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France defender Sebastien Squillaci completes his move to Arsenal from Spanish club Sevilla for an undisclosed fee.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Education correspondent, BBC News
Reading levels rose slightly this year There is an unacceptable learning gap between rich and poor areas of England, schools minister Nick Gibb has said.
He spoke out as data was released showing how well seven-year-olds in England do in the three Rs and science.
Mr Gibb says too few children reach the level expected and those in poorer areas are doing worse than others.
Overall levels of attainment are similar to last year, with girls out-performing boys in general and a slight improvement in reading.
Checks on children’s achievement at age seven used to be made through formal “Sats” papers in England.
But now teachers assess their pupils and report their findings to the government, which releases them by region and local council area.
This year’s data shows little overall change in the percentage of seven-year-olds reaching the expected levels (level 2) in writing, speaking and listening, maths and science.
Reading rose slightly this year – with 85% of seven-year-olds meeting the level expected – up one percentage point on last year.
That means about one in six, or 84,000 children, are not reaching the level.
Nearly one in five seven-year-olds, around 104,700 pupils, do not write well enough, while one in ten do not make the grade in maths.
Mr Gibb said: “In spite of the hard work of teachers and pupils, today’s results show that there are still too many seven-year-olds not reaching the expected level in these important subjects. We need to make sure that government gives schools the support they need to get the basics right.
“These results also show an unacceptable attainment gap between local authorities where we know there are a high proportion of children on free school meals, and richer areas.
“Tackling educational inequality is our top priority, and our pupil premium will provide support for the poorest pupils in our schools.”
Ministers say they will help to close the gap using the “pupil premium”, where schools will get more money if they have more disadvantaged pupils.
The government points to areas such as Nottingham, where a high proportion of children are eligible for free school meals and results are below the national average.
It contrasts that with the performance of seven-year-olds in areas such as Richmond-on-Thames in south-west London, where the reverse is true.
In England’s primary and nursery schools as a whole, 18.5% of children are eligible for free school meals but in Nottingham one in three children is eligible and in Richmond, the figure is one in 10.
In Nottingham, 77% of children can read at the expected level and 83% made the grade for science.
In Richmond, 92% of children were at the level expected in reading and 94% were in science.
In the North East of England as a whole, nearly one in four children at primary and nursery schools is eligible for free school meals.
There, results are also below the national average, though not dramatically so, with 83% for reading, 79% for writing, 88% for maths and 87% for science.
In the South East, excluding London, 11.9% are eligible for free meals. All results are slightly above the national average.
The achievement gap is also evident between girls and boys.
While 89% of girls can read at the expected level or above, 81% of boys can. In writing, 87% of girls make the grade, while 76% of boys do.
The gap is slightly narrower when it comes to how well children “speak and listen”, with 90% of girls at or above the expected level, compared with 84% of boys.
In science and maths, the gap is narrowest. In maths, 91% of girls are at level 2 or above, compared with 88% of boys. In science, 90% of girls and 87% of boys are at this expected level.
When you look at those achieving the highest scores for this age (level 3), 30% of girls are at this level, compared with 22% of boys. In writing, the figures are 16% of girls and only 8% of boys.
In maths and science, the pattern for high achievement is reversed, although the gaps are narrower.
A total of 23% of boys get the top level for maths, compared with 18% of girls. In science, 22% of boys get this grade, while 20% of girls do.
The data released today is not school-by-school and is not used in England’s school league tables.
The tables are drawn from the results of the formal national tests taken by 11-year-olds. They are due to be released later this year.
Children in outside England in the UK do not take Sats but are assessed at various stages.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Weather symbols appear across many of the pages The Home Office has revealed the template for the new British passport, featuring images representing the four nations along with symbols of the UK’s maritime heritage. So what does it say about the UK?
If the average Brit abroad were to lie back and picture home, what would spring to mind?
Oak leaves drifting past a row of cottages in an idyllic country village, perhaps? Maybe yachts sailing past rugged cliffs, where cawing seagulls circle a lighthouse.
These are the sort of images that foreign immigration officers will be presented with when Britons enter their shores.
Leafing through the revamped UK passport will also give them an insight into the British obsession with weather, as meteorological symbols appear on many pages.
