11/02/2016 Reporting Scotland

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

The country's only women's prison is to close.

Instead, there'll be a shift to special units addressing

Obviously, with the drink and the drugs, your feelings and emotions

come back. -- without. Could you see yourself going back to prison? No.

Also on the programme - we're live at Holyrood,

where MSPs are about to take part in an historic vote

Learning another language - two thirds of Scottish primary one

Scotland's rugby players head for Cardiff to face Wales,

but their coach is only making one enforced change to the team.

And from Barbados to Banchory - how rum, the spirit

of the Caribbean, is now being made in Scotland.

The women's prison at Cornton Vale is to close, with prisoners moved

It's the first stage of what ministers say will be

a transformation in the way Scotland deals with women in custody.

Here's our Home Affairs Correspondent Reevel Alderson.

It is just 40 years old but the history of Scotland's's only women's

prison is controversial, including 11 suicide in seven years. Now the

government plans to close it in a radical overhaul of prison policy

for female offenders. Sarah has been in Cornton Vale a number of times, a

typical story. Now she is receiving help at a cent in Glasgow to deal

with alcohol and drug problems. -- at a centre. Without the drink and

drugs, your feelings and emotions come back. The groups have helped

me. I am more confident. I have got a lot of respect for myself. I

didn't have that before. Could you see yourself going back to prison?

No, that is in the past. Currently, there are 412 women prisoners in

Scotland in four jails. 222, more than half, are held at Cornton Vale,

the others are at Greenock, Edinburgh and Grampian. Dortmund

plans will see just 80 in a new unit here with a further 100 in community

centres around Scotland. This is to do with the increasing use of

alternatives to custody. More women who have committed offences will be

put on community programmes, which are much more effective at tackling

offending behaviour and reducing the risk of these individuals committing

offences in the future this is governed jail, representing the old

style of punishment. Today's announcement of the eventual closure

of Cornton Vale marks a shift in the way that particular the women

offenders will be treated in future. Only the most serious offenders will

go to jail and more minor offenders will be offered help and assistance

to make sure they don't commit any more offences and can stay out of

jail for good. One alternative to custody is a centre in Glasgow where

women can receive help to break the cycle of reoffending so many find

themselves in. We have only got 12 beds, which helps women to feel safe

and secure and to actively engage in the programme and make different

choices, better choices for their life, and to move forward with

recovery. The building of the news seems to -- the new centre for

serious women offenders is likely to start in the next two years. It is

likely to be given a new name, a symbol of a new policy.

MSPs will be voting any minute now on income tax levels

Tonight's vote makes history, because it is the first time that

MSPs have had to make an explicit choice on tax.

I'm joined now from Holyrood by our political editor Brian

Brian, the result of this vote isn't really in doubt,

John Sweeney is just closing his remarks. -- John Swinney. The MSPs

will vote any second now, in a couple of minutes. The argument

being advanced by Labour and the Lib Dems is that there should be a 1%

increase in Scottish income tax across all of the bands, primarily

for education, but the Conservatives agree with John Swinney, that that

would be to penalise those who are relatively low earners and would be

wrong in the current economic circumstances. John Swinney argued

strongly against that. I believe they have moved to the vote now.

