13/06/2013 Midlands Today

with Nick Owen and Mary Rhodes: The headlines tonight: From Mumbai to

the Midlands - business leaders from India looking to invest and create

thousands of jobs. development facilities and the track

record of helping companies go global. Scores of potential

investors were put in touch with companies who want to expand.

A doctor describes how a four-year-old boy looked like a

concentration camp victim, as a mother and stepfather are accused of

his murder. Best in the country - a new centre

of excellence for the treatment of burns is set up at the Queen

Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. are very proud that this centre has

been established here. Walking in the footsteps of Tolkien

- an audio tour of the Birmingham landscape that inspired his tales of

Middle Earth. And after a wet and windy day, is

there any let-up before the weekend? I'll have the full forecast later

potential investment and thousands of new jobs. That is the prospect

offered by investors from India who are in the Midlands today with money

to invest in technology companies. But with the number of unemployed in

the West Midlands increasing to 259,000, will more overseas

investment actually create jobs that so desperately needed here?

East meets West, well, the wisp Midlands at least, at a major

conference today designed to put investors from India in touch with

companies here who need cash to expand. India is currently the fifth

largest investor in the UK and now it is offering even more money.

Indian companies have the capital because they have been growing so

sharply in the West Midlands and Britain has the research and deserve

-- development facilities and the track record of helping companies go

global. Then you have profits for the West Midlands and profits for

India. And it is innovators in technology

that the Indians are most interested in. We want to invest in companies

interested in a specific industry or specific technology. On the services

side, we are interested in companies, boutique services

companies who addressed one area of the market and do it very well.

Indian conglomerate Tata macro has already invested billions of pounds

into Jaguar Land Rover. It has also spent millions setting up a research

and development centre in Coventry, smaller companies here are also

eating of investment. This Birmingham -based software developer

is 60% owned an Indian company. The Indian investment company called

Reliance has put tens of millions into this company, helped them

develop new games and expand and create new jobs. But according to

management, there is more to it than just accelerating expansion. It is

more than just investment in a company. They have great expertise

in smartphone platforms. We traditionally have not had that

similar -- allows us to expand. Horizons, new markets and more

importantly, new jobs. It is all good news for a region that needs to

drive forward and stay ahead of the game. It is actually the fourth

month in a row that unemployment has risen in this region, bucking the

national trend. So what is the reality for people looking for work?

Our Staffordshire reporter has been finding out.

A city the size of Stoke-on-Trent. Just over a quarter of a million

people live here. What is the same number of people who are unemployed

in the West Midlands. But behind the numbers, what is the reality for

those looking for work? This job club is held every week at idle.

Help, support and practical advice for those who were looking for work.

Sometimes you feel ready discriminated against because of

your age. When you ring up for a job when they know they can get perhaps

a 17 or 18-year-old to do it, they will give it to that person and not

you. Traditionally, manufacturing has been strong here. It is still

important though many job-seekers are also looking to gain new skills.

If you have any course you would like is to put on for you, give us

an idea of what you were looking at. Inspired of the health on -- help on

offer, the search for work can still be difficult. It is harder to find

16 hours a week than it is full-time work. Sometimes you go and there are

200 people or more applying for the job even though it is only

part-time. But you still have to keep on trying. Maintaining an

optimistic view of the economic outlook might sometimes be hard but

old and new industries are looking for signs the implement picture is

improving. Our business correspondent is

outside the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Castle Bromwich. How much

money has flowed from India to Jaguar Land Rover so far? In the

last two years, �3.5 billion in products and facilities. This year,

a staggering 2.75 billion being invested. If you look at what used

to be the staff car park just behind me, you can see a pile of rubble.

They are building a huge new logistics warehouse. More

construction is to come. A big investment plan for Castle Bromwich

and there is also investment going into Solihull where they built land

Rovers. More building going on there so a lot happening, a lot of money

being spent and it would not be happening without the influence of

the Indian owners. What has been the impact of that investment? Apart

from the construction, which you can see everywhere, there have been new

models, several big launches, the Jaguar F type is the latest as you

can see on the side of the visitor centre. There has been a new range

Rover as well. And new jobs. Jaguar Land Rover reckon around 900 in the

last two years. A lot of them are agency workers but they do become

permanent if the growth continues over a period of two years.

