hello. it's thursday. it's ten o'clock. i'm victoria derbyshire. this morning we've been given exclusive access to a mental health hospital where the boss tells us that up to 50 patients in their care are stuck, waiting to be released. one should have been discharged 524 days ago. last month we revealed that one of these patients tried to take her life by swallowing a toothbrush. now we've been inside the facility. are there patients here who shouldn't be here? yes, absolutely there are. at any given point in time, across just short of 800 inpatients, service users that we have here, we have between 35 and 50 patients who are not clinically benefiting from being in an inpatient secure environment. if a patient is in extreme distress

or is a risk to themselves or members of staff, this, the seclusion room, is always used as a last resort. we've been passed this footage from the parent of a teenager who was held in seclusion at this hospital. for months, the only way they were able to talk to her was through this hatch. theresa may is still the prime minster, but there's more pressure on her to resign after one of her top team, andrea leadsom, quit the cabinet last night over brexit. there's somem flash photography in the next clip. i have been supporting brexit totally for the last three years and i just couldn't, as leader of the commons with responsibility for the legislation, stand up at business questions tomorrow and announce a bill that ijust think has elements i cannot support, that aren't brexit. and the search is on for a buyer for british steel. is this the end of the line? we'll hear from a father and step—son who are from four

generations of steel workers. my partner is a nurse and for me to lose myjob, like, she's an amazing nurse but the wages would not be able to support us. for the mortgage, the bills, it would kill us. we will talk to paul and callum later. and this programme has learned that over 750 guide dogs have been attacked in the last five years — mostly by other dogs. yet guide dogs for the blind say fewer than 10% of these dog attacks led to a prosecution. david will tell us what happened to scooby in a park last year. hello, welcome to the programme. we're live until ”am this morning. there's a survey today that suggests some parents are using alexa to read bedtime stories to their children.

i know! thanks for your tweets to me about this morning. paul brown says, reading bedtime stories is a joy that all parents must find time for. such a simple pleasure, a simplejoy. teresa says, as a manager of a preschool i find this so sad, this is such a special time of the day too! sandra leaton gray says, we need to help parents be less busy with routine tasks, so human interaction is at the core of what they do at home. leighton says busy is lazy! dr sarah harwood says, i also love reading to all three of my children, but i could make a fairly long list of reasons why, on some occasions, i may not have time to read to them. #busylives. haven't asked alexa to step in however, yet! so, if you have ever used alexa or siri to read your child a bedtime story, i won'tjudge you, i promise, do tell me. let us know if you have done that and why. first, anita has the news.

thank you and good morning. this programme has been given exclusive access to a mental health hospital where the chief executive has told us where the chief executive has told us there are up to 50 patients in their care who should not be there because of a lack of suitable places in the community. last month, we reveal that one patient at st andrews health care try to take her own life by swallowing a toothbrush. we will be bringing you the full report after this bulletin. number ten insists the government will publish theresa may's revised brexit deal tomorrow despite an angry backlash against the plans from many of her own mps. the prime minister is facing growing calls to step down and last night the leader of the commons, andrea leadsom, announced her own resignation, saying there are elements of mrs may's plan she could not support. voters are heading to the polls for the european parliament elections. 73 members, known as meps, it will be elected in a nine constituencies in england and one each in scotland,

wales and northern ireland. results will be announced on sunday when voting as finished in all eu countries. the number of people dying from strokes in england has more than halved in a decade according to researchers at the university of oxford who say that more patients are surviving because of new treatments and better care by nhs staff. the figures show those dying from strokes dropped by 55% between 2001 and 2010, but the number of young people aged between 35 and 5a who suffer a stroke rose by 2% every year. the streets of suburban los angeles were taken over bya suburban los angeles were taken over by a police pursuit with a difference. a stolen motorhome caused chaos for 30 minutes as it was chased round the houses. the ao—year—old woman behind the wheel was not the only passenger. if you look closely, you can see two dogs in the front seat, one sticking its head out the window. getting a lot

of fresh air because of the damage to the vehicle. police eventually stopped it and the driver was arrested. that is a summary of the main stories. back to you, victoria. and one of those dogs actually jumped out of the vehicle when it was being pursued but both are ok. first this morning... a police investigation has been launched after the bbc‘s panorama programme exposed shocking evidence of abuse at a specialist mental health hospital called whorlton hall in county durham run by the company cygnet. it comes eight years after a similar scandal also exposed by panorama at another hospital, winterbourne view, which prompted a government promise to close down such units and move patients into the community for care. this hasn't happened. just this week, the children's commissioner for england said too many children are still being admitted to mental health hospitals unnecessarily, while the health care watchdog released a damning report which said patients with mental health problems, autism and learning disabilities are being let down

by a "broken" care system. this programme has been given exclusive access to one atu, in northampton, run by st andrews healthcare, which is a specialist mental healthcare charity treating patients with mental health conditions, learning disablities and autism. last month, we revealed that one patient held there for years had tried to take her own life by swallowing a toothbrush. the toothbrush remains inside her. we've also been shown footage of one teenager who was locked in seclusion at one of its units, only able to touch their parent through a door hatch during visits. the chief executive of st andrew's healthcare, which treats up to 900 patients, openly admits there are up to 50 people in their hospitals who should not be there, because of a lack of suitable places in the community. noel phillips has this exclusive report from inside the facility in northampton.

