this is bbc news. the headlines at 2pm. a bbc survey apart the council blocks in the uk finds that almost eve ryo ne blocks in the uk finds that almost everyone does not have a full sprinkler system to deal with fires. where you can save one life, it is worth doing. this can't be optional, or nice to have, it is something that must happen and mostly implies that must happen and mostly implies that the future to protect people. unemployment falls to its lowest level since 1975 — but the cost of living outstrips any rise in wages. borisjohnson visits the caribbean islands hit by hurricane irma, where there has been criticism for the slow british response, as the prime minister announces an extra £25 million to help the recovery effort. today, i'm announcing an additional £25 million to support the recovery effort, further to the £32 million of assistance i announced last week. 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 the conductor of an orchestra in italy. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. fire officers say full sprinkler systems can save lives in high rise buildings and fitting them should be compulsory. but a bbc investigation of half the association and council

owned high—rises in england has found that only 2% 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 reports from grenfell tower in west london. when the inquiry opens tomorrow, it will ask fundamental questions, why did it start, why did it spread so quickly and why did so many die and how do we prevent a fire like this in the future? fire experts we have spoken to have come to a consensus and say it is now 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 is needed to make them safe. in a foi request, we found that only 2% of residential tower blocks have

sprinkler systems 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. good morning, everybody... 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. what about retrofitting? i support retrofitting, clearly. foi’ me, where you can save one life then it's worth doing. this can't be optional. it's something that must happen and it must be in place for the future to protect people. recommendations to fit sprinklers have been made before. this is like lakanal house in london. six people were killed in a fire here in 2009. the recommendation by the coroner in the lakanal inquest was 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 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 london at a cost with sprinklers at a cost of £10 million. who pays? croydon wants money from central government and 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 in goodwill then we'll mandate for you to use them to keep people safe. in the streets around grenfell tower, there are still memorials, and survivors like miguel alvarez want real justice and change to come from the inquiry. somebody has to pay for what they did to us. myself, i could be in ashes inside of the building. my hope is that we see a change in the policies around fire and also the safety of people. the government says it wants to make sure a fire like at grenfell never happens again. and it will consider the findings of the public inquiry. we don't know of course get what the full recommendations of the inquiry will be but what the experts are telling us be but what the experts are telling us is that if, after hearing the

evidence, they do recommend retrofitted sprinklers, this is to bea retrofitted sprinklers, this is to be a turning point and 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, economic theory, would suggest higher employment in the economy would mean higher wages, but that's not happening. yes, economic students, everyone will learn how it is first to be an inverse relationship. the more unemployment comes down, the more wages and inflation are likely to go up. but every month, i sit and tell you unemployment has hit a new low and that wages aren't taking off, they are still way below price rises.

therefore, we are getting worse off, as we keep hearing. the average wage is £474 as we keep hearing. the average wage is £471; a week, £9 more than the year before but not enough to make up year before but not enough to make upfor year before but not enough to make up for the price rises. there is supposed to be a relationship between the two but we are not seeing that borne out. the bank —— bank of england thought it would not 4.56 said, wages would respond but we are at 4.3% and wages have not stood out, there is a to .1% rise in real wages and if you look back historically, we are £20 worse off, if you are a public sector worker, than nine years ago at the start of the crisis, £13 worse off as a private sector worker and no better off than you were in 2005. that is an extraordinary statistic, explained that a bit more, no better off than 2005. it is a squeeze on living standards. we had a long and big squeeze between 2011—2014, when wages came down a lot and then for

the last five months, that has been renewed after a little pause. that is why we are making so little progress in wages over the last decade. andy, thank you very much indeed. 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 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 every year for the past seven years. theresa may said she acted on expert advice. these pay review bodies who have reported and recommended these sums are independent bodies. they make a recommendation to the government and the government 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 1.7% 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 5% rise to make up for the years they have had 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 payers 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. and let's go live to westminster and join norman smith. norman, the issue up join norman smith. norman, the issue upa dominating, join norman smith. norman, the issue up a dominating, perhaps not surprisingly, prime minister's questions. no, because it is such a huge issue, bluntly because it affects so many people, millions of voters, so it is massively important, particularly important for both the main leaders, jeremy corbyn because his call to end the

