this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines at two: a report into safety failures which forced 17 edinburgh schools to close puts the blame on a lack of proper scrutiny over construction work. it was part of this school wall here that tumbles down in high winds in january 2016. this lengthy report has just been published january 2016. this lengthy report hasjust been published into january 2016. this lengthy report has just been published into what went wrong here. leaked figures show record numbers of patients spent more than four hours in hospital a&e units in england last month. the prime minister welcomes her italian counterpart to downing street for talks, with brexit expected to be top of the agenda. the two leaders just beginning that news c0 nfe re nce the two leaders just beginning that news conference this afternoon. i'm simon mccoy. also this hour.

as wales and england prepare to clash in the six nations, final preparations are being made to the starting line—ups. wing george north and fly—half dan biggar have won their fitness battles and are named in wales‘ team to play england on saturday. and an australian man who fell into a trench survives for hours with his nose just above the water. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. an independent report — published in the last few minutes — looking at the safety failures that forced seventeen edinburgh schools to close — has blamed the council and the partnership which managed the building contracts. the report's author says there was a lack of proper scrutiny of the construction work. the crisis began injanuary 2016, when a structural wall at 0xgangs primary school collapsed

during a storm. 17 schools, including ten primaries, five secondaries and two additional—support needs schools were then shut because of concerns over the standard of construction. around 7,600 pupils were affected by the closures. once the repairs were complete, city of edinburgh council launched an investigation into the standards of construction. 0ur correspondent, catriona renton is edinburgh and has been looking at the report. that's right, we're here at box primary school in edinburgh. the wall over there, the top part of the war that came jumbling down wall over there, the top part of the war that camejumbling down in high winds in january 2016 as war that camejumbling down in high winds injanuary 2016 as part of storm core truth. nine tonnes of masonry fell onto the path. —— storm gertrude. the report makes the point there were no fatalities or injuries, it was down to a matter of

timing and luck. it was because it was at 7am, had been an hour and a half later the playground would have been full of primary school age children. consequently in april last year all 17 schools built under that private finance scheme were closed in edinburgh and that affected around 8000 pupils if you include nursery school pupils and some of the older pupils were facing their exams so it caused a great amount of concern for pupils, parents and teachers at the time. faults were found in all 17 of those school buildings. edinburgh council commissioned a report from and experienced architect with a strong record in the public sector sector. .he record in the public sector sector. . he came back with this lengthy 250 page document. he confirmed the colla pse page document. he confirmed the collapse of the wall was due to poor construction and inadequate supervision. he said the fundamental reason the wall fell down was

because the outer and inner walls had not been tied together properly. 0ne had not been tied together properly. one of five avoidable... sorry, one of the five avoidable incidents in scotla nd of the five avoidable incidents in scotland happened in the last five yea rs. scotland happened in the last five years. 13 other schools in scotland had to have repairs. the report said it would be naive to assume the lack of quality control evidence in the construction of the walls of the edinburgh schools is limited either to edinburgh or school buildings. the quality of the building is dependent on the tradesmen who build it and witnesses who gave evidence expressed concern this is a growing problem which the construction industry must address. the inquiry raises questions about quality and safety for the construction industry around the uk. thank you very much. to our other main story this afternoon. the prime minister is

hosting her italian counterpart in downing street. she welcomed the new italian prime minister paolo gentiloni for talks about a range of subjects over a working lunch. among those topics, of course, inevitably, brexit. i think we can head straight to that news conference which is continuing at downing street. tim ferri. translation: i thank prime minister made for her kind words and the welcoming i had here today. and our conversations have reinvigorated the friendship and the closeness that our two countries historically have. it is, however, important to reconfirm that this at this point in time. therefore i really appreciate the decision we have taken in terms

of bilateral meetings between our two governments in the near future. this will help us strengthen very old relationship that always needs nourishment. we have obviously taken into account what is necessary after the decision of the uk citizens of leaving the eu. a decision that we respectfully, and we are aware of the fact that negotiations will not be easy. and we also know, and this will certainly be the italian attitude, that we need to show a constructive and friendly approach. there is absolutely no point having a destructive negotiation between the eu and the uk. 0bviously a destructive negotiation between the eu and the uk. obviously we will do this in the hope of fostering the

