26/01/2017 Reporting Scotland

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

Medical experts say child health in Scotland ranks among the worst

in Europe and they're calling for bold action to tackle it.

Also on the programme, we go to the former mining town

in Fife which could be used to pilot a radical new way to lift

More Jobcentres are to close as the Department for Work

and Pensions continues to streamline its

A month into the job, the SFA's new performance director appeals

for everyone in football to come together to improve

And written by a Scot for Eurovision but rejected by the UK -

now this song could become the entry for Romania.

Child health in Scotland ranks among the worst in Europe,

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health says poverty

remains the biggest cause and calls on the government to take "bold"

The Scottish Government says it's making progress,

Our Health Correspondent, Lisa Summers, is in Edinburgh

Sally, the city is a sea of liked this evening, but that hides the

fact that, in different neighbourhoods, sometimes right next

door to each other, there are huge discrepancies in terms of life

chances and health outcomes of the children that live there. This

report is wide-ranging and there is evidence of that gap between rich

and poor. The medical experts who wrote it say it is imperative that

we tackle child poverty if we are to improve the health and well-being of

our children. At this community centre, this group

is a valued weekly event. North Edinburgh faces problems with

poverty and deprivation but these parents are determined to give their

children the best start in life. We tried to cook from scratch. We are

trying to have water... Is not easy and, you know, you are working but

it didn't work out and now you are pregnant. It's not an easy situation

to be in. The report looks at child health across the UK and it doesn't

paint a good picture but, in Scotland, some of the statistics are

quite alarming. 210,000 children are living in poverty and around 28% of

children are obese or overweight. In areas of deprivation, around 30% of

women continued to smoke during pregnancy, but that figure falls to

around 4.5% in more wealthy areas. If a mother smokes, she's been

addicted from an early age she wants to quit but she lives on the eighth

floor of a sky rise, how can she possibly go outside to smoke was to

mock life can be compensated for issues such as alcohol abuse, drug

abuse, drug abuse domestic abuse. Added together, these make life very

difficult for a large proportion of communities. The report makes a

series of recommendations including extending the smoking ban to schools

and sports field, setting targets for other things. In Parliament

today, the First Minister was challenged on why the government

wasn't doing more after ten years in power. The report's view that, and I

quote, there is much that the Scottish Government is doing to

reduce the impact of inequality and there is much of Scotland that can

be celebrated and learned from. That said, I agree with the report that

there is much more required to be done and we cannot be complacent.

The government points to successes such as tackling smoking and

childcare provision so that parents can get back to work. It says it

will be introducing a child poverty Bill, but the authors of this report

say that children have to be at the heart of policy and decisions must

be made if we are to secure a healthier future for our children.

The authors of that report were clear that poverty

is the biggest cause of poor health in children.

Governments have long wrestled with how to solve

Today the Scottish Government told us that it is interested in a

radical solution. A basic universal income would mean a simple, flat

payment for all adults and an end to conditional benefits. It's a model

that's been tried around the world and one that Glasgow and Fife are

looking to pilot as a UK first. It would free up some time, because

my wife is on a permanent night shift...

Many argue that the tax and benefits system needs reform. Ian is in work

but on a low income. I currently work 18 to 36 hours per week and, if

universal basic income came in, I would love to work back in the

community, volunteering on the needs that I'm around.

With universal basic income, benefits would be replaced by a flat

rate that everybody could receive to ensure a basic standard of living.

The first national pilot started in Finland this year. They are paying a

monthly income of 560 euros to a select number of unemployed people.

It replaces their benefits and get paid in full, even if they find

work. It's an idea the Scottish Government is looking at. If this

looks like it can help reduce poverty and inequality, then we are

absolutely interested in it. But you need powers to use it as an

alternative in full to the benefit system or in part to the benefit

system, and you need greater taxation powers then we currently

have in Scotland to really make it work. Ministers say the pilots might

not work without Scotland having full control of benefits and tax,

but Glasgow and Fife say they plan full control of benefits and tax,

to go ahead regardless. There are ways and means of making chunks of

it happen, certainly at a pilot level in Scotland here and now. I

would hope that the Scottish Government would be interested in

taking part. Surely if we all had a guaranteed annual salary, we'd stop

working. I don't accept the premise that people are fundamentally lazy.

