of at least 6.5% over the next three years it marks the end of tight pay restrictions on nhs workers imposed for the past seven years — the health secretary said the deal recognises that staff have never worked harder. the agreement which nhs trade unions have recommended to the members todayis have recommended to the members today is a something for something deal which brings in profound changes in productivity in exchange for significant rises in pay. labour said the pay rise was long overdue. we'll be asking whether this marks the end of the wider cap on public sector pay. also this lunchtime... the academic at the centre of the row over the use of personal facebook data says he's been made a scapegoat. plastic pollution — the amount in the ocean is set to treble in ten years unless action is taken, says a major new report. and nearly a0 years after the last papal visit — pope francis is going to the republic of ireland in august. and coming up in the sport on bbc news — scotla nd

scotland are set a target of 190 94 victory over the west indies and a place at next year's cricket world cup. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. more than a million nhs staff in england, including nurses, porters and paramedics, have been offered a pay rise of at least 6.5% over the next three years. the health secretaryjeremy hunt said the pay rise was recognition that staff have "never worked harder" but labour said it was long overdue. the plan will be funded by four billion pounds of new money from the treasury. wage rises in the nhs have been capped at 1% since 2013 — but given the forecasts for inflation, the real terms increase over three years from this

deal is expected to be small. 0ur political correspondent iain watson reports. for the past seven years, nhs staff have had a pay cut or frozen. health service unions have argued that the members are chronically underpaid and nhs managers have been calling for wage increases to improve recruitment and retention and void staff shortages. the treasury said it had found the cash to improve pay rates without taking it from elsewhere in the nhs budget. we recognise the nhs is facing unique pressures. we see an increasing demand for services. we have set aside that money in exchange for making sure that we reform the way the nhs is working. an agreement is being reached with the unions which is really positive. most staff have

been offered an average of 6.5% over the next three years, not covering doctors and dentists, the least well off staff would get the highest percentage increases, up to 29% over three years. hospital porters and cleaners, the lowest nhs pay band, could see salaries rise from around £15,000 per year to more than £18,000 over three years. a £2000 increase in the coming year. since lifting the pay gap for the police and prison officers last autumn, the government has been under huge political pressure to do the same for the nhs staff. this comes at a price, the health secretary has had to guarantee to the treasury that the system of increments, automatic pay increase, will be reformed and that the level of sickness among staff, rather than patients, will come down. after months of

negotiations, some unions signalled strong support for the pay offer. some nhs staff welcomed it more cautiously. i personally will do quite well out of this offer and those on the lower banding will do quite well. but there are some people who won't do as well. people i work with. i want everybody to get a good offer today. i'm happy. i'm sure it came too late though. others are sceptical. the gmb union said that the average increase was below the predicted rate of inflation and should be rejected. labour asked for more detail. after eight years of 1% ora more detail. after eight years of 1% or a pay cap, the trade unions appear to be quite happy with the settle m e nt appear to be quite happy with the settlement but we will look at the devils the detail and where the money is going to come from. let's see the detail on this one. posterity isn't dead or on

life—support but the government recognises that pay in the nhs has to recover to attract and keep staff who do vital work. —— austerity. in a moment — we'll speak to our assistant political editor norman smith who is in westminster but first lets talk to our health correspondent catherine burns who is outside the headquarters of the unison union in central london — catherine, how likely is it this offer will be accepted? that's the big question. that is over to nhs staff. it is the start of the consultation which will go on until the end of may and report back injune. that's when we find out whether they have accepted it. if they have, they will see the money injuly pay packets backdated to april. if is a really big question. the gmb union is not recommending it to its members. other unions are more positive. some things will be attractive, progression through pay grades. a newly qualified at the

