british police say the poisoned russian double agent, sergei skripal, probably came into contact with the nerve agent at his home. specialists found the highest concentration of the novichok substance on his front door. mr skripal and his daughter, yulia, have remained in a critical condition since the attack. kim jong—un‘s surprise trip to beijing earlier this week has sparked a fresh wave of shuttle diplomacy. officials from north and south korea are due for key talks in the demilitarised zone, to prepare for a summit next month, while a chinese envoy is coming to seoul to brief the south korean government on the meeting with the nk leader. —— north korean leader. the first funerals have taken place in russia for some of the 64 people who lost their lives in a fire at a shopping centre on sunday. most of those who died in the city of kemerovo were children. relatives say dozens of other people are still missing. moscow has declared a national day of mourning. it's 2:30am. now on bbc news, time to look back at wednesday in parliament. hello and welcome to the program.

coming up: the decision to release the black cab rapistjohn worboys is overturned after two victims take their case to the high court. we cannot have a system where we rely upon victims, victims of a serial predatory sex offender to keep us safe. the government says delays by firefighters in responding to the manchester arena attack were " not key". british transport police were there, paramedics were there, and within 12 minutes ambulances were there on the scene. and a former assistant to hollywood producer harvey weinstein, who denies allegations of sexual assault, calls for changes to the system for non—disclosure agreements. this is morally wrong.

and there cannot be a legal document that protects, you know, criminal behavior or coercive behavior. it is a question of morality. the high court has overturned the decision by the parole board to release the so called black cab rapistjohn worboys. worboys, who's 60, has served ten years of an indeterminate prison sentence. he'll now remain in custody while a new panel considers his case. the chairman of the parole board, nick hardwick has resigned. a conservative mp raised the ruling with the prime minister. you should share my admiration for the brave victims who challenged this decision in court. does she agree that this gigantic decision must now provoke a rethink of a criminaljustice system in which many of us to not have confidence and 7 the prime minister expressed her sympathy for worboys' victims. one of the issues they have raised is that they have found it is unlawful to a blanket

prohibition of disclosing parole board information. what will now happen is that the parole board decision will be reverted back to the parole board but the evidence that the board has will be updated and will take account of the findings of the court. later the justice secretary defended his decision not to challenge the release ofjohn worboys. the device i received was an argument like i was highly unlikely to succeed and indeed this argument did not succeed. he said he would be examining the current system. when i addressed this injanuary i said i would conduct a review, any transparency of the parole board and whether they should be a way to challenge those decisions. it has been continuing for the past two and a half months. given these serious issues i can announce today that i will conduct further work. a conservative former

justice secretary said david gauke was right not to have pursued the case himself. he said there still needed to be safeguards. would he make sure that the parole board and its panels are not undermined in future when they carry out properly there extremely difficult task? they're often asked almost impossible questions and he cannot have people making anyjudgements except on the basis of the best judgement they can make in the public interest. criminal centres must never be simply a question of campaigning and response responding to popular pressure. they were not probing sufficiently

and not being sufficiently inquisitive we must also accept that they make thousands of decisions every year. they very often involve difficultjudgements. they are not always necessarily going to get it right. but it is not the role of politicians to interfere. something has gone very wrong in this case from the start. in order to getjustice the victims themselves had to go to court to vindicate their rights, twice. first to get a proper investigation by the police on a prosecution of the cases and secondly to protect themselves from early release their attacker. as has been said by others, judicial review has been a key tool in this respect. i think it is unfortunate that legal aid is no longer widely available

in england and wales forjudicial review. the justice secretary said he would be reviewing changes to legal aid. a labour mp thought it wasn'tjust the parole board who were at fault. i hope you will also make clear that he recognises there are also serious questions for the ministry ofjustice, which also had to put forward the evidence in this case. it is not a good luck to simply say this is about responsibility of april board afraid to get to the reforms that we actually need. —— parole board. david gauke admitted improvements could be made across the system. a conservative mp and barrister felt the system was flawed. what assurances can you give us that there are not other cases where the parole board had released people who had been deemed to be dangerous? i have requested that the department look closely at those circumstances where they will release a category a prisoner directly. that happens very rarely come