I think people by and large are looking to have the best impact on

their lives for their families and people with them that they can. This

former coal-mining community in the heart of Fife is now one of the most

deprived areas in Scotland. This weekend, international experts and

local supporters of basic income will be meeting here to discuss how

such a pilot might work. Many here welcome the idea. It sounds like a

good idea. How would we pay for it? I'm not sure. It's a fantastic idea,

to get rid of the stigma of being on benefits. It would save money with

administration fees and the idea of people sleeping rough in the street

and not having enough money to eat. For some in Fife, the pilot could

mean the opportunity to volunteer or get back into work, if the council

can find a way to afford it. Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside

another ?3.1 billion for expected settlements

with US authorities. It's over allegations that it

missold risky mortgages in the run-up to the financial

crisis in 2008. The bank - which is more than 70%

owned by taxpayers - is preparing to face a penalty

equivalent to at least ?8 billion. At Holyrood, there's a new row over

whether the Scottish Parliament The Scottish Secretary, David

Mundell, has promised that MSPs will be given a vote -

but not over the Bill to trigger Scottish ministers say

the latest round of talks This from our political

editor, Brian Taylor. At Westminster, the bill to trigger

Brexit is published. Mr Secretary, David Davis. What ultranationalist

MPs will challenge that bill because there is no detail yet in Scotland's

Parliament has not been consulted. Parliament has not been consulted.

-- nationalist MPs. But choppy waters at Holyrood, too. The

Scottish Secretary told Scottish ministers there would be no Holyrood

vote on that trip the bill, but he said MSPs would asked to consent to

the eventual great repeal bill, which will undertake detailed EU

powers and return them to the UK. The purpose of the great repeal Bill

includes incorporating into Scots law the laws which currently exist

in the EU so that, when we leave the EU, there isn't a black hole in

terms of the legal vacuum. I am sure that the parliament will want to

ensure that that happens here in Scotland, and that is one of the

main reasons that it's very important that we do get agreement

on the great repeal Bill. The EU currently controls issues ranging

from agriculture to workers' rights. The great repeal Bill would ensure

that those laws were made in force initially by bringing them back into

UK statute, but there's a problem. Should those powers go back to

Westminster, or should Hollywood be in charge of issues which are

already devolved? Take farming, a Hollywood power, but UK ministers

are pondering whether there should be a Common Agriculture Policy for

the UK once power is returned from Brussels. Or fishing, same question.

UK ministers suspect the industry might not entirely favour Holyrood

control. Then there is the one and only a question, the Belgian region

which held up a European trade deal with Canada. The Prime Minister has

made clear privately she doesn't want the same issue to a rise in

Brexit UK. David Mundell says that the Scottish cup and will get new

powers but Scottish ministers are suspicious. I think Theresa May's

vision of the UK is a narrow, hard Brexit, Tory vision with everything

centralised in London. That isn't the vision of the Scottish

Government and it isn't what the majority of Scottish people voted

for, so it isn't something we will agree to. There are policy questions

but it's also a question of strategy. The UK Government is

inviting the Scottish Parliament to talk about the details of life of

Brexit. Scottish ministers say, hang on, that presumes we are accepting

the shape, nature and outline of Brexit itself. Which they don't.

A senior judge has been appointed to review hate crime

Among the offences Lord Bracadale will consider is the controversial

He's also been asked to recommend any new categories of hate crime

which are not currently covered by the law, including age

and gender, and whether legislation on religious hate should be

The UK government has announced fresh plans to close a further

tranche of job centres and benefit offices in Scotland.

They say a fifth of the current office space in underused.

16 sites, from Benbecula to Edinburgh, have been

earmarked for closure, in addition to the fourteen closures

Amongst those just announced are six more job centres.

Where are the job centres which are going to close?

