Inmates ‘sleep through sentences’

Rochester prisonInspectors found prisoners locked in their cells and sleeping with their windows covered
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Inmates at a Kent young offenders’ institution (YOI) spend too much time in cells and are sometimes let out for only an hour a day, a report has said.

The report on Rochester YOI by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick followed an inspection in February.

Mr Hardwick said his overwhelming impression was of young men “sleeping their way through their sentences”.

The Prison Service said it was working to improve purposeful activity and services for vulnerable prisoners.

Rochester YOI holds young men aged 18 to 21.

In his report, Mr Hardwick said: “When we went round the prison in the middle of a sunny day, the majority of prisoners were locked in their cells and most had draped something over their windows and were sleeping.

“These early impressions were born out by what we found on the inspection. In our spot check, we found 27% of prisoners locked in their cells even in the working part of the day.”

“The governor and staff are working hard to minimise violence and use of force”

Michael Spurr National Offender Management Service chief executive

He also found there were too few other opportunities for exercise, although there was good PE provision, and walking to activities was the most exercise some prisoners had.

He added: “The activities on offer were often undemanding; work was repetitive and mundane, such as lining soft fruit punnets with bubble wrap.”

Violent incidents had increased from 16 a month in 2009 to 20 a month in 2010, he added.

He said: “The large area occupied by the prison and the challenging behaviour of some of the young men it held undoubtedly made it a difficult prison to run.”

Mr Hardwick said the levels of actual and potential violence in the prison needed to be tackled.

But he said while some prisoners tried to remain within sight of staff in order to be safe, and also guarded their cells to avoid theft, most prisoners felt safe. He also found drug use was low.

Michael Spurr, chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, which runs the Prison Service and Probation Service, said he was pleased inspectors found most inmates felt safe and there was low drug use.

He said: “The governor and staff are working hard to minimise violence and use of force, and improve purposeful activity and services for vulnerable prisoners.

“All these actions, combined with already effective resettlement, will reduce the likelihood of reoffending and thereby protect the public.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Rugby star Henson set for new reality show

Gavin Henson appearing in Strictly Come Dancing in 2010Henson is in the preliminary Wales World Cup Squad
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Wales rugby star Gavin Henson is to star in a new TV dating show where he hopes to meet “the right girl”.

Henson, who has two children with singer Charlotte Church, will has been cast as The Bachelor in a UK version of the hit US programme.

Channel 5 said viewers should “expect flirting, bitching and heartfelt emotion” as 25 contestants compete to win the sportsman’s heart.

Henson said he was looking forward to going on some “incredible dates”.

“I’m so excited to have been cast as The Bachelor as I really feel the time is right for me to find a girl to hopefully spend the rest of my life with.

“I’ve always been dedicated to my rugby and continue to train hard but as the season draws to an end I can focus on meeting the right girl.

“It can be hard in my situation to meet women and The Bachelor will give me the unique opportunity to go on some incredible dates and spend quality time getting to know amazing women from all over the UK.”

Among those taking part in the series are models, a web developer and twins who switched from athletics to property development.

It is not the rugby player’s first foray into the world of reality TV, having previously featured on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing and on ITV1 adventure series 71 Degrees North.

In The Bachelor, contestants will be whittled down through a variety of group dates and one-to-one meetings as Henson chooses the ideal partner.

“It can be hard in my situation to meet women and The Bachelor will give me the unique opportunity to go on some incredible dates and spend quality time getting to know amazing women from all over the UK”

Gavin Henson

‘True love’

The hopefuls will all be living together in a villa in southern Europe with Henson based in a nearby bachelor pad.

Channel 5 said viewers should “expect flirting, bitching and heartfelt emotion as the contestants do whatever it takes to impress Gavin”.

Jeff Ford, director of programmes, said: “Gavin Henson is the perfect bachelor and is hoping to find his ideal partner.

“I’m sure the viewers will enjoy this high-energy and exciting journey as we follow Gavin in his quest to find true love.”

The former Ospreys player has been included in Wales’ 45-man preliminary World Cup squad, and featured in Wales’ defeat by the Barbarians earlier this month.

