:01:23. > :01:26.In the East Midlands: As the number of hospital admissions for alcohol
:01:26. > :01:29.related illnesses soar, are we drinking too much? And it's one of
:01:29. > :01:39.the biggest economies in the world, with strong links to the East
:01:39. > :01:39.
:01:39. > :38:17.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2198 seconds
:38:17. > :38:23.Midlands - but should we be giving In the East Midlands, are we
:38:23. > :38:27.drinking too much? I've think it is a middle-aged age group who do
:38:27. > :38:32.their shopping in the supermarket, get Barrar a whole much more
:38:32. > :38:36.cheaply than they did in the past, and drink in the evening to relax.
:38:36. > :38:41.One of the biggest economies in the world, with strong links to the
:38:41. > :38:49.East Midlands, should we be giving aid to India? I stayed it should be
:38:49. > :38:52.stopped. It is not really helping this country, trader, yes, aid, no.
:38:52. > :38:55.Hello, I'm Marie Ashby. Joining me this week, the Conservative MP for
:38:55. > :38:58.Bosworth David Tredinnick, and Labour's MP for Bassetlaw John Mann.
:38:58. > :39:00.The head of East Midlands Ambulance Service was in Westminster this
:39:00. > :39:03.week discussing radical changes to the service with Conservative MPs.
:39:03. > :39:06.It's planning to cut 53 stations around the region and replace them
:39:06. > :39:09.with 13 hubs. Phil Milligan, the ambulance service chief executive,
:39:09. > :39:13.told MPs it would improve response times.
:39:13. > :39:16.There's been a lot of concern over this - this week we heard about an
:39:16. > :39:19.eighty four year old woman in Leicestershire who had to wait 3
:39:19. > :39:28.hours for an ambulance after a fall outside her home. Do you think the
:39:28. > :39:37.changes will improve things? No, I don't. We are not prepared to
:39:37. > :39:44.accept it. We have put in about 20,000 submissions same we are not
:39:44. > :39:49.prepared to lose our ambulance stations, with a vast array rethink,
:39:49. > :39:57.-- we have asked for a rethink. We are not prepared to accept anything
:39:57. > :40:02.less. I am getting a clear indication that they we think is
:40:02. > :40:08.going on. They have not been able to argue against the points we have
:40:08. > :40:17.made, we have pointed out that our ambulances go north to Doncaster or
:40:17. > :40:21.and Sheffield. There is no logic in having a base that we don't news. I
:40:21. > :40:31.think they raised a rethink. I think they understand that in rural
:40:31. > :40:33.
:40:33. > :40:41.areas, it doesn't add up. Do you think there is anything going on?
:40:41. > :40:48.Babb looked at it, subsequently I am informed that Hinckley will have
:40:48. > :40:52.a hard station. I feel much more optimistic. There is a real worry
:40:52. > :41:00.that ambulance services will be focused on the city of Leicester,
:41:00. > :41:05.to the detriment of the countryside, Market Bosworth, up to Shackleton's.
:41:05. > :41:10.I feel confident we will have a modern, efficient facility. We have
:41:10. > :41:16.to accept that there is need for change. Some of the old stations
:41:16. > :41:21.have to go, we do need a modern service, and the old buildings are
:41:21. > :41:31.totally unsuitable, and the costs of refurbishing them is way above
:41:31. > :41:31.
:41:31. > :41:34.that are putting in a new building. Well one thing our ambulance
:41:34. > :41:38.service certainly has to deal with on a daily basis is alcohol abuse.
:41:38. > :41:40.And there's been a shocking rise in the number of people in the East
:41:40. > :41:47.Midlands being admitted to hospital for alcohol related conditions, up
:41:47. > :41:52.by almost a third in just five years. More and more people are
:41:52. > :41:56.having problems with alcohol, and at the Royal Derby hospital they
:41:56. > :42:01.have found that the age group of people are changing.
