07/10/2013 BBC News at Six

The rise in 15 minute care visits for the elderly and disabled, a

leading charity calls it a scandal. It says there is not enough time to

give essential care, two out of three councils in England now use

the so-called flying visits. It is not long enough when a person

is not mobile, to get her up and down the stairs could take 15

minutes alone. We will be asking if it is a

question of funding or organisation. Also tonight, it is Britain's answer

to the FBI, the new National Crime Agency swings into action. It will

have more power to confiscate criminal assets.

The Taleban shot Malala Yousafzai a year ago this week, but she is as

determined as ever to campaign for girls' education in Pakistan.

And watch out for the windows, the first-ever competitive football

match at Buckingham Palace. Coming up in the sport, Harry

Redknapp, the man that many tipped to take over as England manager,

criticises the FA, saying he would not trust them to show him a good

manager if their lives depended on it.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News At Six. Elderly and disabled

people have been deprived of essential help because many carers

only have time to make what a leading charity calls flying visits.

According to Leonard Cheshire Disability, the number of 15 minute

visit in England has risen in the last five years, but officials say

that in some cases a short visit is adequate and that simply banning

them, as the charity wants, is not the answer. Mike Sergeant reports.

From the moment the carer arrives, the clock is ticking. Betty is 84

and has Alzheimer's. She gets home care four times a day, and two of

those visits are just 15 minutes long. Her daughter says that the

carers are always into much of a rush. 15 minutes is not long

enough, it is not long enough when a person... Mike mam is not mobile, so

to get her up and down the stairs could take 15 minutes alone. Without

sword of making a cup of tea and giving her some breakfast. The

council which is responsible for Betty's care says the visits are

based on need and time is not a factor, but the new report says

short calls are on the increase across England. 60% of councils that

responded commissioned some 15 minute course, a rise of 15% in five

years. In the most extreme cases, some councils by all three quarters

of home care in 15 minute slots. Morning! But the majority of visits

are longer. Rowena never spends less than half an hour, and that is a

policy of the provider she works for. She says that gives carers long

enough to do the job properly. They need time to feel that you can help

and care about what is happening, what has happened to them, what they

need, and they need to be treated with kindness and clarity and

patience. While the Government and most local authority share the view

that 15 minutes is not long enough to help with most everyday tasks,

some councils say shorter visits can be useful if the purpose is not long

enough to help with most everyday tasks, some councils say shorter

visits can be useful if the purposes just to check someone is OK or that

they have had their medication. And many councils say they would like to

promise longer visits but are facing the twin pressures of cuts in

government funding and increasing demand for care as the population

gets older. Because of the financial demand for care as the population

position nationally, local authorities are actually having less

money over the next two or three year period to provide care for

people, and that is in the context that actually we are having to serve

more people and costs are rising. And so there is going to be a

squeeze. Campaigners say many home visits are too close together and

carers often not paid between jobs, but ministers say their reforms will

improve the quality of the system and make the money go further. We

have a significant amount of money that we are spending on health and

social care, but we're not spending it in the most effective way, and if

we can bring the two systems together, and we are requiring that

by way of pulling the funds from the NHS and social care, I think we can

achieve a much better use of resources and achieve better care

for people. The Government's big idea is for care budgets to be

personalised so the individual or their family can decide what sort of

support they get and when they get it, but for now some, like Betty

support they get and when they get Henry, have little choice but to

accept the care they are given. Social affairs correspondent Alison

Holt is with me now, so is it a question of funding or perhaps the

way things are organised? In the end, it is about both. On the money

side, local authorities are seen demand increase, and their budgets

are standing still or even reducing. Certainly the Association of

directors of adult social services says in the current financial year

budgets have produced by £800 million, on the organisation side

they say that they are not seeing money being transferred from the NHS

to social care, yet they are seeing people coming home much more

quickly. The government will argue that there are authorities who are

very innovative in the way that they meet demand, and they want to see

more of that. Now, would a ban on 15 minute visits solve all the

problems? I think it is fairly definite to say no, but is it a

symptom of a wider problem? Yes, it probably is. Tomorrow there will be

a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission which will look at

the pressures on the care workers, the people who have to rush between

visits, often very lowly paid. Many people in this sector say that what

is actually needed is wider debate about funding of adult social care.