Meanwhile, the four nations are represented by landscape scenes of the Giant’s Causeway, Ben Nevis, the Gower peninsula and the white cliffs of Dover – the result of a Home Office staff competition to select national symbols.
Identity and Passport Service chief executive Sarah Rapson insisted there was no attempt to “represent every single aspect of Britain” but that they had deliberately chosen scenic images.
However, for design guru Stephen Bayley, the passport’s references to our maritime history, dry stone walls and Blenheim Palace are nothing more than cliches, symbolising the “British disease of a soft-focus nostalgia for a past that never was”.
“National iconography shouldn’t be a tired old museum piece. The image bank needs topping up,” he argues.
“If you take the passport as being a national advertisement, the official view of Britain is that it’s an island with bad weather populated by seagulls.
“I’m not advocating the inclusion of material from hit book Crap Towns in our travel documents, but at least that would advertise our acute sense of irony – surely one of our proudest national possessions.”
Mr Bayley says a truer reflection of Britain would be to focus on its arts – music, poetry and fashion – technology such as Formula 1 cars and innovative architecture.
However, Nick Wadham-Smith from Counterpoint – the think-tank of international cultural relations body the British Council, says using modern symbols can be problematic.
Stamps were a good way of circulating national identity but fewer people are using them – flags are also less common”
End Quote Nick Wadham-Smith British Council
“If you had an iconic rock band, who would you choose as representative? They can become dangerously dated in a passport that lasts 10 years.”
Mr Wadham-Smith suggests the new passport design reveals a UK that is comfortable with promoting its national heritage after spending a decade portraying itself as a post-colonial, multicultural society concerned with global issues.
“Britain has established itself as a modern nation, so these images can come out of the shadows,” he says.
As to why the government has chosen to include these images, Mr Wadham-Smith says it has taken a chance to use national symbolism at a time when it is becoming less easy to find elsewhere.
“Stamps were a good way of circulating national identity but fewer people are using them. Flags are also less common, so it’s not surprising to find iconography of national identity coming into the passport.”
The new images, he says, will provoke nostalgia for those overseas for long periods of the Britain they have left behind. While those at home will be reminded of a certain kind of “Britishness”.
However, Mr Wadham-Smith adds it is inevitable their use will have unforeseen consequences.
“The immediate, rather ironic, effect is that at a time when the government might wish people to holiday in the UK, they are giving us images of the most delicious places in the UK in a passport.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The European Commission ordered RBS to sell its insurance arm by 2013 More than 600 jobs are to be cut at the Direct Line insurance firm owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Workers at the Atlantic Quay offices in Glasgow have been called to a meeting later to be told the news.
The bank announced in May that 2,000 jobs would go at its insurance division, which it was ordered to sell by the European Commission by 2013.
The Atlantic Quay office is to close within three years although more jobs will be created elsewhere in the city.
A statement from the bank said: "We announced in May that we were looking to consolidate our UK office network as part of our plans to achieve efficiencies across our Insurance business as we prepare it for sale as mandated by the EU.
"However we do not comment on speculation and have a commitment to our staff that we will always tell them first if we are announcing any changes that affect them."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
U2 are staunch supporters of Amnesty InternationalIrish band U2’s first Russia concert was marred after police arrested activists from rights group Amnesty International before the gig began.
A police spokeswoman said they did not have permission to hand out leaflets outside the Moscow event.
The head of the human rights group’s Moscow office, Sergei Nikitin, said U2 management had assured them all the necessary permits were in place.
The campaigners have since been released, police said.
News Agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) also reported that police forced volunteers from U2’s own charity fund, the ONE Campaign against AIDS, out of Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium.
Tents set up by Greenpeace Russia were also moved on according to the organisation’s director Ivan Blokov.
“We were not allowed to collect signatures and to talk to people,” he said.
“Our activities were agreed with U2’s management, so we are very much surprised.”
Mr Nikitin added that Amnesty had been present at many of the band’s concerts throughout their European tour.
“I don’t know if Bono knows about what happened to us,” he said.
“It was a typical publicity event, which this organisation has carried out in every city where U2 has performed.”
