As water companies submit their spending plans for the next five years, Lesley Curwen investigates what happens to the money once the household water bill has been paid.

Half of England's water companies are now in the ownership of global investment funds. In many cases these corporate bodies are run and financed from abroad behind closed doors. They use a web of companies some in off-shore tax havens to provide a steady flow of dividends to their shareholders.

But is their mechanism for generating shareholder income at the expense of the customers who are looking for lower bills and sustained investment in their water supply?

Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

As a complex operation continues to destroy the remainder of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, how much will we ever know about the supply routes through which the Assad regime acquired the basic ingredients for its arsenal? Vast quantities of chemicals are traded around the world every day, so what chance do we have of controlling their use by rogue states and terrorists? In the first of a new series, Allan Urry reports from the headquarters of the OPCW - the organisation set up to stop the spread of chemical warfare and which is overseeing the removal and destruction of the Syrian weapons. He also investigates the efforts of terrorist groups including Al Qaeda and al Shabab to develop nerve agents of their own; and examines the global attempts to limit the availability of "dual use" chemicals which are essential in the manufacture of every day products from fertilisers to toothpaste but which can also be turned into powerful explosives for use in IEDs and other bombs.

The biggest ever slice of the NHS is up for grabs in Cambridgeshire. Ten bidders, including NHS hospital trusts and private companies Serco, Virgin Care and Circle, are competing for a five year contract to run older peoples' services. It will be worth a minimum of £700,000. The successful bidder will provide everything from podiatry and occupational therapy to dementia treatment and end of life care. The stakes are high. But how much will patients be told about how the bid was won? With commissioners advertising dozens of other big money tenders, File on 4 looks at the secrecy surrounding NHS contracts when they're awarded and when they're challenged. Does commercial confidentiality make public accountability impossible? And how far does the competitive market improve healthcare for patients?

Reporter Jane Deith

The Work Programme is the Government's flagship scheme designed to help the long term unemployed off benefits and into lasting jobs. But how well is it working - both for those at whom it is aimed and for the private companies who are paid to deliver it?

What's behind the recent death of a clubgoer in Manchester who's believed to have taken a bad dose of the drug ecstasy? He's one of 12 in the area in the last year who've died after using illegal stimulants with toxic new additives, prompting the Government's Chief Medical Officer to issue a formal alert. Police are concerned organised crime is hiring backstreet chemists to cook up their own toxic amphetamines. Allan Urry investigates.

Producer: Carl Johnston.

Ministers have set a target of 170,000 new affordable homes in the next two years. But the Housing Associations which must take a major part in delivering them are under increasing financial strain.

Reporter: Fran Abrams

It is estimated more than 100 British people could be fighting with opposition forces in Syria. At least one is known to have been killed in action earlier this year. File on 4 investigates who these men are and why they have gone to fight.

While some are believed to have strong Syrian connections and are motivated by personal opposition to the government, there are concerns that others have travelled there to join hardline Islamist groups. Jenny Cuffe examines how fighters are recruited and the routes they use to join up with rebel forces. The programme hears from people who have travelled to Syria and asks what danger, if any, they may pose when they return to the UK.

Producer: Paul Grant.

The government is stepping up its support for HS2, the high-speed rail project due to link London and Birmingham by 2026 with extensions to Manchester and Leeds by 2032.

Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane

The Government wants more wind power and nuclear energy to supply our electricity, but how well is it delivering that plan? In Scotland where conditions for renewable sources are good, there's been a rush to cash in on generous subsidies for wind farms. But the infrastructure can't cope so companies are also being paid handsomely to dump the energy they produce. And, deals which include subsidies are being concluded behind closed doors between Government officials and the nuclear industry for a new generation of power stations. What's this going to add to our fuel bills? Allan Urry investigates.

Producer: Rob Cave.

Recent revelations about secret mass surveillance programmes have raised fears about potential abuses of individual privacy in favour of national security.

Producer: Gail Champion.