good afternoon. a leaked document has revealed that borisjohnson is planning to sweep away david cameron's reforms of the nhs in england, which could see a reduced role for the private sector. nhs commissioners would no longer be required to invite private companies

to bid to run services, and there would be more focus on hospitals and social care services working together to improve patient care. our health correspondent katharine da costa reports. an ageing population brings with it extra challenges. elderly patients often require more context care and hospital treatment that can cause pressure on the treatment, when there is fit enough to leave but there is fit enough to leave but there isn't enough capacity the social care system to support them. new proposals suggest sweeping changes to current contracts that would allow closer working between the nhs and local authorities to keep older patients out of hospital and provide more care in the community. we need a lot morejoined up community. we need a lot morejoined up care. it is notjust going into hospital to have your hip replaced, having that sorted out then going home again, it is people who have lots of things that need to be sorted out. using the health service many times during the course of the year. many times during the course of the ear. �* many times during the course of the ear. ~ , . , ., , year. and the structures need to be imroved year. and the structures need to be improved to — year. and the structures need to be improved to make _ year. and the structures need to be improved to make that _ year. and the structures need to be improved to make that possible. in |

improved to make that possible. in 2012 under the cameron government, lord lansley handed the control and finances of the nhs to nhs england with an annual strategy set by the government. it meant that nhs services were bought for patients by gp groups including from private providers. the new proposals rolled back on much of this and would allow ministers to more tightly control how the nhs works, as well as deliver public health and social care plans. but campaign groups are sceptical. care plans. but campaign groups are scetical. , ., ., , , sceptical. this government has been more dependent _ sceptical. this government has been more dependent than _ sceptical. this government has been more dependent than ever _ sceptical. this government has been more dependent than ever on - sceptical. this government has been more dependent than ever on the i more dependent than ever on the private sector during a pandemic, we've had the private sector brought in for test and race, to run laboratories and, in the nhs, we have a four—year plan to use private hospitals, whilst large numbers in the nhs remain closed and out of use. so this isn't a government that has been looking to marginalise the private sector. the has been looking to marginalise the private sector-— private sector. the department of health and _ private sector. the department of health and social— private sector. the department of health and social care _ private sector. the department of health and social care said - private sector. the department of health and social care said it - private sector. the department of health and social care said it was| health and social care said it was rightly considering where changes need to be made, and that full

details would be set out in due course. labour has questioned the timing of plans to reorganise health and care services in the middle of a pandemic. nhs reorganisation rarely go smoothly, and, at a time when services are at breaking point, it may prove difficult to push through these the form that make these reforms. katharine da costa, bbc news. the new chair of the vaccine task force, dr clive dix, says he is "very optimistic" the uk will meet its target of offering a first coronavirus jab to all over 50s by may. almost 11 million people have now received their firstjab, but some — particularly those in ethnic minority communities — remain hesitant. our community affairs correspondent adina campbell reports on how some are tackling the issue. this vaccination hub, at the royal london hospital, has been up and running for almost six weeks and it's nonstop, with staff putting jabs into hundreds of arms each day. any history of problems with bleeding or bruising at all? one of them is martin griffiths,

a consultant surgeon, whose dayjob normally involves treating trauma victims with severe wounds, but now he's part of the vaccination effort. he's seen, first—hand, the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on people from black, asian and other ethnic minority groups. there's a lot of anxiety out in the community about coronavirus and the vaccination, about its speed, about whether it works or not and a lot of misinformation on, particularly on social media about that. i think it's important that people take the opportunity to ask questions and have their concerns answered by trusted individuals. this government video is one way of spreading the vaccination message on social media. people from these communities are up to four times more likely to die from coronavirus than white people, but there's growing evidence and research which shows they're more reluctant to be vaccinated. we have to trust that, you know, the scientists have done what they should be doing, government and everybody

has done theirjob correctly and they've put this out there. they've had a lot of misconception, especially within the bangladeshi community. it's more to do with not getting the information in the language that they need it or if they've got the misconceptions, where they come from. nhs staff are giving jabs from more than 1500 sites across the country. this is one of the busiest vaccination hubs in london and, at the moment, it's running twice a week, where up to 700 people a day are given a jab here. and for those still in doubt... we are not authority, we are people as well. we want to help our community get better. so, yes, please, ask questions. we'll give you the answer and tell you the truth and we can move forward from there. in an effort to get more people vaccinated, the government has now started to publish ethnicity data and it's hoped these clinics will end up attracting

