:02:13. > :02:16.Somewhere in Lambeth in south London, the details of what
:02:17. > :02:20.detectives are calling an extraordinary case are slowly
:02:21. > :02:25.starting to emerge. The specific remain vague, police say details are
:02:26. > :02:29.being held back for operational reasons. What we do know is a couple
:02:30. > :02:33.both in their late 60s were arrested at that house in south London
:02:34. > :02:37.accused of keeping three women in a state of domestic slavery for
:02:38. > :02:42.decades. The victims, now in a safe place are said to be traumatised.
:02:43. > :02:47.The police are working out exactly what happened but say it is likely
:02:48. > :02:51.to be a long drawn out process. At a press conference at Scotland Yard
:02:52. > :02:54.the detective in charge of the case said the women all had controlled
:02:55. > :02:59.lives and spent most of it indoors, but did have some limited freedom.
:03:00. > :03:07.We have established that all three women were held in this situation
:03:08. > :03:12.for at least 30 years. They did have some controlled freedom. The Human
:03:13. > :03:21.Trafficking Unit of the Metropolitan Police deals with many cases of
:03:22. > :03:24.servitude and forced Labour. We have dealt with cases where someone has
:03:25. > :03:28.been held for ten years but never this long before. It was a number of
:03:29. > :03:32.documentaries like this one on forced marriages that appeared to
:03:33. > :03:37.trigger this news. One of the women in the house called the Freedom
:03:38. > :03:41.Charity after seeing it. Police found her location and all three
:03:42. > :03:48.women escaped. It has now emerged that a 69-year-old Malaysian woman,
:03:49. > :03:51.a 57-year-old Irish woman and 30-year-old British woman were
:03:52. > :03:54.rescued from the house a month ago. The 30-year-old has spent her whole
:03:55. > :03:59.life in captivity. Officers are trying to establish whether she was
:04:00. > :04:03.born in the house. All three women were highly traumatised and taken to
:04:04. > :04:09.place of safety where they remain. They are in the care of a charity
:04:10. > :04:14.who deal with people who are deeply traumatised. These are deeply
:04:15. > :04:18.traumatised people and it is essential that we work sensitively
:04:19. > :04:21.to establish the facts in this case. Detectives say although they are
:04:22. > :04:27.aware of cases of people being held for up to ten years, they have never
:04:28. > :04:30.seen a case quite like this before. The Metropolitan Police's Human
:04:31. > :04:35.Trafficking Units receives reports of about 250 offences each year.
:04:36. > :04:40.People working on the ground say the figure is rarely reported and the
:04:41. > :04:47.real figure could be much higher. The Global Slavery Index estimated
:04:48. > :04:54.between 4,200-4,600 slaves in the UK. Detectives at the National Crime
:04:55. > :04:57.Agency think they encountered 2,225 potential victims of human traffics
:04:58. > :05:04.in the UK. Exploitation for sex and work were most common amongst
:05:05. > :05:09.traffiked People. Sex and petty crime for children. Campaigners say
:05:10. > :05:12.human trafficking as a whole has been overlooked for too long in the
:05:13. > :05:17.UK. The Government now plans to introduce a modern slavery bill next
:05:18. > :05:20.year to tighten up the law. I can't go into details because I don't know
:05:21. > :05:24.them, I can give you some clues, first of all I think slavery will be
:05:25. > :05:29.made an offence with life imprisonment. Two is we are going to
:05:30. > :05:32.have a commissioner, like an ombudsman who will be charged
:05:33. > :05:35.directly to the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary to find out
:05:36. > :05:38.what's wrong in this country and make a report every year to
:05:39. > :05:43.parliament identifying what can be done to improve it. As far as I'm
:05:44. > :05:48.concerned one of the most important things is going to be chasing
:05:49. > :05:53.traffickers. Only 11 convictions for trafficking last year. 11, in this
:05:54. > :06:00.country. OK there were other prosecutions but only specifically
:06:01. > :06:05.for trafficking. The movement to abolish the slave trade in the 18th
:06:06. > :06:09.century started here at this church in Lambeth. That was more than two
:06:10. > :06:12.centuries ago, and feels like ancient history. Campaigners say
:06:13. > :06:19.today's news is a shocking reminder that it isn't. We have the founder
:06:20. > :06:25.of the Freedom Charity, which was first contacted by one of the women,
:06:26. > :06:32.and helped negotiate their release. Frank Field is the chair of the
:06:33. > :06:35.modern slavery review. Tell us how the women are? They are very
:06:36. > :06:39.distressed about what's happened to them. But they are making steady
:06:40. > :06:44.progress and I have spent a great deal of time with them now and I
:06:45. > :06:48.think you know they are making as much progress as we can expect them
:06:49. > :06:54.to. It has been very, very difficult for them. One of the women managed
:06:55. > :06:57.to leave a message on your charity's 24-hour helpline? They spoke to one
:06:58. > :07:00.of our professionals at the other end of the phone who realised the
:07:01. > :07:03.seriousness of the call and immediately we started very
:07:04. > :07:06.sensitive negotiations with the ladies about how we would manage to
:07:07. > :07:10.get them out and manage their escape. What did she say in that
:07:11. > :07:15.first call? The first call was actually saying that she had been
:07:16. > :07:19.held against her will, and said it could, over 30 years she had been
:07:20. > :07:23.held, and then it was a drip by drip kind of process of her revealing
:07:24. > :07:26.information, and she just had one point of contact within the charity.
