:00:08. > :00:12.Helping more young people from disadvantaged areas get
:00:13. > :00:15.to university is one of the Scottish government's top priorities.
:00:16. > :00:24.But according to research today, Scots from disadvantaged areas
:00:25. > :00:26.are four times less likely to go to university than those
:00:27. > :00:30.That's a bigger gap than anywhere else in the UK.
:00:31. > :00:37.Here's our education correspondent Jamie McIvor.
:00:38. > :00:44.The number of Scots going to university is at a record high. More
:00:45. > :00:49.youngsters from disadvantaged areas are starting to study for a degree.
:00:50. > :00:52.But this is not the whole story. Youngsters for the more prosperous
:00:53. > :00:58.parts of Scotland are four times more likely to go to university than
:00:59. > :01:02.those from the deprived areas. That gap is the widest in the UK. Or
:01:03. > :01:08.parts of the UK are still struggling with access, but also in Scotland,
:01:09. > :01:13.we have not made the same progress as in England in getting more of our
:01:14. > :01:16.poor people into university. The Scottish Government says closing the
:01:17. > :01:21.gap is one of its biggest names, but this will take time. There has been
:01:22. > :01:25.a historic problem with younger people from deprived backgrounds
:01:26. > :01:29.getting to university in Scotland. We are seeing significant
:01:30. > :01:33.improvements in that, and young people are now much more likely to
:01:34. > :01:37.go to university under the actions of the SNP government, than when we
:01:38. > :01:41.came to office in 2007. But there is much more to do on this subject.
:01:42. > :01:45.There is one big funds between Scotland and the rest of the UK -
:01:46. > :01:52.free choice in, a matter of principle which comes at a cost. --
:01:53. > :01:56.free tuition. It means there is a rigid limit on the number of
:01:57. > :01:59.university places open to Scots. So unless the number of places
:02:00. > :02:04.continues to rise, helping the disadvantaged could cause others to
:02:05. > :02:07.lose out. There is a priority which needs to be given to people from
:02:08. > :02:12.disadvantaged backgrounds. That is a challenge we take up Martin Wheatley
:02:13. > :02:15.to look at how to do that without displacing other deserving learners,
:02:16. > :02:22.many of them from deserving backgrounds. One reason for the
:02:23. > :02:26.difficulty is the role of colleges. More people aged under 30 in
:02:27. > :02:30.Scotland have been higher education than in England. But look at this.
:02:31. > :02:36.Here, about two in five went to college to first. In England, it is
:02:37. > :02:40.roughly one in eight. These students at city of Glasgow College are
:02:41. > :02:44.hoping to go on to do degrees. I'm hoping to do mechanical engineering
:02:45. > :02:47.at Strathclyde university. I have chosen this route because I think it
:02:48. > :02:52.is a good transition. There is no need to rush it. Going along the way
:02:53. > :02:59.is better than going the shorter way. Today's report is reminder that
:03:00. > :03:01.widening access is a complicated problem with no easy solutions.
:03:02. > :03:04.The family of a teenage girl from North Lanarkshire who died
:03:05. > :03:07.after falling ill during a PE lesson have praised school staff
:03:08. > :03:12.14-year-old Kiera Beagle died in hospital after being airlifted
:03:13. > :03:14.yesterday from Calderhead High School, in Shotts.
:03:15. > :03:29.Kiera Beagle has been described as a popular and valued member of the
:03:30. > :03:33.school community. Yesterday's afternoon during a PE lesson, she
:03:34. > :03:38.felt the floor in games hall. School staff used the defibrillator machine
:03:39. > :03:43.to administer several rounds of CPR in an attempt to resuscitate her.
:03:44. > :03:47.She was then flown to hospital in Glasgow but she died a short time
:03:48. > :03:54.later. The head teacher pupils have been paying their respects. It is a
:03:55. > :03:58.very, very rare event. A sense of sadness. Kiera was a popular girl in
:03:59. > :04:04.the school. Everybody knew her by her first name. She had a smile and
:04:05. > :04:08.a wave for everybody. She would speak to me in the morning coming in
:04:09. > :04:13.and waved to me on the way out at the end of the day. Kiera's
:04:14. > :04:17.grandmother has paid tribute to the school and the emergency services
:04:18. > :04:24.for, in her words, giving Kiera a fighting chance. An online
:04:25. > :04:29.fundraising page has been set up and nearly ?2000 has been raised for
:04:30. > :04:33.Kiera's family. It is a small community, only around 400 pupils,
:04:34. > :04:39.but everybody knows each other and all day today they have been paying
:04:40. > :04:45.their respects. Police Scotland say that Kiera's death is as of yet
:04:46. > :04:47.unexplained, but a postmortem will be carried out.
:04:48. > :04:49.Two people are being treated in hospital after an apparent
:04:50. > :04:51.explosion at a flat in West Dunbartonshire.
:04:52. > :04:53.Emergency services were called to Burn Street Lane in Bonhill
:04:54. > :04:55.at shortly before 3 o'clock this afternoon.
:04:56. > :05:02.One man is being treated for burns and another for smoke inhalation.
:05:03. > :05:05.Hundreds of North Sea workers are to be balloted for industrial
:05:06. > :05:12.Members of Unite, working for Wood Group on eight
:05:13. > :05:15.Shell installations, will vote on whether to strike.
