24/08/2016 Reporting Scotland

The Scottish government is spending nearly ?15 billion

more than it's bringing in, in tax.

In the year 2015/16, public spending outpaced

Scotland's tax take, including oil, by ?14.8 billion.

Scotland's deficit was 9.5% of economic output.

This from our political editor Brian Taylor.

Cutting the cloth to suit, Nicola Sturgeon at Mitsubishi

But relies on the growth onshore, like this leather factory

in Glasgow which winds global orders from airlines and others.

The message of these figures is, the low

oil price and tax cuts to support the industry has had an impact.

But the fundamentals of the Scottish economy are sound and strong.

It has grown by more than the fall in oil

Let's make sure we have the best environment to continue to

grow our economy and that is why I am worried about Brexit, because it

will make the task so much more difficult.

But onshore growth was

almost wiped out by a sharp fall in the North Sea tax take.

Dry statistics which mask human costs.

Myself, like thousands of others, hundreds and thousands of others

I was made redundant at the end of May.

It was fantastic work, over the

years I learned so much and enjoyed working with many interesting

Then it came to an end, which was a big surprise.

But after decades in the oil industry, both

Roberts and Russell are retraining as teachers through this initiative

Everyone wants growth onshore and off, but the Scottish

Secretary said it was time to forget independence.

We have got the very challenging prospect in negotiating

We need to get the best possible deal for Scotland and the

But what these figures confirm, is the really

important union for everybody in Scotland is the union with the rest

of the United Kingdom, rather than being part

No one is giving up on the North Sea,

but with Scotland still in the red, the aim is to diversify and grow.

A BBC investigation has revealed that some of the most

vulnerable people in Scotland are being exploited

And that some landlords are continuing to work

in the Govanhill area of Glasgow despite being officially struck off.

Our political correspondent Lucy Adams reports.

Here in the heart of Nicola Sturgeon's constituency, communities

and cultures come together to create a neighbourhood unlike any other.

Decades of immigration from Ireland, south Asia and Eastern Europe have

Its problems can be found in other Scottish cities,

so what, if anything, makes this place different?

It has always been an area that attracted migrants, new

It has always been a reasonably priced area to buy

property in, if you were a first-time buyer.

Over the years, it has changed more into private rented

and I think that is where people, some of the landlords, not all, but

a lot of them are not willing to invest in the structure of the

Overcrowding and neglect have taken their toll, leading the

council and Scottish Government to launch a unique ?10 million project

to buy out properties from the worst landlords and take them into public

As you can see, this flat has been affected with rot, and we

are finding a number of properties like this.

Govanhill Housing Association is using the money to

This corner is at the heart of that project, aimed at tackling

But the BBC has learned that almost half of

the properties bought were from those who already owned the flat

they lived in, the very people the project hoped to keep.

The question is, whether this project in its

The Housing act was flawed because it didn't include

The idea was to attack the rogue landlords,

Without the compulsory purchase orders, and to

achieve the targets, they are turning to people who want to sell

Was the aim to buy up so many owner occupied

we are trying to do, we will support but going forward.

There are eight properties close, you need to have

As the housing project continues in Govanhill, the BBC has

learned a number of rogue landlords are continuing to practice, despite

And a number of cases are not being pursued because

witnesses are too afraid to speak up.

This man was deregistered as a landlord in May

after taking ?7,000 worth of deposits from tenants.

His letting agency was dissolved earlier

this year, but the BBC has learned the business in Govanhill has stayed

He has now been reported to prosecutors for alleged fraud, theft

and acting as a landlord while unregistered.

This man paid almost ?1400 up front to him for a flat he

The student from Bulgaria, one court case

against him, but still hasn't got his money back.

You are just a simple pawn and you cannot do anything about it.

It just felt unfair to me that someone could do this and get away

He told the BBC he denies the charges and is

Hundreds of families each year have suffered

from scams by a range of

landlords and from housing beneath a tolerable standard.

The worst ones are the ones where children are

New babies not having hot water, you just can't have that.