:07:27. > :07:30.And it was pre-aranged when she would call and how it was done. It
:07:31. > :07:34.was done very sensitively, I'm really fraud of Freedom Charity for
:07:35. > :07:38.the work they have done over this. The woman was able to use a mobile
:07:39. > :07:43.phone or landline? She was able to use a phone but in a secret way. The
:07:44. > :07:46.people in the house didn't know she had that phone. You made
:07:47. > :07:51.arrangements to contact them when the owners of the house were out? It
:07:52. > :07:54.was done in a way so nobody would know they were on the phone. That
:07:55. > :07:59.had to be done in that way, it was very secretive to ensure they
:08:00. > :08:03.weren't putting any further danger on themselves at all. How alongside
:08:04. > :08:06.the police did you help these women escape? Basically it was a process
:08:07. > :08:12.of just over a week where there were lots of phone calls and they gained
:08:13. > :08:15.the trust of the charity and by doing that they felt confident
:08:16. > :08:18.enough to reveal enough information, and at this point we have contacted
:08:19. > :08:22.the police they have got involved as well. They were on stand by, it was
:08:23. > :08:27.a textbook rescue, they managed to walk out of the house. When the
:08:28. > :08:31.owners were not there, clearly. When nobody was around they managed to
:08:32. > :08:34.leave. You and the police were waiting for them? Yes, and we
:08:35. > :08:36.managed to get them to place of safety where they are safe and
:08:37. > :08:39.secure and they are getting everything they need right now. The
:08:40. > :08:43.long-term worry is how this obviously has affected them and what
:08:44. > :08:47.their futures will hold. They walked out with nothing? They have nothing
:08:48. > :08:50.now and as a charity we are trying to support them the best we can.
:08:51. > :08:58.What was that like when you first met them? It is incredibly humbling,
:08:59. > :09:04.they threw their arms around me and thanked me for the work we have
:09:05. > :09:07.done, and they met the person doing the initial negotiations with them.
:09:08. > :09:11.It was a very, very emotional time. When we got the message that they
:09:12. > :09:17.were outside the front door, the whole call centre erupted in cheers
:09:18. > :09:20.and there were tears and everyone was incredibly emotional to know
:09:21. > :09:24.that we had helped to rescue three ladies that had been held in such
:09:25. > :09:28.horrific conditions. Can you tell us about those conditions, what had
:09:29. > :09:32.they said been happening? They were held against their L the other
:09:33. > :09:38.details, because obviously it is -- their will, the other details
:09:39. > :09:41.obviously pending the trial, we have to be careful. In London you
:09:42. > :09:45.wouldn't expect this to be going on, but it does happen. Let me bring you
:09:46. > :09:48.in on that point, do you think this is part of the problem, we don't
:09:49. > :09:53.really understand what slavery is in this country? No, we were talking
:09:54. > :09:58.earlier about 200 years ago most people thought it was acceptable and
:09:59. > :10:02.slaves were in shackles. And the great campaign was to change public
:10:03. > :10:07.opinion that it wasn't acceptable. Now, apart from those who deal in
:10:08. > :10:11.this evil trade the rest of the country I would think would be
:10:12. > :10:16.appalled by thek cyst tense of this. What do you understand domestic
:10:17. > :10:22.slavery to mean? It is not just domestic slavery, there will be
:10:23. > :10:27.slavery in the sex trade, in labouring, in crime, in fraud and so
:10:28. > :10:32.on, which is highly organised, let's hope this is not actually part of
:10:33. > :10:37.one of those organised crime rings. Do you think this case emphasises
:10:38. > :10:44.the need for further legislation? I think when you had a clip earlier on
:10:45. > :10:49.from the police, they have made other statements saying what they
:10:50. > :10:54.are looking for in the Bill so it will be used better, without the
:10:55. > :10:56.uncertainties that there is at the moment. There is that angle but
:10:57. > :11:03.there is another important angle. Although it was 30 years in
:11:04. > :11:10.imprisonment this occurred in London. Where we have a dedicated
:11:11. > :11:14.group of policemen who are to fight and counter modern day slavery. They
:11:15. > :11:19.have spent quite a bit of time trying to build up contact and trust
:11:20. > :11:24.amongst non-Government organisations. Like the Freedom
:11:25. > :11:27.Charity which has been crucial. Now in other parts of the country there
:11:28. > :11:31.is not that trust. So there is both the importance of changing the law
:11:32. > :11:35.to make it more friendly to prosecution, and more friendly to
:11:36. > :11:39.the victims of slavery, but there is also the job of how do we change
:11:40. > :11:48.attitudes and policy that follows from that. One of the women who you
:11:49. > :11:54.helped rescue is 30. Was she born in that house? She spent all her life
:11:55. > :11:58.in captivity, basically. She was born there? We can't say if she was
:11:59. > :12:01.born there. But she has spent her whole life there and known nothing
:12:02. > :12:05.different. This is the first time she has had the freedom of movement
:12:06. > :12:09.in being able to use a phone and experience some basic things in life
:12:10. > :12:14.that all of us take for granted. Thank you both, sorry you wanted to
:12:15. > :12:18.say something, quick final point? Key point is that we began our
:12:19. > :12:23.evidence session its with victims of slavery and we will end with victims
:12:24. > :12:27.of slavery, already they have made this very powerful case to have a
:12:28. > :12:32.commission whose job is to raise public awareness. Of course there is
:12:33. > :12:35.a need to change the law and change how policy operates, but there is
:12:36. > :12:42.also a need for us to be more aware that amongst us, maybe not far from
:12:43. > :12:47.us are people held in slavery. Thank you. Still to come, eventually.
