this is bbc news, i'm maxine mawhinney. the headlines at 2pm. headteachers in england say a funding crisis is forcing them to increase class sizes and cut courses. and if the government stick to their pledges over the next five years for the cash flows and budget, we'll be making cuts to something like 70,000 every year. the european commission president says he hopes one day britain will rejoin the eu. bt bows to demands to run a legally separate broadband operation — to cheers from its competitors. a tennis coach accused of abusing his daughters to become tennis stars goes on trial in london. i'm simon mccoy. could mps and lords be forced to leave the palace of westminster? parliament's spending watchdog says the quickest and easiest way to carry out essential repairs is to have everyone vacate the building. and how do you like your live music? a new study aims to tell us about our musical tastes good afternoon, and

welcome to bbc news. schools in england are being forced to cut gcse and a—level courses in an effort to balance the books, according to a head teachers‘ union. the association of school and college leaders has warned budget pressures causing them to cancel things like school trips. they've also said that budget constraints are driving up class sizes. 0ur education correspondent gillian hargreaves is at the conference in birmingham. between now and easter there will be a number of teaching union conferences. first up this morning headteachers here in birmingham. justine greening could have been left in no doubt about how strong their grievances are.

peter woodman at the weald school might be a head teacher, but he still likes to work at the chalk face, partly because he enjoys it am partly because it saves money. the only reason we can survive is we are carrying forward money from last year, if the government stick to their pledges at the cash flow and budget, we will be making two cuts to around £70,000 every year, year on year. peter is one of dozens of heads in southern england who wrote to pa rents southern england who wrote to parents informing them of the impact of cuts. in a poll of more than 1000 members of the union almost three quarters said they had had to make cuts to gcse or vocational courses in the last 12 months. the most common subjects to have been removed we re common subjects to have been removed were design and technology, performing arts courses, music and german. many teachers reported bigger class sizes to save money. headteachers gathered in birmingham this morning for the first of a

series of teachers conferences where cuts dominate the conversation. it's the first time education secretary justine greening has laid out the government's case about how schools should operate in these straitened times. the education secretary justine greening has told headteachers that while there is no more money she will do her utmost to help them ease their way through the worst financial pressures in schools for 20 years. it's really annoying to find government constantly saying funding has never been higher. that's true because we've got more stu d e nts that's true because we've got more students and because of inflation. we've got an 8% cut and we're expected to continue delivering quality. i think like many schools across the country we are all struggling to make ends meet. it's absolutely dire, we're having to make cuts to our curriculum and it's untenable, really. the government points out class sizes are at their lowest level for a decade and that £40 billion is being spent on

schools in england this year, the highest cash figure ever. this afternoon the new chief inspector of schools for england amanda speelman will get up and make a speech to headteachers in which she says some schools are quite deliberately narrowing the range of subjects they teach and moving difficult pupils out of schools to help them rise up league tables. i suspect it will not go down well at all with some heads here. downing street says it is confident it will meet its own deadline of the end of march, for triggering the start of britain's departure from the european union. it comes as eu leaders meet in brussels to shore up unity between the other 26 nations. the president of the european commission jean—claude juncker has hinted he thinks the british will one day be persuaded to be joined the european union. he was speaking

ata the european union. he was speaking at a press conference in brussels at the end of the meeting of 27 leaders. i don't like brexit because i would like to be in the same boat as the british. the day will come when the british. the day will come when the british will re—enter the boat, i hope. but brexit is not the end of the european union, nor the end of all our developments, nor the end of oui’ all our developments, nor the end of our continental ambitions. they had the impression when talking privately to colleagues and listening to the debate we have in the room that on the contrary the brexit issue is encouraging the others to continue. unfortunately we're not the british and be seen in more 01’ we're not the british and be seen in more or less all our numbers that the approval of european integration is having a larger adherents of the population. so brexit is not the

end. i regret it, it's not the end, we continue. 0ur correspondent ben wright reports from there. business not quite as usual this morning, as 27 eu heads of government gathered without britain. within weeks the uk will start to unpick its decades long relationship with the eu and try to build a new one. everyone here expects the divorce to be difficult. a crucial player on the eu side will be this man, donald tusk, re—elected yesterday to the job of president of the european council, which represents eu leaders. in a fortnight eu leaders will meet in italy to celebrate 60 years since the treaty of rome was signed, a foundation stone of the european union. but brexit will undoubtedly overs ha d ow union. but brexit will undoubtedly overshadow the party. theresa may who left the summit last night insists she will trigger the start of brexit by the end of the month. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has been clear about one aspect of