The head of the new National Crime Agency has issued a warning to

Britain's crime bosses - non-job you is beyond reach. The agency is the

latest attempt to deal with the growing threat of organised crime

and will have a budget of nearly £500 million and extra power to

confiscate the assets of criminal gangs. Home affairs correspondent

Tom Symonds has more. Armed officers moved in on criminals

in Gateshead. In fact, this is a training exercise. Routine apart

from the logos on their new jackets. The National Crime Agency,

the NCA, is the third attempt in 15 years to create a UK wide falls

designed to have as big an impact on big crime as that other well-known

three letter crime fighter, the FBI. This is clearly the sharp end, but

the new National Crime Agency behind it will be a bigger, much more

visible operation, active across the UK, but for the first time with the

powers to direct local police forces. We need leadership to bring

agencies together based on clear intelligence, so intelligence led,

and we target interventions appropriately, and our top priority

is continuously disrupting people involved in organised crime.

The agency said that its first real operations, a series of operations

this morning, were a good demonstration of its ability to

coordinate action against a modern demonstration of its ability to

crime challenge, in this case identity fraud. There were eight

arrests. The NCA puts a number of crime-fighting team under one roof,

continuing to tackle serious and organised criminals, but also Syco

and economic crime, immigration and cross-border crime, and child

exploitation and protection. -- cyber. This does not live up to the

Home Secretary's hype, it is important and we wish it well, but a

lot of this is rebranded existing organisations, and unfortunately

with a 20% budget cut. The Government says the strategy has

substance and all proceeds of crime will be seized and counterterrorism

may be added to the NCA's portfolio. But in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein

and the SDLP blocked the new agency But in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein

from having full powers because of concerns it would upset a delicate

policing balance. And the agency wants to work closely with Europol,

which coordinates policing across Europe and has a new

which coordinates policing across unit. But Britain may pull out

because of reforms which are planned. We don't like everything

they're saying about how it should be changed, we don't think Europol

should be able to instruct British police officers, for example, as to

who to investigate, that we will be talking to others in Europe and to

the European Commission about that future structure of Europol, and we

will take a decision in due course. Host of all, the NCA wants to build

a public reputation from today, day one, to be publicly judged on its

successes and failures. All three main Westminster parties

have been reshuffling their teams. David Cameron has promoted three

women, although not of them has been given a Cabinet post. The only

change in the coalition cabinet comes with the Liberal Democrat

Alistair Carmichael as the new Scottish Secretary. There have also

been changes to the Labour team. Debt joint deputy political editor

James Landale at Westminster. George, you wait for a reshuffle for

months, and suddenly two, long one after the other. We know David

Cameron hates taking the knife to his government, and his reshuffle

has been put off for many months. Ed Miliband chose to wait and deliver

is on the same day. Many of these names may be unfamiliar to many

people watching tonight, but they are the people who, in a year and a

half's time, we'll ask for their support at a general election. What

we learned today is that the people that the party leaders think of the

best people suited for the job. All quiet outside Number Ten,

nothing to do but those in the son. Not so inside. Behind this tour, a

flurry of calls, a queue of visitors and a Prime Minister sweating over a

jigsaw puzzle, known in these parts as a ministerial reshuffle. Today

David Cameron promoted a new generation, the faces he hopes will

represent the Tory party in years to come, faces like Esther McVey, from

Liverpool, used to work in TV, and as you have probably noticed, a

woman. She is the new jobs minister. What are the most important areas of

your new role? At the same department, Mike Penning, working

class, a former fireman to sell welfare reforms. And Sajid Javid,

son of a bus driver, a smooth ex-banker, now promoted to the

Treasury. The economy has turned a corner, and the news we keep getting

is encouraging but there is more work to do. So a few themes emerging

- working-class backgrounds to the poor, you faces who are very much

their own women, all there to counter claims the Tories are to

mail and middle-class. Underlying it all, a promotion for George

Osborne's allies, like Matthew Hancock with a new job at education.