A Welsh Rugby Union spokesman said Henson was required to report for training on 30 June, ahead of fixtures against England and Argentina this summer.

The spokesman added: “The squad are currently committed to personalised training programmes in and around prescribed holiday periods, meaning some are already onsite at WRU headquarters and others have been given regimes to follow away from camp depending on their personal requirements, like Gavin, or are resting or undergoing rehab.

“Gavin is fulfilling a work commitment which was in place before he was selected for national squad duty and doing so in the full knowledge of the Wales management team.

“He has already undergone periods of extra conditioning work and is maintaining constant contact with the WRU’s head of strength and conditioning Adam Beard.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Treasury ‘in dark’ on PFI profits

£20 notesPFI is under scrutiny from two influential parliamentary committees
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HM Treasury is failing to monitor “excessive” profits from the selling-on of PFI (private finance initiative) equity, the BBC has been told.

One industry analyst says its “inadequate” records do not reflect the billions of pounds made in the so-called secondary PFI market.

Critics, including some MPs, say the taxpayer should benefit from a share of these additional profits.

A Treasury spokeswoman said it had some information on most sales.

Criticism about the lack of information held by the government comes as two influential parliamentary committees prepare to take an in-depth look at PFI.

On Tuesday, the Treasury Committee will hear evidence in its ongoing inquiry into the future of PFI, asking whether it has been value for money for the taxpayer. The following day, the Public Accounts Committee will look at the lessons learned so far from the roll-out of PFI.

head and shoulders picture of David Metter.

“The private sector is efficient. It would be extremely surprising if the government decided to do it another way”

David Metter Chairman, Public Private Project Forum

More than 700 hospitals, schools, prisons and other public sector projects have been built under the PFI scheme.

But in many cases, the construction and investment companies involved have sold on their equity shares to infrastructure funds on the secondary PFI market.

HM Treasury keeps a database of such transactions, but according to analyst Dexter Whitfield, it is out-of-date and contains just a fraction of the information it should.

In a report produced by the European Services Strategy Unit think tank, Mr Whitfield said: “Government monitoring of the sale of equity in public private partnership companies is inadequate, infrequent and underestimates the scale of transactions.

“Meanwhile, banks and construction companies are ratcheting up large profits extracted from what is ultimately publicly-financed investment.”

A spokeswoman for HM Treasury admitted the information it held was incomplete.

“The Treasury collects and updates data biannually from departments on changes of PFI share ownership, and this information is published on our website,” she said.

“We now have some form of equity holder information on around 81% of PFI projects.”

Listen to the programme

File on 4 is on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 14 June at 2000 BST and Sunday 19 June at 1700 BST

Listen via the BBC iPlayer Download the podcast

In the case of the Calderdale Royal Infirmary in Yorkshire, Mr Whitfield said the Treasury database held no information at all on secondary equity sales.

But after scouring company accounts and other documents, he found shares in the hospital had changed hands nine times since 2002.

The BBC asked five of the companies which had sold equity in Calderdale Royal to disclose the profit they had made from the deals, but was told the information was commercially confidential.

As part of a comprehensive piece of research into the market, Mr Whitfield discovered the average profit margin on PFI equity sales was more than 50%.

Analysing a sample of 154 projects, he found profits of more than £500m. If the same level of profit had been achieved by all PFI equity transactions, he estimates private sector profits would stand at £2.2bn.

head and shoulders shot of Ian Swales MP

“By definition…the taxpayer got a bad deal at the start, or there wouldn’t have been these super-profits to be made”

Ian Swales, MP

Describing the profits as “excessive”, he said: “It’s a wealth machine. It’s not necessarily printing money, but it’s virtually that, given the scale of these profits.”

His call for a clearer picture of the market was echoed by the chair of the influential Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge, MP.

“There has to be transparency around the system, so that if there is some profit over time in the funding of these PFI contracts, that profit can be shared between the taxpayer and the private investor,” she said.

Another Public Accounts Committee member, Ian Swales, MP, said the large profits made raised serious questions about whether the deals to finance, build and maintain hospitals and schools under PFI were good value for money for the taxpayer in the first place.

“By definition, that means the taxpayer got a bad deal at the start, or there wouldn’t have been these super-profits to be made.”