:12:48. > :12:52.Sometimes I press the button and I can see the lift coming but it goes
:12:53. > :12:55.right past me, why does the lift hate me. It knows other people have
:12:56. > :13:02.been waiting longer than you, what it is trying to do is minimise the
:13:03. > :13:07.waiting for everyone. The Government promised that privatising parts of
:13:08. > :13:10.the Probation Service would mean savings for tax-payers and new
:13:11. > :13:14.innovative ways of managing offenders in the community, while at
:13:15. > :13:21.the same time he pro-tectiing the public. A us -- pro-tectiing the --
:13:22. > :13:24.protecting the public. After a Newsnight investigation we have
:13:25. > :13:30.found that it is fraught with problems. Last year Serco won a ?35
:13:31. > :13:33.million project in London to manage criminals doing community service or
:13:34. > :13:45.payback. As we report, it is now seeming that the company can't
:13:46. > :13:50.always open. It is a difficult balancing act, helping offenders
:13:51. > :13:53.reintegrate while keeping the public safe. It is the role of the
:13:54. > :13:57.Probation Service to maintain that balance. But controversial plans to
:13:58. > :14:03.privatise parts of the service in England and Wales will threaten
:14:04. > :14:07.that, say critics. The first major area of probation work to be handed
:14:08. > :14:12.to the private sector has been in London, where we have discovered
:14:13. > :14:16.serious failings. In October last year Serco took over the programme
:14:17. > :14:25.for running community service across London in partnership with the
:14:26. > :14:28.London Probation Trust. We spoke to people inside Serco and the Trust
:14:29. > :14:32.and we have seen documentary evidence that raises concerns for
:14:33. > :14:36.the safety of the public, the welfare of offenders and the
:14:37. > :14:40.delivery of justice. The ?35 million contract Serco won means they now
:14:41. > :14:45.have responsibility for community service projects on the ground. The
:14:46. > :14:48.Probation Trust, which also tendered for the contract, still has
:14:49. > :14:52.responsibility for offenders, assessing risk, monitoring progress
:14:53. > :14:57.and imposing sanctions if offenders fail to comply with their sentence.
:14:58. > :15:01.The day-to-day supervision of offenders rests with Serco, it is
:15:02. > :15:05.this breaking up of the service that is causing concern. The Government
:15:06. > :15:10.ran a competition for community payback in London. It admitted bids
:15:11. > :15:14.from various organisations and ultimately Serco won with a
:15:15. > :15:18.sub-contract with London Probation Trust, the main problem is it was
:15:19. > :15:22.price competitive. Whoever bid and whatever the quality of the bids the
:15:23. > :15:26.cheapest would always win. Serco and London Probation came in the
:15:27. > :15:38.cheapest and now the cracks are starting to show. Newsnight has seen
:15:39. > :15:42.a series of e-mails from the London Probation Trust's issue log,
:15:43. > :15:47.offenders turning up to projects to find no superviser. Difficulty
:15:48. > :15:53.getting through to Serco's control centre and attendance records wrong
:15:54. > :15:59.and incomplete. Whistleblowers at Serco and the London Probation Trust
:16:00. > :16:05.blame 40% staff cuts for pressures on the service. In our opinion there
:16:06. > :16:10.are not enough projects or staff, the projects are oversubscribed and
:16:11. > :16:13.anything oversubscribed causes problems. This was the Government's
:16:14. > :16:17.blueprint for the future running of the Probation Service. They say the
:16:18. > :16:21.way community service was run before Serco took over, didn't always
:16:22. > :16:25.command public confidence. I will pay for success, I'm happy the
:16:26. > :16:28.organisations working with me do well financially, but only if they
:16:29. > :16:33.deliver results. The importance of keeping accurate records of
:16:34. > :16:39.attendance is crucial to the smooth running of the Probation Service, if
:16:40. > :16:43.an offender doesn't comply or fails in their community service officer,
:16:44. > :16:48.the probation officer only as a short window to get them before a
:16:49. > :16:53.judge. Without those documents the Probation Service can't help the
:16:54. > :16:58.court enforce justice. In August the database where offender records were
:16:59. > :17:01.stored and updated switched to a national database, during the
:17:02. > :17:06.changeover records couldn't be updated for a week. Instead paper
:17:07. > :17:10.records were kept, creating a backlog. We understand Serco
:17:11. > :17:16.promised to have this dealt with by the end of August. It wasn't. There
:17:17. > :17:21.was a backlog prior to that any way, obviously it did get worse, we did
:17:22. > :17:24.have a week with no computer system, we in probation have been expected
:17:25. > :17:30.to catch up with the missed work in that week. Serco just do not have
:17:31. > :17:36.the staff to do it. We have received documents showing that between the
:17:37. > :17:41.1st September and the 6th October, 1,362 records were not updated by
:17:42. > :17:45.Serco. The Ministry of Justice estimate that is there are around
:17:46. > :17:50.960 people starting community payback each month. It is not a drop
:17:51. > :17:54.in the ocean. There was a change in IT systems and because of the bid
:17:55. > :17:57.they put into the Ministry of Justice was so lean it doesn't
:17:58. > :18:01.provide for any contingencies at all. If there is a change of IT or
:18:02. > :18:07.you need extra resources they couldn't cope with it. This internal
:18:08. > :18:12.e-mail shows that Serco were so overwhelmed with the backlog of
