16/12/2015 BBC News at One

Can the NHS in England claw its way back from being

The public spending watchdog says it's unclear that it can.

The National Audit Office says money problems are endemic in the NHS,

and the pledge of extra money from the government may not fix it.

But ministers say the Health Service has to improve efficiency and show

Unemployment falls to 5.2% - its lowest rate for nearly 10 years.

Treat dying patients as individuals and avoid a tick-box approach -

medical staff are told by the health watchdog.

The UK meets its target of housing 1,000 Syrian refugees before

We have the story of one family now living in the Midlands.

And the last batch of ?1 coins rolls off the press,

but what do the people think of the new look?

Coming up, we have the latest from England's first tour match of South

Africa, with the tourists well on top on the second day.

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

NHS trusts in England are facing financial difficulties that

are so acute that running a deficit is becoming normal practice,

according to the public spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office says that despite extra funding recently

promised by the government, money problems within the Health Service

are "endemic" and that it remains unclear how it might get

This year a deficit of more than ?2 billion is being forecast

by NHS trusts - that compares with an overspend

of just over ?840 million last year.

The government says the NHS has to be more efficient

and cut its spending on expensive agency staff.

Our Health Correspondent Dominic Hughes reports.

The NHS in England is facing financial pressures like never

before. The National Audit Office describes how increasing numbers of

NHS trusts are running up debts and needing emergency cash bailouts.

That cannot continue. We don't think the situation is sustainable, a

doubling in the deficits among hospitals and increasing reliance on

emergency cash, bailouts, that is not something that can be allowed to

continue. Auditors have tracked a sharp deterioration in the five

Raqqa kill finances of the NHS. The deficit last year was almost ?850

million. This is set to reach more than ?2 billion this year. The

number of loss-making organisations has beamed up to 181. The NHS say

that pressures on the health service from an ageing population with more

long-term illnesses cannot be addressed in isolation. If you look

at what happens in a service and where the pressure comes from, it is

often from older people who have become frail and aren't getting the

support they need. They become more ill and end up in hospital. We know

social care funding is not going up as quickly as NHS funding,

especially next year, that must be addressed to help the NHS succeed.

The government has promised trusts in England and extra cash injection

of almost ?4 billion, but economists say that big changes are needed if

the long-term financial situation is to improve. The state of NHS

finances can only be described as dire. There are two problems, the

failure to recruit and retain staff, and problems improving productivity

at the rate needed. For both of those problems, the NHS needs a

radically different approach. Ministers say that they are

committed to the health service and extra cash will make a difference,

but hospitals must get a grip on their finances.

Health spending is very contentious - it came up in the last hour

What's your assessment of the financial state of the NHS?

Some robust exchanges in the Commons, with Jeremy Corbyn,

repeatedly raising health issues and the stability of the NHS, David

Cameron defended the amount invested in front line services in England,

but the National Audit Office report on the state of NHS finances makes

sobering reading. The report on the finances of England suggests there

has been a deterioration which is severe and worse than expected, and

efficiency plans, put in place by different health trusts, are

unsustainable in some cases. I think the most worrying aspect of it is

that it questions the ?22 billion of efficiency savings, the government

and NHS England says it is achievable by the year 2020. ?22

billion annually, and the National Audit Office, that auditors of the

nation 's finances, so that they do not think it is achievable, not

enough detail has been provided. The government has come up with more

details today about next year 's finances? As PMQ 's was underway,

the Department of Health announced ?1.8 billion next year, that will be

put into "Helping hospitals get back on their feet". That comes out of

the ?3.8 billion of extra money announced by the Chancellor in the

spending review. The government say it is not a bailout but designed to

help transform services, but if you are using nearly half of your new

money to help hospitals keep going, that does not leave a lot of money

for other services. Thank you. UK unemployment has fallen

to nearly a 10-year low. Official figures show the jobless

total stood at 1.7 million in October - a fall of 110,000 over

the previous three months. The unemployment rate

is now at its lowest level Our Economics Correspondent

Andy Verity reports. A Christmas market in the centre of

Manchester, where you will see a tiny fraction of the record number

of people in work. A proportion of the population, more people are

working than at any time since 1971. That population has been growing.

