File on 4 Investigates

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Debt Killed My Dad Sep 25, 2018

Show notes

In August, Jessica Hurst wrote to the media asking them to investigate how her dad’s debts of just under £12,000 became a bill of just under £73,000. Nigel Hurst killed himself a year ago after learning that bailiffs were to repossess his family home. It was the bailiff who found him.

Student, Jessica, was left with a pile of debt recovery letters and bank statements which she hoped would hold the clue to his financial troubles. File on 4 reporter Helen Grady takes up Jessica’s challenge.

Her findings include the fact that councils are increasingly enforcing council tax debts, often using aggressive tactics which have been outlawed or become outdated in the private sector. And that bankruptcy can trigger a series of punitive charges - including some paid directly to the Government - which can make a manageable debt unmanageable.

The charities interviewed for this programme that provide free debt advice are … www.stepchange.org www.nationaldebtline.org capuk.org

If you are feeling emotionally distressed and would like details of organisations which offer advice and support, visit BBC Action Line or you can call for free, at any time, to hear recorded information 0800 066 066

You can also get help from …

https://www.samaritans.org/https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/suicide/

Presenter: Helen Grady Producer: David Lewis Editor; Andrew Smith

Paralympics – Gaming the System? Sep 18, 2018

Show notes

Last year, File on 4 investigated whether some athletes and coaches game the paralympic classification system in order to win medals. We heard allegations that some competitors had gone to astonishing lengths such as taping up their arms to make their disability appear worse. A parliamentary select committee hearing followed into the way British paralympic athletes are classified and questions were raised over whether the system was fit for purpose.

In this programme, we examine further claims of athletes exaggerating or even faking a disability to get ahead in para sports. We look at the case of an athlete where concerns have been raised after they competed in several different disability classifications.

A paralympic gold medallist tells File on 4 of his concerns that young athletes are being manipulated by coaches to think they are more disabled than they actually are in order to get them classified into a more favourable category.

The programme also hears claims that UK athletes cheered a competitor from a rival country because they believed one of their teammates was cheating. Such suspicions have grown in recent years, the programme is told.

Reporter Simon Cox speaks to a former international classifier – the people responsible for ensuring athletes are placed in the right category – who reveals how it is possible for classifiers to be fooled and the pressure placed on them to put athletes in the most disabled categories.

The concerns raised by the programme come as a report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee into sports governance which has examined classification in para sports is due to be published.

Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: Paul Grant Editor: Gail Champion

Counting the Cost: Antidepressant Use in Children Jul 24, 2018

Show notes

More antidepressants than ever before are being prescribed to young people in Britain, despite fears that they can cause harm in some cases.

What are the driving factors behind the increase? Is there any merit to claims the drugs are ineffective - and, in some cases, have serious side effects in children? And is the NHS providing the proper support to young people affected by mental illness who are turning to medication to cope?

This, however, is not the first time a surge in the rate of antidepressants being prescribed to young people has been deemed a cause for concern. In 2005, in response to public concern, prescription guidelines were introduced. They included step-by-step instructions for medical professionals who treat patients under 18 years of age; providing, for the first time, standard treatment protocols. In turn, the number of antidepressants being prescribed across the UK declined for a period. But, now, some thirteen years later, the numbers have surpassed pre-NICE guidelines levels - and show no signs of slowing. And there's evidence that the guidelines themselves are being ignored in some cases.

Paul Connolley investigates the causes and risks of an increasing reliance on medication.

Reporter: Paul Connolley Producer: Carl Johnston Editor: Gail Champion.

Prison, drugs and debts - who's paying the price? Jul 17, 2018

Show notes

File on 4 goes inside Altcourse Prison in Liverpool to meet the staff trying to stem the supply of drugs into the jail.

Perimeter security has been tightened, searches have been stepped up and new technology is being trialled as officers deal with the influx of new psychoactive substances, such as spice, and more 'traditional' banned drugs, including cannabis and heroin.

More widely, across England and Wales, the availability of drugs in prisons is posing huge challenges to their stability, as well as the health and safety of inmates and officers.

Some prisoners are so desperate to feed their addiction they secrete drugs inside their bodies to by-pass security; others persuade or pressurise friends and family to bring them in.

The demand for contraband is so great that a lucrative trade has developed behind bars, co-ordinated by criminal gangs who use threats, violence and exploitation.

In some cases, vulnerable people are coerced into smuggling drugs, acting as "mules", at great risk to themselves. Offenders who've been let out on licence have been known deliberately to breach the conditions of their release, so they can take supplies into jail when they're sent back there. Some drug-dependent prisoners rack up massive debts which their families are expected to pay off. The BBC's Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw meets those who've got caught up in the sophisticated markets in operation inside the system and reaching out into communities.

The Government has promised to tackle the problem by improving intelligence, investing in new serious and organised crime teams and separating ringleaders from other prisoners.

But ministers are also being urged to improve provision for those who are in the grip of addiction by offering treatment, rehabilitation and opportunities when they leave custody.

Reporter: Danny Shaw Producer: Sally Chesworth Editor: Gail Champion.

Construction in Crisis? Jul 16, 2018

Show notes

In January, Britain's second biggest construction firm, Carillion, spectacularly collapsed under a £1.5 billion debt pile. Thousands of jobs were lost, pensions were put at risk, and around 30 thousand smaller subcontractors, who'd already completed work on projects, were left being owed a total of £2 billion.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called it a 'watershed' moment, and a report by MPs slammed the government contractor's 'rotten corporate culture', claiming those at the top treated suppliers with 'utter contempt'. There was also a stark warning that a similar collapse could happen 'again, and soon'.