the most hard—to—reach, hesitant communities. adina campbell, bbc news. small businesses that took out government loans to help them survive the coronavirus lockdown are being given 10 years rather than six to repay them. about £16 billion has been borrowed by more than 1.4 million companies under the bounce back loan scheme. chancellor rishi sunak said the move was to give companies "breathing space to get back on their feet". saturdays may be a time to relax for many, but at one school in derby, the pupils are working hard today. the foundation trust there has been awarded £84,000 from the government to run a saturday school for those teenagers who have fallen behind at home. sian lloyd has been hearing from some of the pupils taking part. i come to saturday school, because i want to improve my maths and english, to be a social worker. hi, my name is vanessa, i'm year 11, and i came into school on saturday . to catch up with my english lessons. empty benches and deserted classrooms. the new familiar, in these times.

but, at the bemrose school in derby, they are opening up during lockdown. 0n saturdays, small numbers are invited into schools to catch up on classes missed last year. you can see the students who do have maybe access to devices at home, and those that don't have access to devices. what we are trying to do is make sure that gap doesn't widen, and i think being able to support students in different ways, and for them to know that we are still there for them, and that schools are still open and we are still providing work, i think is really important. now, we are looking at microscopy and i will require participation. with only three pupils allowed in a classroom to be covid—safe, scores morejoin in from home. up to 120 teenagers have signed up to catch up during exam—critical years. for these young people, it's an opportunity not to be missed. i need to get my grades and to catch up with my english and maths, also. i was missing a lot of lessons.

there is social distancing, washing hands, masks, but it still helps. it's better than being at home. i want a job. _ i want to be a jeweller. so i actually need to get my grades up and learn a bit more. _ have you logged in? the school has accessed £84,000 from the government's catch up fund, which aims to help the most vulnerable and those from deprived communities, whose education has been affected by the pandemic. many pupils here faced barriers to learning before covid. staff hope saturday school will help close that gap. sian lloyd, bbc news, derby. a murder investigation has been launched after a 22—year—old man was stabbed to death in croydon yesterday evening. it was one of five stabbing incidents across south london reported injust over two hours on friday night, which saw nine people injured. 0fficers don't believe all the attacks were linked and have appealed for information.

cricket now, and england captain joe root scored a brilliant double—century as his side continued their impressive start to the first test against india in chennai. england finished day two on 555—8. adam wild was watching. smiles and celebrations. it's a site english cricket fans are getting rather used to. joe root had already passed 100 when this morning's masterclass began. a study in calm control. that was the foundation. ben stokes brought the strokes. those empty stands make an inviting target. still, how big a score wasjoe root actually aiming for? india, running out of ideas. well, almost. to tempt stokes into another almighty heave, india clinging on, just about. with his partnerfalling short, the captain wasn't about to follow. this brought up his 200, in his 100th test match, the first player ever to do that.

root reached 218, before he finally faltered, congratulations from opposition and team—mates. all knew they'd seen something special. england, batting out the day, firmly in control. joe root even tidying up after. their captain, setting the standard till the very end. adam wild, bbc news. rugby union's six nations tournament gets under way today — as italy take on france in the opening game in about an hour's time. later england will face scotland at twickenham. joe wilson is there for us now. with something rather special? thank ou ve with something rather special? thank you very much. _ with something rather special? thank you very much. yes. _ with something rather special? thank you very much, yes, this _ with something rather special? triag�*ia; you very much, yes, this sparkling trophy looks good, but it is incomplete, because, as of now, it still doesn't have scotland's name on it. since the five nations became the six nations in 2000, scotland haven't been champions, so if they can win this game today the whole tournament will be wide open, but

could they do it? twickenham as it is now is as it will look like at kick—off, an empty stadium, in effect becoming a neutral venue. scotland have some of the most talented backs in particular throughout european rugby. england, sure, they are the favourites, but some of their key players in these covid times haven't played a meaningful match yet this year. eddiejones, the england coach, told me in the build—up to this match that he thinks this england team could be the hungriest and fittest ever. we will see. we have been talking a lot about history in the build—up to this match. the six nations is always about tradition. it is 150 years since england and scotland first played each other, 1983 was the first time, well, the last time, that scotland won a game here, but it is all about the future, and we measure that not in years, but in 80 minutes! ice years, but in 80 minutes! joe wilson, at— years, but in 80 minutes! joe wilson, at twickenham, thank you very much. you can see more on all of today's stories

on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 6:10pm. bye for now. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. it the bbc news channel. is just after ten past one. let's get more now on news that borisjohnson is to reverse controversial reforms of the nhs in england with more centralised control. 0ur political correspondent, ben wright, has been explaining what the plans may mean for the future of the health service. whitehall sources, they are not wanting to talk about the detail of this draft white paper that is being reported today, they say wait for the real thing, but they are stressing that what we will see when it does emerge is evolution rather than revolution and they say that actually this is part of a continuity of the shape of nhs that were set out by simon stevens, the head of the nhs in england, two years ago with his long—term plan.