moment would take seven years to get to the top grade, this would change to the top grade, this would change to four years. the sides admit this is a compromise and i asked the union unison what they have compromised on and the answer was money. they would have liked more money. they would have liked more money. they would have liked more money. the employers would like this to be something that the could make the nhs the most desirable employer. norman, does this have wider significance, does it mark the end for the public sector cap? i think it does. to our phrasejohn cleese, it is a dead parrot, it is no more, it is deceased. the rises burst through the existing 1% per year limit, burst through the existing 1% per yearlimit, in burst through the existing 1% per year limit, in some cases spectacularly so. also because of

the way this is funded. previously when police officers and others got increases above 1%, they had to pay for it themselves. this increase will not come from within existing nhs budgets. it will come from the treasury. initially from treasury reserves. that comes with significant economic consequences and the bill likely to be around £4 billion, possibly even higher because you can bet your bottom dollar the public sector workers will be thinking, if nhs staff are getting that sort of money, we want that sort of money, so there will be huge pressure on mr hammond to hand over larger sums of money. what it tells us politically i think is that not that austerity is over, there is still plenty out there, but that the government has made a huge strategic decision to ease off on austerity. the reason, a simple calculation

that after eight years of pay freezes, pay caps, people have simply had enough. thank you. and to catherine burns as well. well, following that news, figures out this morning suggest the squeeze on household income may be easing with wages growing at a rate just below the rise in prices. official statistics showed that average wages grew by 2.6% in the three months to january. they come a day after figures showing inflation falling back to 2.7%. simon gompertz reports. evenif even if your pay hasn't gone up much, especially in the public sector, the average is increasing faster. that's what's happening at this london business making beauty products for people with sensitive skin, founded by sarah brown who has been raising her staff's wages. one of our biggest pressures is the tightening in the jobs of our biggest pressures is the tightening in thejobs market of our biggest pressures is the tightening in the jobs market which

we are feeling. wages are going up, we are feeling. wages are going up, we are feeling. wages are going up, we are a living wage certified company, we have always paid more than the national living wage —— minimum wage and we think it is fair because of the cost of living. effectively, the buying power of our pay has been shrinking but now wages are rising by 2.6% on average and are rising by 2.6% on average and are now almost catching up with prices. and some people are doing better. we have made sure that we have increased the living wage and the minimum wage and people on the lowest paid jobs has seen a 7% increase above the rate of inflation. there has been a rise in the number of people out of work, of 24,000, but the percentage of the workforce without a job is down to 4.3%, close to the lowest in years. here, they have taken on 16 people to help with demand, taking the total to 48. that is matched over

the uk as a whole. the economy has been quite resilient in the aftermath of the referendum and the labour market is really prove that. thejob labour market is really prove that. the job market is labour market is really prove that. thejob market is holding up. if people start to feel better off, then we should seek consumer spending start to firm up across the economy. that was really a bit of a wea k economy. that was really a bit of a weak point in the uk last year. there have been worrying signs, the colla pse there have been worrying signs, the collapse of crilly, shops and restau ra nts collapse of crilly, shops and restaurants laying people off. so far, help us come from other countries doing well and buying a sports. —— buying our exports and giving a boost to jobs and pay. an academic who created an app which harvested data from 50 million users says he has been made "a scapegoat" for facebook and the consultancy cambridge analytica. dr aleksandr kogan said he had no idea the work he did for cambridge analytica would be used for donald trump's election campaign. facebook says dr kogan violated the site's policies. ben ando reports. worldwide it has 2 billion users. if

you are on facebook and you probably are, it has information about how old you are, who you are related to and how you might vote. if you were one of 270,000 people who took part ina one of 270,000 people who took part in a bazaar is to test, that app collected data from you, your friends, theirfriends, to 50 million people for a company called cambridge analytica. this is that company's cambridge analytica. this is that compa ny‘s boss alexander cambridge analytica. this is that company's boss alexander nix boasting two undercover reporters that they use that data to send millions of targeted messages during the us elections that got donald trump into the white house. a claim that facebook strongly denies. the app was created by cambridge university academic who designed it for research, not election rigging. my view is that i am being used as a scapegoat by both facebook and cambridge analytica. we thought we

