30/10/2013 BBC News at One

Tackling excessive fees paid on pension funds, the government says

it wants to stop workers being overcharged. It claims limiting the

fees could save millions of people tens of thousands of pounds. How

would it work in practice? We will be looking at the figures. Also, a

row in the Commons over energy price hike ahead of an announcement on

plans to investigate competition in the industry. The back-to-work

schemes hard disk -- are declared legally flawed but the Supreme Court

rejects claims that they are now to force Labour. The 25-year-old

student found stabbed to death on his final pizza delivery shift

before starting a new career in IT. Sainsbury's and Tesco was are locked

in a fight over a campaign to compare prices between

supermarkets. Later on BBC London, hospitals to have accident and

emergency downgraded. The biggest shake-up the NHS has seen. Five

years since Westfield opened but how has it weathered the recession?

Good afternoon. Paying into a workplace pension pot is meant to

secure financial security in retirement, but many people could be

losing out because too much of their money is being paid out on the

administration fees and other costs charged by pension companies. The

government is proposing a on the fees charged by auto and Roman

funds. -- in Roman funds. They are going to consult even though they

claim the fees are at the lowest levels. -- enrolment. The government

wants us to save more for our pension. Many of us are being

enrolled into new workplace schemes. It is a big shake-up, and the

government wants to make sure savers don't get ripped off. With 10

million people going into workplace pensions over the next few years it

is vital they get you for money. This is a short consultation, we

will act early, and make sure every pound goes into pensions turns into

a pension, not charges. These charges sound small but they really

do add up. If you join a pension scheme with a 1% charge, and start

to ?100 a month, according to government figures that could cost

you ?170,000 in today's money by the time you retire. If the charges is

1.5%, it means ?230,000 taken from your pension pot. Ministers say the

providers need to cut costs, but the industry says lots of companies

already charge less than the proposed. Pension charges are at

their lowest ever level. However, charge capping has serious

unintended consequences. You might find over time that the charge moves

towards the. It is a growing concern having enough to live on. This would

apply to the new scheme, but some say there are other fees and costs

the government should tackle. What is equally important is that when

you come to the point that you need to get money out of your pension

scheme, that is the value. Hurriedly, there are no controls on

any of those charges. -- currently. Most importantly is putting enough

money into your pension. The government wants to make sure the

pennies will turn into a bigger pot as possible. Our chief economic

correspondent is with us. I am sure people will have questions. In terms

of how significant it is, what is the answer? Intentionally very

significant. As we heard, if you are coming in to a working scheme, the

difference between 0.5 and 1.5 is huge. Thousands of extra fees. If

the government wants people automatically in rolled, they will

only be able to opt out if they want to, they do not want those people

being ripped off. They will benefit if charges are limited. People

already in schemes, which people will be opted into, will benefit.

The problem will come with the detail. If they end up with limit,

what about people on schemes at the moment that are below? We do not

know how that will pan out in terms of the detail in the consultation,

and the industry is already saying that the fees have come down

naturally because of competition. Lots of work to be done. More

answers to come. The cost of our energy bills has again dominated by

ministers question Time, with heated exchanges between the leaders. --

PMQs. David Cameron responded by calling Labour's plans for a freeze

on energy bills are conned. Tomorrow, the government will

announce new plans for energy competition. This was the lunchtime

after the afternoon before. Yesterday afternoon, the bosses of

the big six energy companies came to Westminster expecting a duffing up

from MPs. That is what they got. They will have expected that was not

the end of the argument and sure enough it is not. Ed Miliband has

grabbed the political attention of the last few weeks with his promise

that if he becomes prime minister he would freeze energy bills for the

best part of two years. The Prime Minister thinks it is unworkable,

but it does have the advantage of being easily understood. We should

not be surprised that there was a return to fairly familiar political

territory. The big six energy companies now plenty of customers

don't trust them, and they found out that plenty of MPs do not as well.

