also be mild, and just three celsius in leeds on thursday. further south, a lot of dry weather again, cloud, mist and fog and throughout, it will feel chilly. this is bbc news. the headlines: combating electoral fraud — pilot schemes will require voters in some parts of the country to show id before casting their ballot. the children's commissioner for england warns that four in five young carers aren't receiving the help they need from social services. russian crash investigators say a recovered flight data recorder is in a "satisfactory" condition, and may provide clues as to why the military plane came down. the prevent anti—extremism programme is defended by leicestershire‘s chief constable — simon cole says some of the criticism of the scheme is "hysterical". also this hour, tributes are paid to the actress, liz smith, who's died at the age of 95. does this thing play cassettes as

well? no, itjust cds. does this thing play cassettes as well? no, itjust (05. why, do you have cassettes? well? no, itjust cds. why, do you have cassettes? no. the bafta winner played nana in the royle family. one of her co—stars, the actress suejohnston, said she was "devastated at her passing". and in half an hour i will be looking back at him mendis year in science, one that saw tim peake return to earth after a six—month stay in space. —— looking back at a tremendous year in science. good afternoon. welcome to bbc news. some voters in england are to be asked to provide photographic proof of identity before being allowed to vote. the measure is to be piloted as part of efforts to curb electoral fraud. a government—commissioned report,

published in august, concluded that the authorities sometimes turned a blind eye to fraud in areas with large pakistani or bangladeshi communities, because of "over—sensitivities about ethnicity and religion." here's our political correspondent, tom bateman. an election victory, but one steeped in claims of corruption. lutfur rahman became mayor of tower hamlets two years ago. the people of this borough willjudge me on my record. he wasjudged instead by an election court, which threw him out of office. it heard claims of voter fraud and intimidation. the case helped bring about a wider review of election practice, carried out by the former communities secretary sir eric pickles. he called for the introduction of id checks at polling stations in england. today, the government backed his proposals. electoral fraud has the potential to undermine confidence in our system, which is why we need to ensure that when it comes

to vulnerable individuals in certain communities who want to be able to exercise their individual right to vote, they are given the opportunity of doing so without the possibility of intimidation. the report said authorities were turning a blind eye to corruption, what he called the worrying and covert spread of electoral fraud. he accused some bodies of a state of denial and failing to challenge alleged vote rigging because of political correctness. he saw evidence of pressure put on vulnerable people to vote according to the will of elders in some communities of pakistani and bangladeshi background. the plans mean voters will have to bring photo id, like a passport, or proof of address in trial areas of england at local elections in 2018. but labour said changes to the voting register had already harmed the party, and some claimed the announcement today would make things worse. the people most likely not to have a passport or driving licence are going to be the poorest,

and i suspect that is going to, like the decision to knock a lot of people off the electoral register, hit the labour party. the number of voter—fraud claims is relatively low. the government hopes today's plans will help reduce it further. the children's commissioner for england says the vast majority of young carers receive no support from local authority social services. anne longfield says four out of five young carers are under the radar. the local government association says funding cuts mean councils are being forced to make difficult decisions. helena lee reports. this is daniel, one of thousands of young carers in england. he's ten and lives with his mum, florella, who has a brain tumour. daniel is her main carer at home. when he's not at school, he helps around the house, but he constantly worries about his mum when he isn't there.

i started becoming more responsible and i started doing the cleaning. started doing cooking better. i started paying more attention to what my mum was doing. then, because i wasn't around, i was always worried about how she was. today's report by the children's commissioner found, of the 160,000 young carers in england, just over 128,000 children aged five to 17 may not be known to local authorities. and councils identified 160 young carers in england who are under the age of five. this is often systematic support for vulnerable family members who may have mental illness or physical disabilities. they need to be able to flourish at school, they need to be able to enjoy childhood and grow up, whilst they're still offering