You can guess how many applications we had on Christmas Day last year,.

At a recruitment event nearby, these graduates have a far better chance

of getting a good job than they would have done five years ago. It

is really encouraging, there are so many jobs out there, you just have

to go and get them. The tables have turned. We have recruiters calling

us. Do you want to come for interviews? We've been invited to a

lot of interviews. They are getting better. There are more opportunities

out there, big companies are expanding. They are always looking

for new people. The rate of unemployment is down to 5.2%, the

lowest since 2006. That is partly because the number of people working

brace to 31.3 million. But, earnings rose by just 2.0%. The smallest

average pay rise for months. What is odd about those numbers is that they

go against the theory the Bank of England has had for 18 months.

Namely, if an implement gets low enough, wages will begin to rise

faster, pushing up prices as well. That is exactly what is not

happening. When you get down to these levels of unemployment, 5.2%,

you would expect wages to be really going higher. We've added another

half a million people to the workforce, so I think there seems to

be plenty of supply of people, and that is probably one of the reasons

that wages are staying so low. Two years ago, the Bank of England

Governor Mark Carney indicated 7% unemployment was a danger mark.

Below that, you need to look out for signs of inflation. Now, with an

implement at just 5.2%, there is little sign it is pushing up wages

or prices. Andy Verity, BBC News. The care of people at the end

of their lives should be tailored to their needs, and medical staff

should avoid a tick-box approach, according to the health

watchdog NICE. The guidance for care in England

is intended to address misuse of the previous system -

the Liverpool Care Pathway - which left some patients heavily

sedated, and without food and water. Our Health Correspondent

Adam Brimelow reports. This guideline replaces the

Liverpool Care Pathway, designed to help staff provide the best possible

care in the last days of life, it fell into disrepute,. NICE said that

it became seen as a tech box exercise, it blanket approach that

did not meet the needs of individuals. The new guideline

emphasises communication with the person who is dying and their family

and friends, and between clinicians, to establish the patient's needs and

wishes. Care should be reviewed at least once a day, and if there is

any doubt, staff should turn to more experienced colleagues for advice.

NICE says more support is needed. It is important that they should have

access to someone who was more senior, and experienced. It could be

someone in their own department or someone they call, a local

specialist pallets to have care service. We need greater access to

experienced people 20 47 in the new NHS. Many care providers are pleased

with the guidelines, but say it should be followed up, with more

training for staff. We welcome the new NICE guidelines, it sets things

out clearly about what people should reasonably expect as they, or family

members, approach the end of life. But the devil is always in the

detail with these things. We have to make sure it is implemented in the

way that everybody wants. There is a challenge here, not only for doctors

and nurses, but wider society. For many of us, death remains a

difficult subject to discuss. Our hopes and expectations may change as

we near the end of life. It is hoped the new guidance will ensure staff

can respond to these changes and any unexpected improvement in the

patient's condition, so they get the right care at this difficult and

sensitive time. David Cameron confirmed this

lunchtime that the target of resettling 1,000 refugees

from Syria by Christmas They're the first of the 20,000

vulnerable adults and children that the government's pledged

to accept here by 2020. Our correspondent Daniela Relph

is at Stansted airport, where another plane carrying

refugees is due to arrive this That plane carrying the Syrian

refugees has been slightly delayed, but we are expecting to see it land

here at Stansted Airport later this afternoon. We know that on board are

a number of Syrian families who have been living in refugee camps in

Jordan and Lebanon. They will, for now, make their home here in the UK.

Sian Lloyd has been to Coventry to visit one of the first families to

be welcomed here in the UK seven weeks ago. I should warn you that

some people may find images in her report distressing.

Preparing for Christmas in a new home, in a new country.

This family arrived in Coventry only seven weeks ago.

were badly hurt in a bomb blast in Syria and need further surgery

Seven-year-old Asuna last her sight in one eye.

I didn't believe they were my children.

