hello, this is breakfast, with chris mason and katherine downes. a new drive to help children and young people with mental health problems. ministers want faster access to treatment and specialist support in schools and colleges. good morning, it's sunday 3rd december. also this morning: the government's entire social mobility commission resigns in protest at what it says is a lack of progress towards a fairer britain. bolstering the "blue belt" — more stretches of the british coastline get special status to help protect vulnerable wildlife and habitats. in sport, australia take control in the second test in adelaide. a shaun marsh century takes them past 400, as england struggle to get rid of him and the tailenders. at eight weeks old, baby charlie was the youngest person on the transplant waiting list — now he's got a new heart.

it's 50 years ago today since the first ever heart transplant, we'll find out what's changed since then, and what challenges lie ahead. and darren has the weather. good morning. a lot of this damp and drizzly weather will clear away this morning, allowing skies to brighton. there will be a bit more sunshine around, but tonight could turn colder. join me laterfor around, but tonight could turn colder. join me later for all the details. good morning. first, our main story. children will be able to get access to mental health support at schools or colleges in england under plans announced by the government this morning. £300 million of funding will be made available in a joint initiative between the departments of health and education. campaigners say the measures are welcome, but long overdue. edward curwen reports. i didn't have any therapy, it was just to talk about things...

sienna, not her real name, has had an eating disorder and depression for the last five years, but for nearly half of that time she was waiting for the right kind of help. ijust feel i've never been properly treated for the mental side, theyjust sort of put me in hospital when my physical side is bad, and then don't treat anything else and they wonder why it keeps happening. she says once support was offered in a hospital, that service was still hundreds of miles away from home. just over a month ago, a review by the care quality commission found that young people were facing long waiting times and unequal access to mental health services that could be put in their lives at risk. now the government's allocated £300 million from the departments of health and education. the measures include the piloting of a new four—week waiting time for young people to get treatment. for all primary and secondary schools to get mental health awareness training and joined up mental health support teams between schools and the nhs.

the promise we want to make to parents up and down the country is that if your child has a mental health issue, we want to make sure that you get the help much, much earlier than happens at the moment and, if possible, we want to work within the schools system to prevent that condition deteriorating. labour, though, says it questions whether the plans will enable every school in england to provide support, while the charity young minds says there's still a long way to go with chronic underfunding for so long. edward curwen, bbc news. all four board members of the government's social mobility commission have stood down in protest at what they say is a lack of progress towards a fairer britain. ex—labour minister alan milburn, who chairs the commission, said he had little hope the current government could make the necessary progress, downing street insists it is working to provide opportunities for all. here's our political correspondent, alex forsyth. when theresa may became prime minister she stood in downing street and made a promise.

the government i lead will be driven, not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours. when it comes to opportunity, we won't entrench the advantages of the fortunate few. we will do everything we can to help everybody, whatever your background, to go as far as your talents will take you. but the government's senior adviser in improving social mobility has now left his job with immediate effect, saying he had little hope the government could make progress in bringing about a fairer britain. in his resignation letter, alan milburn said the government wasl a sentiment he shared on bbc breakfast last week. there's a lot of talk around from government about healing division, promoting socialjustice, but right now its heads seem

to be consumed by brexit, for understandable reasons, and it doesn't seem to have the headspace to inject the necessary energy orfocus into addressing these issues. his departure, along with three senior members of his team, has been described as a loss by some campaigners. downing street said it had already told mr milburn had planned to appoint a new chair as his term of office had ended. a spokesman said the government was committed to fighting injustice and had made good progress. alex forsyth, bbc news. let's speak to our political correspondent, jonathan blake. how does this look for theresa may? this was one of her key pledges when she took office, that she was going to make britain a fairer country. yes, it is not good for theresa may. it was to be her main mission in government, as you say, to improve

social mobility. it is clear that alan milburn, who has been in charge of overseeing that area and checking the government's progress for several years now, believes that she has failed. he says he does not doubt the prime minister's personal commitment to this cause, but it seems brexit is taking up so much energy, effort, time and capacity that the government has that it is difficult for it to get anything else done. as a reminder of that, this coming week as the prime minister prepares to meet the president of the european commission, and later this month eu heads of government will decide on whether enough progress has been made on the first round of brexit negotiations to move onto talks about trade, she has the issue coming down the tracks this week of an investigation into her de facto deputy damian green's conduct in opposition. it is an example of how the government can be in power, but only to a certain extent in control. donald trump is facing accusations of obstructing justice, after suggesting that he knew his former national security adviser, michael flynn had lied to the fbi

before he fired him. the president's comments in a tweet yesterday contradicted his previous account, and prompted claims he knew about the deception when he asked former fbi directorjames comey to drop his investigation into mr flynn's contacts with russia. new measures to protect parts of britain's coastline, and around 150,000 rare birds, will be announced today. the uk's so—called "blue belt", which protects marine areas, will be extended to several parts of the country. the hope is that it will give animal and bird life greater protection, as tom burridge reports. parts of britain's coastline are rich, diverse habitats, and important breeding grounds for a wide variety of birds. so the government wants to protect them. we know about greenbelt, now more coastline will be classified as blue belt to protect certain species. like these manx shearwaters, rescued a few years ago in pembrokeshire.

