:00:09. > :00:12.First tonight, BBC Look East can reveal a huge variation
:00:13. > :00:15.in the take-up of the Government's Help to Buy scheme for new homes,
:00:16. > :00:18.which offers affordable loans to first-time buyers.
:00:19. > :00:21.Figures suggest, in Cambridge, just one in ten new homes
:00:22. > :00:30.But in Bedford that jumped to seven out of every ten new homes.
:00:31. > :00:32.It's a dream that so many struggle to realise,
:00:33. > :00:37.But it's a dream that has come true for Tara Rogers.
:00:38. > :00:41.A ?48,000 loan from the Government's Help to Buy scheme
:00:42. > :00:46.helped her to get a mortgage for this two-bedroom house in Bedford.
:00:47. > :00:49.I luckily had a deposit, but I was in a situation that,
:00:50. > :00:51.if I took the Help to Buy scheme on top of that,
:00:52. > :00:55.it really brought my mortgage down and I was able to purchase the house
:00:56. > :00:58.that I actually wanted in the area that I wanted as well.
:00:59. > :01:09.The scheme that Tara's benefited from is helping
:01:10. > :01:12.How important was that? I was almost crying, because mine daughter goes
:01:13. > :01:15.to school here. The scheme that Tara's
:01:16. > :01:17.benefited from is helping to energise the housing
:01:18. > :01:20.market in some parts of our region, Under the Help to Buy scheme,
:01:21. > :01:23.the Government will lend you up to 20% of the value
:01:24. > :01:27.of a new home, boosting the size of your deposit and helping
:01:28. > :01:29.you get a good mortgage. In some places,
:01:30. > :01:32.it's proving really popular. 90% of the homes on this
:01:33. > :01:35.development that have already been sold are being
:01:36. > :01:39.bought using the scheme. Help to Buy is having a big impact
:01:40. > :01:42.on the sort of homes Are you building homes
:01:43. > :01:46.that are targeted at first-time buyers, because
:01:47. > :01:51.Help to Buy is now available? I have a resounding
:01:52. > :01:54.response for that - yes. targets, specifically,
:01:55. > :02:00.first-time buyers. But not everyone thinks Help to Buy
:02:01. > :02:02.is working well, with some experts concerned
:02:03. > :02:05.the Government loans are There's no doubt that
:02:06. > :02:11.the Government deserve a lot of It has delivered
:02:12. > :02:14.exactly what they first intended, which was to get mortgage
:02:15. > :02:17.lenders in particular back lending after the credit
:02:18. > :02:20.crunch of 2007-2008. I suspect that actually now,
:02:21. > :02:24.its time has passed. Without Help to Buy,
:02:25. > :02:27.Tara wouldn't now own this house. One of thousands of
:02:28. > :02:31.people in our region who have been given a leg up
:02:32. > :02:36.onto the housing ladder. A sticking plaster on a prison
:02:37. > :02:39.system that's overcrowded that's what campaigners say
:02:40. > :02:43.about government plans to recruit hundreds
:02:44. > :02:46.more senior prison officers. It follows the riot
:02:47. > :02:49.at Bedford jail last year Today, the Justice Minister,
:02:50. > :02:53.Liz Truss, made a visit to Whitemoor
:02:54. > :02:58.prison in Cambridgeshire. They were behind bars but,
:02:59. > :03:04.in November, inmates at Bedford jail showed just how easily
:03:05. > :03:08.they could overcome prison staff. Officers from across the
:03:09. > :03:10.country had to be brought in Another example of the waning
:03:11. > :03:14.staff numbers Today, at Whitemoor prison,
:03:15. > :03:19.the Justice Secretary reinforced her commitment
:03:20. > :03:24.to create 2,000 new jobs. Recruiting those extra
:03:25. > :03:26.officers will mean we are able to have one officer
:03:27. > :03:30.for every six offenders, and that will help
:03:31. > :03:32.keep those people safe. It'll also give the
:03:33. > :03:34.encouragement to get into work, to get the training they need
:03:35. > :03:38.to turn their lives around. A rise in drug abuse
:03:39. > :03:40.and violence within our jails is leading to rising numbers
:03:41. > :03:43.of attacks on prison staff, A lot of prisons are violent
:03:44. > :03:47.and dangerous places, and they've got more
:03:48. > :03:49.violent and dangerous. They get more violent
