31/03/2017 Breakfast

Longer waits for hospital operations in England as the health service

is forced to make a tough "trade-off".

The head of NHS England says treatment is no longer guaranteed

in the 18-week target time but in return there would be quicker

Also this morning: As Britain prepares for Brexit,

today the EU will set out its plans for two years of negotiation.

Trying to save the African elephant - today, China will close almost

half of its official ivory carving factories and shops.

A payrise for Britain's lowest paid staff.

The national minimum wage goes up to ?7.50 an hour tomorrow,

but is it enough, and what does it mean for businesses?

In sport, Manchester City's women are into the last four

Lucy Bronze scores to book City's place in the semi-finals after a 2-0

aggregate win over Danish side Fortuna Hjorring.

After "the most challenging railway repair ever," today

the Settle-Carlisle train line reopens to customers.

Grey skies and rain might greet the day for many of you but things will

brighten up quite nicely - I have details coming up and a full weekend

broadcast. Patients will have to wait longer

for routine operations, such as hip and knee replacements,

as a trade off so improvements can That's according to the Head of NHS

England, Simon Stevens, who is today setting

out a new strategy for Iris Ram is 96 and is recovering

from a recent illness. Her GP called a local NHS service

based in Nottinghamshire to give her the right care

and the right place. The treatment at home has been

absolutely wonderful. Iris is well cared for,

a priority for the NHS, but it's acknowledged

the system is under pressure, and tough financial

choices are needed. Today NHS England leaders

are taking stock of progress. Since their five-year plan

was published in 2014. Aims set out in the new strategy

include improving cancer survival rates, increased access to mental

health therapies and recruitment But with limited resources it's

likely to mean longer waiting times for non-urgent operations and fewer

people being referred The problem is made worse

by a shortage of beds. There are a significant proportion

of people who don't need to be there, who don't want to be there,

and if we could get them out, that would free up something

like 2000 to 3000 beds in the NHS, which could be used more effectively

for providing quicker Today is about setting out

what is possible with the money allocated by the government

to the NHS in England but, at a time of increased demand,

what is not addressed is the extra funding

that is needed. We'll be speaking to guests

about this throughout the morning, including the President

of the Royal College of Surgeons, A group of MPs have said it's

"unacceptable" that residents who pay their own fees at care homes

in England are charged on average 43% more than those

funded by the state. The Communities and Local Government

Committee blames a lack of funding, which it says is threatening

the viability of adult The government says it's already

given councils an extra ?2 billion. The President of the European

Council, Donald Tusk, will issue draft guidelines this

morning, setting out how the EU wants to handle the

Brexit negotiations. The proposals will then be debated

by the leaders of the 27 EU member states at a summit next month,

as Marta Newman reports. First there was the latter. I choose

to believe in Britain and that our best days of my head. Then the

Repeal Bill. As we ex at the EU and seek Addae partnership with the EU

we will be doing so from a position where we have the same standards and

rules. But it will also ensure that it will deliver on the promise to

end the supremacy of EU law in the UK as we exit. And now just two days

after the Prime Minister fired the starting gun for Brexit, we will

hear how the president of the European council wants negotiations

to go. There has already been disagreement over whether

discussions about trade can take place at the same time as the

discussions about divorce. TRANSLATION: In the negotiations we

first have to sort out how we can on tangle ourselves from one another.

Only when that has been settled hopefully soon after we can speak

about our future relationship. Donald Tusk will issue his

guidelines today before they get debated by the 27 remaining member

states. Setting the tone for two years of tough negotiation and

efforts to finalise the deal. The document won't be finalised until

the end of April at a special summit of EU leaders.

Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has signed a letter

to Theresa May, formally requesting a second independence referendum.

In it, she reiterates her call for a vote within the next two years.

The Prime Minister has already said it won't happen before

There are warnings today of a recruitment crisis if Brexit

leads to immigration being severely restricted.

In the first major business intervention since Theresa May began

the process of Britain's divorce from the EU,

the British Hospitality Association has said the industry faces

a shortfall of 60,000 workers a year.

Our industry correspondent John Moylan has more.

Here we go. They are gearing up for the summer season. Around 40% of

staff are from outside the UK. The boss says they face a recruitment

crisis if Brexit causes the supply of workers to be cut off. If the

Tapie is turned off straightaway that would be very difficult. We are

where we are at the moment. We rely on a third of the workplace from

European employees. To be able to turn a straight off and replace it

straight off would be very difficult. We are in the hospitality

industry, the service industry. You have to employ people who like to

serve people. Tourism and hospitality accounts for around 10%

of the economy. Now a new report is reporting that restrictions on

foreign labour could hit it harder than any other sector. The UK's

hospitality sector employs around 3 million workers but it is highly

reliant on overseas staff. 24% of the workforce are EU migrants. It

could face a shortfall of 60,000 workers a year if immigration is

tightly controlled. The industry wants to reduce its dependence on EU

workers. Its new 10-year strategy includes recruiting more unemployed

and all the workers in the UK. The government says that while it will

end free movement as it is now it will design and new immigration

system that is in the national interest.

President Trump's former national security adviser has

offered to give evidence about possible links

between the Trump campaign and Russia, if he's given protection

from what has been caled "unfair prosecution".

General Michael Flynn was forced to resign in February

after he misled the Vice-President over phone conversations he had

His lawyer says he "has a story to tell."

Israel has announced it's to build the first new settlement

in the occupied West Bank in more than 20 years.

Palestinian officials have condemned the plan and have called

Half of China's existing legal ivory processing factories and stores

will be permanently shut down today with the rest closed by the end

The news has been welcomed by conservationists in their ongoing

battle against the illegal trade in ivory.

Despite a global ban on international sales,

a surge in demand has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands

And we are going to speak with a campaigner on that subject later in

the programme. Fancy buying a second-hand space

rocket? I've got one. Oh, you've got one already? Well, you could do.

A Californian company has made history by launching rocket back

Rockets are traditionally used only once before being scrapped

but SpaceX has developed a way of landing its boosters safely

on Earth, allowing them to be recycled.

It's been described as "one small step for the company,

but a giant leap in the search for cheaper space exploration."

Which we have all been looking for. Oh, every day.

You are looking at a rocket with a difference.

Unlike the rest, it's fitted with a booster that has

And now history, as it's successfully relaunched

Boosters cost tens of millions of dollars, and are normally

discarded and destroyed during an ascent.

But the private Californian aerospace company SpaceX has found

a way to eject them safely back to earth.

After the successful launch, another key moment in the flight,

to see if the second-hand booster can safely detach and fly back

Rapturous cheers from the mission crew tell you it's a success.

Minutes later, it's back on earth, an unprecedented double achievement

of launching a reusable rocket, and recovering it

This is gonna be, ultimately, a huge revolution in spaceflight.

It's the difference between if you had aeroplanes

where you threw away an aeroplane after every flight,

versus you can reuse them multiple times.

It represents a new era in the space race, where private

enterprises compete against each other, instead of countries.

This success will be a boost for a company with much more

ambitious long-term goals, that includes sending two

unidentified space tourists to the moon next year.

Fancy that next holiday? A reusable rocket, why not? Never gonna

happens. Let's check in with the sport. Morning, the Manchester City

revolution continues. It is great to see, it was an amazing night for

them. For the women's team of specially and we know how much money

has been pumped in over the years into Manchester City and it is

certainly paying off with the women's team, reaching the

semifinals of the Champions League, laying Fortuna Hjorring from

Denmark, winning 1-0, so it is looking quite rosy after the double

last year. They are firing at the moment.

It follows their victory over the Danish side in the first leg.

A tough match to come, though, where they face the holders Lyon.

We knew the FIFA World Cup was to be expanded from 32 teams

But we now know how those additional places will be filled.

Europe will have 16 spots at the finals, up from 13 nations.

In a new move, two teams will have to qualify via a six-team play-off

Johanna Konta's incredible run continues.

She beat Venus Williams overnight to reach the final at the Miami

Amazing to think she was just six years old when Venus won this

It is an incredible run that she is on at the moment.

England's Charley Hull is well in contention at the first women's

major of the year, the ANA Inspiration in California.