pay cap fits in absolutely with his whole anti—austerity agenda. for theresa may, she wants to be seen to be listening to voters, but it seems to me the difficulty mrs may faces is whether she has raised expectations, which she may struggle to meet. anyone listening to the government talking about ending the pay gap may think they are in line for a significant pay rise. when you listen to what ministers have been saying today, they have been very careful to say that the increase in public sector pay will be targeted, tailored to specific areas where there are rich points or pressure points in public sector pay. the thought that there might be some sort of broad increase seems to me to be very wide of the mark. 0n sort of broad increase seems to me to be very wide of the mark. on top of which, when you look at the increase that the police and prison service, that money is coming from within their own budgets and i expect the treasury will insist that remains the case for future parts of

the public sector which, frankly, won't leave much spare money around, for example, in the nhs. when you put all that together, it seems that public sector pay cap may be going but pay restraint and the clamp—down on public sector pay is probably going to continue the time yet. and the unions have made it pretty clear they are not happy. no, they believe, i think, they are not happy. no, they believe, ithink, that they are not happy. no, they believe, i think, that they now have the public momentum behind them and threatening coordinating industrial action, unless they get increases above the rate of inflation. some are saying they want up to 5%. worth saying we have had strikes before over public sector pay which have had minimal impact on the government. and that may be the case again, but it certainly seems as if the unions are gearing up for a real clash with the government over public sector pay. norman, thank you very much indeed. norman smith, our assistant political editor. 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". a thousand 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 quite 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 been 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 en 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 days. 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 consular 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 were 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. as we mentioned, the foreign

secretary boris johnson as we mentioned, the foreign secretary borisjohnson is visiting the caribbean to see the british aid effort in force and he landed not long ago at anguilla at the island's airport on board and welfare for servers. this is what he had to say. we are putting another £25 million into immediate effort and of course it needs it, massively. you can't but be affected by the scale of devastation that the people of anguilla have endured. just going around this hospital, 60% of a damaged. but the royal marines, our troops, have been here since friday. you have just seen another contingent of royal engineers arriving with their tools, their spades and their axes and getting on with rebuilding the roofs and all of the other structures. that is going to be short—term work. what we need to be short—term work. what we need to think about that is how, as the uk, we can underline our commitment

to these overseas territories and get them back on their feet for the long term. doesn't that mean changing the relationship between these rather forgotten islands and headquarters? no, the government of anguilla is in charge but i think people need to understand that there are some things that we can do collectively, working in partnership, to help the economy of these islands and we need to think about that and that is something certainly we will be taking back to london. the foreign secretary speaking a short time ago in angola as part of his tour of the caribbean. the latest headlines on bbc news, and london's fire commissioner says the grenfell tower blaze must be a turning point, calling for sprinklers in all high—rise council flats. the number of homeless families in the uk has risen by more than 60% and is likely to have been driven by the government's welfare reforms, according to the public spending watchdog. brexit will be a sad, tragic moment for the eu that the uk

will soon regret, according to the european commission president jean—claude juncker. and in sport, talisman philippe coutinho could make his first appearance for liverpool this season as they host sevilla in the champions league at anfield this evening. valtteri bottas has signed a new one—year deal to stay with formula one team mercedes. he is third in the sheer‘s drivers championship, with two wins from 13 races. and international olympic committee member dick pound has accused the body of doing nothing about its growing corruption crisis. i will be back with more on those stories just after 2:30pm. it's being claimed 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 years is behind them, the migrants surge, rising populism, the chance that brexit could trigger a break—up of the eu, all receding. translation: 0n 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. to regret it soon. 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 wants far reaching change, an eu that grows bigger and integrates more in many ways.