David Metter, chairman of the Public Private Project Forum, an industry body for the PFI industry, said the profits made were a fair reflection of the risks taken on by the financiers and builders of the projects.

“The private sector is efficient and has demonstrated in the past 15 years that it can deliver 700 projects on time and on cost,” he said.

“It would be extremely surprising if the government decided to do it another way.”

File on 4 is on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 14 June at 2000 BST, and Sunday 19 June at 1700 BST. Listen again via the BBC iPlayer or download the podcast.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Poor ‘experience worse inflation’

graph
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People on low incomes have suffered higher inflation than those on higher incomes in the past decade, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.

The IFS said that the difference had been particularly strong since 2008.

The poorest 20% of households faced an average annual inflation rate of 4.3% between 2008 and 2010, while the richest 20% only had a rate of 2.7%.

People on lower incomes spend more of their money on gas, electricity and food, which have risen sharply.

At the same time, people with higher incomes have benefited more from lower mortgage rates.

Pensioners have experienced higher inflation than non-pensioners and pensioners relying on state benefits have been hit particularly hard.

Inflation inequality means, “that poorer households will have fared worse over the period of the recession than poverty and inequality statistics that don’t account for these differential inflation rates would suggest,” according to Peter Levell from the IFS.

In 2009, the poorest 20% of households spent 9.4% of their incomes on household fuel, while the richest 20% spent only 4.4%.

That year, electricity prices rose 4.6% and gas prices rose 13.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics, and obviously those rises would have had a bigger effect on households spending a higher proportion of their income on fuel.

The Retail Prices Index covering all items for that year was 2.4%.

The lowest 20% of households are those with an annual income below £8,736 for a single person or £13,052 for a couple.

The highest 20% are those with annual incomes above £25,012 for a single person or £37,336 for a couple.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

University complaints rise by 33%

studentsComplaints about universities have risen for the fifth consecutive year

Student complaints against universities in England and Wales have reached record levels, the higher education ombudsman’s annual report shows.

The independent adjudicator’s office says complaints rose by 33%.

For the first time it names two universities, Westminster and Southampton, which failed to comply with the adjudicator’s rulings.

Rob Behrens, head of the adjudicator’s office, said the rise reflected a more “consumerist” attitude among students.

This is the fifth consecutive year that complaints have risen – with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator’s report showing that 1,341 cases were considered.

One in five cases were fully or partially upheld – leading to compensation payments of almost £174,000, with a single biggest payment of £15,000.

The report also identifies two universities, Southampton and Westminster, which had failed to comply with the adjudicator’s recommendations – although it does not give details of the individual cases.

Mr Behrens said that the increase in complaints reflected a greater sense of consumer awareness among students, heightened by the prospect of a sharp increase in tuition fees.

“Consumers are more likely to complain”

Rob Behrens Office of the Independent Adjudicator

“There has been a lot of policy discussion about fees in the past year and it’s concentrated students’ minds into thinking about the merits of what they’re getting.

“It’s encouraged them to be more like consumers – and consumers are more likely to complain,” said Mr Behrens.

He also said that a tough graduate jobs market had made students more aware of the importance of university.

With a further shake-up of higher education expected to create greater competition, Mr Behrens says it will become even more important for universities to provide transparent information for students.

The complaints addressed by the Office for the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) are those which have not been resolved within universities – and the OIA suggests that this represents about one in seven of the complaints from students.

The adjudicator also cannot consider complaints about academic judgement, such as degree grades or marking.

But it can examine challenges on “academic-related issues” – the largest category of complaints.

This includes whether due process has been followed in degree classification and whether mitigating circumstances, such as illnesses, have been taken into account.

It also includes complaints about the handling of accusations of cheating and plagiarism.

Among the successful complaints was one from a PhD candidate who complained that “the external and internal examiners did not have sufficient expertise at the appropriate level to examine a PhD”.

An unsuccessful complaint had claimed the university had failed to provide enough tutors and claimed there had been bullying during a work placement.

The annual report shows that overseas students, mature students and postgraduates are disproportionately likely to complain.