Broxburn, Grangemouth , Alexandria ,one in Edinburgh

The office that was used part time as a job centre in Benbecula is also

closing but the DWP say they use other buildings there for outreach

But in Port Glasgow for example people are going to have to go

to Greenock, and that isn't being well received by people

It's terrible. It should stay open because it's a lifeline for most

people. He is over 60 and he's got to go. I don't know how he will make

it. I can't afford it. It's going to cost me more money. I feel sorry for

those that do use it and now they'll have to travel to Greenock for the

job centre. It's more money to pay out when you don't have it for bus

fares. And this comes fairly soon

after an earlier number of closures were announced by the department

of work and pensions? That's right, in December, the DWP

announced that, as part of a streamlining exercise, they are

closing 14 sites in Scotland. Those 14 sites include, for example, eight

Glasgow job centres, which is half the job centres in Glasgow, so there

has been a fairly co-ordinated campaign that has got off the ground

in the last few weeks about that particular set of closures, and here

we have the new announcement coming on top of that. That has not gone

down at all well at Holyrood today, with the employability minister. I'm

annoyed about the process in a number of ways. This seems to have

been driven by the fact that the leases on particular buildings have

come to an end, and it seems they peculiar way to determine where

specific job centres should be located. I would have thought it

would be better to determine which communities need a job centre and

determined that there should be one located there, rather than deciding

that the lease is up so they are leaving that area. It could be that,

if you need to turn up for an appointment to do with a medical

assessment, all you need an interview, for example, the place

you would normally go for that might be changing as well. That is all

part of this change, so that could possibly cause inconvenience and

change for a lot of people who need to turn up on a regular basis. And

there are office functions as well that on moving, admin offices, and

the PCS union this evening said that they were already involved in

fighting the previous closures they had heard out and they will now step

that up, now that they have heard these closures, because they now

haven't got any guarantee of no compulsory redundancies, although

the DWP say that redundancies are not their intention.

You're watching BBC Reporting Scotland.

Medical experts say child health in Scotland ranks among

the worst in Europe, with poverty the main cause.

And still to come, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers

urges his side to make history and continue their unbeaten run.

NHS Grampian says it can't confirm when new dates

will be given to patients for cancelled operations.

The health board has postponed more than 100 procedures

since the beginning of November and says it's "an

The issue was raised at First Minister's Questions

earlier by Conservative leader Ruth Davidson.

She highlighted the case of a patient from Aberdeenshire who'd

He's been told further surgery has been cancelled.

Celtic could break their own record of 26 domestic matches unbeaten

They equalled the record set by their famous Lisbon Lions side

of the 1960s last night, with a victory over St Johnstone.

Is this side really the equal of the Lisbon Lions.

A new signing to further bolster the squad. A ?3 million signing from

Russia the latest addition to a side unbeat beaten in 26 domestic

matches. Victory over St Johnstone saw them draw level with the Lions'

record. To equal that, massive credit to the players and we cannot

finish, we have to keep pushing and set the record as high as we can. A

goal. The Lisbon Lions were an exceptional team, champions of

Europe. Now, Celtic are the best side in Scotland, but the football

landscape has changed. How should we look at this equalling of a record

from Celtic's 60s heyday. Who better to ask than a man who saw it all. If

you take Celtic's achievement this season in isolation it is

marvellous. Any team to be undefeated in that number of games

is superb. If you're going to compare eras, you put a different

perspective on it. Consider what Scottish football was like in 67.

Celtic won a European trophy. Rangers were in a European final.