just what happens to some of the country's most vulnerable people inside this medium secure psychiatric hospital has long been the subject of controversy. when i first got here, it was hard because it's so restrictive and you have to be observed on the toilet and observed with a pen. it's like being thrown in the deep end. you have to learn to cope quite quickly and adapt quite quickly. cameras are rarely allowed inside secure units, but this programme has been given rare access inside this mental health hospital where children and adults are held under lock and key. in any situation, in any incident where a staff member is not treating one of our patients with the utmost of dignity and respect, that is completely unacceptable. st andrew's healthcare runs a number of private hospitals across the country. some of its services are rated good by the care quality commission,

but many wards of people with learning disabilities require improvement. we are treating a very small subsection of society with often considerable risk as well. not only to other people, but to themselves. this hospital here in northampton is one of st andrew's biggest sites, providing specialist psychiatric care to up to a50 people, funded by you, the taxpayer, through nhs england. 90% of st andrew's referrals are from the nhs. the annual cost of looking after a patient with autism can be as high as £245,000. this footage we've been shown by the parent of a patient locked behind this door at a st andrew's facility raises questions about the controversial practice of seclusion, where patients can be locked away for long hours. in this particular enquiry, in relation to the detention

of children and young people with learning disabilities and/or autism, the human rights... in parliament, politicians have launched a major inquiry into claims that the rights of people with autism and learning disabilities are being violated in secure hospitals across britain. after weeks of negotiations, st andrew's has allowed me in to meet some of the patients who live behind these doors. it's the first time a journalist has been given this sort of access. we've only been allowed onto one ward, mackaness, a 15—bed medium secure unit for men with a range of conditions such as autism, learning disabilities and acute mental health disorders. those who live on this ward are all violent offenders. this is one of the rooms. how often are patients allowed to leave their bedrooms? as and when, really. they can come out of their bedroom

whenever they want. johnny kheir is the nurse manager in charge of this ward. the man who lives in this room is a convicted offender, who is being detained and sent here by the ministry ofjustice because of the risk he poses to himself and others. are parents allowed to come to the bedrooms? so, no. so visits would not be in the actual room. it's not really appropriate, because we can't control, ensure the safety of everyone else. because of these men have been sent here by the criminaljustice system, only the ministry ofjustice can approve their release. we've been told we're not allowed to speak to any of them due to the offences they have committed, which gives you a sense as to why they have to be kept in a secure environment like this. it's really about the risk. but when it comes to nhs patients, dr paul wallang oversees their discharge from the hospital back into the community.

what you find in this ward is that a lot of the patients have moved from prison to this ward and they've moved from prison because prison is deemed to be completely inappropriate and unsuitable for them. all the patients have autism on this ward too, so you can imagine what it's like for someone with autism to be in prison. that's not a conducive environment at all and not therapeutic. and often the patients we move to the ward, need a lot of intensive therapy and treatment, which we can provide on this ward and within the st andrew's charity. during our time on mackaness ward, we saw how closely monitored these men were. a risk assessment has to be completed every time a patient uses the kitchen or laundry facilities. but when inspectors from the care quality commission visited mackaness in march 2018, concerns were raised about staffing and a lack of leadership. do you think there are shortcomings in some of the care you provide?

of course. there are shortcomings in every service. it would be extremely arrogant and just wrong to sit here and say, "no, i'm really happy with the services that we provide all of the time." i think, even if we were outstanding rated in every single one of our services by the cqc, on an ongoing basis, i would never be satisfied. our patients have an absolute right to expect the very best possible care from us every single day in every single service and we'll never finish that. we always continue to focus on improving the quality of care. the woman now in charge of all of st andrew's hospitals spent a number of years in the public sector running an nhs trust. her predecessor, who resigned injanuary 2018, was paid almost £500,000 when he left the job. the charity recognised they needed a very different type of chief executive to take st andrew's healthcare in a different direction moving forward. they looked for a very different chief executive. i'm paid considerably less than any of my predecessors and my focus,

having come from the nhs, is absolutely on health and health care. st andrew's is no stranger to controversy. she is so desperate to end it all, really. she currently has a toothbrush inside her because she swallowed a toothbrush. an actual toothbrush? just last month, this programme found out one of the patients here, 26—year—old ayla haynes, has spent the last seven years on a ward. she tried to end her life by swallowing a toothbrush, which is still inside her. the goal, as you say, was to get that number down. patients like ayla are supposed to be admitted for nine to 18 months to secure hospitals, but many end up being locked up for years. that's despite a missed government deadline to move those with autism and learning disabilities out of inpatient units and back into the community. are there patients here who shouldn't be here? yes, absolutely there are. how many? it fluctuates day to day and not

all of those patients are here delayed with a diagnosis of autism or learning disabilities, but at any given point in time, across just short of 800 inpatients, service users that we have here, we have between 35 and 50 patients who are not clinically benefiting from being in an inpatient secure environment. what is the longest you've had to keep a patient in your care for who should not be in your care? so, currently, the longest delay we've had is 524 days, but that's just on our current records. it varies over time and, of course, the reasons for delays are complex. they are not straightforward. this isn't someone just sitting on something and not doing theirjob properly. so, what is it like for patients arriving for the first time at a hospital like this? it's like being thrown in the deep end. you have to learn to cope quite quickly and adapt quite quickly, because you're surrounded by people who are going through the same thing.