:42:01. > :42:05.Teenage years seem to have reduced their drinking in the last years,
:42:05. > :42:09.the Education put into schools is reaping some benefits. I picked it
:42:09. > :42:13.is the middle-aged people who do their shopping in the supermarket,
:42:13. > :42:19.get ban alcohol much more cheaply than they did in the past, and
:42:19. > :42:26.drink in the evening to relax. On a daily basis they are drinking
:42:26. > :42:32.alcohol, and adds up to quite a lot. They had been looking more closely
:42:32. > :42:37.at the causes of alcohol, at this pub, they say a change in drinking
:42:37. > :42:42.habits has made the situation worse. They are buying cheap alcohol from
:42:42. > :42:48.supermarkets, and drinking a lot more at home before they come out.
:42:48. > :42:53.The night-time economy has changed, people are coming out a lot later.
:42:53. > :42:59.From a landlord's point of view, it is difficult to judge how much
:42:59. > :43:04.alcohol they have consumed. A recent inquiry into drink and drugs
:43:04. > :43:12.has found that efforts to tackle drug problems are having an impact.
:43:12. > :43:17.Now it is alcohol abuse that is on the increase. 44% of violent crime
:43:17. > :43:23.is alcohol-related. If you look at the drugs side of staff, it is less
:43:23. > :43:28.socially acceptable in British culture, alcohol has been more
:43:28. > :43:33.acceptable, that is the attitude we need to change. In recent times the
:43:33. > :43:37.focus has shifted, and I think they are taking the issue seriously and
:43:37. > :43:42.providing more funding. Before figures show that in the East
:43:42. > :43:46.Midlands there has been a 30% rise in admissions to hospital in the
:43:46. > :43:51.last five years, but if you look more closely, there may be signs of
:43:51. > :43:55.hope, with admissions falling in the last year. This charity in
:43:55. > :44:02.Derbyshire say they are finding new ways of tackling the problem. One
:44:02. > :44:05.of the biggest things is that there are no huge waiting lists, they are
:44:05. > :44:13.in bed within five days of the referral being made. You have to
:44:13. > :44:18.strike when the iron is hot. Politician has, health workers and
:44:18. > :44:22.charities are turning their attentions to tackling the alcohol
:44:22. > :44:26.crisis, back can any of them end our obsession with booze?
:44:26. > :44:32.You set up the inquiry we mentioned in Bassetlaw. So which was the
:44:32. > :44:39.bigger problem, drugs or alcohol? It used to be drugs, but we have
:44:39. > :44:43.got on top of the heroin problem. Many of our addicts are back paying
:44:43. > :44:52.taxes, or are in treatment. We have had some great results, and have
:44:52. > :44:57.saved money for the taxpayer. How bad is it? It may not be a new
:44:57. > :45:02.problem, it was there before. looking at the cost in policing,
:45:02. > :45:06.the cost to the health service, the cost to employers, and we intend to
:45:06. > :45:12.challenge that head-on. We are looking at a number of things, but
:45:12. > :45:17.in particular, the biggest mistake of the last government was bringing
:45:17. > :45:22.in 24 hour alcohol everywhere. It may work in big cities, but in
:45:22. > :45:31.market towns, it doesn't work. We don't need pubs that are open all
:45:31. > :45:40.night, and it has cost us a lot of money. Admission that Labour made
:45:40. > :45:45.some mistakes? The R idea of 24 hour drinking was to getting line
:45:45. > :45:50.with the rest of Europe. -- the idea. We are losing our pubs, we
:45:50. > :45:54.are losing that social interaction. Far too many people are drinking
:45:54. > :45:57.cheap alcohol, which supermarkets have as loss-leaders.
:45:57. > :46:02.The doctor in that report, Andrew Austin, supports a minimum pricing
:46:02. > :46:09.for alcohol. And this week, 70 health groups have said it should
:46:09. > :46:14.be a minimum of 50 pence per unit. Is that going to happen?
