25/07/2017 BBC News at One

new homes as leasehold in England. could be banned from selling

The leases often result in extra charges and can make it

It's completely and morally,ethically wrong. I'm pretty

sure they're aware of this. The number of vacancies in the NHS

in England rises by 8,000 in the first quarter of the year,

with the highest proportion among A warning that UK animal welfare

standards could be jeopardised Happier passengers -

more rail travellers say they're satisfied with their train services

than last year. Great Britain's Adam Peaty's

obliterated the others... And Adam Peaty breaks his own world

record in the heats of the 50m breaststroke and hints there's

more to come. Good afternoon and welcome

to the BBC News at One. Housebuilders may be banned

from selling new houses in England as leasehold,

under new government proposals. A public consultation

has begun on the issue, after it emerged some housing

developers have been selling leaseholds onto investment firms,

leading to extra costs or rising Newly built houses in the UK used

to be almost totally freehold - you buy the property and the land

it's built on - but increasingly house-builders have been selling

them leasehold, meaning you don't own the land and have

to pay them annual fees. It's a way for builders

to make more money. Often the annual fees rise regularly

and buying the freehold Katie Kendrick owns a leasehold

house in Ellesmere Port near Liverpool and wants to buy

the freehold but the company which owns it has increased

the price from ?4000 I've asked the company

for a breakdown of how the freehold is calculated,

their methodology to the valuation, which they failed

to provide me with. They have said I could either go

with it or if I challenge it, I will have to take

on their legal fees. Owners have also found

that the ground fees are increasing rapidly, which often

makes their property unsaleable. Baz Jaafar owns a one-bedroom

flat in North London. I would go on the record to say that

it's completely morally I'm pretty sure they are aware

of this and I think they have an obligation

to their customers, whether that's the people who bought houses

or flats, in order to Legal experts believe that

as a result leasehold sales have no It's just the tip of

the iceberg, really. There's all these people

who are stuck in this leasehold trap and unfortunately the developers

are just using this as another way

to profiteer and make money. But house-builders say in some

cases leasehold is best. I think a blanket ban

could be problematic. If you're a council wanting to build

homes, perhaps wanting to retain the value of the land,

if you are a National Trust with heritage products or maybe

you're a landowner looking to give discounts to local community land

trusts or groups trying to purchase that land,

actually the leasehold model It wants to ban leasehold contracts

for newly built houses. What we're talking about here

is houses that are being sold on leasehold, thousands of them,

for no good reason and then once they are sold, the people

who purchased them are exposed It's not acceptable,

it's wrong, enough is enough But that leaves thousands of people

who bought new leasehold properties stuck with contracts that means

they face increasing annual bills Several building firms have set up

compensation schemes to cover claims of mis-selling and bad legal advice

but a ban on future sales of leasehold houses will do nothing

to help homeowners already More than 86,000 NHS posts

were vacant in the first three months of this year,

according to the latest figures. Statistics from NHS Digital,

which collates data, shows the number of vacancies

climbed by almost 8,000, compared to the same

period the year before. With me is our health

correspondent Smitha Mundasad. Talk us through the figures and what

they mean? This is the third time we have had access to two years worth

of this data and it counts vacancies and add veries on the NHS job

website. That isn't perfect but it does suggest a system under strain.

Let's take a closer look at the firs themselves. It suggests there were

86,000 vacant positions in England between January 2017 and March 2017.

That went up 8,000 compared to the year before. Now, these vacancies

include doctors, dentists, clerical staff, admin staff, scientific

staff, for example. One of the most interesting figures is the 11,000

nursing staff, for example, and midwifery staff that they were short

of in March 2017 alone. Now, the Royal College of Nurses say these

11,000 nursing and midwifery staff that are short, there could be many

more, they say that people are leaving the profession because of

the pay cap that's been put on by the Government. The Department of

Health in turn says, look, staff shortages are a huge priority and

they say actually, since 2010, the number of nurses and doctors have

gone up in their thousands and they say they'll continue to work on it.

