15/04/2016 Reporting Scotland

warns mortgages could go up if Britain leaves. That is the all from

us. We join your news teams where you are.

A week on from the start of the Edinburgh schools crisis,

hundreds of pupils are still waiting to return to class.

It has just been a nightmare, like checking the website, having to get

friends and family to keep and I and Jamie. And it has just been stress.

Meanwhile, questions remain over how the completed school

Also on the programme: A boy tells the Liam Fee murder trial

that he strangled the toddler, but he says Liam was sitting

Putting children first - the Liberal Democrats

launch their manifesto, with extra cash for education

An Old Firm handshake - the Rangers and Celtic managers square up,

ahead of this weekend's Scottish Cup semifinal.

And here at Tollcross swimming centre in Glasgow, Ross Murdoch and

Michael Jamieson renew their rivalry with Olympic places up for grabs.

All 7,600 pupils affected by the Edinburgh school closures

now have alternative plans for their education

Many will be bussed several miles across the capital.

But some of the younger students at one secondary school

will not return until Wednesday, nearly a week and a half

after the closures were first announced.

We will confirm when pupils are turning... The news they have been

waiting all week four, Susan's son is in the first year, and he will be

returning to work on Tuesday in one of 16 temporary classrooms being

delivered this weekend. But for his mum, it has been a stressful week.

It just feels as though we have been up to 90 all week, trying to find

out what the contingency plans for the council are, I just feel as

though they have just, the council has been really slow with it.

Hundreds of pupils are already being accommodated in other schools. More

will do so next week. Some will have lessons at Napier university. The

council has apologised to parents but say the alternative arrangements

now in place for the. I know it is still an effort and a slight

disruption for pupils to move from one location to another, but they

are moving with their class groups and existing teachers, so they are

still in the same classrooms, you know, not physically, but with their

classmates and teachers, and apples they have placed throughout the

period of time that they have to be outside of their homes cool, so to

speak. -- that will stay in place. For pupils sitting exams, disruption

is a concern, but not all parents are worried it will affect pass

rates. It is a critical year for my oldest son, he is attempting to get

good grades in his hires to get to the University of his choice.

Thankfully, he has been working hard, the school have been

supporting him since the preliminary results came through, so touch wood,

they will be in a good place. And we gone since the safety concerns were

first raised, 14 schools in the city remain closed. -- a week on.

first raised, 14 schools in the city Alternative arrangements are now in

place for all pupils, but if the buildings cannot be fixed soon, the

question is just how adequate are those alternative arrangements?

over how the completed school buildings were signed off.

This was done by the construction company involved -

joins us now from one of the closed schools.

Jamie, many people will be surprised to learn the council

didn't actually sign the buildings off when they were completed?

Well, indeed, Sally, a process of self certification was used. In

other words, the construction company, Milla Construction, was

responsible for signing off the building and ensuring the council

that they had complied with all necessary arrangements so. Council

building evictions would not have been involved at that stage,

although they would have been involved earlier in the process. We

although they would have been have been talking to one industry

expert who says we should not see the fact that self certification

took place in -- as sinister in any way, he says it is a common and of

arrangement, but it is a system which can potentially be open to

abuse. -- common enough arrangement. The self certification of

construction has been a big issue for a long time. I think that we

have to rethink how construction is supervised as a health and save the

issue, because there are practical issues and so on. -- a health and

safety issue. Some kind of supervision of construction is

required. The question of just what went wrong with the construction of

these school buildings is a complex one which is going to require a lot

of investigation. The likelihood is that we will see some sort of

inquiry begin after the Scottish election next month. The obvious

questions for that sort of inquiry to look at, simply why was there

such an apparent failure in building control, and weather the financial

and ownership arrangements for the school buildings, whether that added

to the risk of something going wrong. These are complex questions

and there is no easy or superficial answer to them.

Later in the programme we will be looking at the private funding used

to build and run those schools. A young boy giving evidence

in the Liam Fee murder trial has told the court

that he strangled the toddler. The jury at the High Court

in Livingston were played talking to a policewoman

and social worker. It was filmed two days

after two-year-old Liam died. The jury watched three and a half

hours of video evidence on the fifth day of this trial. The boy being

questioned is the one who is accused of being falsely blamed for Liam

Fee's death. He was found dead in Glenrothes. The young boy was asked

questions about the day he died. The child broke down and struggled to

speak at times when he was questioned. It was put to him that

he knew something serious had happened that Saturday night. He was

asked, what did you do that was bad? He replied, I strangled Liam. He

raised a hand to his mouth and was asked, what happened when you took

your hand away? He said that Liam was sitting up. When questioned

further, he said that Liam was looking at the telly. Earlier, the

boy had described accompanying others into Glenrothes on the bus.

