20/02/2012 BBC News at Six

A huge shake-up plan for the UK Border Agency - the Home Secretary

says it has suffered from a catalogue of problems.

The Vine Report reveals a Border Force which has suspended checks,

spent millions on new technologies, but choose not to use them. She has

hidden behind a report and has not set out the full consequences, just

as she blamed officials, ju as she has hiden from the mead -- just as

she has hidden from the media. We will ask who is to blame? Also

tonight: The southeast of England is declared a drought zone. Warning

hosepipe bans could be next. Coming up - are water shortages on the way.

Many reservoirs are only half full, at a time of year when they should

be full to the brim. The NHS is not for sale.

An angry message for the Home Secretary, as he enters Downing

Street for talks on the NHS reforms. Bosses at Lloyds Banks penalised.

They lose out on �2 million in bonuses. Is this the future of

food? Can this be turned into one of these? We talk to the scientists

who says it can. Coming up later, former world

super-middleweight champion says he should not have been taken

seriously when he made comments claiming to prolong a fight in 2005

so his family could gain Good evening. Welcome to the BBC's

News at Six. There's to be a big shake up in the way Britain's

borders are policed, after a report revealed major failings in security

checks. An investigation into the relaxation of border controls last

year, found the problem stretched back to 2007. In some cases people

arriving on the Eurostar were not checked on a watch list for

suspected criminals without ministerial approval. Theresa May

said the Border Force will now become a separate organisation.

Labour have accused her of failing to take responsibility for the

problems. Our political editor reports.

The UK Border Agency. It is meant to stop terrorists, criminals and

illegal immigrants entering the country. Today, an official report

found the proper checks had not been carried out on hundreds of

occasions on many years, covering many hundreds of thousands of

people. The Vine report reveals that security checks carried out at

the border have been suspended regularly and applied

inconsistently since at least 2007. Guest to EuroDisney may not be top

of the guest list. Today's report found over the past four years,

500,000 passengers had entered from the theme park and trains from ski

resorts without facing the proper checks. The report of the chief

superintendent of the Border Agencys show there is a warning

index. It was suspended on 350 occasions. In the last 15 minutes

the fingerprint check, carried out on foreign nationals with Visas,

was suspended 480 times. In both cases it is not known how many

people were affected. Overall the report identifies poor

communication, poor managerial oversight and a lack of clarity.

Speaker, the report reveals a Border Force which suspended

important checks without permission. Spent millions on new technologies,

but did not use them. Was led by managers who did not communicate

with staff and sent reports which were inaccurate, unbalanced and

excluded key information. I spoke to the author of the report, John

Vine, after he watched the Home Secretary's Commons statement and

asked for his verdict on the agency meant to secure our borders.

Another phrase was "not fit for purpose." Is that the right phrase

for the UK Border Agency? There is substantial improvement for this

agency to have the confidence. I have made 12 recommendations. I am

delighted to see the Home Secretary has accepted those recommendations.

I hope that they are clear and that they will improve the service

provided. The row which led to today's inquiry began when the Home

Secretary claimed the then head of the UK Border Force, Brodie Clark,

had suspended checks without her approval. He resigned, but insisted

he was no rogue. The opposition say the Government still are blaming

others for its mistakes. It's time for her to stop hiding,

to take responsibility for things which have happened on her watch,

for the unclear instructions from her office, for the policy

decisions to downgrade our border controls. There is one consequence

of today's report - ministers are breaking up the UK Borders Agency,

so the men and women who police our borders have their new organisation

and a new boss. Nick is in Westminster for us. On the face of

it some alarming findings. How worried should we be? The man who

wrote this long and detailed report is making it clear it is bad these

checks were not carried out. Often they were additional to things like

checking people's passports. Therefore he cannot say there was a

serious threat to the country. There is a lot he cannot say simply

because The Record-keeping was so bad. Worrying - yes. Meanwhile we

are hearing and seeing a blame-game. It is clear the Home Secretary, who

has had much longer to read this, says it goes back years, to the

last Labour Government. Labour are quoting parts of this, saying, oh,

no, it is bad under this Government and in particular, under the

current Immigration Minister. All we can say, for certainty tonight,

George, is that agency had a new title, new logo, new uniforms. The

only problem was it wasn't doing its job properly. A drought has

been declared for the southeast of England.

There are fears that water levels in reservoirs in parts of England

are so low that we could see the most severe drought since the

summer of 1976. The southeast, East Anglia and the East Midlands are

the worst affected areas. Take a look at the reservoir levels

in Kent and you will probably already have guessed - now it is

official. Much of the southeast of England is in drought.