when i first got here it was hard because it's so restrictive and you have to be observed on the toilet and observed with a pen and all those things which are really like, you don't think you need, but they put in place for your safety. amy and sarah were the only two patients the hospital allowed me to meet. sarah arrived on this 23—bed ward for women with borderline personality disorder a year ago. like all the patients, she had to be sectioned under the mental health act to protect herfrom harming herself. i think people think that if you're in hospital, you're crazy and there's no hope for you. because a lot of people are in hospital for a long time and some people don't get out. i have this view that you'd be in therapy all the time, whereas actually, it's very different from that. you don't have padded cells. you have seclusion, which i've never been in, but i know it's not very nice.

if a patient is in extreme distress or is a risk to themselves or members of staff, this, the seclusion room, is always used as a last resort. in a damning report published this week, the care quality commission has called for a review of every patient in long—term seclusion or segregation in mental health hospitals. and this is a glimpse of what seclusion looks like. the teenager behind this door, we have been told, was held inside this room on a ward at st andrew's for months. the parents, who have asked not to be identified, say their only contact with their child when they came to visit was through the hatch in this door. a recent inspection into the use of seclusion at st andrew's hospital in northampton found that a patient was subjected to repeated and prolonged periods of seclusion and segregation for 18 months prior to the cqc‘s inspection visit. we were also told of allegations of a patient being locked

in isolation and fed through a hatch at this hospital. a question which i put the chief executive. in terms of the physical environment or padded cells or metal hatches or people being kept appropriately in longer term segregation, actually i think some of the cases you're referring to they are in our child and adolescent services. if you look at the cqc focused inspection report, it doesn't support those allegations actually. it talks about the many, many examples of good practice. the cqc‘s report also said staff decided it was necessary to reduce the risk to the patient by locking them in segregation. in some seclusion rooms, for certain types of patients, there is the opportunity for food or other things that patients might need to be given to them through an opening in the door, which means that the door itself doesn't have to be opened. the use of seclusion rooms is only ever used as an emergency response.

a care quality inspection report published in september 2016 found that a technique called prone restraint or face down restraint was widely being used across wards here at the hospital. prone restraint is when someone is pinned on a surface and is physically prevented from moving out of this position. since 2016, its use has reduced, but there are still over 1000 recorded incidents last year. figures show that within the last three years the technique was used by staff on patients a total of 5597 times. prone restraint should not be used. it is something which is associated with death in some circumstances. certainly, within the charity, we have reduced the amount of prone restraint we have used drastically over many years because we know that it can be associated with very

poor outcomes for people. sometimes when somebody is restrained, they will move into the restrained position in a prone, and when we talk about prone, we mean face down. if that happens, we immediately move them to supine, which is face up, which is a much safer way to restrain. we try and do lots of different events, so there's halloween. it's interesting to see what life is like on this ward from your perspective. as we can see, patients look as if they're having a lot of fun. they're enjoying themselves. but, at the same time, there are concerns from the outside that places like these are very secretive and a lot goes on behind closed doors. well, i think we are as transparent as possible. all hospitals have inspections. people at nhs england, people that have a say on the people that are here,

there is nothing to hide. more than 900 children and adults are treated by st andrew's across their four hospitals. in february of this year, the cqc rated the charity's hospital in nottinghamshire as inadequate. saying there had been a real deterioration in services and that significant and urgent improvements were needed. how can the public have confidence that you have the capacity to look after such vulnerable people if your services are poor? not only was it rated inadequate, it was put into special measures and that is wholly unacceptable on every single level. and it's one of the hardest cqc reports i've ever had to read and i absolutely will not rest and my colleagues will not rest until we make sure that we are providing standards of care in that unit consistently that they have a right to expect every single day. the cqc‘s findings showjust how

poorly managed the hospital was. inspectors found that staff did not protect patients from avoidable harm or abuse. patients‘ privacy and dignity were not respected and their basic needs were not always met. it goes on to say staff did not follow the mental health act code of practice when using seclusion for longer than required. i'm not making excuses. i don't want to give any sense of justification. it was unacceptable. that inspection happened in october. we have put in an entirely new leadership team. as i say, we've closed two admissions and we've done a comprehensive clinical review for every single patient. families whose loved ones are in your care have every right to be concerned, don't they? absolutely, yes. each and every one of us has every right to be concerned. i talk to colleagues about it all the time. if it's not good enough for your mum then it's not good enough for any one person in our care. sandy howse is visiting her 30—year—old son

who was admitted on a secure ward after a mental health crisis. there are, for a number of reasons, no where, no institution, nothing ever anywhere is perfect and there will always be people who, for one reason or another, have had a less than positive experience. but there are also people who look out for every small negative experience and blow it out of all proportion. but some parents do have a right to be concerned because the implications for those who should be released back into the community but are being held because there is a lack of suitable places to send them, can have an impact on their mental health. isn't it unacceptable that you have patients here who shouldn't be here? they should be in the community, getting tailored care, and that's not happening. if they don't need to be here, then, of course, the answer is no, absolutely it is not acceptable to do that. but actually, people's mental