He said he had been with the couple, with Liam and another boy. He said

they had lunch at McDonald's and Liam had eaten a happy meal. He said

he played with Liam and the other boys at the Fees' home. The parents

tonight murder, the trial continues. tonight murder, the trial continues.

-- deny murder. ScotRail guards, who're

members of the RMT union, are to be balloted

on industrial action in a row over

driver-only trains. to increase the number

of driver-only services. It maintains that guards should be

in control of operating doors. The company says no formal proposals

have been put forward, and it will continue

to work with the RMT to try to find

a constructive way forward. Still to come on the programme, why

it might be too early to bid farewell to our wintry weather. Our

forecast will bring you up to speed. We'll be live at Hampden ahead

of Scottish Cup semifinal weekend, and at Tollcross pool on a big night

for Scottish swimmers' Olympic hopes plus we ask Glasgow Warriors'

head coach Gregor Townsend if he'll still be at the club

next season. The Liberal Democrats

have launched their manifesto giving top priority

to extra cash for education. They'd fund that

by increasing income tax, although they insist

a Westminster increase in the personal allowance

will help protect the lowest paid. This from our political

editor, Brian Taylor. We like to organise our visits to

send a message in pictorial terms... Exactly one week ago, Blair when he

finds out the hazards of working with animals. And so at the tea

party for the press, he ensured that the only pictures small, sweet and

above all stationery. Today's launch was at a children's play area in

Leith. Why? Willie Rennie explained the event symbolised their pledge on

Leith. Why? Willie Rennie explained childcare which will be extended to

a wider group. The Lib Dems would raise income tax by 1% at all levels

in Scotland, devoting the cash to education. Inevitably, some might

frown at the tax hike. In the last Parliament, Willie Rennie was one of

five Lib Dems. Are they now on the slide, falling behind the Greens?

Definitely not, says the leader. With our record of punching well

above our weight, and is positive, optimistic agenda to make Scotland

the best in the world again, I think the Liberal Democrats are back to

our best, being back to our best with that agenda means we can grow

with more MSPs, punching well above our weight. I think the chances are

it for our party. For the NHS, they would recruit more GPs. They promise

it for our party. For the NHS, they 50,000 more affordable homes with

plans to keep them warm. They would reform police powers and

decriminalise sex work. They say they would transform mental health

care, more cash going into the system, in particular doubling the

care, more cash going into the support for younger people. They

intend to reform drugs policy, offering help to users, not prison,

and ultimately allowing the personal use of cannabis. And they intend to

ban fracking, as well as banning opencast coal mining as part of a

drive towards renewable energy. So a fun launch, but Willie Rennie knows

politics is not child's play. He is seriously determined to win seats

and influence policy. Brian Taylor, Reporting Scotland.

Meanwhile, rural issues have been to the fore,

with the parties out and about campaigning

Here's our political correspondent Andrew Kerr.

Taking an interest in this election. Lookout furious they are! Perhaps

like some potential voters. -- look at how furious they are! One of our

priorities is to make sure we have a payment system which works, some of

our farmers have not received a penny despite assurances from the

Scottish Government. The SNP leader was also focusing on Scotland's food

and strings sector, with ?14 billion. -- food and drinks sector.

At this distillery, a taste of things to come as she promised more

transparency on land ownership. Making clear today that one of our

earliest priorities will be the establishment of a register of

controlling interests. What we have seen with the Panama Papers is that

it is not acceptable to have large tracts of land in Scotland

anonymously owned. But Labour were not impressed. Kezia Dugdale was out

of his after-school club in Edinburgh, warning projects like

this are at risk from what she says are SNP cuts. She kicked back at the

SNP initiative on land reform. We have just passed the land reform act

in Scotland, which the Labour Party tried to amend at every step of the

way to make there, and the SNP vote and all the amendments down. It is

ridiculous that they want to change their minds when there is an

election. The Scottish Greens were lining up to speak about land issues

in Stirlingshire. There is a real need to ensure that local people are

in Stirlingshire. There is a real able to direct development in a

local area, instead of being imposed upon by massive developers who have

the system rigged in their favour. Meanwhile, as the Liberal Democrats

sought to recapture voters, they look at a key area in their

manifesto launch. The Highlands and Islands have been a good area of

support over many years, and that is why we are investing in education in

the islands, but also broadband, expanding that, and infrastructure.

From farm to plate, voters have been eyeing up what the parties are

offering on rural issues. Three weeks today, we will find out who is

for the job and who is the prime choice. -- for the chop.

A look at other stories from across the country.