Business, medicine-related subjects and law are the areas most likely to generate complaints.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Universities ‘dumb down on maths’

SumsMaths is required for many subjects at degree level
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Universities are having to dumb down the maths requirements on some of their courses in order to fill places, a report says.

It maintains that nearly two-thirds of the students accepted on courses needing post-GCSE maths do not have those skills.

The Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education report argues that this causes problems for students.

Ministers want students who fail GCSE maths to take it up to the age of 18.

The Acme report says 180,000 UK students entering university every year will encounter a significant amount of maths.

A further 150,000 students in social sciences face some maths.

“ If their mathematics is weak, students will struggle”

Acme report

But only about 125,000 students continue studying maths beyond GCSE level.

The report said that for more selective universities, such as those in the Russell Group who tend to ask for higher A-level grades, mathematics requirements can be a useful filtering tool.

For less prestigious universities, “the inclusion of mathematical requirements can reduce the number of applicants to unsustainably low levels”, it says.

The report quotes a tutor on a foundations-of-computing course, which includes mathematics that students need to complete their computing degrees.

The tutor says 70% of pupils do not have maths beyond GCSE and some of these are not the higher level of the qualification.

“The tutor of this course estimates that if a stronger mathematics background could be assumed for the cohort then this module could be shortened,” it adds.

This would make room for an extra computing topic, the tutor said.

And the report refers to two chemistry tutors who said although their course did not require A-level mathematics it should do so.

It added: “There are clearly significant mathematical demands within chemistry degrees, and chemistry departments address this by aiming to ensure that their students study mathematics within their course.

“However, if their mathematics is weak, students will struggle.”

Dame Julia Higgins, who chairs the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education, said all students should study maths until the age of 18.

She said: “In the last 30 years, many university subjects have become more mathematical but the number of students with the appropriate level of mathematical skills has not risen far enough to match this.

“In order to do this, additional courses need to be developed for study at the post-16 level.”

The report also warned that some schools were discouraged by the system of league tables in England from entering many students for high-level maths courses, either at GCSE or A-level.

It also suggested that some students were being drilled to pass exams rather than understand mathematical concepts.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “All young people must be able to demonstrate their understanding of maths, whether they are going onto further study or into employment.

“A good qualification in maths is demanded by employers.

“That is why we have announced plans for all young people who fail to get a C or better in GCSE maths to study the subject up to 18, until they get a good qualification.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

IBM at 100

Rory Cellan-JonesBy Rory Cellan-Jones

IBM computers at CERN, 1968

WATCH: IBM, the firm that was once all about hardware, now makes its living from more intangible technology

Say IBM – and you probably still think of computers.

But today, the firm that was once all about hardware, makes its living from more intangible technology.

As it celebrates its centenary, International Business Machines is a business that shows how innovation has accelerated – and how fast you have to move to stay ahead.

The company they called Big Blue was the dominant force in early commercial computing, when mainframes arrived on a fleet of trucks and IT managers used to say “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.”

But those days are long gone.

“As a museum curator I come to a grinding halt in about 1992, because at that point it becomes more and more difficult to describe what IBM does,” says Terry Muldoon, who worked as an engineer at the firm’s UK research centre for more than 30 years and now runs a small museum documenting IBM’s history.

First PC

It all started with the calculating machines, factory time clocks and meat scales, produced by the four companies that got together as International Business Machines in 1911.

Then came products that show IBM’s record of innovation through the 1960s and 1970s: the disk drive, the floppy disk, the magnetic stripe that came to every credit card, and the barcode.

IBM prospered hugely when computing was restricted to giant corporations or public projects like the Nasa space programme.

“IBM got out of the electric typewriter business because there was no more innovation to be done”

Terry Muldoon Curator of a museum documenting IBM’s history

The giant mainframes were built by IBM, with IBM microprocessors and IBM software.

But when computers got personal, life got tougher.

While it built the first PC in 1981, handing the operating system to Microsoft and the microprocessor to Intel proved a fateful decision.

“Wintel”, not IBM, became the dominant force in home computing.

IBM continued to innovate, selling millions of computers to consumers for many years.

The museum at the Hursley research centre has the first portable computer, the IBM 5100, which must have given a sore back to anyone who tried to heave it onto their lap.