the talks to come. the future cost of access to eu markets. it's not reasonable, i don't think, for the uk, having left the eu, to continue to make vast budget payments. i think everybody understands that and that's the reality. and from the other side of the negotiation and idea from a senior mep who is not a negotiator but will represent the european parliament during brexit. he said there will be some way for european citizens who want it to retain their eu ‘s identity. european citizens who want it to retain their eu 's identity. many uk citizens say i want to continue to have my eu citizenship and i think we need to examine what type of special arrangement we can make for these individuals citizens. we want to continue their relationship with the european union. how that might work in practice is anyone's guess. we're on the brink of negotiations that have never been attempted

before. the risks for both sides are high. bt has agreed to set up a new company to run the uk's national broadband network after being criticised for its own operation. bt 0penreach has been accused of looking after its own customers, at the expense of rivals like sky, talktalk and vodafone. those companies welcomed the news, saying everyone's customers would benefit from the change. here's our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones. it has got a massive and vital task, rolling out fast broadband across the uk. but its critics say that bt's the uk. but its critics say that bt‘s 0penreach hasn't been up to the job delivering poor service and not investing enough. now after a long battle of them has ordered that 0penreach should be separated from bt. the regulator says this is what customers have been demanding. they, like others as a regulator guy have been concerned that 0penreach has not been performing well enough, that broadband hasn't been good enough. i think they see the greater

independence as a great means for 0penreach to operate with the interests of the whole telecoms industry at heart, notjust bt. this move is meant to make 0penreach a more independent operation of eight of 32,000 employees working directly for it. there will be an independent board in charge of what goes on and it'll have its own brand. the bt logo will disappear. bt had been accused of taking profits from 0penreach and spending them on sports rights, a charge it denies. the firm could have been ordered to sell off the division completely and seems content with the deal today. we listen to the criticisms we've heard from the general public, service providers, politicians and the media. and we've looked to address them. that's what we're doing today with these fundamental performance. around 9096 of uk homes have access to fast broadband. the hope is that the roll—out will accelerate and service will improve. we hope these reforms really are

going to lead to a big change by 0penreach, that it'll make them much more focused on delivering for their customers. but also that it will transform this market so we see more competition and see customers having more choice about who they get broadband and phone services from. even rivals like talk talk who had once called for bt to split up have welcomed this more limited move. but they called for 0fcom to make sure 0penreach delivers on its promises. breaking news from the high court, the writerjack monroe has won £24,000 in damages in a libel action against the controversial columnist katie hopkins. she said jack monroe isa katie hopkins. she said jack monroe is a food blogger who also campaigned over poverty issues and she sued to 80 hopkins over tweaked she sued to 80 hopkins over tweaked she said caused her serious harm to her reputation. she asked in the court in london to say she was

defamed by the former the apprentice co ntesta nt. defamed by the former the apprentice contestant. we'll bring you more from the courts as we get it. theresa labour has accused the government of being in ‘disarray‘ after the prime minister said controversial tax rises for self—employed workers would not be put into legislation until the autumn. theresa may said the changes to national insurance, announced in the budget, were necessary and fair. number ten confirmed this morning that the prime minister was "fully committed" to national insurance reform. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is in westminsterfor us. that's right. theresa may has been defending the policy but that doesn't mean to say she's closing her ears or shutting her eyes to the concerns of conservative backbenchers by legislating on this in the autumn, not summer, she is giving herself some time to make adjustments if necessary. by autumn we should have a review into working practices. it's likely to suggest the self—employed get more rights, that people conventionally employed

will have paternity pay, paternity leave and so on. certainly the government will try to argue in the autumn certainly to concern backbenchers that people paying higher national insurance will get value for money, more for the money they pay. some of the conservative rebels, potential rebels i've been speaking to today, want the government to be more radical, to make a clear distinction between those genuinely self—employed, plumbers and hairdressers and so on, and those who spend most of their time working for one company. people working for courier companies. they say perhaps a larger category should pay national insurance in return for full employment rights. i spoke to neil carmichael chair of the education select committee, cross— party education select committee, cross—party committee, in the house of commons, a conservative mp worried about the effect this will have on his constituents. what you'd like to see is more rights for the self—employed, but also suggesting a period of implementation could be eased as well. if we're expecting