:18:13. > :18:18.records, they asked London probation staff to assist with overtime. 362
:18:19. > :18:22.records were still out of date in October. It is difficult for
:18:23. > :18:26.probation officers to sanction offenders through called breach
:18:27. > :18:29.proceedings. With the breaches if people fail to offend they get two
:18:30. > :18:33.chances, the first time they get a warning letter, the second time they
:18:34. > :18:37.get a breach letter. We have to get that into court, into the
:18:38. > :18:41.prosecutors within eight days. That's the target. We're not getting
:18:42. > :18:45.the information on a lot of cases until possibly four, five days after
:18:46. > :18:48.they have missed. There are a lot of cases where there is no point even
:18:49. > :18:55.sending them back to court, because it is not going to go through the
:18:56. > :18:59.court procedures. This document shows since Serco took over the
:19:00. > :19:02.contract, there have been consistent complaints of inaccurate and late
:19:03. > :19:07.reporting, peaking in October this year. We have seen evidence showing
:19:08. > :19:14.that right up until last week information collected by Serco used
:19:15. > :19:18.to pend offenders back to court was incorrect. In a small number of
:19:19. > :19:21.cases we are aware of, offenders have been sent back to court or
:19:22. > :19:25.failing to do community service, only for it to be withdrawn or
:19:26. > :19:29.thrown out of court, because the information was wrong. We're finding
:19:30. > :19:33.it increasingly hard to enforce justice in these cases, because the
:19:34. > :19:37.quality of the evidence often isn't there. We have to be sure that if
:19:38. > :19:42.we're taking breach action against an offender that we have a robust
:19:43. > :19:45.case. We are relying on Serco instead of our own information, that
:19:46. > :19:51.information is often incomplete or late or of dubious quality. What's
:19:52. > :19:55.more we have seen e-mails suggesting that prisoners on curfew who have
:19:56. > :19:59.been electronically tagged may not have been monitored properly in one
:20:00. > :20:02.borough of London, raising questions as to whether probation officers
:20:03. > :20:06.knew where offenders had been. This is not part of the community service
:20:07. > :20:12.contract, but the e-mail suggests that Serco had been sending
:20:13. > :20:17.incidents of curfew breaches to the wrong mailbox at the probation trust
:20:18. > :20:21.from September to October. The Ministry of Justice say they are
:20:22. > :20:26.investigating. When Serco was awarded the contract last year, the
:20:27. > :20:30.Chief Inspector of probation said it would be regrettable if work done
:20:31. > :20:33.with offenders became fragments with more providers being involved. She
:20:34. > :20:38.warrant it could increase the potential for communication
:20:39. > :20:44.problems. The The one we are looking at is information accuracy and
:20:45. > :20:49.timeliness... We took our evidence to a former Chief Inspector of
:20:50. > :20:54.probation. What I have seen in your evidence is a pattern of inaccuracy,
:20:55. > :20:58.it is difficult to judge as to whether these are isolated cases or
:20:59. > :21:01.whether they are getting better or worse, but you have shown me
:21:02. > :21:07.sufficient material that it calls in, it raises serious questions. In
:21:08. > :21:11.my judgment there is a sufficient quantity of evidence here for
:21:12. > :21:20.someone to be taking a very close look at it. The evidence we
:21:21. > :21:25.discovered shows a private company has struggled to keep on top key
:21:26. > :21:28.information, and they haven't been monitoring some offenders properly.
:21:29. > :21:32.Those in the service say the breaking up of the community payback
:21:33. > :21:35.scheme in London has had real consequences for the delivery of
:21:36. > :21:38.justice. It comes as questions are already being asked about the
:21:39. > :21:41.Government's wider plans for the privatisation of the Probation
:21:42. > :23:07.Service. We contacted Serco they gave us this
:23:08. > :23:12.What are the implications for the Government's plans to hand control
:23:13. > :23:16.of Probation Services to more private firms and charters across
:23:17. > :23:21.the country. Joining me Sue Hall chair of the Probation Chiefs
:23:22. > :23:26.Association, and Max Chambers from the Policy Exchange think-tank. Sue
:23:27. > :23:35.do you think there is a problem? Clearly the Allegations we have
:23:36. > :23:39.heard are serious. It could be teething problems then? We are
:23:40. > :23:46.talking about a contract 15 months in and inherited from London
:23:47. > :23:50.probation trust as a going concern. Community payback in London is one
:23:51. > :23:55.of 35 community payback schemes and the Government's plans will see next
:23:56. > :23:59.year, not just 34 other community payback schemes, put out to
:24:00. > :24:04.competition, but actually a much wider array of work with offenders,
:24:05. > :24:09.probably about 70% of the case load that probation currently manages. To
:24:10. > :24:13.move into that order of competition on the basis of very little
:24:14. > :24:18.experience, very little evidence of the private sector being able to
:24:19. > :24:24.manage probation work, competently, in the community, feels rash. Do you
:24:25. > :24:28.think there is a problem? I'm not quite sure having just seen the
:24:29. > :24:32.video how much that shows us about the wider implications. It doesn't
:24:33. > :24:38.look like public safety was put at risk at all in the video. And what
:24:39. > :24:42.we can be sure of as far as I'm aware, London Probation Trust and
:24:43. > :24:47.the Ministry of Justice are pretty happy with the contract being run.