i think there's only six in recent months but i will seek the department's reassurance. this was a very high profile case and there has been serious failures and decision making. will they take this opportunity to apologise to the victims that have left them pursuing justice because no one also do it for them? you're out silly right saying it was not an ordinary case and it should have been — you are absolutely right. it should have been dealt with in terms of the parole board hearing, there should have been much greater probing and testing of the case that worboys was making to the parole board and i deeply regret that did not happen. i share the anger that he does that to victims therefore had to go through this process. i'm sorry that that happened. david gauke. a minister has said delays by firefighters in responding to the manchester arena bombing

were "not key" to whether people got treatment or not. manchester attack. twenty—two people were killed and more than a hundred others were injured in the attack. an independent report found that the emergency response was overwhelmingly positive. but the author of the report, lord kerslake, said the fire service was, in effect, "out of the loop" and it took nearly two hours for crews to be sent to the scene. the report was raised in the commons by a manchester mp. there are clear lessons for greater manchester and particularly fire service such a being acted upon and have all been accepted. there are also questions for the government. first the report makes clear that the national protocols in relation to the terrorist incidents failed to recognise that every incident is different. flexibility and judgement is needed, indeed have those in charge on the night not to broken protocol we would be facing more challenging questions. in part, this explains the serious failings of the fire service.

will the government take these recommendations on board? the minister said all involved recognized the need for improvements and the recommendations would be considered carefully. i read some of the media in the last few days and you would not be blamed if you thought no one was there on the scene. that is not the case. within one minute of that explosion, targeted against women and children, berdych transport police were there, paramedics were there and within 12 minutes, ambulances were there on the scene. —— psos were there. it is of course regretful that the fire service were not there but that was not key to whether or not people are getting the treatment they were being given. the other services did a fantasticjob. the setup of the casualty bureau was severely hampered by what is described as a complete failure of the national mutually service provided. they have a national contract

with the home office, kennedy minister look into that contract and look into what guarantees can be secured to ensure that such a situation does not happen again? the home secretary and others have sought direct assurances from a chief executive that they will take responsibility and they have apologised, but we have made sure and i have a for these events. it is also important as part of this review that we look at the counselling services that are available within schools and available to young people, not just in manchester but beyond because young people's lives were touched in a weight that should never have happened at such a young age. have you put in place the message to our education

authorities to pick up on that? the assurance i was given was es i asked them to go back and read double the messaging. i hope that was done, but if it wasn't i would be happy to hear from colleagues of the house and make sure we follow—up on those assurances. one lesson to remember, in big cities people come from all over the country and they will disburse back and take their injuries with them. the revelations about press intrusion into the families of the dead and grieving families are utterly shocking. does the minister agree with me that to these findings underline that the attitude of a summit in the press, that everyone should be investigated, held to account unregulated apart from them it needs to be challenged. no one is above the law, and that means journalists should follow the correct procedures and the rules that are written about respecting victims and the media should do

what they are are requested to dubai police and hospital staff that they hold back and the need for sensationalism does not trump the right of the victims and behaving sensibly. ben wallace. you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, mandy baker. if you want to catch up with all the news from westminster on the go, don't forget our sister program. today in parliament is available as a download into the role of controversial data firms involved in the eu referendum campaign. on tuesday christopher wylie a former employee of cambridge analytica, made new allegations about both it and aggregate io which worked for two pro—brexit campaign groups vote leave and be leave during the referendum. the matter was raised by the snp during prime minister's questions. the public must have trust in our political process.

as a premise to agree with me that transparency in political campaign spending and the integrity of electoral laws across the uk must be upheld? and will be prime ministerjoin with me in saying all allegations of improper spending during the eu referendum must be fully investigated? we have laws about election spending, the parties are required to abide by those laws. i understand that any allegations that have come forward in respect of spending during the referendum have already been investigated by the electronic omission, but it is right to that allegations are investigated. we know that before the eu referendum the dup received thousands of pounds from the conservative or run constitutional research council.