people to be sort of active in the economic system as entrepreneurs, taking risks, we've got to demonstrate we are aware of that and are willing to mitigate some of those risks. so that's an important point. the wider question about taxation of course is we've got to increase tax take in order to pave the things we might want to pay for. education clearly being one of them. and also the risks we might confront leaving the european union. so it's important we have a tax system which works fairly and efficiently in terms of getting the money in. works fairly and efficiently in terms of getting the money inm works fairly and efficiently in terms of getting the money in. is it a kind of package that says people get value for money, they'll get more of the right to employ people get that will satisfy people, perhaps you and your constituents, 01’ perhaps you and your constituents, or would you and some colleagues be holding out for a rethink on the implementation of the timescale on

the tax rise itself? perhaps a rethink on the implementation is probably the most likely outcome because at the end of the date we're going to have to get some tax. i think we've got to recognise that and be bold enough to stick with the overall direction of travel. but make sure it's more comfortable for those who are basically travelling. interestingly neil carmichael was saying the journey ought to be used for the people have to make it. labour say the government should do a complete u—turn, simply stop this increase because it breaches their 2015 manifesto promise not to increase national insurance contributions. interestingly a former shadow treasury spokeswoman and former labour spokeswoman rachel reeves seemed to be suggesting it might be acceptable to labour mps to change those levels of national insurance so long as the self—employed got something in return. it is true that with the

flat rate pension that over time people who are self—employed will start to benefit from a pension they didn't previously get. when you look at other benefits like maternity and paternity leave and maternity and paternity leave and maternity and paternity pay, like for example sickness and disability benefits, out of work benefits, you don't have the same sort of access if you are self—employed. if the chancellor wa nts to self—employed. if the chancellor wants to go further and look at those whole range of benefits, i think that would be something that we could support and get behind. but at the moment we don't have anything like those guarantees, all we know is the self—employed will have to pay higher national insurance without getting those benefits that many of the rest of us take for granted. here i think is the problem for philip hammond, plenty of suggestions from rachel reeves on what they can do to sweeten the bitter pill of a national insurance rise. but the more concessions he makes the less money will be going into the treasury and certainly saw

his own mps have been saying to me, really, is the financial gain, a relatively small financial gain, with an extended period of political painfor with an extended period of political pain for the government. you're watching bbc news. the headlines this afternoon... education secretaryjustine headlines this afternoon... education secretary justine greening has been heckled by headteachers at their annual conference after setting out her plans for new grammar schools. european commission president says he hopes one day britain will rejoin the eu. bt agrees to legally separate its broadband operation 0penreach into a separate entity following pressure from the telecoms regulator. in sport, a leaked report claims british cycling's own review into jess varnish‘s claims about sexism against shane sutton was sanitised, one of a series of criticism is seen ina draft one of a series of criticism is seen in a draft report to the sport's

governing body. 0wen farrell remains a doubt for the match at twickenham after missing training today. tiger woods is a doubt for the masters next month after his bad back forces him to pull out of yet another tournament. more on those stories just after half past. a tennis coach is on trial, accused of causing child cruelty as he coached his daughters to become tennis stars. in one incident, john de'viana from essex is said to have punched and kicked one of his daughters after a tennis match. he denies the charges. 0ur correspondent, helena lee, is at snaresbrook crown court. what has the court been told? this is the second day that the defendant has been giving evidence in his trial, he is accused of subjecting his two daughters, now aged 21 and 19 years old, when they we re aged 21 and 19 years old, when they were younger, over a number of yea rs. were younger, over a number of years. subjecting them to physical and mental abuse in his desire, the

prosecution says, for them to become tennis champions. the girls did in fa ct tennis champions. the girls did in fact become very successfuljunior tennis players but he is accused of putting them through an incredibly gruelling routine, physically and mentally abusing them when it didn't go the way he wanted them to. he has been giving evidence in court today in front of the jury and told the jury in front of the jury and told the jury it was the girls who wanted to play tennis, he neverforced jury it was the girls who wanted to play tennis, he never forced them. he was asked by his defence team, did you force dubai, the eldest daughter, to play tennis? he said no because that would be counter—productive. you can't force a child to play a particular sport, especially when that child is progressing at a rapid rate. the court also heard thatjohn de'viana had written abusive notes on the back of match reports after the girls played tennis matches when he didn't think it reached the standard he wanted them to reach. he was again asked in court about this. he

was asked why he used such language and he replied, it was the only way i could vent my frustration as a coach. he denies those two charges of child cruelty and the case continues. in south korea, two people have died in clashes between police and demonstrators who were protesting at the removal from office of the president by the country's highest court. park geun—hye was found guilty of corruption and stripped of all her powers. but she's refusing to leave the presidential palace, as our correspondent in seoul stephen evans now reports. the moment a president was ousted. the head of south korea's highest court says president park committed a grave breach of the law. it was against the constitution and the trust of the people. outside the court pro—park protesters clashed with police. two died, one apparently by falling from the top of the bus he had climbed onto.