so more locally integrated services,to move away from the gp—led commissioning, the patient—driven choice, the competition that really defined andrew lansley�*s controversial reforms back in 2012, which i think caused an enormous amount of disquiet within the health service and i think there has been a gradual unwinding or a move away from that philosophy in the years since and that looks like it is going to accelerate as a result of this white paper. jeremy hunt, a previous tory health secretary, now chairman of the health select committee, was talking about this this morning and he said these are the sort of changes that are needed to deal with an ageing population. last year was the first year in history where, across the world, there were more over—65s than under—fives. so we are all having to deal with this big change in our health provision of the growth in older people. what that means is you need a lot more joined—up care.

it's notjust going into hospital to have your hip replaced, having that sorted out and going home again. it's people who have lots of things that need to be sorted out, who are using the health service many times during the course of the year. and the structures need to be improved to make that possible. so does this mean more centralised care and more power for the health secretary rather than for the nhs? and of course, the big questions are still around social care. yes, they really are. i think, yes, it is about more locally focused managed care for patients, so integration seems to be the buzzword at the moment, integrating services far better and it does suggest more power in whitehall with the secretary of state. i think there could be a frustration right now in government that they would like more levers to pull when it comes to the delivery of health care and they have seen how that can happen during the course of the pandemic and i think that may have accelerated their move towards these sorts of reforms, but you're right, one of the great lacunas here is social care.

there has been a focus on it during the course of the pandemic, of course. the government has promised an overhaul of social care. we have been waiting for years for a sustainable new funding model for social care, it doesn't seem that this will be in this white paper. 0n the whole vaccination question, borisjohnson, the prime minister, under pressure from the right—wing of his party in particular to ease measures quickly. we have a budget coming up as well, huge economic pressures, and yet this question about even if you vaccinate the population, if there are huge numbers of daily cases, with the prospect of mutations, is it safe to open up schools, open up businesses and all the rest of it? that is the question. jeremy hunt actually yesterday was saying it would be a huge mistake, even once you have vaccinated all over 50s, to suddenly release restrictions, because the chances then of a mutant strain of this virus that could not be effective with the current vaccine is very high. the only way to keep a lid on covid in the next few months is if you have a significantly low

transmission rate that you can test and trace properly and that is what he is urging, but of course there is a massive political argument going on and there are people within the tory party who are urging borisjohnson to release these restrictions as quickly as possible, but at the moment, caution seems to be the buzzword, the watchword, in number ten. thousands of people have taken to the streets of myanmar�*s main city, yangon, to protest against this week's military coup. they are calling for the release of the elected leader aung san suu kyi and others detained by the army. it's the first big demonstration since the military seized power. the crowds were chanting in favour of democracy and against what they say is a dictatorship. the authorities have been quick to respond, although there are no reports of any violence yet. police with riot shields and barbed wire have set up barricades to prevent them entering the downtown area. the military, which seized power on monday, has ordered telecom companies to block the social media app twitter, following a similar

move against facebook earlier this week. 0ur south east asia correspondentjonathan head is following the developments. we do not know how much they have been replicated in the rest of the country. there was also a protest, we understand, in the second main city, mandalay. this one was pretty large, it wasn't spectacularly big, but it was the largest so far. i think you have to understand, people at this stage, there is no obvious leadership, the national league for democracy, the party that was ousted, has had its key leader, aung san suu kyi, held in detention and charged. other leaders also detained. so i do not think there is an overall strategy. people have been, throughout the week, since the coup, finding other ways to show their disapproval of what the military has done, these nightly banging of pots and pans and honkings of horns. this was the first organised protest. it involved workers coming in from the industrial west of yangon and marching down, led by young political activists and then joining up with others, until they were confronted

by frankly not very big lines of police but there were a couple of water cannon. it was peaceful, they did not attempt to push their way past the police. that protest has now, we believe, dispersed or certainly died down, with a promise they will come back. i think we have to see this as the beginning of people protesting and perhaps testing the water under military rule as to how much they will be allowed to do. the difficulty now though is going to be keeping track of what happens from now on, because the internet has not been completely blocked by the authorities but squeezed down to very, very small amounts of internet service. the main social media apps have been blocked. the telecom companies have been told to block them, so twitter is down. it is getting harder and harder to get information and material out of myanmar and that will make it much more difficult to monitor what happens from here on. what about aung san suu kyi's whereabouts? is she under house arrest? what sort of state is she in as far as we know?