the familial support that you would expect. the local government association says funding cuts to children's services means councils are being forced to make difficult decisions about what support they are able to provide. but it says all young carers should receive an assessment to find out if they need help. let's speak to councillor richard watts, chairman of the children and young people board for the local government association. hejoins us from our studio in nottingham. good afternoon. do you think those figures are fair, that perhaps as many as four out of five young carers are under the radar, orjust not getting the help they need?” don't think it is fair to describe them as under the radar. every young carers should be getting an assessment to find out what needs

their help. i would be very concerned if that is not happening but i see no evidence that it isn't. however, the very major funding cuts imposed on local authorities in recent yea rs imposed on local authorities in recent years mea ns imposed on local authorities in recent years means councils on the often have the money to support those young carers most in need. people watching will understand the situation with council budgets. that is almost a given. by the same token, they will have just seen the report about that young boy, ten yea rs report about that young boy, ten years old, looking after his mother because she has a brain tumour, and they will think, how is this possible in britain in 2016? that young boy should be at school, working hard, and when he is not doing that, he should be having a nice time with his friends like any ten—year—old. how is it possible that a child is left to look after a parent? that young boy clearly does an incrediblejob in difficult circumstances. he should be getting a lot of support to help him with that. families like that do get a

lot of support from local authorities and the nhs, local schools and other people. however, the real problem we face is the funding cuts means it is hard to deliver that level of support for everyone. that fantastic young boy is doing a greatjob. everyone. that fantastic young boy is doing a great job. to your mind, however regrettable, will it be a lwa ys however regrettable, will it be always the circumstance that some young people, perhaps not quite as young people, perhaps not quite as young as that young boy, but some young as that young boy, but some young people will be in situations not dissimilar to that one, and that there is simply not, unless there is a dramatic political change, there will not be the re—sources to help them as best as they should be helped? children's services in this country are facing a £2.5 billion shortfall. local authorities have to keep children safe as well as doing a whole range of other stuff. if

these services are going to be funded properly, we would welcome that. however, we need to recognise that. however, we need to recognise that many families where needs are not so pressing, children will want to look after their parents, but they will need some support. however, we need to make sure that families, where they have got the support, have got it. if we are going to provide support to more families than we do at present, we need more funding. thank you very much. councillor richard watts, chair of the children and young people board for the lga. let's talk more about our main story, voterfraud, let's talk more about our main story, voter fraud, and let's talk more about our main story, voterfraud, and how some people will be asked to provide photographic proof of identity before being allowed to vote in some parts of the country as part of a pilot scheme in 2018. it is off the back of a report published in

august. that report was published by sir eric pickles, whojoins me now. good afternoon. good afternoon. do you have any concerns? i appreciate it isa you have any concerns? i appreciate it is a pilot scheme, what do you have any concerns putting any kind of barrier to someone voting, that we should be actively encouraging people to take part in the democratic process?” people to take part in the democratic process? i agree we should be encouraging people. but we wa nt to should be encouraging people. but we want to avoid people voting on your part, impersonating others. and we wa nt to part, impersonating others. and we want to avoid elections being taken by the use of fraud. all i'm really suggesting is that exactly the same kind of proof that he would have if you want to wander down to the post office to pick up a parcel. nothing more onerous than that. but you are

asking for a form of identification that some people simply might not have. you know that some people will not have a driving licence or macro —— 0re passport. they may not even have a utility bill. those people are disenfranchised. it is not an exclusive list. if you are young, you may have a student card. you may wa nt to you may have a student card. you may want to show proof of identity so you can purchase alcohol. you might be able to produce something a document say, from your member of parliament, orfrom document say, from your member of parliament, or from a document say, from your member of parliament, orfrom a doctor to say that you are the person you say you are. the list is not extensive. the last thing we want to do is to prevent people from voting. after all, most people who go to the polling station, take their polling card. they think they need their polling card in order to vote, which they don't. i don't think this will change the world. it willjust make

