16/03/2017 South Today

Shortage of key personnel could push aircraft carriers over ?12 billion.

And social care funding. No one one can say that Windsor and Maidenhead

has ten times more adult care issues that Wokingham. The Prime Minister

's local council getting ten times as much as its neighbour.

There are fresh concerns tonight over bringing Portsmouth's

It's been confirmed the first sailing of HMS Queen Elizabeth has

already been put back three months because of technical issues.

And the government's spending watchdog, the National Audit Office,

is worried there could be further delays which could lead

The Royal Navy is getting big new aircraft carriers, new F35 jets,

And it's got to get them working together seamlessly before

the aircraft carriers can be deployed on operations.

It's a long gap we've had without carriers.

We've been very lucky that something hasn't happened in the world

where we need them, because they are crucially important

to our maritime power, to our joint capability,

The National Audit Office says the next three years will be

critical to establishing the carrier's strike capability.

It says the Navy has a very long to-do list,

Because of a shortage of engineers, warfare specialists and aircrew

there's a compressed trials and training programme,

The bill for the two aircraft carriers and the new jets

If you don't deliver on time, the cost keeps going up,

Time is a very important part of the whole equation.

Figures published in January showed the Navy has a significant shortage

The Navy needs 6,940 for it's ships and submarines,

The Navy are very conscious that we have a shortage

That's one of the reason why their backing university

technical colleges, to get those engineering skills.

But they're also recruiting people who have left the Navy

to come back in again, and looking at other areas

The National Audit Office says the introduction of the new aircraft

carriers will fundamentally change how the Navy works,

with large numbers of sailors required for the carriers

Building the new aircraft carriers and getting them

into service is a very, very complicated project.

Today the National Audit Office said the Royal Navy is making good

progress but there are still those big doubts about whether

HMS Queen Elizabeth and her aircraft will be ready for initial deployment

Today no one from the Ministry of Defence

In a statement they said that the introduction

of the new carriers will transform the UK's ability to project

They also say that HMS Queen Elizabeth will be delivered

to the Royal Navy as planned later this year.

A terminally-ill pensioner who was involved in 40-hour

stand-off with armed police in West Sussex has been spared jail,

after a judge heard he has a year to live.

73-year-old Terry Bridger shut himself in his home in Pagham

after an argument with his wife last August.

During prolonged negotiations with police he threatened

Today, the court heard he has lung cancer and could die

in prison if he was given a custodial sentence.

It was supposed to be a lifeline for councils struggling to meet

the bill for a growing population, the Chancellor announcing an extra

?2 billion for social care over the next three years.

The biggest amount in the region goes to Hampshire, the largest

The Isle of Wight, one of our smallest unitary authorities,

But Berkshire councils don't do so well, and the ?300,000

for Wokingham is the second lowest in England.

Privately some fear the council is paying the price for not

making more of a fuss about previous funding cuts.

Residents at this Wokingham care home enjoy a performance

For this group with dementia, it's vital stimulation.

It's definitely something you can't do on the cheap.

We are an organisation that likes to be competitive

in our terms and conditions, and pay our workers

a reasonable rate of pay for doing it very hard job.

The news that the government was giving extra help

for adult social care in the budget was welcomed.

But one local resident and Prime Minister Theresa May's

constituency over the border in Windsor and Maidenhead gets

almost ?1.4 million this year, Wokingham will

In fact, nearly everywhere in England is getting

Following on from being the lowest funded authority in the country,

the lowest funded educational authority in the country,

we'll now be the lowest funded adult social care in the country.

It's going to mean severe constraints on what we want to do

to give our adults in the borough of the quality of life

While Wokingham may not be known as a poverty hotspot,

Windsor and Maidenhead, too, has some, shall we say,

So the gulf between the help it's getting and what's been offered

to Wokingham, has left many, not least the council,

wondering how the figures were massaged to arrive

In a statement the Department of Communities and Local Government

told us "The ?2 billion additional funding for adult social care

"announced at the Budget will be largely allocated in the same way

"as funding for the improved Better Care Fund.

"Some regions like Greater Manchester have

councils to manage health and social care budgets.

Earlier I asked Professor Tony Travers from the London School

of Economics whether this should be be extended to all

Certainly in the distant historical past they did,

and there's no reason why councils, local government, couldn't

have a bigger role in running NHS type care, and indeed it would allow

greater bringing together of funding for the NHS with funding for, say,

adult social care and children's social care, which are often really

Would this reduce inefficiencies and make savings, or would it

Well, it would almost certainly do both because at the moment

there is effectively an artificial barrier between the way the NHS

gets its money and the way councils get their money for social care,

but they are very different systems, different regimes.

The NHS, frankly, is more generously funded and if these resources

were brought together and the rules for delivering services were more

similar you could certainly get a more efficient service

but certainly as far as the public are concerned they don't care

who runs these things but they just want a good, efficient service

Why isn't that happening more already then?

Well, because on the one hand government ministers who feel

responsible for the NHS are very unwilling to cede control or do

anything that suggests that the government isn't directly

responsible for the NHS, and on the other hand

councils run social care, they have done for many, many years,

and for them too it is something that they deliver and relatively

efficiently deliver so each has got an empire to defend.

I'm not saying that that's the only reason that it can't be done.

Bringing it together could be achieved, but it's very difficult

at the moment because they are in different funding regimes

and different political control, the NHS and the local government.

Would it make sense for it to work the other way round,

for the NHS to take responsiblilty for social care?

I think there is almost zero chance that the NHS or central government

would take responsibility for funding social care

because social care is extremely difficult, the downside risks

are enormous and frankly would cost central government a great deal more

money than the way it's done at the moment, through local

so I would say a near zero chance of that happening.

Five non executive directors at Southern Health have resigned

ahead of a big change in the way the Trust works, expected to be

The mental health trust has been reviewing its services.

It said it's leadership must change to meet the future needs

We'll be back with bulletins tomorrow in BBC Breakfast.

But first here's Alexis with your weather forecast.

Thank you. We are looking at the possibility of some light rain

initially this evening, but it was clear in the early hours of the

morning and it will be followed by clear skies so temperatures will

fall away in the countryside to perhaps two or three Celsius. These

are temperatures in towns and cities. Lots of sunshine on offer

first thing tomorrow. In the latter part of the evening we see the cloud

increase from the West and an increasing westerly breeze. It will

bring in milder conditions. Milder day tomorrow with a high of ten or

12. It should stay mainly dry in daylight hours were dry and sunny

spells. Tomorrow evening the cloud will thicken further and will have

liked and patchy rain at times through tomorrow evening and

overnight. A chance of light and patchy rain on Saturday, more likely

in the west of the country, but it could dressed further east, brought

in on the brisk wind. That will be the key feature of the next few

days, brisk wind from the West drawing in some mild air from the

Atlantic. Over the weekend we are expecting quite cloudy conditions

with brighter spells here and there and the Chancellor patchy rain at

times. Rain more likely on Sunday here and there.

double figures. Through the weekend there will be rain around, most

occurring overnight. Good evening, quite a range of

whether an offer earlier today in the north and north-west of the UK

quite a lot of showers around, lively ones, little bit of sunshine

in between. The best of the sunshine to be found at the other end of the

country towards the south-east in Kent, lovely picture here from one

of our weather watchers. A range of temperatures, too. 17 degrees for a

few, on the other side of the weather front, only seven or 8

degrees. Showers in the north and west. The fresh air will win out

over tonight coming in behind the cold front, which isn't bringing

much rain but it will bring some, clearing away towards the continent,

cold air following behind, as do the showers. Wintry weather over the

hills in northern Scotland. A much colder night than it has been