The only change to the cabinet came in the broad shouldered shape of

Alistair Carmichael, the new Lib Dem Scotland secretary, a robust figure

that Nick Clegg wants to use to beef up the campaign against Scottish

independence. up the campaign against Scottish

loss. Out goes the consensual Michael Moore, outgoing ministers

like Mark Hoban, Jeremy Browne, Michael Moore, outgoing ministers

Chloe Smith, Mark Prisk and Richard Benyon. This was a freshen up

reshuffle designed to bring on those ministers, some of whom could

potentially join the Cabinet next year. It was not the only reshuffle

taking place. Just down the road, Ed Miliband was making his own changes,

some quite graphic. He also promoted a new generation to his Shadow

Cabinet, the likes of Tristram Hunt, Emma Reynolds and Gloria de Piero,

with Rachel Reeves taking over the crucial welfare brief and Andy

Burnham surviving at health. But the Labour leader made room by them --

for them by emoting those who were once close to Tony Blair, like Liam

Byrne, Stephen Twigg. So for some, a dull day, but for others, changes

that could help determine who else gets to walk through this door.

Now, the reach of Ulster will continues, there are loose ends to

tie up, people to appoint to those junior positions. -- the re-shuffle

continues. Two thoughts remain, and these reshuffles have been

relatively smooth. I have covered ones were ministers refused to take

jobs, they have stormed off, some ones were ministers refused to take

Cabinet ministers refused to take other junior ministers, Downing

Street has tried to make changes to Whitehall that they could not,

trying to abolish the Lord Chancellor. We have not had any of

that so far today. It is still possible it could come later when we

talk to people. The other thing I would say is this - for all the

changes made, there are many people on the backbenches today who will be

disappointed at being passed over, at being sacked, who feel ignored,

and for both David Miliband, for Ed Miliband and David Cameron, many

people on the backbenches will feel a little less warmly to them

tonight. Scotland has become the first

country in Europe to prescribe a new drug which reduces cravings for

alcohol. Now McLean will be available on the NHS in Scotland and

it is designed to help heavy drinkers who are not yet

alcoholics. Scotland has one of the highest alcohol consumption rates in

Europe, as James Cook reports. Too many nights end like this for

some drinkers, and too many people in Scotland drink too much. It is

thought nearly 200,000 are dependent on alcohol and not getting help. So

will a pill which lessens the bus from whose help wean them off? They

will a pill which lessens the bus tend to be drinking less and less as

the months go by. They actually use the Nalmafene less and less as the

months go by, as the craving for alcohol diminishes and the whole

scenario that they used to be in is no longer so important. So from

today, drinkers in Scotland can take a pill before heading to the pub

which costs just £3 but it's only available on prescription along with

counselling. I think for people with drink problems it will be good.

Maybe it would solve a few problems. It's your usual lets find a quick

solution but, at the same time, if you were a willing participant and

you want somebody to help you, obviously it's a good idea. Doctors

and politicians have tried many ways of reducing Scotland's alcohol

problems and this latest drug is aimed at a particular group of

drinkers, those who perhaps are having three or four pints a day and

who may be on the road to more serious health problems unless

something is done. So Nalmafene is no magic bullet, but it may just

help them to Scotland's love affair with booze. Our top story this

evening. The rise in 15-minutes care visits for the elderly and disabled.

