26/02/2015

0650

New figures released by the Department of Transport show a large and growing number of motorists used their mobile phones while driving last year. Some 1.6 per cent of Britain's estimated 36million drivers were spotted using a handheld phone while at the wheel last year – up on 1.4 per cent for a similar exercise carried out five years earlier in 2009. That’s despite the deterrent of being fined. George Goldie OBE is Vice President of Institute of Advanced Motorists.

0655

Baroness Warsi said on Wednesday's programme that it was a mistake to have discontinued the Citizenship Survey in 2011 because it means government has been making policy based on gut instinct not evidence. Penny Young is Chief Executive of NatCen Social Research, an institute that conducts major social surveys and which conducted the original Citizenship Survey.

0710

A series of reports into sexual abuse at hospitals and children's homes by the DJ and presenter Jimmy Savile will be published later this morning. The most significant is expected to be into his activities at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. The BBC understands the investigation found he assaulted more than 50 patients, staff and visitors there over more than two decades, the youngest of them eight years old. Ten of those assaulted are said to have complained to nursing staff at the time, but nothing was done. It's thought the investigation has concluded that allegations both of inappropriate behaviour and sexual assault were probably never passed on to senior management. Savile was revealed to be a serial offender after his death in 2011 at the age of 84. Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust declined to make any comment ahead of today's report. Jane Peel reports.

 0715

The Royal Bank of Scotland releases its full year results this morning. The chairman Philip Hampton is due to leave RBS this year, with reports suggesting this week that his successor could be announced as early as today, with figures including Sir Howard Davies reportedly amongst the candidates. Ross McEwan is Chief Executive of Royal Bank of Scotland.

0720

Last night was the biggest night of year for Britain’s music industry but it will only be remembered for one thing – the night Madonna fell over in the middle of her performance to close the show. A cape malfunction, it seems, was to blame. Having last week castigated Radio 1 for supposed ageism for neglecting to put the single from her new album on their playlist, the worlds’ most successful female recording artist in history has by virtue of the unfortunate accident become the talk of the pop world again. Professor Jonathan Shalit is an entertainment impresario, music manager and was at the awards last night.

0730

There is 'no long term future' for the BBC licence fee according to a new report by MPs.  The Culture and Media Committee says the TV licence will eventually have to be replaced.  It also says suggests scrapping some of its output and introducing subscriptions for services. A smaller, more narrowly focussed BBC that charges a subscription for some of its services and helps fund rival local and children's programming are amongst the suggestions by the committee of MPs looking at the future of the BBC. But the central issue is funding.  The Committee's Chairman, John Whittingdale, says the threat of jail for non-payment should go, and a licence based on owning a TV is also, he says, beginning to look out of date. John Whittingdale is chair of the Media Select Committee and James Purnell is the BBC’S Director of Strategy.

0740

Exceptional acts of bravery and courage by military personnel are being honoured today as the full Operational Honours List is published in the London Gazette. The majority of the honours relate to Afghanistan and include Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey, the only living British soldier to receive a Victoria Cross during the Afghan campaign.

0750

The BBC has learned further details of the smuggling operation which succeeded in transporting three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green to join the so-called Islamic State in Syria. The BBC spoke to a people smuggler on the border with Turkey who said the girls had been met by IS men as soon as they had crossed onto Syrian territory. On Wednesday, David Cameron disputed Turkish claims there had been a delay in sharing information about the missing girls and lessons must be learned about what can be done to prevent young people travelling to Turkey to join Islamic State. The BBC’s Selin Girit reports from the border and Yasin Aktay is Vice Chair of Turkey’s governing AK Party responsible for Foreign Affairs.

0810

A series of reports into sexual abuse at hospitals and children's homes by the DJ and presenter Jimmy Savile will be published later this morning (see 0710). Sylvia Nicol was a trustee of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital Trust and knew Savile from the early 1970s and considered him to be a close friend, she also worked in the Spinal Unit as a medical secretary for a number of years and Liz Dux is a lawyer from Slater and Gordon, she represents 168 Savile victims, including more than 30 victims of abuse from Stoke Mandeville – more than 30 of those are victims of Savile.

0820

Justin profiles German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble including interviews with Michael Sturmer who was Chancellor Kohl's advisor and worked closely with Schaeuble in the 1980s and Katinka Barsych from Allianz SE.

0830

Exceptional acts of bravery and courage by military personnel are being honoured today as the full Operational Honours List is published in the London Gazette (see 0740). Captain William Hall, of the 16th Royal Regiment of Artillery, who is receiving a Military Cross and Staff Sgt Kate Lord, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, who is receiving the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service.

0835

Ukraine says that it has experienced its first 24hrs without any fatalities for several weeks; a week after an internationally-mediated ceasefire for eastern Ukraine was supposed to come into effect. Fighting continues in the east, but since the current truce it has been on a lower level than before. International monitors in Ukraine say there are now some pockets of calm but Ukraine has accused Moscow and the rebels it backs of using the ceasefire to regroup and prepare an attack on the city of Mariupol. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Shyrokine, twenty miles outside Mariupol.

0840

Police in the French capital, Paris, say unidentified drones have been seen flying over the city. Witnesses reported at least five separate incidents. On Tuesday, police launched an investigation after a number of the small, remote-controlled aircraft were spotted hovering above sensitive sites including the Eiffel Tower and the US Embassy. Police have so far been unable to locate the drone operators or determine if they were coordinated. Paul Guermonprez is an author of a book on drones.

0845

An international team of astronomers has found a huge and ancient black hole which grew faster than current physics would suggest possible in the early development of the universe. It comes at an interesting time in Black Hole research - from new findings on the gas cloud circling the massive black hole at the centre of our galaxy to the role winds that blast out of black holes play on the formation of stars. Dr Marek Kukula is Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

0850

On yesterday's programme we heard from the Democratic Unionist Party about whether they would support a minority government in Westminster. With the polls suggesting the likelihood of a hung parliament, and in the absence of any formal coalition deal, what can we expect from a minority government? Will Whitehall be prepared for a minority government, having just got used to working with a coalition? Lord Donoghue was Head of Number 10 Policy Unit from 1974-79 (under Wilson and Callaghan) and Dr Catherine Haddon is Research Fellow at the Institute of Government and co-author Making Minority Government Work.

All subject to change.