18/12/2016 London News

Specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police

who deal with cases of Female Genital Mutilation,

are at airports in the these final days before Christmas,

trying to stop young girls from being taken abroad and forced

June Kelly has been at Heathrow with the team,

Heathrow Airport and families have already started heading off for

Christmas. Sergeant Natalie Red Sea of the Metropolitan Police is

briefing colleagues, officers from the border force and charity

workers. This team are on the lookout for young girls who are

being taken to countries often in Africa and Middle East where female

genital mutilation is practised. Officers know that families can use

the Christmas holidays to take the child abroad for FGM. One campaigner

who works with the airport team says people have to know that FGM is

child abuse. She was cut as a six-year-old in Somalia. You're

going through psychological stuff and you are in pain constantly and

no one ever sits down to talk about what happened. It is done, that is

it, you have to move on after that. The team are concerned about one

youngster who has been taken out of school before the official end of

term. A phone call to the school confirms the mother's story as to

why they are travelling and they are finally allowed to board. This is

our last opportunity to engage with families before they fly off to

countries where FGM and other harmful practices might be conducted

in the school holiday period. A big part of this exercise is trying to

raise awareness of FGM. I don't think it should be practised on any

little girl, never ever, so I am so happy to see them around going to

make a campaign like this. The airport team will be back at

Heathrow in the coming week. Just days after the government said

it was considering allowing local authorities to raise

Council Tax to pay for social care, London councils says the cash

will do little to solve the long term problem -

with a former government minister Here's our political

editor, Tim Donovan. A rapidly rising population

is adding ever more to the bill for caring

for the capital's elderly. London councils say there is little

benefit in the government telling them this week they can raise more

council tax earlier than planned. This is not new money,

it is simply a shifting of money. That does not help us

address the total funding gap There are 150,000 people in our city

who require social care support. By 2020, London boroughs as a whole

will have an ?800 million funding Figures obtained by one MP

through a Freedom of Information request show substantial variations

in how much councils spend Richmond Council, for example,

devotes ?815 per week per elderly resident in their care,

but in say Lambeth or Greenwich, And there are particular

challenges in London, London is very expensive to live in,

so when you are working in a lower wage organisation,

it is very difficult to be able A former Liberal Democrat minister

has told us they now need What we really need is a radical

overhaul in the way that we paid I think what we need

now is a hypothecation, an earmarking of national insurance,

so that people know when they see their pay slip

that the money that is being paid for national insurance

is going towards their health care Pressure is now mounting

for a lasting formula The Armed Forces Charity,

SSAFA which helps those who've served in the military -

is sending out volunteers to help homeless ex-servicemen and women

sleeping rough in central London. New boots, warm clothes and sleeping

bags were among some of the items It's thought it could be as many

as 20% of those who sleep rough A lot of veterans out there have

been left by the wayside. Some, due to their pride,

are not asking for help. We come into civilian life, we have

another set of rules to live by, After all the fog we've

had this weekend, Mist and fog has already started

form and the Met Office has issued a yellow warning for fog,

so be prepared So to start off on Monday

and on Tuesday, there will be It stays cloudy for much

of the week so we are limited on the amount of the sunshine

with some wet and windy weather Be prepared for disruption

to travel on Monday morning. The fog will eventually lift

with some sunshine breaking There will be highs of eight or nine

Celsius so a bit of a chilly day. So staying cloudy over

the next couple of days It turns wet and windy as we head

towards the middle of the week. I'll be back after Sports

Personality of the Year Hello. Exactly a week to Christmas

but it