the central allegation is that the country's biggest companies paid money to the president's best friend in return for favours. so top business leaders now face awkward questions which may yet put them behind bars. the police have been out in force because feelings run so high. families are split on the issue. there will be a general election in 60 days. one of the consequences of that may be a move to the left. if the government here moved to the left, there would be a different attitude towards north korea, probably more cooperative. every saturday night for three months, there have been huge demonstrations against president park. but what pushed her from office was a constitutional court finding her guilty of crime in a country which has only been a democracy for 30 years.

stephen evans, bbc news, south korea. steve went out onto the streets to gauge the atmosphere and send this update. the centre of seoul tonight feels like a victory rally for the protesters who pushed the president from power. but it's only half the story. there are also pro—park people who are nursing their wounds, and those wounds won't heal easily. president park, ex—president park, rather, is in the presidential palace just beyond this rally. she can hear all of this. she emerges tomorrow as an ordinary citizen and she may well face criminal charges and end up behind bars. this is not the end of the process. it may be more than sixty years

since the great smog of london, but air pollution in the capital is again a huge issue. it damages people's health and contributes towards thousands of premature deaths every year. all this week, the bbc has been highlighting the growing problem of air pollution. as part of our ‘so i can breathe' series, our correspondent graham satchell has been looking at the changing conditions in britain's cities, and how to achieve cleaner air. london has been brought to a halt by dense smog, which has descended overnight. the great smog of 1952, dramatised in the netflix series the crown. it was a difficult time. it was scary, it was unpleasant. anne goldsmith was eight in 1952 and remembers it well. we could hardly see in front of us, and when i got to school, the handkerchief would be absolutely black. it is now thought 12,000 people

died in the great smog. the enemy then was coal, used in factories and people's homes. what followed the smog was the clean air act of 1956. it introduced smoke—controlled areas, where only smokeless fuel could be burnt. fast forward 60 years and the enemy now is nitrogen dioxide from diesel engines. so what is being done today? these are the engines that have been removed out of taxis in birmingham. the local authority in birmingham has funding to replace the diesel engines in 65 taxis. we removed 99% of the nox that taxis were producing. it is a massive reduction. but it is a small pilot project. there are hundreds of taxis in birmingham. the government's overall plan is to introduce so—called clean air zones in five cities by 2020. i will look at the evidence,

and when the evidence comes through as to where the key areas of pollution are, we will take the action that is needed to address the need for clean air in the city. i am afraid the government has been hopeless. critics like client earth say that what we need today is a new clean air act, and a scrappage scheme for diesel cars. we have to phase diesel vehicles off the roads. it will cost a fortune. it will take time, but we have to protect people's health. back in lewisham in london, anne is meeting nine—year—old eloise, and amy, who is six. we called it smog, and you couldn't see. only this far in front of your eyes. on days when pollution is bad, amy and eloise are kept indoors at playtime, just as anne was in 1952. sometimes we have to do stay inside because the air is bad. because the air is bad now? more than 60 years on, air pollution

is still damaging children's health and shortening people's lives. graham satchell, bbc news. whether it's pub music, summer festivals, or street buskers, the uk is alive with the sound of live music. but what does it tell us about our musical likes and dislikes? today, the uk is carrying out its first live music census to find out. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon has been taking a look — and a listen — to the music scene in glasgow. buskers on the streets of glasgow, passionate about their music, drawing interest from passers—by. i love it and i do it every day and it's a way i can play with my friends and enjoy life with other people and share with other people. from classical to contemporary, from concert halls to gigs in pubs, music is part of our culture. in our cars, at home, on our phones, we listen to plenty of music.

but how does the live scene compare? volunteers in six cities across the country are attempting to find out. we're asking them how many events they go to, why they maybe go to an event, what's the main reasons behind going to an event. there are plenty of free performances to go to but, even so, british consumers spend more on concert tickets than on physical records, digital downloads and streaming combined. and the organisers of this census say that even those who think that silence is golden should care about the state of the nation's live music. music is a huge driver economically within the creative industries which are, of course, a big export for the uk, where it punches above its weight. there's a lot of research to suggest that music is also important for our health and well—being but, for me, music is really important because it's part