his plan includes creating a single eu president to 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, more tojoin the borderless schengen area and more to join the single currency as well. we have narrow window of opportunity but it will not stay open ever. let us but it will not stay open ever. let us make the most of the momentum, catch the wind in our sales. and jean—claude juncker once new free 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. alli even more eu integration, but not those who backed brexit. m“ can say is thank god we leaving. if you'd given camerin concessions,

particularly on immigration, the brexit vote, i have to admit, would never, ever have happened and yet the lesson you take issue are going to centralise, you're going to move on to this new, i think very worrying, undemocratic union. the jean—claude juncker believes his plan is the answer to secure the eu's future well beyond brexit. if it ever happens, though, will depend on whether the eu's 27 other member states agree with him. 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. the official body which monitors public spending has said in a report, the national audit 0ffice criticises ministers for what it sees as their "light touch" approach to the problem. in a report, the national audit 0ffice criticises ministers 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 have been sleeping rough the two yea rs. i have been sleeping rough the two years. for thousands across england, like 0dette, home doesn't quite exist. i used to live in this park, it was my home. homelessness in england is on the rise and the reasons and an overnight countered last autumn found homelessness has almost doubled since 2010. the blame is being laid at the door of a lack of hosts social housing, less rental properties and a reduction in housing benefits, but this report paints a picture of a system that isn't that the purpose being overseen by ministers who have little interest in tackling it. from simple things like assessing the knock—on effect of the welfare reforms on the problem. knock—on effect of the welfare reforms on the problemlj knock—on effect of the welfare reforms on the problem. i think this is the group that theresa may calls

just about managing, but this clearly shows they are not managing. the reason they are 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. and while homelessness costs more than £1 billion per year, usually administered by councils, the report criticises ministers as paying little attention to how that money is spent. central government is committed to tackling homelessness but what we are seeing is 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 early in the problem, so rather than waiting until people are homeless, stopping them becoming homeless in the first place. in a statement, the department for communities and low of and has said since 2015, it invested £550 million tackling the issues and will continue to do that until 2020. plus, it issues and will continue to do that until2020. plus, it willshortly 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. i have semi-independent accommodation, i do my own shopping, ido mind accommodation, i do my own shopping, i do mind cooking and i do whatever i want. some news just some newsjust coming into us some news just coming into us from the independent police complaints commission and they are telling us an officer is being investigated for gross misconduct over the death of rashan charles, who was restrained after a police chase in north—east london. so the ipcc, who have been investigating, are telling us an officer is being investigated for gross misconduct over the death of rashan charles, restrained after that police chase in north—east london. more on that as it comes into us. private health care firm

spire has agreed to pay more than £27 million to help victims of a rogue surgeon. ian paterson was found guilty in april. the money will be transferred into a fund for around 750 victims. let's go live now to our correspondent phil mackie, who is in our birmingham newsroom. give us mackie, who is in our birmingham newsroom. give us more mackie, who is in our birmingham newsroom. give us more details. ian paterson was also convicted of three cou nts paterson was also convicted of three counts of unlawful wounding at the trial at nottingham crown court earlier this year, he is serving a 20 year prison service, and the announcement comes because all of those ten victims in that case were pa rt those ten victims in that case were part of a much larger group of people who were treated at to private hospitals on the outskirts of boeing, one in solihull, the other in little aston, and these we re other in little aston, and these were owned by the spire health care group. they have agreed settlement

of £27 million to around 750 patients. that could go up because they have set a deadline which is 0ctober next year for other patients to come forward who haven't done so. lots of different law firms representing the 750 patients, but we should also remember around £10 million already been paid or agreed in compensation to his patients in the nhs. what in paterson was doing was either giving people mastectomies or other types of surgery when they didn't need anything at all, there was nothing wrong with them or in the cases where they did have breast cancer, wasn't carrying out the correct surgery, he was doing something that is untested, called a cleavage sparing technique, where he would remove sparing technique, where he would re m ove pa rt sparing technique, where he would remove pa rt of sparing technique, where he would remove part of the breast and deep tissue intact, obviously increasing the risk of breast cancer returning, so this is something we have been inspecting some time, the announcement has come because spire had to let shareholders know via the stock exchange today and it means so

far, a total of around £37 million has been paid in compensation to the 750 or so private patients, plus the many more who were treated in the nhs. thank you very much indeed, phil mackie reporting. the funeral of the former archbishop of westminster, cardinal cormac murphy 0'connor, is being held at westminster cathedral this lunchtime. more than a thousand 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 fuss and formality. but his funeral 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 had 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 his joy, he never lost his capacity to laugh at himself and to engage people.