The Prime Minister will have been expecting that this big political

issue will come up again. Ed Miliband is convinced the prime

ministers on the wrong side of the argument. Having listened to the

select committee yesterday, what is the difference between its policy on

energy and that of the energy companies? The Prime Minister said

it is clear what the industry needs. More competition and lower levies to

drive profits and prices down. Ed Miliband is sufficiently confident

he has the Prime Minister on the back foot. He stuck with it. He is

still on the side of the energy companies, we should call them the

big seven, the Prime Minister and them. Why is it he has gone from

Rambo to Bambi? Who gave us the big six? Labour. When they first looked

at this, there were 20 companies. Because of his stewardship, we ended

up with six. The cost of -- the argument about keeping the heating

on is personal. Ed Miliband was the energy secretary. The government

will shift focus to its plans and announce an investigation into the

competitiveness of the energy market. Do not expect that to be the

end of the matter. This focus on energy slots into a bigger theme,

the cost of living. As evidence that the economy is on the mend, the big

argument is on who benefits. Prices are rising quicker than wages. We

can get more by speaking to Robert Peston. As Chris was saying, the

government has plans for an investigation. Those in the industry

want another investigation entirely. That is right. It is a paradox. The

investigation that a couple of energy bosses want, the head of E.ON

and EDF Energy, would be much more detailed and actually potentially

much more damaging to them. The government's investigation, we will

get more details, we'll look at whether the status quo of the big

six companies being able to sell to us and generate power, whether the

status quo can be made to operate more in the interests of consumers.

It will look at their prices, their profits, barriers to entry for other

firms, but it will essentially be trying to make the current system

work. Here is the thing which I think some people regard as

remarkable. These two energy bosses think there should be a more

detailed and comprehensive investigation by the competition

commission, which would look at whether the structure of these

companies is actually bad for all of us and bad for the economy. Whether

the fact that when prices go up, the fact that they make a huge amount of

money in a generation gives them to little incentive to compete with

each other to keep prices down for us. Ultimately, their investigation

could come up with an answer that their businesses should be broken

up. They say they want that investigation because they believe

our confidence in their industry is at an all-time low and unless there

is a thorough review we are going to continue to be desperately upset

every time they raise prices. Thank you for explaining that. Judges have

come out against the government over its back-to-work scheme. Ministers

had wanted them to overturn an earlier decision that the scheme was

legally flawed. The case had been brought by a graduate who went to

court after being made to work at Poundland without pay. Cait Reilly

had no objection to working for a living but she considered being

forced to spend two weeks at a Poundland store without pay to be

beyond the pale. She had been sent there on the controversial

back-to-work scheme. One of thousands of job seekers told they

would lose benefits if they fail to comply. She took the government to

court and won. Ministers appealed, but today the Supreme Court has

upheld her victory. It has been a long journey, we have come a long

way, and I am really glad and very proud that the Supreme Court has

upheld the appeal. I just hope new legislation and regulations will

help other job-seekers in their search for employment. Although the

court found the government scheme was floored in the way it had been

set up, they rejected the notion that it amounted to forced Labour.

In principle, the government can withdraw benefits from people who

refuse to take part in similar work schemes. Rumack five Supreme Court

judges said the intention of what we are doing is correct, what we are

aiming to do is correct, and that has to be positive news all round.