During the gig, Bono invited Russian rock star turned anti-Kremlin activist Yuri Shevchuk onstage for a rendition of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.
The Irish singer called his Russian counterpart a “great man”.
On Sunday, Mr Shevchuk appeared at a banned concert in central Moscow protesting against plans to build a motorway through a forest.
Meanwhile, U2 have been fined by Spanish authorities for playing too loud at their gigs in Barcelona.
The group, who performed at the Nou Camp Stadium in June and July last year, have been told they must pay £14,723 for exceeding noise limits.
The fine was also imposed for rehearsal time running late and missing the midnight deadline.
The gigs were part of their 360 tour, which helped make them last year’s biggest-selling band in the world.
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As the government urges councils in England to cut unnecessary signs, Salisbury Civic Society chairman Alastair Clark talks about the problems with his town’s signs.
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There is no standard peak time for train journeys, leading to wide differences between operatorsTrain companies have been accused of confusing passengers by having vastly different rules on what constitutes peak-time travel.
Which? magazine said operators were not providing a consistent message.
Some such as East Coast trains began evening peak services in the afternoon while others had no restrictions.
The Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) said most people were able to buy the right ticket and get on the right train without any problems.
The magazine said the East Coast train company and West Coast Main Line operator Virgin Trains began their evening peak in the mid-afternoon. In the case of East Coast, that means the evening peak period lasts four hours.
But Chiltern Railways and Merseyrail had no specific evening peak times.
Which? said: “You’d be forgiven for not knowing if you’re coming or going, yet Atoc claims ‘four out of five passengers are happy with their journey’.”
The magazine said the fact that different tickets had different restrictions was also confusing.
For example people who bought super off-peak tickets were subject to more restrictions than normal off-peak tickets.
Other restrictions vary according to destinations and the train company that is offering the service.
Demand differs greatly at different times in different parts of the country, so it’s not surprising that peak times vary”
End QuoteAtoc spokesman
For example, East Coast morning peak services to London end at 10.05 unless commuters have bought a first class ticket, are travelling using an off-peak day return ticket or travel card or have a super off-peak ticket.
But Merseyrail and train company Northern Rail tend to have a set morning peak time – ending at 0930.
Which? also urged commuters to think carefully about where they begin their journey as that also can affect the amount they will pay for their ticket.
BBC transport correspondent Richard Scott said some train companies have recently been expanding the peak times, squeezing off-peak travellers into smaller time slots.
One argument is that this manages demand by encouraging people off crowded services onto less busy trains. Of course it is also a way to make more money, he said.
By redesignating trains as “peak”, this allows train companies to increase fares without needing permission from the regulator.
Edward Welsh, Director of Corporate Affairs at ATOC, said: “The issue is that a record number of people are travelling by trains and there’s only so much capacity.
“Each train company has to be able to manage this demand in its own way, because people travel in different parts of the country. And that’s the fundamental point which Which? has failed to grasp in its survey.
“You can’t compare Merseyrail, for example – which is a local and a commuter service in and around Liverpool – with people travelling on services from Plymouth to Newcastle or London to Glasgow – it’s a very different kind of service.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The apartments were built in the Arc complex at Titanic Quarter A man who had agreed to buy a flat in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter cannot be forced to honour the contract as he has no money, the High Court has ruled.
Neil Rowe, from Belfast, agreed in 2007 to buy a flat at the Arc complex.
He has since lost his job and cannot get a mortgage, but the developer was seeking a court order to make him pay.
Mr Justice Deeny refused to grant the order, ruling that Mr Rowe had “a clearly arguable case” that it would be impossible for him to pay.
However, the developer will retain Mr Rowe’s deposit of £26,000 on the £264,500 flat. He may also have to pay damages of up to £30,000 to compensate the developer for breach of contract.
The developer is Titanic Quarter Ltd which is owned by Harcourt Developments Ltd, a company controlled by Donegal developer Pat Doherty.
Mr Justice Deeny refused to grant the company a legal order known as specific performance.
In doing so he quoted a judgement of the late Lord MacDermott that the court should not make an order “that will beat upon the air.”
The case is to be reviewed next month when the court will be told the Titanic Quarter Ltd’s attitude about proceeding with an action for damages against Mr Rowe.