may he also keep us faithful... cardinal cormac did not want today to be 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 also 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 if he'd 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 senior figure in the church during turbulent times, particularly over the way it dealt with child abuse. that won't be ignored today. the mass will refer to cardinal cormac‘s mistakes and the lessons learned. it will also describe his humility 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. i think there's been a most remarkable trilogy. their‘s been... 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 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. let's check out the weather prospects. hello, storm aileen has

cleared away eastwards, taking the gales with it, but still some gusty winds for a time this afternoon, especially along the east coast. some persistent rain across eastern parts of scotland, easing eastwards, but behind it, sunshine and showers for much of the country. and still some showers overnight, some more persistent rain sinking its way southwards through scotland, northern england and then into eastern parts of england. there are frequent showers across north—west wales. elsewhere, there will be some clear spells. could be quite a chilly night in the countryside, temperatures into the mid—to—low single figures in some rural spots, so a nip in the airfirst thing tomorrow, some more persistent rain across the east coast for a time, further showers, particularly across western parts of wales and some more persistent rain in north—western parts of scotland later in the day. otherwise, it is another day of sunshine and showers and still quite a cool feel. highs between 14 and 18 celsius for most. then the end of the week, we keep this cool feel, the winds will ease, especially as we go through the weekend and there will still be some showers around. bye— bye. hello again, you are watching bbc news. the latest headlines for you

at 2:32pm. 0n the eve of the grenfell inquiry, a bbc investigation has found that just 2% of the uk's council and housing association—owned tower blocks have sprinkler systems. 750 patients wrongly diagnosed by a disgraced breast surgeon facing jail time will receive compensation. victims of ian paterson will be compensated from a £37 million fund. private health care firm spire has agreed to pay 27.2 million with 10 million coming from paterson's insurers heart of england nhs trust. uk unemployment remains at its lowest since 1975 at 4.3%, but wages have dropped in real terms by 0.4%. the foreign secretary borisjohnson is in the caribbean following the devastation caused by hurricane irma, amid criticism of the government's initial response to the disaster. european commission president jean—claude juncker has said that the "wind is back in europe's sails" after the financial crisis — and that the uk would come to regret brexit. in a moment,

a 29—year—old book shop worker has been short listed for the man booker prize for her debut novel. fiona mozley is the second—youngest author to be up for the prestigious literary prize. i was absolutely delighted. i think it took a while to process. congratulations to her, and she is selling her own book. the latest sports news now. looking good for this evening, lots of action coming up in the champions league, and philippe coutinho is in contention to make the liver. the line—up for their game against spanish side sevilla at anfield. the brazilian is set to be fit and healthy by his manager, jurgen klopp. he missed the start of the season with a back problem, and he came under close scrutiny as well,

having asked to leave the club after being the subject of several bids from barcelona. the night's match is a repeat of the 2016 europa league final, which sevilla won. a very good start the season, they changed the manager and found again a really good one. it is an outstanding job from seville began, the last, they are now still top the league. really strong side, it is real champions league and we know who we will face. spurs have a tough task on their hands, if they're to make it out of their champions league group, which features holders real madrid and 2013 finallists borussia dortmund. mauricio pochettino welcomes the german side to wembley tonight. the two teams met in last season's europa league, dortmund winning that tie. dele alli starts a three game ban after being sent off in europe last season and fresh

from scoring his 100th goal for the club, harry kane will lead the line for spurs... he will play how he plays, dele alli. here is that kind of player. he was disappointed to get sent off in the europa league last year but you can only learn from it. that's football, you know. sometimes you make mistakes and sometimes you have to learn from it and i'm sure he will do. he's gutted to be missing these games, as anyone would, but he stands determined to make sure he is ready for the last three games of the campaign. pep guardiola's manchester city are away in the netherlands tonight. they take on the dutch champions feyenoord, hoping to get a good start in waht‘s a tough—looking group, which also contains shatkar donetsk and napoli. i know how competitive glasses on, we we re i know how competitive glasses on, we were not able to win one game away. i know from my experience in barcelona and bayern munich how difficult it is to qualify always for the next out of the finals, quarterfinals, but those away worth so quarterfinals, but those away worth so tough. doesn't matter where we are playing, famous teams or lower

