a bbc investigation finds that almost every high rise council block in the uk does not have a full sprinkler system to deal with fires. on the eve of the grenfell tower fire public inquiry, senior fire officers say the devices should be compulsory. for me, where you can save one life, then it is worth doing. this can't be optional, it cannot be a nice to have. this is something we must have and it is something that must be in place in the future to protect people. at the moment only 2% of council blocks in the uk are fitted with the sprinkler systems. unemployment falls to its lowest level since 1975, but the cost of living outstrips any rise in wages. boris johnson arrives on the caribbean islands hit by hurricane irma, as the prime minister announces an extra £25 million to help the recovery effort. the uk will soon regret leaving the european union, says the president of the european comission as he addresses the european parliament. and the robot making its debut as a conducter in italy.

and coming up in the sport on bbc news: liverpool talisman philippe coutinho could make his first appearance for the club this season, as they host sevilla at anfield this evening. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. fire officers say full sprinkler systems can save lives in high rise buildings and fitting them should be compulsory. but a bbc investigation has found that only 2% of council—owned high rise blocks in england are fitted with them. the public inquiry into the grenfell tower fire injune which left at least 80 people dead begins tomorrow. london's fire commissioner has said that the grenfell tower fire must be a "turning point" in fire regulation

and has called for sprinklers to be installed in all high rise council flats. graham satchell is at grenfell tower in west london. when the public enquiry officially opens tomorrow it will ask some pretty fundamental questions. how did the fire start, why did it spread so quickly and why did sony people die, and, of course, how do we prevent a fire happening like this again in the future? fire experts we have spoken to have now come to consensus. they say it is time to retrofit all council owned tower blocks with full sprinkler systems. the fire at grenfell tower raised fundamental questions about the maintenance of council—run tower blocks and what needs to change to make them safe. in a freedom of information request to local authorities across the uk, we found thatjust 2% of residential tower blocks have a sprinkler system fitted. we know they save lives, we know they can save properties, and we know they make a real difference. so, 2% is a shockingly low number.

dany cotton led the fire service at grenfell tower. the recommendation should be that it's mandatory to fit sprinklers in all new builds, especially in places like high—rises and schools. and what about retrofitting? i support retrofitting, clearly. for me, where you can save one life, than it's worth doing. this can't be optional, it can't be a nice—to—have, this is something that must happen and it's something that must be in place for the future to protect people. recommendations to fit sprinklers have been made before. this is lakanal house in london. six people were killed in a fire here in 2009. the recommendation from the coroner in the lakanal inquest was just simply ignored, and absolutely nothing happened. it is very clear that we have a system of regulation over the fire safety of tower blocks that is simply systemically not working. and the inquiry needs to get to the bottom of why that is, and what's gone wrong.

this is a sprinkler test. it's triggered when heat directly underneath reaches a certain temperature. a study by the national fire chiefs council shows that where sprinklers are fitted, they extinguish or control 99% of fires. so, why aren't they fitted in more homes? the main reason is cost. in croydon, for example, the local authority plans to retrofit 25 tower blocks with sprinklers. it will cost £10 million. who pays? croydon wants money from central government. the government says it's the responsibility of the council. in wales, the law changed last year. every newly built or converted house and flat must be fitted with a sprinkler system. wales, the first country in the world to make that change. sprinklers have been around since 1886, and the building industry haven't used them successfully. so, if you're not going to use them on goodwill, then,

as we have done in wales, we will mandate for you to use them, to keep people safe. in the streets around grenfell tower, there are still memorials everywhere. survivors like miguel alvez want justice and real change to come from the inquiry. somebody they have to pay for what they did to us. myself, i could be in ashes inside of the building. my hopes is that a change on the policies around the fire, and also the safety of the people. the government says it wants to ensure a fire like grenfell tower can never happen again, and it will consider the findings of the public inquiry. we don't know what the full recommendation of the enquiry will be, but what the experts tell us is, after hearing the evidence, they do recommend retrofitting sprinklers it needs to be a turning point. the enquiry needs to be a line in the

sand, and this time the recommendations need to be implemented in full. the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since 1975. it dropped by 75,000 between may and july, bringing the jobless rate down to 4.3%. but wages have slipped further behind the cost of living. 0ur economics correspondent, andy verity is here to go through the figures. the theory is that when unemployment goes down this far, wages should be going up. almost every month i report lekue —— record low rates of unemployment and we are discussing the same thing, but it's not translating into higher wages. the theory is that it should. the bank of england, amongst others thinks that if unemployment gets low enough that if unemployment gets low enough that means tight labour market and it means employers pay wages to attract the staff they need and increases the bargaining power of workers. that's the theory but it doesn't translate into reality. we have an average wage rise of 2.1%,