Thank you very much. A parliamentary committee is warning

that animal welfare standards in the UK could be threatened

if farmers have to compete against cheaper, less-regulated

rivals from outside the EU, A House of Lords committee is urging

the Government to insist on similar standards in any free trade

agreements to avoid what it calls Our correspondent Duncan Kennedy is

in Brockenhurst in the New Forest. Good afternoon, Jane, from the New

Forest show where they are expecting something like 100,000 people over

the next three days, many coming to see beautiful livestock like this.

But today's report makes clear, farmers worried about what is going

to happen with Brexit. Some say animal standards might fall, as

consumers seek out cheaper imports. It's day one of the New Forest show

and just time for a last-minute bovine competition. Meanwhile, some

may need a hair cut more than others. World class quality of the

livestock to be seen here is undisputed. Farmers like Mike say

after Brexit, that quality might fall if Britain is opened up to food

imports from around the world. The downward spiral to get food cheaper

is there. Something has to give toe make animal welfare cheaper?

Hopefully not in this country. Today's report by the Lord's says

after Brexit, the British public may have to choose between the quality

and the price of their food. What is your priority, higher welfare for

animals or cheaper food? Combination of both. Welfare of animals.

Combination of both. Why can't they do both? That is a tricky one. Not

at all. Why not? Animal welfare, definitely. The Government today

dismissed the farmers' fears, saying:

But animal welfare groups point to other issues like this, poultry

being washed in chlorine in the United States. They say British

consumers might have to accept this if we do a trade deal with America.

Britain has to insist on the inclusion of a clause that allows it

to require imports to meet our animal welfare and food safety

standards because if you haven't got that, there's going to be a race to

the bottom. Welfare versus price, it's a debate that's underpinned

Britain's food industry since the Second World War. Brexit will

redefine it once again. The international trade secretary Liam

Fox is already in the US working on a trade deal this week. Other

countries will follow in a post-Brexit world and the question

for all of us, Jane, is what price the quality of food like this will

put price over animal welfare or animal welfare or price?

The parents of Charlie Gard will return to court today. It comes

after the couple ended their legal battle to try to take him to the

United States for experimental treatment.

Satisfaction appears to have improved among rail

The latest National Rail Passenger Survey shows that a period of more

stable performance has led to improvements in passengers'

experiences, even though there's been a lot of industrial action

Our Transport Correspondent Richard Westcott is at

Does it vary depending on where you live in the country, Richard? It

does a bit, yes. It comes down to punctuality in effect so if you

strip out the biggest franchise of all, the one that includes southern,

where they've been plagued by aier of strikes and great northern which

goes from Cambridge and Thameslink where they have had engineering

works and terrible punctuality across those companies, then

actually, satisfaction is going up because punctuality is getting that

little bit better. So it's a mixed view when you look across the

country. These passengers in Birmingham weren't sure what they

thought. In my view, more trains at peak hours. The capacity just about

copes, the capacity is poor on the way home at night, but that's to be

expected with rail. I don't use the train very much but I've never had

any problems with them at all, no. No. There's perhaps we could do with

another carriage on a lot of trains, especially when people are coming

with loads of cases. The service I've had has been certainly very

good over the last year. I travel a lot by train and I can't remember

being delayed meaningfully in the last 12 months. It's improving

definitely. I know that they're kind of moving the time down to being

able to get cheaper tickets so it starts about half nine now you can

get the cheaper rate. It's getting better. Interestingly across

Scotland as well, as one franchise covers the whole country,

satisfaction's gone to record levels. I spoke to the boss and he

basically told me again, it's because punctuality is getting

better. But there is a warning here - the warning is that this is

fragile, it doesn't necessarily mean that things are getter better all

the time because there are lots of major engineering projects coming

down the line and there's still the spectre of industrial action. That's

still not sorted out on several different services across the

country because there's a big row about what the second person, the

conductor does on board the train so. The rail industry's had some

good news today but it's not necessarily going to last.

Israel has removed metal detectors from the entrance to the al-Aqsa

Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, saying it will replace them

The new security measures were put in place after two Israeli

policemen were killed, but their installation raised fears

among Palestinians that Israel was extending its control

at the holy site, and days of deadly violence followed.

This report from our Middle East Correspondent, Yolande Knell.

Relative calm restored at the gates to the third holiest site in Islam.