:24:48. > :24:51.If supervision is deteriorating of the offenders doing the community
:24:52. > :24:55.payback, potentially those offenders could be reoffending but no-one
:24:56. > :25:00.would know? I think people would know, I mean reoffending rates are
:25:01. > :25:06.published and are very transparent, published by the Ministry of
:25:07. > :25:11.Justice. But the superviser, circumstance co-won't know -- Serco
:25:12. > :25:14.wouldn't know? I don't think there is evidence of supervision
:25:15. > :25:17.deteriorating and Serco as far as I'm aware are meeting and exceeding
:25:18. > :25:21.their performance targets. I think it is difficult to draw wider
:25:22. > :25:25.implications about whether the Government's reform, about reducing
:25:26. > :25:30.reoffending not just about community payback, it is hard to draw those
:25:31. > :25:34.links on the basis of an investigation that was
:25:35. > :25:37.whistleblowers rather than the people managing the service. The
:25:38. > :25:42.head of the London Probation Trust hasn't given you an interview, I'm
:25:43. > :25:47.not sure if she's happy with the service. My understanding is MOJ and
:25:48. > :25:53.the London Probation Service are happy with the contract as it is
:25:54. > :25:59.run. It is with an efficiency of 37% as well as maintaining a good
:26:00. > :26:03.standard of service. If we talk about reducing reoffending, case
:26:04. > :26:07.loads supervised by the Probation Service at the moment have a good
:26:08. > :26:11.track record of reducing reoffending. We have seen rates come
:26:12. > :26:14.down over the last ten years. The rational of privatising the
:26:15. > :26:18.Probation Service isn't because probation is a failing service.
:26:19. > :26:22.There is a group of offenders within the system, the short-term prisoners
:26:23. > :26:27.that currently are not supervised. It seems that the Government has
:26:28. > :26:30.made the leap from need to go provide services from that Europe to
:26:31. > :26:37.dismantling the Probation Service in order to provide the funding to do
:26:38. > :26:44.so. That's a really huge leap, it is like bedding the farm on the throw
:26:45. > :26:48.of a dice, that by doing this massive outsourcing you will provide
:26:49. > :26:51.better result I don't think there is the evidence around it at the
:26:52. > :26:55.moment, to give us confidence that will be so. In terms of the evidence
:26:56. > :26:58.we have got two schemes that are running are payments by results
:26:59. > :27:02.schemes. The Government is setting a clear objective and saying if you
:27:03. > :27:06.cut reoffending we will pay you in full. If you don't we won't. That is
:27:07. > :27:10.the incentive that Policy Exchange and the Government have been talking
:27:11. > :27:18.about. One of those schemes in pet borrow, the reoffending results of
:27:19. > :27:21.the cohort are 50 lower than the national -- 50% lower than the
:27:22. > :27:26.national average. In Peterborough there is 15 months yet to run of
:27:27. > :27:31.that, very, very early results on a very small sample. Can I put the
:27:32. > :27:37.point that the NAPA representative made in the film, it is increasingly
:27:38. > :27:42.hard enforce justice. Do you accept that? I don't accept that, I don't
:27:43. > :27:47.think we saw from the IT issues that all probation trusts were having
:27:48. > :27:50.that there is necessarily an issue around enforcing justice that is
:27:51. > :27:55.exclusive to the private sector. I don't think that the investigation
:27:56. > :28:00.proved that at all. What we're talking about is not just the
:28:01. > :28:03.running of community payback but the running of probation supervision in
:28:04. > :28:07.the round. What the Government is saying that the Probation Service
:28:08. > :28:11.has not performed well enough in terms of producing reoffending. The
:28:12. > :28:15.Government isn't saying that? The Government has said that. The
:28:16. > :28:19.Government is saying that reoffending rates in relation to
:28:20. > :28:26.under 12-month prisoners are too high, whom the Probation Service
:28:27. > :28:32.doesn't supervise. They are suggest issing you do it in a different way,
:28:33. > :28:36.and this contract costs tax-payers' ?25 million. If you were to
:28:37. > :28:40.extrapolate from the costs of the London pay grabbing contract to how
:28:41. > :28:44.much you would say down the country you would be Shahhedly mistaken.