Shot of the day though came from South Korean teenage amateur

And you know your luck is in, don't you, if you are producing shots like

that. I love that, she looked more shocked than anyone, it was amazing.

Mouth wide open. Watchers haven't? Yes. Thank you very much indeed. Is

it golfing weather, Matt? Good morning, not quite. It will be later

on. One thing to note, this morning it is incredibly mild for March.

Temperatures in Dover 14 degrees, close to record-breaking. I don't

think we will break records but it is very near. The downside I suppose

is it is cloudy and bled for many of you. On the radar chart the heaviest

rain in the Northern Ireland and western Scotland parts, thoroughly

warm. Rainy for the Devon areas and Cornwall, clearing away, skies

brightening before showers gather later on, so enjoy the dry morning

commute, different on the way home. Rain will spread across the Midlands

and south-east England though it should be dry for eastern England at

the start of the day. Outbreaks of rain in Wales mainly in the west,

north-west England too but Northern Ireland and western and

south-western Scotland have wettest conditions at the moment. The rain

will remain across Scotland for a good part of the day. It will ease

away from Northern Ireland around the morning onwards. We will see the

rain across England and Wales depart for a time, Sunderland will come

out. One or two showers in eastern England in the afternoon and then

showers return for Devon, Cornwall and western Wales and Northern

Ireland. A breeze blowing across the country from the south-west but

still temperatures not as high as yesterday but warm enough at 13- 17

degrees with the sunshine in central, eastern England and

south-east Scotland this afternoon. Into the night the windfall is a

little bit lighter, we will see showers around, though, mainly in

the west, eastern areas will be dry and cooler than in the last few

nights with temperatures in most areas dropping to single figures.

That will give us a chilly start to the weekend compared to this

morning. As for the weekend forecast it is a new month, quite aptly,

April showers on Saturday, chilly to take us on through the night but

Sunday not looking too bad. Details on that - showers from the start of

the day for the country, well scattered, some heavy with hail and

plunder, slow-moving, sunshine in between, so some will have a largely

dry day around some of the coastal areas tomorrow. Temperatures not

quite as high as today. And showers gradually depart through the evening

and into the night. I pressure builds in, that means a chilly start

on Sunday morning, even a touch of frost around for one or two

sheltered spots, but Soni for most. Showers few and far between, most

will have a fun and dry day with some good, long sunny spells --

sunny. We will talk to you again soon - it has been a lovely couple

of days. It is sweaty and boiling this morning. Really?

You're watching Breakfast from BBC News.

Patients will have to wait longer for routine operations such as hip

and knee replacements in what the Head of the NHS

in England says is a trade-off so improvements can be made

Details on how the EU plans to negotiate Brexit will be released

later today by the president of the European Council,

Let's have a look at the papers this Friday. We are joined by Ben. Good

morning. And John with the sports papers. The front pages and then we

will talk to you guys? Lots of papers talking about the story we

just mentioned, changes in the NHS, the Guardian's front page says the

NHS will axe a commitment to 18 week target for operations as we return

to quicker and better diagnosis for cancer. The Daily Mirror also has

the NHS story. The new government plan to be revealed today which will

include even longer waiting times and not an extra penny to be

invested. We are talking waiting times later this morning and how

that will affect people waiting a long time for a knee replacement,

hit replacement, that sort of thing. We've reported a lot over the last

few weeks about the impact of NHS delays on social care and the Daily

Mail front page refers to that, how care homes hit the middle classes,

that figure we mentioned about people paying for their own social

care in residential homes are charged significantly more than

those being paid for in the same homes and sometimes by the council.

The front page of the times has a different story, about a funding

shortfall, they say military chiefs have begun a review to find at least

?1 billion in savings per year in addition to the savings they are

already making over the next decade. And that picture, you may not

recognise her but you might know her name, Karen Millen, she used to own

a huge chain of retailers on the high street, she has gone bankrupt,

her receiving her OBEs here many years ago, but hit by a ?6 million

tax bill. -- her OBEs. The Daily Telegraph looking at the Brexit

negotiations, well, they have really started, but they're cut the red

tape campaign, with the UK retraining the power to deport. And

a picture or Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh last night. Very relaxed.

This is the letter about a second independence referendum, they are

comparing it with this picture of Margaret Thatcher on her sofa in

Downing Street two or three decades ago penning a similar letter,

similar pose. A lot of letter writing going on at the moment. Good

days to be a postman! Exactly! Ben, what! Ben, what have you got? A lot

of scrutiny over the way the pens are being used. It was an American

company's pen, a Parker. A lot of concern about that. It's very

important, the details! Let's pick up on Brexit, another word for our

dictionaries, Brexodus, JP Morgan Chase overseas ball where it might

base its offices and they are suggesting Dublin, Frankfurt or

Paris -- for. Lloyds of London, this story at the bottom, will set up a

subsidiary office in Brussels. It is easy to think of this as the big

banks getting a bit sniffy about Brexit, but in JP Morgan's case,

they employ 16,000 in the UK, the largest investment bank in Europe,

they make a third of their money over in Europe. They say it is

crucial for them to have an office there. I want to pick up on this,

it's interesting which paper you read, the Lloyds of London story in

the Telegraph, making a point that tens of employees are moving to

Brussels in the case of Lloyds of London, so therefore not a huge move

overseas but nonetheless important as the banks try to work out the

future. John, what have you got? The Daily Telegraph have campaigned into

research between the link between footballers suffering dementia...

There you go. The FA have said it will set aside some money for

research. Hopefully it is something they have been campaigning for...

Basically heavy footballs through the 60s and the damage it has done

to their brains. It looks like the FA will set aside money for that

research. And the PFA have been involved? Yes. Remember we talked

about this statue, turns out the guy that made it said Cristiano Ronaldo

likes it. Of course he does. People said it looked nothing like him,

apparently he likes it. He would like anything that shows him in this

kind of vain! You're not wrong there! Let me bring you this about

mapping, my favourite thing to do. Having a little nap in the day, a

short one, makes you a happier person. -- napping. How long does it

have to be? I know that more than an hour is bad, 30 minutes they are

saying, you have to be disciplined to get up after 30 minutes. Then you

are in a deep sleep and then there is no coming back. You wake up and

you don't know who you are all where you've been! Apparently there are

half a million more cats in the UK than a year ago. -- or. Do you know

why? Because single men are buying cats. The idea of a little old lady

buying a cat is untrue. Is that because they are lonely and they

want a bit of company? Single men are fuelling the rise. That is a

cute picture. Have you got a cat? No, not yet, I'm never home enough.

That is very cute. A little bit of trivia from inside as well, which I

know you all love! A few stats! They're known as education's hidden

army, but BBC Breakfast has been hearing how eeaching assistants

are facing challenges as a result of growing financial pressures

across the education system. Unions also say teacher shortages

and budget cuts mean too many are being left to teach

classes on their own. Though the Department for Education

says savings can be made Breakfast's Jayne McCubbin has been

speaking to support staff John, not his real name, is not a

real teacher, but he is frequently called in to cover a class when a

real teacher is off. Originally it was only meant to be a few days.

What it turned into what month after month. He said he is used as a cheap

alternative to a substitute teacher with no qualification and no

authority. Mis- behaviour meant you spend your time firefighting, that's

what you're doing, you're controlling behaviour, you're not

teaching. It can happen as well when the kids will have me looking after

them in one lesson and in another lesson they'll have another

unqualified member of staff from a different subject, so they could

have two or three hours of this in the same date. I'm not dubious at

the head teacher, the budget's just not there. In Scotland, only a

qualified teacher can lead a class. In English and Welsh state schools,

it's at the discretion of the head and all heads are facing financial

pressures. Here in Burnage they value TAs more than most, because

many students and speak English as a foreign language, many have special

educational needs but even here they are increasingly used to full gaps.

