21/02/2017 BBC News at One

Some hospital services could be cut or scaled back in nearly

Some hospitals could close, or have treatments moved to other sites,

in an effort to save money and improve efficiency.

We'll have the latest on the proposals.

A heterosexual couple loses the latest round in a legal fight

to have a civil partnership, though judges agreed

The shortage of maths and science teachers in England's

schools is getting worse, according to a report by MPs.

Better news about government borrowing.

The Treasury records its biggest January surplus for 17 years.

Seven British soldiers make their final preparations

And coming up in the sport on BBC News.

The FA Cup pie that could get Sutton United into trouble,

as they lose their FA Cup tie to Arsenal.

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

Hospital services could be cut or scaled back in nearly

two thirds of England, in order to save money

and to try to improve efficiency, according to a BBC analysis of plans

Proposed changes range from full closures, to centralising

Our health correspondent Sophie Hutchinson has the details.

Protests outside Horton Hospital in Oxfordshire just a few months ago

where there are concerns about bed closures and cuts to

Right across England, proposals for big changes

The BBC has analysed 44 of the transformation

Two thirds include either hospital closures or moving treatments

More than a third involve cuts to the number of hospitals providing

non-emergency treatments and around one third plan to reduce

the number of hospitals offering emergency care.

Proposed closures to hospital beds have been heavily criticised

After scenes like these. To shut even 10% of beds is unrealistic at

the moment with the current crisis. One hospitals are full they become

less safe places we have to make sure any bed reconfiguration is done

with patient safety the priority. The ambition of taking care out of

hospital and moving it closer to patients homes has been praised by

experts as the best hope of delivering essential reforms to the

NHS but they say it can't be done without extra funding.

Ideally there ought to be an earmarked fund

for new investment, to strengthen and improve the out-of-hospital

services, and to shore up adult social care, which is really

If those additional funds aren't forthcoming, the Government needs

to be honest about the consequences for patients and what the offer

Leaving Downing Street today, the Health Secretary was asked to

comment... Are you cutting hospital services? But decided not to. In a

statement, the Department of Health said...

The challenge, though, for the NHS in England is the short time given

to deliver these large-scale improvements and, during a period of

unprecedented low increases to NHS budgets.

is at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.

Of these is it fair to say a lot of these proposals at this stage?

That's right. Proposals in detail documents in each region of England.

They have to be firmed up into definite plans. Some of them if they

involve closures will have to go to formal public consultation. But we

have moved quite a long way forward with this process which began last

year. It was extremely controversial with critics saying this is a

covert, secret agenda to carry out cuts. And, actually, NHS England and

others say this is what the NHS does, it has to reform care, it has

to look at patient demand in the community and try to treat people

away from hospitals. In Nottingham, for example, they want to cut 200

beds at the two hospitals but they want to reinvest in community care.

They think they can move people more quickly back closer to home. That

sounds like a good plan in theory but some of the local critics say

that if you don't invest in community care, then you lose the

beds and actually the city will be a loser across the piece. This is the

big debate. Can NHS England, and health leaders working together in

this way really demonstrate to the public that they will benefit, that

this is the way forward? There is quite a big selling job to be done

and quite a lot of debate further down the road on these plans. Thank

you. You can find out the NHS

plans in your area in A heterosexual couple have

lost their attempt to be allowed Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan

had argued that being prevented from entering

into one is discriminatory. Today, judges at the Court of Appeal

said that there was a potential human rights breach,

but the government should have more time to decide on the future

of civil partnerships, which were created in 2004

for same-sex couples. Our legal affairs correspondent

Clive Coleman reports. Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld, a

heterosexual couple fighting for the right to enter a civil partnership.

All three of the judges agreed with being treated differently

because of our sexual orientation and that this impacts

All three rejected the argument that we could just get married.

All three emphasised that the government cannot maintain

A civil partnership defined in the 2004 act that created them

as a relationship between two people of the same sex so they are not

In December 2014, Charles and Rebecca were stopped

from registering their notice of intention to form

a civil partnership by their local registry office.

Same-sex marriage came into force in March 2014.