we re cambridge analytica. we thought we were acting perfectly appropriately and doing something that was perfectly normal. facebook says it's been outrage about how it's been deceived but cambridge analytica says it's done nothing wrong, it has suspended its ceo alexander nix and said it has appointed a senior lawyer to carry out an investigation. analysts say online political campaigning is here to stay. every uk party is campaigning online, buying adverts, profiling the voters they want to reach. they are spending the money they need to reach them. the nice thing for them, of these kind of advertising tools, is that they can go back to people again and again with the same m essa 9 es again and again with the same m essa g es to again and again with the same messages to get them across. again and again with the same messages to get them acrossm again and again with the same messages to get them across. if you don't want to join the trend of deleting facebook altogether, how do you keep your data secure? you can turn your cookies off, you can make yourself private, so you data isn't

given to the platforms. there are a number of steps you can take to be forgotten. united states senators are calling for mark zuckerberg to appear before congress. they are breathtakingly powerful. they know more about me than me, more about you than you. facebook says that the controversial app would not be allowed now. it's believed that a warrant is being sought to enter the offices of cambridge analytica to search through their files and data. the kremlin has accused the uk of being unwilling to listen to russia's view on the salisbury nerve agent attack — after the british ambassador decided not to attend at the russian foreign ministry to discuss the incident. richard galpin is in moscow. does this mark a stepped—up diplomatic response by russia to the skripal case? yes, i think absolutely. a major diplomatic offensive by russia under way and the meeting taking place

here at the russian foreign ministry isa here at the russian foreign ministry is a big part of that. about an hour ago we saw a large number of ambassadors streaming into the building to hear the russian point of view which is essentially that russia had nothing to do with the poisoning of the scree powell noren. they say there is only two explanations that britain is behind the attack or unable to prevent a terrorist attack on its soil. the kremlin repeating allegations that it was britain behind the nerve agent attack. the british ambassador has not turned up to this meeting neither have the american german ambassadors. that has also brought a rebuke from the kremlin on britain. they say that although they have thrown out these accusations, they

are not willing to listen to the a nswe rs. are not willing to listen to the answers. 0ne official saying that because there is no dialogue between moscow and london, this case is at a dead—end. it does very much feel like the two sides are at loggerheads and it's not clear where it can go from from here. the suspect in a wave of bombings in the texas state capital austin has died after he detonated a device while being chased by police. two people were killed by parcel bombs, after six separate attacks in the city this month. gary 0'donoghue reports from austin. police closed in on the suspected bomber in the early hours. tracking him down to a hotel north of austin. while they waited for extra back—up, he drove off and then pulled into a ditch at the side of the road. as the police approached his car, he set off a bomb. as members of the austin police department swat team approached the vehicle, the suspect detonated a bomb inside the vehicle.

knocking one of our swat officers back and one of our swat officers fired at the suspect as well. the suspect is deceased and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle. cctv in the past couple of days appears to show the man police believe was the suspected bomber dropping off a package at a fedex office. police have not named him, they say he is a 24—year—old white man. since the beginning of the month there have been six separate bombs, five of which have exploded. two men have died and half a dozen people have suffered serious injuries. a number are still in hospital. police still do not know the motive for this bombing spree that has terrorised austin for the past three weeks. they are also telling the public they do not know where the suspect has been for the past 24 hours. so there could still

be devices out there. gary 0'donoghue, bbc news, austin, texas. our top story this lunchtime. more than a million nhs workers in england are offered a pay rise of around 6% over the next three years. coming up — in need of a family — the campaign to place more muslim children with a muslim household. coming up in the sport, jockey ruby walsh is ruled out of next month's grand national at aintree following his fall at cheltenham last week. the amount of plastic in the ocean is set to treble within a decade unless action is taken, a government report has warned. the foresight future of the sea study also highlights the threats of rising sea levels and warming oceans. but it also predicts positive opportunities for the uk to use new technologies to cash in on the global "ocean economy."

