18/12/2017 London News

Coming up on BBC London News:

The woman in charge

of one of the reviews

into the Grenfell tragedy gives

a damning assessment

of building regulations

that led to fire.

Others ask why isn't she calling

for an immediate ban

of any combustible cladding

on new buildings.

Also ahead, 25 years on,

the London victims of

a Libyan air crash demand

compensation for what they say

was a terror attack.

Plus, introducing

the new clergy to class.

The next Bishop of London

is announced,

the first woman ever in the role.

It was a surprise, but I'm really

delighted, I have lived and worked

in London for 32 years.

And it was certainly

a surprise for Sir Mo -

as he wins BBC Sports

Personality of the Year.

But as we find out, not for those

at the Twickenham running

track named after him.

A very warm welcome

to the programme.

First tonight, "not fit for purpose"

and "cutting corners" -

the damning assessment

of building regulations

that led to the Grenfell fire.

In the first of two major

reviews of what went wrong,

Dame Judith Hackitt says

that the rules should

simplified and a complete change

in culture is now required to ensure

cost is never

prioritised over safety.

She says she's been shocked by some

of the practices she's heard about.

Here's our political

correspondent Karl Mercer.

The burnt out shell

of Grenfell Tower stands as a grim

reminder that 71 people

lost their lives here.

And a stark reminder of the failings

that led to those deaths.

The fire in June prompted a review

of fire regulations and the way

high-rise buildings are built.

Today, the woman behind that review

gave her first findings

And was damning of

the current system.

It is overly complex, and it is

confusing. There is confusion about

roles and responsibilities

throughout, and a general lack of

competence and accreditation in many

areas.

In the weeks that followed

the Grenfell fire,

the Chalcott Estate in Camden saw

cladding removed, and hundreds

of people moved out as urgent safety

improvements had to be made.

The Ledbury Estate in Southwark

also saw issues with its gas supply.

And councils like Croydon

promised millions of pounds

to retrofit all of their tower

blocks with sprinklers.

But Dame Judith says

the regulations around high-rises

need looking at again.

What I am setting out to do is put a

better system in place for the

future that will ensure that

buildings are built to the right

standard in the first place, and

equally importantly, that they are

then men tamed and that integrity is

maintained throughout the life cycle

of the building.

The current

regulations are complicated, so when

it came to cladding Grenfell Tower,

it was easy for mistakes to be made

or corners to be cut. Those in the

industry say there is an opportunity

now to simplify things.

This has

opened up ambiguities and unintended

consequences, so I concrete example

- there is this idea of materials of

limited combustibility, but we

should be using non-combustible

materials, not these complex

definitions.

Changing culture will

take time, Dame Judith Hackitt men

is that, but it is our intention to

work with her to implement those

recommendations.

Dame Judith will

issue a full report in the spring.

Karl Mercer, BBC London News.

Plenty more ahead

tonight, including...

Drivers face a bigger

fine from the New Year.

The penalty for failing to pay

the congestion charge is going up.

There's been a huge rise

in the number of victims

of sexual assault coming forward

to the Met Police.

Figures obtained by BBC London

show it's gone up by more than

7,000 in the last four years.

The force says it suggests

victims are increasingly confident

that such crimes will

be taken seriously.

But support groups say many cases

are still not reaching the courts.

Here's our home affairs

correspondent Nick Beake.

Jen wants to speak out

about what happened to her.

She says she was raped

by a man she knew well.

It was a really difficult decision

for me to come forward about it,

because it involved a lot of people

that I knew and a lot of friends,

and it took me quite a few days

to decide to go to the police.

I was in a lot of shock.

I did that, and I ended up

being on this absolute emotional

roller coaster of a court system.

It took police a year to charge

the man, and the court case

was delayed twice before

being dropped,

just three days before the trial.

The first time was absolutely

devastating, because,

as a diligent worker that I am,

I'd organised my time off and cover,

and I was determined to come back,

get on with my job and get

on with life, and I was so mentally

transfixed on this date

as being the time it would be over.

And then it moved,

and I couldn't imagine going

through another six months

of waiting and waiting.