and what about the key reaction of china? aung san suu kyi, we believe, is staying in her home in naypyitaw under a kind of house arrest. we know she has been charged with this ludicrous case of apparently having illegal walkie—talkies. i mean, nobody takes that seriously, but it seems they will pursue that. i suppose they may apply other charges to her as well. i think the military is still trying to figure out ways in which it can finish her off. nobody doubts that is the game plan now. the military complained about the election. its own party was pretty much wiped out, only got 6% of the seats, so if it is to hold another election and correct what it believes was an unfair election, it is going to have to stop aung san suu kyi from running, and so we expect her to stay in custody. tens of thousands of indian farmers have blocked major highways across the country

as they continue their protests against new agricultural laws. the three—hour blockade has disrupted traffic in many parts of india but the movement of ambulances and essential services is being allowed. police have detained dozens of protesters. bbcjournalist salman ravi sent in this report from a protest site in haryana, india. road traffic across india, all major highways, they are being suspended for three hours as farmers took to the streets in protest against the three farm laws enacted by the indian parliament. farmer organisations say that these laws will actually make way for corporate companies into the farm sector. you can see behind me this is the agra—delhi national highway where these farmers have assembled. they've stopped traffic, you can see the tractors and trolleys lined up here. for three hours, the farm leaders have been staging protests and addressing farmers from surrounding villages in this area of haryana state, where i'm standing here at the moment.

there have been a series of talks between the government and the farming union leaders. but the stalemate continues as no breakthrough could be achieved. the prime minister, narendra modi, he reached out to the farmers saying that he was open for dialogue and was just a phone call away. but the farm leaders and the farm organisations say that they will accept nothing short of the repeal of these laws. salman ravi, bbc news, india. i've been speaking to loveena tandon, foreign correspondent for india today. if i put the government point of view, and this is not my point of view, it is the government point of view, they say that mainly the farmers, and we have spoken to the farmers, the farmers are asking for the law to be repealed and that is one thing that the government says they do not want to do, because if they set a precedent of any law being repealed after it has been passed in parliament,

then of course this sets a precedent and then there are so many laws that a various set of people would not be happy with and they could protest likewise. that is their point of view, they say they are ready foramendments, ready for suspension, but they cannot repeal the law and that is where i feel the deadlock really is. the government say they are still going to keep the minimum payments to the farmers, so why is that not enough to protect farmers in the future? why are they still worried? the farmers are worried that this msp, which really affects the three major regions which are protesting, they say that this should be made legal and should be a part of the law and that is not the situation, it never was.

so it needs to be guaranteed? a legal guarantee. final question, if i can, there has been some criticism that these protests, they are not throughout india, they are mostly in punjab, worries that these protest movements that might have started off as genuine worries by farmers have been infiltrated and given extra legs by khalistani separatist organisers, international money flooding in, that want to destabilise politically the current government, is there any evidence of that or truth in that? there is definitely this government line that not only the tweets that have come from various celebrities, there has been a tweet war, but also money that has been coming from countries such as china and pakistan, this is why the government have said has been turned into a khalistan movement, but that is really degrading the movement and it is very unfair to the farmers, because farmers have

come and said that we have nothing to do with khalistan, this is our livelihood and our lives, but yes, there always has been, and in the uk as well, the khalistan movement and in canada, the khalistan movement, all of that has been funded by pakistan. there has been a huge line, underlying evidence, but not something that has come up for us to be saying it out loud, but this is definitely a government line, but it is unfair if we colour the whole farmer movement with the khalistan movement, because they are absolutely and totally different and separate. small businesses that took out government loans to keep them afloat during the pandemic are being given more time to repay them. to date, 1.4 million businesses have borrowed £45 billion and they will now have up to ten years, rather than six, to pay back the money. the chancellor, rishi sunak, said he wanted to give firms "breathing space to get back on their feet". our business correspondent katie prescott explained how

