PODCAST

File on 4 Investigates

BBC Radio 4

News-making original journalism documentary series, investigating stories at home and abroad.

society & culture documentary

All Episodes

37:19

Can Rotherham Recover?

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/10/20

Like other steel communities, Rotherham faces the loss of hundreds of jobs following the recent announcement of redundancies at the local plant. It's the latest blow to a town now synonymous with widespread child grooming. Last year the Jay Report estimated that 1400 young people had been sexually abused there. It said most of the victims were white and most of the perpetrators were Asian men. So what's been the impact on community relations and how far has the scandal affected the local economy

36:57

Colleges in Crisis

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/10/13

David Cameron has promised three million new apprenticeships by 2020. But Further Education colleges must deliver them against a background of year-on-year cuts - with the axe likely to fall again in this Autumn's spending review.The National Audit Office has warned more than a quarter of further education colleges could be deemed financially inadequate by the end of the year. And this month MPs on the Public Accounts Committee will launch an inquiry into the financial sustainability of the

37:10

Dirty Money UK

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/10/06

What does the theft of a billion dollars from Europe's poorest country have to do with a run-down housing estate in Edinburgh? Moldova was robbed of 12% of its GDP by the bafflingly complex financial scam uncovered earlier this year. It involved a web of companies in the ex-Soviet country, with the money thought to have ended up in Russia via Latvian banks.But the trail also goes via a number of UK-registered companies, including one based in the district of north Edinburgh made famous by

37:19

Missing Medicines

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/09/29

Why is the NHS struggling to get hold of some life-saving medicines for its patients? Allan Urry reveals serious concern over the availability of some drugs used in the treatment of cancer and for pain control. Pharmacists and doctors say they face a daily battle to get access to a range of medicines and either end up buying alternatives at a greater cost to the health service or using less effective alternatives which can compromise patient care. So is the Government doing enough to ensure

37:17

Working in the Shadows

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/09/22

With the Government cracking down on migrants working illegally, Simon Cox investigates Britain's shadow economy. He meets illegal workers to ask whether the get-tough message is putting them off. And he reveals the ways in which both employers and workers are getting round the law. So can the UK Border Force deliver on ministers' promises to make the UK an "unattractive" place for those who want to work illegally?Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: David Lewis.

37:18

CPS: Prosecutors on Trial

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/09/15

Controversial charging decisions in the cases of Lord Janner, Operation Elveden and a doctor accused of female genital mutilation have brought a hostile reaction in the media to the Director of Public Prosecutions and increasing concern about the health of her organisation - the Crown Prosecution Service. Over the past five years the CPS has seen budget cuts of over 25% resulting in job losses and internal reforms. Despite this, the organisation maintains that it continues to improve performance -

36:57

The Cost of a Cuppa

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/09/09

Tea is still the UK's favourite drink - but what's the human cost of a cuppa?In the first of a new series of File on 4, Jane Deith reports from Assam on the plight of workers on tea plantations which help supply some of Britain's best known brands.India is one of the largest tea producers in the world with an industry worth billions of pounds - but critics say pickers often have to endure long working hours and insanitary conditions, leading to poor health and high levels of maternal and infant

36:56

Police Complaints: A Fair Cop?

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/07/14

Complaints against the police are running at a record high. The vast majority, nine out of ten, are rejected from the start. But when complainants appeal to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, one in 2 cases is overturned. Others - disgruntled with the way they've been treated by the police - sue the force. File on 4 hears from people who've been battling for years to pursue a complaint and who claim the process is unfairly weighted in favour of the police. In the Queen's Speech the

36:51

Off Track: Network Rail

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/07/08

Works behind schedule; costs going up; an inquiry into poor performance announced by the industry regulator. It's a depressingly familiar story on our railways. From brand new station escalators at a standstill in Birmingham, to only 10 per cent of trains on time at one of London's busiest stations, even the Chancellor's planned Northern Powerhouse is threatened as line upgrades between Manchester and York are delayed. Allan Urry investigates Network Rail's woes as pressure mounts to deliver £24

37:27

The Aid Business

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/06/30

The UK's £12 billion pound foreign aid budget is one of the few areas of Government spending protected from cuts. The commitment to spend 0.7% of Britain's gross national income on aid means at least 60 billion pounds will be spent on overseas development in the next five years. Many of these projects are delivered by large companies that receive tens of millions of pounds from DFID (the Department for International Development). They can charge over a thousand pounds a day for a consultant and