I wished they were dead because they were suffering a lot.

And we had to take the immediate decision to leave the country

because they needed further medical support.

The family had joined others to celebrate a Kurdish spring

festival when a bomb exploded amongst the crowd.

Seven-year-old Asuna and four-year-old Lucia

It was 24 hours before their parents found them in the local hospital

and the family were taken to Iraq for further medical treatment.

They were registered as refugees by the United Nations and for six

months they waited to find out where they would be offered

a new home and the ongoing medical care the children needed.

This city has a long tradition of offering refuge

Meeting the needs of the current influx of people has not been

without its challenges, but lessons learnt here in Coventry

are being passed on to councils across the country as they prepare

for the thousands of refugees who will arrive next year.

We are actually going to test your English.

Lessons in language and culture are offered to new arrivals

by volunteers at the local migrant and refugee centre.

Integration is key because unless they feel integrated

and unless people establish meaningful interactions

with the local community, with the city, they will not be able

to start their journey of social and economic mobility.

These children are already settling in to their new home.

The family has been given a five-year humanitarian visa

We are now expecting to see the latest plane of Syrian refugees land

here at Stansted Airport towards the middle of the afternoon. When that

happens, the families on board will be taken to a number of different

locations. Across the South of England.

Jose Mourinho's future as Chelsea manager is under question -

as it emerges that the club has held discussions about his position

It follows the failure to get the team, who are reigning

Premier League champions, out of the slump in which they've

They're now just one point off the relegation zone,

after defeat at Leicester City on Monday night.

Our Sports Correspondent Joe Wilson is at Stamford Bridge for us now.

If we think back to August, we all assumed Chelsea, this would season,

be competing for another Premier League title. I'm sure Bremen

Abramovich did, but in mid-December we are talking about them fighting

against relegation -- Roman. This week, Chelsea discussed the option

of sacking Jose Mourinho. I think that is an important step, it

confirms they are thinking what seemed to be beyond thinkable.

On Monday night, a Chelsea manager celebrated.

But Claudio Ranieri has not been in charge there for a decade.

His Leicester had just beaten Jose Mourinho's Chelsea,

an occurrence which has become shockingly normal this season.

In the Premier League, Chelsea have played 16

Speaking after Monday's defeat, Mourinho's approach seemed to be

Shifting it firmly towards his players.

I have to look at some players in the eyes for one more time

and to feel if they feel Chelsea the same way I do.

If they feel our job the same way I do.

the same way I do, for sure some of them, they have to react

Mourinho has embodied the modern Chelsea, representing the ambitions

and the wealth of their owner, Roman Abramovich.

Bringing them the league for the first time in 50 years

Eva Carneiro, in one infamous incident.

His ability to inspire instant loyalty and drive the players

on with his own strength of character seems to have gone.

Chelsea may well be counting the cost of a failure to develop

players, but the squad they have is far too good to be

Ultimately, Chelsea must decide if the man who has

always been their solution has become the biggest part

We understand that Jose Mourinho has been taking Chelsea training as

normal this morning. We should bear in mind that Chelsea are still in

Europe, in the Champions League. They have that play for. Their next

home game is in the leak, the next home matches to Sunderland and

Watford. -- league. Normally those games are straightforward, but the

Premier League season is changing our perception of what is normal.