The case could have implications for other people in Northern Ireland who signed contracts for expensive apartments and then found themselves unable to pay after being made redundant.
Brian Speers of CMG solicitors said his client was facing ‘genuine difficulties’ Brian Speers of CMG solicitors, who led the team acting on behalf of Mr Rowe, said: “Our client was never trying to get out of what he knew was a legal obligation, but he was facing genuine difficulties.
“If the banks wouldn’t grant him a mortgage because he had been made unemployed then clearly he could not complete the purchase.
“It cannot be in anyone’s interests to spend huge amounts of time and money on legal proceedings when some imaginative thinking about how we can get a solution for both developer and purchaser could have helped resolve this.”
A number of people who agreed to buy apartments in the Ormeau Bakery development and are now unable to complete were also in the court on Thursday to observe proceedings.
One man, who did not wish to be named, said he was “greatly relieved” by the judgement.
“I am facing bankruptcy,” he said “but this ruling has given me a straw to hold onto.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Millions of Pakistanis have been displaced by the floods The UN says it is reviewing security measures for its aid workers in Pakistan, after a warning of new threats from the Pakistani Taliban.
A US official said the militant group was planning to attack foreigners delivering aid to millions of people affected by the floods.
There have been no reports of attacks so far.
It has now been four weeks since the start of the flooding, described as the region's worst humanitarian crisis.
The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods, and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed, leaving five million people homeless.
As floods sweep down from the north, they are now threatening to breach an embankment in the Kot Almo area in Sindh province, forcing thousands of people in the southern Thatta district to flee from their homes.
Aid agencies are focusing on providing emergency relief such as shelter, food and medical care.
'Plans to attack'
The militant group Tehrik-e Taliban "plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in the ongoing flood relief operations in Pakistan", a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.
The official also said "federal and provincial ministers" may be at risk.
The sense from Washington is that this threat is both serious and credible. Tehrik-e Taliban is the most radical and violent militant group in Pakistan, based in the tribal region close to the border with Afghanistan. It's been associated with a series of attacks in recent years on the Pakistani state and on foreigners, and is closely allied to al-Qaeda.
In the past six months, the level of militant violence has reduced, but since the flood crisis began, the Pakistani Taliban has warned against accepting international aid. Its leaders seem to view foreign assistance and the presence of international aid workers as unwelcome Western interference in their country.
All this is a further blow to aid workers who are already battling with plenty of logistical challenges.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization told the BBC that aid work in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan was already being affected by security concerns.
"Now with this threat it means either we have to downsize the operation – which means less access to the affectees – otherwise we have to take more mitigation measures in order to reduce the security risk, which means more resources," Ahmed Farah Shadoul said.
"This will definitely delay the operation in certain areas."
Earlier, US General Michael Nagata said his forces had seen no threats to their security in the three weeks that they had been operating in Pakistan.
He said the fleet of 19 US helicopters had helped save more than 6,000 people.
Tehrik-e Taliban is considered the most radical and violent militant group in Pakistan.
A retired Pakistani general, Talat Masood, told the BBC that the militant group would seek to counter any gains in public support for Western governments helping with relief and aid work.
The US is one of a number of countries to have sent aid and assistance to Pakistan. The US Agency for International Development says that it has so far provided around $150m (‚£97m) in support to victims of the flood.
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The UN's Mauritzio Guilliano explains how the UN aid agencies are familiar with such threats
However, the head of its development agency, Rajiv Shah, sounded a warning about accountability and corruption.
Long-term aid money would "would require a demonstration of real transparency and accountability and that resources spent in Pakistan get results", he told the Associated Press news agency.
Various nations have pledged more than $700m (‚£552m) for relief efforts in Pakistan.
Workers have begun clearing up as the floods recede in the north and the UN has appealed for more helicopters to reach 800,000 people who are cut off.
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The report said police believed Fr James Chesney was an IRA leader and was involved in the bombingA former police officer who investigated Fr James Chesney in 1972 has told the BBC he was prevented from arresting him by senior RUC officers.
Fr Chesney, who died in 1980, was named in the Police Ombudsman’s report into the Claudy bombing.