A leading charity says it's a scandal. Still to come, the bright

A leading charity says it's a sparks in a billion pound battle to

unravel the mysteries of the human brain. Coming up, Ashley Cole is an

injury doubt for England in the World Cup qualifiers after having a

scan. A year ago this week, the Pakistani

teenager Malala Yousafzai was shot A year ago this week, the Pakistani

on a school bus in Pakistan. She was targeted by the Taliban because she

had spoken out for girls' education and she was flown to Britain for

treatment. She now lives in Birmingham and is continuing her

education here. Malala's determination to continue

campaigning has earned her a nomination for the Nobel Peace

Prize. In her first broadcast interview since the attack, Malala

has been talking to the BBC's Mishal Husain. A day out in Birmingham for

Malala Yousafzai. This 16-year-old's life was transformed

by the attack which nearly killed her. Hello. One year on, I have been

spending time with her and her family. What has been the hardest

thing about coming to Birmingham? family. What has been the hardest

The weather, of course. The weather and seeing Malala. She's much better

The weather, of course. The weather now than she was but your life

changed in that one moment. In seconds. Everyone's life changed in

that moment. Malala was only 11 when she first spoke out for girls rights

to go to school. I will get my education at home, school, or any

place. The world she knew was about to disappear. Air home Valley in

northern Pakistan came under the brutal rule of the Taliban.

I was afraid of my future. I don't want to see any gill being ignorant

and I don't want to seek any gill being illiterate in the future and I

don't want my future to be sitting in a room, to be imprisoned in four

walls and adjust cooking and giving birth to children. I didn't want to

see my life in that way. But her determination to speak out would

come at a cost. On the 9th of determination to speak out would

October last year, she and her friends were travelling home on

their school bus when it was stopped.

She was shot in the head, deliberately targeted by the

extremists. We know the Taliban destroyed hundreds of schools but

never targeted a trial -- child. They flogged girls but didn't kill

children. I went to visit her old school. Where did she said? Her

classes full of bright, articulate girls with high aspirations for the

future. This was Malala's actual desk. They say they miss a

competitive spirit. Are you still competitive in your new school? Yes,

I do like it, but I still miss my friends. The new school environment

in Birmingham is very difficult and different to what he's used to. Do

you think a British children take their education for granted? Yes, I

believe that. I want to tell students of the UK to think it is

very precious, it's a very prestigious, go to school. Malala

has made a remarkable physical undercover at going under two major

operations including one to reattach a facial nerve. Now I can move my

face, I can smile. It's getting better day by day. Tell me when you

can first to hear a tiny sound. And backs to an implant, her hearing has

been restored. I'm going to say the days of the week. Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

LAUGHTER There will be more of that interview

today she is become the face of out-of-school children and has an

influence to other 16-year-olds can imagine. And yet she told me she

still sees herself as an ordinary teenager. There will be more of that

interview on Panorama this evening on BBC One at 8.30pm. It's the big

question. Can a computer ever match the complexity of the human brain?

Now a group of scientists, including some from Britain, have taken up the

challenge. They are trying to simulate brain functions and the

experiment will take ten years and cost a billion pounds. Our medical

correspondent Fergus Walsh reports cost a billion pounds. Our medical

from the project headquarters in Switzerland. There are flashing

images in his report. A sliver of mouse brain. Scientists are starting

small but have big ambitions. To unlock the secrets of the human

mind. These experiments are trying to reveal how individual neurons

interconnect. So far, they have produced a computer model simulating

the electrical activity of a few thousand mouse neurons. The human

brain has 100 billion. It could answer fundamental questions, how

does the brain process thoughts and memories, interpret our senses, and

what happens when it goes wrong? The scientific benefits is we should

begin to understand what makes the human brain unique. We will begin to

understand the basic mechanisms behind cognition and behaviour. We

will begin to understand how to objectively diagnose brain diseases.