:28:45. > :28:47.There is -- you would be sadly mistaken. You couldn't make those
:28:48. > :28:51.levels of savings across the country. Plans for privatisation
:28:52. > :28:57.which are ill thought through, are being driven into quickly, that puts
:28:58. > :29:09.the public at risk. If you have 70% of the case load and talking 190
:29:10. > :29:13.,000, supervised by the private sector, models untried and tested
:29:14. > :29:20.where there are even teething problems will put the public at
:29:21. > :29:28.risk. I think the reforms are not being of A rushed way. There are
:29:29. > :29:32.thousands of offenders not getting correct supervision and people
:29:33. > :29:36.reoffending, we need reforms and we hope the Government will see them
:29:37. > :29:39.through. P tonight the Ministry of Justice released a statement, public
:29:40. > :29:45.safety has not been compromised in the delivery of this contract which
:29:46. > :29:50.has provided one million hours of offender labour for London. Serco's
:29:51. > :29:55.performance is improving month on month, they are meeting key targets
:29:56. > :30:00.and outperforming the national average. 80% of offenders are now
:30:01. > :30:08.successfully completing payback, # % above national average. All
:30:09. > :30:13.offenders are deeply assessed. July figures show 90% of breach cases
:30:14. > :30:18.were followed through by enforcement action by Serco. They are offering
:30:19. > :30:23.enough placements to meet court demands in London. With innovative
:30:24. > :30:27.ways of working there were some bedding issues at the initial stage
:30:28. > :30:32.we are satisfied these have been resolved. We have asked the
:30:33. > :30:35.probation trust to inform us where they have not received correct
:30:36. > :30:40.paperwork that may have brought breached action. We will follow that
:30:41. > :30:44.up with Serbing KOECHLT The Ministry of Justice holds contracts with
:30:45. > :31:00.Serco and G 4. S and their investigation is on going.
:31:01. > :31:05.How good a footballer was buy Lione Messi, top flight clubs are vying to
:31:06. > :31:09.sign up an eight-year-old from Argentina, he has been watched on
:31:10. > :31:13.social media from around the world. How can the sporting skills shown by
:31:14. > :31:20.a primary school child be any measure of what sort of a footballer
:31:21. > :31:32.he will be like as an adult. We have more. This is Claudio Nachafiel,
:31:33. > :31:40.from Argentina and eight years old. Top clubs around the world are
:31:41. > :31:46.fighting to sign him. And who can blame them. Prodigies have
:31:47. > :31:51.mesmerised the world for centuries. The idea of young children zapped
:31:52. > :31:57.with genius from birth. These kids from the Westway Sports Club in
:31:58. > :32:05.London are hoping to be the next big thing in football. Does preordained
:32:06. > :32:12.genius exist and why do so many called prodigies burn out. Ed Smith
:32:13. > :32:16.is a former England international cricketer. Expectation works against
:32:17. > :32:22.the enjoyment in sport, which is enjoyment and joy. Kids who mature
:32:23. > :32:26.too early in expressing their talent don't develop the psychological
:32:27. > :32:30.robustness to enable them to actually have that great career,
:32:31. > :32:35.that perhaps they seemed predestined for. That is why there is evidence,
:32:36. > :32:40.I think, that the late run can you preferable. In my own cricket career
:32:41. > :32:44.I saw lots of people earmarked for greatness, get gradually overtaken
:32:45. > :32:52.by people who were mentally better equipped for life at the top. These
:32:53. > :32:57.kids are aiming high and the coaches are hoping to produce the next
:32:58. > :33:04.sensation. Boys don't worry, heads up, come on. Of course some
:33:05. > :33:13.supertalents like Lionel Messi, signed by Barcelona at 13, and Tiger
:33:14. > :33:16.Woods, were standing out early. Others like Gary Neville flourished
:33:17. > :33:24.rather later. Development seems to have a range of different at that
:33:25. > :33:32.ject trees. Kevin Pietersen who plays his whatever number game, at
:33:33. > :33:35.13 he was an offspinner Number Ten who was struggling to get into a
:33:36. > :33:38.side in South Africa. There was nothing in his childhood that
:33:39. > :33:43.suggested he was going to become one of the great batsmen of the modern
:33:44. > :33:47.era. But it was his ability to make up his own mind and his ability to
:33:48. > :33:51.be self-taught and not to have a track record of people having
:33:52. > :33:56.tinkered with him too much, that enabled him, when he did, if you
:33:57. > :34:00.like, get seized by ambition, to actually be in an optimal position
:34:01. > :34:04.to make the most of it. Scouting operations have become increasingly
:34:05. > :34:09.sophisticated. Premier League clubs are scrutinising players, deploying
:34:10. > :34:13.data analysis and psychometrics on children as young as ten. The
:34:14. > :34:21.pressure is ratcheting up, on players and parents. You can have a
:34:22. > :34:25.10, 11, 12-year-old child who suddenly has up to that period had
:34:26. > :34:32.their parents to guide them. All of a sudden you have agents involved.
:34:33. > :34:37.You have got coach, you have got nutritionists and ologyists or
:34:38. > :34:43.whatever, they all have an interest in that child. It changes the whole
:34:44. > :34:51.dynamic. It goes from being something that is fun and enjoyable
:34:52. > :34:55.and something to kind of do with your friends to being a full-time
:34:56. > :35:00.profession. The temptation, all too often is to push too hard. But the
:35:01. > :35:04.danger is if the young footballer or violinist is practising not for its
:35:05. > :35:08.own sake but to please a parent or coach, they are far more likely to
:35:09. > :35:12.burn out. The key in psychological terms is for the young performer,
:35:13. > :35:20.the aspiring champion to care about what they are doing from the inside.
:35:21. > :35:24.Even more the super talented excellence is a long journey.