The Special Branch detective sergeant said he was within 15 minutes of launching an operation to search Father Chesney’s house.
He was told not to proceed, because “the matter was under control”.
Three no-warning bombs exploded in the County Londonderry village on 31 July 1972.
It later transpired that talks between the Catholic Church, the police and the government led to Fr Chesney being moved to a parish in Donegal.
The Police Ombudsman’s report confirmed that detectives believed Fr Chesney was involved in the bombing which killed nine people.
However, former IRA explosives officer Shane Paul O’Doherty, who was active in the Derry-Donegal area in the early and mid-70s,said he had never heard anyone mention the priest’s name at the time.
Mr O’Doherty, who served 14 years in jail in England for his involvement in a letter-bomb campaign, told the Irish News that “journalists appeared to have mistaken intelligence reports for hard evidence”.
The police officer was interviewed by the ombudsman’s investigative team for its Claudy report, and the ombudsman later wrote to inform him he would be referring to his evidence in his findings.
The ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, found that after talks between the then Catholic Primate Cardinal William Conway, and Secretary of State William Whitelaw, Fr Chesney was moved to a parish in the Irish Republic.
No action was ever taken against Fr Chesney, who detectives believed was the IRA’s ‘director of operations’ in south County Derry.
He died of cancer in 1980 aged 46.
The retired Special Branch officers said the decision to “leave the priest alone” was made at a senior level.
“The time that I asked for his arrest, I had information there was a large amount of firearms in the parochial house.
“I had good sources within the Provisional IRA in south Derry,” he said.
He said he told his superiors he was going to raid Fr Chesney’s parochial house within 30 minutes unless he was told to do otherwise. He said he had soldiers standing by in Magherafelt police station as back-up for the search and arrest operation.
“They (senior officers) gave me an answer back within 15 minutes that things were under control, not to go.
“I was told, leave it alone, we’re looking after it. Then the next thing I heard was that he was transferred to Malin Head (in Donegal).”
The ex-policeman said he himself was transferred out of the area a few months later after being wounded in an IRA attempt on his life.
He said he had no doubt whatsoever that Fr Chesney was involved because other Special Branch officers had received the same information from other sources.
“All my reports were obviously filed in headquarters and just locked away and now the ombudsman has got them out, discovered them.”
Shane Paul O’Doherty, who cut his links with the IRA while in prison in England, said: “It is extraordinary that the ombudsman’s report into the Claudy bombing pours judgment upon the late Fr Chesney and then asks for witnesses to come forward wtih evidence to support its case.
“Would this be putting the hanging before the trial?”
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Air New Zealand's cost cutting has helped boost its profits Air New Zealand has reported a fourfold increase in profits, leading signs of recovery in the airline industry.
The flag carrier said net profits for the year to the end of June totalled 82m New Zealand dollars ($58m; ‚£37m), up from NZ$21m in the previous year.
In a busy day for company reporting, airlines elsewhere in the world also delivered positive news.
Both Air China and Australian budget carrier Virgin Blue also reported a recovery in profits.
Air China, one of China's three major state-owned airlines, said its profits in the first half of the year were up 60% on last year, when the global economic downturn hit passenger numbers.
Virgin Blue also reported a return to profit in the last 12 months.
Net profits for the year were up to 21m Australian dollars ($19m; ‚£12m), the carrier said, following the A$160m loss recorded a year ago.
But despite the improvement in profits, the airlines remain cautious over the outlook for the industry.
Further growth will be largely determined by consumer spending which remains weak”
End Quote Giovanni Bisignani Director general, IATA
"Conditions continue to be volatile [and] the soft growth seen at the end of the fiscal year is not sufficient to suggest a consistent across-the-board improvement in conditions," warned Virgin Blue in a statement.
Air New Zealand's chairman also admitted that continued uncertainty in the strength of the global economic recovery had suppressed demand for air travel.
Much of its profits came from cost cutting, which saw operating costs reduced by nearly NZ$600m over the year, and lower fuel bills.
But Air New Zealand insisted that there were "signs of recovery", with demand for air travel expected to continue to gradually improve.