A 26-year-old man has died, after his car collided

with an unmarked police vehicle on the A9 near Thurso.

Officers say Dean Meiklejohn lost control of his Fiesta

as he was overtaking another vehicle last night.

Police are appealing for any witnesses to contact them.

A fire has caused extensive damage to a Kirkudbright hotel.

The blaze broke out at Gordon House shortly after eight last night.

Staff, residents and customers were evacuated

More than 20 firefighters spent several hours working to bring

National Museums Scotland and the Public and Commercial Service Union

said they had reached an agreement over weekend pay.

The construction of the Gordonbush windfarm in Sutherland

led to an 80% drop in the number of Golden Plovers in the area,

according to a five-year research project.

Scientists say it demonstrates the need

for windfarm sites to be selected with nature in mind.

The vast majority of wind farms do not pose any particular Rob Evans

for birds, it is all about getting them in the right places. -- any

particular problems for birds. We objected to this strongly when it

was first proposed, and despite our concerns, it was granted consent

back in 2008. A mirrored pavilion

has been unveiled to the public Look Again Visual Art

and Design Festival. The centrepiece exhibit has

been under construction, but kept under wraps

for several weeks. are excited to have it adds a

backdrop and we have five other commissions that we are working on

and we are excited to bring internationally acclaimed artists to

the city. Lots of sport tonight,

here's Eilidh. Ronny Deila says he's not surprised

by Celtic's favourites tag ahead of Sunday's Old Firm Scottish Cup

semifinal, because he insists his

side is the best in the country. But his counterpart, Mark Warburton,

believes Rangers have earned the right to be

confident they can cause an upset. Our senior football reporter

Chris McLaughlin looks ahead. Glasgow, a modern, vibrant city that

plays host to an age old rivalry that divides the city and sometimes

even the sofa. That is not bad. That is Griffiths. Miller! He's done it

again! These are the men with the hopes of

thousands resting on their shoulder, is the pressure on one man in

particular. We are now the best team in Scotland. That is something we

should be proud of and we know when we are playing at our best we can

beat anybody and that is also Rangers. His opposite number said a

gap exists and a neutral will say Celtic are favourites, but we know

what we can do. The row about the pitch has died down and it is almost

time for the main event. It is now down to the players. Most of whom

time for the main event. It is now have never experienced this fixture.

A draw back? Sometimes it has the opposite effect, you don't know what

it is like. You can go and play with freedom and maybe when you have

played one or two, you think... It is so built up you perform badly,

because you have that built up in your head. If you have not

experienced it, you play your normal game and it can work both ways. The

team that remains the calmest with the circus that is going on will be

the team that wins. The circus will be in full swing. Glasgow awaits its

winner. Before that match on Sunday, though,

there's another semifinal tomorrow Chris McLaughlin is at

Hampden for us now. Chris, it's a chance

for those two sides to put poor league

form to one side? Yes, well first, good evening from

me and the old trophy herself. It is hardly surprising the Old Firm have

been hogging the headlines, but this game tomorrow is an intriguing one.

Both sides in poor league form. Dundee United anchored at the bottom

of the Premiership, Hibs third in the Championship, with just two wins

in their last 11. Both sides terrible recordses here at the

national stadium. Something has to give and a chance to meet Celtic or

Rangers and to get their hands on this. Thank you very much.

Well, you can watch the first of those semifinals on Sportscene

on BBC One Scotland tomorrow from 12:10.

has commentary of Rangers versus Celtic on Sunday.

Andy Murray is into the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters tennis

after a convincing win against Milos Raonic of Canada.

The world number two took just over an hour to beat

the tenth seed six-two, six-love and will play Rafa Nadal

tomorrow for a place in Sunday's singles final.

No joy for Murray alongside Dom Inglot

they were knocked out in the quarter finals by Nicolas Mahut

The Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend insists he's

going nowhere despite speculation linking him with a move

to English Premiership club Harlequins.

Third placed Glasgow won the Pro12 title under Townsend last season

and as they aim to retain it, have a crunch match

against fourth-place Scarlets in Llanelli tomorrow.

The players know I'm contracted here last year, like a number of players,

we realise how important this game is, so all our attention has been on

that. You can confirm you will be the Glasgow wor warriors manager?

