03/12/2017 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon.

All four board members

of the government's

Social Mobility Commission have

resigned in protest

at what they believe is a lack

of progress towards what they call

a "fairer Britain".

The Commission's chairman,

the former Labour Cabinet

minister Alan Milburn,

said the current focus on Brexit

meant ministers were unlikely

to have the energy needed to tackle

"one of the biggest

challenges" facing the UK.

Downing Street said it had already

told Mr Milburn that the Commission

was to have a new chairman.

Jonathan Blake reports.

Your chances of getting a job,

finding a good school for your

children and being able to afford

somewhere decent to live. Issues at

the heart of social mobility and

from day one in power, tackling

inequality was a personal priority

for Theresa May.

The mission to make

Britain a country that works for

everyone means more than fighting

these injustices. If you are from an

ordinary, working-class family, life

is much harder than many people in

Westminster realise.

But for the

former Labour Cabinet minister Alan

Milburn who was until now in charge

of monitoring the government's

progress on social mobility, not

enough is being done.

What is

lacking here is meaningful political

action to translate very good words

into deeds. In the end, what counts

in politics is not what you talk

about, it is what you do and I'm

afraid the divisions in Britain are

becoming wider economically,

socially and geographically.

Downing

Street says it had already told Mr

Milburn it plans to appoint a new

chair as his term in office had

ended so is the former Labour

minister's very public resignation

sour grapes or political point

scoring?

Well, Alan Milburn and I

both cared deeply about social

mobility and equality of

opportunity.

You said that and he

said he wanted to keep him on. Is it

true?

I'm not going to get onto the

discussions we had inside

government. He's done a fantastic

job at his term had come to an end

and I think it was about getting

some fresh blood into the

commission.

The Education Secretary

went on to defend the Governor's

Greg Ward.

We are seeing standards

in schools rise, critically, we are

seeing the attainment gap in schools

narrow, the difference in outcomes

between disadvantaged children and

their better off peers.

In its most

recent report, the Social Mobility

Commission found that people's life

chances vary in everybody of

England, two thirds of the areas in

which young people have the best

prospects of success are now in

London while many rural, coastal and

former industrial areas are being

left further behind, with the

Midlands the worst performing region

in England. Deprived areas

registered some of the highest

support for leaving the European

Union. The government is now facing

criticism that it is so focused on

the process of Brexit that it's

ignoring some of the reasons that

led people to vote for it. Jonathan

Blake, BBC News.

Rail passengers travelling

to and from London Euston station

have faced major disruption

after all lines were closed.

Emergency repairs are taking place

on downed overhead wires.

For the latest, live now

to our correspondent, Lisa Hampele,

who's outside Euston.

Bring us up to date.

500 metres of wires were downed and

emergency repairs have been carried

out all morning and there have been

no services in or out of the station

here and that is affecting trains

operated by Virgin, London Midland

and London Overground so that is

main arterial routes that include

places like Birmingham new Street,

Manchester, Glasgow, and Liverpool.

I have just had a message in the

last few moments to say that we do

now have the all clear, those

repairs have now finished but that

does not mean that disruption here

is going to end. A lot of services

have been cancelled or they are

being delayed and people are being

told that they can use their tickets

to travel tomorrow but I have been

told that they expect there will be

no cancellations, no problems for

the morning rush-hour. But still,

this is a busy weekend, about 40,000

passengers go through this station

every day and coming up to

Christmas, lots of shoppers but they

are saying that there will be a

knock on effect, there will be

problems later today but services

will be back to normal tomorrow

morning.

Thank you very much indeed. Lisa

Hampele at Euston station.

Children will be able to get access

to mental health support at schools

or colleges in England under plans

announced by the government.

£300 million of funding will be made

available in a joint initiative

between the Departments

of Health and Education.

Campaigners say the measures

are welcome, but long overdue.

Tom Burridge reports.

I did not have any therapy, it was

just a talk about things.

One young

person's story of suffering from an

eating disorder and depression for

five years. She waited two years

before she got help.

I just feel

like I've never been properly

treated for the mental side, it is

just sort of, they sort of put me in

hospital when my physical side is

bad and then don't treat anything

else so then they wonder why it

keeps happening, why I keep having

to go back into hospital.

The

hospital she was sent it was

hundreds of miles away, and

nightmare scenario which the

government now promises no family

should face. So ministers, chatting

here with few bills in east London,

are publishing plans to provide

support in schools for so many

children who face issues regarding

their mental well-being. Teachers

will be trained at spotting problems

early.

I put excessive pressure on

myself, for wanting to achieve high

grades.

And there will be new mental

health support teams, the idea being

to bridge the gap between schools

and the NHS.

If your child has a

mental health issue, we want to make

sure that you get the help much,

much earlier than happens at the

moment and if possible, we want to

work within the school system to

prevent that condition

deteriorating.

But Labour claims

mental health care in England has

been desecrated by cuts.

Services

are really overstretched and

children are waiting years for the

vital support they need so this is a

drop in the ocean compared to the

cuts unfortunately that many

services have faced.

The government

is facing up to the scale of the

issue and it now hopes school scans

spot problems and address them

early. Tom Burridge, BBC News. --

schools can spot.

The Metropolitan Opera in New York

has said it will investigate

allegations that its former music

director sexually abused

a teenage boy in the 1980s.

The Met said it was deeply disturbed

by media reports about James Levine,

who stepped down last year after 40

years in the role.

He's reported to have

denied the allegations.

Cricket, and rain has ended play

early on the second day of

the second Ashes Test in Adelaide.

England are 29-1 in reply

to Australia's first innings

total of 442-8 declared.

From Adelaide, Andy Swiss

sent this report.

If day one had been tricky

for England, day two

was to prove even tougher,

as first, their hopes

of restricting Austria's batsmen

were emphatically dashed.

Shaun Marsh has had a stop-start

career, and he seemed

a strange selection to many

but as he completed a brilliant

century, it suddenly made sense.

Vindication for him,

euphoria for the Adelaide crowd.

When he finally offered

a chance, this pretty much

summed up England's day.

Alastair Cook and James Vince

with a moment they would both rather

forget, a symbol of England's

struggles, as Marsh simply

piled on the misery.

Australia eventually declared

on 442-8, leaving England

with a cricketing mountain to climb.

Under floodlights and the fiercest

pressure, the openers

needed a solid start.

They did not get it.

Mark Stoneman trapped

by Mitchell Starc for just 18.

Australia in utter control.

It was cricket at

its most compelling.

Cook surviving another big appeal.

England were jittery but then

in the nick of time,

the rain arrived, ending play

for the day but still leaving

the visitors facing

a huge batting challenge.

Shaun showed it is not only possible

to score runs out there,

a lot of their batters made starts

so it is not impossible

to score runs.

There's a long time

left in the game.

So, you know, it will be up to one

or two of our guys to go out

and make a big score,

not just that 40 or 50.

For England, then,

a frustrating and deflating day.

They now need to bat at their very

best if they are to save this

match and realistically,

save their Ashes hopes.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Adelaide.

A so-called super moon will be

visible across parts of the UK later

when it will appear larger

and brighter than normal.

The full moon in December,

traditionally called a Cold Moon,

will be closer to earth than usual

in its orbit.

It will be brightest at midnight

when it's at its highest

point above the horizon.

Worth staying up for.

You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel.

The next news on BBC

One is at 5.55pm.

Bye for now.