unity of the 27 countries. because without the unity of the 27 countries, it will be difficult to come to some agreement. and we must ensure this unity will result in the best possible agreement with the uk. we also have a very specific interest that we must both foster. in reassuring our citizens, i'm thinking about the italians that live in the uk, and the british citizens that live in italy, about the fact their acquired rights will be respected. and there will be reciprocity. there will be very fair treatment. from our point of view, it is fundamental to hear the

message mrs may has just given us. that is that the uk decided to leave the eu, but this does not mean the country will leave europe. as far as italy is concerned, we can say that we are committed, even though this decision did not fill us with joy. this is what the uk citizens have decided. and we intend relaunching the eu. this will happen at the end of march in rome for the 60th anniversary of the rome treaty. with the aim of celebrating the results so far. but also to look at the mission of the eu in the next ten yea rs mission of the eu in the next ten years in detail. and taking into

account the fact it may be necessary to have different levels of integration, which is apparent since a little time. and as mrs may said, we will continue to foster good co—operation between our two countries, and in the days ahead, not only thinking of the uk and eu negotiation, but also for the period that we are living in italy. finally, we seem a little bit of growth. —— we see growth. u nfortu nately not growth. —— we see growth. unfortunately not as strong as we would like it to be. but i want to reiterate here that we continue with the reforms and the application of these reforms. so the italian government shows continuity with what has been done in the last two

or three years. and we wish to ensure stability for what needs to be done. we have achieved important results, and i would like to note that today we had an unprecedented result of the fight against tax evasion, something quite unprecedented. 19 billion euros. those have been recovered. and also we have passed a decree on our banks. so, this means stability at a time of reforms that continue. and a common commitment between italy and the uk. in terms of the most important issues in europe, in the

mediterranean, and globally, and that touch both countries, and we will do this also doing vg seven presidency, as mrs may has just said. —— we will do this during the g seven presidency. values for our democracies and civilisation, and our commitment towards nato, and an even greater effort that we need to face in order to face all the changes that globalisation and technological innovation has brought about. and we need to reduce injustice. and, finally, cooperation between italy and the uk in terms of the different issues that we see around us, in particular, we spoke of libya. because stabilising this

country is absolutely fundamental, not just for italy, country is absolutely fundamental, notjust for italy, but country is absolutely fundamental, not just for italy, but for the whole of europe. and this is due to the migration flows. but also the risk that whilst we have good success against terrorism, the fact there could be terrorist cells that get organised in our countries, and therefore we need to cooperate in order to stabilise libya... and i very much appreciate the support i have received from london and the eu on this agreement. that is obviously an initial agreement on which we will need to build over time between the italian government and the libyan government. but obviously this support we receive from london and the eu is extremely important.

we also discussed syria, somalia, the fight against terrorism. and the different fronts on which we are engaged. because this is part of the values that unite us. and this is absolutely fundamental. if possible, we shall strengthen this well beyond the negotiation that we are about to start ina the negotiation that we are about to start in a constructive manner between london and the eu. thank you very much, we'll take a number of questions. andy? andy bell, five news. the worst a&e figures in more than ten years, the british medical association says you have your head in the sand and don't recognise the seriousness of the situation. what can you say to british voters to reassure them the nhs really is safe in your hands? we know one of the big pressures on the nhs is adult social care. did you change the formula forfunding social care. did you change the formula for funding after lobbying

from surrey county council and does it mean other councils will miss out? finally, for prime minister paolo gentiloni, britain hasjust closed a refugee scheme to help unidentified children coming to the uk. asa unidentified children coming to the uk. as a country bearing a heavy burden in accommodating refugees, do you think britain is doing enough to look after refugees coming from the middle east, and immigrants? shalli start off with me three questions you actually asked in your one, andy. 0n the question of the national health service, first, i'd like to thank the staff working day in and day out in the national health service, giving such a good quality of treatment to people. and doing it to record numbers of people in many cases. we put record funding into the national health service, i recognise it is under pressure, that's why we'll be putting the £10 billion extra into the national health service. if you look at what has been happening in a and e, in

december we had record numbers, the busiest day in accident and emergency that took place, that has taken place in the national health service. we're now seeing something like 3000 more people being seen within the four our standard every single day in the national health service. as i say, the staff working in the national health service are doing an excellent job in the national health service are doing an excellentjob day in, day out. we're putting funding in and we are seeing higher numbers of doctors, higher numbers of nurses, higher numbers of paramedics in our hospitals. they are providing an excellent ca re. hospitals. they are providing an excellent care. 0n the social care issue, and social care funding we have given the opportunity for all councils to have a 3% preset on their council tax and a 3% preset on their council tax and a 3% preset on their council tax next year. with other extra funding we are putting m, other extra funding we are putting in, which includes an opportunity