Sir Elton John and David Furnish were among

Since then, civil partners have been able to convert their civil

partnership into a marriage, and some 13% have done so.

Charles and Rebecca argued that the ban on heterosexual couples

becoming civil partners breached their right to a family

The government won but only by a whisker.

All three judges found that the ban on heterosexual couples entering

into civil partnerships was potentially in breach of their human

rights and discriminatory. But two of the judges found that the

different treatment of same-sex and opposite sex couples was justified

by the government's policy on civil partnerships which is to wait and

see how many same-sex couples want to enter into one, rather than to

get married. The government has welcomed the court's ruling and says

it will carefully consider it. But campaigners are impatient. The

government has to wake up and smell the coffee. There is a growing

feeling this needs to happen. There is a growing appreciation backed up

by the court today that this is an inequality that cannot go on. There

are more than 3 million heterosexual cohabiting couples in the UK who,

campaigners say, want the option of a civil partnership which conveys

and protects virtually all of the same rights as married. This

important issue of social policy is not going away.

MPs have warned of a worsening shortage of teachers in English

schools, particularly in maths and science.

The Education Select Committee has called on the government to find

ways of making teaching more attractive, to stop people

Maths class for these children, with Mr Walton.

But professionals like him are increasingly hard to come by.

That's according to a group of MPs who says school teacher shortages

I'm into my fourth year of teaching now.

I know some people have dropped out now.

I think that's mainly due to workload and pressure,

The Education Select Committee is calling for a long-term plan

to recruit more teachers and a bigger emphasis to be

placed on retaining them, warning many are leaving.

Reasons include a lack of job satisfaction,

Research has found teachers in England worked nearly

20% more than they do in other similar countries.

An average of nearly 50 hours of week.

20 of those are spent here in the classroom teaching.

MPs say secondary schools are hardest hit in subjects

What we've got to get across is just how important teachers

They need to feel valued and trusted.

The Department for Education says it's investing in teacher

recruitment and development, to make sure the best

Shares in HSBC have fallen after the bank reported

a steeper-than-expected fall in annual profits.

It reported pre-tax profits of ?5.7 billion for 2016, down more

HSBC said its performance had been "broadly satisfactory" given

volatile financial conditions but warned that a rise in global

Government finances were ?9.4 billion in surplus in January,

according to the Office for National Statistics.

The first month of the year traditionally sees a surplus,

because of the high level of income tax receipts, but this

is the biggest January surplus for 17 years.

Our economics editor Kamal Ahmed is with me.

That is a bit of good news. It is and isn't often there is good news

about borrowing. Of course, if we think back to 2010, the government

came in saying it was here to fix the public finances, and some

evidence today that the journey towards that is continuing. The main

reason is that since the referendum the economy has performed a lot

better than people thought. That means we are paying more taxes,

whether individuals or businesses, which means the government is having

to borrow less. The Chancellor has a little bit of wriggle room now,

looking forward to the budget of next month. Could you spend more

money on that toxic issue of business rates, ease some of that

pain? Could he pay... Spend more money on the NHS which we have been

reporting on today? We have to take care with this wriggle room notions

that he might have more money at the time of the budget. The Treasury

still believes there could be a big economic cost attached to Britain

leaving the EU, and any extra money we will want to save back for the

possibility of a rainy day in the future. Thank you.

Five people have been killed after a light aircraft crashed

into a shopping centre in Melbourne in Australia.

The pilot reported a catastrophic engine failure

The shops weren't open at the time of the crash,

and no-one on the ground is believed to have been injured.

Our Sydney Correspondent Hywel Griffith reports.

Just metres from the runway, a site strewn with charred metal.

Inside the wreckage of the plane which came swooping from the sky.

Eyewitnesses described seeing flames rise after it crashed into the DFO

shopping centre which was due to open its doors one hour later.

I just saw a blue flash come down past the DFO billboard over there.

And, then, all of a sudden, it hit the spotlight, and just

There's explosions going off one after the other.

So, the plane go up, then cars going off as well.

So there was a lot of smoke and flame.

Piecing together what led to the crash may take weeks.

Specialist investigators have been called to the scene,

but the police have confirmed that the pilot made a Mayday call

shortly before the impact, reporting engine problems.