voting that little bit safer. the electoral reform society has said that mandatory voter id is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. but of course there have been cases of electoral fraud but those cases can be dealt with locally. this is a massive change of process for actually a very small problem? massive change of process for actually a very small problem7m massive change of process for actually a very small problem? it is not such a big chains. as i said, people take their polling card. it is not unusual in other countries to do this. international observers of our elections have warned us that our elections have warned us that our trust —based system is peculiarly vulnerable. widespread fraud is possible in local elections. 0nce fraud is possible in local elections. once you have done that, you control the local authority. if you control the local authority. if you control the local authority. if you control the local authority, you can control their procurement and their contracts. and you have

hundreds of millions of pounds. you will know that some members of the labour party and others have made the point going back to the form of id, that this is disenfranchising particularly poor people. ken livingstone saying this will hurt the labour party above anybody else. is that part of the plan? as far as i'm aware, i don't think mr livingstone is a member of the labour party. the official labour party are supporting this measure. it makes an awful lot of sense. labour have been peculiarly vulnerable to these kind of fraudulent attacks. many labour mps have been urging me privately that the government should be doing exactly this. so i think there is broad consensus. it's only those who perhaps are on the fringe of politics who see anything sinister about this. i think that says more about this. i think that says more about them than it does about these

very common sensible ideas. sir eric pickles, thank you. you're thank you. —— thank you. a senior police officer has defended the government's often criticised anti—extremism programme known as prevent. leicestershire chief constable, simon cole, who is one of those in charge of implementing the strategy, said prevent was "absolutely fundamental" to britain's counter—terrorism efforts. the national union of teachers called for it to be scrapped. but mr cole says prevent is succeeding with vulnerable people. what it's about is putting an arm around people who might otherwise some difficult choices. the kind of cases that prevent teams are dealing with, and we are talking about 20 referrals a day, are things like a young man from the midlands who is thinking he might travel to fight in syria, people become concerned about him. there are referring to prevent. prevent works with that individual

and he chooses not to travel. the people he was travelling to meet, we believe, are dead. this is very real stuff. with me is miqdaad versi, assistant secretary general for the muslim council of britain, which is setting up its own scheme. prevent, we heard it there, is providing a useful role. it is a useful tool. it is not perfect but it is doing some good work. do you accept that? there is always going to be good work done across the country. we have to recognise that when the former head of m15 says prevent is clearly not working, we have to take that on board and change this policy. we want a policy that keeps us safe and secure. the joint committee on human rights said there were risks that may be counter—productive, in other words, making things worse. that is not what we want. let's talk to communities on the ground. those who know they are talking about. let's be transparent, let's create trust.

we can be effective in keeping ourselves safe. prevent has been running for a few years. what in it could be improved to make it work better, or do you think it has to be scrapped and we have to start again? many people will be talking about it being scrapped. not just many people will be talking about it being scrapped. notjust people on the ground, but andy burnham, diane abbott has also said something. what we need at the minimum is an independent review to look at this and identify the key challenges, so we can re—examine it from the start. and think about, why is it that muslim communities seem to be targeted in particular? why is there a perception on the ground that... 0fsted themselves, in their guide for what is best practice on identifying radicalisation, they said ifa identifying radicalisation, they said if a young boy has a koran in their room, the holy book of muslim communities, that is a sign of

radicalisation. that was part of a case that was brought up. why identify that? why is that important? these problems cause a lack of trust and mean there is a problem. we want people to be safe. nobody wants the situation to get worse. this is meant to be making the situation better for everybody in the uk. what is going wrong? how can, if muslim communities feel it is not working or they are targeted, where do we start as a nation? where does the conversation start? at the very minimum, start a conversation. the government does not seem to be talking to muslim communities. the government has chosen to look at other parts of the counterterrorism programme. it's extraordinary that the government is not talking to the muslim council of britain, for example. they'd target policies that focus on muslim unity is that do not