Yesterday we were talking about the reasons for the rising unemployment

and you mentioned is was probably to do with the eurozone and a skills

shortage. What are other reasons? There is obviously a skills shortage

and Jaguar Land Rover find it difficult to recruit staff. They are

also finding their suppliers are finding it difficult to recruit

staff. More apprentices are being recruited. That is good news but it

will not happen overnight. Another issue is bank lending. There is

lending going on now but a lot of companies I am talking to see the

interest rates are too high. They do not want to overstretch themselves.

And that means that ultimately they are not expanding and not creating

the jobs. Coming up later in the programme: Birmingham city announce

an electronic cigarette company will be their new shirt sponsors.

A four-year-old boy has been described as being one of the most

emaciated a senior doctor had ever seen. Daniel Pelko died from a

subdural haematoma in March 2012. It is alleged he suffered months of

abuse and starvation before his death. Birmingham Crown Court heard

he weighed less than 11 kilos, that is just over a stone and a half,

when he died. Our reporter was in court today. The jury has been

hearing from the doctors who saw him in hospital. What did they say?

heard from a doctor who is the child protection Doctor for the University

Hospital voluntary and Warwickshire. She described herself as being well

used to seeing sick children and even dying children. But she said

she saw Daniel a couple of days after he had died in the mortuary

and the word she used was she was horrified. She told the jury he

looked tiny, skin was hanging off his arms and thighs and his tummy

was so thin you could actually see his bowels. When asked to describe

the level of ACA and had she ever seen this for herself before she

said, no, she hadn't as a doctor but she told the jury that if they

considered it as they had seen of children and adults who work victims

of the concentration camps, then they could get a picture of how

small and tiny Daniel was. The jury were shown a photograph taken days

before his death. Did he actually look ill in those? There was a

beautiful photograph shown, taken in a classroom during an city. The

doctor was asked to comment on how thin he looked. Obviously, you do

not know the child but she said she would have been concerned about how

small his neck was. The photograph was taken in profile. She said his

neck looked scrawny. She said that after she had examine his dead body

she had recommended a forensic post mortem. Let's not forget that's

mother, Magdelena Luczak, and stepfather, Mariusz Krezolek, with

deny murder, and the trial is expected to last six weeks.

A court has heard a mother accused of dropping her six-day-old baby

down the rubbish chute of a tower block in Wolverhampton was suffering

from a psychosis linked to postnatal depression. Jaymin Abdulrahman's

daughter suffered skull fractures and brain injuries as a result of

the fall last September. The court was told the 25-year-old mother had

such severe depression that she was unable to make rational decisions.

STAFFORD The administrators running Hospital have asked for an extra 30

days to put together their recommendations about the future of

services there. They were brought in by the health watchdog Monitor in

April after it decided the hospital trust was no longer clinically or

financially sustainable in the long term. The Support Stafford Hospital

campaign say they are surprised by the news and it further undermines

their confidence in the process. Four companies have made final bids

to buy Coventry City Football Club Ltd, but the Ricoh Arena's owners

are not one of them. The administrator says he will now

consider the offers before selecting a preferred purchaser. The only two

confirmed bidders are Sisu, who own the other half of the club, and a

consortium involving the American billionaire Preston Haskell IV.

After six months where emergency care at Shropshire's main hospitals

has been under massive pressure, the trust which runs them says it has

executives of both the Shrewsbury and Telford acute hospitals trust

and the community health trust which runs the county's cottage hospitals,

on BBC Shropshire from 9am tomorrow play next season with the logo of an

electronic cigarette company on their shirts. Local firm Nicolites

have agreed a one-year deal with the Championship side. The news comes

the day after it was announced that electronic cigarette would face

tougher regulations in the future. Their billboards are all over the

city of Birmingham. Next season there logo will be all over the

shirts at Birmingham city. Erdington -based company Nicolites is the

biggest manufacturer of electronic cigarettes in Britain. They claim to

have helped 400,000 smokers kick the habit last year and believe this

deal will grow their business further. 2013 for us was about

marketing the brand, increasing awareness about the products

available. So that is why you have seen a lot more marketing act to the

teak and one of the reasons why we decided to work with Birmingham City

Football Club as well. Of course, not everyone will like this deal.

Only yesterday the health regulator announced plans to make these

cigarettes a medicine from 2016 with tighter regulations. One of the

concerns has been there promotion to children. We do not want to

encourage young children to start smoking so we thought that on the

junior kits it would be better to have a charity logo on the front of

them. That is why Tony adult replica kits will carry the Nicolites logo.