teams, we will see. valtteri bottas has signed a new contract with mercedes to race for the world champions in 2018. after impressing at williams, the finnjoined on a one—year deal injanuary, as a replacement for retired world champion nico rosberg. bottas is third in this yea r‘s drivers' standings with two wins from 13 races. team—mate lewis hamilton heads the title race. the international olympic committee has been accused of "doing nothing" about its growing corruption crisis, by member dick pound. several ioc officials have been implicated in corruption this year and in the latest case, last week, police raided the home of carlos nuzman, head of the brazilian olympic committee — as they investigate "strong evidence" of vote—buying to secure rio's 2016 bid. we've taken a severe hit, in terms of credibility. and that hasn't got any better. every time another ioc member is implicated in something

potentially nefarious, we lose more credibility. that is concerning to me, andi credibility. that is concerning to me, and i think a credibility. that is concerning to me, and i thinka lot credibility. that is concerning to me, and i think a lot of my colleagues. what are we doing? we arejust colleagues. what are we doing? we are just sitting there, taking all of these hits, and doing nothing about it. in netball, england have missed out on a first series win against new zealand, after a 62—55 defeat in the third and final test in hamilton this morning. tracey neville's side led 30—26 at half—time, but the silver ferns took control of the game in the third quarter and moved clear in the late stages to secure a 2—1 series win. that is all the sport for now. the national audit office says the government's welfare valli the national audit office says that the government's welfare reforms are likely to have contributed to rising levels of homelessness in england.

its report says that in the last six years, there's been a 60% rise in the number of households in temporary accommodation, including 120—thousand children. the department for communities and local government says tackling homelessness is a complex issue. matt downey has been telling my collea g u es matt downey has been telling my colleagues that the charity is well aware changes to the welfare system are having an impact. it is no surprise, we have known for a long time that despite some good work from government on elements of tackling homelessness, the long—term causes have remained untagged old, and particularly some of the welfare reform is out there make it almost impossible, particularly for local councils, to address the issue. in the past, the main dry matter homelessness has tended to be a change in people's personal circumstances, breakdown in relationships for example, no longer the case gretchen not no, the leading cause now is the loss of a private tenancy, and that has really drawn from the fact that rents just

aren't affordable any more. welfare reform has driven down local housing allowa nces reform has driven down local housing allowances to a stage now where two thirds of people on local housing allowa nce thirds of people on local housing allowance don't see their rent matched by the benefits they get. in london it's about £50 a week short, lower in other parts of the country. what this does, itjust drives up the bill the rest of the government has to fit. a temporary accommodation bill is about £845 million a year. any savings in welfare are more than matched by that. this is a tale of a government not being joined up but also a tale of human misery and people caught in the middle. what is the government doing about it, because they are announcing, they have the homelessness reduction act, coming into force by 2020, will that make a big difference? it will work to prevent homelessness for a number of people, it is really good news that the government behind that piece of legislation. the government is also

doing some good work preparing the strategies on rough sleeping and other elements of homelessness but i the main question is, are there any other government policies causing homelessness, and that is ever the case, then we have a government that has not joined up, case, then we have a government that has notjoined up, that always money, and you will find people on the streets of this country suffering consequences. there has been an increase in the number of people sleeping on the streets now. it has more than doubled in the last five years and we are seeing unprecedented number is of people, not just unprecedented number is of people, notjust in london but all the major cities. as winter draws in again this year, we will see an emergency on our street unless we see some rapid action. matt downey from the homelessness charity, crisis. the syrian leader president assad has held a meeting with russia's defence minister sergei shoigu to discuss the fight against terrorism. the russians now claim that 85% of syrian territory has been cleared of illegal armed groups. 0ur correspondent steve rosenberg is the only british tvjournalist

with the russian army at an airbase near latakia, and he's sent this report. this is the russian airbase near latakia. it is the heart of russia's military operation in syria. an operation which has changed the course of the war here. it's nearly two years since moscow launched its intervention in syria and now the russian army has invited a group of journalists here to give its perspective on how the operation is going. translation: as of today, 85% of syrian territory has been liberated from militants of illegal armed groups. we've taken off from the airbase on a russian military plane and we're heading somewhere, i don't know where, because when you're on a guided tour around syria with the russian army, they never tell you where they're taking you. so we've been brought to a school in the city of aleppo to show that life is returning to normal here. they sing