Palestinian worshippers now hope to enter after a week of protests

So Israel's removed the metal detectors that were just there.

Instead, it says it's going to do what it calls smart checking,

using more surveillance around the old city.

It follows over a week of violence and tensions that

The removal of all these cameras and the removal of all these gates

prove that there were not needed for security.

It was a political measure by Israel to impose fact on the ground

Guns were taken inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque grounds and used

to kill two Israeli policemen at the Gates.

When the mosque was re-opened with new metal detectors,

Palestinians continued praying outside, accusing Israel

of using security as an excuse to extend its control over the site

In clashes with Israeli Security Forces, five

And in this West Bank settlement, a Palestinian stabbed to death three

Then an Israeli embassy guard killed two Jordanians,

Jordan is the custodian of Jerusalem's mosques.

Overnight, amid fears of a wider escalation, the metal detectors

Israel is making sure there is a real freedom of Jerusalem. That is

what we'll continue to do, enable everybody to come to pray on the

Temple Mount. 50 years after Israel captured the old city of Jerusalem,

recent pictures have shown once again how it remains at the heart of

this conflict. Yolande Knell, BBC News, Jerusalem.

House-builders could be banned from selling new homes

And coming up - why are the Vatican's famous fountains

in St Peter's Square no longer flowing?

Coming up in sport, Olympic champion Adam Peaty

After 100m breaststroke gold last night, he set a new world record

in the 50m breast stroke heats this morning.

Raging fires across the South of France and Corsica

are being fanned by high temperatures and strong winds.

Thousands of firefighters are battling the blazes.

One forest fire has swept through 1,600 acres

of the Luberon national park in Provence, and people have been

moved to safety from the town of Biguglia

Firefighters battling a fierce blaze on the holiday island of Corsica.

It ripped through 900 hectares of forest.

People left their houses and could do little more than watch

as the fire came threateningly close to their homes.

TRANSLATION: We were woken up by the smoke.

It was stifling so we stayed in the house and then they evacuated

the children and my sister-in-law, who is pregnant.

A combination of heat and high winds are making the fire

A BBC journalist on the island says people are becoming

increasingly concerned about their homes and businesses.

It's still burning, pockets keep lighting up as this wind continues.

There is a real sense of worry that perhaps they won't be able to get

this under control and livelihoods and lives could be threatened.

In Karos in the hills above Nice, planes sprayed

And crews the ground damped down amid the damage.

TRANSLATION: We were up to 70 hectares of fire.

The particularity of this far is that we had hundreds and hundreds

of houses that were threatening the forest areas.

Elsewhere in France, fires also raged near Lubron

Another battle to stop fires spreading just ten kilometres

from the seaside resort of St Tropez.

This mobile phone footage gives a sense of the high winds feeding

the fires intensity, winds that are not expected

The number of fatal shootings by police, and deaths

following police pursuits, rose significantly in England

A report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission

says that in 2016-17, there were six fatal police

shootings, including that of the Westminster attacker,

Our home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw is with me.

What is the significance of these figures? On the police shooting

figures it is difficult to see whether this is a pattern or a blip.

Six shootings is the highest number the IPCC has recorded since it was

founded in 2004 but they are spread across six police force areas and

when we looked into them investigators have found no evidence

of misconduct on the part of the armed police involved in at least

four of the cases. You also have to look at it in the context of armed

operations police are carrying out each year, last year it was 14,700

so six deaths need to be seen in that context. As far as the pursuit

figures, there were 28 deaths of people involved in incidents in

which police were following them in a police car, following a suspect

vehicle. In the majority of those cases, the drivers of the vehicle

were not those who died, it was pedestrians or passengers and that

will be a concern. This is the highest figure for 11 years, there's

been a concerted effort to strengthen police driver training

and rules around police pursuits but the IPCC has said today it will look

again at that with the National Police Chiefs Council.

One of the Pope's most senior advisors is due to appear

in an Australian court tomorrow to face charges of sexual assault.

Cardinal George Pell has returned from Rome saying

that he is innocent, and will clear his name.

As our Sydney correspondent Hywel Griffith explains,

the case is the latest controversy to hit the Catholic

In George Pell's hometown, people have become used

to confronting the past, and dealing with the spectre of abuse.