There's been a big rise

in the reporting of sexual assaults.

10,000 in all back in 2012,

last year more than 17,000.

The number of reports of women

being raped went from 3,000 to more

than 5,400, and reports of male rape

have tripled in the last four years.

Mary Mason's charity

is supporting more and more

victims of sexual crimes.

She says the increased reporting

had not been matched

by a similar rise in prosecutions.

They'll say the woman won't make

a credible witness in court,

which I find deeply,

deeply troubling,

so because somebody's vulnerable

that is not acceptable.

Police officer Richard Unwin

has supported victims of sexual

offences for over a decade.

His force says it's now

better at investigating

and attitudes have changed.

There are things that have been

in place for a long time.

The attack down a dark alley

because of what someone

was wearing or by a stranger,

that can happen, but it's not

something that we deal

with all the time.

What we tend to deal

with are assaults, sexual violence

involving partners or friends.

The Crown Prosecution Service

says more defendants have been

convicted for sexual offences

than ever before.

It insists it wasn't its fault that

Jenn's case was delayed then dropped

but campaigners say more offenders

need to be brought to justice.

A police officer is still

seriously ill in hospital

after he and a colleague

were hit by a Maserati supercar

on the North Circular in Neasden.

The head of the Met says

it's a "stark reminder"

of the dangers officers face.

Chris Rogers is outside

Scotland Yard with more details.

Yes, both officers now in a stable

condition, but up until an hour ago,

the male officer was described as

being in a critical condition, so a

little bit of good news for his

colleagues here at New Scotland Yard

and in Brent. It was the early hours

of Sunday morning, both officers in

their 30s were attending an

unrelated incident, and as they made

their way back to their marked car,

a white Maserati ploughed into them.

The driver stopped, he was arrested

at the scene on suspicion of

dangerous driving. A female

passenger in his car was taken to

hospital with injuries. Speaking to

officers here in Brent, while they

investigate what happened and why,

it has become quite clear,

understandably, that this is an

investigation that affects them

personally. Earlier, their commander

page tribute to his officers.

The

officers were dealing with another

incident, a vehicle ended up coming

off the North Circular, colliding

with a number of walls and

ultimately hitting both constables,

one of which was trapped under the

vehicle. Both of them suffered

significant injury, and I would just

like to pay tribute to the emergency

services and their colleagues.

We

have just learned that £6,000 has

been raised online on a fundraising

page by members of the public,

colleagues have thanked them for

raising that money, saying it will

going a long way to rebuilding the

lives of the officers and their

families. Cressida Dick page tribute

to her officers today for dealing

with an incident that can be very

difficult to deal with when it

involves people you know and work

with.

Chris, thank you.

The widow of a man who was killed

on a flight which crashed

over Libya 25 years ago

says "our lives have

never been the same".

Victor Prazak from

Battersea was one of 157

passengers on board who died.

At the time, it was thought to be

a mid-air collision until questions

emerged pointing to an act

of state sponsored terrorism.

Felicity Prazak says she's never

received any compensation.

This piece I did, it's

a self-portrait,

it represents my lost life.

I lost my husband, I felt I had been

killed and I'd lost my life as well.

Her husband was Victor Prazak,

a contractor working

in Libya and one of those

on board flight 1103.

Denied the right to bring

back her husband's body or even

to visit the grave four years after,

painting was how she coped.

I can express myself more

in paintings than in words.

How I felt.

And then, after the fall of Gaddafi,

a different truth emerged.

His inner circle admitting the plane

was shot down on Gaddafi orders,

an act of terror

the present Libyan government

has not publicly accepted.

Yet Felicity has never received

a penny of compensation.

It's just what I should have,

if other people have had big

pay-outs, why is my husband ignored?

As a family, we try to cope,

but we know our lives would have

been very different.

And yet in the UK, around

£9 billion worth of Gaddafi

frozen assets are held.

This house in north London was

some of it, and in this case,

the High Court gave it back

to the current Libyan authorities.

The question for UK victims

of Gaddafi sponsored terrorism -

why can't some of these frozen

assets be used to pay compensation?