37:16

Ticket to Hide

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/06/23

Sixty thousand people have crossed the Mediterranean and made it to Europe so far this year.Frontex, the EU border agency, warns that between 500,000 and 1 million people - Eritreans, Syrians, Afghans, Somalis - could be waiting to leave the shores of Libya for Italy.Its latest report says resources are being devoted to migrants' care but not towards screening and collecting basic information such as their nationality - which means many are quickly moving on to countries like the UK. According to

37:18

Treating Stroke: The Doctors' Dilemma

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/06/16

Later this month the medicines regulator, the MHRA, is due to complete its review into the clot-busting drug Alteplase, the frontline treatment used in many cases of stroke. A number of experts in the UK, US and Canada have raised serious doubts about the drug's safety and effectiveness. They are concerned about potentially fatal harm to patients through an increased risk of bleeding in the brain and they question the credibility of scientific research on which Alteplase was licensed. Supporters and

37:26

Housing Blight?

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/06/09

With the urgent need for more housing, Britain's planning laws are under pressure like never before. Greenbelt land and even sites designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, are being earmarked for development. So how far can we protect the countryside when the need for houses is so acute? Allan Urry reveals new figures on scale of the problem and investigates claims that the planning system is being stretched to breaking point.Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Emma Forde.

37:19

Abandoned to their Fate

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/06/02

Next month the National Audit Office is due to report on the outcomes for young people leaving care. There are claims that, under financial pressure, local authorities are pushing too many teenagers into independent living before they're ready. File on 4 investigates new figures that suggest many young care leavers are failing to cope - with large numbers ending up in custody, homeless, sexually exploited or pregnant. Social services chiefs say the welfare of care-leavers must be a key priority for

37:10

Minding the Gap: Mental Healthcare

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/05/19

Mental health services are facing a period of unprecedented change. The Department of Health has committed itself to reducing the disparity between spending on physical and mental illness, and a new payment system means services will be funded differently in the future. In the meantime there are concerns that vulnerable patients are dying because of pressures to release them from hospital too quickly, and a failure to provide adequate support in the community.Can a new focus on what has

37:41

Who Killed Emma?

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/05/12

Emma Caldwell was a young woman from a good home who developed an addiction to heroin after the death of her sister and then descended into street prostitution. When her body was found dumped in a ditch in Lanarkshire in May 2005, the police launched an unprecedented murder hunt. But ten years on, after an investigation costing millions of pounds, no one has ever been convicted of her killing. Eamon O Connor investigates what went wrong. Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

37:25

Targeting the Vulnerable

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/05/05

It's taken a long time to break through the culture of denial, but child sexual exploitation cases from Rochdale to Oxford have shown that grooming of children can happen in any community.There seems to be a growing acceptance that what the Deputy Children's Commissioner says is true: 'there isn't a town, village of hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited'.Councils that thought they were immune from groomers and traffickers, are now training staff to spot child sexual exploitation

37:28

Gun Control: Europe's Flooded Market

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/03/24

With Britain on heightened alert following Islamist shootings in Paris and Copenhagen, how well prepared are we to deal with a similar attack?Allan Urry discovers how extremists in neighbouring European countries were able to get access to guns and hears concerns about the ready availability of illegal weapons from Eastern Europe and North Africa.So what risk does that pose for the UK? Britain prides itself on tough gun control, but is that enough to prevent determined would-be terrorists getting

37:23

Sick of School

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/03/17

Is the pressure on teachers reaching crisis point? Record numbers are leaving the classroom and thousands of teachers recently responded to the Government's workload survey to say they were struggling with their workload. They blamed the pressure of Ofsted inspections and pressure from school management. Official absence statistics are silent on the causes of sick leave - but now File on 4 reveals new figures on the number of teachers off long-term because of stress. Jane Deith hears from those who

36:57

A Pensions Patchwork

File on 4 Investigates ·

2015/03/10

In Canada, everything is big - including powerful pension funds such as the Ontario Teachers fund which owns half of Birmingham airport and other large projects around the world. It's all a far cry from the British pension scene, where a hundred local government pension funds each run their own affairs separately and pay costly fees to City firms for investment advice. Many of them still have financial deficits. Taxpayers have been forced to pick up bills to pay off those shortfalls and already

496 results

File on 4 Investigates

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Voices of Life

APG Mannheim

Promo Estereo Podcast

Promo Estereo

Talking Timelines Podcast

Talkingtimelines

גיקונומי

ראם שרמן ודורון ניר

Drømmefanger

Drømmefanger