we thank russia and the president of russia, president putin. need peace, love peace. working for peace in all the world and we are really, really thankful for russia and the president of russia. it's quite clear that a large part of aleppo still lies in ruins but what the russian army is trying to demonstrate by bringing us here, even if it does feel a little stage—managed, is that gradually life is returning to this city and that russia is playing a part in that. let's get more now on our main story — and a bbc investigation has found

thatjust 2% of council owned tower blocks in the uk are fully covered with sprinkler systems. meanwhile, a public inquiry into the fire at grenfell tower begins tomorrow. with me is councillor alison butler, labour deputy leader and cabinet memberfor housing and regeneration at croydon council — who are spending £10 million to fit sprinklers in high rise buildings in the borough. thank you very much for being with us. £10 million is a lot of money, why have you decided to do it? us. £10 million is a lot of money, why have you decided to do mm us. £10 million is a lot of money, why have you decided to do it? it is a lot of money but the local authorities, and particularly croydon, grenfell changed everything. a local authority delivers many things but this is about people's lives so we thought it was imperative to listen to people's advice and go ahead and make that decision to put the sprinkle is in our tallest blocks. some people would say why did you not do this before? indeed they

could say that, and i think in the past, we have some luck in croydon in that most of our blocks are smaller, so our highest tower blocks are only 12 stories, and we have in fa ct are only 12 stories, and we have in fact already invested 10 million in fire safety measures in croydon, fire safety measures in croydon, fire doors, lighting signage, and so on, so we have done considerable steps but we now think that the sprinkle is as important as well. would you say every authority should be doing the same as croydon? would you say every authority should be doing the same as croydon7m croydon we are in a difficult position because as you say we have to finance this and we have written to finance this and we have written to government ministers asking that they stepped in and this is not only croydon but other local authorities. 0therwise croydon but other local authorities. otherwise we will have to use the reserves from our housing accounts, and in the long term that will create difficulty with other works we are required to do. but you have the money from your reserve funds if you needed? yes, but we can't take that money without creating backlogs

in the future for other works. are you saying government should bear some of the burden for fitting sprinklers retrospectively across the whole country, because that would be hugely expensive the central government, wouldn't it? do have to take that with a background that central government has put this false cap on borrowing, and they have also restricted, and in fact made councils trot their rent for a four—year period, so they can't have it both ways. they either need to help finance councils take this forward all they need to stop the false restrictions they are putting on councils maintaining their stock. but very briefly you think this is an important move, something in your view in croydon that simply has to be done? i believe it simply has to be done? i believe it simply has to be done? i believe it simply has to be done but i understand local authorities that have higher housing stock and may not have the reserves are struggling to get this done. thank you for coming in. in a moment

a summary of the latest business news, now the latest headlines. london's five commissioner has said the grenfell tower blaze must be a turning point, calling for sprinklers in all high—rise council flats. the number of homeless families in the uk has risen by more than 60%. it is likely to have been driven by the government's welfare —— welfare reforms according to the public spending watchdog. brexit will be a sad tragic moments of the eu but the uk will also soon regret it. that is according to the european commission president, john claudejunker. european commission president, john claude junker. —— jean—claude juncker. unemployment in the uk fell to 1.46 million in the three months to july taking the overall unemployment rate to 4.3%, that's down from 4.4%.