Yesterday, a memorial

was held for the victims

of the 1983 IRA Harrods bomb,

the explosives supplied by Gaddafi.

Susanne Dodds' police

officer father,

hailed a hero, lost his life.

Our government should be stronger

with the frozen assets.

We do have a bill going

through the House of Lords.

It's going to the Commons,

hopefully in January.

And the Government needs to

stand up for their victims

to actually give

us the compensation.

In a special debate here last week,

the minister for the Middle East,

Alastair Burt,

addressed these questions

of Gaddafi's frozen billions.

He said that the UN resolution used

to freeze the assets is clear -

they should be for the benefit

of the Libyan people.

And to breach that would

break international law.

This is the aftermath of the

Docklands bombing. The local MP

feels compensation for the victims

in his constituency needs to be

paid.

Families have not been compensated.

The frozen assets are

sitting in bank accounts.

Other countries have been able

to compensate their victims.

I don't understand where the UK

Government can't compensate cash.

You've lived with this for 25 years,

and I can see you've lived with it

every day of your life.

I think you never give up hope.

Once you give up hope,

all is lost, really.

And at points I have given up hope,

but something will happen,

and a new window will open.

A Foreign Office spokesman says

the Government is determined

to see a just resolution,

but due to the problems

facing Libya, progress

is likely to remain slow.

The hope is another 25

years won't pass by.

Next, it's that time of year

when many of us struggle

to work with cold.

Well, last year across the country

we lost 137 million

working days to sickness.

That works out at just

over four days of sick leave

for each of us a year.

Now one London council

is considering whether to stop

paying the first three days of sick

leave for anyone off ill.

Marc Ashdown has the story.

It is the sea not issues and hot

toddy, when most of us at some point

swap the cold commute for a warm

duvet, but taking a day off work for

illness may prove costly in

Killington where the council is

looking at stopping some sick pay.

It is bad if they took it out your

wages, you should get sick pay, if

you are sick, it is not your fault.

You cannot control being sick, it

can happen any time, and if you have

kids behind you, what are you going

to do?

The council said they are in

a consultation. One proposal is for

sick pay to follow the first, second

or third day of absence, saving up

to £720,000 a year. It might

surprise you that statutory sick pay

only takes in after four consecutive

days off. Anything before that is

discretionary, so it is legal for an

employer to deduct money from your

salary for anything up to three

consecutive days off six. The London

Assembly member for the area, also a

GP, thinks it is short-sighted.

If

there is so much sick leave for

minor illnesses, you need to think

about what that is about and whether

you are looking after your

employees, are they under stress,

are you adding further stress, this

doesn't sound sensible.

Since 2014,

businesses have not been able to

reclaim sick pay from the state, so

in the private sector it is now as

common for there to be no short-term

sickbay.

Absence is very costly,

they may need temporary cover,

potentially lost revenue, so

businesses need to take action to

try and minimise the impact of

absence.

Research indicates this

will have a disproportionately large

impact on women. We know the public

sector employs a large number of

low-paid women, that women in the

public sector have poorer health and

bear the burden of childcare and

elderly relative care. They are

creating a perverse incentive for

people to come into work when they

are not safe to do their jobs.

This

could affect nearly 3000 council

workers here, but other employers

will no doubt be watching carefully.

Still to come this Monday evening...

A chilly night in south-west London,

but some are brave enough to do some

athletics training at the Sir Mo

running track, named Sports

Personality of the Year last night,

we will speak to those who know him

best.

And I am at Saint Catherine's

docks, seeing some beautiful

Christmas lights, I may not be able

to see the hand in front of my face

tomorrow, a full forecast later.

Are

Before that though -

she says it's a wonderful privilege

in a vibrant world city.

The Right Reverend Sarah Mullally

has been announced as the next

Bishop of London -

and the first woman

to ever be appointed.

Our religious affairs correspondent

Martin Bashir reports.

It wasn't the congregation at the

cathedral but students at the

secondary school who had the first

opportunity to meet with the new

Bishop of London. A nurse by

training and profession, her

appointment as the 133rd Bishop of

London marks an historic move

towards gender equality and means

that a woman now holds one of the

three most senior positions in the

Church of England.