You hear the stories about children with

bedbugs and these landlords just raking it in and making this money

It is incredulous, there are these organisations working against it and

Much is being done in this extraordinary

neighbourhood to kick-start regeneration, but for now, children

continue to live in substandard housing, while so-called rogue

Tributes have been paid to a soldier who was shot dead

during a training exercise in Northumberland on Monday.

He's been named as 24-year-old Private Conor McPherson

from Paisley who was a member of The Black Watch and based

at Fort George in the Highlands, from where Jackie O'Brien reports.

Private Conor McPherson from Paisley was killed during night-time

training at a firing range within the vast Otterburn training

The young soldier was shot in the head and pronounced

In a tribute to the 24-year-old, his commanding officer

But his troupe rationed his third was to his parents and sister

and was part of a very close-knit family.

It is tragic for his family, friends and colleagues at Fort George,

who are brave men and women in the Armed Forces who put

Sometimes when they are on combat missions you can be prepared

for the difficult phone call or difficult announcement.

But when it is a training exercise it is even worse for the people

with him at the time and his family who have now lost a loved one.

The Black Watch soldiers seen here during a recent royal visit

left there for George base last week in these new armoured vehicles

to take part in the exercise, Wessex storm.

They have stopped that Otterburn for life firing practice

Outside Fort George today, life goes on as normal,

as tourists continue to visit this old fortification.

Within these walls where The Black Watch battalion is based,

there will be sadness and shock over the tragic death

These guys come in, they are not far away from the village.

The Army have a lot of questions to answer, why was this allowed

A major investigation is continuing to establish exactly what did happen

on Monday night, but at this stage, Northumbria Police said

they believed the soldier's death was a tragic accident.

The oil rig floated from rocks at Dalmore on the west side of Lewis

on Monday has arrived at a more sheltered anchorage at Broad Bay

It's expected to be secured on its anchors this evening.

The Deputy First Minister, who has been visiting Lewis,

has questioned why it was at sea two weeks ago when severe

The ferry transport connections were restricted and it was obvious that

was going to be a significant storm to contend with. There was a duty of

care for those responsible, presumably the owners of the oilrig,

to find out whether this was wise to undertake this operation.

The Scottish Government's controversial named person policy

will not be rolled out on the last day of August as planned.

The Education Secretary John Swinney says changes need to be made

after the Supreme Court ruled last month that some proposals breach

The system would appoint a named person for every child

Two-thirds of emergency service workers were punched, threatened

or spat on while they dealt with incidents over

A staff survey has revealed alcohol misuse is a contributory

factor in about half of all 999 calls.

It is the first time the police, fire and ambulance

services have come together to highlight the problem.

Let us get the latest weather forecasts now with Christopher.

It was a lovely day for many today but it will be cloudy and dry for

eastern parts. We have murky conditions around the East Coast and

that low cloud differential -- drifting in the central belt.

Elsewhere, dry. It is a dry start to the day tomorrow morning. Cloudy

start compared with this morning. The best of the sunshine is up

towards the north-east. The further east, a grey and cloudy start and

MacLeod could be to go. Generally dry for the Northern Isles. The

sunshine in the north-west and south-west eating into black cloud

but some patches could linger through parts of the central belt

where it could stay grey. South of the border, we have this weather

front with us. Hot weather down south and something fresher further

north. On it is a number of downpours. They could fringe into

the Borders later on. Further Northern Ireland, some light showers

as there will be across the Highlands. Generally it is a dry day

tomorrow. 20 Celsius and cooler weather cloud is. Here is that rain.

Looking ahead towards Friday and a weather system not too far away

producing showery outbreaks of rain. Elsewhere is drive for eastern

Scotland with the highest temperatures of 19 Celsius. Even in

the West, the cloud is thinning and breaking. Looking ahead towards the

first half of the weekend. Reasonably dry in Scotland but

across the Midlands, some pretty heavy rain likely to come our way

but the timing on it is open to doubt. We will keep you posted.

Our next update is during Breakfast at six twenty five tomorrow morning.

But, from everyone on the late team - goodnight.