this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines at 3pm. a report into safety failures which forced 17 edinburgh schools to close blames a lack of scrutiny over building work. it was part of this primary school wall here that came tumbling down in high winds in january wall here that came tumbling down in high winds injanuary 2016. today this lengthy report has been published into what went wrong. leaked figures show record numbers of patients spent more than four hours in hospital a&e units in england last month. we're now seeing something like 3000 more people being seen within the four our standard every single day. donald trump's nomination for attorney general, alabama senator jeff sessions, will be sworn in as us attorney general in the next hour. i'm simon mccoy.

also this hour: as wales and england prepare to clash in the six nations in cardiff, final preparations are being made to their starting line—ups. wing george north and fly—half dan biggar have won their fitness battles and are named in wales‘ team for saturday's big match. 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 hour— looking at the safety failures that forced 17 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. it was in january 2016 part of the wall behind us here at 0xgangs primary school came tumbling down, bringing down around 9000 tonnes of masonry. it happened in the high winds of storm gertrude and happened at about 7am. had it been an hour and a half later, as the report points out, it could have been very different. it says the fact there we re different. it says the fact there were no food allergies or injuries was a matter of timing and luck. ——

note fatalities. in april last year all schools built under the private finance scheme at that time in edinburgh were closed, affecting around 8000 primary and secondary school pupils. of course older pupils had exams coming up, which caused considerable concern for pa rents, caused considerable concern for parents, staff and pupils. faults we re parents, staff and pupils. faults were found in all 17 buildings. edinburgh council commissioned this report which has come out, 250 pages long. from the eminent architect john cole, a very experienced man working in the public sector. 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 were not tied together properly. in the report he says it clear the responsibility for the defects in the build lies with the

main contractors for each project. in each there were many different contractors involved, it wasn't the result of a rogue subcontractor. the private finance contract between the council and building companies did not ensure work was independently inspected, he said. the council has said it will learn lessons from this report. its chief executive is andrew kerr. there are a number of lessons we'll take, 66 recommendations, we'll go through each and see which of those apply to the council as the client. we can ta ke the council as the client. we can take those on board immediately, as we're doing with some things already. intrusive inspections on works. and everything else going forward from the recommendations. we are not the only one. this is going to have to be taken on board by a large numberof to have to be taken on board by a large number of organisations going forward , large number of organisations going forward, we believe. this

potentially has wider implications. in the report mr kohl says the report said it would be naive to assume the lack of quality control in the construction of the world that edinburgh schools is limited either to edinburgh or school buildings. there are four more incidents of damage like this in scotland, and 13 schools had walls are repaired in other parts of scotla nd are repaired in other parts of scotland following what happened in edinburgh. quality has become a big concern. he says ultimately the quality of a building is dependent on the tradesmen who built it and witnesses who gave evidence to this report expressed concern this could bea report expressed concern this could be a growing problem. the inquiry raises significant questions about quality and safety for construction across the whole of the uk. thank you very much. record numbers of patients spent more than four hours in accident and emergency units in england in december — that's according to the official figures. the bbc has seen leaked data that showsjanuary was even worse. the figures suggest record numbers of people waited longer than 12

hours for a hospital bed, once seen in a&e. the government says the vast majority of patients were seen and treated quickly, as our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. for months now, accident and emergency departments across england have been struggling. last week, the bbc was given exclusive access to the royal blackburn hospital, where the pressure on a&e was plain to see. we need beds and staff. it's just like banging your head against a brick wall. i feel as though i'm going to collapse if i don't get to lie down. you need a bed. definitely. it's distressing. it's really distressing for people. queueing for five hours in a corridor. it's not what you expect from a country like ours, is it? we need to get some blood from you. more patients and a shortage of beds mean longer waits, and officialfigures from nhs england, published this morning, show that december was the worst month on record for waiting