forup to in, which includes an opportunity for up to £900 million extra going into social care. as i said before we recognise the short—term pressures on social care, we've looked at that in relation to funding but there are other things we need to do in social care. we need to ensure best practice is being spread across the country and need a long—term sustainable solution. it has been dogged by government in the uk for too long, this government is looking at that. 0n the refugees, we have a number of schemes in which we are bringing refugees into the united kingdom. we have our syrian vulnerable persons relocation resettlement scheme that commits to 20,000 people coming over the course of this parliament. we have a scheme for vulnerable children and families from the middle east and north africa region more generally. alongside the work being done specifically about syrian refugee children in mainland europe, we've been bringing children from mainland europe into the united kingdom, where they have a right to

be reunited with their families. we've been seeing quite a number of children and families being resettled here in the united kingdom. what we're doing in terms of is absolutely right, on top of the significant financial support and shamanic area aid we are giving to refugees in the region of syria. a commitment of 2.3 billion, the second—biggest bilateral donor. translation: yes, of course europe needs a common strategy for migrants. and obviously the weight of the response we give to this influx of migrants needs to be shared between eu countries and the

italian commitment does not involve discussing unilateral decisions by one country or another. we need to push for a common sharing of responsibilities. if we look at the starting point of what happened in europe, when we started seeing this influx of migrants, we have really made incredible strides forward. if we look back at the beginning of 2015, which is not that long ago, it would have been very difficult to arrive to a migration strategy at eu level. i think the union level first agenda dates back to april 20 15. since then we've made a very good step forward, what was discussed in

malta a few days ago is a step forward. i think obviously this is not yet enough. we shall continue to ensure there is understanding, cohesion, responsibility forall. ensure there is understanding, cohesion, responsibility for all. we shall try and do better what we need to do. tomorrow our council of ministers will discuss internally new measures, new regulation for migrants. the italian press would like to ask? translation: good afternoon, iwould like to ask mrs may... you said that italian workers and other eu citizens will have full rights in the country. you said so in august

when you came to rome. in the text of your bill, it is not actually said so in a specific way. you talk about reciprocity, but i'm wondering whether you could do a first step forward , whether you could do a first step forward, since it is did uk that decided to leave the eu, not vice ve rsa . decided to leave the eu, not vice versa. and to mr gentiloni, i would like to ask, in terms of economics, you spoke of cooperation. i'm wondering whether you may be concerned that the complex international situation and the protectionism we see in the us linked to brexit could have a bad effect on the economy of italy and the rest of the eu? translation: well, i think that as

far as the eu is concerned we need to ta ke far as the eu is concerned we need to take into account the difficulties, and also the unknown, of the international economic scene. but we also need to be able to face up but we also need to be able to face up to the opportunity that we see. it isa up to the opportunity that we see. it is a bit early today to try and assess what the future will bring in terms of international markets. and whether there might be some rather protectionist measures or not. we need to look also at what our potential is. the eu is not a tiny little something. it's a huge commercial and trading block. we

certainly have the possibility and the opportunity of having an ever greater role on the international scene. so a good relationship in terms of trade with one of the most important countries that is the uk decided to reshape this relationship. and also to be able to ask in different regions of the world, like latin american. we believe in an open society, in a free market. and we'll continue to strive to the same. and obviously we intend to cooperate. in the best possible way, with the usa. because they have always been our ally. and

we understand a country like italy, thatis we understand a country like italy, that is very export oriented, and in favour of free trade, something that we have done over the centuries... we understand the role we can have on the international scene. we will not accept closure and we will a lwa ys not accept closure and we will always strive to have openness. and we are sure this will work with the uk and the rest of the international scene. on the question of eu citizens living here in the united kingdom, i've consistently said that i want to be able to and expect to be able to guarantee their status here in the uk. but as the uk prime minister i must of course also think of the uk citizens living in the 27,

