03/09/2014 BBC Channel Islands News

Good evening. Wilson, BBC News at Wembley.

A former resident of the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey

has blamed the islands Children's Service for failing to look after

The independent inquiry into historic abuse resumed public

hearings today after a three week break.

Michael Laing, who's 60, continued giving the evidence he'd started

He'd spent his childhood in the 1960s and early 1970s

in care, staying with three foster families plus spells

He was physically abused by one couple who fostered him,

and sexually abused while with another, and described

It was a tough place to grow up, but said he had "no problems with

He described media reporting about the home in 2008

as sensationalist and he wanted to give the other side of the story.

Mr Laing blamed the Children's Service for not doing

anything about the abuse he suffered while in foster care.

He said, "It should have, and could have done more".

The inquiry has also heard from the Principal Legal Advisor to

the Law Officers Department, Richard Whitehead,

who's been explaining how laws relating to children and childcare

37 pensioners in Guernsey had help paying their fuel bills last winter.

The charity Age Concern says the pilot scheme

which gave fuel vouchers and money for bills to older people

Overall, 51 islanders applied but 12 withdrew, and the charity is

worried some people are too embarrassed to ask for help.

A lot of pensioners are used to struggling.

Not all pensioners, but some have had very hard lives

and they just accept, they are forced to accept in fact, that they

There is no need to struggle. Financial help is available.

Plans for the future of Fort Regent in Jersey have been presented to

The leisure complex includes a disused swimming pool

and it's long been hoped the site can be developed.

The multi`million pound plan will be made public on the 12th September.

The appearance of the only two airworthy Lancasters

at the Guernsey Air Display is in doubt due to increased costs.

One of the bombers, owned by the Canadian Warplane Heritage

Museum, has had to cancel some displays due to engine problems.

Local organisers say they have been asked to pay an additional ?3,000

A service for 11` to 16`year`olds in Guernsey has seen the number

of youngsters it helps double in its second year.

The Hub, which is run by the children's charity Barnardos, offers

advice, counselling and support at its drop in centre in town.

It helped more than 430 people last year and manager Charlie Cox

A new doctor's surgery in Jersey is offering free appointments

for children under five ` the first time free medical treatment has

The latest primary health care survey revealed over 50%

of respondents felt GP charges were expensive and restricted visiting.

And a further 8% felt they were so expensive it stopped them

The survey also revealed many people wanted free appointments

Welcoming a new patient to his new surgery.

Fred has been a doctor in Jersey for the last couple of years,

but decided to start his own practise this week and offer

Not only is he charging adults nearly half the going rate,

but he's also giving free treatment to children under five.

I felt that there was a need for a low`cost practice. It is well

documented that if you can access services before, and make sure your

health is well maintained from the beginning of life, you will have a

better quality of life at the end. That is the motivation.

With the average doctors visit costing ?40 in Jersey,

It is perfect. We had an ear infection a couple of weeks ago. We

had to pay ?38 for an appointment. It is very expensive. The costs

mount up. We have got a little daughter as well. Everything helps.

It is fantastic. I have got friends who sometimes can't afford to take

their children as soon as they otherwise would. It is wheelie good

that someone has come forward and has parents in mind. It is so costly

to go to the doctor these days. Although some doctors do offer

discounted rates, this free But the cost of appointments is

being reviewed after a health questionnaire revealed many

islanders felt they were expensive. That White Paper is slowly coming to

fruition and we are looking at all those vulnerable groups, the under

fives, the people who are at the end of life, those with chronic disease,

those unable to work through ill`health. All those areas. We hope

to be able to provide care for all of them in the right place at the

right time. Offering low cost GP appointments

are a good way to attract new patients to a new practice,

but it could also increase competition and put downward

pressure on prices island`wide. Hello, good evening. I think

September is going to be quite kind to us. The next few days are largely

dry with the fine weather continuing through the weekend. Fine and warm

tomorrow after a misty start. Some low cloud appearing later in the

night, and after a fine evening it will become quite grave by the

morning with the risk of some fog patches by dawn. Quickly tomorrow

morning the sunshine will emerge and the rest of the day is fine, dry and

warm. Some low cloud along the English Channel, moving into parts

of Guernsey during the course of the afternoon. Temperatures responding

quite well in that sunshine reaching 22 Celsius, 72 Fahrenheit. We hold

onto the wind from the North as we head into the weekend. A lot of fine

weather around on Friday. Saturday is a bit more cloudy, but still dry.

Even though there is a risk of a shower on Sunday, it will also be

largely fine and dry with temperatures remaining the same over

the next few days at 21. Good night. temperatures will get. We cannot

promise sunny skies for the weekend. Quite a nice day for many of us.

Good evening. Some sunshine around to end the day in the south and

south-east of the country. Tomorrow, another fine day. By fine I mean

skies looking something like this. I suspect there will be a little bit

of cloud at some point in the day. The weather is very settled. An

enormous area of high pressure stretching from Russia across

Central Europe and into our neighbourhood here. This is a

satellite picture from today you can see sunny skies across parts of East

Anglia and the Sabbath. More cloud the further north you are. Even here

the skies have broken up. -- the south-east. Through tonight, all we

will be seeing his errors of cloud floating around. In the countryside,

it could be quite chilly. In towns and cities, more like their, 14

degrees. Tomorrow will start off quite cloudy. For a number of us

across central portions of the UK, it could be cloudy right into the

afternoon. Coastal areas, particularly across the west of the

country, we will end