But lawyers for Cait Reilly say the battle over the basic principle of

the programme is not over. We were not comparing the scheme to slave

Labour, but we are going to take stock and decide whether to appeal

to the European Court of human rights on that issue. Cait Reilly

has employment in a supermarket at the moment, but this time she is

being paid. Sainsbury is is locked in a fight with Tesco over a

campaign which compares prices in supermarkets and offers to repay the

difference if goods can be found elsewhere cheaper. Sainsbury said it

is misleading because it uses own brand products which cannot be

compared fairly. Tesco denies this claim. In the supermarket aisles, it

is easy to get confused. Weird U-turn for the cheapest deals, the

best races, money off? It is almost impossible to know where the

cheapest places. It is very difficult with the way that pricing

is done, what products are included, to say for certain that

you have the right deal, the best deal for you, to the supermarkets

must now tidy up their pricing and make it much more comparing all,

much more straightforward. -- comparator will. One thing which is

guaranteed is a battle between the supermarket giants. Sainsbury

announced it was taking the fight to judicial review. It is an argument

over whether Tesco's price promise, which compares the price of a basket

to other supermarkets, is fear. Sainsbury said it is unfair because

it does not compare like-for-like products, for example, the basic tea

bags in Sainsbury are fair trade but Tesco does not have them. The

response is that Tesco offers value for money and reassurance and that

is what they want. Sainsbury has already taken the complaint to the

industry regulator but it lost and lost again on appeal. In a

statement, they said... So, now the supermarket war is

heading for the high court. Which is a rather expensive way of saving a

few pennies. In the past few minutes newspaper

and magazine publishers have lost a bid to stop the introduction of new

press regulation, they argued they weren't properly consulted about the

scheme and their own plans weren't given enough consideration. Our

media correspondent has just come from the high court. So what has the

court heard? Well, the consideration this morning was all about the

press's version of their Royal Charter for press regulation, which

they presented earlier this year, and the Government has been

considering all along. And rejected on the 11th November. The way that

was rejected and thrown out, well, the press said was unfair,

irrational Kafka-esque and they totally doubted the process by which

it was done. However in the last few moments the judge has said that he

believed there had been ample time for them to understand all the

criteria following the Leveson Report about what they had to meet

when it came to press reform and he said they knew all the detail, and

they had no duty for instance to be told what the public thought about

these things, so negotiation for an injunction is stopped and he said

also he believes there is no grounds for a judicial review of this whole

process, which is what the press wants. However, does that mean that

at 5.30 this afternoon automatically the Privy Council will agree this

with the Queen? And we will have a new process of press regulation set

up? We are not sure yet. There is a possibility there maybe an appeal

this afternoon, so it is not over yet. Thank you for now. Our main

stories this lunchtime. The Government's proposing a cap on

theifies paid to pension funds because workers could be losing out

to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds. Still to come. A safe house

for drug users. It is being trialed in Denmark. Could it come to the UK?

Later on BBC London. Serving pie and mash since the 1920, now this shop

has been awarded Grade-II listed status.

And we neat the 15-year-old climbing champion, who is beating adults

nearly twice her age. Is providing somewhere safe for

addicts to take drugs the best way to save lives? And help clean up

drug risen areas of towns and cities? It an idea that has received

support from the Police and Crime Commissioner for couldn't Ron Hogg,

he has been looking at examples of cities like Copenhagen which

operates drug consumption rooms. Our correspondent has been this to see

how they work and hear the arguments for and against, introducing them

here. Denmark has a reputation for a high standard of living, and its

regularly rated one of the happiest places in the world. But it its

capital Copenhagen is home to the biggest drug scene in Scandinavia.

Since last year, though, addicts like Cas have been shooting up

inside legal drug consulion rooms. This is his third fix of the day.

It is heroin mixed with cocaine. Addicts arrive here from eight in

the morning until midnight. They bring their own drugs which are

illegal in Denmark, although police in the area don't arrest users for

possession. What they get for free is sterile equipment, so, things

like syringe, and also over here, needles. A million of these have

been handed out in the past year. It is difficult to understand and

people look, there is children, so it is better when they make these

rooms where you can use your drug, you get everything, you get needles,

everything. Two of my best friends died this year because they were not

in a room like this. Every people who has OD in this room, nobody has

died. The drug rooms are available for all long-term addicts in this

community, no-one's forced to sign up to rehab programmes, although

there are signs that more are starting to seek treatment. This

area used to be littered with syringes, social workers say they

would pick up several hundred every day. But since the drug consumption

rooms opened a year ago it has become difficult to spot any. But

the projects remain a controversial idea.