the new arrangements will work. so, these loans were introduced at a really crunch time during the pandemic to get money quickly and cheaply to small businesses, so they could borrow up to £50,000 from their bank with no need to pay back any of that money for the first year. now that was introduced back in may. we are coming up to may, so the first of these loans are going to start falling due and the real worry is that these businesses simply won't be able to pay back the money, that is certainly a real concern for banks. so we have seen a lot of the banks announcing massive losses in the last year, because they are setting aside vast sums, billions of pounds, in order to cover these loans that companies might not be able to pay back because of course, the pandemic has gone on a lot longer than expected, the economic hit has been far harder. there is also a concern about fraud when it comes to these loans. they were pushed out so quickly, firms were given the ability to take them within 24 to 72 hours, and so there is a real concern that their money will not be able to be paid back. and the context of this of course

is that we are coming up to the budget at the start of march and the chancellor is having to look again at all of these schemes that were introduced to support the economy and just think is now the right time to be winding them up? us presidentjoe biden believes donald trump should no longer have access to intelligence briefings because of his "erratic behaviour." former us presidents traditionally receive some briefings after they leave office. but mr biden told cbs evening news he was worried about mr trump's access. this was mr biden�*s first broadcast interview since becoming president. he also spoke about the upcoming impeachment trial and was asked if he was a senator, would he have voted to convict mr trump? look, i ran like hell to defeat him because i thought he was unfit to be president. i watched what everybody else watched. what happened when that crew invaded the united states congress. but i am not in the senate now. i will let the senate make that decision.

let me ask you something you do have oversight of as president. should former president trump still receive intelligence briefings? i think not. why not? because of his erratic behaviour unrelated to the insurrection. you've called him an existential threat, you've called him dangerous, you've called him reckless. i have, and i believe it. what's your worst fear if he continues to get these intelligence briefings? what value is giving him intelligence briefings? what impact does he have at all, other than the fact that he might slip and say something? with much of the emphasis still on former president trump, our north america correspondent, peter bowes, told us how difficult it might be for president biden to move away from the shadow of his predecessor. inevitably, he is going to be asked at least for the foreseeable future about donald trump when they

are relevant issues, but you could almost hear his reluctance to get into that issue too deeply. he also in this interview talked about the stimulus bill, how he has made perhaps some concessions over minimum wage. it may not be in this bill, but it is certainly something he wants to achieve in the months and years to come. i think he is a man in a rush to get his policy enacted, in the months and years to come. and and that's what he wants to focus on. but, clearly, because again coming back to what we have all gone through the past few months, the actions of donald trump are still likely to make news and the president is going to be asked about it. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. good afternoon. so far this week, the emphasis of the cold wintry weather has definitely been to the north, and we've started to see significant accumulations, but as we go through the weekend, the cold air really descends further south, and there's the potential for some snow further south as well. this has been the story over the last few hours. you can see where the snow is sitting across scotland.

rain at lower levels, a few snow showers across the peaks and pennines, and in the last few hours we're starting to see some heavier rain into northern england and down through parts of east anglia and the south—east. but, further west, we've got some lovely spells of sunshine, and we'll close out the afternoon still relatively milder here, with highs of six or seven degrees. cold air starts to push further south through the night tonight. we'll see some snow showers across parts of yorkshire and north wales, and by the end of the night we've got a weather front that is injecting some moisture and the potential for some snow into the south—east corner as it bumps into the colder air. so, the cold air is originating all the way down from the arctic across scandinavian, and coming in off a cold north sea. we could see gusts in excess of 40 mph as well, so it is going to feel quite bitter, i suspect, as we go through sunday and into monday. storm darcy, although moving up into the near continent, isjust clipping, potentially, the far south—east corner, so the met office has issued an amber weather warning for the potential for some significant lying snow which could cause some disruption first thing on sunday morning, accompanied by 30—40mph gusts of winds, blizzard—like

conditions for a time. now, there's the potentialfor that snow to just be a little bit further north and west, so keep watching the forecast and of course we'll firm up on the details of that. a few snow showers further north and east, but there will be, after a crisp, icy start, lots of sunshine coming through for many the further west you are. but it's noticeably cold out there — those temperatures widely into low single figures. factor in the strength of the wind, it really will be a shock to the system. that easterly wind feeding in that cold air stays with us as we move monday into tuesday, so that means any show is coming in off that cold north sea will be falling primarily as snow. western areas will see the best of any shelter, best of the sunshine, but you are not immune to that cold feel. factor in the strength of the wind, your thermometer mayjust read a couple of degrees above freezing, but it is going to feel more like —5 to —7. take care.