:46:14. > :46:18.committee which I sit on have looked at it, I have looked at the
:46:18. > :46:24.situation in Scotland, and I think there are a compelling number of
:46:24. > :46:34.cases. They are not finding it easy, but that does not mean you don't
:46:34. > :46:40.have to do it. We live to affect middle-class drinkers? -- will it
:46:40. > :46:46.affect middle-class drinkers? will affect some of them, but there
:46:46. > :46:49.is a much bigger issue, awareness of what alcohol does to you. It
:46:49. > :46:55.will increase your chance to diabetes, it will reduce your
:46:55. > :46:58.potency, it will make your eyes deteriorate more quickly. Your life
:46:58. > :47:08.expectancy will be reduced. These are the messages we need to get
:47:08. > :47:12.
:47:12. > :47:18.across. There are some glimmers of hope. They are very small. I will
:47:18. > :47:24.back the proposal for a minimum price, I don't know whether it will
:47:24. > :47:28.work, but it is worth a go. The health message has to be ramped up.
:47:28. > :47:33.If you are 40 years old, trying to hold on to your looks, and you
:47:33. > :47:43.drink a lot of alcohol, you will Ajay lot quicker. That message has
:47:43. > :47:47.
:47:47. > :47:54.not been there. -- tubal you will age. In message doesn't seem to be
:47:54. > :48:04.getting through, the British are known for their drinking? In some
:48:04. > :48:05.
:48:05. > :48:10.parts of the country it is getting across. There is work-in-progress.
:48:10. > :48:17.The supermarkets, three bottles of wine but �10, it is extraordinary
:48:18. > :48:21.you can get it so cheaply? It has changed to people staying in,
:48:22. > :48:26.television ratings are going up, people are staying in, doing some
:48:26. > :48:31.cooking, drinking a bottle of wine, or some beer. They are not
:48:31. > :48:39.realising how much they are drinking. It is all of us. We are
:48:39. > :48:44.all doing it. We have to get on top of it. People are not realising
:48:44. > :48:54.quite how much we drink at home. It is not like the pub, where you hand
:48:54. > :48:55.
:48:55. > :49:01.over the money. Is it something that worries you personally? It is
:49:01. > :49:05.another big issue. I will let John think about the answer. They used
:49:05. > :49:13.to be eight glasses of wine to a bottle, and now you're getting much
:49:13. > :49:18.bigger glasses in pubs, people are filed into drinking -- are full
:49:18. > :49:24.into thinking that they are drinking less. I worried about
:49:24. > :49:28.people driving a black a whole. There is a clear disparity between
:49:28. > :49:35.the amount people say they are drinking and what they actually do.
:49:35. > :49:45.I have no idea how much I could see him. Your must know how much you
:49:45. > :49:53.are drinking? If you go to a reception in Parliament, it is hard
:49:53. > :50:03.to know. Parliament is one of the worst, they run a copy bars in
:50:03. > :50:07.
:50:07. > :50:09.Parliament, bars everywhere. Should the UK be giving aid to a
:50:09. > :50:14.country that's got a space programme? Well, according to the
:50:14. > :50:17.government, no. Aid to India will end in two year's time. The
:50:17. > :50:20.government says it is one of the fastest growing economies in the
:50:20. > :50:22.world - and even the Indian government has said trade is better
:50:22. > :50:25.than aid. But one of our MPs doesn't agree.
:50:25. > :50:29.Jon Ashworth, from Leicester South has been in India. Earlier I spoke
:50:29. > :50:38.to him and asked him what he's seen that's so convinced him aid should
:50:38. > :50:48.continue. I have seen kids playing next to an open sewer, no shoes,
:50:48. > :50:49.
:50:49. > :50:54.toddlers walking round in the slums. It is extreme levels of poverty.