Kilmarnock got to a final of the Fairs cup. That shows the breadth of

attainment in Scottish football. Now that does TNT exist at this moment

in time. What does exist is the chance for the Celtic team to now

eclipse the Lisbon Lions' domestic record. They will do that if they

avoid defeat to Hearts on Sunday. The Scottish FA's new performance

director says football needs radical change to safeguard the future

of clubs and improve the ailing Malky Mackay has been

in the job for a month and has been outlining his vision

to club owners and managers. He's also been speaking

to our senior football reporter, Chris McLaughlin,

who's here now. Scotland haven't qualified

for a major competition since the World Cup

in France back in 1998. In fact, we're on the verge

of failing to qualify for our tenth The SFA say, as a country,

we're not producing enough good young players, but they now

have a man they hope can This is Malky Mackay,

the new performance director. He's been hired to deliver something

called Project Brave. It's a document that has been

circulated to all the clubs in Scotland asking for their help

in changing things. This is to give youth players

the chance to play more games They're also proposing

so-called Colt teams. This would see the likes of Celtic

and Rangers possibly fielding second And perhaps the biggest change -

they're proposing to cut the number From now on, Mackay says they'll

concentrate only on the very best. We have got 29 academies for 5

million people. Germany went through a terrible time after the year 2000

and they have 80 million people and 50 academies. We need to change,

otherwise everything will just tick along. If something is tweaked, we

will just continue the slide. Is this bold enough and radical enough

given that Scottish football is in such a mess? If you're going from 29

academies down to a maximum of 16, so everybody bids for them, it might

be eight, whoever gets in, but the bar will be set high, make no

mistake. At the moment,

we are 67th in the world rankings - that's below the likes

of Uzbekistan and Panama. Malky Mackay is now on a charm

offensive to convince the clubs to back this plan and convince them,

this time, this plan will work. It has been announced the former

Labour MP Tam Dalziel has died at the age of 84. A statement said the

Parliamentary veteran who spent 43 years as an MP died after a short

illness. David Porter reports. A rarity if ever there was one. In

these days of complaints about similar politicians, Tam Dalziel was

a one off. Not many MPs had their own pride of peacocks! A 17th

century castle overlooking the Forth, but he was not your average

MP. He went to Eton and king's college Cambridge, where he was a

Tory. He did national service with the Royal Scots Greys. One of his

ancestors set up the regiment. But the conditions experienced by the

Scottish miners near his home were one of the reasons that brought him

into politics. I found the socialists both at home and at

Cambridge more congenial people. I suspect because I'm a rebel. He won

a by-election in West Lothian to embark on a unique political career,

marked by a willingness to ask difficult questions. You are doing

your job and you're going to be controversial. I know how much

effort has gone into five hundred entries. He never held ministerial

office and that rankled. Do you regret not having been offered

office? Yes. Over a 43 year career he was famous for his high profile

causes. A fully paid up member of the House of Commons awkward squad!

He campaigned against Margaret Thatcher and her Government over the

sinking of the Argentinian cruiser the Belgrano in the Falklands war.

They have told lies and we have to call them to account. There are

examples of... He campaigned against the first Gulf War and his

challenges even won the admiration of opponents. He asked the most

devastating question I have heard. I can't remember the substance, but

Margaret Thatcher had answered the question. And he stood up and said,

why? It is devastating and I have never seen anyone else do that. He

also fell out with his own party over military action. I'm angry with

him. Because of the Iraq war. I think going to war in Afghanistan

and the bombing of Yugoslavia was a horrendous mistake. On Lockerbie he

refused to blame the then Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi for

sanctioning the atrocity. But perhaps he is best known for his

opposition to devolution. We will go down a motorway to a separate state.

A journey on which many of us don't want to embark. He coined the West

Lothian question, concerning the rights of Scottish MPs to vote at

Westminster after devolution. He was a life long opponent of the Scottish

Parliament. The difficulty is that if you have an institution that

calls itself a Parliament, they want more and more and more. He was the

most fearless and the most... Independent-minded member of

Parliament in my lifetime in the post war years. He had a combination

of persistent and courtesy. He was the most relentlessly courteous

politician I have come across. What a man. We will never see his like

again. More's the pity. More Tees pity. In life he was always willing

to ruffle feathers if he saw fit. Our new current affairs

programme is live on BBC Two Here's Shereen Nanjiani

and Glenn Campbell to tell us Hello and welcome to our new home.

We are looking forward to our first show. And just like on your timeline

it is a mix of stories, which we hope will get you talking. Would you

know if your child has been prescribed anti-depressants. Hear

from a grieving mum on changing the law. And Judy Murray and train

spotting and Donald Trump. Now the weather. Well the weather Gods were

smiling on us today with some gorgeous sunshine. Very different

from south of the border. A bank of cold cloud, minus three in the south

coast. In Scotland it was 13 degrees. Plenty of sunshine too. At

the moment, it is dry across the country and long, clear spells

tonight leading to a widespread fos spread frost. To the west coast a

brisk wind. Western coasts and the far north around 4 Celsius. Inland

down to minus one and in rural parts minus three or four. We could see

some mist or fog patches in the morning. It will be a dry start, but

we have this front that will make its way towards us as we head

through tomorrow night. A dry start and a sunny start. Although cold and

crisp with a widespread frost. Staying that way for much of the

morning. In the afternoon cloud increasing across the west. For

daylight hours it will stay dry. In the afternoon cloudier in the south

ae and the Glasgow area. The best of the sunshine will be in eastern

areas. Temperatures of three or four Celsius inland. To the west coast

higher. Still breezy. And in the far north sunny skies and temperatures

around six or even. Orkney seeing some good sunny spells. More cloud

in Shetland. Still windy here. In the evening we will see that rain

pushing in to western areas. Showery in nature. The far north staying

dry. On Saturday we are seeing showers developing, pushing across

the country and then something brighter for the afternoon. Thank

you. from this year's

Celtic Connections festival. See highlights from

the opening concert,