of what makes us human, it's a fundamental part of being part of the human species. glasgow has a really active music scene. there are 70 live music events in the 24—hour period this census is taking place, but here and across the uk the live music scene is facing challenges. some iconic locations where famous groups honed their acts have closed down, some never to reopen. some smaller more intimate venues are onlyjust breaking even. surviving as a small venue is difficult at the moment because property prices are increasing, because of the tight regulations around licensing. this attempt to measure the economic and cultural benefits of live music is, census organisers believe, a world first. whatever they find out, that live music in all its glorious

forms bringsjoy to many is already beyond doubt. lorna gordon, bbc news, glasgow. somebody always hits the right note, tomasz schafernaker. .. somebody always hits the right note, tomasz schaferna ker. .. unless somebody always hits the right note, tomasz schafernaker... unless it is a welsh place name, of course. commons. thank you very much, simon. yesterday we were basking in the sunshine, today not because, pretty gloomy out there, which is how it'll stay most of the day. even on the south coast we've had fog around. the picture for the rest of the day isn't going to change an awful lot. just a few spits and spots. of rain. it's not overcast everywhere, we've seen sunshine today and if you've had clear blue skies you are in a minority. there are pockets where we've seen more blue sky than plough

but overall it's a gloomy picture. tonight, bit of rain moves into north—western parts of the uk. in the south, temperatures no lower than around 10 degrees. tomorrow doesn't look gloomy, sunshine for scotland, for northern ireland a lovely day, the clouds set to break up lovely day, the clouds set to break up nicely across central and southern areas, temperatures up to 18 in the south. 0n southern areas, temperatures up to 18 in the south. on saturday. come sunday a different story, weather fronts moving through, so we will get rain. 0ne fronts moving through, so we will get rain. one day of good weather at least. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: education secretary justine greening has been heckled by headteachers

at their annual conference after claiming grammar schools help to close the attainment gap between well—off and poorer children. european leaders have been meeting in brussels to discuss preparations for a special unity summit to mark the 60th anniversary of the bloc. prime minister theresa may did not take part. the telecoms regulator, 0fcom, has reached a deal with bt to turn its broadband division 0penreach, into a separate company. rival broadband providers to bt have welcomed the decision. a tennis coach has denied child cruelty towards his daughters after a court was told that john de'viana from essex had wanted to turn his children into star players. now we have a bit of sport. a leaked report into british cycling has levelled serious criticisms at the sport's governing body. which has admitted to failings in its world class performance programme. the draft version of the report by uk sport appears to have made these key findings: that there is a "culture of fear" among staff at british cycling, some of whom are "frightened to speak out and are being bullied". former performance director sir dave brailsford was "untouchable".

and took decisions about the multi—million pound budget himself. and former technical director shane sutton was said to be unsuitable for a leadership role. the review alleges that british cycling's own report intojess varnish‘s claims of sexism against shane sutton — where this story began — was "sanitised" after the grievance officer found varnish‘s allegations were largely true but british cycling chose to leave out his findings in their report. the review concludes those actions were "shocking and inexcusable". british cycling have responded with a statement accepting that "leadership focused on medal delivery without sufficient care and attention to the staff and athlete culture. . . " and while they disagree with the factual accuracy of certain points,

the body's board admits that there was not "adequate oversight" leading to a failure to "address the early warning signs". meanwhile sir dave brailsford has once again ruled out resigning from his currentjob running team sky. he's admitted mistakes were made relating to anti—doping and medical procedures concerning a ‘mystery‘ package which was delivered to a team doctor in 2011. but brailsford insists he won't stand down from the team that's won four of the last five tours de france. 0wen farrell remains a doubt for england's six nations game with scotland tomorrow after missing training at twickenham today. we have another 24 hours to ss ‘s injury. it is only 24 hours since his injury, and if it doesn't make it, we have a ben who is a great replacement. we will see our returns

out. —— 24 hours to ss his injury. meanwhile wales and ireland launch the penultimate weekend of six nations action. ireland still have a slender chance of taking a third title in four years. they are a very smart rugby side they —— and they have beaten the all blacks recently. they are so used to competing in the last day of the championship, to win or lose, and for them to not be in that position

will certainly provide extra motivation for them. tiger woods admits he has "no timetable" for his return to golf. after announcing he won't be playing in next week's arnold palmer invitational. woods has still not recovered from the back spasms that forced him to withdraw from the dubai desert classic at the start of february. his withdrawal from the event at bay hill makes the former world number one a doubt for the masters in less than a month's time. we can go to brussels. but we hear that the eu's jean—claude juncker, he has said that maybe one day

