19/02/2017 BBC Weekend News

Thousands of prison officers at jails in London

and South-East England are to get a pay increase of

Ministers have made the offer to try to boost recruitment and keep

workers at prisons under pressure from violence and staff shortages.

But there'll be no extra pay for senior officers.

Here's our home affairs correspondent, June Kelly.

They're the front line in our jails, but there

The shortage of staff is seen as one of the key causes

In some jails, officers are struggling on a daily basis

Now the Government is putting in place a ?12 million pay package

to try to retain existing staff and recruit new prison officers.

This is Wandsworth jail, in South London,

The offer is limited to prisons in the capital and the South East.

Ministers say they're under the greatest pressure.

But this has been condemned as 'divisive' by the Prison

They maintain the pay package is tantamount to putting a plaster

We're welcoming the additional money for our members,

But we don't think this goes far enough to solving

We believe it needs to be a national issue.

We weren't properly consulted on this either, so we believe that

if the Secretary of State wants to make these arbitrary

decisions on pay, then she should consult us fully

and we can point out the inconsistencies and problems

that will arise as a result of this policy.

The offer is for Standard Grade 3 prison officers, not for more senior

Each will receive a pay hike of at least ?3,000.

For new recruits, the pay package will be boosted by 5,000.

A sweetener to try to get people into the job.

The Justice Secretary, Liz Truss, has already announced plans

to recruit 2,500 more prison officers, but it will be

the end of 2018 before they're all in place.

It's not something you can sort out in weeks or months,

it takes time to recruit people, it takes time to bring

But I'm absolutely determined to deal with that.

The Justice Secretary rejects claims that as a country,

Prison reform campaigners believe we are, and this is a fundamental

She has to get the numbers down, at the same time

as improving staff morale, pay, retention and training.

She also has a problem with community sentences,

The justice system has to work for victims, the taxpayers,

And at the moment, it's not working for anybody.

While today's pay package announcement is about trying to

bring new people in, those in the service said the challenge is not

just recruiting staff, it is retaining them. Jude Kellie, BBC

News. Iraqi security forces have started

a major new offensive against the so-called

Islamic State in Mosul. Iraq's second-largest city

was seized by the extremist group over two years ago,

as they took control Last month, the eastern half

of Mosul was recaptured But around three quarters

of a million civilians remain in the west of the city,

which is still controlled by IS. Earlier this morning,

our Middle East correspondent, Quentin Sommerville,

who's with the Iraqi forces, Iraqi special forces police

are now moving forward. They've breached their own defences

and they're heading towards the so-called Islamic State,

who lie just beyond that hill All morning here, coalition

aircraft have been overhead, dropping very large bombs on those

positions, softening them up There's no real element

of surprise in modern warfare, and last night, the residents

of Western Mosul, who are just over there, were warned in leaflet drops

to stay in their homes. These men, let's just spin

round and we can show you, they're all lining up and getting

ready for the battle. Look, there's a tank

coming in just up there. These men aren't expecting

an easy time of it today because they know from drone footage

that the Islamic State have dug deep tunnels in the villages just south

of Western Mosul and that they're waiting with car bombs

and plenty of fighters, a hard-core of fighters remaining

in Western Mosul, which of course is Iraq's last city held

by the Islamic State. But the assault on that last

redoubt of the Islamic Greater Manchester Police has

launched a criminal investigation after claims that hundreds

of forensic test results issued by a laboratory

in Manchester were "doctored". Two men have been arrested

on suspicion of perverting The company analyses samples

of saliva, blood and hair, looking The boss of the supermarket chain

Sainsbury's has intervened in the row about the change

in business rates, Chief Executive Mike Coupe said

the current system was "archaic" and needed "fundamental reform",

because it favoured Live now to our business

correspondent, Joe Lynam. What more can you tell us? The vast

majority of companies on this high-street in Oxford Street will be

paying higher business rates, that is because business rates are a tax

on the value of commercial property and property in London of course has

soared over the last seven years since they were last rateable,

assessed for value. The Boss of supermarkets will say there needs to

be wholesale reform of business rates because they are of very large

Abdi footprints as pay an awful lot more. The reality is that the vast

majority of companies in England will be paying less or the same, as

they were before, because most people outside of London will not

have seen those rate rises. It will not prevent the calls for the

Chancellor to look at the issue in next month's budget. Thank you.

President Trump has made a strong defence of his first

four weeks in office, and said a new spirit of optimism

Addressing thousands of his supporters at a rally in Florida,

Mr Trump repeated his campaign pledges to create jobs and improve

And he had further criticism of the media.

Here's our Washington correspondent, Laura Bicker.

If you thought the Presidential campaign was over, then

After just four weeks in office, President Trump is bidding

But there is more to this rally in the swing state of Florida. Donald

Trump is trying to change the subject of the headlines of chaos

and controversy in his administration, he is back where he

appears to be more on behind a campaign podium rather than a desk

in the Oval Office. I am here because I want to be among my

friends and among the people. This was a great movement, a movement

like has never been seen before in our country or probably anywhere

else. He enjoys an audience and he takes heart from his fans. One even

made it on stage after waiting since the early morning. When President

Trump during the election promised all these things that he was going

to do for us, I knew he was going to do this for us! He also had tough

words for some of his alleged enemies, the media. He has a new

term for them, the enemy. These supporters are his people and this

is his message. A chance to appraise his first month in office, which he

sees as a success. But what do his voters think? Make America great

again and that is what it is! That is what it is, just make America

great, he will do, it is going to be great. He has kind of been up and

down, I kind of feel like he is not 100% doing good but I want to give

him more time, it has only been a month, I think he could turn things

around. So a bumpy start? Yes, a lot of Executive orders, he is not

really talking to people like you should. There are a lot of

differences nowadays and I believe that this man can bring more people

together. You think Donald Trump is the man to unite America? Yes, man.

On January 20, 2017, our presidency died. But unity seems a long way

off, in New York, protesters held a fake funeral for the presidency. The

political ideals of America seem further apart than ever. This rally

will be hugely popular with his voting base but it will not help him

in Washington. If President Trump is to push through his campaign

promises, he may need to take his message to Capitol Hill, rather than

an adoring crowd. The next news on BBC

One is at 5:35pm.