what will be the 27 remaining states of the eu. i would want their status in those member states to be guaranteed, too. ithink in those member states to be guaranteed, too. i think there is good will on all sides in relation to this matter, we recognise people wa nt to this matter, we recognise people want reassurance for their future. asi want reassurance for their future. as i said in the house of commons yesterday, when i trigger article 50,i yesterday, when i trigger article 50, i will make clear i want this issue to be addressed at an early stage of negotiations so we can give reassurance to uk citizens living in italy and other member states. and eu citizens and italians living in the uk. another question from william? william james from reuters. prime minister, you've previously said the question of scottish independence was settled in 2014 by the referendum. my question to you today is, would you allow a second independence referendum and did you expect such a request to land on your desk after you trigger article 50? the question is not whether

there could be a second referendum about whether there should be. as you have said in your question we had an independence referendum in 2014, the scottish people determined at that time they wanted scotland to remaina part at that time they wanted scotland to remain a part of the united kingdom. it was a once in a generation vote, said the snp at the time. we should work together to ensure that when the uk negotiates with the european union we get the best possible deal in that negotiation for trading with and operating within the single european market. a deal that will be good for the whole of the united kingdom. and good for the european union. we have committed to intensify our discussions with the scottish government, intensifying our discussions and looking at the plan they have brought forward. as we are working with the other devolved administrations to make sure when we start those negotiations we are very clear about the interest of the whole of the united kingdom. thank you. the

italian press, did you...? translation: giovanni lam angela merkel has said that during the roman celebration the time had come to launch a two speed europe. do you think italy will be part of the top tier as far as the economic situation is concerned? some political parties consider that a government that has a limited life span would have a greater difficulty dealing with the eu in negotiating the reduction of the national debt. i'd like to know what you think about this. and to mrs may, today we have seen an italian newspaper

writing about the need of better policies on migration. since you we re policies on migration. since you were the first one to meet with donald trump, i would like to know whether what is being done by mr trump is suitable in terms of migration. do you consider it would be correct to invite mr putin to the g-7 in be correct to invite mr putin to the g—7 in towermeena be correct to invite mr putin to the g—7 in tower meena or not? —— in taormina. there are four questions here. i start from the last one, even though it was addressed to prime minister may. because, in order to be clear, the italian presidency is not issued any invitation to mr putin to come to the g-7 invitation to mr putin to come to the g—7 meeting in taormina. 0bviously,

the g—7 meeting in taormina. obviously, there is a need for all of us, and italy agrees, to maintain a firm position when it comes to principles. we also should try and foster dialogue. italy is available to do this because it holds the chair of the g—7. this has nothing to do with the possibility of any invitation. that at the moment are nonexistent. as far as the two questions that were asked of me, and i'm sorry if i spoke about putin first, italy... sorry, the eu already has different levels of integration. we know we have the euro countries and the

multi—currency countries. there are some countries that have signed the schengen agreement and others who didn't. i think it would be reasonable, and i certainly argued this as foreign minister, that within these you it is absolutely feasible to have different levels of integration. this is one of the positive answers that we can give to the difficulties of the eu. and that could be the result of the meetings in rome, where we will be looking at the next ten years of progress. as far as the economic situation is concerned, well, ithink as far as the economic situation is concerned, well, i think we need to look at the reality and our constitution. reality tells us that this government is in power. it has

the support of the full parliament and, therefore, we are serious and sta ble and, therefore, we are serious and stable first of all for our citizens. but also when we discuss it with the eu. as far as the constitution is concerned, we know that the government has its full powers because it has the confidence of its parliament. and on the question, i think prime minister gentiloni has answered those other questions, but on the executive order that president trump sign two weeks ago on various movement bands, we thought that was wrong and divisive. it is not a policy that the united kingdom would adopt. what we did do when it became clear there was concern among british citizens that it might

affect them, we worked with the united states government with his administration to make sure that it was not going to affect british national is and british dual nationals. but there is a wider issue about migration and how we deal with significant migration from libya across the mediterranean into libya across the mediterranean into libya and other parts of europe, and the key point, and this is where the work that the italian government and the libyan government are doing, and the libyan government are doing, and the roundtable support is important, is ensuring that people do not make that journey across the mediterranean in the first place. we wa nt to mediterranean in the first place. we want to ensure that people can be returned at an earlier stage to their country of origin, and that we don't see people trying to make a journey which sadly as we know over recent months and years has resulted

in many thousands of people losing their lives, so we are working together on that and we continue to support italian efforts both in the mediterranean but also in dealing with these more upstream issues, and in dealing with the organised crime groups, and we should neverforget that a lot of this migratory traffic is providing rockets to criminals, and we must ensure that we stop their activity. thank you very much, thank you. studio: theresa may alongside her italian counterpart. talk inevitably about britain's departure from the eu, but interested that a lot of the questions directed at the prime minister were still about the nhs, lots of questions about the funding of social care, the story that was around yesterday about surrey county council files. i don't