£9 per week. the average wage is £471 per week. that is no higher thanit £471 per week. that is no higher than it was in late 2005, so we have had more than a decade of lost pay growth. whereas in the past, inflation of the back of low unemployment would have been seen as a problem, because you have to deal with inflation, these days it is seen as with inflation, these days it is seen as a with inflation, these days it is seen as a problem in a different way in the sense that the living standards are not increasing. people would like wages to respond. andy, thank you. the prime minister says there needs to be greater flexibility on public sector pay. speaking at prime minister's questions, theresa may said ministers would look at the issue before the budget in november. but the labour leader, jeremy corbyn said the pay awards announced yesterday for police and prison officers were still below inflation. 0ur political correspondent leila nathoo reports. under pressure to offer something for vote rs under pressure to offer something for voters who denied her a majority government, she decided the cap on public sector pay rises must go. a

long—standing and unpopular plank of the conservatives austerity programme now on the way out. questions to the prime minister. but in the commons today, labour insisted that marginal increases for police and prison officers are simply not enough. does the prime minister understand that inflation is now 2.9% and anything less means that dedicated public servants are worse off again and are being made worse off again and are being made worse off again and are being made worse off every year the past seven yea rs. worse off every year the past seven years. theresa may said she acted on expert advice. these pay review bodies who have reported and recommended the sums of our independent bodies. they make a recommendation to the government and the has taken those recommendations. he has also failed to mention one or two other things. he fails to mention the automatic pay increases over and above the 1% that many public sector workers get. this

year, prison officers will get a 1.796 year, prison officers will get a 1.7% pay rise while there is a 1% increase plus matching bonus for the police. next year ministers say there will be flexibility to consider raising salaries across the public sector, but unions are unimpressed and still threatening strikes. we should have a 596 unimpressed and still threatening strikes. we should have a 5% rise unimpressed and still threatening strikes. we should have a 596 rise to make up the years they have had their pay cut in real terms. 2.9%, their pay cut in real terms. 2.9%, the current rate of inflation means they are treading water. that won't cut it and it is not fair. the government says public sector salaries have to be —— affordable to tax players and there is no extra funding for this year's increases. ministers warned that the pay discipline will have to continue. the cap on pay rises is gone, but the argument over fair rewards for public servants carries on. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster. the pressure on the prime minister over this keeps growing. it does and it dominated prime minister's

questions and the hope in downing street is that the announcement would be a winner for them and garner glowing headlines and wrong—footed jeremy corbyn and show that theresa may was listening to the electorate but in fact she may simply have raised expectations which she may not be able to meet, because there simply is not the money to fund a significant increase in public sector pay. significantly, asjeremy in public sector pay. significantly, as jeremy corbyn in public sector pay. significantly, asjeremy corbyn pointed out yesterday, the pay rises for the police and prison officers are funded from existing budgets. some tory mps are now saying that any other increases should also be funded from within existing budgets, stands probably backed by the treasury. what that means though, in something like the nhs, where they have had to make significant savings, there probably isn't much scope for further savings to fund a big increases in pay across the board. and when you listen to the language from the prime minister and other ministers today, they are

talking about targeting pay increases and tailoring them to particular pinch points in the public sector where there is a staffing problem. playing down expectations. so, for those thinking we could be on the cusp of an end to the clamp—down on public sector pay, i think they may be disappointed. norman, thank you. the prime minister has announced an extra £25 million in aid for british caribbean territories which have been devastated by hurricane irma. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has arrived in the british virgin islands this afternoon to see for himself the full extent of the damage. there'd been criticism that the uk's response to the disaster was too slow but mrjohnson said the british response had been "extremely fast". 1,000 troops have now been deployed to help with the recovery operation. 0ur correspondent sarah campbell reports. before the hurricane, this was paradise. now, the majority of the homes and businesses on the british virgin islands, as across much of the caribbean, lie in ruins. the priority is providing