Given the SNP majority, the vote should end up with a historic

decision to leave well alone. It has caused substantial controversy here

at Holyrood and earlier there were substantial exchanges on this at

Westin is to be First Minister, with Labour's Kezia Dugdale opening I

citing what she called cuts. 186 pages worth of cuts, cuts to

childcare, cuts to help for those with additional support needs, cuts

to early year teachers, cuts to maths and English teachers, page of

the page containing a warning of SNP cuts that will harm our children's

future. She has the power. Why won't she use it? Is it finance, pride, a

finance secretary, or does she care? I do care about people on low wages

struggling to make ends with meat, spending every week counting every

penny. -- to make ends meet. His policy would have everybody paying

?11,000 more a year in tax. I think that is transferring Tory austerity

to the shoulders of the low paid. You might want to do that but I am

not prepared to do that. Those were the arguments, and this is the

result. The vote is yes to the Scottish tax power plan advanced by

John Swinney, yes, 74, no, 35. In actual outcome that means that

people in Scotland's income tax rates from April the 6th this year

will stay the same as the rest of the UK. John Swinney argued that is

the right thing to do and he has been backed by Parliament. That is a

decision for the next financial year but, looking further ahead, the

talks over new tax powers continue. A huge argument here. For the year

ahead, Scotland is able to increase or to vary income tax across all of

the bands but it can't make a distinction between the upper and

the lower. For next year, it is proposed that the Scottish

parliament has control of all income tax bands, but that and a matching

cut in the block grant from Westminster, which has caused an

almighty row. The level of that cuts, not just for one year but for

years ahead. The Treasury published a clarification letter to John

Swinney today, saying, it will be ?4.5 billion worth of spending

available to Scotland over ten years. Scottish ministers say, your

initial proposal would cut ?7 billion out of the Scottish budget

and all you are doing is mitigating that, no deal. I think John Swinney

will put forward a new proposal tomorrow. There may have to be an

intervention ultimately by the First Minister and Prime Minister. Thank

you for getting that historic vote for us.

You're watching Reporting Scotland from the BBC.

Still to come on tonight's programme: Scientists make a massive

breakthrough in our understanding of the universe -

with the help of some Scottish know-how.

In sport, Vern Cotter tells us why he's standing by the players

who lost to England for their next Six Nations match.

We'll hear from the football manager who wants clubs fined for not

And we'll see Dowda doing this in Dingwall, as Hearts target

It used to be unusual for children to start learning another language

But figures out today suggest around two thirds of children in Primary 1

The Scottish government wants every five-year-old to have the chance

Our education correspondent Jamie McIvor has been to one primary

school where three extra languages are now taught.

At this school in Clydebank, Spanish is part of everyday life for the

primary ones. COUNTING IN SPANISH

The five-year-olds have been learning Spanish for a few months

and some of them really enjoy it. At this age, it is easier for children

to simply absorb a new language. We come to school and we greet each

other in Spanish and the children order their lunch in Spanish. They

also use Spanish words to different staff members. The parents in the

playground sometimes also use the language, which is lovely. By 2020,

every primary one pupil should have this chance. Figures out today say

that primary ones are now learning a second language in 21 Scotland's 32

council areas. Older children at this school also do French and

gaily. Nationally, the government wants all primary children to

experience two extra languages. It says there has been good progress

but there is more to do. Not every teacher will have had the

opportunity or the occasion to teach a language in the past in primary,

although more is happening. It is making sure that teachers have the

confidence and that schools have the interviews as and that there is

access to the resources. The critics fear that pressure on council

budgets could it education across the country, while unions say that

challenges remain. There have been concerns raised about the quality of

some training and maybe a suggestion it hasn't been adequate. The policy

is a long-term aim. If it succeeds, what happens at this school may seem

normal in four years. The shortage of GPs in Scotland's

rural areas has long been a problem. Could the answer be doctors who're

already here and keen to get The Refugee Doctor Project has been

set up to help refugee medics attain the skills and qualifications

they need to work here, Show me how you would examine this

patient's pulse yaw is it OK if I check you? Doctor Laeth Al-Sadi was

a GP in Iraq and he went on to work with the Iraqi military. Now a

refugee, he has been in Glasgow for five years and through this project

he has started some training here, a step towards him becoming a GP in

Scotland. Personally, I feel it would be a way of giving back what

Scotland has given me, in providing a safe place for me and my family to

stay. Those running the scheme are keen to stress there will be

rigorous tests to complete before refugee doctors are cleared to

practice. Putted anyone becoming a trainee doctor in Scotland will have

to have already gone through formal language testing, a very stringent

test with a high standard in written and spoken language. They will also

have to pass a test which ensures somebody is at the same level as a

medical graduate. There are more than 30 doctors in the Glasgow area

involved with this programme, with a variety of skills. They range from

GPs to cardiothoracic surgeons, people with specialities, some from

war zones with expertise in trauma, paediatrics... It could take around

two years for refugee medics to be accepted into the NHS and, whatever

their background, they will start as trainee doctors. Doctor Laeth

Al-Sadi is in the early stages but, on his work experience so far, he

says he hasn't found the accent too difficult. People are very helpful

and, when you tell them to speak slowly or if they could repeat what

they said, they don't mind at all. At the moment, placements are being

offered in GP practices in Glasgow but the project hopes that will soon

expand to around the country and in hospitals, too.

Scientists have made a big breakthrough in our understanding

They've detected gravitational waves, which are -

apparently - ripples in the fabric of space and time.

It's the result of a huge international project,

with crucial technology developed at Glasgow University.