health, their well—being, can fluctuate over time, so it's not as simple as just saying someone either does need to be here or doesn't need to be here. but actually, the point is, at the point where there is a clinical view that someone's needs and their health outcomes can be better served outside an inpatient hospital setting, then more needs to be done to make sure those patients can move on more quickly. there are some tranquil places inside st andrew's, like this artwork shop. a form of therapy for patients with autism. are you scared of leaving here one day? there is part of me that worries how i'll cope again in the community. will i go back into my old ways? i think there should be a lot more support in place and i think a lot of it should be based around the community, because your best chance of getting better is around your family and friends. st andrew's healthcare has doubled in size in the last ten years and, in 2016, it opened a £115 million unit for young people

with mental illnesses. but some campaigners have accused the charity of profiteering from taxpayers, but the chief executive says that she intends to reduce facilities, closing a number of wards. we'd expect to see a reduction of beds specialism for people with autism and disabilities to reduce by about 100 just over the next two years. the issue of children and adults with autism and learning disabilities being held in high dependency mental health units like st andrew's has become a pressing issue. there remains questions, though, about whether enough is being done by the government to fix a system that is causing a crisis for thousands of people and their families. we can speak now to sandy howse, whose son ollie is at the hospital we saw in the film.

she's happy with the care he receives. and anne longfield, children's commissioner for england. anne longfield, how do you react to what we discovered in the film? i'm really pleased you did it and you have been focusing on this. what we have been focusing on this. what we have seen again is that the most vulnerable children and adults, those with learning disabilities and autism here, are paying the price for a system that just autism here, are paying the price for a system thatjust is not set up to be able to meet their needs. you have people in institutions who should not be, people who are stuck there when they get there because they should be in the community, and when they are there, there is a variable quality of care. i'm delighted the treatment your son is getting is great and some are, that is fairto getting is great and some are, that is fair to say, but i have found variable quality of care and that cannot be acceptable on any terms. the whole system needs reviewing and this reinforces that. another review? i'm not talking about a paper review, review? i'm not talking about a a er review i'm review? i'm not talking about a paper review, i'm talking about action review. just this week we

have had the report from yourself, from the care quality commission, panorama last night, ourfilm today, and a rum showed extreme behaviours and a rum showed extreme behaviours and police have launched an investigation —— panorama showed. and the government promised eight yea rs and the government promised eight years ago after the panorama which exposed what happened at winterbourne view... more reflective reviews, no more paper reports in months or years to come, absolute action now and meetings from this morning onwards. the minister overseeing those cases of those individuals who are in there, but not leaving that as it is. of course, you can look at getting as many of those individuals out into the community as possible but while they are doing that, others will come in. sandy, your son is receiving really good treatment from st andrews, compassionate care you said. but he should not be there because that government promised to shut these facilities eight years ago. he needs to be there. if he was not there, with the failure of our

local authority to diagnose his autism and his mental illness until he was 23, after which time he had attempted suicide twice, was homeless and had been in prison, it had not been fought st andrews unit, my son would dead. really? yes. we are delighted with the care he is getting there. nothing is perfect, asi getting there. nothing is perfect, as i said in the clip, but i think they get as near to perfection as they get as near to perfection as they can on the particular ward he is on. the staff are compassionate and caring. i really get a sense when i speak to them on the phone, in person, that they care for him, they like him, and, what's more, he likes them will stop they laugh and joke and it is brilliant. it is good to hear your perspective because we have spoken to a number of parents but i'm not absolutely, my heart goes out to those parents and their loved ones because that should never, ever happen. and what has happened should now be a catalyst

for change immediately. happened should now be a catalyst for change immediatelylj happened should now be a catalyst for change immediately. i want to ask you about seclusion, segregation, whatever you want to call it. sometimes patients are secluded for many days or weeks on end. st andrews and others say it is a last resort and it is to protect a patient from themselves and protect members of staff but let's have a look at that footage again. this was passed to us exclusively from a payment, and this was with a teenager, not an adult, but this is the contact they had, the only contact they were able to have with their teenager, through a hatch in a locked door. how do you react to that? awful, it isjust heartbreaking. for anyone to have to rely on that level of human contact is just inhumane. and rely on that level of human contact isjust inhumane. and you have teenagers with particular conditions

that actually would benefit from having trusted adults around them that love them, and that contact. not to be able to have that and to be denied that is absolutely inappropriate. i have spoken to those parents as well and i would say about seclusion, i understand the theory is that it is a last resort and that it is swift but i have spoken to parents both in st andrews and with children elsewhere, andi andrews and with children elsewhere, and i have been told about seclusion that has lasted not only for weeks or months but years. i have seen small rooms, very bare rooms, where there are children there who have staff watching them while they sleep and they are that with two members of staff at any point in the day. pa rents a re of staff at any point in the day. parents are desperate to get that situation change but feeling stuck and also left out, shut out of the system. they are worried about raising these issues because they are worried that their child would suffer in terms of treatment or that they're visiting rights would be cut

