already announced in the eu. earlier, i spoke to dr lawrence haar, an expert in renewable energy finance at the university of brighton. wet and windy weather in scotland and northern ireland tomorrow, but a ridge of high pressure for the majority and continuing dry weather stopped a scattering of showers in western scotland, take a cloud north of mainland scotland and northern ireland, producing patchy rain. temperatures 14—17. tonight the cloud and the breeze will pick up across western parts, might squeeze out a bit of drizzle towards the welsh hills and north—west england,

where the skies are clear and the winds are light, east anglia and the south—east. some of the countryside is close to freezing tomorrow. it will feel cold but a lot of sunshine continues during the day. northern ireland and scotland, the rain moves through with strong winds, even severe gales in the western isles. some of the rain reaching cumbria and anglesey in the afternoon. most of england and wales will be dry and a touch milder here.

the headlines. police say ten people have been killed and eight injured in an explosion at a petrol station in county donegal, in the republic of ireland. a massive fire has severely damaged the strategically important road and rail bridge connecting occupied crimea to russia. ukrainian officials say they've found two mass burial sites in the recently liberated town of lyman — one with around 200 graves. now on bbc news, talking business. hello, everybody. a very warm welcome to talking business weekly, with me, aaron heselhurst. let's take a look at what's on the show. as the cost of living squeezes households and businesses, can new help with childcare get millions more women back into the workforce?

at the moment, it can cost you more to go to work and pay for care than to stay at home. so how can governments change the game? i'm going to be discussing all of that with these two. there they are, the eu commissioner in charge of its new care strategy, and the boss of partou — it's one of the world's biggest childcare providers. also on the show, i'm going to be asking the head honcho of the global hotel giant radisson group about the surging dollar, china lockdowns and how he's growing the company in the era of aianb. wherever you'rejoining me from around the world, once again, a big hello and a warm welcome to the show.

you know, while the covid pandemic set off an economic firestorm across the world, as we sheltered in our homes, millions of us had to take up home—schooling. is mummy a good school teacher? no. but after covid came the war in ukraine, which sparked rising living costs around the world. while governments have focused much of their efforts on help with things like energy bills for businesses and families, there are also new schemes in different parts of the world to help with the cost of childcare. and it's important for all of us, because companies all over the world say they're finding it hard to get people in to do the jobs they need doing. but the cost of childcare is stopping many from going to work, and it's still mostly women who stay home. in fact, one thinktank here in england says that if someone wants to pay for full—time childcare, they can actually be losing money by going to work. well, we know for lots of families, for a start, that childcare costs are their second highest

costs, after housing. so a really significant proportion of household budgets are spent on childcare. we know that's most acute when children are youngest and costs for their care are highest. and that's also where government provision, affordable places, subsidised places, where that provision is also weakest. so we see parents paying out to go out to work, particularly when looking to return from maternity leave, before the kind of free hours offer that we see in countries like england or across the uk kick in, and we know that childcare costs are placing an enormous strain on families�* budgets but also on families in the round. so we know that where there isn't affordable childcare in place, where you can't get a childminder locally, where you can't get your child into a nursery that you think they'd be happy in, it either means that parents take the strain on themselves, they either reduce their hours in the workplace, or they leave the workplace altogether to care full—time for their children. women are still massively the ones to carry the burden of care.

in fact, the oecd, that's the organisation for economic co—operation and development, says that women are three times more likely to take on unpaid caring duties than men. but the cost of childcare varies wildly from country to country. one report reveals that, in europe alone, there are massive differences. in sweden, a family will have to spend just 1.5% of their income on full—time childcare. but in the netherlands, on average, it can be almost 30%, although much of that can be returned through the tax system. here in the uk, it's nearly a quarter of a couple's pay. and in the united states, it's around 13%. and elsewhere, new policies and new investments are being announced. canada, it's rolling out across the country an initiative to cap childcare costs at $10 a day. and injapan, they're doubling the budget for government support for childcare. in the european union, they've just published ambitious

new targets so that, by 2030, half of all children under three are in early education and care, and that 96% of children between the age of three and starting school will also be able to access care. so who better to tell me about the policy, and why it'sjust so important, than the european commissioner behind the proposals? european commissioner helena dalli, thank you so much for your time and thanks forjoining me. and i want to hearfrom you, what are the targets that you've set for childcare, and why do you think they�* re just so important? well, they are important on two levels. if we really want equality and we really want women to be in the labour market and to be economically independent, then we need childcare facilities, because we know that there are 7.7 million women in the european union who are not in the labour market because of care responsibilities.

