File on 4 Investigates

Jenny Cuffe talks to foster parents who find themselves battling with local authorities over the children in their care. They describe a Kafkaesque nightmare where doors are shut, telephone calls and emails unanswered, even court orders are ignored. Meanwhile, vulnerable children are treated as pawns as social workers move them from one place to another. In one case investigated by File on 4, fost...

Are families getting justice in the coroner's court? Ann Alexander investigates concerns about the conduct of inquests in England and Wales and asks why there is so much variation in behaviour of coroners and the rigour of their investigations. Under the current system, it is up to the coroner what evidence he or she relies on, but this can leave families unhappy at the verdict and with little hop...

With plans for future use of London's Olympic stadium in disarray, Allan Urry asks whether taxpayers' billions will leave a lasting legacy from 2012. London's successful bid to stage the 2012 Olympics placed great emphasis on the benefits it could create for Britain and its capital city. Not only should the Games bequeath impressive new sporting facilities to the people of London, but the event an...

The Justice Secretary Ken Clarke wants more jobs for convicts. He told his party conference: "If we want prison to work, then our prisoners have got to be working". He encourages private companies to open workshops inside prisons, where inmates would be 'properly paid' for hard work, would pay their due of taxes and help fund victims' support. Mr Clarke points to a metal factory in a Merseyside pr...

World leaders preparing for the G20 conference are facing a threat to the global economy from the on-going Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. But as they try to avert further economic catastrophe some investors see opportunities to profit from the mayhem. Michael Robinson reveals how on-going economic volatility and uncertainty can also present golden investment opportunities - and how, through compl...

Earlier this year, an imam working in Stoke-on-Trent was jailed for raping a 12 year old boy at his mosque. In the wake of the case, File on 4 investigates whether the thousands of children who visit mosques and madrassas each week to study the Quran are being properly protected. The leader of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain has warned that without urgent action, his religion could face an...

With the Government's controversial reforms under fire from countryside campaigners, Allan Urry investigates radical changes to the planning system. Ministers insist more housing is needed, fuelling fears of greenfield sites being bulldozed. But as they begin to slim down bureaucracy to speed up development, how many more homes are actually getting built? Under the localism agenda, communities are...

Household gas and electricity bills are set to soar, leaving millions at risk of 'fuel poverty' and vulnerable to cold as winter approaches. The government's hopes for recovery in UK manufacturing industry are also threatened in key sectors by rocketing energy prices. Some small and medium-sized businesses have already been pushed into liquidation and there are fears that others will follow. Polit...

The Department of Health wants to slash £1.2 billion off the bill for hospital supplies -- everything from bandages and rubber gloves to operating tables and medical equipment. The planned savings form part of the £20 billion in NHS efficiency savings the Government has pledged to make by 2014. There's plenty of scope for savings. A recent survey found one Hospital Trust bought 177 different types...

The criminal exploitation of the internet poses one of the biggest threats to UK national security. As organised crime gangs and terrorists use it to communicate and plan their activities, the police and security agencies are turning to hacking to conduct surveillance and gather intelligence. In the first of a new series, File on 4 looks at the covert techniques being used to get beyond the firewa...

The Government's strategy to boost local enterprise in England began poorly. The Director of the CBI criticised it as 'a shambles' and Business Secretary Vince Cable admitted it was 'Maoist and chaotic'. Now 36 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been established with the aim of supporting economic growth and innovation and encouraging a network of Enterprise Zones. But some experts remain s...

The UK is the largest bilateral donor to Rwanda, giving around £83m a year. President Paul Kagame is praised by the British government for bringing stability and economic growth to a country torn apart by the genocide in 1994. But recently it was revealed that two opponents of the Rwandan regime living in London had been warned by police they were in danger of being assassinated by their own gove...