That added pressure is taken away from the role they have to do, which

is incredibly valuable. It has the domino effect of one child is not

understanding something, they then feel they can't cope within that

situation, it then affects other children, it then affects the

teacher, the whole environment is not one for learning. In other

schools, financial pressures are more intense. Hilton Primary is

?120,000 in the red. TAs like Jill Ange just filling gaps, they are

being axed. A third of the 40 employed here have just received a

redundancy notice. -- aren't just. It is very upsetting. The plastic

now is as far as it is going to stretch. Losing these TAs is a

disaster, it really is a disaster -- elastic. Three years ago -- seven

years ago three in school... With a further ?3 billion of cuts ahead,

that will get worse. The Department for Education told me they believe

efficiencies can be made without having to cut staff without an

impact on education. There was a time when we didn't have teaching

assistants. Yes, in years gone by we had one teacher to teach a class

full of pupils but now we expect more from our educational system and

we are going to let a generation of pupils down if we don't provide this

support for them. Parents' expectations might be for more, but

in terms of funding, the reality is less. Head teachers will have to

find how to strike a balance. Jayne McCubbin, BBC News.

Don't be surprised if people seem a bit more friendly

I hadn't noticed anything so far! Thanks, that's really kind!

And a campaign's being launched for us all to

do at least one random act of kindness.

Whether it's paying for someone's bus ticket or buying

And we've been to find out what good deeds people have done.

Gone to the theatre and I saw there were some chaps wanting coffees and

things, they wanted money really, I just thought, you know what, for the

sake of another ?20 I would rather get them summing to eat. I went to a

random homeless person and got them something. There was this lady

carrying large luggage, so I carried her bag until she got down the

stairs. A homeless person was sat outside Blackpool or station and we

were getting off the train -- Blackpool or.

All that kindness. -- Blackpool North. They are all very kind

things! I am going to let you read the next big! This is what John was

going to say! -- next bit. You can e-mail us at

[email protected] or share your thoughts with other

viewers on our Facebook page. And you can Tweet

about today's stories using #bbcbreakfast or follow us

for the latest from the programme. Let us know. I would like some

ideas. What can I do for John and what can John do for me? You can get

me another coffee, as many as you like! We've got a break now so maybe

I'm back with the latest from the BBC London newsroom

Now, though, it's back to Sally and Jon.

Hello, this is Breakfast, with Sally Nugent and Jon Kay.

We'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment.

Also on Breakfast this morning: An estimated 100 elephants

We'll find out why China's ivory ban could be a monumental move

It's full steam ahead for the Settle to Carlisle railway as it reopens

to the public, after what's been described as "the most challenging

And before the end of the programme, we'll travel into the future,

As we meet John Higgins, the man behind one of the most

iconic characters in British comic books.

But now a summary of this morning's main news.

Patients will have to wait longer for routine operations,

such as hip and knee replacements, as a trade off so improvements can

That's according to the Head of NHS England, Simon Stevens,

who is today setting out a new strategy for

Iris is 96 and is recovering from a recent illness.

Her GP called a local NHS service based in Nottinghamshire

to give her the right care and the right place.

The treatment at home has been absolutely wonderful.

Iris is well cared for, a priority for the NHS,

but it's acknowledged the system is under pressure,

and tough financial choices are needed.

Today NHS England leaders are taking stock of progress

since their five-year plan was published in 2014.

Aims set out in the new strategy include improving cancer survival

rates, increased access to mental health therapies and recruitment

But with limited resources it's likely to mean longer waiting times

for non-urgent operations and fewer people being referred to hospital

The problem is made worse by a shortage of beds.

There are a significant proportion of people who don't need to be

there, who don't want to be there, and if we could get them out,

that would free up something like 2000 to 3000 beds in the NHS,

which could be used more effectively for providing

Today is about setting out what is possible with the money

allocated by the government to the NHS in England but,

at a time of increased demand, what is not addressed is the extra

We'll be speaking to guests about this throughout the morning,

including the President of the Royal College of Surgeons,

A group of MPs have said it's "unacceptable" that residents

who pay their own fees at care homes in England are charged on average

43% more than those funded by the state.

The Communities and Local Government Committee blames a lack of funding,

which it says is threatening the viability of adult

The government says it's already given councils an extra ?2 billion.

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk,

will issue draft guidelines this morning, setting out how the EU

wants to handle the Brexit negotiations.

The proposals will be sent to the governments of the 27 member

states and will help set the tone for the next two years of talks.

It's thought Mr Tusk will try to break negotiations down

into three phases - the terms of separation,

a future trade partnership and the transition to

a new relationship between Britain and the EU.

Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has signed a letter

to Theresa May, formally requesting a second independence referendum.

In it, she reiterates her call for a vote within the next two years.

The Prime Minister has already said it won't happen before

Hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions have warned ministers

of the possible consequences of restricting the movement

The British Hospitality Association predicts a shortfall of 60,000

workers a year if immigration is limited

The government says it will design a new immigration system

President Trump's former national security adviser has

offered to give evidence about possible links

between the Trump campaign and Russia, if he's given protection

from what has been called "unfair prosecution".

General Michael Flynn was forced to resign in February

after he misled the Vice President over phone conversations he had

His lawyer says he "has a story to tell."

Israel has announced it's to build the first new settlement

in the occupied West Bank in more than 20 years.

Palestinian officials have condemned the plan and have called

China will close almost half of its official ivory carving

factories and shops today, with the rest due to close

The news has been welcomed by conservationists in their ongoing

battle against the illegal trade in ivory.

Despite a global ban on international sales,

a surge in demand has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands

of African elephants in recent years.

A Californian company has made history by launching rocket back

How do you do that? Rockets, of course, traditionally used just once

and then they are scrapped. But SpaceX has developed a way

of landing its boosters safely on earth, allowing

them to be recycled. This is going to be ultimately a

huge revolution in spaceflight. It is the difference between if you

have aeroplanes where you through a way an aeroplane after every flight,

versus you could reuse them multiple times.

That is a whole new level of recycling. It makes it cheaper, so

anything is possible. I still don't think it is a bargain. Talking of

which, Manchester City. It continues for the women's team especially at

the moment, with a great run of form, a domestic double last season,

and now the semi-final of the Champions League. This is just what

the club wants as they look to build themselves as a sort of football

superpower and they are certainly doing that at the moment as they

reached the semifinals last night. Lucy Bronze scored the only goal

in last night's second leg to seal a 2-0 aggregate win over Danish

side Fortuna Hjorring. Next up for them, the holders,

Lyon, in the semi-finals. We don't stop here. We are excited

to move onto the semi-final. We know that Lyon are a very experienced

team, and they have got a team full of world-class individuals. But so

have we. It is going to be an exciting game for sure.

Stoke City striker Saido Berahino says the eight-week drugs ban

he served earlier this season came after his drink was spiked

Berahino didn't play for former club West Brom between September

For me to get banned for something that you really haven't done is hard

to take. So it was spiked? Yes, definitely. Because if I was going

together high, like talking about whether you wanted to get higher,

maybe the numbers would have came higher, if it was found in my

system. But it was really, really low, so why would you want to take

something and not get a buzz off it? And that was the question. But

because I am in the Premier League, the FA have to have zero tolerance.

He believes there was such a small amount in his system he thinks it is

clear that it wasn't intentional. And you can watch the full interview

on Football Focus on BBC One FIFA have announced how the places

will be allocated for the new larger It'll feature 48 teams

and there will be a six team tournament to confirm

the final two spots. They'll be more chance of seeing

another European nation lift the trophy like Germany did in 2014

too, as they'll be 16 European

countries instead of the current 13. The proposals are expected to be

confirmed by the FIFA Council Joanna Konta has become the first

British woman to reach Konta beat Venus Wiliams

for the third successive time to set up a meeting with

Caroline Wozniacki. Konta was just six years

old when Williams first won this Williams is one of Konta's all time

heroes but there was no room for sentiment last night

with Konta winning 6-4, 7-5. England's Charley Hull is two under

after seven holes at the first women's major of the year,

the ANA Inspiration in California. Hull and Scotland's Catriona Matthew

were still out on the course Shot of the day, though,

came from South Korean teenage amateur

Seong Eun-jeong. And look at the surprise as well on

her face. Amazing. What a feeling that must be.

Salford Red Devils continued their impressive start to the season

with a 22-14 win over St Helens to move joint top of Super League.

This is the try that sealed it for Salford,

four minutes from time, Ryan Morgan's mistake

was capitalised on by Michael Dobson,

to claim his second try of the night and put the game beyond Saints.