London is a

diverse place, and therefore it is

right that we represent the

diversity of this city.

The diocese

of London is one of the few areas

where the Church of England is

growing. But it also has a

formidable presence of

conservatives, both from the Anglo

catholic and evangelical traditions

who disapprove of women priests.

For

those that can't accept my

ordination as either a Bishop or a

priest because I am a woman, I say

to them, I fully respect their

theological position. And my

question to them always is, how can

I enable their ministry to flourish?

Other church leaders are believed

that Bishop Sarah does not support

any changes to the practice of

marriage in church, solely between a

man and a woman.

I think it would be

very regrettable if the Church ever

moved into that position, because I

think it would undermine its

traditional teaching on marriage,

and I was delighted that Bishop

Sarah said she stood by the

traditional teaching of the church.

Bishop of London are traditionally

made dean of the chapels royal.

Churches like St George's Day Chapel

in Windsor. This raises the prospect

of Bishop Sarah at the royal

wedding. Is there any possibility

that you might physio at the wedding

of Prince Harry and the Meghan

Markle?

I haven't even officially

become the Bishop of London yet.

There are many parts of my role that

I have yet to discover. At the

moment I just want to celebrate with

Prince Harry and Megan and my

prayers go with them in their time

head. Bishop Sarah will now prepare

for her installation at St Paul's

Cathedral, which is likely to take

pace in June next year.

Fail to pay the congestion charge

from the New Year and you'll

face a bigger fine -

that's the warning to

drivers in central London.

The penalty is going

up from £65 £80.

As Tolu Adayoye reports.

A tougher deterrent

for rule-breakers or a way

of punishing honest motorists

who make a mistake?

Whichever way you see it,

if you fail to pay the congestion

charge, the fine is going up.

The amount due is rising

from £65 to £80.

If you don't pay quickly enough,

that goes up from £130 to £160.

In the last five years,

the number of people being issued

the fines has been rising.

And TfL says that's a clear sign

the penalties are just

And TfL says that's a clear

sign the penalties just

aren't put people off.

But critics argue it shows

the current system is too tough

for those who already

can't afford it.

It's not just the hike

in the fine that's the concern,

it's everything else toppled

on for small businesses.

It's the cost of doing

business going up.

So, this is now going

from £130 to £160.

But when you consider

that small businesses,

the cost of rent and rates is 30%

of their their turnover,

the cost of rent and rates

is 30% of their turnover,

they've got employment costs,

there are now T charges coming in,

low emission zone,

ultra-low emission zone...

It's just another cost of doing

business in the capital.

Hello, how can I help you...?

But maybe it's not just

the system that's changing.

This small business in Elstree has

to deliver computer equipment

into central London.

But the way it works

now means travelling

is less and less important.

I've got a phone that

will ring either on my mobile

phone, on the computer,

or a phone like this.

I can work from anywhere.

The congestion fine

rises on 2nd January -

just one way TfL says it wants

to make London safer and healthier

and less dominated by vehicles.

Last night, a shocked

Sir Mo Farah won the BBC

Sports Personality

of the Year award.

And for probably the first time

in his career, he was

the rank outsider to win.

In fact, he wasn't at the star

studded ceremony and joined

the broadcast from the running track

at St Mary's University

in Twickenham named after him.

That is where we can join our sports

reporter Sara Orchard.

Perhaps understandably quiet behind

you, given the weather?

It is very

cold here, there's no two ways about

it. And as in a few brave souls

going through a few moves at the

moment. But yes, this is where Sir

Mo Farah himself actually started

out his professional running career

as later years that built up to

those two gold level is at the

London 2012 Olympic Games. Yes, he

was a rank outsider for last night's

top prize, but that wasn't the only

surprise of the evening. There were

a few other little bits mixed in. In

case you missed it, here's what

happened.

It was the highlight of

the sporting year, with the

country's best in their finery. But

the show was actually stolen by Mo

Farah's two-year-old son Hussein.

Mo, did you get any of that?!

Daddy...!