Ribbons mark the places in Ballarat where members

of the Christian Brothers Order sexually assaulted children

Dozens ended their lives prematurely.

Phil Nagle was abused as an eight-year-old.

It took more than 20 years for his abuser to be

Decades on, he still feels the Catholic Church has not

acknowledged the suffering of victims.

They don't make any admissions, they make it as hard

You know, when you go to court, they're putting

They're backing the guys, the perpetrators, they don't back

Cardinal Pell was brought up in Ballarat and became

As an Archbishop, it became his responsibility to deal

with the allegations of abuse against Ballarat's bretheren.

Now, he is the one accused of sexual assault, allegations

As they wait for the legal process to unfold, there is a feeling

here in Ballarat that people need answers.

The details of the charges against Cardinal Pell won't be made

public until his first court hearing.

A moment which is likely to put the spotlight back on this town.

Those who work with abuse survivors say every headline has an impact.

Coverage over the last few years has already caused more people

It was really difficult, because it was exhausting.

It would be in the local papers, it would be on the local news

Across Australia, nearly 2,000 figures from the Catholic Church

A four-year Royal Commission enquiry has helped to break the silence.

It has also made the head of Ballarat's Catholic College speak

out, giving a formal apology to the victims and striking

the names of convicted abusers from its walls.

There's no question that, as a Church, we've got

to do to build trust with victims and survivors in the wider

community, but also within the Catholic community,

And the only way to do that is to come to the table to say

that we acknowledge this openly, we are so very sorry.

That can only happen when people here feel they have found the truth.

They hope that is what the courts can deliver.

The decision not to renew contracts for England rugby's

World Championship winning 15-a-side women's team has been strongly

The Rugby Football Union says its focus will switch

to the sevens game, after this year's World Cup in Ireland,

Our sports correspondent Richard Conway is at the team's

That's right. The team preparing in Aldershot, that World Cup in Ireland

gets under way in two weeks, but this news about the contracts is

potentially threatening to overshadow the preparation for the

opening game against Spain that England have. They have been

training here this morning and the situation with the contracts is such

that late last year 48 contracts were handed out, 16 concentrating on

the 15 aside version of the game, and 16 handed out on a short-term

basis to be brought in for specific competitions such as the Six

Nations. The contracts focused on the 15 aside game will end and no

matter what at the end of the World Cup next month. The Rugby Football

Union saying the focus will be on the seven aside game and the team

were told about this some time ago back in April. Nevertheless it has

attracted criticism from former players, one saying it's a kick in

the teeth for women's sport. But one former player points to the fact

that there is investment going into the women's game.

As a former player it's disappointing but I also have

to to the fact that the RFU are investing a large amount

of money into the women's game, especially at the community level.

But I think now, looking at the success of the England

women's cricket team, it's important to ensure

that there's further investment poured into the England women's side

So the focus of attention here in Aldershot is very much on that World

Cup. Speaking to some players before we came on air, they didn't want to

be distracted about the stories about the contracts, nevertheless

there will be questions coming up, members of the RFU will be talking

to us this afternoon about that but the focus is very much that this is

a cyclical nature, the focus will be on the seven aside World Cup next

year then the focus will switch back to the 15 aside game. Given the

success of women's sport we have seen this summer, many think the RFU

should make a greater commitment towards this team. Thank you.