make sense. —— they target policies that focus on muslim communities. we need a top—down approach that has the support of communities on the ground. a family member has a concern about a friend or relatives, they need to feel strong enough that they need to feel strong enough that they can contact the authorities. in some cases we know that has happened. in those cases where it doesn't happen, what is the barrier? are they too scared that they don't tell anyone until it is too late? 94% of british muslims would report someone they thought was going to break the law. that is not the core problem. it is something we need to improve on and work on. we are similarto improve on and work on. we are similar to the rest of the population. how do we get to the most vulnerable communities? there needs to be an increase in trust. when there is an idea that muslim committees are targeted, that will not help. we need to get rid of that

by having transparency, understanding what is really happening. and when we see the figures that have come out today that seem to suggest muslim communities are bearing the brunt of this, that's something we need to look at again. brilliant testing to talk to you. we will discuss this again. thank you. the headlines on bbc news: voters in some parts of england will be asked to show id under pilot schemes to try to curb electoral fraud. eight out of ten young carers are not receiving the help they need from social services, according to the children's commissioner for england. russian crash investigators say a recovered flight data recorder is in a satisfactory condition, and may provide clues as to why a military plane crashed on sunday. england's chief nursing officer has urged the nhs to invest more in caring for people at home.

jane cummings says money is being wasted on keeping elderly patients in hospital unnecessarily. she says reform is needed to make sure patients don't get caught between different parts of the system. rescue teams have recovered one of the flight recorders from a russian military plane that crashed into the black sea shortly after ta ke—off on sunday. the russian defence ministry said an engine, landing gearand parts of the fuselage had also been found. all 92 people on board the aircraft are thought to have died when it came down near the resort of sochi. angus crawford reports. recovered from the sea bed, twisted and broken, part of the plane's fuselage. thousands of people are still involved in the search, scouring the area where the tupolev 154 came down. sonar traces show part of the aircraft in shallow

water a mile out to sea. specialist teams have found one of the plane's black boxes. it has been taken away for analysis. air accident of the gurkhas have begun monitoring the plane's last movements. the military flight from moscow to syria had more than 90 passengers and crew on board. it touched down to refuel in sochi, but crashed shortly after taking off again. translation: all found parts have been taken ashore and handed over to investigators. the search operation has gone on for 2h hours with no breaks. during the day, one more body was found and recovered. soldiers and civilians died

side—by—side, all travelling to syria for a new year celebrations. 0n syria for a new year celebrations. on board as well were more than 60 members of the russian army's world—famous squire. at their base in moscow, people are bin laden flowers a nd in moscow, people are bin laden flowers and lighting candles. a national day of mourning was declared. in sochi, recovery teams use the latest technology. pilot error or mechanical failure, the focus for investigators. terrorism has been all but ruled out. so in the waters of the black sea, the search for answers continues. in fact, just at the moment in moscow we can see these pictures of people laying flowers to remember in particular the members of the

military choir who died in that plane crash. you will know that 64 members of the alexander of ensemble we re members of the alexander of ensemble were killed in that crash along with their conductor. they were the official military choir in russia. extremely well respected. they were flying from sochi to perform for russian troops based in syria. tributes to the singers and musicians who died in that crash. the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, is in hawaii, for an historic visit which will see him pay his respects at the site of the japanese attack on pearl harbour in 1941. shinzo abe will be accompanied by the us president barack 0bama, making the visit the first by the leaders of both countries since the attack. shinzo abe will pray for those who died, but will not issue an apology. the actress liz smith, best known for playing nana in the bbc sitcom, the royle family, has died, at the age of 95.