We think that maybe we should use the resources is on getting them out

of the use of drugs, instead of providing facilities for them to

don't take drugs and providing a zone where the police cannot enforce

the drug law, that is a big dilemma, we are concerned this may mean that

more people continue to use drug, and that there will be more dealing

in the area. We have been out on patrol with

police, and it is clear that despite all the efforts to clear up the

neighbourhood, there is still work to be done. Officers is admit it has

been a change, directing people to places where they can take drugs

safely, rather than arresting them. But Danish police believe the idea

could also work in the UK. Perhaps not to solve the country's

drug problem, but as a key part of the solution.

Public confidence in the police here is said to have fallen since the

so-called plebgate row which led to the resignation of the Government

Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell. Now it seems that many officers are losing

confidence in the organisation that represents them, the Police

Federation. 91% of those questioned said it needed to change. Let us tae

UK to our Home Affairs correspondent. I will ask what this

change might be. First a reminder of the background. The new leadership

team at the Police Federation decided to have a review into itself

and the review is being carried out by a team chaired by a former senior

civil servant. This is his first report and it is strong stuff. The

review involved a survey of 12,500 police officers, and many said they

were appalled at the damage that plebgate has done to policing, of

course last week we had three police fed representatives from the

Midlands before a a Parliamentary committee. The Crown Prosecution

Service is deciding whether to bring charges against a number of Scotland

Yard officers and the review describes the police fed as an

organisation that has turned in on itself and is in danger of losing

public confidence. What does the police fed do? It accepts the review

is worrying, perhaps an understatement, but it says it needs

to change, it acknowledges that, this is the first stage of the whole

report process, there is another report coming, so what it

acknowledges it has to do is work with others to try and find a way

ahead and find out how to reform the organisation. Police are appealing

for witnesses after a 25-year-old man pizza delivery man was found

stabbed to death. Thavisha Peiris was on his last delivery shift

before starting a new career. He had been paying for hist studies by

doing the delivery rounds. A terribly tragic story, what are the

police saying? Yes, police said that he was a bright, intelligent

hard-working student, and that he came to this country for a better

life. But on Sunday night, his body was found in this small car park

behind me, he was slumped in a car, and he had been stabbed to death. It

was his final delivery, on his final shift for the pits STAE company he

was working for, he was due to start work as an IT consultant, something

police said he was extremely proud about. South Yorkshire Police have

50 detectives on this cases now, this is a built-up area, they

believe someone might have seen or heard something. They want them to

come forward. Sunday was his last shift and this

was his last delivery, that he was going to make, so it is an absolute

tragedy, it was a brutal attack, we don't know what the motive was, at

this moment in time, we don't know whether it was a robbery, we are not

aware of any enemies, that he had, he was a well liked individual, said

to be a calm, lad, never in any trouble at all, just a very

hard-working genuine, caring young lad.

Police also said his death has cudded untold grief in Sri Lanka.

His mother, father and brother are preparing to come to Sheffield right

now to help police as they appeal for information. Four French

hostages who were seized by Al-Qaeda linked gunmen in Niger in 2010 have

arrived back in France following their release yesterday. They were

welcomed by the French President frill roll they were kidnapped at

the side of a -- Francois Hollande. French run mine. A Royal Marine has

insisted the man was dead when he fired at him. He has blamed a stupid

lack of self control for what happened. His defence got under way

at a military court. Our defence correspondent is there. Jonathan.