Richard Conway. Adam Peaty has broken his own world

record in the 50 metres breaststroke, winning a heat

at the world swimming championships Afterwards, the British swimmer said

he hadn't set out to break a record and there could be more to come

later in the competition. Our correspondent Nick

Hope sent this report. Another morning in the pool,

another world record for Adam Peaty, his first at these

World Championships but the sixth world record

of his incredible career. 2016, he has smashed the world

record, he has taken 0.32 off it. All the more impressive,

given it came just over 12 hours since claiming

the 100-metre breaststroke title. This morning I came in nice

and relaxed, literally, wasn't even up for it that much,

it's crazy but in breaststroke you How much did you want

that world record? I wanted it, but I don't know

if I wanted it in the heats! But you can't pick and choose,

but I'm so grateful to be in front of that crowd and hopefully again

tonight we will push it on further. Peaty became a household name

by winning Team GB's first real Olympic gold medal last year

but he wasn't content Since then, Peaty says he has been

pushing the boundaries of the human body every day in a bid to swim

faster than ever. At just 22, there's still so much

Adam Peaty can achieve in the next two years but his repeated success

on the world stage here has not only cemented his status as one

of swimming's superstars but also He has become a world superstar

in the swimming world. The other thing about Adam

which everybody loves, especially the media,

is that he is such a nice guy and he has an aura

which literally is infectious, particularly amongst

the men's team at the moment, He was talking about winning three

medals so he has one for nan, one for himself and one

for the public, for his fans, and he does genuinely want to see

young people being Peaty is at home on the podium,

and with the 50-metre semifinal tonight and final tomorrow

expected to be formalities, this is set to become something

of a familiar sight. For the first time in living

memory, the fountains in St Peter's Square and the Vatican

are being turned off. A Vatican spokesman said the move

is an act of solidarity with the people of the city,

who face severe water shortages You can look up to the sky

as much as you want, but right now rain isn't

coming to Rome. During this dry summer, the Vatican

is taking emergency steps. It's no good looking for water

flowing here in the Vatican. The Pope has switched

off his fountains, hoping to set a good example for

the rest of the city. This is the Vatican's way of living

solidarity with Rome, trying to help Rome get

through this crisis. Essentially the water that comes

into the Vatican comes from the same place as where the water

comes that goes to Rome, and this is our way of trying

to help out. But right next to the Vatican,

someone's forgotten to switch off the drinking fountain,

to the clear relief of thirsty The water shortage has affected

large parts of Italy. Farmers think the lack of rain has

already cost the country Lake Bracciano outside Rome

is one of the city's The lack of rain has

stopped it from refilling. The capital now measures

its worries by the inch. Not quite the same dilemmas as in

Italy, Sarah? Yes, mixed fortunes across Europe. It's really drive --

dry there but there are storms in Germany at the moment. Today will be

the best day of the week if you like the warm and sunny weather. It was

the view taken by one of our weather watchers in Wiltshire. Warming up

quite nicely, particularly across many western parts of the country.

Through the afternoon most of us staying dry and there will be spells

of sunshine, even towards the east where we have more cloud. The cloud

is then today so allowing more sunshine and temperatures a few

degrees warmer than yesterday. Across the country this afternoon we

could see the odd shower cropping up across parts of south Wales towards

Devon and Dorset, looking drive over the south-east of England and East

Anglia. Dry too across parts of northern England and Northern

Ireland with spells of sunshine around. Northern and eastern

Scotland keep a bit more cloud and the odd shower as we had through the

course of the afternoon. Most of those showers will fade away this

evening. Some late sunshine but then overnight our attention turns to the

west where this band of rain roles in from the Atlantic so it will be a

wet and windy start to Wednesday morning across Northern Ireland and

western parts of England, Wales and south-west Scotland too. This

weather front will move gradually from west to east with quite close

isobars meaning it will be a blustery day on Wednesday. Initially

the wet weather in the west will arrive towards the south-east in the

middle part of the day, followed by drier weather with sunshine from the

west later but that spell of blustery, damp weather working its

way across all of the country. And temperatures nothing great, feeling

cooler where you have the breeze. But not a complete wash-out, that

area of rain clears away as we move into Thursday, but low-pressure

staying close by sitting to the north-west of the UK. With the wind

is rotating around that pressure, another blustery day on Thursday

with a mixture of sunshine and scattered showers for most places. A

similar sort of day into Friday as well, again quite breezy with a mix

of sunshine and showers. Low-pressure still in charge and not

particularly warm, at best around 17-21d. The week ahead will not be a

wash-out but there will be spells of rain at times or showers too and

temperatures for the time of year not doing all that well. You are

still smiling but only just! A reminder of our main

story this lunchtime... House-builders could be banned from

selling new homes as leasehold in England after it's emerged some

developers have been selling the leaseholds on leading to extra gusts

for homeowners. That's all from the BBC News at One

so it's goodbye from me - and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are.