In the East Midlands, that has been the case for months now. Water

levels here worryingly low. All of this in February, when rain is

usually a reliable feature of the forecast. Here you get a sense of

how low levels have dropped. This entire're y should be covered with

water. As you can see -- this entire area should be covered with

water. As you can see vast areas are exposed. This picture is

repeated across the East and the southeast of England.

The reason for all of this is simple - two dry winters in a row.

Hard to believe if you are watching in Scotland or Northwest England,

but what they want here is rain, and lots of it. We need months of

torrential rain to be honest. It may not be a popular thing to say,

but drizzle, persistently over weeks is what we need to get things

back to normal. If it does not come there is the real possibility we'll

have restrictions. That brings back memories of the epic drought of

1976, when for many the only water supply was from stand pipes. Just

how bad are things today? Well, parts of East Anglia and the East

Midlands have been in drought since June last year. Now add other

regions from Hampshire to Kent, London to Oxfordshire and as far

west as Gloucestershire. For farmers this is bad news. Lack of

rain means they must rely on irrigation to grow their crops.

Water levels are low. Taking more out now may damage wildlife, so

farmers are calling for a radical solution. Ultimately a National

Grid of water pipe networks so we can get the water from the wetter

west over to the east and utilise it here. Obviously that is a major

aspiration. Ultimately that is what we need. Seven Trent is one company

which is already using pipelines to move water around its region.

Today's meeting between ministers and industry leaders will have

discussed doing more of this on a national scale.

The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, was heckled and jostled by

a group of protestors today as he tried to enter Downing Street for a

meeting over the controversial reforms to the NHS in England. The

Government is pushing through legislation that will give GPs more

control over their budgets and introduce greater competition. As

our political correspondent reports, a number of health organisations

which oppose the changes were not invited to Number Ten today.

It clearly wasn't what he was expecting. The Health Secretary

walked straight into a confrontation with opponents of his

NHS plans. One former union official emotional as she blocked

his path. I've had enough of you. I've had

enough of you and Cameron. Are you going to go home?. The NHS is not

for sale. There is no privatisation. He made his way into Downing Street.

Even some of those around the table with the Prime Minister had come to

voice their concerns. Those who oppose the plans outright,

including the Royal Colleges of doctors, nurses and midwives were

not invited. Downing Street say today's meeting is simply part of

the on-going discussions about the bill. By leaving out so many of

their critics, they simply have increased the hostility among many

of the health care professionals who will be expected to implement

their plans. He says because some GPs have got involved and clinical

clinicians that means the majority of GPs support it. That's not true.

In some parts of England GPs have been given more power over their

own budgets - a key part of the controversial proposals. Another

doctor, putting the plans into practise was at today's meeting.

seems to be moving ahead positively. I am not saying it is perfect.

There are some hurdles we have to overcome. It is not just those with

the placards who are worried about private sector involvement, the

Prime Minister wants to reassure them. There are myths we need to

bust. I have heard on the ground how some of these reforms are

taking place, you are seeing better health outcomes, GPs doing more for

their patients, people leading healthier lives. I am committed to

the changes. The Labour leader accused Mr Cameron of a bunker

mentality. I say directly to David Cameron, I hope he will listen to

the doctors, the nurses, the midwives, the patients - all of

whom are saying to him, "Drop the bill." Andrew Lansley made light of

the confrontation. You know, sticks and stones, et cetera. He is still

battling to get his bill through the House of Commons. The

Government insist there is no question of its abandoning its

plans with the NHS now. The driver of a coach which crashed

in northern France injuring school children and killing a teacher is

appearing in court this evening. It is thought 47-year-old Derek

Thompson may have fallen asleep at the wheel as the children were

being driven back to their school after a skiing trip. Ten children

and adults remain in hospital. For two days he's been cross-examined

by the French police. Tonight, 47- year-old Derek Thompson arrived at

this local Magistrates' Court, hidden beneath a dark coot. He is

expected to be charged with involuntary manslaughter. The

investigation suggests he fell asleep at the wheel. We know he did

not drink any alcohol. He was not under the influence of drugs. We

know that the driving time has been restricted and the speed limit also.