but wages are still lagging behind rising prices, meaning a cut in pay for many workers. apple has revealed its high—end smartphone, the iphone x. it has no physical home button, and uses a facial recognition system to identify its owner rather than a fingerprint. it's due to hit uk shelves on november third with a hefty price tag of £1000. uk airline easyjet is to let customers use its website to book long—haul flights with other carriers. it says it is the first global airline connections service by a european no frills carrier. easyjet is teaming up with norwegian and westjet to offer flights to north and south america, as well as singapore, from gatwick. to the us now, and lawmakers say ‘somebody needs to go to jail‘ in the ongoing row about the equifax security breach. 36 us senators have called on federal authorities to investigate the sale of nearly $2 million in shares of credit

bureau equifax by company executives after a massive data breach. samira hussain is at the new york stock exchange. samira, explained the timeline of this story for us, from the breach to the sale of shares, the news of the breach being made public. absolutely. so what happened was that there was a data breach at equus fax back in the middle of july. and the data was con from iced for about a week or two weeks. in that time, hackers had access to the names, dates of birth, and most crucially the social security numbers of more than 140 million americans. equus fax found out about it towards the end ofjuly, but we only found out about this massive breach, or rather the american public good, at the beginning of september. and why is that timeline

so important? because crucially there are some executives that, before the time of finding out about the data breach, and the time they alerted the american public, they sold $2 million worth of equus fax shares. that is an absolutely massive no—no. it is —— of equifax shares. so what have these us senators been saying? a group of about 36 of them, is that right? they want to see investigation into how it is possible this happened and then want to see consequences for these executives. imagine the juxtaposition of these 143 million americans whose data has been compromised, who are now worried about whether their identities will be stolen, and then we are seeing these executives actually cashing in on this. so this is a really big example of inside a kind of trading, masses amounts of no—nos. and

something that the lawmakers want to see punished, and we are going to be hearing about it, in terms of hearings on capitol hill. said it was 143 million americans affected, compared to the size of the company or other security breaches we have seen, how big a breach is this? the yahoo breach that happened in 2015 is large in scale, but this breach is large in scale, but this breach is much more significant, just because of the kind of information that people had access to. with the yahoo breach you had access to people for the e—mails, and by and large will not get too much that sensitive of information but with equifax, we're talking about social security numbers and their date of birth and their full names will stop so with that you can create false identities, and then take out credit cards, loans in other people's names. in terms of significance, it

is much bigger. thank you for clearing all of that up. before we 90, clearing all of that up. before we go, let's look at how the market have been going on. we have put up the demel share price. the results were in line with expectations are the markets have reacted quite favourably —— dunelm. brent crude, a price of brent crude up brent crude, a price of brent crude up to 50.6 dollars. —— up to $54.6. and the pound dollar price was yesterday we saw the pound gaining some strength against the dollar off the back of the inflation figures we saw. the pound becomes more attractive, it becomes stronger. today we saw that kind of slow, stationary wage growth, plibersek

maybe we won't see those interest rises so the pound losing in strength. more business news in an hour. the 2017 man booker prize short list is out. the scottish author ali smith, american writer emily fridlund, and 29—year—old fiona mozley — along with george saunders, paul auster and mohsin hamid are the contenders. previous winners of the prize since 1969, include salman rushdie, hilary mantel and ben 0kri. the winning book will be announced on 17 october. 0ur entertainment correspondent colin patterson has been to meet her. fiona mozley. this is the little apple book shop in the centre of york and it is by far the most exciting day in the history of the shop, because one of the staff has just been nominated for the booker prize. this is fiona mozley, and this is the book, helmut

for sale. how did you feel when you heard you had made the short list? absolutely delighted. i was very shocked, i am still very shocked, it is wonderful news. the book is here. yes. as a book-seller you have two describe books, pluck them you get to do your own one now. bee it is the story of a family living on the margins of society in the west riding of yorkshire. they built a house for themselves on land they don't own, which brings them into conflict with the local landowners. so it is a story about their family relationships, and then coming into conflict with external forces as well. how much was written in the social? i had finished it by the time i started working here. i started it when i was living and working in london, and then when i moved back to york, because this is my hometown, finished it off. but, yes, it was always finished by the time i

finished working here. how long did it take to write? just over three years. i started in spring 2013 and finished in the summer of 2016, and then we have had the process of it getting published, which has been hugely exciting as well. and all i could have hoped for. this isjust the icing on the cake. this is your debut novel. and you are on the booker list with some massive names, ican booker list with some massive names, i can see one here, paul alston. booker list with some massive names, i can see one here, paulalston. we have a signed copy of his book and ali smith -- have a signed copy of his book and ali smith —— paul auster. and ali smith. and a funeral monies you haven't got in stock it. we are getting them all into tomorrow. you promise? in matters of fair competition. i was here earlier and watched you are selling a copy of your own novel to a member of the public who had come in. what is that experience like? very strange was