and it would take longer. you have both called for action now, urgent action, in orderfor people both called for action now, urgent action, in order for people to both called for action now, urgent action, in orderfor people to be moved into the community, where a lot of the people we have talked about today could be better cared for. there needs to be provision in the 20 or they can't go anywhere. absolutely. and that takes money. i have been campaigning for several years about the neglected group might son are pulled into it is high functioning autistic people with mental illness who are incredibly honourable and i have been speaking to the care home where he is due to be discharged to, which is a temporary measure between hospital and living in the community. it is a halfway, they call it a step down. the lady i spoke to yesterday, the manager there, told me that the boy who is moving out, the young man moving out to make place for my son is scared, she said. he does not wa nt is scared, she said. he does not want to move on because he has no

confidence in what he is moving onto. and my campaign is to provide that long—term residential supported ca re that long—term residential supported care for that group. many will take their wings care for that group. many will take theirwings and care for that group. many will take their wings and move off into the community and, with support, they will be fine but there will be that group, like my son, who i very much doubt will ever make that and i don't want the police come to my door one day and say i'm sorry, we have found the body of your son undera have found the body of your son under a hedge. that is what i fear. it will take money, but these facilities are not cheap and we saw dreadful conditions in the panorama programme last night. it was absolutely shocking. it was difficult to watch, but it would be even more difficult to live in. these facilities cost £12,000, £4000 a week —— £14,000 a week. this is an expensive option in economic terms and in terms of quality of life.

sheila says, it is notjust people with learning difficulties locked away, with learning difficulties locked any with learning difficulties locked away, many dementia patients are locked in places where family and friends are not allowed in. they are brought out to you and a visiting room, it is highly unsatisfactory and no one should be locked up like that unless it is a prison sentence. thank you for that, we may investigate that further. this tweet, thank you for helping raise awareness of this awful issue of vulnerable people stuck in mental health secure units. often, they are autistic and often have learning difficulties and they are greatly misunderstood. name says, i totally agree with the bust of saint andrews in northampton he says a number of patients from a —— remain detained because of lack of facilities. i am a retired mental health nurse of yea rs a retired mental health nurse of years and it was a continuing struggle to relocate patients from secure facilities as they were tarnished as difficult and not suitable for a hostel or community support services in the local area. until this is a dress, patients will

continue to remain in secure environments far beyond the terms they would be deemed suitable for these places. thank you both very much for coming in and keep your m essa g es much for coming in and keep your messages come again if you have pertinent experience. will theresa may still be prime minister and conservative party leader when president donald trump arrives in britain the week after next? there's even more pressure on her to go since one of her top team resigned last night over brexit. let's talk to norman at westminster. hello, norman. so, willshe? hello, norman. so, will she?” hello, norman. so, will she? ithink she will certainly be prime minister, whether she is party leader is another thing altogether. where we are at the moment is what is going on is mrs may is going on because her team say she is going to publish her brexit bill tomorrow, as planned, and then bring it back to the house of commons in the first week ofjune as planned. and part of you feels slightly, has anything really changed ? we you feels slightly, has anything really changed? we have seen mrs may under pressure before and calls for

her to go, ministers resigning, and she shelled —— and she soldiered on. can she do so again? most people think it is different this time because the level of anger is not just confined to brexiteers, we have seen party loyalists and supporters of her deal also telling her it is over. and crucially, we are beginning, it seems, to see a potential cabinet meeting new beginning last night when we saw andrea leadsom quitting. and this is what she said when she returned home after announcing her resignation. i have been supporting brexit totally for the last three years and i just couldn't, as leader of the commons with responsibility for the legislation, stand up at business questions tomorrow and announce a bill that ijust think has elements i cannot support, that aren't brexit. the question is whether she has walked off the plank by herself or whether other cabinet ministers will

follow. yesterday, mrs may said, no toa number of follow. yesterday, mrs may said, no to a number of cabinet ministers who wa nted to a number of cabinet ministers who wanted to see her. today, she will seejeremy wanted to see her. today, she will see jeremy hunt, the wanted to see her. today, she will seejeremy hunt, the foreign secretary, who is also understood to be unhappy. he was asked at an event this morning, as you said, what he was going to be talking about, he refused to give any indications. he was also asked whether mrs may would still be around when donald trump arrived. theresa may will be prime minister to welcome him, and rightly so, and we are absolutely at one with the united states on the threat of cyber. that is not quite the clear and so you might think because mrs may probably will beat prime minister, the question is, will she be party leader? because if she goes, she would have to stand down as party leader to allow another leadership election to take place but we carry on as prime ministerfor a bit longer so that does not really resolve the question of whether she is going to be ousted as party

leader. my sense is the next 48 hours are going to be crucial. one, to see whether the cabinet revolt materialises. two, the boss of the tory backbenchers, said graham brady, will see theresa may tomorrow and it seems if mrs may does not tell him she is dropping the bill, he will say to her, ok, i have got the votes to change the rules to allow another confidence vote in your leadership before you can bring that bill back to the commons. thank you, norman. three people who live with a ‘visible difference' have told us of the devastation caused by hostile comments from strangers these three make up just a few of the thousands of people with scars, skin conditions or hair loss. a survey, commissioned by changing faces, suggests more than a third have experienced hostility from strangers. i've been talking to natalie ambersley, who has vitiligo. brenda finn, who has alopecia.

