tom symonds reports.fewjobs attract as much public support as they enjoy. and the number of urgency is they deal with has been falling steadily, at this, the rest, worse residential fire in living memory showed disasters can still happen. spruik firefighting firmly in the spotlight. meanwhile, the system for inspecting fire services has been revamped. chedjou of a is one of 1a services to be scrutinised as part of the new system. it got a good rating. for its emergency service and the fire safety checks it carries out. but today's report says when it comes to protecting the public by a inspecting buildings, eight out of 1a fire services required improvement. in fact, the number of safety audits carried out by fire services across england has fallen by 42% in eight years. ifa fallen by 42% in eight years. if a fire services don't know where their high—risk premises are, and if they haven't been and done safety audits of those high—risk premises, then there's clearly a danger that there are risks that aren'

tom symonds, bbc news.et with strong criticism. mr trump made the announcement yesterday, asserting that the islamic state group had been defeated. but major allies, including senior republicans and foreign powers, have disputed the claim and say the move could lead to a resurgence of is. 0ur diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley is here. like many things from president trump, this came out of the blue. like many things from president trump, this came out of the bluem certainly seems to have taken many people by surprise. during his presidential campaign he promised to bring us troops home but still the decision shocked his own officials and allies, he announced it in a tweet, he said is had been defeated and the announcement came a day after the state department said the battle had not been won, so many people are up in arms. it's been called gift to is. it came against military advice. listen to the response of the republican senator, marco rubio. the decision to withdraw an american presence in syria

tom symonds has more.s, the worst residential fire in living memory, showed that disasters can still happen. it has put firefighting firmly in the spotlight. meanwhile, the system for inspecting fire services has been revamped. cheshire fire and rescue is one of 1a services to be scrutinised as part of the new system. it got a good rating for its emergency service, and for the fire safety checks it carries out. but today's report says when it comes to protecting the public by inspecting buildings, eight out of 1a fire services required improvement. in fact, the number of safety audits carried out by fire services across england has fallen by 42% in eight years. if fire services don't know where their high—risk premises are, and if they haven't been and done safety audits of those high—risk premises, then there is clearly a danger that there are risks that aren't being addressed, and therefore, the public are at risk. the reason it's not happening, she says, is funding. fire services have prioritised the em

tom symonds, bbc news.d inpector of her majesty's inspectorate of fire and rescue services. we appreciate you coming in today. why has there been such a dramatic drop—off in fire safety checks over the last seven years? we have seen since the start of austerity are 42% reduction in fire safety checks, which is of vital importance to the public. we need them to know that building that they are staying in, like hospitals and hotels, i say. and fire and rescue services told us that at the beginning of austerity they looked to where they needed to make reductions, and the first place they looked to was in fire prevention. 0bviously stripping away services from emergency services is not a good idea, so they took away qualified staff from health and safety tea m qualified staff from health and safety team to do these audits. there has been a gradual decline and we are concerned by what we have found. you are talking about people going to check whether fire exits are blocked and whether doors open properly etc? ye

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds has more.firefighters — fewjobs attract as much public support as they enjoy. and the number of emergencies they deal with has been falling steadily. but this, the worst residential fire in living memory, shows that disasters can still happen. it has put firefighting firmly in the spotlight. meanwhile, the system for inspecting fire services has been revamped. cheshire fire and rescue is one 01:14 services to be scrutinised as part of the new system. it got a good rating for its emergency service, and for the fire safety checks it carries out. but today's report says, when it comes to protecting the public by inspecting buildings, eight out of 14 fire services required improvement. in fact, the number of safety audits carried out by fire services across england has fallen by 42% in eight years. if fire services don't know where their high—risk premises are, and if they haven't been in and done safety audits of those high—risk premises, then there is clearly a danger that there are risks that ar

tom symonds has more. the latest glimpse of what might be the rogue drone.t seen it up close. the last time it was spotted over gatwick was 10pm last night. the vulnerability of this major international airport is now stark. result — the government is under pressure. this is an entirely new kind of threat and we are going to have to move very quickly. one of the things i intend to do very quickly indeed is convene discussions across all of our airports. there are some systems now beginning to be introduced in some airports around the world that can have an impact on this, but there is no single, simple solution, off the shelf, deliverable very quickly. we have had to assemble a variety of different measures around that airport to make sure it's safe. the police won't say what systems they are using to protect gatwick airport, which isjust over there. some are high—tech. 0thers, well, less so. this officer has been placed here as a spotter, looking for incoming drones. he's one of a number dotted all around the airport. we've been told systems capable of brin