The prosecution's shown a video taken from a helmet camera. They say

it shows the royal marines executing a Taliban prisoner. Today it was the

turn of the defence, we heard from marine A, he admitted that they

treated in his words that prisoner robustly, he described them dragging

that bloody body to a tree line, they said they took him there to

administer first-aid not to hide from a helicopter circling above. In

that evidence, marine A said he believed that prisoner was actually

dead, it was then that he said he pulled out his pistol, he was asked

why he fired the shot into the body. He said it was stupid, a lack of

self control. He was then asked about his next words. There you are,

shuffle off this more tan coil. Marine A said that was foolish

bravado and he went on the say in that video, this doesn't go anywhere

fella, I have just broken the Geneva Convention. He said he said that

because he believed by firing a shot into the dead body of a prisoner he

might have been breaking the rules of war. All three marines, deny

murder, the judge has ruled in this trial, that the video cannot be

released, because it could endanger the lives of those in the front

line. We have been hearing a lot recently

about allegations of Americans spying on Europe, now the charge is

that Russia spied on delegates at the recent G20 summit in St

Petersburg by handing out free technology gadgets capable of

feeding information back to Moscow. When world leaders gathered in St

Petersburg last month, did their Russian hosts spy on them? That is

the allegation made by two Italian newspapers. The Russians, they say,

providing memory sticks and phone chargers which on later inspection

were found to have bugs in them. The devices allowed e-mail, text

messages and phone calls to be monitored. A spokesman for the

Russian leader said the reports are not true, but it is is not the first

time stories like this have surfaced from international gathering.

In the summer, the Guardian reported that the British and Americans had

behaved in much the same way, at two G20 meetings four years ago. Amid

more recent allegations, an EU delegation has been in Washington

this week, senior German officials will be at the White House later

today, following claims that Angela Merkel's phone was bugged.

On Capitol Hill intelligence chiefs have been explaining themselves to

Congress. Generally unrepentant and speaking for their counterparts

everywhere when they explained what this is all about. As long as I have

been in the intelligence business, 50 years, leadership intention, in

whatever form that is expressed is kind of a basic tenet of what we

collect and analyse. Members of Congress seem satisfied

but there are voices of dissent in Washington. Moves are afoot to limit

the activities of the National Security Agency. But the

intelligence bossed insist reports the NSA trawled through -- trawled

through many millions of phone calls are plain wrong. Much the data say

they was gathered by the Europeans themselves and shared with the US.

It is time knew for a look at the weather.

A bright crisp sunny chilly start, shallow fog, first frost of the

season for some of us. The outlook is far from tranquil, because

despite a bright start, the cloud has been piling in from the west, as

you can see on the satellite picture, and we have seen heavy rain

already in parts of Northern Ireland, pushing in to Scotland,

Wales and western England, heavy rain and strong winds too,

particularly across the far north-west of Scotland for a time,

gusts up to 60mph and some sharp bursts of rain. The odd shower in

the far south-east, but plenty of brightness here holding on.

Temperatures not too bad, but further west with the wind and rain

not feeing comfortable. Maybe late brightness in the more western

parts. Now through this evening the rain will continue to edge its way

eastwards, in a sporadic fashion. Some damps in the east. The winds

will drop out. We could see fog through the central area, watch out

for that. Further showers pushing into the more northern and western

parts. Some showers to the west coast, but there is that zone of

fog, so for the early morning commute, it could be tricky, that

rain lingering in south-east England and East Anglia for a time, and then

up to the north-west, breakfast time, already windy and further

blustery showers, particularly in the west of Scotland, there could be

a lot of rain, shower after shower after shower, the totals will tot

up. As we go through the day the showers will become more widespread

in northern and western area, the damp in the the south-east will fade

away. Disturbed for many other places and

again it will feel cool. Temperatures 11 or 12 degree, maybe

15 in the south-east, if it does brighten up. If you are trick or

treating be prepared for blustery conditions and nobody immune from

shower, they will become widespread, then all eyes to the south-west,

with the developing area of low pressure, it looks nasty, we are

keeping a close eye on this, early warnings have been issued for the

more southern parts of the UK, bands of rain pushing their way north

wards, some could be persistent and heavy. Some places could catch up to

an inch or more of rain. It stays blustery, sunshine and showers, the

weekend disturbed, very windy again, there will be spells of heavy rain,

yes, there will be sunshine, but be wear some nasty weather expected

through this weekend. A reminder of the main story: The government has

proposed a limit on the fees paid to pension companies because of

concerns workers could be losing out to the tune of 10,000 -- tens of

thousands of pounds. That is all