland.

The next stop on the Royal couple's 21st visit to Northern Ireland is St George's Market, where they will experience a one-off event billed as celebrating the "best of Belfast".

The market is usually open only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but the special opening is being held to celebrate it recently winning the title of best large indoor market in the United Kingdom.

The market will be open to the public.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will then travel to the nearby Belfast City Hall for a lunch hosted by the city's Lord Mayor Nichola Mallon.

Representatives of communities and groups across the city will be among those attending.

'Hand of friendship'

The first engagement of the Royal couple's three-day visit was at Hillsborough Castle, the Queen's official residence in Northern Ireland.

The Queen held separate private meetings with Northern Ireland's Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness.

It was the third meeting between the Queen and Mr McGuinness but their first one-to-one encounter.

After meeting on Monday evening, Mr McGuinness said it was "about reaching out the hand of friendship to the unionist community".

"I met Queen Elizabeth tonight in my role as Deputy First Minister, representing the entire community," said the Sinn Féin assembly member.

"Reconciliation requires bold gestures and this is the third time I have met with Queen Elizabeth as part of that continuing process."

Meanwhile, Prince Philip met about 75 recipients of the Duke of Edinburgh gold awards.

It is the Queen's first visit to Northern Ireland since 2012, when she came as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

In the past, details of Royal visits to Northern Ireland have not been announced beforehand for security reasons, but this time around, much of their itinerary has been made public.

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Fears hospital mistakes covered up

24 June 2014 Last updated at 08:58 By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

A fifth of hospital trusts in England may be covering up mistakes, a government review suggests.

The analysis of reporting incidents shows 29 out of 141 trusts were not registering the expected number of safety incidents.

The review said this may be a sign of a "poor" safety culture.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was important hospitals were "open and honest", and that patients had a right to know about problems with reporting.

The data has been released as part of the Department of Health and NHS England's drive to improve safety in the NHS.

In March, Mr Hunt set the target of saving 6,000 lives over the next three years by reducing the number of serious mistakes.

Continue reading the main story

Healthcare carries inherent risk and while healthcare professionals work hard every day to reduce this risk every day, harm still happens"

End Quote Sir David Dalton Chief executive, Salford Royal Hospital

He asked trusts to join the Sign up to Safety campaign and draw up plans to halve "avoidable harm" such as medication errors, blood clots and bedsores by 2016-17.

He said this could stop a third of preventable deaths in the coming years - equivalent to 6,000 lives saved.

Safe staffing

On Tuesday the government will launch the next stage of this campaign, a website which will allow patients to view the performance of individual hospitals on measures such as safe staffing levels and infection rates.

It will also reveal which trusts have been given a poor rating for open and honest reporting. This has been decided after reviewing the way trusts report safety incidents into the National Report and Learning System as well as looking at the results of the staff survey question relating to safety reporting.

Those with lower-than-expected incident reporting, which is widely acknowledged to be a sign of problems, will be followed up by NHS England officials.

Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that this was not about "humiliating" anyone.

"The NHS is there for patients and if a hospital has a problem with its reporting culture, I think patients have a right to know that," he said.

The health secretary said if patients were aware of these problems, hospitals would be encouraged to take more speedy action.

The founder of the Clinical Human Factors Group, which campaigns for a safer NHS, warned that "simply naming and shaming" would not bring the best results.

Martin Bromiley, whose wife died in 2005 following a minor operation in hospital, said understanding why organisations were not reporting incidents was key.

"We need to try and understand the organisations that aren't reporting," he told the Today programme.

"We need to understand the cultures and what things they are doing that are not encouraging openness."

Mr Bromiley said the best organisations were the ones that encouraged learning.

He said there might have been an "unconscious incompetence" when it came to those failing to be open because they did not understand the process of developing a "safety culture".

The website is being hosted on the NHS Choices site and will be launched on Tuesday afternoon.

The Department of Health stressed that there could be justifiable reasons for low reporting, such as the trust being safe or innocently not using the recording system properly, but that it was only right the concerns be investigated further.

'Avoidable harm'

Mr Hunt said: "The NHS is leading the world in achieving new safety standards but the battle to reduce avoidable harm is constant.

"Unsafe care causes immeasurable harm to patients and their families, and also costs the NHS millions in litigation claims."

Sir David Dalton, the chief executive of Salford Royal Hospital and leader of the safety campaign, urged hospitals to be open.

"Healthcare carries inherent risk and while healthcare professionals work hard every day to reduce this risk every day, harm still happens.

"Some is unavoidable but most isn't. Sign up to Safety seeks to reduce this harm and is a unique opportunity for us all to work together to listen, learn and act to make a difference."

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by the issues in this story? You can email your experiences to Haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject Hospital safety.

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More staff 'should get living wage'

24 June 2014 Last updated at 09:10

The UK government should make it a goal to cut the number of low paid workers by one million by 2020, says the Living Wage Commission.

Its chairman, Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has recommended that the government should pay its own workers a "living wage".

The commission is an independent body bringing together business, trade unions and civil society.

It says that "the majority of people in poverty in the UK are working".

'Beacon of hope'

The commission's definition of a living wage is "an hourly rate of income calculated according to a basic cost of living in the UK and defined as the minimum amount of money needed to enjoy a basic, but socially acceptable standard of living".

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Low wages equals living in poverty"

End Quote Dr John Sentamu Archbishop of York

In 2014 the UK living wage rate stands at £7.65 an hour, and the London living wage is set at a higher rate of £8.80 per hour, to take account of the higher cost of living in the capital.

By contrast, the national minimum wage currently stands at £6.31 an hour.

