07/01/2014 Look East - West

perhaps 48 hours of drier weather for many of us. But between now and

Hello and welcome to Look East. In the programme tonight:

Are private companies encouraging benefit tourism by helping migrants

to claim? The election blunder in

Cambridgeshire which could mean the wrong candidate was announced the

winner. Return to the classroom. A big day

for the Duke of Cambridge as he starts his new course.

And six months and counting. The region gets ready for the Tour de

France. Private companies that charge

migrants in our region for help in claiming benefits should be better

investigated. That's the claim of the MP for Peterborough. Stewart

Jackson fears at best they are exploiting the migrants and at worst

encouraging what he calls benefit tourists.

People from all and, Latvia and Rumania `` Poland. Some people won't

support and they are willing to pay for it. There are numerous places

along here you can pay for help in filling out forms. Sometimes it is

?10. Sometimes more. This woman moved here ten years ago. She paid

for help for filling in forms. It was 120 four child revenue and tax

credit. She thinks it was too much. Today, the MP for Peterborough has

called for these types of businesses to be investigated. I think they

need to get the regulatory forces, such as people in charge of

licensing, to be ensuring that people are not exploited. It is not

a good image for Peterborough. We want working people who are sold

sufficient and making a contribution. We don't want benefit

tourists. This advice centre opened in Peterborough this week. For 60 a

year, migrants will be told about employment rights, benefits and how

to find a GP. Fiona says she is here to help, not rip people off. A lot

of people are helping. But others are taking too much of a cup. Was a

huge market. There are a lot of vulnerable people at there. The

citizens advice bureau can offer some help for free. In communities

like this, many migrants are paying private companies instead.

So why are migrants paying for help they could get free of charge?

Martin Lord Is from the Citizen s Advice Bureau in Northampton. He

told me that many private companies are run by migrants themselves and

so they are more appealing. But I asked if the CAB should advertise

its services more. We do make ourselves fairly well

known amongst the migrant community. There is a lot of information on our

website in a range of languages And we so questions that migrants

frequently ask us. The vast majority of people who seek advice from our

service asking about employment issues and not necessarily those

regarding Social Security benefit and tax credit. When I think about

the frequently asked questions, it is about not being paid at work

about were men who become pregnant being dismissed by their employer

and so on. It's not that the vast majority of migrants are benefit

tourists? We don't see a great deal of evidence for that. Things might

change in terms of new migrants but there are strong restrictions placed

on what new migrant communities from Romania and Bulgaria can claim.

Those from Poland and with the Waimea are potentially younger and

speak reasonably good English `` Lithuania. They are prone to being

exploited in the workplace or by private landlords. Have you had many

Romanians and Bulgarians coming to you for help yet? There has been a

trickle. Not since January, but historically because there have been

a number of people who have been working here on a self`employed

basis. Does it concern you that some private companies are charging

migrants hundreds of pounds for help filling in these forms? It does It

is difficult to separate the issue of giving advice on employment

issues and Social Security and the process of actually filling in

forms. I would imagine that many of these providers are not in any way

qualified to provide the support and are preying on people is former

abilities and might actually end up giving people the wrong advice in

the process. We will continue to do our best to help all the communities

we serve, including those from abroad.

Members of the Conservative Party in Cambridgeshire will hold a special

meeting this week to discuss claims that they may have chosen the wrong

candidate to represent them at the next election. There are suggestions

that the votes weren't properly counted during last month's

selection. Our political correspondent is in our newsroom.

This is all rather embarrassing so what happened?

A lot of conservatives in the south`east are quite angry about

this. They really tried hard to be open and transparent when it came to

choosing a successor to Sir James Pace. Last month, they held an open

primary and asked members of the public to help them choose. They

chose Lucy Fraser, a London barrister highly regarded by the

party hierarchy. She was not the favourite to win locally. It was

only later on that they discovered some of the folks in her bundle had

been cast for another candidate It was probably an innocent mistake,

but it does call the verdict into question. They're having a special

meeting to officially re`endorse Lucy Fraser. She was not the

favourite. Supporters of at least one other candidate are saying they

are going to call for the whole election to be rerun. If that

happens, it will be embarrassing for the party. Hierarchy are saying this

is a local matter and if it needs a second election, so be it. But the

local Conservative Party will not want that to happen.