The Red Devils have now won four of their last five matches.

World number one Mark Selby is into the quarter-finals

The defending champion edged out a tense final frame decider

Judd Trump and Ding Junhui are also through.

No Ronnie O'Sullivan, though, who has been knocked out. So, there we

are. Manchester City women going well at the moment. How long is it

going to be before Manchester United have a women's team? Yes, that is a

surprise, isn't it? What are they thinking, maybe there are plans on

foot? You would wonder, surely. The success of Manchester City's women,

come on, that rivalry. More less likely, I am not sure. Good

question, they should settle it on the pitch. So you later.

Hundreds of African elephants are killed every year at the hands

of poachers who feed Asia's insatiable appetite for Ivory.

China accounts for 70% of the market.

But, in a move welcomed by conservationists,

the country says it will close half of its ivory factories and shops

today, with a total ban by the end of the year.

We'll discuss this in more detail in a moment,

but first let's get a sense of the scale of the problem.

Let's speak now to Heather Sohl, the chief advisor on wildlife

Morning, thank you for looking and joining us today. Some of those

figures I think will surprise people a lot, that the global statistics

are pretty shocking. How much difference will this change in China

today, the closing of half of the ivory factories and workshops, how

much difference will it make? As you mentioned in your introduction,

China is the country with the world's largest ivory market, that

is where we see the greatest demand. So this change is going to make a

real difference for African elephants. If we can reduce that

demand, all law-abiding citizens will not be buying the ivory and

that means people also won't be buying ivory for investment

purposes, and that means that criminals who have this high demand

won't be able to use these legal markets in order to launder the

illegal ivory they are taking from the poaching of elephants. That

assumes this ban is going to work, isn't it, so there is a risk it

could be pushed underground and create a black market. Absolutely,

they are not going to solve this problem. What we need to see is

effective law enforcement to make sure that the officials are in

shoring that there isn't going to be a growing underground trade because

it is being driven away from the legal markets. So that is why it is

important to have effective law enforcement, and also WWF and our

partner organisation Traffic are working in China to make sure the

public are educated about the ban, so they are not looking to purchase

the ivory and also to make sure we understand the reasons why people

want to conceal ivory and take the ivory and by the ivory and

addressing those motivations and encouraging people to change

behaviour and not seek out ivory any more. If that doesn't happen, if

there is not an overall change, is there a genuine risk elephants might

disappear from the planet. We have seen the gorgeous pictures, is it a

real risk? In the last decade we have lost 1011 African elephants, so

that dropped the population down to 415,000 elephants. The area where we

have the greatest concern is central Africa, where it is haemorrhaging

ivory from the poaching of elephants. So if we continue down

this road and the trends in poaching continue, we could see the extension

of elephants in Africa within our lifeline. We taught about China and

what they are doing and what needs to be done in Africa, what about

here in the UK, what you think charities and government can do in

Great Britain? Well, looking at the ivory trade, here in the UK, while

we are not a major contributor to the illegal market globally, there

is some laundering of the illegal modern-day ivory as antiques, which

currently are legal to trade here in the UK. And there is some illegal

trade of ivory from the UK to markets in Asia, and so WWF and

other organisations and other high-profile people are calling for

a ban on the ivory trade here in the UK in order to ensure that we have

absolutely no involvement in illegal ivory trade at the global level.

Even when we talk about things that might be hundreds of years old,

antiques, you know, those elephants were poached many years ago. Yes,

well, there is evidence that buyers from Asia are coming to the UK,

coming to EU markets in order to buy this legal antique, these legal

antique items, then taking them back to China. Sometimes the larger

pieces that are made completely from ivory are actually even reworked

into different carvings and those are sought after in Asian markets as

high status symbols, they are given as business gifts to show that you

have the wealth to be able to afford these items. OK, thank you for

joining us on Breakfast is morning. Lots of schools are no breakup

today, some are next week. We have a bit of holiday time coming up, what

does that mean for the weather? Next week not looking too bad for

many, Sally and John, a lot of dry weather to come, a bit of rain, not

as much as this morning, though, not a great start to Friday but it is a

very mild one, warmest at the moment is Dover in the south-east, but even

as far as Aberdeen, temperatures unusually high for this stage in

March and this could be a day when we see sky is bright and.

Brightening already to the south-west of a cloudy and wet night

-- skies brightened. The same area of rain pushing across the Midlands

to the south-east and East Anglia but before it arrives in the

south-east, morning brightness for your commute, a few showers later, a

wet start to the north and west of Wales, wet in Northern Ireland,

parts of north-west England and the south and west of Scotland, rain for

the morning commute. Some of that will be heavy. Blasting longest in

Scotland, the rain clearing from Northern Ireland by around mid to

late morning -- lasting. Skies brightening in England and Wales

later, showers in eastern districts by the afternoon and then showers in

Cornwall, west Wales and Northern Ireland later in the date. Wettest

of in the far north of Scotland -- later in the day. 13-7 team

expected. Tonight, showers in western areas, drying out in Orkney,

Shetland and the Hebrides -- 13 -17. Cooler than last night, temperatures

into single figures as we start Saturday morning. A cooler start to

tomorrow compare to the past few mornings, a bit of sunshine here and

there, especially in eastern areas but as we start the day, a

scattering of showers around, most parts will see one shower through

the day, some in England and Wales will be slow-moving, heavy and

thundery. The coasts should stay dry and temperatures down on today, but

not bad, 13-6 team. With high pressure building in, we clear the

showers Saturday evening and dry to take us into Sunday morning -- 13 --

16. Sunday the better day of the weekend with dry and sunny weather

dominating, showers few and far between with temperatures around

11-6 team. A weekend of two halves, the start of April, April showers

coming our way -- 11- 16. The best of the weather on Sunday. For those

starting your Easter break heading into Europe this weekend, what can

you expect? Dry and sunny for eastern areas, not looking great for

Italy, Corsica, the Balearics, but lovely in some parts of Spain and

Portugal. Test whether this weekend will be the Canaries and I'm free if

you need me to carry your bags -- best weather. Let's book that

flight! That is just mean showing us those

temperatures! It will be all right the next couple of here, though! --

couple of days. Britain's lowest paid staff should

get a pay-rise this weekend. From tomorrow the

minimum wage goes up. goes up from ?7.20

an hour to ?7.50 an hour and that's equivalent to ?281.25

for a full time 37.5 hours a week. It's what the Government calls

the National Living Wage. All businesses have

to pay it or face a fine. But can businesses,

especially small firms, I'm Janine, I am a company director

at a nursery. We currently employ 68 full-time members of staff. For the

staff, the staff are very valued and they're worth every penny and they

deserve a pay rise and they deserve the money. We worked out figures

yesterday and it's going to cost us an extra ?26,000 this year in the

increases in wages alone, and that's without all the other increases

coming in, like business rates and everything else that's coming our

way as well. So it's going to have to come back on the families that we

actually serve. Could be tough for businesses,

but what about staff? If you look at the increase

as a percentage the cost of living

has risen by 3.2%. So that jump in the minimum wage

for over 25s is still higher But, as ever, it's not

quite that simple. Campaigners say the living wage

needs to be much higher. They base their sums on actual

living costs and say it should be So what would that mean

back in South Wales? As a working parent with two small

children, every little penny helps going towards childcare and everyday

living expenses. It means you don't live on the breadline, day-to-day

living, sort of, without living outside of our means and maybe be

able to go on holidays as well. The rise in the National Living Wage

would help me greatly, would help me pay for things like holidays, things

like that. Help me out with my bills. Recently I've bought my own

house so it would help with that. An extra ?500 a year would make a big

difference with household bills, holidays, a bit of luxury money

then. It's also worth bearing in mind that

change only affects those over If you're between 21

and 24 your wage will go up by 10p you get a 5p increase

to ?5.60 an hour. And the same applies

to those under 18 years old, So there really is a difference

depending on how old you are. Apprentices get a 10p per hour pay

rise to ?3.50. Very different depending on your age

and what job you are in. And remember, those pay rates

are your basic rights. So if you don't get

the increase from tomorrow it's against the law

and you should contact We need to get out for some fresh

air! It's Friday, you had to think about that, didn't you?