The possibility is that he fell asleep and probably, or it may be

that he was sick and he had a problem. The accident claimed the

live of 59-year-old Peter Rippington. A devouted maths and PE

teacher, hugely popular with the children. His wife, Sharon, is one

of the ten people still in hospital. This is the A26, heading north to

Calais. It was 2am in the morning, it was raining, the coach had

travelled 350 miles from the Italian Alps. Motorists say they

saw the coach swerving over to the right. You can see the marks here

in the turf, before it slipped into the ditch. The electronic record on

the coach said police showed varying speeds in the ten minutes

before it crashed. The coach belonged to Solus Coaches, who said

today they were extremely saddened by the accident and are liaising

the appropriate authorities. Meanwhile at the Alvechurch Church

of England Middle School in Worcestershire, a make-shift shrine

has been set up with flowers and the heart-felt messages of

condelenses for a teacher they knew as Mr Ribs. -- Mr Rips. Very

supportive. He loved the kids. He was a good teacher. He had a big,

big heart. They'll miss him. There are ten people still receiving

hospital treatment in France. The biggest concern is for a 13-year-

old girl, who was transferred to Paris on Sunday, after falling into

a coma. She is now conscious, but The former chief executive of

Lloyds Banking Group is one of several chief executives being told

he will get less in bonuses than he was going to get one year ago. They

are being penalised after misselling payment protection

insurance to customers. In what bankers think of as the

good old days when the bonus was announced, they could keep it

forever. Not any more. Lloyds are returning millions of pounds that

were given out in bonuses. The misselling of PPI is costing

Lloyd's a staggering �2 million. That is why they won the bonuses

back from the people they hold accountable. The biggest loser is

Eric Daniels, losing �580,000 out of a total bonus of �1.5 million.

Four other directors are losing �150,000 and a further eight will

be �58,000 poorer. This is the first time that it has happened

since the regulation came into force. If you have messed up as the

leader of the Bank, then you should give back what you have done wrong,

in terms of taking back some of the bonus that you were incorrectly

given. Lloyds caused great distress to many thousands of customers who

were unable to make claims on the PPI credit insurance they have been

mis-sold. Those customers are being compensated, so the question is

whether a 40% reduction in the bonus payable to the former chief

executive and a 25% reduction in bonuses for four other directors

will represent adequate punishment. We have been campaigning to get

this to happen since the end of last year. It is good to see this

first step. The regulator has got to be much tougher on stopping

these rewards for failure, making sure that the banks are clawing

back bonuses, shares and cash, from people that preside over things

that are bad for us as taxpayers. One led by Fred Goodwin, RBS was

big in the misselling of PPI insurance. Although he has recently

had his knighthood taken back, he will not have to hand back a bonus,

because he was not paid one, in a catastrophic year when he departed.

Our top story tonight: A big shake- up for the UK board agency after a

damning report finds all security checks were suspended on hundreds

of occasions. Coming up, after that fight both

David Haye and Dereck Chisora could be charged by police.

In the business news, thousands of pounds lighter, while 13 Lloyds

Bank executives are stripped of their bonuses. And can the European

finance ministers save Greece from It is one of the world's oldest and

most crippling diseases but scientists think they could be

close to eradicating polio altogether. The virus mainly

affects children under the age of five and causes paralysis. It can

kill. In 1988 there were 350,000 cases of polio worldwide in more

than 100 countries. Last year there were fewer than 650 cases across

the globe. India has now been polio-free for just over a year

thanks to a massive immunisation programme. Our medical

correspondent sent this report from Delhi.

Just two drops is all it takes to prevent polio. Now imagine

repeating that 170 million times, tracking down every young child

across India. You begin to get an idea of what it has taken to get

rid of polio here. The mark on the finger shows they have received the

vaccine. What has been achieved here is remarkable. India used to

have more polio cases than anywhere else but political will, resources

and dedication have finally wiped it out.

The volunteers here are from Britain. Members of Rotary, the

global network of professionals. Rotary has been at the forefront of

the fight against polio for a generation, raising money and

awareness. My dream is to have a polio-free world. We have done it

with smallpox and we should be able to with polio. We are very close

now, so I hope it is the last few days. I am a nurse clinician and I

vaccinate babies on a daily basis. Doing this is just an extension of

that. I love people and I want to see healthy children worldwide.

This barely Hospital still has a backlog of patients paralysed by

the virus. -- this daily Hospital. Mohammed caught polio as a baby and

he will need repeated surgery before he can walk with the aid of

callipers. It is painful to see them suffering, the family

suffering, everybody suffering around that. And there is a stigma.

If the world can get rid of polio that is the greatest thing I can

dream of. Polio used to spread here via contaminated water and raw

sewage. The virus has disappeared because enough people are protected.

India has shown a global eradication is possible but the war

is not run -- over yet. Neighbouring Pakistan and

Afghanistan and Nigeria, all showing increases of cases last

year. This virus respect snowboarders and that is why it is

vital. -- vital for mass immunisation campaigns to continue

until every child is protected. Poorly run immunisation programmes

and families who refuse the vaccine are preventing those countries from

matching India's success. It will take unswerving commitment of the

sort seen here if this disabling disease is to be confined to

history. Eurozone leaders are meeting at the

moment to tried to secure a deal for Greece which will enable them

to sign off a bail-out package. We have been nearly fell on several

occasions before. Is it going to happen this time? -- nearly there.