Yes. It's already been a big night

in the pool for some of Scotland's

Olympic swimming hopefuls. have been back at

Glasgow's Tollcross, where they won Commonwealth

gold and silver respectively. The British 200m breaststroke

final has just finished, and Kheredine Idessane

can tell us what happened. Well it is very noisy here as you

can probably here. There was a massive roar for a Scot, but not the

one we expected. We were thinking about the rivalry between Ross

Murdoch and Michael Jamieson, but Craig Benson finished top Scot. He

was behind Andrew Willis of Bath. Willis has qualified for the

Olympics and Benson got up for second. His time not good enough to

guarantee automatic qualification for Rio. Disappointment for Ross

Murdoch, he was only good enough for third and may well still go to Rio

in the 100 metres. Michael Jamieson was disappointed two years ago here

to get only silver in the Commonwealth Games, he is a silver

medallist from the the London Olympics, but he won't be going to

Rio. He was fifth here and third for Ross Murdoch and second for Benson.

Rio. He was fifth here and third for Thank you. A big weekend ahead.

Thank you. Back to the Edinburgh schools building crisis. Does it

have anything to do with the way the schools were funded. It has been

claimed by some that poor quality was linked to the private financing.

Is that true? Our business and economy editor Douglas Fraser has

been following the money. Only 13 years ago,

at the Scottish Parliament election, this was the hot topic -

private funders with construction companies providing public buildings

and then running them. The early ones were chosen on low

price, rather than quality. But it was under John Major's

Conservative government in the 1990s, the private

finance initiative, protesters refusing to pay high

tolls to Bank of America. Edinburgh's new Royal Infirmary saw

a consortium of private companies not only build the hospital,

but provide cleaning, catering, car parking,

patients' televisions, In came the UK Labour

government in '97, promising

lots of new schools and hospitals. It re-branded PFI as PPP -

public-private partnerships. Out went some of the more

controversial contracted services. In came choice on best value

as well as price. At Holyrood, Labour-Lib Dem

coalitions embraced this As new schemes were negotiated,

government officials were getting This appealed to the Chancellor

and Treasury, because it brought no

extra government debt. The price is paid in installments

over 25 or 30 years. But since then, accounting rules

have changed, forcing these projects on to government balance sheets,

so they're less We've also had a recession,

more cautious banks, And of course,

the SNP came to power. It promised a new way

of funding public buildings. The non-profit distributing model

looked familiar in many ways, So now, the Scottish Government

is paying out more than a billion pounds a year for these

projects - ?1 in every 25. A third of that goes

on schools and colleges. And new projects are

still being added. So, yes, this has been

very controversial. Experience has helped

soften the rough edges. Some still dislike public service

being driven by the profit motive. But is there evidence that this

approach to funding led to mistakes being made in the building standards

of Edinburgh schools? An inquiry will want to look

into the incentives for cost controls by builders in any

construction project - financed privately or

by conventional means. Some of them, like Holyrood,

didn't go so well. Why the Edinburgh Schools

Partnership looks peculiar is not only for making a simple,

big mistake once, but doing We're in the middle of April now,

and some of us might even have been daring to think

about the approach of summer. But as these pictures

from the Slochd Summit, south of Inverness show,

the reality is that we can be still hit by blasts

of very wintry weather. Let's see what we can we expect

from the weather over the weekend. Winter was back for some of us

today, especially in the north. This was the scene in the Highlands

today. That wintry theme is not finished us with yet. Any remaining

rain, sleet and snow in the south will pull away and behind that

frequent and at times heavy writtenry showers, falling as snow

even to low levels. Mainly in the Highlands and north-east. A Met

Office be aware force. The showers driven in on strong northerly winds.

The risk of ice too as temperatures fall to freezing or below. Tomorrow,

an improving picture. We start with that risk of ice and snow showers

continuing. With the influence of high pressure from the west, the

showers will die out, become confined to parts of the north-east.

So looking at tomorrow afternoon a lot of dry, bright weather across

much of southern and central Scotland. Just the outside chance of

one or two showers. For the north-east, some showers and they

will be wintry over high ground. Falling as rain to low levels and

the strong to gale force northerly winds will ease through the day.

Some brightness and sunshine for the north-west Highlands. Tending to

cloud over across the Western Isles. And there will be some rain feeding

into these areas tomorrow night. If you're hill walking and climbing

tomorrow for the northern ranges we could see some heavy snow showers at

tomorrow for the northern ranges we times. Some sunny intervals too. And

strong to gale force northerly winds. For the southern ranges,

fewer showers, more sunny intervals, but strong winds from the north and

again that high wind chill. If you're heading to Ayr for the

Scottish Grand National it is set fair with some sunshine and the odd

shower and highs of around 10 Celsius. Tomorrow evening, across

Scotland it becomes largely dry, clear and cold with a frost

developing. Perhaps the risk of ice once again. And as we head into

Sunday it is an east/west split. Cloudy in the west with rain. The

best of the weather will be in the east. Thank you. I'm back at eight.

Until then, good evening.