This report from our science correspondent, Kenneth Macdonald,

It was the breakthrough 1.3 billion years in the making. We have

detected gravitational waves. We did it! The announcement came from

Washington, but there were celebrations in Glasgow, too. Here

is why. More than 1 billion years ago, in a galaxy far, far away,

something cataclysmic happened. Two massive black holes spiralled and

collided, releasing the energy of 100 billion trillion suns. Albert

Einstein predicted something that big would create ripples in the

fabric of space and time, gravitational waves, but getting

from theory to prove has taken a century and a massive international

effort. The ripples are so small that they stretch and squeeze

space-time by very much less than the width of an atom. To look for

them, the teams split a laser beam and said the two halves miles away

at right angles, then they put the beams back together. Normally, they

cancel each other rout but, when the rebel passed through planet Earth,

one arm of the beam was stretched and the other squeezed. The first

direct detection of gravitational waves. They built two detectors, one

to corroborate the other, at opposite ends of the USA, called

Ligo. Key parts of the technology were built in Scotland. The

sensitivity we need is phenomenal. We are looking at changes 1 million

millionth the width of a human hair. That position has eluded us until

now that we achieved it because of various upgrades, turning Ligo into

advanced Ligo, and Glasgow University has had a key role in

making those upgrades happen. In the laboratory at Glasgow University,

the first working gravity wave receivers in the country has been

set up. They have been building wave detectors here for half a century

and now it is no longer a dream. We have just seen the very first

observation of gravitational waves and we are the same stage as Galileo

was with his telescope. It means a completely new branch of science has

just been born. A look at other stories

from across the country: Scientists have discovered that

a pod of whales stranded on the Fife coast had high concentrations

of toxic chemicals that may have 31 pilot whales were beached

between Anstruther and Pittenweem It is a tricky question, there are

loads of possibilities of why they strand, but it could be that with

toxic elements in the ocean, this might be additional toxic stress.

The future of the north of Scotland's only emergency tug

looks bleak, after a meeting heard yesterday that the UK government has

The vessel - which covers both the Northern and Western Isles -

However, its contract is set to end next month.

There have been calls for the vessel to be kept on and a second one

reinstated to cover west coast waters.

Dundee's ?1 billion waterfront development has taken another

Plans have been unveiled for a ?40 million hotel,

office and flats complex on the site.

The development will be located close to the new V Museum

and the city's revamped railway station.

The Health Secretary, Shona Robison, laid the final brick in the topping

out ceremony for the first phase of the redeveloped

The ?48 million project is due to be complete by the end of this year.

It will provide new accommodation for various mental health services,

as well as the new National Brain Injury Unit.

Scotland's head rugby coach is sticking with 14 of the 15

players who lost to England in their opening Six Nations match.

The only change Vern Cotter is making for the weekend's trip

The national side are on their worst run in the competition for more

The Scotland team were on the move, destination Cardiff, where the aim

is to cut a link with the past. The early 1950s was a torrid time for

Scottish rugby. This victory came before a run of 15 successive

defeat. The second worst run stands at eight, held by the present-day

side. We are not happy because we are not winning. If we were,

questions would not be asked of us. It is a matter of training and

repeating things and believing in what we do. He has made one change

from the side that lost to England, Duncan Taylor in at centre for the

injured Matt Scott. A show of faith on the head coach. We are getting

ourselves in winning situations, that is exciting for the team, and

hopefully we will get into the same situation this weekend. While the

mood in the Scotland camp he is positive, some believe pressure is

growing on the players and head coach. Fearne Cotton has yet to win

a game, this will be his seventh, and he does not want to have seven

straight defeats, that was not in the script. Scotland will want to

convert themselves this weekend from losers five days ago two victors in

Cardiff. Fearne Cotton has given the players his vote of confidence. They

will now be aiming to repay their head coach's faith.

One of Scotland's Premiership managers wants clubs to be fined

if they don't maintain their grass pitches properly.

John Hughes of Inverness was speaking after the players'

union called for an investigation into artificial surfaces - surfaces

used increasingly because grass pitches suffer through the winter.

In Scotland, you will see goals whatever the weather. As for the

grass, when the rain falls and frostbite, it pops through when it

can. Good clubs do more? I would put a bond to every club, 50 grand to

get the SFA to put a bond on every club, and when the guys come and

have a look at it, mark the pitch, if it meets the creaky rear, you get

your 50 grand back. Artificial is the alternative, or the thinking is

players don't like plastic. Their union called for an investigation

into its effects. Today a current player/ interim manager had his say.

