09/03/2017 East Midlands Today

And now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Dominic Heale.

Parents, patients and campaigners fighting to keep children's heart

surgery at a Leicester hospital have tonight had their chance to put

They packed out a room at the Leicester Tigers ground

to challenge NHS England on its proposals to transfer surgery

from the Glenfield Hospital to Birmingham or Leeds.

Our health correspondent, Rob Sissons, is in Leicester.

Can you tell us what's happened there tonight, Rob?

I went into the meeting, it was extremely lively. There were some

tough questions. NHS England were put on the spot and is no doubting

the passions of the families, the parents that attending the meeting

tonight. Around 100 campaigners came early

to show their support ahead The heart unit is under threat

because NHS England isn't convinced it will meet new standards,

including the 500 operations a year My daughter Stephanie,

Glenfield saved her life. It will be heartbreaking

for the centre to close. We really need it, it's got such

an excellent worldwide reputation. My daughter was treated

at Glenfield last year, absolutely fantastic support

from the guys there. I just think it's a travesty

if they shut it, basically. Tonight, top NHS England officials

have heard concerns first-hand Staff at the Glenfield

were also at the meeting The reason why we're here today

is that we have developed some initial proposals

as to the consequences of how We are now out to consultation

and we're here in Leicester Many campaigners here say

that process is rigged. I would definitely say this

process is not rigged. There are no predetermined

numbers of centres that NHS It is not known when a decision

will be reached but tonight people here are hoping that NHS England

officials have listened and the unit which has been under threat

for so many years will be saved. Helen Astle,

BBC East Midlands Today. Do you think the campaigners got any

clear answers tonight? I think there was a lot of heat, I'm

not sure how much like there was. We found out a new information but

there were some very tough questioning and I think some people

thought that NHS England did not give clear answers to some of those

questions. I asked people what they thought had been achieved.

They've used out of date data and the travel times they seriously

I don't think any of them have ever travelled to Birmingham.

But still on a number of occasions they've been asked questions

and they would not give a straight answer.

They would wield lots of waffle and personally I think they can't

answer a question without putting it through the NHS lawyers.

All of this dates back to the Bristol heart scandal of the 1990s.

Leicester West MP Liz Kendall told me it has all been going on far too

long. Parents said really clearly tonight,

when you have got an incredibly poorly child, your life

is completely thrown in the air. One woman said, you go

to hell and back every day. It's just not right and fair

that there has been so much uncertainty when our children's

heart surgery has excellent outcomes I do not think anyone would doubt

it achieved anything, the meeting? it achieved anything, the meeting?