so there's the fairness argument, the moral argument in terms of rights of women to be in the labour market. there's also the economic argument. we invest a lot in women's education and training, but we don't get the return for that investment, which we should be getting. for instance, in the european union, 60% of university graduates are women. but then you go and look for them as they grow older, and are of the age of having a family, and you don't find them on the radar of the labour market because there isn't affordable childcare for their children and therefore they have to stop working or work part—time. so there's the economic argument and there's the moral argument. now, the targets which we have,

the barcelona targets, were proposed in 2002, so that's 20 years. now we've raised the targets up to 50% for childcare for children under three years, and then 96% for children from three years to before actual school age, obligatory school age, so those are the new targets now. let me go back to 2002, because you set those targets 20 years ago in barcelona. helena, were those targets reached? no, some member states have haven't reached those targets, no, some member states haven't reached those targets, and that's a very good point which you are raising here, but we cannot stay put because some member states have not reached those targets yet. how much limitation does a lack of affordable or accessible childcare,

how much does that put on families, and in particular women? well, it's a lot of limitation. if it doesn't pay to go to work and pay for childcare, normally it's women taking care of children. this has an effect on many other things. when a woman takes a break, a long breakfrom work, to take care of her young children, she misses out on promotions, she works less or not at all, she might work part—time or decide to take long leave.

and remember, there's the gender pay gap, which is 13% in the european union, and that contributes. women can start at the same level with men in terms of qualification and experience in a job. but in the end of their career, they will find that they have earned much less. and this is one of the reasons that this happens, because they miss out in the progression of their work life. then there also is the pensions gap, which is at 28%. so one thing leads to the other.

taking care of childcare will also be a factor in helping us narrow the gender pay gap and pensions gap. and the gender gap in the labour market. childcare is notjust a question of providing childcare for working parents. there are many consequences addressed by providing affordable childcare. why are women still so disproportionately impacted by the responsibilities of caring? because you and i are doing this interview in the year 2022. women with children in the eu, they spend on average 39 hours per week of unpaid care. and compared tojust 19 hours per week for men in the same situation. so childcare and long—term care may either be

unavailable or too expensive. and then women take it on themselves. and women also more often have care responsibilities due to gender stereotypes and cultural and societal expectations. that's how it is. whereas men still do not take up parental leave. and helena, let me end on this. it's a tight, very tight labor market right now. labour market right now. and that makes the case for childcare even greater. but i'm wondering, isn't the low wages associated with that industry, isn't that going to put people off the job? any area where there are many women, and in this area there's 90% of women who are working there, is always left on the back burner. we can say that from experience. so really we need to attract

more men to the sector we all will need care, either if it's childcare, either when we are older or maybe we have elderly parents. we can have a person close to us who has a disability. so care work is of the essence. everybody, at some point in his or her life, will need a carer, or her life, will need a carer. so it is an area which, although we don't speak much about it, in fact i used to call it the cinderella sector of employment. so this is a first step of our care strategy. and people are going to realise, governments are going to realise that this is a sector which we really must invest in seriously. withour ageing populations.

we tell women, we want you in the labour market and we want you to have more children. but they end up in a sandwich taking care of children and elderly relatives. so improving care work conditions and making care attractive is something all member states must work on. because we really need affordable care. european commissioner helena dalli, thank you so much for your time, i really appreciate it.

thank you. so the european union wants a lot more childcare to be made available, but it's not something you can just turn on like a tap. in fact, it's one of the most regulated businesses you can run. so what are the challenges for those who do run childcare businesses? the netherlands—based company partou has 900 centres, it employs 9,000 child—carers who look after some 70,000 kids. jeanine lemmens, the big boss of partou. a real pleasure having you on the show. jeanine, can we start with this, because the european union wants to see more affordable childcare so, well, so more kids can go to care centres. the eu has asked countries to agree to more ambitious targets. do you think these are achievable? well, in order to achieve the eu targets, individual member nations need to address the infrastructure and the provision that already exists. and the difference are really huge at the moment. overall, the childcare sector in europe is in its infancy.