:50:54. > :51:02.Although I don't believe we should keep on giving aid to India for
:51:02. > :51:06.ever, I don't pick it should have ended abruptly in 2015 -- I don't
:51:06. > :51:10.think it should have ended abruptly in 2015. I think we will lose
:51:10. > :51:17.influence with India. I don't think it is in the British national
:51:17. > :51:23.interest. We are country with deep bonds, deep ties with India. We
:51:23. > :51:26.needed to maintain a modern relationship. That will help in
:51:26. > :51:29.terms of trade, and economic development.
:51:29. > :51:31.Well Jon Ashworth, mentioned business as well as aid there and
:51:31. > :51:33.we're joined by Uday Dholakia, a Leicester businessman, who's the
:51:33. > :51:36.chairman of the Indo British Trade Council.
:51:36. > :51:45.Is Jon right, will we lose influence if we end our aid
:51:45. > :51:51.donations? Geraghty macro parts to the argument. As a local
:51:51. > :51:55.businessman, I want to make sure that taxpayers' money means there
:51:55. > :52:04.is something in it for our institutions. The point that John
:52:04. > :52:11.is trying to make, he has clearly picked up by a number of serious
:52:11. > :52:20.issues. I think we have cut the aid programme a bit too quickly, it is
:52:20. > :52:22.a unilateral decision, we need to be humane and compassionate.
:52:22. > :52:31.You're a regular visitor to the Indian High commission what's their
:52:31. > :52:35.take on stopping aid to India. feel it is a unilateral decision on
:52:35. > :52:41.part of the government, they feel they should have been bilateral
:52:41. > :52:44.discussion. Seeing is believing and Jon
:52:44. > :52:53.Ashworth has clearly been affected by what he's seen. How can we
:52:53. > :52:58.ignore such obvious poverty? There are pockets like that in all
:52:58. > :53:03.countries across the world. The perception of aid is not a good one,
:53:03. > :53:13.people think that the money is pocketed. There is a determination
:53:13. > :53:15.
:53:15. > :53:19.to make sure aid is targeted on the most bd, and as the fact of the
:53:19. > :53:25.matter is that people are not going to begrudge the fact they are
:53:25. > :53:34.trying to target the aid more effectively. Can we really turn our
:53:34. > :53:40.backs on children in slums? It is not about turning our back, it is
:53:40. > :53:45.about effectiveness. I was one of the first to call for aid for China
:53:45. > :53:51.and India to be stopped, and money to be redirected to Africa, where I
:53:51. > :53:54.think the developer needs are far more great. India is booming as an
:53:54. > :54:00.economy, their growth rates are very good, we should be co-
:54:00. > :54:06.operating with our expertise, including water, sanitation and
:54:06. > :54:10.health. Well our politicians have strong
:54:10. > :54:20.views on this sensitive issue over to Des Coleman to see what you
:54:20. > :54:20.
:54:20. > :54:25.think. We give a the �200 million of aid to India every year.
:54:25. > :54:35.We have come to Derby to hear your thoughts. I think each should be
:54:35. > :54:45.stopped, it is not helping these countries. Trade, yes, aid, no.
:54:45. > :54:45.
:54:45. > :54:52.Allowed to the time it goes into the leader's bank account. We need
:54:52. > :54:56.to make sure goes to the right people. I can accept it going for
:54:56. > :55:02.humanitarian reasons, but not for armaments. They should be
:55:03. > :55:07.concentrating on the people. They should spend money on people here,
:55:08. > :55:12.on cancer, finding cures, rather than sending it to other countries.
:55:12. > :55:16.I think about all the children that are suffering over there, I have a
:55:16. > :55:22.child myself, but I also think there are quite a lot of people in
:55:22. > :55:25.this country but also need help. The homeless, that sort of thing.
:55:25. > :55:31.So a lot of people thinking we should look closer to home before
:55:31. > :55:40.we spend money abroad. Surely it would be better to taper it off
:55:40. > :55:46.rather than cutting off aid so abruptly? There is an argument for
:55:46. > :55:52.that, I'm not sure exactly what the aid packages. The charities depend
:55:52. > :56:02.on that money? I don't accept that, the aid could be spent much better
:56:02. > :56:07.