quite embarrassing, actually full stop still haven't got used to that. sometimes when they buy it from me they know that i wrote it, sometimes they know that i wrote it, sometimes they don't, i never tell they know that i wrote it, sometimes they don't, i nevertellthem. they know that i wrote it, sometimes they don't, i never tell them. why not? ijust go bright red. you do sign them, though? they have me on a co nveyor sign them, though? they have me on a conveyor belt upstairs signing all the copies that come into the shop. that has been fun. i am not very good at recommending it to people, either. somebody said i'm looking for a new book to read, i want some thing really gritty. check. some thrilling. check, what you think. it would have been the perfect opportunity but i didn't. i was too shy and recommended something us. you have a month until the booker prize. will you keep working in the shop? yes, i really like myjob. prize. will you keep working in the shop? yes, i really like myjoblj think it is important for writers to do things other than right, to be honest, yes. i am sure you will be drawing in more customer in here,

fiona mozley, ypres was to get the rest of the nominees in stock by tomorrow. we will do. the booker prize winner will be announced on 17th of october. good luck to her and all the other contenders. we have news of another debut in the a rts have news of another debut in the arts world. this one involves a robot. last night, the conducted an orchestra in the italian city of pisa for the first time, accompanied by the italian tenor, andrea bocelli. even the normal human conduct was pretty impressed, praising the robot's fluidity of movement and nuance of expression. welcome to this evening's performance, andrea bocelli, and your conductor. he is, as you can see, a robot, and while he needs a little bit of manhandling to get to the podium, once he is there, he is off. music and it took a mere 17 hours of

sometimes very frustrating practice with andrea bocelli and the real conductor, andrea coda benik, for the robot to copy the movements of this six minute performance. translation: he has, because of the great in leicester city of his arm, the exact same ability, and can do all the movements for the piece. here, for example, puccini. of course, conducting is more thanjust waving a bat on the right time. that is all about expression, interaction with yorker sure. and passion. all of which is missing with the robot, but at least he did manage to hold it all together. it is interesting. obviously the robot is programmed,

it is programmed based on the needs of these two particular singers that are collaborating with the robot. there is not much room, unfortunately, for improvisation, so you basically have to go with the robot. i think it is a little bit harder for andrei, since robot. i think it is a little bit harderforandrei, since he is visually impaired, so it is actually very, very difficult, but it seems to be working! so probably not the future of live music, but for the international festival of robotics, he was a pretty impressive finale. david sillito, bbc news. we will have robot forecasting the weather next, but we have alina jenkins. hello, storm aileen has cleared away eastwards, taking the gales with it, but still some gusty winds for a time this afternoon, especially along the east coast. some persistent rain across eastern parts of scotland, easing eastwards, but behind it, sunshine and showers for much of the country. and still some showers overnight, some more persistent rain sinking its way southwards through scotland, northern

england and then into eastern parts of england. there are frequent showers across north—west wales. elsewhere, there will be some clear spells. could be quite a chilly night in the countryside, temperatures into the mid—to—low single figures in some rural spots, so a nip in the airfirst thing tomorrow, some more persistent rain across the east coast for a time, further showers, particularly across western parts of wales and some more persistent rain in north—western parts of scotland later in the day. otherwise, it is another day of sunshine and showers and still quite a cool feel. highs between 14 and 18 celsius for most. then the end of the week, we keep this cool feel, the winds will ease, especially as we go through the weekend and there will still be some showers around. bye— bye. this is bbc news, the headlines at 3pm. private patients of a breast surgeon who was jailed for carrying out unnecessary operations are to be offered a total of £37 million

in compensation. borisjohnson visits the caribbean islands hit by hurricane irma — as the prime minister announces more money to help the recovery effort. we are putting another £25 million into immediate effort and of course it needs it, massively. you can't but be affected by the scale of devastation that the people of anguilla have endured. a bbc survey of half the council blocks in the uk finds that almost every one does not have a full sprinkler system to deal with fires. where you can save one life, then it's worth doing. this can't be optional, can't be a nice