britain will rejoin the eu. it hasn't even happened yet. but now it is going to happen, there is resolved that this will take place. they feel that brexit, although unwelcome, is only making the remaining 27 firm in their commitment to the european union. i do get a sense they are ready for brexit talks, and the next time they get together, it is likely to be early in april and britain will not be here, that is the moment they will start to hammer out what they are prepared to negotiate around that table. some interesting things have been said by someone ask as well. yes, a belgian mep, massive pro—european, even in this town, he

is speaking to the 48%, he wanted britain to remain. he has said that he thinks some kind of negotiations for some kind of scheme for eu citizens who want to keep part of their eu identity could be kept, to enable them to access free movement or vote in european elections. he is putting this out for discussion. i don't get a sense that this is something the eu commission is talking about. although he will have a role. interesting thought. and a clue to some of the thinking in a corner brussels on one of these issues. theresa may left after dinner last night. she's no longer taking part in this if unity. is there a hollow ring to this? —— in

this day of unity. they are aware, that the timing is not good. as the eu assembles in italy on the 25th of march to celebrate 60 years of the european union and the signing of the treaty of rome, around about the time when brexit will be triggered. the italians are organising this and they have asked the british government to consider this, the timing of the triggering of article 50, so the celebrations of rome are not going to be obliterated by the departure of one of the key member states. you will see a attempt from the remaining 27 to galvanise the european union and to try and show to the world that there is a confident future for the european union even though britain is checking out. thanks forjoining us. downing street says there'll be a parliamentary vote in the "not too

distant future" over how to carry out urgent repairs to the palace of westminster. mps have been warned that parts of the building are in such a poor state that there's a risk of "catastrophic failure". the latest advice is that it will be cheaper for mps and lords to leave the building entirely while work is carried out. leila nathoo reports. the splendour of the palace of westminster hides a secret — the building is decaying. crumbling stonework, ageing electrics and asbestos — mps are warning major renovations need to be carried out urgently to avoid what they say could be a catastrophic failure. the commons public spending watchdog has been considering three options. keeping mps and peers in the building while work is carried out — this would cost £5.7 billion and take around 32 years. a partial move out — taking 11 years and costing £4.4 billion or moving both houses out the palace entirely to allow six years of intensive repair costing around £3.5 billion.

we're saying, get on with it. we need to make a decision. we are suggesting to fully decamp the house and do the work over a six year period and we need that decision made soon so they can work out the detailed planning, costing and schedule, how we're going to move out and what we're going to do. mps can be housed nearby in what is currently the headquarters of the department of health. while the qeii conference centre down the road could house the house of lords. there have now been three examinations of the options to rescue the palace and another parliamentary committee also wants to have its say but the longer the delay the more the likely cost to the public purse and the longer the dangers go unchecked. despite the upheaval, doing nothing, the committee says, is not an option. mps and peers will soon have to decide again on whether to leave or remain. joining me now from our westminster studio is tom banks, campaign manager at

the taxpayers alliance. good afternoon. it is between a rock and a hard place. it has been made pretty clear by the public amounts committee that in their opinion the mps be to go because that offers the best value for money for the taxpayer. it is important mps listen to that. some have said they should go for the other option which allows them to stay there at a greater cost but that won't be acceptable. they need to respect the report from the public amounts committee, they are well respected and theirjob is to do this. —— public accounts committee. they need to listen to that recommendation and go with the option that the committee had recommended which is to move out. does the cost worry you, that it might spiral? it has happened

before. portcullis house went over budget when that was built in the late 90s, and it does happen. government backed projects like this do end up running overtime and over budget. 0ne do end up running overtime and over budget. one of the otherjobs for the public accounts committee, if they go for the option they have recommended, which we think they should, is to monitor those costs and the times carefully because i think it will be not except a ball for —— not accept double for a delay in the first place, and it will be even worse if it goes over budget —— not acceptable. you sound frustrated with them for not making a decision. it is frustrating, i think, that there is almost confusion as to which one they should take. it should be the cheapest and most efficient option and that is the first option the public accounts committee have suggested. it is baffling that there is any suggestion that anything else should

be on the table. the other option would cost £6 billion, £7 billion, andi would cost £6 billion, £7 billion, and i can't ready get into the head ofan mp and i can't ready get into the head of an mp who thinks that is acceptable. they need to move out because that is the most efficient bit of the project for the taxpayer. it is because it is an iconic building, something where they should have a presence. that is all well and good, but if they don't do anything with it it will collapse in anything with it it will collapse in a heap. they have to do something and 5—6 years out of it while they repair it back to how it was, that is completely fine. it is something that the public accounts committee are confident can be done pretty effectively and the mps should listen to that committee which is well respected. listen to their recommendations and go ahead with it. thanks forjoining us.