around yesterday about surrey county councilfiles. i don't think around yesterday about surrey county council files. i don't think she a nswered council files. i don't think she answered that one. she didn't answer the bit about surrey county council and why the council had decided to drop that referendum. we will be talking to james robbins a little later to get his take on that meeting between the italian prime minister and his british counterpart. now it is time to catch up with the sports news. george north has been named in the wales tea m george north has been named in the wales team for their six nations match on saturday. they are hoping that he and dan biggar will be fit. george north picked up a leg injury at the weekend although he did carry on playing for the rest of the match, and scored a try. props rob evans and tomas francis takeover from nicky smith and samson lee, but we will have to wait and see if north and dan biggar will be ready in time. we have tried to prepare as best we can. the players will be given every opportunity to be fit, andi given every opportunity to be fit, and i think that they are

experienced players, george in the wide channels and down through his experience and leadership. so we're giving them every opportunity to be fit. england have also made two changes for the match. jack clifford will make his second start, replacing tom wood who drops to the bench. clifford will be part of an inexperienced back row which will have just 20 caps between them. jack nowell also comes in forjonny may on the wing. scotland were the other winners on the tournament's opening weekend, and there captain greg laidlaw says his team have learned how to handle pressure since coach vern cotter took over. laidlaw feels his team have an excellent chance of making it two wins out of two when they play france this weekend, even though it is 18 years since they last won in paris. the start of the game is massively important, and when you travel away to france, the first instance in the game, whether

it be kick—off or receive, the first thing you do is important psychologically for them as it is for us, and if we can stay in the game and play in the right areas of the field for 20 minutes, if we can do that, we will hopefully put them under pressure, and upset the model that. the scottish fa are appealing against the finder received for wearing poppies on their shirts against england last november. both teams wore the symbol to commemorate remembrance day during their world cup qualifier on november the 11th. the sfa say they have received the written reasons from fifa and have told world football's governing body they tend to appeal against the £15,000 fine imposed. uefa will ask the 16 places at the expanded to 2026 world cup, three more than they had in brazil last time. the tournament will be extended from 32 tournament will be extended from 32 to 48, and uefa wants one team per group, enhancing the chances of its

member nations making it through to the knockout stages. the chairman of british cycling, bob howdon, has stepped down. he was first appointed asa stepped down. he was first appointed as a nonexecutive director in march 2015. british cycling is bracing itself for a major report into whether there was a culture of bullying at its world class performance programme. jonathan brownlee has been elected as his replacement. —— jonathan browning. heather watson and joanna konta have both won their matches in the fed couples morning, so that great britain have a lead against latvia. it is never easy whatever match you are playing, it can be tricky at there, and i know the scoreline does suggest that it was as difficult as

i felt, because it suggest that it was as difficult as ifelt, because it was hard. suggest that it was as difficult as i felt, because it was hard. more sport in the next hour. thank you ray match. —— very much. as we've been hearing throughout the week, the nhs is under considerable pressure as it balances a change in funding against an increase in demand. there's a lot of focus on the burden of the elderly, but nhs is also needed by children. these children are being encouraged to talk about their feelings. a leading are being encouraged to talk about theirfeelings. a leading children's charity said this week that up to two thirds of children, 63%, even at primary is global, worry all the time about things that happen at home and at school, and even though these children are young, this session could prevent issues in the future. that's dr lisa, a psychologist who put this class together. why is it so important that the children are doing this?

mental health problems in young people arise all the time across our country, issues such as self harm and anxiety are becoming bone problems. so what we know from evidence is if we start the conversation early, we can help kids understand what they are feeling and seek help when they need to. so what we are doing isjust seek help when they need to. so what we are doing is just opening that up atan we are doing is just opening that up at an early age and getting young kids feeling 0k about the way they feel. lisa, thank you very much. let's talk about some of the children themselves. will you tell me what you worry about. friendship problems, because you get used to playing with people, yourfriends, and you feel kind of weird when you're not playing with them. fantastic. let's talk to neve over here. how does it affect you when you are worrying about it? here. how does it affect you when you are worrying about mm affects me in my work, because sometimes if i'm stuck in a problem,

imight sometimes if i'm stuck in a problem, i might have loads of weight on my and g really