We understand there was potentially catastrophic engine failure

It crashed into the back of the DFO shopping centre.

It took more than a dozen fire crews to extinguish the flames.

The aircraft would have been full of fuel.

Drivers on the nearby freeway reported feeling

It's a desperately sad day, very, very sad day for our state.

A number of people have died as a result of what is the worst

civil aviation accident that our state has

All flights out of Essendon Airport have been supended as teams

on the ground try to establish exactly what went wrong.

Some hospital services could be cut or scaled back in nearly two-thirds

of England in an effort to save money and

Claims some peers "contribute nothing" to Parliament,

but still claim hundreds of pounds in allowances.

Coming up in sport at half past on BBC News, England women

name their squad to face the top three teams in the world.

And Casey Stoney is back in the reckoning.

The Conservatives are hoping to make the first by-election gain

by a governing party since the 1980s when people in Copeland vote

The vacancy in Cumbria was created when the former Labour MP

and Jeremy Corbyn critic, Jamie Reed, resigned

to take up a job at the Sellafield nuclear site.

Labour have held the seat for more than 80 years.

But with a majority of just 2,500 over the Conservatives,

Jenny Kumah's been there to meet the candidates.

Whitehaven, a coastal town in the constituency of Copeland,

and it was once the UK's third largest port.

Now it's the nucleur site at Sellafield that is key

to the local economy, and looming large

The Conservatives are hoping to overturn decades of Labour rule

here and they are focusing on Jeremy Corbyn's past

But their candidate's faced criticism for barely mentioning

the potential loss of services from the local hospital

I was born at that hospital, my four daughters were

We must keep consultant-led maternity.

So what I've actually been doing is working with the Minister

to identify the problems with recruitment, because that's

The Labour candidate's message is the Tories can't

One of her biggest challenges is convincing the thousands

of nuclear workers here that her party's leader

I'm behind the nuclear industry, no ifs, no buts.

And it's Labour Party policy to support new nuclear

build, to keep the lights on in this country.

In the last general election here, Labour beat the Conservatives

Labour has moved to the ideological left, the Tories have moved

People in Cumbria want a pragmatic politician from a credible party

who will focus on their issues and do an excellent job for them,

And people here voted 60/40 for Brexit.

The infrastructure's crumbling, we need new road and rail links.

There's no jobs, all the heavy manufacturing industry's gone.

All the parties are supporting plans for a new power station

in the constituency, but the Greens are against it.

I don't think it's the magic bullet everyone's been

led to believe it is, and if the nuclear industry had been

so good for this area, then why are towns like Whitehaven...

Why are people so hard up around here and why

If Labour manage to hang onto this seat, it will be a boost

If they don't, questions will be raised about the future of Labour's

And the parliamentary by-election in the constituency of Copeland

Here's a full list of the candidates, which is also

An Israeli soldier who shot dead a wounded Palestinian attacker has

been sentenced to 18 months in prison for manslaughter.

Elor Azaria was convicted by a military court of killing

Abdul Fatah who was lying on the ground, badly injured,

The case has divided Israel - the Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu had led calls for the soldier to be pardoned.

Police have begun excavation work at two properties

in Swindon in Wiltshire, one of which is believed

to be the former home of Christopher Halliwell,

who's serving a life sentence for the murder of two young women.

Halliwell, who's 53, murdered Becky Godden in 2003

Our correspondent, Duncan Kennedy, is in Swindon.

Explain what's been happening today? We have had a police operation going

on since late last night, continuing this morning. They have been

operating behind this blacktop Paulin and you can see from our hair

short, there is lots of activity going on behind me, they have

erected black tents and that black tarpaulins to cover up what is

doing. They have said new information has led them to this and

address, and address that Christopher Halliwell lived in

between 2006 -- 1996 and 2000. They say they are looking the gardens in

the garage, no plans to look inside at the moment. They say they are

doing it with the full pool operation of the owners, who are not

involved, but they are not going further into saying why they are

wrapped this address. Last September Christopher Halliwell was convicted

of the murder of Becky Godden and given a whole-life term for that

murder. He was already serving 25 years for the murder of Sian

O'Callaghan. Becky Godden disappeared in 2003, Sian

O'Callaghan in 2011, there is an eight-year gap which police say

could account for more victims at the hands of Christopher Kelly well.