in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first the headlines on bbc news: education secretary justine greening has been heckled by headteachers at their annual conference after setting out her plans for new grammar schools. the european commission president says he hopes one day britain will rejoin the eu. a tennis coach accused of cruel and abusive behaviour towards his daughters in an effort to turn them into tennis stars has gone on trial in london. bt has finally agreed to let go of its 0penreach division. that's the outfit that runs the infrastructure for the county's broadband system. 0penreach will now become an independent company. the change was demanded by the regulator 0fcom. the boss of wetherspoons is one man who isn't raising a glass to the budget.

tim martin says the rates relief announced for pubs is tiny compared to the increased burden of taxes the company faces. the growth of sales at the company is now the slowest its been for seven years — and mr martin is warning taxes could squeeze profits in the future. volkswagen is due to plead guilty in america to fraud and obstruction of justice. it's all to do with its emissions cheating scandal. this will draw a line under the american side of the affair. but remember, on this side of the atlantic, the european commission is overseeing action by 22 member states. there's been some good news on jobs out of the world's biggest economy. america created 235,000 newjobs last month — that's much more than expected. so what does this say about the prospects for the economy as a whole? we can talk to jane foley.

from rabobank. 235,000 was the numberand from rabobank. 235,000 was the number and that was stronger than the printed number, but earlier this week we had data which suggested the data could have been even larger so some people are actually disappointed. that said, creating this amount of jobs disappointed. that said, creating this amount ofjobs everywhere month, with inflation rather low and earnings rather low, we are in a pretty good environment for the united states and they have a decent level of growth, maybe 2.5% gdp, and together with subdued inflation, thatis together with subdued inflation, that is a pretty good combination of events. what does this say about the prospects for a hike in interest rates ? prospects for a hike in interest rates? the market is all be priced m, rates? the market is all be priced in, a quarter of 1% —— is already

priced in. the market priced for that over the last couple of weeks and that is because of comments from many of the federal reserve bank officials. they have prepared the market and the data is not changed expectations, but if it were even stronger and there was more inflation coming through, the market would have been more aggressively expecting more interest rate hikes in the course of the year but at the moment the market is thinking maybe two — 3%, but the data is not strong enough to get the market excited about a faster pace of interest rate rises. how much of this is down to the early effects of donald trump? inflation data is backward looking and the vast majority ofjobs that we re and the vast majority ofjobs that were created last month and the conditions would have been set several months before, employees don't employ people unless they know they can sustain that level of

employment —— imp lawyers. but there might have been some jobs created because of the donald trump effect. we sawjobs come through after the hope that donald trump would come through with government spending and red tape. —— cuts in red tape. we have not seen much in the way of fiscal spending, that has got to be signed off, and many of the politicians are reluctant about spending because of the rise in us debt and so we don't have confidence that there will be. there is a big fiscal stimulus that donald trump has been talking about. thanks for joining us. in other business news: here's some good news

for company bosses. staff sickness rates are at an all time low. just over four days were lost to sickness per worker last year — compared to 7.3 days when records first began — in 1993. minor ailments like coughs and colds accounted for a quarter sick days. william hill finally has a new chief executive. the company's been without a permanent boss since lastjuly — whenjames henderson stepped down after failing to increase online and international business. the new man in charge is philip bowcock — who's been standing in for the last few months. how does the money get divided when buy or stream a song? well that's being decided by a court in washington. judges will hear from songwriters and publishers about who should get what. the court's decision will govern music royalties over the next five years. the ftse has been fairly buoyant. investors have been encouraged by news that the britain's factories have been churning out goods at a decent pace. in fact output between last november and january was the best it's been for seven years.

that news about better than expected jobs growth in america is something investors are also looking at around the world. it points to a strengthening economy — and boosts the chance of a hike in us interest rates next week. that's all the business news. parents are being urged to cover prams and pushchairs during the school run to protect their babies from air pollution. that's according to researchers at the university of surrey who say that particles from exhaust fumes are particularly high at bus stops and traffic. it's an issue that's concerning parents. here's what some had to say during the school run in london this morning. ido i do think about it quite a lot. there's not much we can do because we live in central london. there is pollution everywhere. i always thought if they had chest problems i would consider moving because we live on euston road. i think pollution is because of the construction, cars and everything going on here.