food and water and shelter to those desperately in need. it's a huge task. i've been round the british virgin islands and i've been here on anguilla and the scale of destruction, particularly on the british virgin islands, is absolutely staggering. when you're walking around and seing the bark has been stripped off trees, it's quit extradordinary. the resilience of the people, it's incredible that they are getting on with it and trying to tidy up and get themselves back on their feet. criticism of the uk's response to the crisis has rebutted by the foreign secretary, who is currently in the region. 1,000 british troops are now on the ground, with more on the way. the flagship of the navy fleet, hms ocean, is on route, loaded with more than 200 palletes of supplies including bottled water, bedding and baby milk. these will arrive in the hurricane hit region in the coming and the prime minister announced today that britain would

continue to step up the relief effort. since thursday, cobra has met regularly to coordinate the government's response, bringing together military aid and effort, and today i am announcing a further £25 million to support the recovery effort, further to the £32 million of assistance i announced last week. 0n the ground, however, there remains a sense among some local people that the relief operation has not been as effective as it should have been. i think they've tried, they made early announcements but they are utterly clueless as to the difficulty of the logistics operations to get things to the bvi. before a hurricane, it is always four days from miami for supplies, and the port is full of damaged boats, sunk boats, debris. in florida, the clean—up continues. residents must now count the cost, tourists, finally able to leave, have been arriving back in britain. there was palm trees blown down and on the estate,

we were on emerald island, and we just could not get out of the estate. the kids slept in the cupboard! there were pillows everywhere. yeah, the kids were really scared. relief for those who have left, but not for the many thousands for whom this region is home. the european union has recovered from the shock of brexit and the uk will soon regret its decision to leave — that's what the president of the european commission, jean—claude juncker, told the european parliament today. in his annual state of the european union address, he said the eu would continue to make progress, beginning with trade negotiations with australia and new zealand. 0ur europe correspondent damian grammaticus reports. this is a rare moment, the eu and its leaders seemingly confident, optimistic. because they believe that the worst crisis of recent

yea rs that the worst crisis of recent years is behind them, the migrants surge, rising populism, the chance that brexit could trigger a break—up of the eu has all received it. on the 29th of march, 2019, the united kingdom will leave the european union. it will be a sad and tragic moment. we will always regret it. and you will come to regret it sooner. and you will come to regret it sooner. what is striking, listening to the whole speech, is that that is the only reference jean—claude juncker made to brexit in an hour of talking. the rest of it has all been about the eu without the uk, setting out his vision for the future and he wa nts far out his vision for the future and he wants far reaching change, an eu that grows bigger and integrates more in many ways. his plan includes creating a single eu president to head the institutions, and an eu finance minister to promote economic reforms. he wants more countries to join the eu, particularly balkan

states, or tojoin the borderless schengen area and more to join the single currency as well. we now have a window of opportunity, but it will not stay open for ever. let us make the most of the momentum, catch the wind in our sales. he wants eu trade deals done with mexico, south american states, australia and new zealand. some listening called for even more eu integration, but not those who backed brexit. all i can integration, but not those who backed brexit. alll can say integration, but not those who backed brexit. all i can say is, thank god we are leaving. if you had given cameron concessions, particularly on immigration, brexit vote i have to admit would never, ever have happened. and yet the lesson you take is come you're going to centralise, you're going to move onto this new, i think very worrying, greater union. but mr juncker thinks his plan is the a nswer to juncker thinks his plan is the answer to securing the eu's future

well beyond brexit. if it ever happens, though, will depend on whether the other 26 member states agree with him. our top story this lunchtime. a bbc investigation finds that almost every high rise council block in the uk does not have a full sprinkler system to deal with fires. and we will be speaking to the book shop worker who has just been nominated for britain's most prestigious literary prize. in the sport, england will be hosting the all blacks as part of next year's autumn internationals. they will also face south africa, japan and australia. the funeral of the former archbishop of westminster, cardinal cormac murphy 0'connor, is being held at westminster cathedral this lunchtime. more than 1,000 people, including leading figures from the catholic church, are attending.