she acted in numerous television series and films, and won a bafta for her role in a private function in 1985. daniela relph looks back at her life. what is she? she's a vegetarian, nana. 0h! could you have some wafer—thin ham? could she have wafer—thin ham, barbara? the unforgettable nana speakman. liz smith was the eccentric, loveable centre of the royle family. very unusual taste! i put in a bit of ta—ra—sa—la—ma—ta as well! in the vicar of dibley, more of her perfect comic timing. happy birthday, frank. do you want to put me in a home? success came late for liz smith. a single mother of two children in a series of part—time jobs, she didn't start acting properly until she was 50. what a nuisance for you. it was like a wonderful

realisation that at last i was being given a chance. it had come. it had come at last. last night. what was it? what was what? that cheese. it was cheese. i know it was flaming cheese! she owed that first acting role to the director mike leigh. she loved being batty old ladies, because in a way she was a batty old lady, except that underneath the eccentricity she was a really focussed person, but she loved it. the more eccentric, the better. she adored being a bonkers person. does this thing play cassettes as well? she may have started late, but made up for it. don't do it so curly this time, barbara. last time it was just likejeremy clarkson. never more so than as nana speakman. liz smith at her scatty and brilliant best. liz smith, who has died at the age

of 95. details have emerged of george michael's charity work, as tributes continue to pour in after his sudden death. he was found dead at home on christmas day. it's been revealed he'd worked undercover at a homeless shelter, and spent years donating money to organisations. 0ur correspondent has been outside his home in north london, where many fa ns his home in north london, where many fans have been attending to pay their last respects and to lay flowers in memory of the staff. steady stream of people have been arriving here in highgate in north london throughout the day. they are coming to george michael's london home to lay flowers, light candles and leave messages of love to the

singer they remember as part of their teenage years. these are people who remember singing and dancing to george michael when they we re dancing to george michael when they were very, very young people. you canjust were very, very young people. you can just see there is a small crowd here. pretty much static now. people wa nt to ta ke here. pretty much static now. people want to take photos, they want to pause, they want to reflect on a man who was a global superstar but somebody they felt very close to emotionally because, it seems, his music really touched them. it's not just that. we are now learning that george michael touched people's lives in other ways. he had an extraordinary generosity. it is only after his death we are hearing some of the details of that generosity. how he volunteered at a homeless shelter anonymously. he didn't want people to know he was doing that. he donated money to people in need when eu they had difficulties. a woman who needed ivf, someone else struggling with death. he wanted to help people he knew were in difficulty. he had a way of helping

them. he had a lot of money. after his death we are beginning to hear these stories. that is why the tragedy of an early death for george michael is something people are really mourning. these celebrity tweets we are seeing, they're not just about a man who was a brilliant artist but also someone terribly, terribly generous. eltonjohn's tweeted, i am terribly generous. eltonjohn's tweeted, iam in terribly generous. eltonjohn's tweeted, i am in deep shock, i have lost a beloved friend, a kindest and most generous soul. it sums up people are feeling about the death of george michael. now the weather. good afternoon. we have moved into a quieter phase of weather. we have lost the stormy conditions to the north. we have got some sunshine around. it looks like we have quite around. it looks like we have quite a lot of cloud. most of it, particularly across england and

wales is thin, high cloud, allowing some sunshine through. there is more cloud across northern ireland and scotland. not a bad afternoon forgetting out and about. temperature is no better than five to7 temperature is no better than five to 7 degrees after a chilly start this morning. as soon as it gets dark, and it gets dark pretty early. it will get cold again. a widespread frost developing. you can see the blue on the map. you can also see some fog developing in the east. some of that could be quite dense to ta ke some of that could be quite dense to take us into tomorrow morning. if you're travelling early tomorrow, bear that in you're travelling early tomorrow, bearthat in mind. you're travelling early tomorrow, bear that in mind. some of that fog could hang around all day long and make it feel very chilly. temperatures will not get much above freezing. mild to the north—west with some rain in places. hello. this is bbc news. i'm jane hill.

the headlines: voters in some parts of england are to be asked to provide proof of id before casting their ballots, as part of efforts to curb electoral fraud. the scheme is to be trialled during the 2018 local elections. russian crash investigators examine a recovered flight data recorder recovered from the black sea to try and discover why the military plane came down on sunday. it's thought all 92 people on board died when the plane crashed shortly after take—off from sochi. here, as many as four in five young carers are going "under the radar" and receive no support from local authority social services, according to the children's commissioner for england.