They were very keen during the course of the trial of September to

stress they believe there could be more victims -- could account for

more victims at the hands of Christopher Halliwell. This could be

part of that. We'll chip police were heavily criticised at the time over

the Becky Godden inquiry because of the way they handled the arrest. --

Wiltshire Police work. In effect, the Justice the Christopher

Halliwell was delayed by six years, six years after Becky Godden 's

mains were found that Christopher Halliwell was convicted of murder,

which caused all kinds of distress and anxiety for the family of Becky

Godden. Police are back at this address is being very, very

meticulous to try to find if there are any more victims at the hands of

Christopher Halliwell. Thank you, Duncan Kennedy.

The House of Lords is continuing to debate the legislation that

will allow the Government to begin the process of taking the UK out

Some peers are seeking changes, despite the measure being approved

by the Commons in the wake of last summer's referendum.

A former Speaker of the House of Lords has claimed that many peers

contribute absolutely nothing to Parliament despite claiming

Baroness D'Souza made the comments in a BBC

A House of Lords spokesman said the chamber is active and effective,

and peers can be suspended if they claim allowances

Our political corresponded Tom Bateman reports.

They are the peers of the realm, appointed by the monarch

Unelected but often experienced politicians.

TV cameras have for the first time been allowed to film freely

in committees and behind-the-scenes of the Lords.

Most peers don't get a salary but can claim an attendance

This system is, not for the first time, facing questions.

There is a core of peers who work incredibly hard,

who do that work, and there are - sad to say - many, many,

many peers who contribute absolutely nothing but who claim

Baroness D'Souza claimed an unnamed member kept a taxi running outside

the Lords whilst signing in to collect the allowance.

Officials here at the House of Lords are pushing back

hard against the idea of freeloading peers.

They say there is a robust code of conduct which is

The trouble for them is that even the merest hint of an expenses abuse

will play into that longer sense of a demise of trust in politicians.

Lord's officials point out that a member was suspended in a previous

case, but without names they can't investigate this new claim

I never thought I'd get expert at putting stockings or tights on...

This rare access to peers behind the frills is a clear attempt

to show the purpose of the Lords in modern political life.

Many want it to be seen as a crucial working part of the constitution,

We take all of the nonsense, rubbish, legislation -

and some of it is rubbish - that comes down from the other end

We work on it, line by line, clause by clause, and we improve it.

Parliament's traditions come dressed in a rich sense of history.

Peers want people to see why they are relevant

A bit tight at the moment, as you can see.

But fresh claims about the abuse of allowances will do little

Eight years after it was criticised by health inspectors

for not having enough beds, operating theatres or trained staff,

Birmingham Children's Hospital has become the first of its kind

The specialist hospital has been praised for turning

Our health correspondent Jane Dreaper reports.

Connor's just seven months old, and recovering in intensive care

Home is 50 miles away, so Connor's older brother,

It is a tough time for the whole family, but they feel supported

We have nearly lost him several times over the last six

Without them, we would not have the child that is

While he is quite poorly, we have got him and he is here.

We have faith we will get to take him home.

That is the only ask as a parent of a sick child.

This is the Play and Admissions Centre, designed to distract

and relax young patients before their treatment.

Inspectors have been impressed with the hospital's caring approach.

This hospital has come a long way since it was criticised

Back then, a report found a shortage of beds and poor training and care.

Paying much closer attention to the views of patients and staff

and acting on their ideas has helped change the culture in Birmingham

Eight years ago we were in an organisation that certainly

was not listening to our staff, not listening to what children,

young people and families were saying, and was in

Through focusing on those areas of patient engagement,

staff engagement, we have now got to a position where

Some of the children in outpatients need repeated appointments.

I was with a doctor a couple of weeks ago and it wasn't scary

Is it scary when you come here, or do you feel OK about it?

The emotional support given to bereaved parents has also been

And they will now be able to use this new room when they are going

Rachel has helped raise thousands of pounds for this unit

after the death of her older daughter, Molly, from kidney cancer.