But whilst Carillion shone a spotlight on some of the 'reckless' and 'greedy' financial practices used by those at the top of large-scale construction, and left accountants and ministers with questions to answer, has anything changed six months on?

File on 4 investigates an industry treading a financial tightrope - a world of huge turnovers but tiny profit margins, spiralling debts and late payments. Alistair Jackson speaks to subcontractors who say they're still working in 'a climate of fear', and are being pushed to the brink, financially and emotionally, by their bigger construction counterparts.

Reporter: Alistair Jackson Producer: Mick Tucker Editor: Gail Champion.

The Private World of the NHS Jul 03, 2018

Show notes

As the NHS reaches its 70th anniversary, Adrian Goldberg investigates why the very mention of the word "private" - or, even more, privatisation - in UK health care provokes fierce opposition.

No party dare publicly claim anything less than unswerving support for the NHS and its supporting mantra that health care should be "free at the point of delivery."

Yet millions of people are treated by a private dentist. Millions more think nothing of having to pay for eye tests and the spectacles prescribed by opticians who work for "for-profit" businesses. GP practices are independent-run businesses. Routine operations are often outsourced to private hospitals. Yet NHS contracts are increasingly fulfilled by private health providers. While campaigners protest, most people continue having treatment.

So what is at the root of opposition to private health care? Is it the fear of replicating the US system where ability to pay is often a condition of receiving health care? If good health care is the last standing public good is that because it's the last vestige of socialism, clung to by the left? Is there a fear that the nature of health care changes when a commercial transaction lies behind it? Do nostalgia and a notion of "fairness" play a part? And does the fear of opposition encourage a policy of reform by stealth which in turn fuels suspicion and more opposition?

Adrian's mother was a domestic at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham for more than 20 years; his first job was working for the West Midlands Regional Health Authority, while his sister is a nurse. The programme takes Adrian on a personal journey to discover the true nature of opposition to private provision. On the way he talks to patients, practitioners and experts on health provision.

Falling Short - Fake News and Financial Markets Jun 26, 2018

Show notes

If fake news is poisoning public debate, then what is it doing to the financial markets?

Short-sellers - investors who bet on a company's shares falling, not rising- have a mixed reputation. For some they play a vital role, exposing weak companies - and can make big profits as a result. But others accuse them of using fake information to deliberately damage otherwise healthy businesses.

File on 4 looks into the hidden world of the short sellers, the researchers who give them the information to make their bets and the companies who fall victim to what they publish. Are the shorters overstepping the stock market's rules on fairness and transparency?

Reporter: Geoff White Producer: Rob Cave Editor: Gail Champion.

Back Home from ISIS Jun 19, 2018

Show notes

For years, the so-called Islamic State has managed to attract thousands of wannabe jihadis and jihadi brides to join their caliphate. The extremist propaganda, online videos and recruiters have seen thousands of people from all over the world flock to Iraq and Syria to join IS; including 850 men, women and children from the UK. The brutality of the terror group is now well known, partly due to their own publicity online. Videos and stories of beheadings, floggings and sex slaves have been released to the public, drawing in a new wave of foreign fighters.

IS has since had setbacks, losing ground in it's strongholds in Iraq and Syria and its administrative capital Raqqa. But the caliphate has not admitted defeat, instead promising more attacks in the West.

It's thought 50% of UK citizens who left to join IS, have now returned home- the rest are dead, detained or missing. What happens to these returnees when they come back? With only a minority being prosecuted and imprisoned, what efforts are being made to de-radicalise the rest?

This investigation explores the danger posed by UK returnees, the efforts to de-radicalise and reintegrate them and the difficulties of proving they were ever part of the caliphate once they've returned home.

Reporter: Paul Kenyon Producer: Kate West Editor: Gail Champion.

Failed by Forensics? Jun 12, 2018

Show notes

File on 4 investigates mounting concern about forensic science in England and Wales - hearing the cases of two men who almost went to prison for rape because the police failed to properly investigate crucial evidence on mobile phones.

Forensic science is increasingly important both in finding criminals and successfully prosecuting them. It's used for everything from investigating fires like Grenfell to huge terrorist cases. And it covers checking phone records, CCTV, DNA and fingerprinting. It's painstaking, time-consuming work but it can often turn up vital evidence.

The programme hears that a criminal investigation is underway into one company providing forensic evidence, another has gone bust and a third has had to be financially bailed out. Meanwhile some police forces carry out their own forensic work but incredibly some do so, without the official accreditation that forensic companies are expected to obtain. And the regulator says she can't do anything about it as the Government won't give her the powers she needs.

Presenter: Melanie Abbott Producer: Anna Meisel Editor: Andrew Smith.

Citizenship for Sale Jun 05, 2018

Show notes

Selling passports. It may sound illicit but 'citizenship-by-investment' is a global industry worth billions - and it's completely legal.

The idea is simple - invest huge sums of money and in return acquire residency rights or citizenship, even visa-free access to all European member states.

The UK offers residency in exchange for an investment of £2 million - or for £10 million, the possibility of British citizenship within two years.

And across the world, countries are vying to attract the super-rich through these schemes. But they are attracting attention for the wrong reasons.

European MEPs have launched an investigation into a 'Golden Passports' programmes across Europe - including the UK - amid concerns that they pose a corruption risk. In the US, government financial investigators say individuals are buying citizenship to hide their true identity, in an attempt to flout economic sanctions against Iran.

Tonight, File on 4 examines the trade in passports and visas for the wealthy and asks whether they deliver any real value for the countries that sell them, and assesses the evidence that they are being used by criminals.

Reporter: Alys Harte Producer: David Lewis Editor: Gail Champion.

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