08/03/2017 East Midlands Today

And now the news for the East Midlands,

First tonight, business leaders in the East Midlands have

given a cautious welcome to the Chancellor's Budget.

There's to be more money for adult social care,

businesses and for roads in our region.

But for people who are self-employed - national insurance

In a moment the reaction from some of our MPs.

But first, our reporter Helen Astle on what the budget

It was a full House in the Commons as the Chancellor took

Gathering in Leicestershire to watch the developments in London

were a group of business leaders, keen to hear how the budget will

National Insurance will rise for the self-employed,

there will be help for small businesses and there's particular

reason to celebrate amongst pubs as most will get a ?1,000 discount

It is news that's being given a cautious welcome.

Relatively, a business-friendly budget.

Fairly steady state which is clearly what we expected

One clearly designed for the UK going forward

I think it will have a significant effect on self-employed people

because there are a lot of people moving to that

basis and a lot of them are genuinely trying

To help boost business in the Midlands even further,

?23 million has been allocated to east projection and tackle

That'll be fantastic because I spend a lot of time on roads.

It sounds a lot but it is not when you come to use it.

There are certainly plenty of pinch-points and I can think

of one where I live, which is Kibworth.

Philip Hammond's first budget was never going to be full

of surprises, instead, it's a budget for Brexit

and the uncharted waters that lie ahead.

So, what has the Chancellor included in his Budget to help ease

Well, we had to wait until near the end of his speech

to find out, as our political editor Tony Roe reports.

There'll ?2 billion extra over the next three years

to help our councils responsible for social care, but the Local

Government Association has said 1.3 billion was needed

The Labour Shadow Health Secretary says it's not nearly enough.

When you take into account the reality that the minimum

wage will be going up, costing social care ?900 million,

you then realise this actually isn't going to increase capacity of social

care, it won't be going to help those who need it, so I'm not sure

It's not even a sticking plaster for social care, if you like.

The extra money - a billion in the next financial year -

will pay to provide care which gets people out of hospital,

freeing up beds, easing the pressure on the NHS.

We need to make sure that this makes a huge difference now and it's

invested properly and that's why it's been targeted at sustainability

and transformation plans, which will really change the way

that health care and social care work together.

We also heard there'll be ?23 million to ease

And tomorrow, there'll be a big announcement on the Midlands Engine,

I will follow the launch of the Northern powerhouse strategy

at Autumn Statement by publishing tomorrow our Midlands

energy strategy. Addressing productivity barriers

across the Midlands. Midlands Engine strategy.

The Amber Valley Tory MP Nigel Mills says he always gets nervous

when he hears the word Midlands. There a fear the East Midlands

might get left behind at the expense of the west.

A murder investigation is under way in Leicester following the death

Police were called to London Road in the early hours of this morning

following reports of what's believed to have been a hit-and-run.

Detectives have spent the day carrying out enquiries

and a 30-year-old Leicester man's now been arrested and is in custody

There's been a fresh appeal for witnesses to one

of the region's worst incidents of fly-tipping.

It took employees from Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council

approximately 112 man hours to remove 20 tonnes of waste.

It was found on an access road next to the A47.

It was a mix of building rubble, commercial waste

Cleaning it up has so far cost local taxpayers more than ?4,000.

East Midlands Ambulance Service is to spend more than ?3 million

New electronic tablets will make it easier for paramedic crews

to add medical details, and even send information

It comes after the service was criticised for not keeping

patients' confidential paper records secure.

On the road, and under pressure like never before.

Now, East Midlands ambulance crews are going high-tech.

They have brought in a new 4G tablet system that they hope will transform

the way they treat and transport patients, and alert the waiting

Previously we may have had to describe it over a phone,

which can be very difficult and cause confusion.

With this, they can see what we are seeing in front of us.

It allows the hospital to be ready for our arrival and patients

will be seen quicker. Everything is in place,

and it is a better outcome for the patient.

Potentially life-saving? Definitely, yes.

Until now, just under half the ambulance admin was done

on heavy computer laptops - cumbersome and hard to keep clean -

but the majority of patients' records were done on paper,

You might be being bounced around because of road conditions.