and rory mcguire, who has a birthmark, who started by telling me of the impact it had on him as a child. well, i was born with a birthmark on my upper lip and right cheek. and when i was younger, i've had to go through a lot of prejudice and name—calling and bullying, and it really affected my confidence and my happiness growing up, and also my mental health. luckily, i've managed to get over the adversity i faced when i was younger, but there are still thousands of people out there living with a visible difference and the experiences that they often have to go through is really tough. what kind of names were you called, rory? i was compared to different evil film and tv characters. people would call me alien and stuff like that. and to hear things like that, especially at such a young age, it's really hard to go through. absolutely. brenda, what about yourself, what about your own experiences? because i didn't lose my hairuntil i was 14, it was like going to bed one day with hair, waking up the next day with no hair. and itjust changed my life so quickly, because everyone changed towards me, like i had some sort of disease. and within the space of a month, no—one would talk

to me, acknowledge me. i'd be called baldy, cancer girl. and even in my adult years now, people say to me, you look better with a wig on. or, you don't look female. and you always feel like you're going back to square one with those comments, because you're like, what do i do with those? i don't want to give negativity to them but, at the same time, it's really horrible. what about yourself? so, i was born with a condition vitiligo, which is where white patches form on the skin, due to a lack of melanin in the skin. and i had a relatively happy childhood but, as you know, when you're at school, kids can be quite brutal and, sometimes, some of the children would say to me that my skin was contagious. and they would kind of step back and not want to touch me because they thought they might catch my skin condition. so, it was really difficult, but i had a really happy childhood, a very supportive family network and friends. i think the most difficult time for me was my teenage years, because it's a time when you want to blend in the most. you kind of want to look like your friends. you don't want to be different. so, i was a very shy teenager. i didn't like talking about my skin condition, i didn't want people

to ask me questions. i kind ofjust wanted to kind ofjust live with it by myself. and i guess kind of ignore it in a way and just pretend like it wasn't there, but it was obviously very, very hard to do that. what should... i mean, you said you didn't want people to talk to you about it. brenda, do you want people to acknowledge the fact that you are bald, or not? i do, because it opens up a conversation. it's like people assume a lot that i'm ill or poorly and that'sjust not the case. but the lack of knowledge out there with such conditions that we have is still such a problem, so i'd rather someone just come up to me and have some social skills and say, "oh, you're bald. why is that?" i don't mind that then so much. and you would explain what alopecia was and what can happen as a result of it. yes. right. itjust helps. what about you, rory? do you want people to reference your birthmark, or not? i've always said if someone approaches me to ask about it in a genuinely polite manner, then i'll happily talk to anyone about it all day long. it's if someone asks in a more offensive or rude way, or they say something straightaway that's kind of a little bit aggressive about it,

that's when i'm a bit not wanting to answer questions about it. understandably. but if someone's genuinely curious, i'll happily talk about it. what about you as an adult? you said as a teenager, you didn't want people to talk about it. what about now? definitely. i've literally gone full circle now, and i completely understand that people are curious. we live in a very curious society, where we're going to look at people, we're going to stare at people that are different, but i think it would make such a big difference if you just ask. orjust say, you know, i'm just intrigued by, what is that on your skin? and i think itjust gives us that kind of confidence boost that we can live comfortably with a skin condition and that people are open to asking questions, rather than just staring, because i think that's when people feel really anxious, because we assume that people are thinking the worst when, half the time, they're actually not. they're just being curious, and that's absolutely fine. rory, let me ask you, when you were 17, you began having injections to reduce the size

of your birthmark. yeah. why did you decide to do that and what did you discover as a result? i decided to start having the injection procedures because at the time, i felt like the only way i was ever going to feel a little bit happier would be to get the birthmark reduced in size. that certainly has contributed to helping how i feel, but what i would say has helped the most is actually openly talking about my experiences and getting not only my family and friends to support me, but people from all over the world that relate to my story. so that's been the biggest thing in helping me overcome what i went through when i was younger. and finally, natalie, let me ask you about vitiligo and your image of your own body. because for women and men, body image is a massive thing, isn't it? particularly in the social media age. how do you feel about your body? i absolutely love my body now. and as i said before, i literally have gone full circle. i spent my teenage years — and some of my early 20s — covering up from head to toe. i wouldn't wear shorts in the summer. i wouldn't wear t—shirts. and i actually had treatment about six years ago so it reduced the patches down.

but i still have vitiligo and i'm really proud of that now, and now i can go on the beach and wear swimwear. i can wear shorts and t—shirts in the summer. and it means i can do the things that i once stopped myself from doing, which is really important to me because, at the end of the day, we are only here once and i want to live a life that i want to live. i'm not here living for anybody else. the tiger who came to tea author judith kerr has died at the age of 95 after a short illness. she began she dreams up the tiger to amuse her own two children and she wrote 30 books. but very sad news thatjudith kerr has died aged 95. that is a

magnificent age, is it not? and today, i have been asking you on twitter about the survey which suggests that some parents ask alexa to read kids bedtime stories. this says, my grandson asks alexa for stories any old time. but it does work for him. he hasn't got one near his bedroom. this tweet says, are used to love those times i could read them a bedtime story, but what next, alexa ba by—sitting, read them a bedtime story, but what next, alexa baby—sitting, doing homework, ordering pizza for the kids? it probably already happens! pink lady says, bring them up yourself if you have kids. jojo says, the bedtime story time was protected in our house when the boy was young. tv was off and the phones we re was young. tv was off and the phones were not answered, it was our precious time. thank for those. this programme has learned that over 750 guide dogs have been attacked — mostly by other dogs — since 2014.