:35:25. > :35:31.Resilience is probably more important than early promise. But if
:35:32. > :35:40.prodigies retain their joy and with a bit of God fortune, anything is
:35:41. > :35:47.possible. David Cameron showed how much he cared about the environment
:35:48. > :35:53.in 2006 by cavorting with huskies. The Hundred reports that David
:35:54. > :36:00.Cameron has told aides to "get rid of the green crap", is this the sign
:36:01. > :36:05.of David Cameron the moderniser or the right-wing populisim. We have
:36:06. > :36:10.our guests with us to discuss this. What did Mr Cameron mean? That he's
:36:11. > :36:15.realising that the priorities he outlined back in 2006 aren't really
:36:16. > :36:19.relevant now and the green stuff has become a lot more expensive and
:36:20. > :36:24.causing real pain in people's household budgets. His aim as Prime
:36:25. > :36:27.Minister is to get cheap not green energy. He has made this choice. Are
:36:28. > :36:32.you worried about the shift? It doesn't sound to me like the sorts
:36:33. > :36:38.of worse that David Cameron uses, it sound much more like Linton Crosby.
:36:39. > :36:42.You have to remember that there is nothing unconservative about
:36:43. > :36:46.spending a small sum of money and helping the oldest and poorest to
:36:47. > :36:50.insulate their homes. It is Conservative to support injuries
:36:51. > :36:58.thriving throughout the recession, and now beg bigger than the car and
:36:59. > :37:03.telecoms industries combined. Anti-green is antigrowth. In an age
:37:04. > :37:08.where politicians are not trusted, it would be mad for one so known for
:37:09. > :37:13.green policies to do a bolt. David Cameron is not very coherent? It is
:37:14. > :37:17.when the facts change. You change your mind. The energy debate has
:37:18. > :37:22.transformed since he got on the husky dogs a while ago. American is
:37:23. > :37:26.cutting down its carbon by going for fracking, we should do that here.
:37:27. > :37:30.Has it transformed because of what Ed Miliband said about freezing
:37:31. > :37:35.energy prices? He was able to call out David Cameron and his energy
:37:36. > :37:40.policies for jacking up bills. That is completely unacceptable, of
:37:41. > :37:44.course Ed Miliband's bill but David Cameron is realising he has been
:37:45. > :37:49.mugged by reality. The experience of Government has led him to revise
:37:50. > :37:53.what was plan for getting elected, didn't quite work. In office he's
:37:54. > :37:58.pivoting back, it is not so much moving to the right but to the
:37:59. > :38:02.people. thepeople. 'S pragmatist? No, what you are seeing is he has
:38:03. > :38:06.come under a lot of pressure from UKIP and certain sections of his own
:38:07. > :38:10.party. There has been a reductive tendency within Government, which is
:38:11. > :38:16.to go for the old fashioned policies that failed in the past under Hague
:38:17. > :38:21.and Michael Howard, which is a narrow and fearful agenda which is
:38:22. > :38:27.alienating young people and female voters, it isn't recruiting ethnic
:38:28. > :38:31.minorities. If he's dropping the "green crap" won't that chime to
:38:32. > :38:35.voters rather than undermining them?. It is undermining growth, why
:38:36. > :38:39.would you do that because it makes no sense whatsoever. People are
:38:40. > :38:42.worried about bills at the end of the month. One of the failures they
:38:43. > :38:46.have is to tackle the big corporates. We have a problem with
:38:47. > :38:51.capitalism in this country, not because there is too much, but there
:38:52. > :38:54.is too little. We have crony capitalism able to get away with too
:38:55. > :38:58.much. It is failure of regulation and complete myth to think that
:38:59. > :39:02.these ideas are saying to concern energy which are very, very
:39:03. > :39:09.conservative are the problem. That is the myth. Green policies have run
:39:10. > :39:14.Germany into the found, it wasn't the same as we thought it was, we
:39:15. > :39:24.does what any politician would do, chining his mind and quick. Is it a
:39:25. > :39:29.vote winner? It is, he is giving help to those who need it most. The
:39:30. > :39:34.polls show where they are at the moment isn't working. The polls show
:39:35. > :39:41.if you reduce a lot of things like this and you appeal to the moderate
:39:42. > :39:45.basis little it is over. The Conservative Party are challenged
:39:46. > :39:48.because they are not winning over the younger voters because the brand
:39:49. > :39:52.is so damaged. We weren't transformed in the election and
:39:53. > :39:59.still not now. Theseth will do more damage to the Conservatives. The
:40:00. > :40:03.Queen visited the shard in London today. We can assume she look a lift
:40:04. > :40:10.to the top and probably didn't have to wait for it. Nor did she have to
:40:11. > :40:14.wait for the lift when she visited BBC New Broadcasting House, and just
:40:15. > :40:18.as well, staff have been grumbling about waiting times for the lifts
:40:19. > :40:22.here since we move in. How many minutes do we average waiting for
:40:23. > :40:27.lifts. We have been hanging around in one or two lift lobbies for a few
:40:28. > :40:40.hours of his life, he won't be getting back. This report contains
:40:41. > :40:44.some strobing. The world is increasingly an urban place, more
:40:45. > :40:49.than half our planet's citizens live in cities. These cities are engines
:40:50. > :40:55.of innovation and economic activity, they can be good for the planet too.