All but two of our hospitals met the Accident and Emergency waiting times

over the Christmas week according to figures out today. The number of

patients fell slightly over the festive period, which may have

helped. This is the target that all

hospitals are expected to hit. 5% of emergency patients should be

treated within four hours. According to NHS England, these hospitals all

failed to achieve that. The worst performing here was Northampton

General. But Milton Keynes is an unusual case because even though the

A department itself missed the target, the hospital also has an

urgent care centre which looks after less serious injuries. Taking those

figures into the mix, Milton Keynes as a whole did meet the target at

nearly 97%. But these hospitals without question performed well The

best in the region were Hinchingbrooke and the Luton and

Dunstable, which despite high demands achieved 98.4%. The BBC has

learned that A departments across the country have a number of

patients who repeatedly turn up One patient at Luton and Dunstable went

to casualty 234 times over the course of the year. That is more

than every second day. Even now a week into the new year many

hospitals are still struggling with unusually high numbers of patients.

Peterborough, Milton Keynes and Addenbrooke's Hospital are all on

black alert at the moment, meaning there's a serious shortage of beds.

I think patients are probably experiencing two major issues.

People are having to wait a little longer in A departments before

getting access to treatment. Secondly, unfortunately we have had

to cancel a number of people for routine surgery in the last five or

six days. But the concern now is how will hospitals cope if the weather

takes a turn for the worst? It's been a very mild winter so far, but

pressure always increases during a cold snap.

There's also news today about children's services at Bedford

Hospital. A report into the problems in paediatrics last summer which led

to services being suspended says leadership at the time was weak It

says the hospital board effectively ignored the safety concerns of

junior doctors. Today the hospital told us many of the concerns have

already been addressed. Five organisations have thrown their

hats into the ring for a ?1 billion contract to run health care for the

elderly in Cambridgeshire. It is the largest outsourcing contract in NHS

history. But protest groups say it will put patients and the NHS at

risk. A feisty former nurse stopping

traffic to state her case. The public are not assured of what is

going on. We hope to educate them at the same time. The campaigners say

health care services in Cambridgeshire should stay within

the NHS. Today the clinical listing group announced the short list.

So far, we have had some interesting and exciting conversations that have

not happened in the last 15 years of the NHS about how organisations can

really make a difference for patients when looking after all of

our health care. This is not the first time this has happened.

Hitting brick hospital became the first privately run NHS hospital in

the country in 2012. `` hitting brick. There are fears that could

set a precedent for other commissioning groups across the

country. This could ultimately lead to the break`up of the NHS. That is

whoever wins the contract would have to do meet fierce NHS standards

Station staff on Greater Anglia s West Anglia route have voted to go

on strike. Around a hundred members of the Rail Maritime and Transport

union are involved in the dispute. It's in a row over flexible working

and claims that proper procedures were ignored. Union members backed a

campaign of industrial action by nine to

work that could stop it happening again.

Still to come, a new project designed by a mother and daughter

from Norfolk to combat bullying in schools. Plus the white van man

turning muck into masterpieces. Students have been arriving back in

Cambridge for the start of the new term, but one in particular has

attracted quite a bit of attention because he happens to be second in

line to the throne. Yes, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, was

getting settled in today, as he begins a ten`week course in

agriculture. Ben Bland reports. It is a university city that is rich

in royal connections, with college names like kings and queens, you do

not need a first to work that out. Today the latest royal student

arrived, Prince William. He will be studying agriculture on a course

that has been designed just for him. What you think about him coming here

to study? It is great. It is a nice environment for everybody. Good luck

to him. It does not really bother me too much. I think it is great. What

would you see if you bumped into him? Fort would I say? Hi! Of course

he's not the first member of the rail family to study at Cambridge.