have you ever thought of putting the roof up because of pollution? sometimes i put the raincoat on the pushchairjust for her to avoid getting the, how do you say, the fumes of the cars? so, yes. the research was led by surrey university's dr prashant kumar. earlier he spoke to my colleague joanna gosling about what the study had tried to discover. we were trying to assess a typical route that when parents are carrying babies, they pass through a different part of the road which might include traffic intersections, a road section where the traffic flow is continuous, as well as a bus stop. it found that during the morning hours, you get higher exposure to fine particles and ultrafine particles, as compared to the afternoon. and interestingly, in the afternoon,

you get higher exposure to bigger particles, as compared to the morning hours. so, this was quite interesting because it seems to be the effect of the morning dew from the night, when the particles are less in the morning and in the afternoon hours, you might see that influence and that could have increased their concentrations. so how dangerous is that environment for a baby? how much of a risk? we always say that our body is a doctor, so, it can deal with a certain level of pollutants. but the body has limitations. adverse effects can happen. if you look at the chemical composition of the particles, there were traces of aluminium,

and other components which looked like they're coming from the brakes. definitely something which is not good. what could adverse affects be? there are a number of studies. we didn't look into the toxicology side of this, which is an important area, and i think further research should focus on that. but the studies in the past have found that if you have exposure to these particles, it could lead to cardiovascular problems as well as respiratory diseases in children. right now, i am sitting in one of the worst places for pollution, in delhi. statistics show that one out of three children has some sort of asthmatic problem because they are

inhaling the pollution. why are toxic particles so concentrated in a pram? so, because what happens is normally that, in the pram, you know, prams are at a lower height, and this is pretty close to the height of the tailpipe, so, where the emissions are coming, and babies are basically sitting at the same height, so you might expect a higher concentration at those heights, as compared to the breathing height of an adult person. no interruptions, but sometimes we hear about the perils of mixing live television and shildon and this morning we were given a reminder why. —— television and children.

this happened on bbc world news. my colleague james menendez was interviewing the renowned south korea expert, professor robert kelly, on bbc world news. professor kelly's young children burst on to the scene. as you will see, professor kelly masterfully kept the show on the road — and completed his insightful analysis despite the unexpected interruption: what will this mean for the wider region? relations with the north might change? i would be surprised if they do. pardon me. my apologies. what is this going to mean for the region? my apologies. sorry. south

korea's policy towards north korea has severely limited in the last year. that is fantastic. i liked it when the baby came in. let's not get ourselves in trouble. now we have the weather forecast. the show must go on. it is looking pretty grey over much of the uk, not everywhere. you will notice there are some brea ks you will notice there are some breaks here and there, and it has been a bit of sunshine for some of us. plenty of cloud across wales and we have had missed and fog which has come and gone from various places like dorset. there is a layer of

grey out there, and some light rain. this is the rush hour across scotland. most of the rush hour is in the lowlands. bits and pieces of light rain and hill fog, nine, ten, 11 degrees, and a bit of missed again on the south coast. that is pretty much all i got to say about the rush hour. not much about that. tonight, some changes, late in the night we will have a weather front advancing off the atlantic and that means rain for belfast and more than just a few spots. belfast, glasgow, to the south of wales, it looks cloudy. saturday, a lot of cloud in the atlantic and that will be moving our way across the country in the weekend. the first weather front is across the uk, affecting northern

parts of the country on saturday. early in the day across the far north, northern scotland, then further south to say, the lake district, spots of rain, if we freeze it at three o'clock in the afternoon, sunshine in the block of scotland. in the south east and maybe some good breaks in the cloud and temperatures reaching 17 — 18 degrees, and then on sunday we get the rain and the temperatures will be much lower. saturday is the best day out of the two. it will be driest. sunday, a chance of catching rain almost anywhere in the uk, but even on sunday, there will be some brea ks even on sunday, there will be some breaks in the cloud. it is not all that bad. a mixed weekend but the best day will definitely be saturday. this is bbc news. i'm maxine mawhinney.

the headlines at 3pm. education secretary justine greening has been heckled by headteachers at their annual conference after setting out her plans for new grammar schools. the european commission president says he hopes one day britain will rejoin the eu. i would like to be in the same boat with the british. the day will come when the british will re—enter the boat, i hope. bt bows to demands to run a legally separate broadband operation — to cheers from its competitors jack monroe, the food writer, has won her libel case against columnist katy hopkins following a twitter row. i'm simon mccoy. could mps and lords be forced to leave the palace of westminster? parliament's spending watchdog says the quickest and easiest way to carry out essential repairs is to have everyone vacate the building.