File on 4 Investigates

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.

Will the Rana Plaza factory tragedy mean Bangladeshi garment workers no longer have to work in death traps? It's five months on from the collapse of the 8 storey building in Dhaka, in which more than a thousand workers died, and several thousand lost arms or legs or were paralysed. Jane Deith reports from Dhaka on what's happened since. Just how much medical and financial help have survivors and families of the dead received?

Campaigners said the disaster should be a "game changer" in forcing international brands who source cheap clothes in Bangladesh to take more responsibility for conditions within the factories they use. Safety inspections of hundreds of premises are due to begin in earnest. But the Western manufacturers are split on who should pay for expensive improvements - the clothing brands or the factory owners? It's estimated that it could cost $3bn to bring all the factories up to scratch.

But there are those who argue that Western shoppers who buy the cheap clothes, and the brands that sell them, don't deserve all the blame. The Bangladeshi government continues to limit the power of trade unions and is accused of failing to act against powerful manufacturing bosses when people die in their factories.

The safety campaigners agree that Western brands pulling out of Bangladesh would be the worst result for the country's four million garment workers and the families who rely on their earnings.

So is it possible to keep them in work and keep them safe?

Producer: Sally Chesworth.

Psychiatric hospitals have a duty to keep their patients safe, which means taking extra care with patients suffering acute depression who may be at risk of self-harm.

So campaigners argue that when a patient commits suicide, it is vital that a thorough investigation should discover any failings by doctors and nurses and any weaknesses in hospital systems of communication or levels of staffing.

But, unlike deaths in prison or police custody, fatalities in psychiatric units are not reviewed from the start by a fully independent investigator. Initial reports are usually prepared by staff of the NHS and kept confidential to the health officials and family concerned. Only at the subsequent inquest does an independent inquiry take over.

Critics call this 'a recipe for cover-up by the NHS'.

File on 4 reports on a series of suicides in one psychiatric unit which have led the local coroner to accuse the NHS of 'a catalogue of failures stemming from an institutional complacency'.

Reporter - Gerry Northam

The amount of coal burned in Britain's power stations rocketed in 2012 with ministers relying on the fuel to help keep the lights on in the next few years.

Last week, the Government dropped plans to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes in England. It said it wanted to wait and see what happens in Australia where the measure was introduced earlier this year.

While the G8 summit of world leaders has agreed a global deal to ensure big business pays its dues, concerns about tax avoidance go wider.

A group of MPs has just examined the case of the Cup Trust, a charity which tried to claim £46 million in tax relief but spent just £55,000 on good works. The Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge, concluded the Trust's purpose "was to avoid tax".

And she said this wasn't an isolated case. The Committee heard that HMRC investigates around 300 charities a year over concerns about tax fraud.

In this week's File on 4 Fran Abrams examines the blurred lines around charities and tax.

What happens when genuine charities find 'donations' are designed so the donors can claim Gift Aid payments from the tax man? And how easy is it to register a charity whose main aim is actually tax avoidance?

Is the 160 year-old Charity Commission up to the job of policing 21st Century charities?

Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

NHS hospitals in England are back in the spotlight with a crisis in A&E and a growing number of cancelled operations. But does the real problem lie in the way the Government is currently funding them?

PRODUCER: EMMA FORDE