It runs through some of the country's most stunning

scenery, along the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbrian Fells.

But last year, a section of the Time now to get the news,

was forced to shut when 500,000 tons of earth gave way

Network Rail has described the line's repair as one

of the biggest challenges it's ever faced.

But today, the route is finally reopening and are reporter

Allison Freeman boarded this morning's service.

You have been on the train, you were on the very first one? That's right,

Sally. Good morning. The sun is just coming up here and we've just got

off that very first train to travel from Carlisle to Appleby fear in the

beautiful Eden Valley since it shut just over a year ago -- here in. It

was another victim of storm Desmond, those heavy rains really

destabilised what was already a slightly unstable bit of track and

it meant Network Rail had to undertake one of the biggest repair

jobs they have ever done. Joining me to tell me more is Martin Frobisher,

he is from Network Rail. Martin, tell me, this was a expensive drop,

how much did it cost to get it all going? ?23 million to repair the

track. It was an incredibly complicated job. When we first

looked at it we had half 1 million tons of earth slipping down a gorge

into the Eden Valley on a moped hillside in Cumbria. It's beautiful

countryside here but that brings challenges. -- remote. What kind of

challenges did you go through to clear the area before you got

started? We had to clear the area but then to derided we needed to

drill down steel piles into the bedrock of the Eden Gorge -- them to

drive it. Then we built the railway abrupt. -- them to drive it. --

railway above -- then to. A few passengers, why is it so exciting

for people to have this line-backer open again? This is such an

important artery for the region. -- Leinbach open. It supports tourism.

-- line back open. It is an important freight railway, it

carries aggregate, coal and all sorts of freight services around the

country. It is vitally important. Tell me about the celebrations,

there's a special visitor today? Absolutely, we have the Flying

Scotsman locomotive bringing a train across the line Carlisle at

lunchtime today. That's a really special occasion. Word ??D ELWORD

it's taken a year but we can well and truly. It's taken a year but we

can well and truly say that the Carlisle to line is back on track!

Excuse line is back Hello, this is Breakfast,

with Sally Nugent and Jon Kay. Longer waits for hospital

operations in England, as the health service is forced

to make a tough trade-off. The head of NHS England says

treatment is no longer guaranteed in the 18-week target time,

but in return, there would be quicker cancer diagnosis

and emergency care. Good morning, it is

Friday 31 of March. Also this morning: As Britain

prepares for Brexit, today the EU will set

out its guidelines for two The private spaceflight company

SpaceX has made history by successfully flying a rocket that

has already been to space. In sport: Manchester City's women

reach the semi-finals Lucy Bronze with the goal,

as City reach the last four, after 2-0 aggregate win over Danish

side Fortuna Hjorring Will you be A homeless person was sat outside

Blackpool North Station, and I had a jacket, so gave it to him.

On National Kindness Day, we will hear about plans to make

My idea of kindness is to offer you brighter skies later on. Wet for

some of you, mild out there, but the weekend forecast does show some

promise. I will have all the details in 15 minutes.

Patients will have to wait longer for routine operations such as hip

and knee replacements, as a trade-off for improvements

That is according to the head of NHS England, Simon Stevens,

who is today setting out a strategy for the next few years.

Let's join our health correspondent Sophie Hutchinson,

who is outside St Thomas's Hospital in Central London.

Well, as you say, it is two years since this transformation plan was

launched by the NHS. It is a five-year plan. Today we have had an

update on the progress that they are making. The chief executive, Simon

Stevens, has described it as an honest assessment, but he wouldn't

comment on whether he felt the NHS had been given enough money to carry

out the full plan. What he said they are working towards is quicker

diagnosis for cancer care, extending GP opening times, and also speeding

up weights at A But he said there had to be a trade-off somewhere, and

he said that could mean longer waits, more patients waiting longer

than 18 weeks for non- urgent operations. Now, those are things

like cataracts, hip and knee replacements. He also said that GPs

would be asked to review the number of patients that they are referring

on for treatment in hospitals, and they would be asked to look instead

for some of those at things like physiotherapy, so patients instead

of going to hospital for treatment might get a treatment outside

hospital instead. Well, as you can imagine, there has been some

positive comments for some parts of the plans, but concerns from

organisations about the more negative side of the plans. The

Royal College of surgeons has said today's announcement means patients

will wait longer and in more pain before planned surgery. It said we

risk returning to the days of unacceptably long waits for elective

surgical treatment. And the British Medical Association said achieving

one delivery promise by missing another one is a textbook example of

rationing access to care. Thank you very much indeed.

We will be speaking to guests about this throughout the morning,

including the president of the Royal College of Surgeons,

A group of MPs have said it is unacceptable that residents

who pay their own fees at care homes in England are charged on average

43% more than those funded by the state.

The Communities and Local Government Committee blames a lack of funding,

which it says is threatening the viability of adult

The Government says it has already given councils an extra ?2 billion.

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk,

will issue draft guidelines this morning, setting out how the EU

wants to handle the Brexit negotiations.

The proposals will then be debated by the leaders of the 27 EU member

Dan, it is all quite procedural today, isn't it?

I guess we begin to get a glimpse of where the EU wants this to head.

Yes, that is what we should get later today but the rules matter

here in Brussels and the diplomats and politicians who are leading the

negotiation from this side think it is very important that they are

stuck to and that the process plays out. Today the focus will be on

Donald Tusk, he is one of the main players in the European Union, the

president of the council. He represents the other leaders around

Europe, the 27 member nations, and he has to co-ordinate what they want

to be the important priorities in this negotiation. So today he will

send them a letter saying what he thinks the right guidelines should

be the best negotiation. Now, he is not publishing that letter, we will

not see the full detail, he will give a press conference so we should

get some idea about what he thinks is the best way forward and what the

priorities will be. The BBC understands that he is going to

suggest that they should first be a phase which talks about how Britain

should leave the EU, then another phase of talks which deals with a

trade relationship in the future, then a third phase which deals with

exactly what the transitional arrangements would be as Britain

leaves and six that new relationship. That is different from

what the British government wants, so already we can see that there are

going to be disagreement even about the best way to start those talks.

Not the only Brexit related story, you will be surprised to hear. Not

too much, don't want to put everybody off.

Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has signed a letter

to Theresa May formally requesting a second independence referendum.

In it, she reiterates her call for a vote within the next two years.

The Prime Minister has already said it won't happen before

There are warnings today of a recruitment crisis if Brexit

leads to immigration being severely restricted.

In the first major business intervention since Theresa May began

the process of Britain's divorce from the EU,

the British Hospitality Association has said the industry faces

a shortfall of 60,000 workers a year.

Our industry correspondent John Moylan has more.

They are gearing up for the summer season.

Around 40% of staff here are from outside the UK,

and the boss says they face a recruitment crisis if Brexit

causes that supply of workers to be cut off.

If the tap was just turned off, straightaway

that would be very difficult.

We rely on a third of the workplace from European employees.

To be able to turn that straight off, and replace it straight off,

We're in the hospitality industry, the service industry.

You actually have to employ people who like to serve people.

Tourism and hospitality accounts for around 10% of the economy.

Now, a new report is reporting that restrictions on foreign labour

could hit it harder than any other sector.

The UK's hospitality sector employs around 3 million workers

but it is highly reliant on overseas staff.

24% of the workforce are EU migrants.

It could face a shortfall of 60,000 workers a year if immigration

The industry wants to reduce its dependence on EU workers.

Its new ten-year strategy includes recruiting more unemployed and older

The Government says that, while it will end free movement

as it is now, it will design a new immigration

system that is in the national interest.

President Trump's former national security adviser has offered to give

evidence about possible links between the Trump campaign

and Russia, if he is given protection from what has been

General Michael Flynn was forced to resign in February

after he misled the Vice President over phone conversations he had

His lawyer says he has a story to tell.

China will close almost half of its official ivory carving

factories and shops today, with the rest due to close

The news has been welcomed by conservationists in their ongoing

battle against the illegal trade in ivory.

Despite a global ban on international sales,

a surge in demand has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands

of African elephants in recent years.

A Californian company has made history by launching a rocket back

Rockets are traditionally used only once, before being scrapped.