these birds are also found in the irish sea off anglesea, an area which will now have the new protected status. so, too, will 2a miles of cornish coastline. it means that in total, 650 square miles of sea and coastline around the uk will now be classified as blue belt. lundy off the coast of devon, already a marine conservation zone. important work to protect the life in and above our waters. tom burridge, bbc news. pioneering surgeons successfully completed a human heart transplant for the first time 50 years ago today, a procedure which has

changed the way heart disease is treated. the youngest person on the uk transplant list, eight—week—old baby charlie is making good progress following a nine—hour operation where he received a new heart. duncan kennedy reports. a tender moment tracy wright thought she would never have with her baby charlie. charlie was born with only half a heart. hospitals across europe were contacted to find an organ donor. this week, a heart did become available. and now, atjust eight weeks old, charlie has had a transplant. his skin colour was just amazing. i can't describe it. from going so blue, he wasjust blue all the time, to being so pink and peachy and perfect. charlie was the youngest patient on britain's transplant waiting list. his doctors say the operation went well. he was extremely lucky,

considering his condition and his size, to get a heart, a suitable donor heart, on time. it's not known if the family who donated their baby's heart know about charlie, but charlie's mother says they've given her a precious gift. it's the bravest thing anyone could do. they've given my boy a second chance at life, and for that, i'll be forever thankful. i cried for them. charlie is expected to be strong enough to go home in the new year. an unbearable loss in one family that became unrestrained joy in another. duncan kennedy, bbc news. a real sense that of the conflicting

emotions of those families going through the process right now. vicky small is waiting for a heart transplant, but isn't on the register. shejoins us now, along with scott rutherford, who had a heart transplant almost ten years ago. in our london newsroom we are joined by the heart surgeon, simon messer. good morning to you all. vicky, it isa good morning to you all. vicky, it is a wait, i guess, but at the same time, that curiosity that people are saying to you that your condition has to be worse before you can be considered, which must be a very odd mindset for you. looking forward to a moment where you might get a new heart, but not wanting your condition to deteriorate to the state where that is necessary. condition to deteriorate to the state where that is necessarym condition to deteriorate to the state where that is necessary. it is quite tricky because you don't know whether you will get a new heart because three people die every day waiting for a transplant. do you

prepare yourself for the worst, or do you prepare yourself for the best? you don't really know what the future holds. and how are you now? i am 0k. future holds. and how are you now? i am ok. i have had to adapt things a lot. there is a lot of things i cannot do any more, so ijust focus on what i can do and rest a lot in between. what can't you do? i can't do many normal activities. i cannot work, i had to have up myjob which overly miss, it was quite a physical job. i live right by the beach and the new forest, so my typical sunday would be down there or having a wonder through the forest and i can't do that any more. i can even walk to the end of the road. sometimes evenjust a walk to the end of the road. sometimes even just a view stats is ha rd sometimes even just a view stats is hard work, it makes me breathless and dizzy. fluid will build up in my lungs, in my body. i can gain or lose £8 lungs, in my body. i can gain or lose e8 in a day from day—to—day. there is a lot going on. listening

to vicky talking, scott, you have been there, felt what it is like to wait. you are on the other side of that operation. what difference has it made to your life? it is absolutely incredible, the difference. to go from not being able to brush my own teeth or time i own shoe laces, to not being able to go upstairs, to all of a sudden being able to travel the world and doing what i want to do a im doing nine extra years, nine extra birthdays, i am nine extra years, nine extra birthdays, lam now nine extra years, nine extra birthdays, i am now an uncle to two beautiful little boys, it is incredible. now i can sing on a west end stage. i have even come down and spoken in westminster regarding donation and the law. it is incredible, it is the most wonderful thing, to go from being a little blue boy to being a pink boy and being healthy. it is incredible.