he died two weeks ago at the age of 85 and will be buried in a vault in the heart of the cathedral, as was his wish. from westminster, daniela replh reports. cardinal cormac murphy 0'connor disliked for and formality. his funerary has brought together leaders of the catholic church alongside dignitaries and politicians. he was a man of great devotion and real love for the church, and therefore everything he did have that kind of purpose and direction in mind, and it kept him going through all sorts of difficult times and it meant that he never lost hisjoy, he never lost times and it meant that he never lost his joy, he never lost his capacity to laugh at himself and to engage people. may also keep us faithful... cardinal cormac had not wa nt to faithful... cardinal cormac had not want to a review of his life but instead, a celebration of his faith. he helped plan his own funeral. in his final days he personally chose

hymns and readings. he was somebody who wanted to be at the heart of things, that was part of his personality and character. i think he even would have written the sermon he even would have written the sermon if he got the opportunity. and so he thought very carefully about the readings and also about the hymns, and the quality of what this would be. the cardinal was a seniorfigure in the this would be. the cardinal was a senior figure in the church during turbulence times, particularly over the way it dealt with child abuse. that weren't being ignored today. the mass will refer to cardinal cormac‘s mistakes and the lessons learned. it will also describe his military and his willingness to say sorry. he also did much to strengthen the relationship between different faiths. today, the archbishop of canterbury will attend the catholic requiem mass to remember his friend. think there's been a most remarkable trilogy. there has been cardinal hume, there's been cardinal cormac and now

we have cardinal vincent. and with each of them there's been these very close relationships with the archbishop of canterbury, profound friendships on a personal level not just an institutional level. as was his final wish, cardinal cormac murphy 0'connor‘s body will be committed to a vault in the heart of the cathedral. he wanted to be laid to rest close to the people, where they will regularly pass him and pray for him. a private health care firm has agreed to pay more the £27 million to help victims of a rogue breast surgeon who carried out com pletely breast surgeon who carried out completely unnecessary operations. he was found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent related to nine women and one man in april. the money will be transferred into a fund for around 750 victims. myanmar‘s leader, aung san suu kyi, has cancelled plans to attend the un general assembly in new york, amid continued criticism of her government's treatment

of rohingya muslims. nearly 400,000 rohingyas have fled to bangladesh in the last three weeks after an upsurge in violence last month. many of them have sought shelter in refugee camps on the other side of the border in bangladesh. reeta chakra bati is outside a hospital near cox's bazar for us now. this state—run hospital has been ove rco m e by this state—run hospital has been overcome by the new arrivals. we've been into one of the crowded, cramped wards, where half the patients were new rohingya arrivals. we have seen people with gunshot wounds and blast injuries. these are the worst injuries, but there are hundreds of thousands of people in the refugee camps with more basic needs. to talk about that, i am now joined by somebody from the international red cross. what sort of needs of people have? our medical teams are seeing all the complaints you would expect people to be suffering who are sleeping out in the open. diarrhoea, musketry

problems, trouble breathing, skin infections and flew. but also some more unusual conditions, such as malnutrition and some gunshot wounds as well. you've spoken or so of people having psychological wounds? that's right. an eight—year—old boy that we saw a couple of days ago had gunshot wounds to his hand and his abdomen which were infected. it became obvious that he was psychologically traumatised. and we are seeing a lot of people who are very traumatised, so we realise that our teams have to bring in psychosocial support experts. thank you very much. clearly, a whole range of issues to deal with. the united nations is calling for a massive increase in aid. this state—run hospital also says it needs more supplies. banter that as a country is struggling to deal with this crisis at all levels. —— bangladesh as a country.

the official body which monitors public spending has said the government's welfare reforms are likely to have contributed to rising levels of homelessness in england. in a report, the national audit 0ffice criticises ministers for what it sees as their "light touch" approach to the problem. it says in the last six years there's been a 60% rise in the number of households in temporary accommodation, including 120,000 children. but the government insists it's determined to help the most vulnerable in society. chi chi izundu reports. i've been sleeping rough for two yea rs. i've been sleeping rough for two years. for thousands of england -- across england, just like debt, home doesn't quite exist. i used to live in this spot, this was my home. homelessness in england is on the rise, the number of families in temporary accommodation up 60% since 2011. an overnight count last autumn found rough sleeping had more than doubled since 2010. the blame is