Each year scores of senior civil servants and ex-government ministers quit Whitehall for higher-paid posts in business. Companies in the fields of defence, health, energy and transport are particularly keen to recruit experienced politicians, policy makers and managers with close links to the wheels of power and procurement. This is the so-called "revolving door" between government and the world o...

Why are ambulances queuing up to unload patients needing treatment at hospital Accident and Emergency Departments? Some senior A and E medics say there are too few beds and not enough staff in a front line service struggling to cope. Cash strapped NHS Trusts are closing casualty units, or replacing them with lower grade Urgent Care Centres but what's been the impact on patients? Allan Urry asks wh...

The Border Agency is charged with preventing drugs, weapons and would-be illegal immigrants from getting to the UK. But three years after being created, the Agency has been accused by MPs of failing to enforce immigration rules. Faced with cuts to its budget and the loss of around one-fifth of its staff over the next four years, the Agency is looking to new technology to improve its effectiveness....

In the wake of the financial disaster, policy makers and regulators around the world pledged to make banking safer and more transparent. But the reality, many experts claim, is proving very different. For this edition of File on 4, Michael Robinson investigates some of the apparently straightforward financial products banks now offer and uncovers disturbing complexity. One product, called Exchange...

Over the last month Britain's biggest provider of care homes for the elderly, Southern Cross, has been beset by financial woes. But across the country an even deeper crisis is unfolding as local authorities implement massive budget cuts. This week File on 4 investigates how cutbacks are leaving elderly people with insufficient care, and councils with a major financial headache. The programme also...

A review into the care of patients in vegetative or low awareness states has been launched by the Royal College of Physicians. There are thought to be as many as 5000 such people in the UK. The working party will look at concerns that assessment and diagnosis of patients is not consistent across the country and will ask whether the cost of long term care is affordable to the NHS. Ann Alexander exa...

For two decades, the Private Finance Initiative has been a controversial way of building new hospitals, schools, roads and prisons. Well over £200bn of taxpayers' money has been committed to the companies managing these projects. The coalition government describes some PFI contracts as 'ghastly' and wants some of this cash back. One cabinet minister says 'the people on the other side must have bee...

Is Iran exploiting the turmoil caused by the Arab Spring, and the uncertainly following the killing of Osama Bin Laden? After Iranian military rockets were found on the battlefields of Afghanistan, Allan Urry assesses new evidence alleging Iran's closer ties with al Qaeda and the Taliban. And, with more illicit shipments of weapons from Iran being seized in the Middle East, in breach of a UN arms...

The investigation following an air disaster is supposed to make air travel safer. But do the reports always get to the truth about why planes crash? Emma Jane Kirby examines claims that international air accident investigations are often slow, incompetent and influenced by political sensitivities. So how does this affect the victims' families as they fight manufacturers and airlines for compensati...

Do we understand enough about how memory works to properly assess evidence in sex abuse cases when allegations date back decades? Can juries make decisions based on their common sense in complex cases? The number of so called "historic abuse cases" making their way through the coruts has increased in recent years following changes in the law that make it easier to bring them to trial and a greater...

Is the NHS doing enough to combat the crisis in organ donations for transplants? Allan Urry examines the challenge of ensuring more suitable donors are available at a time when those waiting for life saving operations are increasing. Surgeons are reporting worse outcomes for some patients, as poorer quality organs have to be used because of chronic shortages. This comes despite a big drive by the...

File On 4. Banks and fraud squads across the world are beginning the task of tracing a vast fortune stolen from the Egyptian people by members of the Mubarak regime. Some estimates have suggested the missing money could run into many billions of pounds. Ministers, businessmen and members of the president's family have deposited vast sums in Swiss bank accounts and bought luxury properties in Londo...

Following the recent first conviction and hefty fine under new Corporate Manslaughter legislation, the UK's health and safety regime has been hailed a success. Falling death and accident rates appear to confirm an improving trend. But the families of some of those seriously injured and killed in workplace accidents say too many employers are still gettings off too lightly even when they've been fo...