The college itself was founded by King Henry VIII `` first member of

the Royal family. Some students had accused the

University of giving the future King special treatment, allowing him in

with A`level grades of eight, B and C. Today that criticism was

withdrawn. The ten week course will help him to run the Duchy of

Cornwall, the farmland that his father will handover. It is good

that he wants to study with real experts and I understand that it is

interdisciplinary and focuses on architecture, agriculture, planning,

leadership. It strikes a lot of chords as a good way to prepare. At

the nearby college of West Anglia the hope that it will inspire

others. You need to be good at maths and science, it is not just for

people who have nothing else to do. It is a very high`tech business. The

Royal student will have his knows in his book, but East didn't say that

he can get some practical experience down at their farm `` but these

students say. It's six months to the day until the

world's biggest bike race passes through our region. Stage three of

the Tour de France goes through Cambridge and on to London.

So let's remind ourselves of the route. The riders will cycle through

the centre of Cambridge before heading south into Essex. Here the

route will take them along smaller roads, through villages, before

joining the A104 into London, finishing outside Buckingham Palace.

Our sports editor Jonathan Park reports on six months to go.

For Luke Hennessy, 2014 is a very important year. It is the year that

he is trying to make it as a professional cyclist. It is also the

year that the world's biggest cycle race comes to his home city,

Cambridge. It is massive, it has never happened before, it will never

happen again, it will come to Cambridge, more than likely. It is a

once`in`a`lifetime opportunity. Next week he is off to Europe to race

against seasoned pros in the hope of landing a contract. Words cannot

describe it. Who would have thought that it would happen, the tour

coming to Cambridge. Just back it as much as you can. This is where stage

three of the true difference starts exactly six months today before

heading to Essex and London. It is hard to believe that this park will

be a sea of cyclist and their support staff for the teams, around

2000 in total, plus there will be thousands of spectators and

everything else that goes with staging one of the biggest aborting

events on the planet. `` sporting events. Six months today, the true

difference starts here. Does it? A surprise. Did you know it was

coming? Yes, definitely. Did you know? Now, I did not. `` no, I did

not. Some in the know, some no wiser. The council today said that

the big push start in spring. From roundabout March and own words it is

going to become very obvious that the true difference is coming to

Cambridge. `` and own words. For Luke and his team`mates, they

started the day with a six mile ride. Their thoughts may just have

wondered however to seeing their rivals in July.

Three`time Olympic medallist Louis Smith has announced that he's

returning to full`time training in an attempt to qualify for this

year's Commonwealth Games. Louis is from Peterborough but trains in

Huntingdon. He says he'd thought the London Olympics would be his last

competition, but now says he has "unfinished business" with the

sport. I mean, I am confident I can get my

pommel horse back to a level where it can be considered for the team.

Whether it is what the team are looking for, whether they want more

all`rounders, whether I can prove that I am better than the youngsters

that are in the team that are doing great at pommel horse, I don't know.

It will be hard to make the team, all I can do is get back to a level

where I feel good and I am producing medal winning routines.

The young pop star Ronan Parke came on Look East last week to talk about

his new anti`bullying single. Ronan told us how he was bullied on social

networking sites after finding fame in Britain's Got Talent. I think

that with cyber bullying it is a thing that it can be so ruthless and

you cannot see people's reactions to it. That is why I think it is a very

bad case of bullying. All of them are full, but because you cannot see

the reactions you do not understand how people are dealing with it ``

all of them are terrible. After seeing the interview, a family in

Norfolk got in touch to tell us they've designed a programme for

schools to stop bullying before it starts. Bullying Stinkz is the first

of its kind in the UK and teaches young children to celebrate each

other's differences. Jacqui Hitchcock`Wyatt and her

daughter Ellie are here with us now. Thank you for coming in. First of

all, why as a family have you decided to do this? I think it is

because of their personal experiences. I have twins who are 16

and they were believed from the age of three. For eight years they were

relentlessly bullied at four different schools here in Norwich.

We could do nothing about it. The school could not deal with it, we

did not know what to do about it, my parents did not know. We were

distraught, the whole family went into meltdown because we could not

deal with it. It got a point where we were all very well and we had to

make a decision as a family that we would try to do something that would

stop this to other families. So you have created this programme which

will go into schools and preschools. From a young person's perspective,

how will it work? It will help people from a young age to feel good

about themselves and to celebrate their differences and the

differences in their peers. It will help them feel good about themselves

and give them confidence. The title of the programme is called Great As

You Are. The whole idea is that we should celebrate differences. It is

learned behaviour. It is learned behaviour, and the frightening thing

is that it is increasing and it is starting at younger. People are

arriving at school is knowing how to bully already, that is because they

have learned it from their environments. This programme is to

help parents, young children, teachers, to make sure that they

know how to use other forms of behaviour. You have tested it for

quite some time, there are preschools, schools, looking at

taking it up? We have been trialling it for several years and we have an

incredible team of experts. Lots of schools that are actually helping us

with the programme, so it has all been tested for four years and now

we go into schools and nurseries this September. It is ready to go.