Earlier this week, figures from the International Air Transport Association (Iata) suggested that growth in demand for air travel was continuing to rise.
International passenger demand was 9.2% higher in July than a year earlier, while international scheduled freight traffic was up 22.7%.
Passenger numbers are continuing to recover from last year's lows But Iata's director general Giovanni Bisignani warned that continued growth would still depend on the strength of the recovery in the wider economy.
"The recovery in demand has been faster than anticipated. But, as we look towards the end of the year, the pace of the recovery will likely slow [and] further growth will be largely determined by consumer spending which remains weak," he said.
In Europe, Germany's second biggest airline Air Berlin is due to give further details of its second quarter earnings later.
On Tuesday it said the disruption caused by the cloud of volcanic ash that crossed Europe in May had pushed it into the red between April and June.
Losses for the quarter totalled 57m euros ($72m; ‚£47m) it said.
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Actor Rowan Atkinson is given permission to build a modern home in south Oxfordshire despite council planners recommending it be refused.
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Denise Grieve was stabbed 10 times by her estranged husbandA man who murdered his estranged wife in front of their daughter has been jailed for at least 16 years.
James McKenzie, 61, stabbed wife Denise Grieve 10 times in front of their 19-year-old daughter Jordan.
McKenzie, who admitted murder, carried out the killing at her flat in Glenrothes, Fife, in March.
Jailing him for life at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Turnbull told the killer he had shown a lack of remorse and deserved “no mercy”.
The couple had split up last October after a stormy relationship.
Although McKenzie was hoping for a reconciliation shortly before the murder, he wrongly believed Ms Grieve was pregnant by another man, Robert Graham, and planning to set up home with him.
Mr Graham decided to end the relationship and McKenzie moved back to the family home in Ednam Drive.
But he snapped on the morning of 15 March after Ms Grieve, 48, said she did not want to get back together with him.
Lord Turnbull told McKenzie: “You perpetrated a crime of unfathomable viciousness motivated by a level of selfishness which would be beyond comprehension to most right thinking people.
“To kill the woman you married in such a premeditated and determined manner reflects an attitude on your part which deserves no mercy.
“Furthermore, to leave your daughter with images of such violence and horror is conduct that few would imagine a proper father to be capable of.”
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Adult male Microhyla nepenthicola grow to approximately one centimetre in length Researchers on an expedition in Borneo have found a new and very tiny species of frog.
Male adults of the new species, named Microhyla nepenthicola, grow to approximately one centimetre in length.
The researchers first discovered the diminutive red and orange amphibian on an expedition to Kubah National Park in 2004.
They have now described the discovery in the journal Zootaxa.
The team found the frog when it emerged from a small pitcher plant, Nepenthes ampullaria, in which it lives.
The plant lives off decomposing organic matter that collects in its deep pitcher-shaped cavity. The little frog uses this as a habitat.
It lays its eggs there and when the tadpoles hatch, they live in the gathered organic goo until they mature.
Apart from its size, the amphibian has some unique features that set it apart from other species.
The scientists believe that its miniaturisation and "reduced webbing" may be the result of it having to navigate the slippery zone of the pitcher plants on which it depends.
Scientists Indraneil Das from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, and Alexander Haas from the University of Hamburg in Germany, discovered and described the species, which they named after the plant.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Face the Facts, BBC Radio 4
Plans to regionalise the fire service have been scrapped by the new government Millions of pounds are being wasted on unused fire engines and unoccupied new control centres as part of a revamp of the fire service, the BBC has learned.
Nine new regional control rooms were built in England as part of a ‚£423m project to regionalise the service.
But the centres are standing empty, at a cost of ‚£1m rent a month, because of problems with their computers and may now not all be needed.
The coalition government has decided not to proceed with regionalisation.
BBC Radio Four's Face the Facts also found that expensive equipment bought by fire brigades to replace current engines remained unused.
The nine regional centres were built as part of plans to replace 46 local fire control rooms in England, with an original budget of ‚£70m, and create a national interlinked service that could direct fire brigades to the scenes of large emergencies more easily.
However, under new coalition government plans, the 46 local centres will still be replaced, but there will no longer be regionalised local fire brigades; instead they will remain under local control.