-- only adult replica kits. Children's shirts will have the Help

Harry Help Others logo instead. It was set up by Harry Moseley, who

died two years ago of a tumour. that logo and that branding on the

top, a club that Harry was very passionate about, just means the

world and means in return we can offer so much more support. In the

1980s, West Bromwich Albion will be as anti-smoking logo on their

shirts, but they were relegated that season. Birmingham city will be

hoping to avoid a repeat. This is our top story tonight: From

Mumbai to the Midlands, business leaders from India looking to invest

and create thousands of jobs. Your detailed weather forecast to come in

a moment. Also in tonight programme: At 12 years old, is Fraser the

youngest entrepreneur in the country? He is earning thousands

from the company he set up making fudge.

And walking in the steps of Tolkien. The chance to soak up the landscape

that inspired his tales of Middle Earth.

Birmingham is to be named as a national centre of excellence for

research into burns. The prestigious accolade comes with �1.5 million in

charity funding for research. Doctors now hope to trial a cheap

form of synthetic skin which will remove the need for painful skin

grafts. Our health correspondent's report contains some images you may

find upsetting. Five years ago, Wiktoria Kaleta was

trapped in a house fire. Since then she has had 60 operations and

treatments to improve her skin. The latest gave her some more movement.

She welcomed the latest development. It is a good thing because you could

help a lot of patients get wetter. The charity the Healy foundation has

provided money for a centre of excellence following a joint bid I

think University, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Children's Hospital

and the London free hospital. is the first time proper funding has

been put to burns care in the UK and we are very proud that the centre

has been established here in Birmingham, specifically in

Birmingham, and I am sure it will be the start of a very good outburst of

research in burns care. Jamie from Reading knows the value of that

research. He was moved to Birmingham for its expertise. And there it is

still healing where I have had artificial skin put in. He suffered

45% burns after an accident working as an electrician. I first came out

of the theatre and when they first took the bandages off I was not

happy. I was thinking, why have I had this done? It has made it

worse. It looks so drastically bad at first. But over the first three

or four macro weeks, a lot of healing went on and it changed a

lot. I am glad I had it. It has improved the straightening of my

elbow a hell of a lot. The synthetic skin used on Jamie is very

expensive. We want to develop an affordable synthetic skin

substitute. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is also researching how to

spot where super books quickly because they are prone to affect

burns victims. -- superbugs. One in eight people in England and

is were born overseas and Birmingham University wants to research what

effect that has had. It means different cultures mixing together.

It means everybody talking to each other. It is interesting to learn

different cultures in life in general. Different colours, language

is, accidents, the works. You learn something new everyday. I am joined

by Dr Jenny Phillimore, the director of Birmingham University's new

institute. What is the reason for setting the institute up? We have

entered a new era of super-diversity. It has been

described as diversity that supersedes anything we have seen

before, and Birmingham is a perfect example of this sowed there is a

need to understand the comp -- community. We heard from a few

people there, not a scientific sample, about what diversity means

to them. Is there a scientific definition of what diversity or

super-diversity is? It is one of those things that means a lot of

things to a lot of people. In terms of super-diversity it is diversity

that has happened at a scale, a speed, eight more diversified thing

than anything we have seen before. What is the point of the institute?

Understanding what is happening out there in the real world. We

understand and the Census shows as we have entered a new reality. We

know that our politicians struggle to accept this but it seems from

your vox pops that people on the street seem to understand what is

going on. We need to explore those opportunities associated with that,

what it means for the way we deliver our services, for the way we trade

as a nation and what that means. the institute is being set up in

Birmingham. Why is that? We are very excited about Birmingham. Birmingham

is an inspiration. There is so much diversity here. What about the wider

West Midlands? We are interested in that, too. The medium is probably

the most diverse city in Britain. But at the same time reach is global

and we want to learn from Birmingham, learn from the West

Midlands, and take that learning to the rest of the world and also learn

from the rest of the world and bring that learning to Birmingham.

Tennis news. I am afraid it is disappointing. Solihull's Dan Evans

failed to cause another upset at the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club

in London this afternoon. The 23-year-old had reached the third

round of the event with two victories over much higher-ranked

opponents. But he was easily beaten today by the number three seed, Juan

Martin del Potro of Argentina, in straight sets. Next stop for Dan

Evans is Wimbledon, where he has been given a wild card entry into

the qualifying event. Pay attention. The search is on for

the holder of a winning lottery ticket worth �12 million which was

bought in the Ladywood area of Birmingham. The winning Millionaire

Raffle number is printed on a EuroMillions ticket bought for the

draw on 31 May. The holder has until November to claim the prize of �1

million a month for the next year. That has got you all looking.