We have picked up a cute injuries on the artificial surface, the numbers

are quite high. For me, being an experienced player /Wardman, I find

it a bit harder. The argument against plastic is clear, but the

solution to grass against the Scottish winter remained elusive. A

perfect pitch in the perfect weather is always the goal, even some

football could not guarantee that. The annual argument goes on.

The Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson says he wants to hunt down

I'm sure he doesn't mean that literally.

Hearts are 11 points behind leaders Celtic and Aberdeen

in the Premiership after a 3-0 win away to Ross County,

and Neilson thinks his in-form team can get even closer to the top two.

Aficionados of fine goals fear not, a couple of prize specimens will

follow. After we have seen the first. Does Jamie Walker get a touch

on the ball after they failed to clear? It counts, and he is claiming

it. Much more clarity about the second, the new striker scoring his

first. Here is a fan's IQ of the Nigerian's second. The Canadian

teenager setting him up. This will make pleasant viewing for

the supporters. Their team 11 points ahead of Ross County in the league

table. The head coach is eyeing up the teams above. We want to hunt

down Aberdeen and Celtic and get as close as we can. While they are

looking up, the Ross County manager is looking at what went wrong. We

did a lot of things well, which sounds ridiculous when you lose 3-0,

but we make mistakes at crucial times, it was more our own doing.

Dingwall belongs to the debit and last night, his debut goal is

delighting the supporters of. They enjoyed his goal celebration as

well. I will show you how to do that

later! It's a drink more associated

with the sunny Caribbean, but now a distillery

in Aberdeenshire is fast becoming The firm Dark Matter Distillers,

operating from Banchory, has just landed a major

supermarket deal. The two brothers run Scotland's

first and only rum distillery, and they're determined

to take on the big boys. Remake run from molasses. That is

molasses. It is very thick, sugary. The ingredients in Scotland's first

and only home distilled run. It was a holiday in the Caribbean that

provided a light bulb moment. We tried to visit three distilleries in

the Dominican Republic, they all said no. I jokingly said to my

friend, it would be easier building one than seeing one. That night, I

literally woke up in bed with the dark matter words in my head and

scribbled down on a bit of paper, and that was the epiphany. Back home

he shared it with his brother. They grew up in whiskey territory but

they chose the less trodden path. Whiskey, there is such a huge

established industry here. And you have to wait three years to sell it.

We wanted to do something different. This fitted the bill perfectly. The

spiced rum being distilled here has landed them a major supermarket

contract and they are about to chalk up another first. This is history in

the making, two years in the laboratory, another year of fine

tuning, and the first batch of Scottish distilled white rum is

almost ready. This is a bit like having a Christmas Day every day. It

now feels like it is a portal business. The business is opening

and tasting the first ever Scottish rum casket, something to raise a

glass to. Now here's Shelley with

details of Scotland 2016. Tonight, more on the secrets of the

universe unravelled with the help of scientists at Glasgow University.

And as the closure of the women's prison is announced, we ask what

purpose is served by sending anyone to jail for short sentences. Join me

on BBC Two at 10:30pm. Let's see how the

weather is looking. A bit of everything over the next

few days, it will be cold, wintry showers, but a bit of crisp sunshine

thrown in. There are some good sunny spells around today. Tonight, under

the clear skies, temperatures are already falling away rapidly. It

will be cold, widespread frost, mist and fog patches.

Tonight, we add to the snow cover with this band of wintry showers.

They cold and frosty start, a risk of ice if you are hiding out first

thing. A lot of fine weather for Central and southern Scotland, but a

yellow warning for the snow over the Highlands, Moray, Aberdeenshire,

Perthshire and Angus. Good sunny spells across southern and central

Scotland. We are looking at between two and five centimetres of snow at

low levels. Ten centimetres or more over the hills. Some tricky

travelling conditions and strong easterly wind blowing across the

North. Tomorrow evening, again it turns cold quite quickly. Which we

weather starts to wear south. We have a deep area of low pressure

tracking to the south. We are pulling in a strong is to the wind.

That will drag in a few showers to south-east Scotland. They will be

wintry to low levels, and especially for the Lothians and borders we

could see significant accumulations of snow. Further north, dry and

bright weather. Good sunshine, though it will feel cold. The strong

is to live wind coming in off the North Sea. Sunday, it is a

north-easterly airflow, so it is still cold, a scattering of wintry

showers across the North, the best of the sunshine in the south-west.

Now, a reminder of tonight's main news.

Scientists have made a big breakthrough in our understanding

I'll be back with the headlines at 8pm and the late bulletin just

Until then, from everyone on the team right across

the country, have a very good evening.

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