there is a lack of consistency between member nations, and nations are all inventing the wheel. and lessons from more advanced markets are not necessarily learned. so a lot needs to change in order to achieve the targets. so let me ask you this, jeanine. as the boss of partou, just what are the challenges of running a large childcare business? well, at the moment, attracting people to the sector post—covid has been a challenge across the board. and it's not a job that you fall into, you know? the regulation means that entering into a career in childcare has to be intentional. the staff need all to be certified. and as a large organisation, we managed, for example, to get accreditation ourselves to educate students and make sure that they get their diplomas. and it became a very important hiring channel for us.

but, you know, that's not for everybody. just briefly, you mentioned regulation. i mean, am i right by saying you are very heavily regulated? yeah, yeah, the regulations are heavy. and those, such as us, providing the service need to work for that reason very closely with the regulators to ensure that the reality of the challenge is understood, and that regulations support the sector as it grows. we all want nothing but the best for the children, but there is often more than one way to do that, and one way is more complex than the other in terms of regulations. you mentioned the challenge of attracting workers into the industry.

do you need wages to rise? that's an interesting topic. in the netherlands, its highly regulated. 0nce netherlands, its highly regulated. once a year for example, employers and employees via the unions, may negotiate a wage that reflects the living standards. education levels in the sector. work—life balance, all those things. in this way, i believe, a sector can compete and protect itself against all effects. if i look at the uk, where we are also present, we are more free to determine the wages of our staff. and we do, of course, change the wages as the local market requires these adaptations. but the risk is

that the sector starts competing against itself. it's hugely important when it comes to quality. children basically need to recognise the staff and know the staff. so preferably, salary is not a driver, but it is important. can you encourage, jeanine, more men into your industry? and if so, how do you do that? that's a hard one. you know, i believe that the absence of men in this sector really is a pr problem more than anything else. working with children is a highly rewarding experience, but it's not presented as a traditionally male vocation. as society is shifting its focus on gender roles, and as our sector evolves, we hope to do so in a way that attracts the best talent regardless of gender. as you know, some here in the uk are proposing increasing the number

of children that each carer can look after. i believe the number is from four. jeanine, is that realistic for the people working in the centres? most of these current ratios are there for a reason — to decrease risk and increase quality. but it's also true that the system can't service the children with the current ratios, we just have too few staff in parts of the uk and in the netherlands and in germany. compromising the care of the child should, however, ithink, never be the solution. childcare is very much based on trust. parents have to entrust not so much only their provider, but they have to entrust their children to the system, if you like. and after all, the quality of all providers have to be high in order to become a trusted sector in general. and for that reason, we do not like weak competitors.

and let me end on this. if you could have one thing, one thing to boost your industry, your sector, what would it be? very close collaboration between governments, providers and parents so that the puzzle around how much regulation is needed to still be safe and decrease risk. but also how much regulation is actually acceptable in order to attract enough staff. if we solve this puzzle, then basically childcare is the connecting tissue in almost everything in society, that people can work, that children are taking care of, that the youngest generation has the best possible start. it all then would come together. so that is what is needed in many member states. jeanine lemmens, a real pleasure having you on the show.

thanks for your time and i'll talk to you soon. it was my pleasure. you know, the hotel industry, it's one of the big beasts of the global tourist trade which is coming back from, well, the death blow of covid. radisson hotel group is one of the largest players in the world. but with tourist giant china suffering massive covid restrictions and the dollar's value impacting on who travels where. i got the chance to catch up with the group's big boss. federico gonzalez, a real pleasure having you on my show. thanks for your time. federico, my main topic of the show this week is about childcare and the huge difficulties and expense forfamilies all around the world. so i want to start on that. as an employer in the hospitality industry, where we know women make up more than half of of the workforce, how do you retain and attract female workers? i'm wondering, do you have childcare policies? i mean, as you know, is very well known now that in these

days we are having more issues to attract people in hospitality after the pandemic. it's more and more difficult to recruit talent. and actually this becomes one of the critical issues is, how, if you start working with us in a hotel, how you can develop your career, how can you make your career more balanced and be able to cope with your personal life and private life? the life balance. so we are trying to adapt because, nearly in any country, it will be increasingly more complicated to be able to attract good talent that wants to make a good career with us. federico, let's talk about the strength of the us dollar, something i've been talking about a lot recently. i mean, currently its strength is around a 20—year high. that's got to be having an impact on a global business like yours. well, it is, but actually, you know, there's always good and bad things with any of the things. if you look, for example, to our business in the uk, i mean, tourism, if you look from a touristic point of view, then obviously there