times in a&e. the pressure this winter is greater than it's ever been. it has been a steep climb this year but the thing that has changed the most has been not the 2% or 3% increase in demand, but it's the 40% increase in the delays in moving patients, helping them get back home and into the community. now new, provisional data forjanuary, leaked to the bbc, suggests that picture has got even worse. this data appears to show that, last month, just 82% of patients were transferred, admitted or discharged within four hours, the worst performance since the target of 95% was introduced in 200a. 780 patients waited for more than 12 hours for a bed after being admitted to hospital — again, the worst figures on record. and more than 60,000 patients faced a wait of between four and 12 hours, more than in any month since 200a. the nhs in scotland is coping better, but performances in wales

and northern ireland is even worse than in england, symptoms of the pressures building right across the health and social care system. demand is increasing. we don't have the resources to match it but, even worse than that, many of these figures reflect patients who are not coming in with something relatively minor but needing sorting out and then going home again. it reflects the experience of people coming in needing acute hospital admission. every patient stacked on a trolley in a corridor, not getting to the ward they need to be in, not getting the treatment they need is, for any of us, an individual system failure. nhs sources acknowledge the system is facing unprecedented demand. these latest figures suggest there is little sign of a respite. earlier our health editor hugh pym explained to me the extent of the pressures for emergency departments across the uk. the number of patients in december

in england treated or assessed in a&e within four ours was 86.2%, the worst since records began in 200a. scotla nd worst since records began in 200a. scotland in december was a little bit higher, 92.6%. wales at 81%. northern ireland just below 70%. the same pressures everywhere, though different bits of the uk reacting in slightly different ways. let me quote you another stat. there were nearly 500,000 emergency admissions to hospitals in england in december, another record high. that's what nhs england are pointing to, the sheer volume of patients coming through is above anything that has been seen before. they think staff are working incredibly hard and coping very well in the circumstances. but for patients, as we've been hearing, there are more and more waiting longer than four ours on trolleys after a decision has been made to admit them to hospital, to find them admit them to hospital, to find them a bed at more than four ours. as we've been hearing through the week

on bbc news, some really difficult stories in hospitals about what is happening to patients, what they are going through and how frustrated staff are. this isjust going through and how frustrated staff are. this is just december‘s figures as the leaked to the bbc suggests, figures forjanuary are even worse. 0f suggests, figures forjanuary are even worse. of course, winter is still not through. tomorrow on the bbc news channel, we'll be answering your questions — and listening to your suggestions — on how the nhs can tackle the looming financial shortfall — and deal with the challenges that obese and ageing parts of the population are bringing to bear on it. we'll be getting experts to answer your questions and respond to any suggestions you may have. please get in touch by text us or send an email or contact us via twitter using the hashtag bbc ask this. the us senate has backed one of president trump's most controversial cabinet nominees — jeff sessions as attorney general. more than 30 years ago, mr sessions was denied a post as a federaljudge when he was accused of racism — allegations he has always denied.

he will now take charge of the justice department — and more than 100 thousand employees, including 93 us attorneys. 0ur correspondent richard lister sent this report. democrats, civil liberties groups and those representing african americans reacted with outrage when president trump nominated senator jeff sessions to take charge of the department ofjustice. senator sessions has always denied allegations of racism from his time as the senior lawyer in the state of alabama. but during hisjudicial confirmation hearing in 1986 he described the national association for the advancement of coloured people as "anti—american". he also admitted describing landmark legislation ensuring black people could vote as intrusive. he has since said it was necessary and he supports it. democrats also criticised islam established backing of mrtrump, saying

criticised islam established backing of mr trump, saying the government chief legal officer needed to be an independent voice. after the vote, he reached out to them.|j independent voice. after the vote, he reached out to them. i appreciate the full debate that we've had. i wa nt to the full debate that we've had. i want to thank those who after it all found sufficient confidants in may to cast their vote to confirm me as the next attorney general of the united states of america. but democrats are not convinced. in a blistering twitter attack senator elizabeth warren said... another of president trump's nominees made some outspoken comments of his own last night. judge neil cottage, his bit for the supreme court, was apparently