And we will understand how to build new technologies inspired by how the

brain computes. To model how the brain functions will require

supercomputers faster than any that currently exist. This one in

Switzerland can do trillions of calculations per second. But you

would need thousands of these machines to even try to simulate the

brain 's ability to do complex multiple tasks. And whereas the

brain requires just 30 watts of power, the same energy as a light

bulb, today's computer equivalent would need most of the energy from a

power station. That means completely redesigning computers, a task that

power station. That means completely this team in Manchester are

tackling. They have created a robot which simulates the way and in

Manchester are tackling. They have created a robot which simulates the

way an insect brain responds to the jewel signals. -- this jewel

signals. But along with artificial intelligence. They struggle to do

things humans find very easy -- visual signals. Very young babies

can recognise their mothers. Programming a computer to recognise

particular person is actually possible but very hard. Some doubt

whether this project will justify its £1 billion price tag. New

treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's are a distant prospect

but the more we understand about the brain, the better placed we will be

but the more we understand about the to fix it. Buckingham Palace has

hosted everything from the annual garden parties to pop concerts. Now,

for the first time, it's been the venue for a competitive football

match. The match between two of England's oldest amateur clubs was

Prince William's idea to mark 150th anniversary of the FA. Our royal

correspondent Nicholas Witchell watched. Eat your heart out,

Wembley. You really couldn't imagine this for setting. The Queen's back

garden at Buckingham Palace staging its first competitive football

match. Two teams invited to the Palace by the Prince William. Inside

the Palace before the match, 150 volunteers who helped make the

amateur games such success, where presented with medals and William

welcomed them to his grandmother 's home. I cannot tell you how excited

I am but later today, we will be playing football on my grandmother

's lawn. One morning, though. If anyone breaks a window, you could

answer to her. No pressure them. These may be amateur teams but they

take their football seriously. Before they got down to it, William

take their football seriously. was given a football kit for Prince

George. And then civil service FC and Polytechnic FC set about each

other under the gaze of the World Cup final referee, Howard Webb.

William joined a skill session with the Royal household football team. A

reminder that for all the attention on the professional leagues, it is

the amateur game stall what the FA say other real grass-roots heroes.

Talking of which, meet Harry, he's 87, and a referee. What does it mean

Talking of which, meet Harry, he's to you to come to Buckingham Palace

for an occasion like this? I think to you to come to Buckingham Palace

it's absolutely marvellous, to think to you to come to Buckingham Palace

I've got here through football, unbelievable, isn't it?

Unbelievable. Will you be refereeing a this weekend? Next weekend, kid.

The final score, on a technic, two, civil service, one. What of the

precious pitch? How has this carefully tended lawn fared? It's

safe to say the ground staff have a bit of work to do. The weather

looked beautiful too. Here's Matt Taylor.

Things are changing. Temperatures are said to be dropped across the

UK. As we start to switch the southerly wind at the moment for

northerly winds and strong northerly winds at that later in the week. The

wind will keep things milder tonight for many of us. Dry but lively

bursts of rain in north-west England, Scotland. The odd rumble of

thunder can't be rolled out. Away from that, to the side, mist and fog

to start your evening. Temperatures above where they should be for the

time of year. For the morning, above where they should be for the

patchy fog, a lot of cloud but bright before the cloud thickens

through the afternoon bringing outbreaks of rain. It brightens up

across Wales, the Woodlands -- Midlands, and the westerly wind

bringing in some showers. A slight dip in temperature but still

15-19dC. Above where they should be. The cold air is to the north of

us. As high pressure builds to the west, it brings cold air behind this

weather front. It could be severe gale force across the north-east of

Scotland. Wintry on the higher ground. Temperatures still around

15-16. A bright day to come across southern areas but temperatures

dropping away markedly further north. 10-12. The wind will make it

feel colder. The cold air pushes south into Thursday morning. These

are the temperatures for Thursday morning. If you have been doing it

without your jacket lately, commuting, the strong wind will make

it feel colder. Heavy, thundery showers to the west. Many will be

dry and bright. More detail coming up in the next hour. Thanks very

much. That's all from the BBC News at Six. It's goodbye from me. On BBC