:05:16. > :05:18.They claim they're facing a cut of up to 30%,
:05:19. > :05:22.The union says the cuts are unjustified.
:05:23. > :05:25.Wood Group says it is trying to safeguard the long-term
:05:26. > :05:31.The jury in the Liam Fee trial have been sent home and told to return
:05:32. > :05:34.on Monday to continue considering their verdict.
:05:35. > :05:37.The toddler's mother, Rachel Fee, and her partner,
:05:38. > :05:40.Nyomi Fee, deny murdering the two-year-old in March 2014.
:05:41. > :05:43.They also deny abusing two other children.
:05:44. > :05:56.With the jury now home for the weekend, this long-running trial at
:05:57. > :06:02.the High Court in Livingston will be pushed into e gee week. Yesterday's,
:06:03. > :06:07.the jury went out to consider their verdict at 10.40 this morning. Lord
:06:08. > :06:12.Burns said the jury should consider the evidence dispassionately and
:06:13. > :06:16.without emotion, although it was an emotional case. He said it was a
:06:17. > :06:18.circumstantial case, and that any inferences from the evidence is the
:06:19. > :06:23.jury should make should be reasonable and without speculation.
:06:24. > :06:27.The couple are accused of eight charges, including neglecting and
:06:28. > :06:31.murdering Liam and a categorical of abuse against two other boys over a
:06:32. > :06:35.two-year period. The crown case is that the couple engaged in an
:06:36. > :06:39.escalating pattern of cruelty towards Liam, which led to the young
:06:40. > :06:49.boys dying of a blow to the abdomen so severe that it led to his heart
:06:50. > :06:53.rupturing. The couple say it is another young child who was
:06:54. > :06:57.responsible for the's death. The jury deliberated over the course of
:06:58. > :07:03.the day before they were sent home. Nyomi turned to wave to her mother,
:07:04. > :07:06.as Lord Burns adjourned the case for the weekend, telling the jury they
:07:07. > :07:09.could reconvene on Monday at ten o'clock to continue with their
:07:10. > :07:14.deliberations. Rachel and Nyomi Fee denied murdering Liam, they blame
:07:15. > :07:17.his death on another child. They also deny the two abuse charges on
:07:18. > :07:18.other children. A train driver has been arrested
:07:19. > :07:21.for allegedly being intoxicated while on duty at Waverley
:07:22. > :07:23.Station in Edinburgh. The 54-year-old ScotRail employee
:07:24. > :07:25.was arrested just before He has since been removed
:07:26. > :07:31.from duties. It has emerged that a plane
:07:32. > :07:34.on approach to Glasgow Airport The incident happened two months ago
:07:35. > :07:40.over Clydebank when the pilot of a Boeing 737 reported seeing
:07:41. > :07:45.the drone about 100ft below him. The UK Airprox Board,
:07:46. > :07:49.which deals with near-miss incidents, said the pilot didn't
:07:50. > :07:52.have time to take avoiding action and there had been "a definite
:07:53. > :08:00.risk of collision". Let's get the weather
:08:01. > :08:14.outlook for the weekend. Good evening. Yes, a fair amount of
:08:15. > :08:20.settled weather to come over the weekend. Tonight will be dry with a
:08:21. > :08:22.fair amount of cloud around. I have some mist and fog for eastern areas.
:08:23. > :08:26.fair amount of cloud around. I have The clearest skies tonight will be
:08:27. > :08:30.across the north. Tomorrow morning, plenty of sunshine from the word go
:08:31. > :08:34.across the north of Scotland. Elsewhere, brightening up gradually.
:08:35. > :08:39.Around two o'clock in the afternoon we should begin to see some sunshine
:08:40. > :08:43.developing across the south-west. A fair amount of cloud across the
:08:44. > :08:52.Borders and Fife and Edinburgh and Tayside. Feeling quite chilly
:08:53. > :08:56.towards eastern coastal areas. Temperatures peaking at around 20-21
:08:57. > :09:01.Celsius, feeling very warm in the sunshine. Perhaps some heavy showers
:09:02. > :09:06.being sparked off by the heat across the north-west Highlands. Across the
:09:07. > :09:10.rest of the UK tomorrow afternoon, some showers across Northern Ireland
:09:11. > :09:13.and heavy, thundery downpours across the southern counties of England and
:09:14. > :09:19.Wales. Again, sparked off by the heat. Into the evening period,
:09:20. > :09:31.across Scotland, jump up showers across the north-west. Otherwise a
:09:32. > :09:35.dry, bright end to the day. On Sunday, highs of around 19-20. The
:09:36. > :09:41.greatest risk of showers on Sunday will be across the Highlands Bank
:09:42. > :09:45.Holiday Monday, still a degree of uncertainty regarding this area of
:09:46. > :09:50.low pressure. At the moment it looks like it will affect the south-east.
:09:51. > :09:56.For the most part, though, it is looking dry and bright. Rather grey
:09:57. > :09:58.and cool towards eastern coastal areas with the best of the sunshine
:09:59. > :10:00.in the west. From everyone on the late team
:10:01. > :10:03.here in Glasgow and around