What usually happens is rather than admit a mistake they throw more money at it and try to save the phenomenon”
End Quote John McDonnell MP Chairman, Fire Brigades Union parliamentary group
The nine centres have been standing empty for up to three years because of problems in developing their computer systems.
The monthly rent for the empty buildings is costing taxpayers ‚£1m a month, and they will not be all in use until 2013, sending the programme more than ‚£350m over budget.
Defence contractor EADS was hired in 2007 to install the computer systems in the centres, as well as in 1,400 fire stations and 3,400 fire engines, providing an interlinked response service.
Labour MP Clive Betts, the current chairman of the Commons communities and local government select committee that has investigated the delays, said the project had been "almost an unmitigated disaster throughout the course of its life".
"But the reality was that, when you consider cancellation costs, it was less costly to continue with it than it was to cancel it," he said.
The select committee criticised the government for having a high turnover of staff working on the project and a reliance on consultants.
John McDonnell MP, chairman of the Fire Brigades Union parliamentary group, agreed that the waste could have been prevented.
The planned nine regional centres and the 46 local fire and rescue service control rooms to be regionalised:
East of England – Essex, Norfolk, Cambridge and Peterborough, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Luton and Suffolk.East Midlands – Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Northamptonshire.London – London Fire BrigadeNorth East – Durham and Darlington, Tyne and Wear, Cleveland and Northumberland.North West – Cumbria, Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.South East – Hampshire, Royal Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Kent, East Sussex, Buckinghamshire, Isle of Wight, Surrey and West Sussex.South West – Devon and Somerset, Dorset, Avon, Cornwall, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.West Midlands – Staffordshire, West Midlands, Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester and Warwickshire.Yorkshire and Humberside – West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Humberside and North Yorkshire
"It is almost Yes Minister-ish. It is very difficult for senior civil servants, ministers and secretaries of state to admit they have made a mistake," he said.
"What usually happens is rather than admit a mistake they throw more money at it and try to save the phenomenon."
EADS admitted the project had "birth pangs", but said it was now on course.
As part of money-saving proposals, EADS has recommended that the project could be carried out using fewer regional centres.
Its chief executive Robin Southwell said: "We believe the number can come down significantly, saving maybe hundreds of millions of pounds.
"Any of those buildings not being used could be adapted for other uses."
The government has so far not responded to EADS' proposals.
BBC Radio Four's Face the Facts also found that some brigades in the UK are selling unused, brand new fire engines.
Central Scotland fire brigade bought two combined aerial rescue pumps (Carp engines) in 2008 at ‚£400,000 each, which it later found were too heavy for UK roads.
Chief fire officer for Central Scotland Kenny Taylor said: "Very early on it became clear there was a problem. When the engine became kitted it was substantially overweight."
Central Scotland has now put the engines up for sale on the internet at just under 300,000 euros (‚£246,000) each.
The nine regional centres are standing empty at a cost of ‚£1m a month The manufacturers are in dispute with the fire brigade, saying the vehicles were made to the right specification. They believe they are not being used because of internal problems in the fire brigade.
They suggested a solution for the use of the vehicles, but have not had a response.
But other brigades have had problems with this type of new vehicle, supplied by different manufacturers.
Humberside fire brigade spent almost ‚£60,000 converting its Carp engine back to a single rescue platform fire engine and does not know when it will come into service.
South Yorkshire, which brought four Carps in 2008, has sent them to the Netherlands for ‚£600,000 worth of remedial work. The manufacturers of its vehicles have gone into administration.
The fire minister Bob Neill told Face the Facts: "The government is committed to ensuring value-for-money for the taxpayer and better procurement is vital."
The president of the Chief Fire Officers' Association, John Bonney, is frustrated, blaming the government and contractors.
"There has got to be a bit of a knocking of heads together," he said.
"It is not just money but it's been investment of a lot of time and energy by the fire and rescue service. We feel exhausted and disappointed.
"Unfortunately, certainly at the early stages… it became a discussion between the primary contractor and government officials rather than the professionals."
Listen to Face the Facts on BBC Radio 4 at 1230 BST, on Thursday, 26 August, repeated at 2100 BST on Sunday, 29 August, or on BBC iPlayer
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