unhappy with mr trump's criticism of thejudges suspended his unhappy with mr trump's criticism of the judges suspended his travel ban, expressing his displeasure to a democratic senator. he certainly expressed to me that he is disheartened by the demoralising app 01’ disheartened by the demoralising app or read comments made by president trump about the judiciary. —— up rent. he may gain democratic support. but that will be a tough battle as democrats do all they can to o bstru ct battle as democrats do all they can to obstruct mr trump's agenda. richard jones me from washington, dc. the thing about donald trump is it doesn't take long for him to react. we know where to look for it as well. absolutely, i think he has tweeted about five or six times already this morning. the tweeting he sent out in response tojudge corset should's criticism of his attacks on thejudge corset should's criticism of his attacks on the judge who over turned his immigration policy was to blame

the messenger. those comments from judge gorsuch emerged from democratic senator richard blumenthal. he treated senator richard blumenthal, who neverfought in vietnam, when for years he said he had in brackets he says major light, misrepresents whatjudge gorsuch told him. there are two parts to the allegation. the first about senator blumenthal. yes, he did misrepresent himself in the past as having served in vietnam. he was in the us marine corps reserve. he didn't serve in vietnam. he apologised for the statements about six years ago. on a more pertinent point about whether he misrepresented judge gorsuch‘s comments. judge gorsuch‘s team say he did misrepresent the comments. another republican senator in the room said he was talking in a more general way about criticism of

judges. a little bit of wiggle room. clearly president trump does not wa nt to clearly president trump does not want to get involved in a direct confrontation with the man he has nominated for the supreme court. looking at trump tweaked this morning, lots of fake news about. laughter welcome if you are president trump there is always a lot of fake news about in his opinion. he believes he's been treated extremely unfairly by the news media who he says in the us is nearly all biased against him. he makes the point repeatedly that the media picks and chooses exactly what it wants to say according to how best to portray donald trump in a bad light. he's had a range of criticisms today. he's firing comments about senatorjohn mccain, who talks about the raid in the yemen which president trump approved. john mccain said a few days ago this was a failure because of the number of civilian casualties and because a member of the navy

seal team was killed. it seems they didn't get the individual in yemen they were trying to kill. he says, no, that's entirely wrong. thatjohn mccain has been a failure for so long he can't remember what success is. comments to that effect. he's basically firing on all cylinders this morning, donald trump. as ever, thank you very much. richard lister in washington, dc. let's have a reminder of today's headlines. a report into safety failures which forced 17 edinburgh schools to close blames a lack of scrutiny over building work. leaked figures show record numbers of patients spent more than four hours in hospital a&e units in england last month. donald trump's nomination for attorney general, alabama senator jeff sessions, will be sworn in as us attorney general shortly. george north is included in the

wales tea m george north is included in the wales team for their six nations match against england in cardiff on saturday. dan biggar is also due to start ina saturday. dan biggar is also due to start in a side that so far shows two changes. there is still a chance neither could be fit. england have made two changes. jack clifford is infor made two changes. jack clifford is in for tom wood and jack nowell replacesjonny in for tom wood and jack nowell replaces jonny may in for tom wood and jack nowell replacesjonny may on the wing. bob howdon has stepped down as chairman for british cycling as the organisation braces itself for results of a report that suggests there was evidence of bullying in its coaching programme. the home secretary has defended a decision which means that a key route into the uk for children caught up in europe's migrant crisis is to close — after a total ofjust 350 arrivals. the government says it will stop receiving children via the so—called dubs amendment at the end of march. lord dubs, who aimed to help thousands of children get to the uk,

called the decision ‘shameful‘. a legal challenge to the decision will go ahead tomorrow. dan johnson reports. they may not make as many headlines but these children of europe's migrant crisis have not gone away. refugees are still on the move, still searching for a new home, and around 90,000 of them are youngsters with no family. under pressure from the uk to do more, david cameron promised to bring some of them here. campaigners hoped 3000 would benefit but the government has announced the scheme will end, having re—homed 350. that has angered some people including mps. they are heading back to calais, back to dunkirk, back to the mud, the danger, back into the arms of the people traffickers and smugglers, the exploitation, abuse, prostitution rings and back into the modern slavery that this parliament and this government has pledged to end.