When you're given news like that, you feel that

You need to absorb information that is being told to you.

And there wasn't that opportunity within the existing building

at Birmingham at that time, just to be ourselves as a family

The staff here believe they can improve care even further,

but today is a huge moment in showing how this hospital

A team of British soldiers is hoping to become the first all-female group

During a three month expedition they'll face temperatures

of minus 40 degrees - and they'll be walking in that

Our reporter Phil Mackie joined them for some

The Ice Maiden team is heading out across a frozen

Norwegian lake at the start of its final training exercise.

In September, these soldiers will begin their historic journey,

hoping they will now succeed and inspire a generation of women.

It is not just about five women crossing Antarctica,

it is about encouraging women from across the military but also

in civilian life to get out there and give things a go,

and realise there is no ceiling and you can achieve anything.

I think we can inspire some women to get out

Ooh, it's hot chocolate with orange today!

Their home for the next few weeks and the 80 days of the expedition

It will be a bedroom, living room and kitchen.

There are doctors, a former teacher, and an electrical

I am just a normal person from Newcastle and I have

just happened to come across this incredible opportunity.

If you want it and work for it, you can just do it.

They will leave their families and partners behind to spend nearly

There is important research being done as well.

No one really knows what it willtake to sustain an all-female team

It is about the actual composition of the rations -

making sure there is the right amount of carbohydrate,

fat and protein - and trying to figure out how we can manipulate

And also for a group of women whose nutritional requirements

are quite different to men, there has been very little research

So I haven't really got a lot to go on.

One of the hardest things will be maintaining morale as each long

They have just been for a two-hour march.

They will have to do up to nine hours a day once in the Antarctic,

carrying everything they need along with them.

It will be very, very tough, which is why they need to practise

Two will be reserves as only five can cross the Antarctic,

where they hope to break the ice ceiling, putting them

in the history books alongside explorers like Scott,

So impressive! Louise Lear, I feel cold just looking at those pictures.

They need to to practising, staterooms, you might just get some.

This week we will see the two faces of late February, it was the warmest

day of the year so far, 18 degrees, one with sunshine, but look at what

is likely to happen during Thursday. Severe gales, rain and the potential

for snow, which could cause disruption. More on that in a

moment. Out to the north and west, turning increasingly wet and windy.

Further south, the rain is fairly light and patchy with lots of cloud

around and a pretty grey afternoon with good visibility towards the

coast -- with poor visibility. The rain light and patchy through the

Midlands but peps and through north and west England, the Isle of Man,

western Scotland and Northern Ireland, where the winds will start

to strengthen. Relatively mild for the time of year, seven to 11

degrees are high, perhaps dry during daylight hours for Aberdeen share.

Overnight, wind strengthened to gale force, the rain turning heavy as it

sinks out of Scotland into north-west England and Wales. To the

south, it stays rather grey, overcast and mild through the night,

clear skies to the north, a cold night, but winds increasing and

showers turning increasingly wintry. We could see severe gales of 70 or

80 mph across the far north-east and into Orkney, a good slice of

sunshine across much of Scotland, a scattering of showers, then further

south underneath the front which keeps driving in cloud and patchy

rain it will be a dull, dank Wednesday. Mild to the South, a

little bit cooler into the North. By Thursday we have an amber weather

warning, be prepared for disruption due to the wind strength. There is

the potential for severe gales because we have our fourth named

storm expected, Storm Doris, a deep area of low pressure which will move

across the local tree to the southern flank where the squeeze on

the isobars is where we are likely to see the strongest winds. Severe

gales across the Pennines, Midlands and East Anglia. Cold out behind it,

we could see snow across the Grampians, the southern uplands onto

Scotland. Jumping back in time to explain to you that in Scotland,

through central and southern areas that perhaps the North Pennines week

and disruption with snow. Keep abreast of the warnings online and

we will update you when we get developments.

A reminder of our main story this lunchtime.

Some hospital services could be cut or scaled back in nearly two thirds

of England in an effort to save money and improve efficiency.

That's all from the BBC News at One, so it's goodbye from me -

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