We'll have to see. An Escher -- NHS England wants to implement its plans

next April. In other news, an inquiry's under

way following the discovery of a man's body and a seriously

injured woman at a house Officers were called

to Holland Crescent shortly A young child was also found

inside the house, unharmed. Detectives say they're not currently

looking for anyone else in connection with the incident

but are conducting A former Nottingham social worker,

who uncovered a child migration scandal, today shared some

of her harrowing findings The Independent Inquiry

into Child Sexual Abuse was told by Margaret Humphreys how "torture,

rape and slavery" were covered up The smiling faces of British

children who were shipped across the Empire but today

the national enquiry heard they were deported and raped

and this was the most catastrophic Look at the violations that we've

heard them talk about to us. Kidnapping, sexual abuse in the UK

before they were sent, Starting all over again

in various institutions Margaret's 30-year quest for justice

prompted this feature film. Today she described how victims

were stripped of their identity, some were flogged just for singing

British nursery rhymes. The inquiry heard how she set up

the Child Migrants Trust in Nottinghamshire after victims

who had been told they were orphans One mother went to visit

a children's home as her son He said as the train pulled out

she was screaming and crying, get the children off,

get the children off. Her boy put his face

to the window and shouted I'll Doctor Humphreys told the enquiry

that white children were selected for migration to preserve

the British Empire's racial unity. She said many were used

as slave labour on farms. Margaret Humphreys also

told the enquiry that records about children

were deliberately destroyed. Social workers who raised

concerns were ignored and her West Bridgford-based charity

has now reunited well over 1,000 Jeremy Ball, East Midlands Today at

the child abuse inquiry in London. Now, this time yesterday

evening we were trying to digest the contents

of Chancellor Philip Today, clearer details have emerged

about what it means for our region. ?90 million is to be spent boosting

the East Midlands economy. It includes regenerating Derby city

centre and creating a space Road links will also be improved

around Loughborough and money will be spent enhancing town

centres in Nottinghamshire. Sherwood Forest's heroes became

legends by handing out This afternoon the local

Growth Minister was walking in the outlaw's footsteps

with ?63 million in his back pocket to boost growth

in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Half a million of that is going

to help build a new visitor The bulk will go towards

regenerating sites A big vote of confidence

in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. It will help us create over

6,500 jobs, ?150 million of private investment,

over 600 homes and 2,000 learners. That's a good result for our local

enterprise partnership. It's one of the biggest allocations

in the country and I think that demonstrates that the government

have got confidence that we can deliver the jobs

and the growth that they want. The East Midlands' slice is only

a quarter of the overall growth fund for the Midlands but the minister

doesn't swallow the idea this side The idea that government goes around

picking winners between different Of course we are investing

in the East Midlands, as we're investing in the West Midlands,

as we're investing in Yorkshire and Humber and the Northwest

because we're absolutely genuine when we say we want to create

an economy that does His colleague, the minister

for the Midlands engine came bearing gifts for

Leicester and Leicestershire. Marcus Jones said space technology

with Leicester at its hub was crucial to the UK's growth,

so there was one million for an extension at the National

Space Centre and ?13 million Another ?12 million is available

for road improvements around We had the launch of the enterprise

zones this last month and now it's backed up with some real

substantial funding today. It's ?26 million so, yeah,

a really significant day because we have got some money

to put behind things. Sherwood Forest's new centre should

be built by next spring. It's unclear when other

projects will get going. Quentin Rayner,

BBC East Midlands Today. A couple who set up a charity

to create bereavement suites on maternity wards have had

a Nottingham tram named after them. Michelle and Richard Daniels set up

Forever Stars in 2013 after their daughter

Emily was stillborn. They raised ?100,000

for a specialist area at the Queen's Medical Centre

and aim to open a second So, it's goodbye from me but

with your weather now, here's Sara. It was nice to see the sunshine

today, even The cloud is thickening up all the

time. It will be a bright start tomorrow and the cloud will increase

and it brings some light rain and drizzle as we head into the

afternoon. Misty conditions so hill fog possible in the Peak District

and the wind is coming from the south. It will be lighter but the

daytime temperature will be ten or 11 Celsius. A weather front

overnight into Saturday and Saturday looks like it might be cloudy so

they could be a bit of cloud before the rain works its way in. It will

still be a mild day. The milder air is with us that it changes by the

time the second weather front works its way through on Sunday. Sunday

the what a day of the two. Now the Outlook.

day. On Sunday, cloudier, maybe spots of rain.

Good evening, in the spring sunshine we saw temperatures as high as 17.5

Celsius. Not as warm or Sonning on Friday. Still a lot of dry, settled

weather in the forecast for the next few days. This was the sunset

captured by one of our Weather Watchers. Clear skies there. We have

had increasing amounts of cloud moving in from the West. Through the

remainder of tonight we will continue to see that cloud across

the south-west of England, the Channel Isles, weaving in across

Wales, Northern Ireland and western Scotland. Bringing with it some

outbreaks of drizzly rain, particularly around the coast and

the hills. Further east, clear skies and the coldest temperatures. We are

likely to see frost across eastern parts of Scotland by Friday morning.

The west of Scotland will see the cloud moving in, bringing spots of

light, drizzly rain. A similar