we have a different approach to where those most vulnerable are. we believe that they are in the region, that is why we have pledged to accept 3000 children from the region and we are committed to delivering on that. well, i'm a refugee. i came to england at the age of six. lord dubs, the labour peer who designed the programme. having been rescued from nazi germany he knows what it means to be a refugee. i'm very disappointed. i was in greece a month ago, desperate conditions in the refugee camps, a lot of children, some unaccompanied, bitterly cold and miserable. we owe it to them. this afternoon the prime minister a nswered this afternoon the prime minister answered that criticism.|j this afternoon the prime minister answered that criticism. i think what we're doing in terms of refugees is absolutely right, on top of the significant financial support and humanitarian aid we're getting to refugees in the region of syria. a commitment of 2.3 billion, the

second biggest bilateral donor. the first young refugees arrived last october, 200 have been re—homed so far, another 150 will come before the end of next month. news that more will not follow has been described as a betrayal of vulnerable children like these and of british values. the home secretary said there was a risk of encouraging people traffickers, she has restated the government's commitment to other schemes, bringing thousands of refugees to the uk directly from camps in the middle east. four men, who were part of a gang that sexually exploited teenage girls in rochdale, are facing deportation. the men, who are british nationals of pakistani origin, were jailed for between 6 and 22 years. immigration judges have rejected appeals against a move to strip them of their british citizenship. downing street has played down suggestions that the house of lords could be abolished if it doesn't back legislation triggering the brexit process. a government source had warned it would face "an overwhelming public call to be abolished" if it tried

to oppose the bill — passed by mps last night. 0ur political correspondent carole walker reports. the ayes to the right, 494. the noes to the left, 122. a resounding victory for the government as mps voted overwhelmingly for it to begin the formal brexit negotiations. scottish national mps struck a defiant note, singing the eu anthem, 0de tojoy. but the bill now passes unscathed to the house of lords. downing street has played down an earlier suggestion there could be calls for the abolition of the house of lords of peers try to frustrate the legislation. yet they face some tough warnings. the message of the british people was clear, and ambiguous, was clear, and unambiguous, they want to leave the eu and they want us to get on with it. if the house of lords,

who are not elected, try to subvert or distort the outcome of that referendum, i think that will put them in constitutionally a very difficult place. but ministers accept that the lords do have a role to play and opposition peers have said they will try to make changes to the bill. we've always been clear we will not block, but we will not be intimidated into not debating, and looking at it in the normal way as we do every other bill. last night's vote exposed the deep divisions in the labour party. more than 50 labour mps defied the instructions of their leader and voted against the bill. jeremy corbyn now has to replace four shadow cabinet ministers who have resigned and decide what, if any, action to take against more than a dozen junior shadow ministers who also rebelled. the labour leader dismissed suggestions that the issue had caused another crisis for his leadership. yes, there is a difference of opinion from mps

who represents strongly remain constituencies and felt they should represent their constituents, i understand that, yet it was a national referendum, national decision, national result. theresa may has been meeting the italian prime minister. she is hoping to get the approval of parliament to begin formal eu exit negotiations with eu leaders by the end of march. then the tough talking will really begin. carole walker, bbc news, westminster. in the last hour, labour's shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell has told the bbc how the party has reacted to ongoing unrest amongst its mps. protecting jobs above all else.

you'll see the labour party uniting now. there won't be any discipline? what will happen now, clyde has stepped down, which is a real loss, we hope you'll be back. the others, the chief whip will report. there is a lot of mutual respect and understanding of the difficulty people were in, to respect constituents views and take into account the referendum. what was your view on clive lewis leaving? it's a shame, he is talented, but i'm sure he'll be back. he's been touted as future leader, what is your view? what's interesting, what we've got now is a very young team. the man accused of murdering the writer helen bailey has told a jury that he spoke to her four days after she disappeared. ian stewart denies killing her. he says she was abducted by two business associates

of her late husband. let's cross to st albans crown court and our correspondent ben ando. ian stewart in the witness box for a third day. explain what's been told the jury. that's right. this morning he finished giving evidence in chief. when his barrister was questioning, he said helen bailey had been taken by two men, joe and nick he named them as. he said they made contact with him after she disappeared, told him not to tell the police, told him to take her phone to broadstairs in kent. that explains, he says, why her phone briefly connected with the wi—fi at that property on the 16th of april, five days after she had disappeared. under cross—examination the prosecutor stuart trimmer qc has focused on alterations and changes