is a very positive effect. travelling to europe now for any american is a much better affordable experience. and i think there is one thing that is happening. we are becoming more local in the supply chain. i think there was a moment where international trade and the exchange rates and the situation enabled us to do sourcing at higher levels from one given destination. i think now in the supply chains, we need to go much more local. federico, let's talk about this growth plan, and correct me if i'm wrong here. i'm looking at some of the numbers, and you've committed to having more than 150 hotels across the african continent by 2025. a 400% growth in asia pacific. i think you're going from something like 400 properties to 2,000 all by 2025. yes. how can you be sure that the demand is going to be there? we're talking two, three years away. i think that's a good question. i think there's going to be a significant amount of opportunities, not only for new hotels, but

also for conversions. if you look to asia, our growth targets are very aggressive, but actually depend on two things. in one side, we have today around a0 hotels in china. but actually we have done withjinjiang, that is the number two global operator of hotels, we have done a joint venture with them. they sell today, we have an mfa agreement with them, and we have signed, just in the last two years, 150 hotels of radisson brands. so i think our capacity to grow in china as international brand, i mean, we have been able to grow from 25 nearly to 200. i think there is potential to go way above 500—600 in the coming years. federico, just briefly, you mentioned china. china, beijing still has this zero—case mentality and it's, you know, locked down, opened, locked down, opened. that's got to have an impact on the business.

well, that has had a significant impact on the business. i think this is kind of a theme that i hope one day they change, you know, at least to one tolerance, one, 0k? because zero is a bit difficult. but i think that will not, cannot continue. i mean, you cannot block a billion people country for i think much more longer. so we expect actually that that will open up in the coming months. i think we should be expecting the chinese to be able to travel back in the months of march, april. and i think the country will open up. they will find a solution. which one, i don't know. but i think they will have to find a solution. federico, i want to ask you this. what impact are the disruptors — the aianbs — what impact are they having on the radisson group? if i look overall, after obviously a first impact that happened in times like new york or in california... but i think after the years, i think it's a solution that... i would never advise anybody,

if you want to feel safe, with a fire alarm or the safety you may have in my hotels, but if you want to go, then it's for different occasions possibly. it's not... you may not get the help if you are in a business meeting or if something doesn't work, you may not get the same level of help of a hotel, but it's good for some occasions where you may go with friends or you may go with different needs. and i think, at the end of the day, after five years or six years, when you look to the numbers, it's not destroying the market. well, on that point, federico, thank you. it's a real pleasure having you on the show, and i'll check in with you soon. i would think. thank ou. ., ~ well, that's it for this week's show. i hope you enjoyed it. don't forget, you can keep up with the latest on our global economy on the bbc website or the smartphone app. of course, you can also follow me on twitter. tweet me, i'll tweet you back. you can get me on @bbcaaron. thanks for watching, i'll see you soon. bye— bye.

wet and windy weather in scotland and northern ireland tomorrow, but today, a ridge of high pressure for the majority pressure for the majority and continuing dry weather with broken cloud. a scattering of showers in western scotland, take a cloud north of mainland scotland and northern ireland, producing patchy rain. temperatures 14—17. tonight the cloud and the breeze will pick up across western parts, might squeeze out a bit of drizzle towards the welsh hills and north—west england, where the skies are clear and the winds are lightest, east anglia and the south—east. some of the countryside is close to freezing tomorrow. it will feel cold but a lot of sunshine continues during the day. northern ireland and scotland, the rain moves through with strong winds, even severe gales in the western isles. some of the rain reaching cumbria and anglesey in the afternoon. most of england and wales will be dry and a touch milder here.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 4:00pm: police in ireland say ten people have been killed and eight injured in an explosion at a petrol station in county donegal. 0ur information at this point in time is pointing towards a tragic gas leak. that said, i have to take a holistic view. a massive fire has severely damaged the strategically important road and rail bridge connecting occupied crimea to russia. strike action leaves just 20% of regular rail services running across england, scotland and wales today — as workers walk out for the eleventh time this year. energy bosses warn that the government's plan to cap the price of electricity produced by older renewable facilities is risky.