what fascinates me about your story is that your heart keeps you awake because of the strength of its beat, compared to your old heart. yes, i we nt compared to your old heart. yes, i went from 23 beats a minute up to 97 beats a minute, it is so strong. when i woke up in intensive care i still eight set the scope from one of the doctors and i have never given it back because i would slide with it on my test for hours, just listening to it. even now, i still live with my hand on my chest for comfort. well. let's bring in simon, the heart transplant surgeon and at hospital in cambridge. good morning to you. give us some sense of how the technology has changed over the decade since that first heart transplant operation. good morning, it isa transplant operation. good morning, it is a pleasure to be here on

behalf of many heart transplant centres in the uk working tirelessly. 0ver centres in the uk working tirelessly. over the last ten years we have seen a lot involved in heart transplantation because of demand, there are a lot of people needing heart transplants. this is a fantastic operation as we celebrate 50 years today of an amazing operation which has changed so many people's lives, over a people globally. the main thing driving thatis globally. the main thing driving that is demand. there are many people waiting for a heart transplant, and unfortunately a static number of suitable donors. we have had to extend the number of donors and the margins we go to, so we have ta ken donors and the margins we go to, so we have taken sicker donors, donors with non—beating we have taken sicker donors, donors with non— beating hearts. we have taken sicker donors, donors with non—beating hearts. instead of ice and arresting the heart, we now are beginning to use machinery to try and support hearts, using the

beating heart technology, to recondition hearts that are performing poorly or not beating at all, all the way back to the recipient hospital so it can be transplanted successfully. we have seen an transplanted successfully. we have seen an amazing transplanted successfully. we have seen an amazing programme transplanted successfully. we have seen an amazing programme of non—beating heart transplantation. we have done 37 of these operations. many, many patients can go home with truly amazing stories.|j many, many patients can go home with truly amazing stories. i have had the privilege of coming to the pa pworth the privilege of coming to the papworth hospital to see someone waiting for a transplant and from his perspective he had a successful operation and is now back at work. what i am struck by is this extraordinary further leap in the technology, and the science and the scale of the surgeons, being able to use a non—beating heart, which is mind blowing. there is no doubt

about it, it is a fantastic development in heart transportation. mark isa development in heart transportation. mark is a fantastic guy and i know he won't mind me talking about him. he had a temporary support measure that we use in patients awaiting heart transplant. he was very sick in hospital, waiting a long time for a routine heart transplant, and this new type of non—beating heart transportation saved him, and he was transplanted about christmas time la st transplanted about christmas time last year and did extremely well and is now back at work and doing fa nta stically. is now back at work and doing fantastically. it is an absolute pleasure to see these patients go home, having been so sick and on the urgent heart transplant waiting list, to go home then steal a development in the last two years, something that people said was impossible to do, to transplant a non—beating heart. impossible to do, to transplant a non-beating heart. and the only way to have more people with the results

we have seen in scott, and to produce the waiting list so that other people can get on it, is to have more donors. you have met your donor's family, scott, what was that like? it was incredible. ithink it is because of the way that me and my donor's parents met, by this twist of fate where we were both at the same church service at the same time, iwas same church service at the same time, i was asked to go along to a church service near where i live and it just so happened church service near where i live and itjust so happened that my donor's pa rent itjust so happened that my donor's parent attended the same service. it was the most poignant and beautiful moment of my life. i remember taking my donor's mother and putting her hand to my chest. it is something you see in a book, you would not believe it would ever happen.

because of that meeting between me and the families, we have got the most wonderful connection, they came to my 21st birthday party as a guest of honour and now, five years on, it is incredible force. we spent social times together, is wonderful.m is incredible force. we spent social times together, is wonderful. it is a lovely story. vicky, when you hear scott's story, it must give you real grounds for optimism. it does, just to be able to have the hope of living a normal life again, it is only a dream that ican life again, it is only a dream that i can back to work, possibly have my own family. my heart would tolerate having my own family. there are so many different things that having heart failure affects, things like scott was saying about time i own shoelaces, i release struggle with that. you tend to isolate yourself because it is easier than try to go out and do things that really are

not realistically possible. like going out shopping. i can't lift anything. even at home, lifting and doing normal house work, that is a massive struggle. there are so many things you would not even think about. well, thank you both for coming in and sharing your stories with us this morning. we really appreciate it. and thank you to simon messejoining us from london. we appreciate all of your time. and good luck to you both. now, time for a chat with darren about the weather. very quiet weather at the moment. things will go crazy as the week goes on. some big changes on the way. and improving story today. we have still got a lot of cloud spilling down across the uk, and it is thick enough to give us some rain and drizzle, quite misty, low cloud. most of it on that week weather

front, which is dragging its way south, taking that damp and jury weather down across southern parts of england and wales. from the north we should see cloud thinning and breaking, brighter skies and some sunshine following to most areas. the far south—west of england is still a bit damp into the afternoon, maybe some western fringes of wales, but you can see the sunshine coming out across parts of the west midlands. the south—east of england, a bit ofa midlands. the south—east of england, a bit of a slow day, it will be a struggle to break up the cloud significantly, but it is milder than yesterday. the northern england and scotland, temperatures lower than yesterday, pouting over and turning damp and dreary across northern ireland in the afternoon, and still some blustery showers in the northern ireland scotland. the damp weather in the west pushes overnight into more of scotland, western england. further east, more breaks in the cloud and it will turn quite cold with maybe some frost hit and there. patchy mist and fog about a

chance of seeing the super moon