But eventually in 2004 it got out of personal computers altogether, selling the business to China’s Lenovo.

Terry Muldoon says throughout its history the company has moved on from technology, once profits have become harder to obtain: “IBM got out of the electric typewriter business because there was no more innovation to be done,” he explains.

IBM building in ChicagoToday, IBM makes very sizeable profits from software and services

“All the time, a product is not a commodity, you can charge premium prices, the moment it is commoditised it is the Chinas of this world who take over manufacturing.”

Today, IBM makes very sizeable profits from software and services.

Dr Andy Stanford-Clarke, who rejoices in the title distinguished engineer and master inventor, represents the new face of the company.

We toured the Hursley research centre where around 1,500 staff work.

Years ago all sorts of groundbreaking computer hardware was developed on this site bought from Vickers Aviation, which had used it to build aircraft during the World War II.

Today, in an atmosphere more like a university campus than an industrial site, it is mainly a software development laboratory.

As we left Dr Stanford-Clarke’s office, the LED nameplate on his door changed to say he was out, reacting to a sensor in his mobile phone.

That was a colleague’s research project, part of a wider exploration of ways of using sensors to share information between devices.

We saw various rooms set up to demonstrate the company’s innovation to visiting customers – from a mock supermarket where prices on electronic paper could be changed by remote control, to a living room where household appliances could be controlled and energy use monitored from a mobile phone.

Cloud computing

But most of the hardware and even the software on display was not created by IBM.

“Now we’re customer-led, we’re producing solutions rather than specific products to link together the complicated global infrastructure we find around us these days”

Andy Stanford-Clarke IBM

The firm’s scientists see their skills as meshing the best technology together to provide solutions to the problems their clients bring them.

“Twenty years ago IBM would create some technology it thought the marketplace needed, and then go and sell it to people,” says Andy Stanford-Clarke.

“Now we’re customer-led, we’re asked by our clients what they want from us, and we’re producing solutions rather than specific products to link together the complicated global infrastructure we find around us these days.”

IBM is also making a big push into cloud computing, developing software to move big corporate clients into the cloud and building vast data centres to host them.

It is also looking at ways in which technology can make an impact in the healthcare sector, with sensors to monitor patients remotely.

But these are competitive sectors where IBM may struggle to achieve the kind of market dominance it once achieved in mainframe computers.

For all the changes in direction, the museum curator Terry Muldoon does see a continuing tradition of innovation.

He points to the strategy adopted by Tom Watson, the man who grew IBM from a ragtag collection of business machinery firms into a global giant: “When he became general manager in 1914, he realised there was a lot of good product but it wasn’t applied,” he explains.

IBM supercomputers, 2001At IBM, there seems to be a continuing tradition of innovation

“He put an enormous amount of money into research to improve the product and to show the customer some benefit from using the machines.

“That research and development ethos is still there, and it’s still out there solving problems – and that’s a 100 years later.”

Surviving for another 100 years will mean adapting even more rapidly to a changing market.

And as technology becomes more intangible, finding ways to illustrate IBM’s business in the museum at Hursley will get even harder.

IBM computers at CERN, 1968

WATCH: IBM, the firm that was once all about hardware, now makes its living from more intangible technology

IBM computers at CERN, 1968

WATCH: IBM, the firm that was once all about hardware, now makes its living from more intangible technology

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

First images of unconscious brain

Image of sleeping brain

These images capture a patient’s brain activity the moment they slip into unconsciousness

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For the first time researchers have monitored the brain as it slips into unconsciousness.

The new imaging method detects the waxing and waning of electrical activity in the brain moments after an anaesthetic injection is administered.

As the patient goes under, different parts of the brain seem to be “talking” to each other, a team told the European Anaesthesiology Congress in Amsterdam.

But they caution that more work is needed to understand what is going on.

The technique could ultimately help doctors pinpoint damage in the brains of people suffering from stroke and head injury.

“Our jaws just hit the ground,” said anaesthesiologist Professor Brian Pollard from Manchester Royal Infirmary on seeing the images for the first time.

“I can’t tell you the words we used as it wouldn’t be polite over the phone.”

