File on 4 Investigates

While the government axes public spending to try to cut the deficit, Michael Robinson investigates loopholes which let big businesses slash their UK tax bills. This month George Osborne said he plans to make Britain the most attractive corporate tax regime in the G20. But some companies have already moved abroad for tax reasons. And for others able to operate on a global scale, there are many ways...

The drive to make acute hospitals more prudent and independent through foundation trust status was meant to usher in a new era of prudent spending for the whole of the NHS. But now the process is faltering, as a series of foundation trusts hit grave financial, managerial or care quality problems. And though the NHS was meant to be ring-fenced from the deep cuts now hitting the rest of the public s...

Do Insolvency Practitioners measure up to the high standards expected of them when they are called in to a stricken business? Allan Urry examines concerns that some IP's don't always act in the best interests of creditors who are owed money when companies fail. Are landlords right to complain they've been getting a raw deal because some corporate undertakers side too much with their retail paymast...

The planned withdrawal of British and other foreign troops from Afghanistan relies on the Afghan army and police to take over security duties. Since 2002, the USA has spent $27bn - over half of its total reconstruction fund - training and equipping Afghan forces. The aim is to build up an army of 171,600 people and a police force of 134,000 by October 2011. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants...