13/01/2017 Channel Islands News

Good evening, I'm Charlie McArdle. for the news where you are.

Shocked and angry - that's the reaction of parents

in Jersey on the closure of a St Helier nursery.

Avranches nursery looks after 50 children, but with it running

at a loss of almost ?100,000 every year, the parish says

We are absolutely devastated. We were not expecting it at all.

There was no warning that this was going

I was angry for all the kids and the staff.

She is so used to the staff. It's going to be such a change.

Today's reaction by parents who've just found out their children's

We haven't been allowed to film inside Avranches Nursery,

and the staff were advised not to speak to the media.

The nursery behind me has been open for nearly 25 years, but with a loss

The Constable says he couldn't justify keeping it open any longer.

Clearly, one of the issues we've had to wrestle with is Avranches Nursery

doesn't simply cater for parishioners, it also caters

for more than 50% of the users are from outside

the parish, and it's much harder for the rate payers of St Helier

to justify a loss of that magnitude when it's not even helping

Parish plans to move the nursery to another site were rejected

by planning and other options were exhausted.

Today's decision has left questions over staff jobs,

and parents with seven months to find a new nursery

A senior Guernsey midwife accused of misconduct in the death

of a newborn baby initially claimed the care provided

The Nursing and Midwifery Council says Lisa Granville's initial

assessment flavoured the subsequent investigation, the tribunal heard.

It follows the death of a baby almost three years ago.

Mike Wilkins has been looking at this week's

These three Guernsey midwives are charged with misconduct.

From left to right, Lisa Granville, Antonia Manousaki,

They were working on the Loveridge Ward when a baby died.

An investigation found that the baby's heartbeat

hadn't been properly monitored and its condition should've been

The NMC also said the midwives administered medication

Today at a hearing held by the Nursing and Midwifery Council,

it was revealed that investigations into the death were hampered

because one of the midwives, Manousaki, who was from Greece,

struggled with English and that she didn't understand

There were also claims that midwives were reluctant to call

The NMC claims that had the death of another baby in 2012 been

adequately investigated, then the death of the baby in 2014

It's unsettling to hear, but I have to stress that the NMC

has been back to this hospital since and says the staff here have

But with several weeks to go and more witnesses to give evidence,

a clearer picture should emerge as the hearing continues.

There are calls for a Jersey minister to resign,

following a damning report into a taxpayer-funded loan scheme.

The Innovation Fund was set up to support new business ideas

but it's potentially lost ?1.4 million of public money.

Some politicians say Senator Philip Ozouf,

who oversaw the fund, should step down.

When a fund is set up, the fund is set up by Treasury

Resources and then passed to the relevant department

So, the fund itself was set up under Philip Ozouf's watch

I was asked to take responsibility to sort out issues to do

with the Innovation Fund, and that's what I've done.

I call upon people to read the report because I've been

vindicated in the actions I've taken to stop the waste of public money.

Changes to Guernsey's education system seem to be being imposed

on teachers rather than being made with their input.

That's the warning from the largest teacher's union in the island.

The Committee for Education, Sport and Culture says a forthcoming

workshop for States members is just the start of the process,

but the NASUWT is concerned that their professional opinion

We need to sit down with the Department

and with the committee at the earliest point in time

to thrash this out and lift the uncertainty that's been hanging

Scrutiny leaders say they've been denied the chance

to review borrowing plans for Jersey's new hospital.

The States will debate borrowing up to ?400 million

in the States next week, but a scrutiny panel says

the Treasury Minister refused to delay it by four weeks to give

enough time for experts to examine the plans.

Here's David Braine with your weekend forecast.

After a blustery day today, it is little less windy into the week end

and After a blustery day today, it is

little less windy into the week end and also less cold. Tomorrow, still

enough of a breather risk of showers. Some cold air across a spot

that will change. Subtle changes in the wind flow. Slightly less cold

air heading our way tomorrow. Cloud Times with the risk of showers. On

Sunday, thicker cloud arriving. That will stick with us this weekend. We

have clear sky developing this evening so it will turn quite cold.

Frost over the islands to lighten the risk of a passing showers. Winds

from the lawful north-west and the minimum temperature of one or 2

degrees above freezing. Tomorrow, we've got some brightness, some

sunshine, the risk of a passing shower but the showers are fairly

isolated and much of that raise -- day is dry. Europe in the grip of

this cold weather. Northern Spain and Portugal, seven or eight

degrees. Summer temperatures in France. For the time we get the

second half of the weekend, it is somewhat milder and also rather

cloudy. That's your news

this Friday evening. BBC Radio Guernsey and Jersey

will have bulletins from 6am tomorrow morning with regular

updates throughout the weekend I'll be back at 6.30pm on Monday,

have a good weekend. 5-6 is the best we will have. It

stays cold into the beginning of next week as well

stop Good evening, a cold, icy night, but some others have other

concerns. This was the scene earlier today, huge waves crashing on to the

shoreline at Whitley Bay. We still have the peak of the high tide to

come in other parts. This is the flood line number. It's if you have

any concerns. The worst of the wind slowly comes -- subsiding. Wintry

showers across the North of Scotland and some filtering well inland

across the Midlands, giving a light dusting in some places. An icy

night, temperatures widely close to or below freezing, particularly

where you have snow cover.