But SpaceX has developed a way of landing its boosters safely

on Earth, allowing them to be recycled.

It has been described as one small step for the company,

but a giant leap in the search for cheaper space exploration,

You are looking at a rocket with a difference.

Unlike the rest, it is fitted with a booster that has

And now history, as it is successfully relaunched

Boosters cost tens of millions of dollars, and are normally

discarded and destroyed during an ascent.

But the private Californian aerospace company SpaceX has found

a way to eject them safely back to earth.

After the successful launch, another key moment in the flight,

to see if the second-hand booster can safely detach and fly back

Rapturous cheers from the mission crew tell you it's a success.

Minutes later, it is back on earth, an unprecedented double achievement

of launching a reusable rocket, and recovering it

This is gonna be, ultimately, a huge revolution in spaceflight.

It's the difference between if you had aeroplanes

where you threw away an aeroplane after every flight,

versus you could reuse them multiple times.

It represents a new era in the space race, where private enterprises

compete against each other, instead of countries.

This success will be a boost for a company with much more

ambitious long-term goals, that include sending two

unidentified space tourists to the moon next year.

Let's return to our top story, and patients in England

are being told they will have to wait longer for some routine

operations, such as hip replacements, as part of a trade-off

for improvements in other areas, like A

The boss of NHS England, Simon Stevens, is today setting

out his strategy for the NHS for the next two years.

Let's get the thoughts on this of Clare Marx,

who is president of the Royal College of Surgeons in England.

Good morning to you. Good morning, Sally. First of all, your initial

reaction to what he is going to say today? We understand NHS England

have some difficult is because we know that demand for healthcare has

gone up and up in the resource we have in terms of money and staff has

not kept pace with that. So there are some good things in this report,

and I am very pleased that we are going to be able to look at the way

we can provide plant care for surgery more effectively in the

centres which specialise in planned care. But clearly, from the public's

point of view, they are going to be wondering what exactly this means

and how it will impact on their ability to get planned surgery when

they need it. Sorry to interrupt, but what is life like for people who

are on a waiting list, perhaps waiting for hip or need surgery?

Well, patients waiting for the poor knee surgery are a great deal of

discomfort, usually. But our concern is not only for hip and knee surgery

patients, but patients who perhaps I waiting for heart surgery. And for

them, sometimes waiting for surgery may be part of the pathway where

they may have a heart attack while they are waiting, or maybe they are

waiting for brain surgery, or maybe they are waiting for gallbladder

surgery, and all of these are extremely serious matters, and still

fall within the whole remit of plant surgical care. So for hip and knee

replacement, very painful, very demoralising, and after many years

of waiting to get into planned surgery, there are people clearly

who don't want to have to wait more than 18 weeks. But as we all know,

cuts are coming, and more cuts are coming down the line. The NHS has to

prioritise. Are you suggesting they have got their priorities wrong

here? I don't think we should really be setting any particular group of

patients against another group of patients, but I think this is a

wake-up call for the public in general. People are going to have to

realise that they will take more care of themselves. There are things

people can do to try and prevent the need for heart surgery, like not

smoking and not being overweight, and unless people are willing to

take more active part in their own care, that is going to present us

with an increasing stream of people wanting to have this sort of

surgery. There are things that we can do to try and streamline the

process is in the health Service, and there are things we can do in

the community to try and make sure that every bed that we have in

hospitals is occupied in the way we wish to be occupied, by people who

either have emergency care or need planned care, rather than people who

should be in the community. But I think this particular report tells

us very clearly that we can no longer expect there to be an

ever-increasing amount of money and resource within the health service.

. Be done differently? We need to make the best of every penny we've

got and the public need a good debate with the politicians about

what it is they want from their health what should be done

differently? We need to make the best of every penny we've got and

the public need a good debate with the politicians about what it is

they want from their health service -- what should be done differently?

Clearly this is not something that we can cure with a

The more staff on putting more staff on the frontline. Things are really

laudable aims and I welcome all of all of those things are really

laudable aims and I welcome all of them. Are facing is a clear what we

are facing is a clear message who are having who are having an honest

account and people... It is an honest account and people have what

that means. Can be associated with increased

death rates. So it is very important that people understand the

importance of not completing planned surgery within an 18 week target. We

have done fantastically well over the last ten years. We have had huge

investment, and it is a real tribute to the Health Service that we have

managed to deliver so much in such an efficient way. I am sorry to

interrupt, but would you admit, we are talking about waiting times

being basically the idea of a definitive and to waiting times at

this point being thrown out the window. But in fact the practical

waiting times are nowhere near as bad as they were ten years ago.

Absolutely the waiting times are not as bad as they were ten years ago,

when 60% of people managed to get their surgery within 18 weeks, and

now we are looking at about 90%. But in some branches of surgery, like

neurosurgery, it is 85%. And we have seen a deterioration in that level

of waiting times for people over the last few months, and that is a 1-way

process. So we know that people are going to start seeing a

deterioration in the amount of time that they have to wait on waiting

list, and that is obviously going to be extremely concerning for those

people who are already in the system and needing surgery. We are not

talking about frivolous surgery, we are talking about serious surgery

for long-term conditions such as hips, and arthritis, where people

are markedly affected in their quality of life. We are talking

about serious surgery for heart operations, where people's life is

being impacted by not been able to get that surgery. I am sorry to

interrupt you, we are very much out of time there. Clare Marx, president

of the Royal College of Surgeons, talking to us from our London studio

this morning. You're watching

Breakfast from BBC News. for routine operations such as hip

and knee replacements in what the Head of the NHS

in England says is a trade-off so improvements can be made

elsewhere in the system. Details on how the EU plans

to negotiate Brexit will be released later today by the president

of the European Council, Quite a lot of schools breaking up

for Easter today, still a couple of weeks away, but let's see what Matt

has got, nice blue skies? Not quite! They will be on the way

and this weekend not looking too bad, although a few showers on

Saturday. Today, skies like this for a few, quite wet at the moment but

if you're stepping out, not cold. The warmest, Preston, 13, even as

far north as Edinburgh and Belfast, double figures. The rain clearing

away from Devon and Cornwall from overnight, soon returning to the

Isles of Scilly later, brightening up quickly along the Channel

Islands. Quieter in the western half and middle part of England,

spreading eastwards, patchy rain, eastern England dry and brighter for

the morning rush hour. Wales, cloudy, wet in the Isle of Man and

the north-west of England, Northern Ireland particularly damp with

outbreaks of rain and that's the case in many western parts of

Scotland. The north-east should start dry. The rain is going north,

clearing away from Northern Ireland for a time before showers return

later. Rain eases away from northern England, brightening up by lunchtime

and much of England and Wales will see sunny spells into the afternoon,

as will Scotland, but Northern Ireland, west Wales and Cornwall

will the showers returning. 13 to 17 degrees this time of year is above

where it should be, feeling pleasant in the sunshine and out of the

breeze. Tonight, temperatures dropping further than last night.

Showers throughout in western areas, eastern areas should start dry but

into the weekend, a bit cooler to start with than we've had over the

past few days. What about the weekend? A new month and with it a

change to April showers, in fact we will see heavy and thundery showers

around. Chilly conditions to take us into what will be a drier and

brighter Sunday, so Sunday is the better of your two days. Let's look

at Saturday, sunshine around, especially in eastern areas. Showers

becoming widespread, heavy and in places thundery with hail, slow in

eastern Wales. One or two will avoid showers altogether, some coastal

districts best favoured for that, so you should do well if you're heading

to the coast. Showers baiting through the evening, high pressure

builds then on Sunday and with that temperatures could drop down to

produce a touch of frost early in the morning but most places will

have a fine day with sunny spells and temperatures of around ten to 16

degrees. If you're heading further afield and starting your Easter

break this weekend, some of the best places to go are the likes of Dubai

and Mexico but even in Mexico, a few showers on Sunday and in New York,

warming up after what has been quite a chilly few days. Good news, Matt.