richard cooke. we know some of the money was given to aggregate iq, a reported franchise as cambridge analytic, we know that chris while he is absolutely convinced of a comment partnership between a vote leave borders for veterans and the dup. the shady business of data mining was right at the heart of the prime minister's party. theresa may repeated that allegations of wrongdoing should be investigated. but the green party mp wasn't leaving it there. the revelation suggests that there is something rotten in the state of our democracy. current electoral law is woefully inadequate in dealing with the big money and big data. will be prime minister commit to urgent cross party talks to start the process that we have a regulatory and legal framework that is up to the challenge of dealing

with the digital age? i expect facebook, cambridge analytica and any others involved to cooperate fully with the commissioners office and not investigation that is taking place. and our data protection bill as i said earlier will strengthen the powers of the commissioner and also strengthen legislation around data protection. as will other steps that the government is taking through for example as through the digital charter. vote leave denies it broke any rules. cambridge analytica and aggregate io have also denied any wrong—doing. earlier the labour leader, wearing a badge to support autism awareness week, used his questions to raise concerns over health funding. our nhs is in crisis. the crisis is particularly... it is particularly acute in mental health services despite legislating with esteem, it has failed to fund it. we have fewer resources for mental health trust and fewer

nurses and fewer child and adolescent psychologists. will the prime minister commit to refinancing nhs and mental health budget? we are putting extra money into mental health services and i am pleased to say, around 1400 people, all people —— more people are accessing mental health services every day then when we came into power. and of course it is this government that has ensuring that we are giving parity of esteem to the treatment of mental health and the national health service and increasing the training and recruitment of people to provide those mental health services. the home secretary has announced there's to be border officer recruitment drive. facing the home affairs committee amber rudd also faced questions about the uk's future immigration policy. i can announce today that we are launching a national advertising campaign for another thousand border force staff and prepare specifically for brexit.

there will be 1300 in place. by the end of the transition period? you said 300 are already in place. so 1300 are already in the transition period. and the dutch said they are recruiting 750 customs agents and that is obviously fairly comparable but obviously we have the ideal and are you sure that is going to be enough, 1300? yes, we think it will be enough. that thousand is not back filling vacancies. at his additional posts on top of unfilled vacancies? it is a combination. the right honourable lady, i am sure is aware that the previous staffing requirements from the 2015 settlement wanted the numbers to go down and we are now making sure we are moving away from that

and having with 1000 coming in. could you clarify in writing if any of those are back filling vacancies. we took evidence previously on a lot of vacancies. yes, i will do that. the snp wanted to know why proposals on immigration had been delayed. the timing for the immigration bill has been delayed. the key element of protecting eu citizens and their rights in the uk has now been achieved for the withdrawal agreement which is going to come before parliament later this year. so the immigration bill will cover the future immigration arrangement with the eu post 2020, pose the implementation period. the urgency we had before with the white paper and with immigration bill has two certain extent then removed it because the eu citizens' rights are protected in the thrall agreement and implementation coming up later this year. have you come up with options for immigration for inclusion in the negotiation process? there is a whole range of different

options that could be considered by the government in terms of the future immigration policy. do have a recommendation that you have made to them? no, i don't. i am leaving it to the prime minister and david davis to lead on those discussions. but you said it is yourjob to come up with the options, what is the current cabinet position on whether or not immigration should be included in the discussions on future partnership? it is for the prime minister to decide that. march now, 12 months until brexit day, and you are saying that the home office has not taken a position, never mind the government taking a position, you as home secretary have not taken a view on what the immigration proposals or objectives should be in the future partnership? i have provided and continue to provide the negotiators, i and david davis, with information they require in order to take forward there negotiations forfuture arrangement. but you have to make decisions

for what is the best immigration arrangements for the country in the future. have you not taken any deal at all on what the best immigration objectives should be from the future partnership and negotiations? my commitment is to make sure the prime minister and david davis have the information they need to get the best deal for the uk in the negotiations with the european union. the problem is you've got a net migration target on one hand, you have some unknown and hidden objectives on the negotiations and none of us have any idea where they are. do you think you are remotely being honest and open with the public about what future immigration policy and reality is going to be? i think what the public wants is to make sure they see a government that is committed to reducing the high numbers of net migration and they are seeing that with this government. the home secretary. now, does the electoral commission have sufficient powers to investigate claims that

vote leave broke electoral law during the eu referendum campaign? this was one of the questions posed in the lords. these very serious allegations come into the context of the former ceo of cambridge analytica, claimed that he could fix election outcomes, for a fee using entrapment. does the noble lord think that the maximum £20,000 fine per offense that could be imposed by commission is anywhere near meeting the gravity of the allegations if proven? the noble lord is correct, the electoral commission has expressed concern in the past that the £20,000 fine might be regarded as simply the cost of doing business. and they are making representations that it should be enhanced to a high—level. the government is considering those representations alongside any other recommendations that come out of the investigation currently under way. we will consider what action to take. and lord young added... we will never know if the law was broken, whether it