he made to his story between police interviews he gave last year and the evidence he gave in the witness box here in court. he talked about the sleeping drug zopiclone which had been prescribed to ian stewart, traces of which were found in helen bailey. the prosecution case was he had been drugging her, then smothered her and put her in the cesspit beneath the garage of the home they shared in royston. he said she had seen he had been prescribed the drug, googled it and discovered it was a bad for a man with his medical conditions. mr trimmer said if we checked the ipad we would find a google search for zopiclone. he said, yes. he was asked about brea kfast said, yes. he was asked about breakfast on the day when he had spoken to the police before he said he cooked breakfast. now in the witness box he said he hadn't cooked brea kfast witness box he said he hadn't cooked breakfast on the day she disappeared. that, said mr trimmer, was important. he was asked about another change to the story, he said

he had fallen asleep on the day she disappeared in the study, before waking up and going to the doctors. now he says he went upstairs to bed briefly. again, said mr stringer, it was important to change that because you are now saying she changed details on how barclays account, detailed it is alleged he changed she change them at a computer in his study. she would have had to be sat on yourlap study. she would have had to be sat on your lap while you stepped to do that. the trial here continues. mps will put pressure on the fa today — as they consider a no confidence motion on the organisation's ability to reform itself. the commons culture, media and sport select committee will examine whether the fa can "comply fully with its duties". earlier i spoke to our sports news correspondent richard conway, and i asked him how much pressure was the fa under?. this debate about fa governance has been going on for nearly 50 years now. there has been very little change in the interim. mps want to

see the fa change its board of directors. and its fa council, which is effectively put poor‘s parliament. it wanted to be more representative of the people who play, watch and administer the sport in 2017. if they feel to reform, failed to live up to new standards set by sport england and the government, they could be at risk of losing £50 million of public funding over the next four years. in addition, guarantees, if they wanted to stage the world cup or european championship, could be at risk. there are tangible things at risk for the fa. the fa leadership wants change to take place, it wants to modernise, but must convince those councillors, and those board members, it's in the interests of the fa ‘s governing body to do that. greg clark the fa chairman says he'll resign if he doesn't get the necessary support in the coming months. this report today is a sign of the pressure, the fa determined in the coming few weeks it can “firs? ,. . . w ’ can fihififréand . w . can “fits? and . i,,,the . it can cha—ngeand show the , c, government has it can cha—hgeahd shew the , e,

government has a plan to it can changes—he shew the , e, government has a plan to modernise the organisation. richard conway reporting. we'll be monitoring that debate as it gets underway. an australian man has survived after spending hours struggling to keep his nose above water after his digger toppled into a dam. daniel miller had been using the excavator at his remote farm north of sydney, when the rim gave way, and he was pinned down by the three—tonne machine. he said he adopted a yoga pose — and spent the whole time thinking about his wife and two young children — until a neighbour heard his shouts. went to a very rational place. thought i could just give up, there's no way, not letting my daughter... thinking about how they are going to find me face down in a dam, dead, that wasn't going to happen. not without a fight. then i went to a very almost robotic state

of just count to went to a very almost robotic state ofjust count to 60. don't think about six hours, think about 60 seconds. the neighbour who heard his screams and grabbed a camera! we'll catch up with the weather prospects. helen willetts has those. a cold day, only one celsius on east anglia it is to find sunshine for very difficult to find sunshine for you today, but i have managed to do that in carmarthen. what a beautiful shot. further north in kellen daly —— ceredigion, cloud, and that cloud is - expected to

is expected to to a deal, - you could great dealland you could see a dusting of snow. - cold great dealland you could see a c down of snow. - cold great dealland you could see a c down of snov —6, i cold great dealland you could see a c down of snov —6, and :old £155.57 ;':'.==.f te— .- e. .-f e; we» e: coming, , ,, ..,

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