We end with greatness but a lovely picture! He keeps teasing us with

holidays! Not fair! They're known as education's hidden

army, but BBC Breakfast has been hearing how Teaching Assistants

are facing challenges as a result of growing financial pressures

across the education system. Unions also say teacher shortages

and budget cuts mean too many are being left to teach

classes on their own. Though the Department for Education

says savings can be made Breakfast's Jayne McCubbin has been

speaking to support staff John, not his real name,

is not a real teacher, but he's frequently called

in to cover a class when a real Originally it was only

meant to be a few days. What it turned into

was month after month. He said he's used as a cheap

alternative to a substitute teacher with no qualification

and no authority. Mis-behaviour meant you spent

your time firefighting, that's what you're doing,

you're controlling behaviour, It can happen as well when the kids

will have me looking after them in one lesson and in another lesson

they'll have another unqualified member of staff in a different

subject, so they could have two or three hours of this

in the same day. I'm not furious at the head teacher,

the budget's just not there. In Scotland, only a qualified

teacher can lead a class. In English and Welsh state schools,

it's at the discretion of the head and all heads are facing

financial pressures. Here in Burnage they value TAs more

than most because many students speak English as a foreign language,

many have special educational needs but even here they are

increasingly used to fill gaps. That added pressure is taken away

from the role that we have to do, It has the domino effect of one

child is not understanding something, they then feel they can't

cope within that situation, it then affects other children,

it then affects the teacher, the whole environment

there is not one for learning. In other schools, financial

pressures are more intense. Hilton Primary is

?120,000 in the red. TAs like Jill aren't just filling

gaps, they are being axed. A third of the 40 employed here have

just received a redundancy notice. The elastic now is as far

as it is going to stretch. Losing these TIAs is a disaster, it

really is a disaster. Seven years ago, three

in ten secondary schools Now the National Audit Office say

it's more than six in ten. And with a further ?3

billion in cuts ahead, The Department for Education told me

they believe efficiencies can be made without having to cut staff

without an impact on education. There was a time when we didn't have

teaching assistants. Yes, in years gone by we had one

teacher to teach a class full of pupils but now we expect more

from our education system and we're going to let a generation of pupils

down if we don't provide this Parents' expectations might be

for more, but in terms of funding, Head teachers will have to decide

how they strike a balance. We are talking about one particular

thing today. Kindness. Why? When you leave the house today you might find

people being more generous and nicer to you, it is National Kindness Day,

people have been getting in touch with us to tell us about what they

have experienced. What have you got? Alex said my eight-year-old daughter

one Easter eggs in the school raffle, she gave one away to her

classmate that didn't win anything, a lovely thing to do, we are very

proud. Nancy was going to Ben Nevis, wanting to go to the summit, parked

the car, didn't have money for the parking metre, asked for some change

and two or three people helped her, paid her ?5 and she got to the

summit for free. Lovely. This is from Melanie, today I'm buying a

bunch of flowers and leaving them in a random spot with a happiness

kindness card and a pass it forward message, hopefully that will

encourage someone to do the same. Janet, if you're going to the

supermarket today you want to be there at the same time as her, if

she has a trolley and someone else's nearby with a few items, she always

let's them go first. Always, Janet, really? This is my favourite from

Martin, a lady gave me 5p for a bag in Tesco last year. Which is kind,

unless Martin works behind the checkout and that is just his job!

And he was just paying for it! Let us know what you have done and what

kindness you have received on National Kindness Day. I'm going to

make John a tea. Know you're not. Hello, this is Breakfast,

with Sally Nugent and Jon Kay. Waiting times will be longer

for routine operations, such as hip and knee replacements,

as a trade-off for improvements That is according to NHS England,

which will today set out a strategy The body says increasing patient

demand and the growth in new treatments mean

choices have to be made. Clare Marx from the Royal College

of Surgeons told Breakfast People are going to have to realise

that they will have to take more There are things people can do

to try and prevent the need for heart surgery, like not smoking

and not being overweight, and unless people are willing

to take more active part in their own care, that is going

to present us with an increasing stream of people wanting to have

this sort of surgery. A group of MPs have said

it is unacceptable that residents who pay their own fees at care homes

in England are charged on average 43% more than those

funded by the state. The Communities and Local Government

Committee blames a lack of funding, which it says is threatening

the viability of adult The Government says it has already

given councils an extra ?2 billion. The President of the European

Council, Donald Tusk, will today issue draft guidelines

on how the EU intends to negotiate The proposals will be sent

to the governments of the 27 member states, and will help set the tone

for the next two years of talks. It is thought Mr Tusk

will try to break negotiations down into three phases, the terms

of separation, a future trade partnership, and the transition

to a new relationship Scotland's First Minister,

Nicola Sturgeon, has signed a letter to Theresa May formally requesting

a second independence referendum. In it, she reiterates her call for

a vote within the next two years. The Prime Minister has already said

it won't happen before Hotels, restaurants and tourist

attractions have warned ministers of the possible consequences

of restricting the movement The British Hospitality Association

predicts a shortfall of 60,000 workers a year if immigration

is limited from the EU. The Government says it will design

a new immigration system President Trump's former national

security adviser has offered to give evidence about possible links

between the Trump campaign and Russia, if he is given

protection from what has been General Michael Flynn was forced

to resign in February, after he misled the Vice President

over phone conversations he had His lawyer says he has

a story to tell. Israel has announced it is to build

the first new settlement in the occupied West Bank

in more than 20 years. Palestinian officials

have condemned the plan, and have called for

international intervention. China will close almost half

of its official ivory carving factories and shops today,

with the rest due to close The news has been welcomed

by conservationists in their ongoing battle against the illegal

trade in ivory. Despite a global ban

on international sales, a surge in demand has resulted

in the deaths of tens of thousands of African elephants

in recent years. A Californian company has made

history by launching rocket back Rockets are traditionally used only

once before being scrapped, but SpaceX has developed a way

of landing its boosters safely on Earth, allowing

them to be recycled. This is going to be, ultimately,

a huge revolution in spaceflight. It's the difference

between if you had aeroplanes where you threw away

an aeroplane after every flight, versus you could reuse

them multiple times. is there a lot of interesting reused

rockets, second-hand rockets? It means we all have a chance of doing

to space. No, it doesn't. It means one rocket is going to be used

again. I don't think it is a great idea. John is here with the sport,

and big celebrations at Manchester City. Yes, they look to turn

themselves into a football superpower, and the women's team

benefiting from all that investment. They have assembled a fantastic

team, with Carli Lloyd, and now they are into the semifinals of the

Champions League after domestic double last season.

Lucy Bronze scored the only goal in last night's second leg,

And that follows their victory in the first leg.

They face the holders, Lyon, in the semi-finals,

and their captain, Steph Horton, is clearly excited by the challenge.

We are excited to move onto the semi-final.

We know that Lyon are a very experienced team, and they have got

a team full of world-class individuals.

It is going to be an exciting game for sure.

The Stoke City striker Saido Berahino served an eight-week

doping ban earlier this season, and he says it was because his drink

He didn't play for his former side, West Brom, between September

and January, as he served his suspension.

But he says there was such a small amount in his system,

it proves he couldn't have taken the drug intentionally.

For me to get banned for something that you really haven't done

Because if I was going to get high, like talking about whether you

wanted to get high, maybe the numbers would have came higher,

But it was really, really low, so why would you want to take

But because I am in the Premier League, the FA have

And you can watch the full interview on Football Focus on BBC One,

We know how a larger World Cup in 2026 is going to look.

It will feature 48 teams, up from 32.

And there will be more chance of seeing another European nation

lift the trophy, as Germany did in 2014, too, as there will be 16

European countries, instead of the current 13.

And there is going to be a new six-team play-off tournament

She has become the first British woman to reach the Miami Open final.

She beat Venus Williams, and that means she will play

Amazing to think Konta was just six years old when Williams first won

Konta has said she is one of her all-time heroes.

No room for sentiment, though, last night, as the British number

England's Charley Hull is well-placed at the first women's

major of the year, the ANA Inspiration, in California.

No doubt what the shot of the day was.

Have a look at this from South Korean teenage amateur

When you are producing shots like that you know your luck is in.

What a turnaround for Super League club Salford Red Devils.

They only just avoided relegation last season.

This season, they are joint-top of the table, after ten games.

A poor bit of defending, as St Helens lost the ball.