The top story this lunchtime, can the NHS in England clawed its way

back from being in permanent deficit? The public

can. Still to come, we are here live for

the premiere of Star Wars, and after all of the hype, and the billions

spent, the answer to the important spent, the answer to the important

question... Is it any good? In sport, Steve Borthwick starts his

new job as the England forwards coach today, but Bristol say he

still has a long contract with them. And, the RFU should not have

approached him. A ceremony has been held in Peshawar

in Pakistan at the school where more than 150 people were massacred

exactly a year ago. There are claims from some survivors

that they haven't been given enough Teachers and students have been

speaking of their continuing trauma to our correspondent

in Peshawar, Shaimaa Khalil. The faces of those who survived,

and those who didn't. Pupils walked into today's ceremony

with pictures of the friends Today Pakistan marks the anniversary

of one of the deadliest attacks A year on, we went

back to the school. This is what used to be the school

auditorium and it is where Taliban gunmen walked in from the side,

came up the steps, and started shooting pupils

inside at close range. It is when a normal school day

turned into carnage. I remember very vividly blood spots

on those very steps as we came up. Inside, there were scenes very

difficult to forget and some that

are very gruesome Schoolbooks scattered on the floor

and children's shoes. Everything in that place spoke

of the terror that took A year on, the building has been

completely refurbished. Half of it is now a library

and the other half is a sports hall. The building itself might have

changed, but memories of what happened that day

are still very vivid for students Life seems to be going back

to normal here in the Army public school and watching the children

play, it is very difficult to imagine that only a year ago,

a massacre took place not very far But there is a real determination

here among the students and teachers to move on and try and

forget about that day. Students have been coming to classes

only a few weeks after the actual attack and they have been coming

to classes ever since. They want to move on

with their daily life. As pupils gather every morning

to start a new school day, many are still haunted

by what happened last year. Scotland's Finance Secretary is to

deliver his annual budget today. For the first time, he'll have

to set an income tax rate but it's expected he'll keep it in line

with the rest of the UK. Our Scotland Correspondent Kevin

Keane is in Edinburgh. He is not expected to make changes

to income tax, how significant is that? It would be a very brave

finance secretary indeed, who announces tax rises less than five

months before an election. In May of next year, voters will go to the

polls to elect a whole new set of MSP is to sit here. Today, he has to

make the decision about the first 10p in the pound of income tax. The

new Scottish rate of income tax. He could decide to increase it, that is

unlikely. He may decide to reduce it to 9p, or 8p. We already know that

John Swinney is concerned about cuts to the budget because of the UK

Government's austerity programme, meaning he has less money to spend.

You may voluntarily opt to have less money. That is unlikely. The

prediction is he will keep the rate the same. We are likely this

afternoon to hear his priorities and exactly where any cuts will fall. We

know the priorities are in policing, education, and health. They have

already been set out, we won't know until he gets to his feet later this

afternoon exactly where the cuts will fall, and how deep they will

be. Thank you. A man accused of taking part

in the Hatton Garden burglary has denied being part of the team that

drilled into the vault on the night Carl Wood was shown a CCTV image

of one of the men entering the building - but insisted

it was not him. Our home affairs correspondent

Daniel Sanford is at It has been a morning of good

old-fashioned cross-examination by the prosecutor, Philip Evans,

putting intense pressure on Carl Wood, accusing him again and again

of lying in his evidence. Four men have pled guilty to the biggest

burglary at seen in Britain. Of the men on trial here, only Carl Wood is

accused of being part of the gang that broke into the Hatton Garden

faults. The prosecution say the man seen

here on the left, carrying a backpack on the first night of the

Hatton Garden burglary is Carl Wood. He says it is a case of mistaken

identity. He denies the man at the backing these pictures with the

white facemask Makkah -- is him. He denies being one of the men who

drilled into the vault, denying being in the passenger seat of the

getaway van, and going back on the second night before losing his

nerve. Your story of an alibi is a lie, isn't it? I disagree, he

replied. He said he was at home in Hertfordshire on the second night of

the burglary having a barbecue with his family, he said his wife and

daughter would back his story. He has admitted knowing Danny Jones,

one of the ringleaders, who pleaded guilty to the burglary. He described

him as an eccentric who wears his mother 's dressing gown and a Tommy

Cooper phase in bed. Carl Wood denied again and again that he was

part of the team who drilled into the vault at the start of the East

back -- Easter bank holiday weekend, he said he was in bed with his wife.