here's our environment analyst roger harrabin. the world is waking up to the menace of plastic in the oceans. the report says the best solution is to stop it getting to the sea in the first place. in the longer term better biodegradable plastics could help. plastic waste in the ocean is expected to triple by 2025 the report says. and that is not all. we are also having pollutions from farms, pesticides and fertilisers. from industry, even from pharmaceuticals. the report says all these together are combined to make a mighty problem for the oceans. but how did things get so bad? the report's authors say it is a question of out of sight, out of mind. 0nly 0.05% of the open ocean is properly explored. they say that must change. we have explored the planet, we have mapped venus, mars and the moon but we have not

mapped our own sea floor. it really is time to have a mission to planet 0cean. and here is why. the seas are industrialising fast. the report predicts a doubling of economic activity in the ocean with offshore wind leading the way. deep sea mining is also set to boom. the report's authors warned that laws to protect the open ocean are at risk of lagging behind firms wanting to exploit it. there is a continuous process of wanting to look for new things we can exploit in the oceans. and commerce is out there looking for these things, it is exploring and that is happening faster than we as scientists can really keep up with it. and my suspicion is the legislation is also trying to keep up with it as well. this is the sort of thing at risk, the extraordinary natural c02 events that i dived to visit in papua.

nature's jacuzzi. but even if we ban mining on sites like this the corals that live here will still face other man—made threats. carbon levels cause two things, rising sea surface temperature which stresses corals out and can cause large areas of them to die. and it also makes the water more acidic and that slows down the growth rate of corals. so many threats to our precious oceans, so much opportunity. can mankind strike a balance? roger harrabin, bbc news. an error in calculating the main sickness benefit — employment and support allowance — could cost the government more than £800 million. the national audit office says the mistakes in how the government applied changes have been known about since 2013 — but that ministers only started to address the issue last year. michael buchanan reports. lucy marsh lives at home with her parents. the 28—year—old has learning

disabilities and though she does voluntary work, she relies on benefits for any income. when she was moved from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance in 2013, officials miscalculated what she was due. she has now been repaid thousands of pounds. just in time for her to move in to herfirst home. what it means is that in monetary terms, it is a payment ofjust short of £2000. which obviously would be very useful to lucy in the context of her moving into this new supported accommodation. it will help quite substantially with the furnishings and things for the new flat. many other claimants will get much more money says today's report. the average repayment will be £5,000 per head. though some could get as much as £20,000. in total 70,000 people are due a backdated payment. the whole debacle could cost

the department for work and pensions as much as £830 million. with repayments and higher benefit awards. ministers say they are committed to correcting the mistakes and are aiming to repay everyone affected by april of next year. but while the errors started in 2011 they'll only backdate payments to 2014. claiming a court ruling limits liability. welfare advisers are not impressed. they were well aware of the legislation before, they had it in their own guidance. they just failed to follow that. and as a result some of the most severely disabled people have lost out on thousands of pounds they will never get back. for lucy the repayment will help as she moves on. for other claimants who have been underpaid for years, their reduced budgets have meant real hardships. michael buchanan, bbc news. a man has been stabbed to death at a shopping centre in east london. the man who was believed to be in his early 20s was pronounced dead at the stratford shopping centre last night.

it brings the number of fatal stabbings in the capital this year to 26. at least 29 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the afghan capital, kabul. the bomber was apparently heading towards a well—known shrine where a large crowd had gathered to mark the start of the traditional new year. the islamic state group said it carried out the attack. the archbishop of canterbury has said the church of england needs new powers to protect children from abuse. giving evidence at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, justin welby said church's powers around safeguarding "probably needed re—looking at". well our religion editor martin bashir is at the inquiry. tell us more about what he had to say. this is the third week of focus on the anglican church and the dioceses of chichester in particular. it was chosen because of the large number of default priest