:56:07. > :56:11.in other areas. You mention Africa, half a million people can be saved.
:56:11. > :56:17.They have to be judgments in politics, and I think it is the
:56:17. > :56:27.correct judgment to move aid that are poorer, and let in Diego it's a
:56:27. > :56:34.way as -- and let India go its way as the successful economy that it
:56:34. > :56:40.is. There is a huge amount of wealth in India, the growth rate is
:56:40. > :56:45.9%, and we don't have one. We need to give away expertise, and put
:56:45. > :56:48.money in, and make sure it makes a big difference, in Africa.
:56:48. > :56:51.Let's look a bit more closely at our links with India. We've got
:56:51. > :57:00.such strong connections because of our communities here in the East
:57:00. > :57:05.Midlands - Uday, can we benefit from that? I think we can, but a
:57:05. > :57:10.lot of the arguments resonate with me. We need to shift the paradigm,
:57:10. > :57:19.to make that relationships from. What is the relationship around
:57:19. > :57:28.giving aid to institutions? Water, sanitation, everything else. We
:57:28. > :57:37.must also leverage more support. I think I would still like to see
:57:37. > :57:45.Bally for money for any money we spent. -- value for money. What
:57:45. > :57:52.kind of benefits would we get? International aid, and trade are
:57:52. > :58:00.very closely linked. I don't think we have been aggressive enough. I
:58:00. > :58:06.would like to see more upbeat manoeuvring from the government.
:58:06. > :58:16.John and Ashworth said he was concerned that we were -- Jon
:58:16. > :58:17.
:58:17. > :58:19.Ashworth said he was concerned we would lose influence? I think we
:58:19. > :58:22.would lose some respect. David Cameron obviously realises
:58:22. > :58:28.the importance of India's economic power for the UK - he's just been
:58:28. > :58:33.out there, but could we be doing more. It was a powerful statement
:58:33. > :58:36.of intent. By developing wealth, you develop trade, they are very
:58:36. > :58:46.closely linked. Can you separate aid and trade
:58:46. > :58:47.
:58:47. > :58:53.though? You can indeed, there are other ways, it's off to a,
:58:53. > :59:03.scholarships, ability to get visas, these have been on the agenda,
:59:03. > :59:07.
:59:08. > :59:15.there is a lot more we can do. We need to build relationships. There
:59:15. > :59:21.is a lot more to be done? We take a lot of Indian students to this
:59:21. > :59:27.country, they go back with some fine degrees. And he very much for
:59:27. > :59:30.coming in. Time for a quick look at some of
:59:30. > :59:37.the other political stories in the East Midlands this week - here's
:59:37. > :59:42.our Political Editor John Hess with the 60 second roundup. In so Brain,
:59:42. > :59:45.a politician of start to think about the council elections, the
:59:45. > :59:50.finance director has warned about whoever wins at the polls will have
:59:50. > :59:58.to make more big budget cuts. We need to be more efficient, we
:59:58. > :00:02.need to be more effective, and put your better goods and services.
:00:02. > :00:06.new �500 million train station for Elkstone has moved closer with
:00:06. > :00:12.approval for government funding. Campaigners are confident of
:00:12. > :00:17.securing the rest of the cash from a government fund. With the cold
:00:18. > :00:27.spell still fresh in our memories, the SNP has urged homeowners to
:00:27. > :00:32.warm up with a green deal. -- this MP. The cost is paid back in
:00:32. > :00:42.savings in fuel bills. The green deal will save energy, and create
:00:42. > :00:48.thousands of jobs. Looking forward to those council
:00:48. > :00:52.elections, what preparations are you making?
:00:52. > :00:56.I am looking forward to the results, because we are going to see the