Although regions of the brain seem to be communicating as “consciousness fades”, Professor Pollard cautions that it is early days and that he and his team from the University of Manchester still have many brain scans to analyse before they can say anything conclusive about what is happening.

The finding supports a theory put forward by Professor Susan Greenfield, from the University of Oxford, that unconsciousness is a process by which different areas of the brain inhibit each other as the brain shuts down.

The new technique, called Functional Electrical Impedance Tomography by Evoke Response (fEITER), is more compact than other brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and so is easily transported into the operating theatre.

It involves attaching tens of electrodes to the patient’s head, which send low electrical currents through the skull. The currents are interrupted by the brain’s tissues and electrical signals.

Professor Pollard explained that the brain’s structures should not change over a minute-long scan, and so any differences that he and his team see as the patient falls asleep must therefore be due to changes in their brain’s activity.

It is hoped that this technique could be used to learn about the nature of consciousness, but it is also likely to help doctors make headway in monitoring the health of a person’s grey matter after they have suffered a head injury or stroke.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Greece least credit-worthy nation

Protester in Athens on 13 JuneUnions have called a general strike for Wednesday
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Standard & Poor’s has cut Greece’s credit rating, making it the world’s least credit-worthy country.

The ratings agency cut Greece three notches from B to CCC and said the country was likely to default on its debts at least once by 2013.

The Greek government said the downgrade ignored its efforts to secure funding.

It has been trying to push through fresh austerity measures as part of the conditions for the EU and IMF’s 110bn euro ($159bn; £97bn) bail-out package.

The package will be debated in parliament later this week, with unions planning a general strike for Wednesday.

Meanwhile, European banks are negotiating a deal under which they will buy new Greek bonds to replace the ones they have that are maturing.

S&P said it was likely that the EU would impose a restructuring of Greece’s debt, which it would treat as a default because it would probably be on less favourable terms for the lenders.

In a statement, the Greek Ministry of Finance said, “The decision ignores the intense consultations taking place currently between the same institutions and the IMF aimed at designing a viable solution that will cover the financing needs of Greece in the coming years.”

Banks such as Credit Agricole have come out in favour of extending their Greek debt, which would be a key part of a second bail-out of Greece, designed to give it more time to sort out its debts.

EU leaders are due to discuss a new deal at a summit on 23 June.

The Greek government has decided to raise taxes and cut spending more than expected this year as it battles to avoid a default.

There have been weeks of protests in Athens and opposition parties have rejected the government’s attempts to secure cross-party support.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Berlusconi accepts nuclear blow

Yes vote poster on Campanile in St Marks Square, Venice - 10 JuneGreenpeace says the technology is as dangerous as in Japan
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Italians have begun voting in four referendums, the most important of which is whether people want Italy to resume nuclear power production.

Anti-nuclear campaigners say the Fukushima disaster in Japan has helped sway public opinion against nuclear.

The referendums are also being seen as a test of the popularity of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy’s last nuclear programme was abandoned in 1987 following the Chernobyl disaster.

The government says a nuclear industry is vital to supply about 20% of electricity needs by 2020.

But the disaster at the Fukushima plant, which was crippled by the tsunami and earthquake that hit northern Japan in March, has changed the debate entirely.

Now Salvatore Barbera, from the campaign group Greenpeace, says people have seen the dangers and will reject nuclear energy in the referendum

“This is an old technology, it’s dangerous as we saw in Fukushima,” he said.

“It’s dangerous when it’s operating, it’s dangerous when you have nuclear waste, no-one in the world knows how to deal with it, and now it’s also expensive.”

If Italy does follow Germany and rejects nuclear power, that will be particularly disappointing to many in industry who believe alternative sources of electricity are not reliable.

Silvio Rossignoli from the aerospace company Sekur says only nuclear can guarantee supplies.

“We want to have nuclear because it’s environmentally friendly and it’s much cleaner than all the coal and gas,” he said.

“It’s not depending on importing from other countries, where you never know what happens.”

Italians are also being asked to vote on water privatisation issues and whether government ministers can be exempted from court cases.

That is especially important to Mr Berlusconi, who is currently involved with four trials.