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds is at gatwick. you have been hearing from the police.t just in the last few minutes, assistant chief constable steve barry from sussex police as they are continuing a pretty big investigation into what has happened here over the last few days. they have leads, they have persons of interest, is what he said, and they are attempting to build a picture as to who was responsible for it. one of the things they want to do is they want people living in this area who may have seen drones landing and taking off to get in touch. anyone who might have pictures of the object as it flew over the airport, which might help them identify what it is and where it came from. also, the police officer who had spoken he had accepted there were lessons the police and the airport have to learn from the response to the drone appearing over the runway here and causing so much disruption. it took some time, he said, to get the equipment they needed to provide certainty that they could keep aircraft safe, to get it on site, to get it so people could use it and they

tom symonds has more. the latest glimpse of what might be the rogue drone.t seen it up close. until tonight's suspected sighting, it hadn't been spotted above gatwick since 10pm last night. the vulnerability of this major international airport is now stark. result, the government is under pressure. this is an entirely new kind of threat and we are going to have to move very quickly. one of the things i intend to do very quickly indeed is convene discussions across all of our airports. there are some systems beginning to be introduced in some airports around the world that could have an impact on this, but there is no single, simple solution off the shelf, deliverable very quickly. we have had to assemble a variety of different measures around that airport to make sure it is safe. the police won't say what systems they are using to protect gatwick airport, which isjust over there. some are high—tech, others, well, less so. this officer has been placed here as a spotter, looking for incoming drones. he is one of a number dotted all around the airport. we've be

tom symonds has more. the latest glimpse of what might be the rogue drone.e last time it was spotted over gatwick was 10pm last night. the vulnerability of this major international airport is now stark. result — the government is under pressure. this is an entirely new kind of threat and we are going to have to move very quickly. one of the things i intend to do very quickly indeed is convene discussions across all of our airports. there are some systems now beginning to be introduced in some airports around the world that can have an impact on this, but there is no single, simple solution, off the shelf, deliverable very quickly. we have had to assemble a variety of different measures around that airport to make sure it's safe. the police won't say what systems they are using to protect gatwick airport, which is just over there. some are high—tech. 0thers, well, less so. this officer has been placed here as a spotter, looking for incoming drones. he's one of a number dotted all around the airport. police elsewhere have shotguns. we've been told systems capa

tom symonds has more. the latest glimpse of what might be the rogue drone.haven't seen it up close until tonight's suspected sighting, it hadn't been spotted above gatwick since 10 pm last night. the vulnerability of this major international airport airport is now stark. result, the government is under pressure. this is an entirely new kind of threat and we are going to have to move very quickly. one of the things i intend to do very quickly indeed is convene discussions across all of our airports. there are some systems beginning to be introduced in some airports around the world that could have an impact on this, but there is no single, simple solution off the shelf deliverable very quickly. we have had to assemble a variety of different measures around that airport to make sure it is safe. the police won't say what systems they are using to protect gatwick airport, which isjust over there. some are high—tech, others, well less so. this officer has been placed here as a spotter, looking for incoming drones. he is one of a number dotted all around the airpo

tom symonds, bbc news.s two sons, his fiancee and her 11—year—old daughter. the canadian pilot also died. authorities are yet to release their findings on what caused the crash. hywel griffith reports. today's report has helped us understand a lot more detail as to what happened, but very little in terms of findings and why it happened. we know that on new year's eve last year, richard cousins, his two sons, his fiancee and her daughter all boarded the seaplane a few miles north of sydney, all planning to take a sightseeing tour to bring them down to the harbour here. their pilot, gareth morgan, had carried out similarjourneys several times that day using the plane. there were no known mechanical faults, but within a few minutes of taking off, the plane veered off path and it came down — we understand from an eyewitness — almost vertically, nose first into the water, and sunk upside down. the investigators were able to find a digital camera on—board which they believe belonged to one of the passengers sat b

our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds, has more. actually we are going to leave that report.ese are being flown illegally and anyone endangering an aircraft could face up to five years in prison. this incident has illustrated the frightful ease with which drone users can inflict massive damage on our safety, security and economy. it is christmas and thousands more drones will find their way as gifts into the hands of untrained and unregistered users. i asked the honourable lady, the minister, to ask if she will introduce proper, stringent controls on drones early in 2019 and we know the government is very busy with brexit but this illustrates the importance of other aspects of our national life, i can see the last whether the police now consider this incident to be an act of terror or simply of criminal irresponsibility, and whichever of those two it is, all airports are now clearly at risk. what steps are being taken to prevent a repeat copycat attack? i entirely agree with the noble lady that we absolutely need to make sure that we introduce new rules to ensure that drones