made any difference. my personal view is that it is unlikely and i think with better explanations as to why people voted the way they did rather than being targeted by an algorithm. lord young. local authorities in england say they have "little choice" but to put up council taxes in the steepest rise in bills for 14 years. the average bill will be just over 5% higher than in 2018—19. in an debate called by the opposition, labour mps weren't happy. isn't this an example of the utter hypocrisy of the conservative party, anti—cuts campaigners locally but putting them through in this place? my honourable friend is absolutely right. and of course, part of the reason and it is two sides of the same coin, you have had eight years of cuts to local councils, meaning that those budgets the councils have directly to spend from this place have shrunk. but it is also this place that then has allowed councils to increase council tax,

this year they increase the limit by a further 1%. and of course what that means is that they are merely shifting the blame onto local councils of all political persuasions, this is not a party political point and that is is so unfair. they have devolved the clouds and the blame and have sought to distance themselves from decisions that each and every member sitting opposite is directly responsible for. i will give way. i would remind him that council tax these less in real terms than it was in 2010. and doesn't he think that he should think about his party's on record because between 1997 in 2010, county tax doubled. i would remind the honourable gentleman that councils spending is less in real terms since 2010 as well. andrew quinn.

a former assistant of harvey weinstein has told mps she was pressured into signing a non disclosure agreement after a colleague accused him of sexual assault. zelda perkins said she agreed to the contract in return for the hollywood producer promising to change his behavior. mr weinstein denies there was any non—consensual sex. she told the women and equalities committee why she left his company miramax in 1998. i resigned because he sexually assaulted and attempted to rape a colleague of mine. a colleague who recently been employed, she had only been with the company for a month and had only met him once. and obviously, when somebody comes to you saying that has happened, there is not much choice of what you should do. so, we considered ourselves constructively dismissed at that point. she also said she was advised by her lawyers not to pursue a prosecution because of the disparity of power.

so she and her colleague signed a non disclosure agreement. are are are are it is a morally lacking agreement on every level. at there are clauses in their that preclude me and my colleagues from not only speaking to ourfriends, colleagues, family about our time at miramax and what happened but also to any medical practitioner, any legal representative, revenue, accounting, financial advisors. we cannot speak to those people as long as they signed their own nondisclosure agreement. had she needed trauma counseling? yeah. she would need a trauma counselor to sign a nondisclosure agreement first? yeah, she sought counseling but never discussed the event

because she was so afraid of this agreement that she felt she was not allowed to. zelda perkins also said she wasn't allowed to hold a copy of her agreement or any paperwork pertaining to it. she called for reform of non disclosure agreements to stop them covering up criminality. mr weinstein has denied all allegations of "non—consensual sexual contact". and that's all we've got time for. so for now from me, mandy baker, goodbye. in the morning will be a little frosty across many parts of the uk. weather front sitting across scotla nd weather front sitting across scotland getting a dull and damp. the earlier rain followed by some

showers. the showers arriving early in the morning in wales and the south—west and pushing further north into england and wales. sunshine for longer across northern ireland, northern england, and was in scotland. north—east scotland will be cool and down. temperatures six degrees also in aberdeen. struggling to make double figures for england and wales. chilly on thursday. good friday and not a lot better. another dose of wet weather coming northwards across england and wales. try our further north, but still fairly cloudy. an easterly breeze, so fairly cloudy. an easterly breeze, so to riches are struggling. the easter weekend will not be a wash out by any means. there will be spells of dry weather and sunshine. rain at round as well. cold enough for some snow, meme over the scottish hills, the temperature is a bit disappointing for the time of year. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: poisoned at home. uk police reveal a deadly nerve agent was on the former

spy‘s front door. south korean officials meet their north korean counterparts to discuss denuclearisation ahead of next month's historic summit. grief and fury in siberia at the first funerals for victims of the shopping centre inferno. egypt's president looks set for a landslide victory in the presidential election. but human rights groups say the vote was a farce. also in the programme: the rise and fall of an african hero. burkino faso's former president remembered on stage.