who have been since the 1980s. the archbishop of canterbury who has been nursing a heavy cold, arrived surrounded by a couple of bishops, his head of communications and legal counsel. he gave evidence about 11:15am and one of the most striking moments was when he described the experience of confronting survivors of abuse. to read the transcripts, to meet survivors is horrifying to a huge degree because you see this extraordinary and atrocious willingness to turn a blind eye. two things going very seriously wrong. and entirely damaging human beings. the enquiry is currently on a break for lunch. the archbishop has been told he will be expected to give another 30 minutes of evidence inside following that, the head

bishop of safeguarding, the lead in the church of england, peter hancock, will then give evidence. muslim families in the uk are being encouraged to come forward to adopt and foster muslim children. around 4,000 muslim children are in care and the number is growing. more than half of them are spending time living in non—muslim homes, which experts say can cause religious and cultural problems. the bbc asian network's shabnam mahmood has more. providing a much—needed home for children who don't have one. sha and shaheen ali have been fostering for over nine years. like them, most of the children they have looked after are muslims. they can associate with the culture and the identity. they can feel comfortable that they are getting halal food. that they can be supported with their islamic education and knowledge. to have an environment where they can pray. they can interact with the family and community during festivals like ramadan. issues like having halal food,

having an alcohol free house. even if they are not drinking, some of them still feel uneasy that the presence is there. the importance of matching children to the right families is all too clear. it is so important, the needs of the child are really central to the process. if you have a muslim child come into care the vast array of their needs be it the muslim faith, education, health, it is so important they find a best match for the foster carer to look after that child. figures given to the bbc say there are around 4500 muslim children in care and the number is growing. more than half of them spent time living in non— muslim homes. it is accepted by many that more needs to be done to attract muslim carers to meet this demand. the charity has identified religious misconceptions for the shortage of muslim carers.

their new guidelines are clear about the islamic position on fostering and adoption. we found the scholars agreed that it can be obligatory from an islamic perspective to adopt and foster given the dire need of muslim families to foster and adopt in the uk. with the number of muslim children in care increasing, more families are needed so young ones can be placed in familiar religious and cultural environments. shabnam mahmood, bbc news. pope francis has announced he will visit ireland in august — the first papal visit to the country for almost 40 years. the pontiff‘s visit will include celebrating mass in dublin's phoenix park. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page reports. the official announcement of a much anticipated pa pal visit. the official announcement of a much anticipated papal visit. irish

families were in rome to hear pope francis confirmed he was going to their country as was lush bishop of dublin. it is almost four years since the last time a pub went to ireland. on a hillside nearly 300 people... in 1979 john paul ii drew massive crowds on a tour which featured some iconic moments for catholics. young people of ireland, i love you. it was such a sense of excitement and talking about it now ican see excitement and talking about it now i can see the helicopter coming up ahead and then i suppose is a large group of young people to be affirmed by the pope with those beautiful words. father martin mcgill was amongst the throng 39 years ago and has been reflecting on what the event this year might mean. a lot has happened in 30 years, a sense of maybe having to face up to a past which at times we did not want to

do. but if we are going to get any healing and experience any sense of truth, we need to do that. the repetition of the church has been damaged by scandals about child sex abuse. and it has been major social change like the legalisation of same—sex marriage in the irish republic after a referendum in 2015. the influence of the catholic church in ireland north and south has diminished in recent years. but churchgoing remains more popular than in most other parts of europe. in west belfast today parishioners were delighted about the plans. absolutely fantastic, if there was more people like him it would be a better world to live in. i'm sure eve ryo ne better world to live in. i'm sure everyone will turn out and welcome them with open arms. pope francis will visit dublin in late august for two days. so far no news as to whether he will travel north of the irish border. if he does it would be the first ever able visit to northern ireland. time for a look at the weather...

get quite cold night and something tells me we are not quite done with winter yet as we had towards easter, it could turn cold again. for the short term we have white fine weather around across most of the uk. the weather systems are out in the atlantic lining up and heading in our direction. and with that comes a bit of mild air but not desperately mild but temperatures still below par for the time of year. but a lot better than third to just a few days ago. so today bright weather across england and wales, some rain around in