attacks on guide dogs often have a big effect on their owners, notjust because of the emotional impact, but because of how significantly it can limit their ability to go about their daily lives without the help of the dog. the charity guide dogs for the blind say fewer than 10% of dog attacks led to an owner being charged. we can now speak to david isaac and his guide dog, scooby, who was attacked near richmond park. also here is carolyn allum, whose guide dog ally retired, after being attacked for the sixth time last year. the effect has been devastating for her. and james white, from guide dogs for the blind. david, what happened to scooby? scooby goes on a free run once a week where he is let off the lead and allowed to run free. we were

walking by richmond park, my wife, myself and scooby. he was running around with the ball in his mouth. another owner with two dogs, a fine iran, they were walking towards us. the larger of the two saw scooby with the ball and attacked him. and you went to scooby and you could feel blood pouring from him? once the other dog had been pulled away from scooby, i tried to comfort him and as! from scooby, i tried to comfort him and as i was stroking him, i realised there was blood on my hands. when the other owner saw the blood on my hands, he took off. really? and what was the effect scooby, he had to have stitches? he had stitches, the dog had punctured through his ear. he was left nervous

of other dogs, which affects his working ability. does that still affect him now? no, thankfully, we have worked through the issue with him. he is comfortable around other dogs now. that is fantastic. carolyn, your guide doug mccarthy was retired after being attacked for the sixth time last year. —— guide dogs. she had had attacks that had occurred and a punctured mouth and one attack, the person involved did stop and said the dog had not made contact with her and three days later, she had a big abscess on her face, so it clearly had. when ally is retired, what is the impact on you? you is retired, what is the impact on you ? you have is retired, what is the impact on you? you have a huge bond with these guide dogs. i really felt i had

prepared myself for her retirement, i had three months to put it into place and had complete support from guide dogs. but from the moment the door closed behind her, it was emotionally devastating. and in a practical sense, i sat and thought, what am i going to do, how will i function as i have been without ally? because she was my independence? so the minute she was gone from me, my independence went with her. so it is the emotional loss, which is traumatic in itself, and it is the loss of independence that was really difficult to come to terms with. scooby is having a lie down now and a little sleep, which is fine. james, 750 attacks on guide dogs mostly by other dogs in five yea rs, dogs mostly by other dogs in five years, but you save unless and 10% of owners get prosecuted, why? yes, you have heard from two owners about the emotional impact it can have. we we re the emotional impact it can have. we were proud and pleased that five years ago, the law was toughened up,

but we're still hearing of too many of these attacks. why do you think so few owners are persecuted question but said the owner of the attack dog cleared up, why? there is noissue attack dog cleared up, why? there is no issue —— there is an issue when owners see no issue —— there is an issue when owners see the guide dog has been affected and they may well take off. i should stress in the majority of reports, police are taking every reasonable step to investigate but we hear of occasions of when the report goes on, the investigation has not started as quickly as you would hope. it is not the police are not taking these attacks seriously? no, in many cases, the reports that we have from police, they are following them up. but as you alluded to with david in terms of capturing images of the injuries being sustained, it needs to be done quickly and we would encourage in the event of these unfortunate

occurrences, the investigation start promptly. there will be some thinking the police are really, really busy. and it is really sad dogs are attacked by other dogs, but thatis dogs are attacked by other dogs, but that is nature and that sometimes happens, should they spend valuable, stretched resources pursuing the owners of dogs that attack other dogs? you have got to remember is the unique bond between an assistance dog and their owner and the independence and freedom that gives. so in attacking the dog, you are removing that, as caroline has described so vividly. so i would argue and we as a charity would say, absolutely, these attacks need to be taken absolutely, these attacks need to be ta ken very seriously. absolutely, these attacks need to be taken very seriously. thank you very much for coming on the programme, all of you. thanks, scooby. the search for a new buyer for british steel has begun,

after it collapsed, putting 5,000 jobs at risk and endangering 20,000 in the supply chain. the move follows a breakdown in rescue talks between the government and the company's owner, greybull. i've been speaking to paul coggan and callum sissons — father and step—son — who are fourth—generation british steel workers. paul has worked there for 34 years, and callum is a recent recruit through their apprenticeship programme. devastated, to be quite honest with you. not just for myself, but for my lad, and for the workforce and for the town. itjust felt different this time, for some reason, all the way along. so, yeah, not a good feeling to be woken up to yesterday morning. when you say it felt different this time, you mean you knew it was coming? well, i'm always hopeful with the people that we've got in charge, like the unions and that, that something can be done and something,

a compromise can be reached. and we was hoping that the government would help us. and i know they helped us with the 120 million, and thank you very much. but, yeah, something just didn't feel... itjust didn't sit right with me this time, i don't know what it was. callum, what about yourself, how are you feeling? disappointed, devastated. it's a surreal feeling. you don't expect to hear the news, like. i came to thisjob expecting a bright future. and you hear that, knowing that you've got a mortgage, and you wonder where the next payment's going to come from. yeah, it's a surreal feeling. i've got this statement from the business secretary, greg clark. he said, the government have worked tirelessly with british steel, its owner greybull and lenders to explore all the potential options to secure a solution for british steel. obviously, he mentions the loan that

they'd already given, as you mentioned as well, paul, the 120 million. and then goes on to say, the government can only act within the law, which requires any financial support to a steel company to be on a commercial basis. and that mr clark had been advised it would be unlawful to provide a guarantee or loan in the terms of any proposals that the company or any other party has made. obviously, that explanation is no consolation to you, paul, and to you, callum. what are you going to do now, callum? i mean, you said you don't even know how you're going to pay the mortgage. what are you going to do? my partner's a nurse and for me to lose myjob, like, she's an amazing nurse, but the wages would not be able to support us — for the mortgage, the bills. it would kill us. and the house prices would go down, the town wouldn't be there any more. you're just in dire straits. you wouldn't know what to do.