Mo, you've been marvellous

and we salute you and everything

you've done in your career! It is

clear to see the legacy of what you

have in your life, your wonderful

family, you're at the Sir Mo Farah

track. People might think you have

gone for an easier life but

obviously... Bye-bye!

This was still

at the start of the show. The winner

would be announced later. Mo was one

of ten nominees after a year that

had seen him win yet another World

Championship title and become a

knight of the realm. However, when

his name was read out, he couldn't

believe it.

Mo Farah...

Please don't

tell me he's gone to bed!

The line

only restored after the show had

finish to, but shock was still real!

I can't believe I won it! Anything

is possible in life, if you believe

in it, work at it and keep grafting

and grafting, anything is possible.

Well, the shock is now over four Mo

Farah, and I are now joined by

someone who knows him very well, the

director of sport here at St Mary's

University, Andrew Reed Smith. Were

you surprised last night?

Not at

all. It was absolutely wonderful,

everybody at St Mary's is very proud

of Mo and delighted to see him get

the award. Although he was shocked,

clearly it means a lot to him.

What

were his highlights in 2017?

Obviously defending his titles in

Rio. I thought the World

Championships performance was it

about his best on the track. Seeing

him knighted, naming the track after

him in February was a wonderful

moment here at St Mary's University,

all culminating in last night. It

was richly deserved, it's been

incredible.

You actually ran here

the endurance performance coaching

centre and Mo was one of the

founding athletes - how much of a

legacy had his left?

We built from a

small base of two athletes, one of

which was Mo. Lots of GB athletes

performing at London, Rio and the

world Champs, all inspired by Mo. On

the track we have local community

athletics clubs, and local schools

so, a great legacy.

Thank you so

much for having us down here this

evening. Mo does come and train here

sometimes. And don't think that you

will not see him running any more

because he is taking up the

marathon.

And his son stealing the

show - any parent must know how he

feels!

Let's get a check on the weather -

and Elizabeth is down

at St Katharine Docks,

where it's looking festive.

at St Katharine Docks,

where it's looking festive.

Yes, it certainly is, and even I

have got my thermals on tonight, it

is absolutely freezing. But it is

also very pretty indeed down here.

We have got lots of Christmas

lights, and it is a real calm,

relaxing atmosphere, much more

relaxing than such right or Regent

Street when the really busy at this

time of year. There is a lovely

anchor just a back mean all lit up,

Christmas tree over the water and

with the water it is all reflected.

Really very beautiful indeed. Some

nice flats over there, over the tops

of the flats you can see the tops of

the skyscrapers. So, it really feels

like London here. I don't think we

will be seeing the tops of any

skyscrapers tomorrow morning! It

will be a real pea soup of a fog

forming just about everywhere

tomorrow morning. And that could

last for Match Of The Day. We have

got a Met Office weather warning out

for the fog. It is the perfect

recipe for it and it will form

really quite extensively tomorrow

morning. So, if you're travelling

somewhere, if you're flying, check

with your airline and be careful out

on the roads. Very, very poor

visibility for a good time. You can

keep up-to-date with BBC London News

tomorrow morning. Some of this will

be actually freezing fog I suspect,

and temperatures will be dipping to

-3 in rural spots. Tomorrow, poor

visibility on many of our roads for

a good while, so Liz be careful out

there. It will gradually start to

lift and clear, but it may not be

until the afternoon for many areas.

And for some places it could even

stick around for most of the day.

That's most likely towards

south-eastern areas of the capital.

Temperatures very, very dependent on

this fog Ference. Up towards the

north-west, where we get some

clearance, temperatures could get as

high as seven Celsius. But where the

fog stays it will be hovering around

freezing. Things do get better for

the rest of the week. We've got high

pressure just sat to the south of

us, and that's going to dominate the

weather. Turning milder on choose

day, may be some hill fog around on

Wednesday, but look at these

temperatures, getting up to 10-11

for much of the rest of the week.

Christmas week, you will have to

watch later in the evening. Keep

up-to-date with the travel updates

in our breakfast bulletin tomorrow

morning. I will be back at half past

ten. Have a lovely evening.