You know you are getting old when entrepreneurs get younger and

younger. And they do not get much younger than Fraser Bawtree. At just

12 years old, he has set up his own company, which in just over a year

has made �15,000. As we found out, the secret to his success is rather

sweet. It is lunchtime at school in

Cheltenham. Fraser Bawtree is having a quick business meeting with his

father. What are the new flavours coming through? Marmite,

marshmallow... Fraser's business is budget. He made

his first batch with his grandad when he was five. Six years later he

told some at a school fete to raise money for a trip to France. I raised

�500, something like that. A sub Sequent sale at Cheltenham's food

and drink Festival brought in more money. I brought in �2500.

Reparations are well under way for this year's festival which begins

tomorrow. This is where Fraser will be selling his fudge. He is the

youngest exhibitor here. He's quite an inspiration. He is 12 years old,

started his own company, producing fudge, and he has just been growing

ever since as far as his business goes. To keep up with them and,

Fraser's Fudj is now produced in a factory in Somerset. If you are

wondering, the misspelling of fudge is deliberate. I was asked, have you

asked him how he spells fudge the mark he wrote it down and we said,

fantastic! Something a little different. And it seemed rude to

leave empty-handed. Fraser hopes to sell to big retailers, which should

make his maths lessons at least very interesting.

Well done, Fraser. The places where the Birmingham

writer JRR Tolkien grew up are being brought to life through a new audio

walk. Written and performed by local people, a fictional story is told of

Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog. And there is a rare insight into the

intimacy of Tolkien's relationship with his wife.

Moseley Bog, four miles away from Birmingham city centre. It is often

called JRR Tolkien iss playground. Now an audio book has been created

to take people on a fictional journey inspired by the author.

trees are not our friends. I want to keep away from them. They seem to be

moving about, trying to trick me. is here where JRR Tolkien drew

inspiration for the ancient forests in his books The Hobbit and The Lord

Of The Rings. I think that they will have the opportunity to look at

Tolkien again afresh without a historical perspective. But they

will tap in very much to the intimacy with this landscape.

Listeners are also taken to Sarehole Mill. Tolkien and his brother spent

many hours playing here. There are stepping stones over the river down

there. It is better than normal parks, like play parks. It all part

of Repertory Theatre's Neighbourhood project. This was about engaging

local residents on the premise of the whole thing came from the

inspiration the landscape gave to Tolkien. It was a working place one

day. They chaos of sweating men. audio walk will be available for

free download from the Repertory Theatre website, or you can pick up

a player like this from Sarehole Mill awful Green library. The idea

is for people to come along and we discover this area. -- Hall Green

library. It is a surprising place, so close

to the city centre. We were told we would get heavy

rainfall. In one area we saw ten millimetres within one hour. In

Lichfield it was 17.2 millimetres. Some quite substantial totals today.

It has calmed down a little bit today but it will not last. More

rain to come tomorrow and those wins are not going anywhere either and as

we make our way through to the weekend it is staying rather

unsettled. The satellite picked the show is the cloud we have seen for

most of the day. There will be a little bit of sunshine coming

through this evening but it will not last because we will see more cloud

building tomorrow. We have still got more showers as we make our way

through this evening. Some places getting late afternoon sunshine,

enjoying some brightness, and as we make our way through tonight, skies

were clear as a bridge of high pressure builds. Temperatures will

fall away. We will see a cool at night and we have recently but we

have cloud building as we make our way through to tomorrow morning. A

cloudy start to Friday but then rain starts to move up from the south.

Once a game we could see some heavy pulses with that possibility of

thunder. There may even be hail in there as well. Under the cloud and

the rain with the wind, temperatures are going to struggle. As we move

through Friday afternoon, the showers eventually moving off to

leave a brief respite but then more rain as we make our way through to

Saturday. Once a game, heavy pulses in there. Then Saturday morning, it

will brighten up a little bit so it will be quite a cold start to our

Saturday. Saturday it self is looking rather disappointing. We

will see some prolonged rain through Saturday and on top of that, we have

some really strong wind. We are looking at gale force wind in some

places. They gain under the cloud and the rain, temperatures are

really going to struggle. -- again under the cloud. In proving a little

bit as we move into Saturday night but Sunday we'll start of OK and as

we make our way through Sunday afternoon, once again we will see

rain moving in, stay unsettled right man is jailed for life for four

murders including two police officers.