There is a lot at stake in this referendum, with the results due on Monday.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Syrian army extends northern push

Syrian children arrive at Turkish refugee camp (10 June 2011)Thousands of Syrians have already taken refuge in Turkey, while others are waiting before making the decision to cross

Hundreds of Syrians have been massing on the northern border with Turkey, preparing to cross over if the army advances further into the area after seizing the city of Jisr al-Shughour.

Syrian military sources have told the BBC the army plans to move on the nearly town of Maarat al-Numan.

It says it is pursuing armed men who escaped the weekend offensive. State media said there was heavy fighting.

Turkey has already taken in thousands of refugees from northern Syria.

The government said it was trying to restore order after 120 security personnel were killed in Jisr al-Shughour last week.

Residents say they died after a mutiny and fighting between security forces.

Syria has prevented most foreign journalists from entering the country, making it difficult to independently verify reports from there.

The BBC’s Owen Bennett-Jones, who is on the Turkish side of the border with Syria, says more than 5,000 refugees have registered with officials.

However, another 5,000 have entered the country unofficially, he says, while hundreds more are massed at the border, waiting for the army’s next move.

Many of them are reluctant to abandon their vehicles or livestock, our correspondent says, and will only cross if the army advances into the area. Others are waiting for relatives.

Jisr al-Shughour20km (12 miles) from Turkish border to the northIn remote, agricultural province of IdlibPopulation: approx. 50,000Mainly Sunni Muslim1980 rebellion against Hafez al-Assad brutally crushedMid-East media ponder foreign intervention

Human rights activists and residents said troops began bombarding Jisr al-Shughour early on Sunday. Helicopter gunships were also seen hovering overhead.

But speaking to the BBC, an army general denied any shelling. The troops were only after those responsible for the killings of security personnel earlier this week, the general insisted.

The army has now taken control of the area.

A BBC Arabic correspondent embedded with the Syrian military says tanks and armoured vehicles have taken up positions inside the town. Buildings still bear the marks of clashes, and wheat fields have been burned.

However, state media report that only two “armed members of terrorist gangs” were killed in the offensive, while the army says one soldier was killed and four wounded.

A military spokesman told our Arabic correspondent that armed men from Jisr al-Shughour who fled to Maarat al-Numan would be dealt with in a military operation in the next few days.

Separately, the bodies of 10 security personnel were recovered from a mass grave. Correspondents who witnessed the exhumation said four had been beheaded, and most of the bodies were riddled with bullet wounds.

There are continuing but unverifiable reports of army defections, with the latest saying an officer and 50 men had changed sides rather than fire on civilians in Jisr al-Shughour.

US officials say the crackdown has created a humanitarian crisis, and called for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to be given access to Syria.

“No-one is aware of the real magnitude of the problem and this is a big issue, because it does not allow us to know the size of the problem and then to act accordingly,” ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan told the BBC.

On the Turkish side, two camps are already full of refugees and a third is filling up rapidly.

“The situation is grim. People were forced to flee with a few possessions. We are relying on the Turkish authorities for everything,” Mohammed, one of those in the border area, told the BBC.

“No-one knows when it will be safe to return to our homes. When we return, people expect to find their homes destroyed and bodies unburied.”

Protests against President Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez in 2000, began in mid-March and have spread across the country.

Human rights groups say more than 1,200 people have been killed in the crackdown.

Map of Syria, with detail of Jisr al-Shughour

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Cosla opposes school closure plan

Child at schoolPlans to close Scottish primary schools have been fiercely opposed
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The body representing Scotland’s 32 councils has rejected a government call to delay for a year plans to shut rural schools.

Cosla said no case had been made for the moratorium, requested by Education Secretary Mike Russell, pending a review of current legislation.

School closures are a matter for individual local authorities.

However, Cosla’s stance could increase the chance that some councils will try to press on with their plans.

Argyll and Bute Council – the region where Mr Russell is the MSP – is deciding on Tuesday how to respond to the moratorium request.

The local authority is proposing to shut 11 primary schools.

Mr Russell’s request came after he said legislation on rural school closures was not working properly and had been “more difficult” than thought.

He has set up a rural education commission to investigate the issue and asked local authorities to agree to a moratorium on closures until June 2012.

The Scottish government said it could force councils to comply, if necessary.