:40:56. > :40:59.Because densely-packed cities thrive on bus, trains and subway systems
:41:00. > :41:04.rather than cars. But all of this would be impossible without one of
:41:05. > :41:11.the most underrated inventions of the past two centuries. It is the
:41:12. > :41:14.lift, and if you will forgive a little self-obsession here at
:41:15. > :41:19.Newsnight, we have been thinking a lot about lifts recently, we have
:41:20. > :41:23.moved to New Broadcasting House, a brand new building, but there is a
:41:24. > :41:28.problem with the lifts. It takes a long time for them to arrive. When
:41:29. > :41:39.they do they are packed like sardines and you can't get on.
:41:40. > :41:55.So how do engineers decide how many lifts go into a building, and how it
:41:56. > :41:59.works. We have an office building where with people all wanting to get
:42:00. > :42:04.to their desk. They are at work and want to get there. The hotel has
:42:05. > :42:09.different timing periods and might need more. Why not put more lifts in
:42:10. > :42:14.buildings so people don't have to wait any longer? The more you have,
:42:15. > :42:17.they take up more space, that is less space for the office and less
:42:18. > :42:22.rent for the landlord. There is more to the business of elevatoring than
:42:23. > :42:27.choosing right number of lifts. That is not a bad start. A modern
:42:28. > :42:31.elevator installation uses computer, monitoring, every lift call putten
:42:32. > :42:37.to and co-ordinating the response of every lift in the building. That may
:42:38. > :42:43.not sound like the world's toughest problem, there is a lot for the
:42:44. > :42:47.computer to think about. In a tall building with 20 lift call buttons
:42:48. > :42:52.pressed and eight lifts there are over a billion, billion different
:42:53. > :42:58.situation for the computer to send the lifts off to respond. Since
:42:59. > :43:02.nobody likes a sluggish lift, it all has to be done in a 50th of a
:43:03. > :43:10.second. If only there was somebody we could turn to? Somebody who could
:43:11. > :43:20.solve all of our elevator-based problems. Big or small. Dear lift
:43:21. > :43:24.doctor, sometimes I press the button and I can see the lift coming but it
:43:25. > :43:28.goes right past me, why does the lift hate me. The computer sees all
:43:29. > :43:32.the calls and all the lifts and it knows there might be some other
:43:33. > :43:38.people who have been waiting longer than you. It's trying to minimise
:43:39. > :43:43.the waiting for everyone, while you wait for the next lift overall it
:43:44. > :43:46.might be better for everyone. Dear lift doctor, I work in a busy
:43:47. > :43:52.building, in the morning everyone comes in at the same time and we are
:43:53. > :43:57.all hanging around in the lobby for an occasional lift to arrive and a
:43:58. > :44:04.few us to get in. Help us. You have only one button on the ground floor,
:44:05. > :44:08.so only one lift is sent and the others are brought back. It is good
:44:09. > :44:19.to make sure all the cars are brought back. Dear lift doctor, the
:44:20. > :44:26.problem is with the cafe and back. What can you do? You can give free
:44:27. > :44:31.tea and coffee on the floors, then people don't make extra trips to the
:44:32. > :44:36.cafeteri It is annoying to wait an extra minute for a lift. But a big
:44:37. > :44:43.building with a poorly designed elevator system would keep you
:44:44. > :44:49.longer than that. Five, ten minutes in a scraper the lifts have to be
:44:50. > :44:57.perfect. Modern skyscrapers use a destination control system. We swipe
:44:58. > :45:03.the card, enter our destination. Which in English you tell the
:45:04. > :45:08.elevator the floor you need and it assigns you the correct elevator.
:45:09. > :45:13.The system will group travellers together to a set number of floors.
:45:14. > :45:19.So the benefits system is it will travel to that certain number of
:45:20. > :45:22.floors without stopping everywhere. These are double-decker elevators is
:45:23. > :45:36.that common snooty The new technology? Twin elevators,
:45:37. > :45:40.similar to this but the cars are separated in the same cat but one
:45:41. > :45:47.car operating independently from the other car. Same principle, moves
:45:48. > :45:52.lots of people. One final element for the conscientious elevator
:45:53. > :46:03.scientist to consider. These lifts aren't moving cargo, they are moving
:46:04. > :46:08.people. And that means trouble. The BBC building managers at New
:46:09. > :46:12.Broadcasting House complain there is nothing wrong with the lifts, it is
:46:13. > :46:16.just that the users are doing it wrong. Apparently we overuse some
:46:17. > :46:21.banks of elevators and underuse others. In the future our robot
:46:22. > :46:26.over-Lords will take care of all of that. It may be that the security
:46:27. > :46:31.card that you carry to get into the building will already have your
:46:32. > :46:37.preferred floor coated into it, when you swipe your card through whatever
:46:38. > :46:42.entry device like a turnstile. The turnstile will have a screen
:46:43. > :46:47.embedded in it. You walk over to the elevator bank and get in, you won't
:46:48. > :46:50.have to touch anything. Cities are getting bigger, buildings getting
:46:51. > :46:56.taller, computers are getting faster and people are getting busier. That
:46:57. > :47:04.can only mean one thing, the dawn of the new age of the intelligence
:47:05. > :47:06.elevator is only just beginning. That's all for this evening, good