:03:50. > :03:54.and dangerous every year. money for staff
:03:55. > :04:00.development and training, is welcome, but it is
:04:01. > :04:02.a sticking plaster solution unless we can
:04:03. > :04:05.really get to the bottom of The Government admits it may be
:04:06. > :04:10.years before jails are made more secure and, with inducements
:04:11. > :04:13.like a ?3,000 pay rise for staff at Whitemoor,
:04:14. > :04:16.they hope more people will be attracted to
:04:17. > :04:19.and remain in the industry. Campaigners, however,
:04:20. > :04:26.are less convinced. Scientists at
:04:27. > :04:28.the University of Cambridge have grown the world's
:04:29. > :04:30.first artificial embryo. The breakthrough was made
:04:31. > :04:33.using cells from a mouse. could be used to create
:04:34. > :04:39.artificial human life. This is the first time
:04:40. > :04:42.embryo-like structures have been developed in laboratories,
:04:43. > :04:46.using two types of stem cell. Cambridge researchers describe
:04:47. > :04:51.how they've cultured a combination of genetically modified
:04:52. > :04:54.embryonic mouse cells, It is unlikely to develop
:04:55. > :05:00.into a healthy foetus without adding a third form of
:05:01. > :05:04.stem cell to develop the yolk sac, It's illegal to experiment on human
:05:05. > :05:11.embryos in the UK beyond 14 days. Now scientists here are seeing
:05:12. > :05:15.if they can use this new stem cell technique to create
:05:16. > :05:19.artificial human embryos. The study of human embryos
:05:20. > :05:21.is extremely complex. We have very few of those embryos
:05:22. > :05:26.donated by parents for research. Therefore if we have
:05:27. > :05:30.an artificial system, which we hope
:05:31. > :05:34.to generate one day, in which we can generate humanlike
:05:35. > :05:39.embryo structures from stem cells, So would it be legal
:05:40. > :05:44.to experiment on artificial embryos It's not taking an existing embryo
:05:45. > :05:49.and researching on it, be within the current
:05:50. > :05:56.regulatory framework, although we would need
:05:57. > :05:57.to think carefully Artificial embryos may sound
:05:58. > :06:02.like a plot in a sci-fi novel but, in the right hands,
:06:03. > :06:04.they could provide the answer to why so many women
:06:05. > :06:14.miscarry in early pregnancy. A school teacher from Corby has
:06:15. > :06:17.been nominated for a global award 30-year-old Ray Chambers
:06:18. > :06:20.has been shortlisted for the Global Teacher's Prize
:06:21. > :06:22.for his mentoring and his online sharing
:06:23. > :06:24.of his creative teaching skills. Over 20,000 teachers from
:06:25. > :06:27.170 countries were nominated It will be awarded
:06:28. > :06:36.in Dubai later this month. Now how's the weather
:06:37. > :06:38.looking for the weekend? The weekend is here and although
:06:39. > :06:45.there is going to be some rain, there is also going to be some dry
:06:46. > :06:48.and bright weather as well. For tonight, we've got this
:06:49. > :06:50.weather system moving in, so that is going to bring us
:06:51. > :06:52.some rain, spreading across all parts
:06:53. > :06:55.by the end of the night, and some of that could be
:06:56. > :06:57.on the heavy side. So we will wake up to
:06:58. > :07:00.a rather wet day tomorrow. It's going to stay
:07:01. > :07:01.very mild overnight, with lows
:07:02. > :07:03.of around seven Celsius. So we started the day
:07:04. > :07:05.quite misty and cloudy But it's looking as though
:07:06. > :07:09.it will swiftly clear eastwards, and then we will be into some much
:07:10. > :07:11.brighter conditions. There might just be the odd shower
:07:12. > :07:14.following on behind. With light winds and
:07:15. > :07:15.fairly mild temperatures of around 10 or 11 degrees,
:07:16. > :07:18.it should feel quite pleasant. The national weather is coming up,
:07:19. > :07:21.but here's the outlook. For Sunday, it looks as though
:07:22. > :07:24.it will be a dry start with rain quickly moving in,
:07:25. > :07:43.hanging around for a lot of the day, Good evening, mixed fortunes this
:07:44. > :07:49.weekend. Today we saw a fair share of rain. This is the view one of our
:07:50. > :07:50.weather watchers in Doncaster. Not