british steel is a really good product. there's a demand for steel globally. yeah. does that mean you're hopeful that someone will come in and buy the company? yes. yeah, you've got to have hope, haven't you? you've got to have hope. there's no point... it's like callum says, we think we do the best product in the world. so, you've always got to have hope. you've always got to have hope that the government can do a little bit more. i know they're doing their bit, but we'd like them to do a little bit more. because if this place goes under, it's going to cost them a hell of a lot more money to actually clean this site up, with redundancy packages thrown in. mmm. as well as people not being able to pay their mortgages and having to claim income support, or whatever they have to claim, it's going to cost them far more money. and i get that they are trying, and i just hope that they do try a little bit more for us. yeah. well, thank you, both of you. thanks for talking to us. we really appreciate it.

and obviously, lots of luck and best wishes from all of us, including our audience. thank you. cheers, paul. thanks, callum. bye. we are going to talk to michael rice now. as if saturday night wasn't humiliating enough at the eurovision song contest, the uk's entry has now been docked five points — that's after the organisers spotted an error in the results process. michael rice's song ‘bigger than us' was already in last place. the contest said an incorrect calculation had been used to create the news broke that there were even fewer points for your magnificent effort, how do you feel? the whole tea m effort, how do you feel? the whole team worked so hard. i am really proud of that performance regardless i think that result confirms, does not define what we did on that night. is it time for eurovision to

scrap the juries? that is not my place to say really! you must have a view, look how they treated you! do you know what it is? i enjoyed the whole experience. i loved every moment. i was living the dream. i wouldn't change a thing. it has just made me stronger. has it, why do you say that, michael? because it really built my confidence up. just every step, travelling to europe and everything in general. itjust really built me as a person. now i have come home, i am back in the studio, iam have come home, i am back in the studio, i am in london writing my album, so there are things that came from this experience regardless of the result. but you must have been gutted to come last. but now to have another five points docked gutted to come last. but now to have anotherfive points docked because of their error, what you say to them? it is what it is really. i knew something like this could have happened. i never thought! knew something like this could have happened. i never thought i was going to win. but i always knew that

the team worked so hard. we were really ready to get a really good result, regardless of what has happened over the weekend. but we walked away with our head held high, the bbc worked hard, my backing singers, we worked as a team and we really are proud. it was an honour to represent the country. yes. why do you think you came last?|j to represent the country. yes. why do you think you came last? i don't even know why i came last! ijust think, i actually don't know why we came last, i feel like we really did give a good performance. you are so diplomatic, michael, you have a career in politics if you want one! literally, you are being so dignified, i love it, you are refusing to criticise anyone or anything and certainly not the contest itself. so madonna, she was a bit out of tune? do you know what, my mum is a big fan of madonna. i

got to meet her before and she is a really, really nice person. ok. what a lovely man you are, michael rice! thank you so much for talking to us. thank you so much for talking to us. thank you. we wish you all the best, thank you so much. michael rice giving his first interview since the news broke that he was docked another five points for his performance. thank you for your company today, have a lovely day, we are back at ten o'clock tomorrow. hello, good morning. plenty of sunshine at the moment across the country, but a bit more cloud across scotla nd country, but a bit more cloud across scotland and rain again this morning. you can see the thickness of the cloud on the satellite imagery. elsewhere, plenty of clear

skies, high cloud across northern parts of england making the sunshine hazy. for the rest of today, the cloud continues to break up to give sunny spells. the rain continuing in the far north east of scotland, a blustery wind here which makes it feel quite chilly. temperature is only 11 or 12 celsius. compared to further south and east, the colour is going yellow. orange also. 23 degrees in the south east of england. the rain continues across north east scotland tonight, varying amounts of cloud elsewhere with temperatures no lower than 7—10d. throughout friday, for most of us, another dry day, perhaps more cloud developing into the afternoon, showers here and there, but maximum temperature is getting up into the mid—to—high teens. up to the low 20s in the south east.

you're watching bbc newsroom live — it's11am and these are the main stories this morning: an apology from the health minister, after an undercover investigation —— by panorama —— finds vulnerable patients being mocked, taunted, and intimidated by staff. the actions revealed by this programme are quite simply appalling. there is no otherwise you describe it, and i absolutely condemn any abuse of this kind com pletely condemn any abuse of this kind completely and utterly. downing street insists the government will publish theresa may's revised brexit withdrawal bill tomorrow, despite an angry backlash and growing calls for her to stand down. voting is underway for elections to the european parliament — results will be announced on sunday. indian prime minister narendra

modi's governing party has