being laid at the door of a lack of social housing, less affordable private rented properties and a reduction in housing benefits. but this report paints a picture of a system which is not fit for purpose being overseen by ministers who have little interest in tackling it. from simple things like assessing the knock—on effects of the welfare reforms on the problem. knock—on effects of the welfare reforms on the problemlj knock—on effects of the welfare reforms on the problem. i think this is the group that theresa may calls just about managing, but i think this clearly shows that they're not managing. the reason they're not managing. the reason they're not managing is because there is no affordable housing for them, and where there is affordable housing, they are not being given the help from the welfare safety net that they need in order to live in it. homelessness costs more than £1 billion a year, usually administered by councils. the report criticises ministers for paying little attention as to how that money is spent. central government is committed to tackling homelessness, but fundamentally we don't have enough houses in this country. we need to build more of them, and local government really does need

more resources to intervene earlier in the problem, so rather than waiting until people are homeless, actually stopping them becoming homeless in the first place. in a state and, the department for communities and local government has said that since 2015 it has invested £550 million tackling the issues and will continue to do that until 2020. plus, it will shortly outline plans to eliminate rough sleeping entirely. as for 0dette, she has managed to find a roof over her head, even if it is only temporary. iam head, even if it is only temporary. i am living in semi independent accommodation. i do my own shopping and cooking. and i do whatever i want. police have renewed their appeal to find any information relating to the

man who pushed a woman in front of a bus earlier on this month. she's 29 years old — she works part time in a bookshop in york — and now fiona mozley has found her debut novel on the shortlist for the prestigious man booker prize. she wrote her book — elmet — on her mobile phone while commuting between london and york. 0ur correspondent colin paterson is at the bookshop where she works. yeah, hello right from the centre of york. this little book shop is having the most exciting day in its 20 year history. 0ne having the most exciting day in its 20 year history. one of the staff has just been short listed for the booker prize with her debut novel elmet about a family building a house on an area where they are not supposed to. fiona mozley, how does it feel to be booker nominated?m feels fantastic, it's really, really exciting. i have been watching you selling your own novel across the counter, how odd is that? it's still very strange. quite embarrassing,

actually. i tend not to tell people that i wrote it when they buy it! some people already know but if they don't, i don't mention it. why not?! it's just too embarrassing, i don't, i don't mention it. why not?! it'sjust too embarrassing, i go bright red, i'm not very good at recommending it to people, either. when they ask for a thrilling novel to read... signing copies in your own shop? the owners of the shop made sure that i signed all of the copies which have come in. and explain about your mobile phone? yeah, i started writing it on the train about four years ago and i did not have my laptop with me so i jotted down the ideas on my phone. very millennial! just to say, the other nominees, paul auster, signed copy up other nominees, paul auster, signed copy up here and you have got to come right down here to find ali smith, and the other is not in the shop yet? yeah, i promise that's not

deliberate! we're getting the other short listed books in tomorrow! in the interest of fairness! if you wa nt to the interest of fairness! if you want to find out if she wins that, you will be able to do that on the 17th of october. well, we have news of another debut in the arts world, but this one involves a robot called yumi. last night, he conducted an orchestra in the italian city of pisa for the first time, leading the lucca philarmonic accompanied by the italian tenor, andrea bocelli. even the normal — human — conductor was impressed, praising the robot's "fluidity of movement", and "incredible nuance of expression." 0ur arts correspondent david sillito reports. police have renewed their appeal to find any information relating to the man who pushed a woman in front of a bus earlier on this month. storm aileen, the first named storm this season, welcome to this evening's performance. andrea bocelli, the local philharmonic orchestra... and your conductor, yumi. yumi is, as your conductor, yumi. yumi is, as you can see, a robot. it needs a bit of manhandling to get to the podium,

but but once he is there, he's off! and it tookjust 17 hours of sometimes very frustrating practice with andrea bocelli and the real conductorfor with andrea bocelli and the real conductor for the robot to copy the movements for this six minute performance. translation: yumi has, because of the great elasticity of his arm, the exact same mobility and can do all the movements for the peace. here, for example, puccini... of course, conducting is more than just waving baton at the right time. it's all about expression, interaction with the orchestra and passion, all of which is missing with yumi. but at least he'll manage to hold it all together! it's

interesting. obviously, the robot is programmed to the needs of these two particular singers who are collaborating with the robot. there's not much room unfortunately for improvisation. so basically you have to go with the robot. think it isa have to go with the robot. think it is a bit harder for andrea bocelli since he's visually impaired, so it's very difficult to go but it seems to be working! so, probably not the future of live music, but the international festival of robotics. and yumi was a pretty impressive finale! let's have a look at the weather. given the weather in the last 24 is it is hard to believe that this time last year it was the warmest day of the year and the hottest