Archbishop Sentamu told the BBC that the government is the biggest employer of low-paid people, and so should look at pay levels during procurement, and that private sector companies that are capable should also pay.

The commission's research shows that there are currently 712 employers across the UK accredited as paying a living wage.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Some businesses simply cannot afford to pay a living wage just yet"

End Quote Dr Adam Marshall British Chambers of Commerce

Service industries such as accountancy, banks and construction firms could boost the pay of 375,000 workers if they agreed to pay the national living wage.

"Working and still living in poverty is a national scandal," said Archbishop Sentamu.

"For the first time, the majority of people in poverty in the UK are now in working households.

"If the government now commits to making this hope a reality, we can take a major step towards ending the strain on all of our consciences. Low wages equals living in poverty."

BBC business editor Kamal Ahmed said that the living wage, which the commission says should be voluntary, is distinct from the statutory national minimum wage.

Young workers

Dr Adam Marshall, director of policy and external affairs at the British Chambers of Commerce, said many firms were returning to economic growth, looking at raising pay levels "after a tough period for business".

He said firms should be supported and encouraged to help pay their staff the living wage, but without "facing compulsion or regulation, which could lead to job losses and difficulties - particularly for younger people entering the labour market".

He added: "Some businesses simply cannot afford to pay a living wage just yet - which is why the commission rejected a compulsory living wage.

Small business issues

Representatives of small businesses pushed back against the recommendations of the report, saying that a higher minimum wage would add to cost pressures for small firms.

Mike Cherry, policy chairman of the Federation of Small Business, told the BBC: "At least half of our members pay at or above the living wage."

He said that some sectors such as retail, construction and care homes, can only afford to pay at or just above the current minimum wage.

One small business owner, Wayne Grills of Pizza Planet, a small pizza takeaway in Devon said: "I would say that I have a moral responsibility to make sure that they [staff] take home a sensible wage that I can afford, because if I wasn't in business, they would be either working elsewhere or without a job."

Small business director Glen Miller of Antique Pine Imports in Chester said: "I think if you're able to pay, then you should. It just sends out the right message to the staff and the customers, and everybody feels more valued."

Do you earn below the living wage? You can email your experiences to Haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject Living Wage.

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Mental health services 'a car crash'

24 June 2014 Last updated at 09:30 By Michael Buchanan Social affairs correspondent, BBC News

Mental health services in England are "a car crash" and the health secretary is not taking the problems seriously, according to the outgoing president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Prof Sue Bailey told BBC News mental health services were "in crisis".

She said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had a basic understanding of mental health, but had not made it a priority.

Mr Hunt rejected this, saying he had made it a priority and that he visited the front line of the NHS most weeks.

Continue reading the main story

He has a basic understanding of it but whether he takes it seriously, the proof of which would be making it a priority, then sadly not"

End Quote Prof Sue Bailey Outgoing president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Mental health services are struggling to cope with rising demand at a time of shrinking resources.

Clinicians say the health effects of the recession and major welfare reforms are leading to more people accessing services.

However, patients are having to cope with a reduction in beds, forcing them to travel huge distances to access care.

Investigations by BBC News and online journal Community Care have also highlighted funding cuts to mental health trusts and children's mental health services.

'Real pressures'

"It's a car crash," said Prof Bailey.

"The system is in crisis and we need people to listen.

"The sums of money that could make a difference are not huge but they could make a large difference."

Prof Bailey, who steps down as president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists later this week following three years in the role, strongly attacked the health secretary for failing to engage.

Asked whether Mr Hunt takes mental health seriously, she replied, "He has a basic understanding of it but whether he takes it seriously, the proof of which would be making it a priority, then sadly not."

Mr Hunt, who became health secretary in September 2012, has regularly visited acute hospitals since being appointed.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he agreed with Prof Bailey that there were "some real pressures" in mental health delivery.

But he said: "We are the government that has put in law that we have to treat mental health and physical health on the same basis."

Mr Hunt added that he was "proud" to be the "first health secretary who goes out into the front line of the NHS most weeks, who doesn't just visit trusts but actually takes part".

But in the 21 months he has been in charge, he has visited mental health trusts on a handful of occasions, according to figures obtained by BBC News following a Freedom of Information Act request.

His predecessor, Andrew Lansley, also visited mental health trusts a handful of times during his two years in the role.

Prof Bailey said: "When he [Mr Hunt] came to dinner with us, he was given a great number of offers to go and see mental health services, child services, services for the elderly, innovative projects and it would be good, especially as we go up to April 2015, to see each and every politician from the parties go out and visit mental health services."

Fixed fees

Prof Bailey, a consultant child and adolescent forensic psychiatrist in Manchester, will be replaced by Sir Simon Wessely as president of the Royal College.

She says the government's reforms of the NHS have worked against mental health services given the way that psychiatric services are funded.

Mental health services mainly have block contracts and are paid a fixed fee for a service rather than payment by results. So as demand increases, they do not get more money as patient numbers rise.

Prof Bailey has welcomed the legal commitment the government introduced to have parity of esteem between physical and mental health - ie the legal requirement that mental and physical health are treated equally - but asked: "Have we got parity in practice? I suspect not."

She will now move on to new roles, chairing various children's charities and working with Health Education England.

She said she would continue to promote mental health services, but in a broader context.

"One way to make societies healthier, including mentally healthier, is to invest in the health and education of women because women play this vital role in the rearing of the next generation," she said.

What are your experiences with mental health services? Do you work in mental health services? You can email your experiencesto haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk, using the subject line 'Mental health services'.

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