And Salford were in, Michael Dobson receiving this pass

to claim his second try of the night.

The Red Devils have now won four of their last five matches.

World number one Mark Selby is into the quarter-finals

The defending champion edged out a tense final-frame decider

Judd Trump and Ding Junhui are also through.

No Ronnie O'Sullivan, he was knocked out in the early rounds. Great to

see Manchester City women doing well. They are benefiting from all

that investment, the incredible facilities they have on the site,

the success of the men's and women's teams, and as I say, Carli Lloyd,

two-time Player of the Year in their ranks, and they are reaping the

benefits, into the semifinals of the Champions League. I tell you what,

go out there now, so back and relax and put your feet up. You deserve

it. Thank you so much for the sport, it is absolutely excellent. A rare

moment of being nice to John. If people seem friendlier today,

it could be because it is But, just in case you need a little

more encouragement to do a good deed, a campaign is being launched

with the aim of making The Diana Award charity,

set up in memory of Princess Diana, wants to inspire 20,000 acts

of kindness during 2017, so we have been asking some

of you to share your experiences. Going to the theatre,

and obviously there were some chaps wanting

coffees and things, I just thought, you know what,

for the sake of another ?20 I would rather get

them summing to eat. I had a huge pot of coins once,

I mean it was massive, I just went to a random

homeless person. There was this old lady,

she was carrying large luggage. There was a lift, but

she couldn't see it. So I carried her bag

until she got down the stairs. A homeless person, and he was just

sat outside Blackpool North Station. We were getting off the train,

and I had a bar of chocolate I am trying to think of the last

time I did something that night. I am struggling. I could say ten

minutes ago when I made a cup of tea. And yourself a cup of the! --

cup of tea. Joining us now from London

is Tessy Ojo who is the chief And with us here on the sofa is cafe

owner Simon Whitter, who spends much of his time

volunteering with vulnerable people. Simon made the headlines, because

you made Christmas dinner. Talk us through what you did. The first year

we did 170 breakfasts. In the year just gone, we started off to do 300

on the day, we ended up doing 1000 across ten events. A thousand people

across the city? Yes. And we know how grateful they will be forgetting

the kind of service and food that we are showing on the pictures that you

filmed, but what do you get back on return from it? What does it make

you feel to help people in that way? I don't think it is about getting

anything back from it. It is doing it because you can do it. I don't

need anything back from it. There are people out there that do

actually need... I don't know, support, that little bit of

kindness. It is as simple as that, it is kindness. It changes moods, it

changes so much about lives. As chief executive of the Diana Award,

this is very much Molk on something that the late Princess of Wales

spoke about. There is a great quote, carry out a random act of kindness,

with no expectation of reward, and the knowledge that someone might do

something nice for you. It is picking up on her own words, isn't

it? Absolutely, and just like Simon said, giving and receiving a kind

act has the Mendis impact on both the giver and the receiver. We know

either during or receiving a kind act improves your mental well-being.

We know that it also improves your self-esteem. And research shows it

helps reduce depression. So just like Princess Diana carried out lots

of acts, we know that everyone has value and ever and has the potential

to give back. So today is about encouraging us. We want to inspire

at least 20,000 people across our country to be kinder. We are pretty

kind already, aren't we? We are, actually, because research we also

have released today shows that as Brits we are very kind people, but

we can do much more. We also know from the research that unfortunately

men are less likely to get random acts of kindness so today is really

about saying, look, we can do a bit more. There is so much more room.

One of the things that we know is that we live increasingly less

connected lives. We live increasingly quite insular lives,

and today is about saying be a wet, think about the person next to you,

think about what servers can you give? You know, Princess Diana was

all about service and compassion, and this is the 20th anniversary of

her death, and therefore we are saying, if you feel connected to

Princess Diana, if you want to walk in her shoes, be that little bit

kinder today. But also forever. It is interesting, isn't it? Not just

today, also on every other day of the year. Well, you have got to try.

Interesting that men are less likely to receive an act of kindness. Is

that something you have experienced? Yes and no. I don't think... I mean,

I do it because I like doing it, I have never received a random act of

kindness, as such. No one has ever given you an act of kindness? No, I

don't think so. Despite all your efforts for other people? It is not

about me, it is about other people. Today might be the day when that

kindness comes back to you. That is the point, it is like a chain

letter, if you like, it goes from one person to the next. Absolutely,

and sad to hear that Simon has never, so I encourage the public to

give Simon an act of kindness today. We are leading incredibly insular

lives, and it is about reaching out. We could all be that little bit

kinder, so we are encouraging the public, but also do an act of

kindness, and we want to register your act of kindness, we want to

showcase it at the end of the year and show that Brits are quite cool

people and they are also quite kind. Thank you very much indeed, and

Simon, I hope this is the day. If you see Simon out on the street,

help him, give him something in return after everything he has done.

Thank you very much indeed. Lots of you have been in touch, Gena has

said yesterday a work colleague was kind and gave me a lift home, I am

getting her chocolates to repay the kindness today. And says she was at

the doctor 's surgery, and the five door is heavy, difficult to open,

and the young lady laptop and open the door for her. It is those things

we used to automatically, we didn't have a day for it, but they clearly

make a difference, and she says it really her date. And one

correspondent said she has a day of kindness on the first day of each

month. The rest of the month, not at all!

You're watching Breakfast from BBC News.

The main stories this morning: Patients will have to wait longer

for routine operations such as hip and knee replacements

in what the Head of the NHS in England says is a trade-off

so improvements can be made elsewhere in the system.

Details on how the EU plans to negotiate Brexit will be released

later today by the president of the European Council,

As we look ahead to the weekend, Matt is here to brighten our moods

this morning. Aren't you? It's not that bad, I promise! This

image from one of our Weather Watchers in south-east Wales sums up

the day, some clouds but brightness on the horizon. If you're going out

shortly, you may notice that it is incredibly mild, warmest at the

moment is Preston in Lancashire, even as far north as Aberdeen we

have ten at present. There are some dark clouds around, they have

cleared away from the south-west, sunny spells developing over the

next few hours. We'll see that into the south-west of Wales, lots of

cloud in the rest of Wales, outbreaks to the north, cloud

spreading from the Midlands to the south-east, affecting Cumbria,

Cumbria especially wet in southern areas, eastern England dry with

sunshine, wet in the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, southern Scotland,

it will take a long time view clear that rain from western Scotland. In

Northern Ireland the rain should clear by mid-morning. Lorraine

clears from north Wales, hitting other parts of northern England

until early afternoon -- the rain. A few showers in eastern areas and

returning to Northern Ireland, west Wales and Cornwall. For most, the

afternoon dry and brighter than this morning, more sunshine around. Not

as warm as 22 yesterday but for this stage of the year, 13 to 17 degrees,

there should be no complaints. Tonight, the showers we have in the

west will develop more widely in western areas, many eastern part of

Scotland and eastern England will stay dry. Also tonight, a bit colder

than last night, temperatures back into single figures, nowhere unusual

for this stage of the year. But into Saturday, we will the showers get

going quickly, already in the west are to begin with, developing

elsewhere in the UK, you be hard-pressed to completely avoid

them, some slow-moving, heavy and thundery, England and Wales

especially, but not a washout of a date, some will see more sunshine

and showers and in the sunshine, feeling reasonably pleasant. Cooler

to take us into Sunday, a ridge of high pressure generally means dry

weather and that's the story for Sunday, a fine day for the majority.

A few isolated showers, the vast majority will see good sunny spells

and highs of around 11 to 16. A bit cooler than it has been recently. As

Sally and John have mentioned, some may start your Easter holiday this

weekend and if you're heading into Europe, this is what you can expect

on Sunday, the driest and sunniest weather in eastern parts, not

looking great in Italy, though, Corsica and Sardinia. But if your

act of kindness is to take your friendly local weatherman to

southern Spain, Portugal, Tenerife or the Canary Islands, I wouldn't

object, looking sunny and hot! Any of those would do! And I fit

into the overhead locker as well! Get me out of here!

Big tax changes are on the way for your car from tomorrow.

Its designed to simplify the system, but it could mean many motorists

Ben has nipped outside to have a look at the changes.