His wife said that he has not spent a night away from home since his

20s. She said on the night of the burglary, he was at home with her,

and on the second night, he was at home having a barbecue and watching

television. The first full reviews

for the new Star Wars film have hailed it as "a triumph"

and "a classic." The Force Awakens is premiered

in the UK this evening - and our correspondent David Sillito

is in Leicester Square for us now. It sounds like the fans have a treat

in store? Well, if you've been able to escape the hype for Star Wars,

you are a better person than I! The premier says it all, a massive

engineering operation. The red carpet goes three quarters of the

way around Leicester Square, it goes on forever. If you have, in your

wardrobe, a storm trooper outfit, and have wondered when you would

have the chance to wear it, you can do that today. There are more of

them than you can shake a stick at. A 6-foot Ewok walked past me just

now. Last night, at the press screening, it was like metrical

unlike anything I had been to. The reviews this morning, 100% from the

Rotten Tomatoes website so far. And comments from The Daily Telegraph,

the Guardian, five stars, adults will be floored by tearful

nostalgia. It is a triumph of escapism, the hype continues. Why

does it matter? Disney paid George Lucas ?4 billion for the rights of

this. These films have been coming out, year after year, -- the rights.

It is the beginning of one of the biggest bets ever in movie history,

is not as riding on this film. Thank you. -- a lot is riding.

The Royal Mint has begun producing the final batch

It's more than 30 years since the gold-coloured coins first

started rolling off the presses, with over 2.2 billion of them made.

The new-look replacement will be brought into circulation in 2017 -

with the Queen's head on one side - and the winning design from a public

Time's nearly up for the old ?1 coin.

Struck at up to 400 a minute, these are among the final few.

Ticket machine operators are especially

Since the round pound arrived in 1983,

more than 2 billion of them have been issued.

But now they are not fit for purpose.

You can see the designs on the front and back are supposed to be in line,

but flip it around and the back one does not line up.

Look at the side and you will see the lettering is amateurishly struck

One in 30 are counterfeit, so the new coins will

be multisided like the threepenny bit.

And in two metals and colours to make them harder to copy.

They will also be distinctive because the backs of the coins

will be from schoolboy David Pearce, who

But the changeover creates a headache for businesses

machinery, including amusement arcades.

There are something like 310,000 machines in the UK,

all of which will have to be changed and we

know already it will cost tens of millions of pounds to do this.

The very last being struck in the next few days

and the new version arriving in 2017.

It does not feel like December? Not at all, the mild weather continues.

It was so mild last night, a number of areas in the south of England set

December temperature records. Although no national temperature

records were broken, 13.2 degrees is half a degree away from the English

temperature record for a December night. Air is coming up from the

Azores, mild winds wafting across the UK. Over the next few days.

Winds bring in a lot of cloud, that is on the satellite picture here,

bouncing over the top of Welsh mountains, with breaks in the cloud,

across eastern England, with breaks every now and then, and across the

north-east of Scotland. There will be a lot of cloud here, damp weather

around western coasts and hills, some spots of rain on and off. For

most, it stays cloudy, but these temperatures show highs of 14 or 15,

those temperatures aren't out of place in May, we should not be

getting them at this time of year. Averages in London normally 9

degrees. During the evening, shower was work up from the south-west,

some heady, and overnight, this weather front moves in, bringing

outbreaks of -- heavy. Working into West Scotland. It will be an

exceptionally mild night with temperatures not far off those

tempter record levels. On Thursday, this wet band comes in. --

temperatures. Then, the chance of seeing

the South of England. Damp weather ends the day, rainfall totals of

about 20-30 millimetres over high grounds of Cumbria and the South

West of Scotland. Keep an eye on that. We do not expect significant

impact. Heavy rain on Friday, the wettest weather in Scotland, a mild

day with temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees. The marketing continues

into the weekend, there will be wet weather around, Sunday sees a mix of

sunshine and showers, but things were cool, -- things will cool. This

band of rain crosses the country, rain heaviest in the north and west

of the UK, following in, we see showers coming into Sunday. The

biggest change we will see over the weekend is these temperatures will

be falling away, 9 degrees in Edinburgh and Belfast by Sunday, but

you must remember these are a couple of degrees above average for the

time of year, not as mild as it has been over the last few days. The

government said it is not clear of the NHS can claw back from being

permanently in deficit. Now it is time for the news where you are.

Have a good afternoon. Buy. -- goodbye.