Argyll and Bute and Western Isles councils have both said ministers must provide extra funding if cash-strapped local authorities are to keep all their schools open.

Cosla president Pat Watters said there was a clear view that no case had been made for a moratorium, and questioned plans for the rural education commission, saying local government had to be more than a participant in the process.

The government commission will look at the Schools Consultation Act, passed in the last parliament, and investigate a “clear legislative presumption” against rural school closures.

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NHS concessions due after review

Professor Steve Field, the former head of the Royal College of GPs who led the NHS Future Forum

Professor Steve Field GP, who led the forum: ‘Competition isn’t the be all and end all’

The government is to accept large swathes of its plans for the NHS in England need to be rewritten, the BBC has learnt.

Concessions will be made over the pace of change and the powers given to GPs, as demanded by an independent review.

More details – including about the role of competition in the health service – will be unveiled on Tuesday in the government’s response to the review.

Ministers hope a quick response will allow them to restart stalled changes.

In April the government took the unprecedented move of halting the parliamentary progress of the Health and Social Care Bill underpinning the changes amid mounting criticism from academics, health unions and MPs.

A panel of experts, called the NHS Future Forum, was set up to review the policy.

Its report on Monday recommended a wide-range of changes be made.

The BBC understands many of those will now be accepted, including:

The legal responsibility of the health secretary for the NHS to be reinstatedThe 2013 deadline for the new arrangements to be relaxed. Commissioning groups will have to be established, but those not ready will not have to take on responsibility for the budget. Instead, the national board in London will take charge in those circumstancesThe power of health and well-being boards, which are being set up by councils, to be beefed up. Patients also given a greater role on them to ensure the patient voice is heardGPs will still take the lead in making decisions through the commissioning groups, but other professionals such as hospital doctors and nurses to be consulted more

However, it is not yet clear what the government will do about the recommendations the forum made about competition.

Ministers had originally wanted to hand GPs control of much of the NHS budget, while opening up the health service to greater competition.

The forum suggested that, while GPs should remain in the driving seat, they should consult with other professionals.

Analysis

Accepting the recommendations in full would not represent a major climbdown for the government.

Even on the most controversial element – competition – the NHS Future Forum was clear. It has an important role to play.

Instead, many of the proposals are about moderating language.

The term economic regulator should be dropped because it makes the NHS sound like a utility industry not because it is fundamentally wrong, according to the forum.

There are extra safeguards being proposed as well to ensure the policy does not lead to unintended consequences.

But the general direction of travel remains the same. That is to say, doctors are to be given more of a say in decision-making and the private sector is to get greater involvement.

That does not mean that this review – and any government response to it on Tuesday – represents simple tinkering.

As the review team made clear there were “genuine and deep-seated” concerns.

Greater clarity was needed and in giving this, as one member of the review team has been saying, some of the rough edges will hopefully be smoothed away.

The review also proposed a greater balance between competition and co-operation among NHS hospitals, charities and private firms.

The focus on competition – perhaps the most controversial element of the plans – needed to be “significantly diluted”, it said.

Originally, the regulator – Monitor – was to have a primary duty to promote competition, but that should be dropped along with the term “economic regulator”, which the forum said made the NHS sound too much like the gas or electricity industry.

Instead, the regulator should focus on ensuring patients have choice to drive up standards. While competition had a role to play, so did collaboration and integration, the forum said.

Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said the forum’s changes to competition were a “step in the right direction”.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of British Medical Association, said the government’s approach during the listening exercise had been “refreshing”, but this needed to be maintained in the coming months.

“Obviously, the critical factor is now how the government responds.”

Professor Steve Field, the former head of the Royal College of GPs who led the forum, said while the principle of putting doctors in charge was well supported, he had heard “genuine and deep-seated concerns” from many.

“If the substantial changes we propose are accepted by government then I think the resulting framework will place the NHS in a strong position.”

Speaking ahead of the full government response, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the group had been an “invaluable source of expert advice”.

The BBC understands that ministers are hopeful the NHS Future Forum report and the government response will allow them to press ahead almost immediately with the programme.

Officials are working on the basis that amendments could be made to the bill within weeks, allowing the government to kick-start the parliamentary process before the summer.

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