All the words going into this meeting optimistic and the

expectation is that they will agree on a second massive bail-out for

Greece and the country will avoid bankruptcy. It pays to be cautious

and there are still problems. They are arguing over how Greece will

reduce its debt mountain. They are also arguing over how to ensure

that Greece will have up to its promises and commitments. One

minister going into the meeting even said that they needed to put

permanent monitors in Athens, which would be hugely controversial. If

at the end of all of this there is an agreement, there will be a huge

sigh of relief within the eurozone. The future for Greece is less

certain. They are being asked to take on spending cuts at a time

when the economy is shrinking. It shrank in the last quarter by 7%.

The question is will this be a rescue or will they be condemned to

years of austerity ahead? Thank you. The British boxes David

Haye and Dereck Chisora could face jail sentences into Germany if they

are charged following their brawl in front of the television cameras

of the world in Munich on Saturday night. This report starts with

flash photography. The fight after the fight has made

Dereck Chisora and David Haye, coming to blows during a press

conference in Munich. It is an incident that has brought such

embarrassment to the sport that both men could be banned for life.

I am ashamed, embarrassed. Something went wrong at the weekend.

Therefore we all have to look at ourselves and take responsibility.

Ultimately two people did something wrong and they have to be dealt

with. Police in Munich say they suspect David Haye of grievous

bodily harm. The former World Champion would face jail if found

guilty. He arrived back home in England this evening having issued

a statement saying that he realises he is no angel, but during 21 years

in the sport he has never been involved in or witnessed such a

serious fracas. He says he will assist the boxing authorities with

any investigation. It is frustrating for those that love the

sport. They have had to watch it take a bashing. We are talking

about just one incident, while there are tens of thousands of

people boxing throughout the UK. The problem for the sport's

reputation is that the brawl in Munich involved two men who are

meant to be role models for everybody else. Children aspiring

to be boxes and looking up to these sports men, these athletes, it is

not impressive. It needs to be sorted. Dereck Chisora has issued a

statement apologising for his actions. Both he and David Haye are

in danger of being remembered as much for these moments of madness

outside the ring as anything they have achieved inside.

How much do you think a hamburger is worth? Dutch scientists are

spending �200,000 on creating one. The reason for the hefty price tag

will be because it is the world's first test-tube burger.

This is a strip of muscle grown from stem cells taken from a cow.

It will be used to make the world's first synthetic burger. The strip

is one of thousands grown in a lab in the Netherlands. Researchers mix

them with layers of fat, also grow in the lab, to make the burger. It

will cost more than �200,000 to make. For now the scientist behind

the project will have to make do with today's fast food. My eventual

dream is to produce a meat that tastes and looks exactly like this,

so you will not be able to distinguish it from livestock meet.

You know now that it is produced in an environmentally friendly, and a

more friendly and we sort friendly way. Professor past grows stem

cells in a dish, which then club together and grow into muscle. --

Professor Post. It looks like meat and it should taste like the real

thing. Researchers say it is more efficient than farming because just

one animal could make more than a billion burgers. It is being

welcomed other possibility by animal welfare groups. Locals at a

nearby hot dog restaurant were wary. I don't think it is a good idea.

Why not? It does not make sense to me. This is how we have been raised

our whole lives here. We know how farming works, who processes it,

how good it is. But in the future natural meat is likely to become

too expensive. Buying meat in supermarkets is something that we

take for granted nowadays, but not for very much longer, according to

some economists. They believe that because of rising demand from India

and China, meat prices are set to soar. We have about 1 billion

people undernourished on the planet. As we pushed towards 9 billion by

2050, we will need to produce a lot more fruit. Professor Post hopes

that the technology he is developing will help to feed an

ever growing and increasingly Now it is time for the weather. The

first signs of spring this week. Temperatures will be on the rise

but don't expect lots of sunshine. There will be brave and it will be

windy on Wednesday. It is much milder. -- there will be brain.

Those places stay above freezing tonight. Temperatures stay a few

degrees above zero. Cloud provides rain across Cumbria, really

building up here. Rain in western areas and temperatures above

freezing for most towns and cities. At about five, we start to stay.

Also lots of cloud. -- we start Tuesday. Central and eastern areas

should brighten up. If you live to the East of the hills, sunshine

will eventually come through and it will feel mild. In the North East

and Scotland 12 degrees is possible but in the West it will be gloomy

with rain. The East of Ireland will cheer up. Some rain in Cumbria, not

as heavy as today, but it could cause problems. Most places dry

further South. Some breaks in the cloud will bring in some sunshine

and temperatures up to double figures. Temperatures will be

higher on Wednesday but it will not feel warmer because it will be

blustery. Strong winds across north-western England. Welcome rain

across the South East on Wednesday. The winds calm down on Thursday.