It is difficult, it can be illegible, and that causes potential

This is all definite and much quicker to fill in.

In return, crews can access detailed advice about medical treatment

and they can send heart ECGs and even photos of accident

scenes to hospitals. And there is another benefit, too.

You were criticised last year by the Care Quality Commission

for leaving confidential patient paper records on show in ambulances

Absolutely, and we wholeheartedly acknowledge the CQC

This system will be the de facto record solution

for our patients across the Trust, so there should be no

That is one of the reasons we are doing it.

The new tablets will be brought in from next month,

and it is hoped they will be in every ambulance by September.

It's 50 years since the controversial Leicester

playwright, Joe Orton, was killed by his partner.

At the time his works were considered ground-breaking -

even risque - taking on subjects such as homosexuality

To mark the anniversary of his death, Curve in Leicester

is putting on a production of his final play,

Why is he wearing my uniform? He's not a boy, he's a girl.

Why is she wearing my shoes? She isn't a girl, she's a boy.

What may seem like a comedy of errors is in fact a dark farce,

challenging ideas around gender and sexuality.

What The Butler Saw was written in 1967, the last play by Joe Orton

who was violently killed by his gay lover that very year.

Raised on the Saffron estate in Leicester,

he was a working-class boy all too aware of his disadvantages.

I went to the ordinary sort of school that poor children go

to and didn't get the 11 plus, because I was rather dim at school.

Well, I wasn't actually dim but I didn't get the 11 plus anyway.

Despite his setbacks, Orton would go on to shake up

the theatrical world and subvert views on homosexuality.

My action could only result in a gross violation

His work is still incredibly relevant and I think it was ahead

of its time when he wrote it and I imagine it's still

Let's just take the fact that this working-class kid

from Leicester who I guess, when you look at where he came from,

and the opportunities available to him, the fact that he went

on to change the course of British theatre...

50 years on, the words of Joe Orton and the irreverent world

that he created still seem to be drawing audiences of all ages

And the show will be on for another week and a half here at Curve.

And just before we join Sara for the weather -

archaeologists have discovered another cave under

Nottingham's city centre. It was unearthed under what's

thought to have once been the site of a pub on Convent Street.

And it's the latest to be added to Nottingham's unique network

A new building is to be constructed on the site for use by students

at Nottingham Trent University and Confetti College.

That's your news. So, it's goodbye from me -

but with your weather now, here's Sara.

It's not going to rain tonight or tomorrow, a decent day on the cards

for Thursday and the skies is tried and brighten a little bit through

this afternoon. We've also got some spring lambs. They really make you

feel spring is on the way. We are starting to see through the rest of

tonight, that weather front starting across other parts of the country,

keeping some cloud over us in the East Midlands for a time but it will

start to break up. A few clear spells and it feels a little chilly

outside but the minimum temperature overnight should go no lower than

six Celsius. More of a breeze first thing tomorrow morning but the cloud

is thinning and breaking nicely, and we will see some sunshine. In the

afternoon, temperatures back into double figures. 12, maybe 13

Celsius. The breeze coming from the north-west but it will gradually

ease as we get to the latter part of the afternoon. A cold at night,

Thursday night into Friday but Friday clouds over from the west,

this is where the front is meeting with the area of high pressure

sitting over us, producing a small amount of rain at times on Friday.

That weather front clearing gradually eastwards through

Saturday, leaving us with a dry afternoon.

outlook, staying mild and Nick has the bigger picture across the UK.

Hello. Spring is in the air with temperatures reaching 14 or 15 in a

few spots today as they will again over the next few days. Very

pleasant in the sun. The daffodils were loving that in York. More

places under blue sky tomorrow and dry. Tonight heavy showers moving

across Scotland on strong to gale force winds, some may clip Northern

Ireland. It's a mild night in southern England and South Wales but

damp and drizzly, misty with coastal and hill fog elsewhere. Temperatures

in between and dry: This damp weather hangs on from parts of the

Channel Islands, to Cornwall. Elsewhere, it's getting brighter in

South Wales and southern England. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland

some sunny spells around from the word