What you need to happen for it to be taken up by schools? In order for it

to be taken up by schools, obviously we believe in it, but I think that

the headteachers and people in the school need to believe in the

cause, and I think having them wanting to help, I think that

everybody really wants to stop being and that desire is going to make

them want to get involved in this programme. Good luck with the

programme, thank you very much for coming on and telling us all about

it. It was Banksy who made graffiti art

famous. He's said to have made millions, but we still don't know

his identity. Well, now there's a new kid on the

block. His name is Ruddy Muddy and he's from Norfolk. Ruddy is

pioneering the use of muddy white vans to create art and Mike Liggins

has been to meet him. This is Ruddy Muddy inaction working

on a particularly grubby Forge transit. But for him, mud and grain

is what he needs. His true identity is at closely guarded secret. He

works quickly and with a bit of old tissue paper can create a mountain

scene of great beauty. I had a bit of time on my hands and I was

getting fed up with people rating all kinds of weird things on Van

Zandt thought it would be interesting to play around ``

writing all kinds of weird things on vans. We only joking about the

identity thing, Ruddy Muddy is really a van driver and amateur

artist. His van and what he calls his grafilthy art has been spotted

all over the region. I have had people contact me from all over, a

few in Cambridge as well. So your fame is spreading? The art certainly

is, I do not know about the fame. Ruddy Muddy's parties also portable.

We wanted to know what the great British public made of it, so we

took his van to a car park. I think it is great, brilliant. It is with

the good, better than the usual stuff on the side of a van that you

would see. You don't do any kind of that stuff? I don't think I could do

that. But not the rude stuff. No, not at all.

He makes it look easy, but it is not. But here is a little portrait

of our presenters. It is uncanny! It is like looking in

the mirror. Thankfully the rain will watch that away. Will there be some

rain to wash off that masterpiece? There may be. Part of America and

Canada have been plunged into exceptionally cold temperatures ``

parts. It has led to an abnormal jet stream which has pushed wet and

windy weather our direction. We have also had milder conditions. Our

warmest spot yesterday was 13 Celsius. It is early January, it

should be more like six Celsius. We got to 12 Celsius in certain parts

of Essex. We have also had unsettled weather, a lot of showers this

morning and some of you may have experienced heavy downpours with

heel mix in. There are some showers just across the western half, but

they make make their way into parts of Northamptonshire. The rain moves

up from the south`west, that might affect parts of Suffolk and Essex

across the eastern side. Essentially it is a largely night with clear

spells and lows of six or seven Celsius. At this time of year you

should really be down to around freezing. Still quite breezy as well

with the moderate `south`westerly. Tomorrow it does not look like a bad

aid. It will be dry, with sunny spells through the morning. `` a bad

day. Not a bad winter's Day at all. It changes subtly into the

afternoon, increasing cloud will eventually bring us some patchy rain

that will move through overnight. It is looking like a wet night forward

and is the night into Thursday morning. This area of low pressure

is bringing in that wet weather. Then we look ahead to the Outlook.

We may well start a little bit cloudy and wet on Thursday. It is

also looking quite breezy for Thursday. It settles down for Friday

and Saturday. It will be a bit cooler, there will be some sunny

spells around by the time we get to Saturday. There will be the return

of some overnight frost. We are back with Stargazing, that will be on for

three nights, make sure that you tune in at 8pm this evening. The

weather for stargazing tonight is looking good, a bit more cloud

around, a little bit wet. Just time to tell you a little bit

more about the Stargazing programme which is coming to you live from

Norwich. Thousands of people are expected to come along to the Forum,

we will bring you all of the build`up tomorrow. People are

working hard to make sure it is built on time.

That is all for now. Goodbye. A tenth of a second

could be the difference