File on 4 Investigates

With the Government's controversial reforms under fire from countryside campaigners, Allan Urry investigates radical changes to the planning system.

Ministers insist more housing is needed, fuelling fears of greenfield sites being bulldozed. But as they begin to slim down bureaucracy to speed up development, how many more homes are actually getting built?

Under the localism agenda, communities are being told they'll get much more say about who builds what in their neighbourhood. But what happens if it's a waste incinerator or a power station? The programme reveals how local objections are likely to been given much less consideration.

Household gas and electricity bills are set to soar, leaving millions at risk of 'fuel poverty' and vulnerable to cold as winter approaches.

The Department of Health wants to slash £1.2 billion off the bill for hospital supplies -- everything from bandages and rubber gloves to operating tables and medical equipment.

The planned savings form part of the £20 billion in NHS efficiency savings the Government has pledged to make by 2014.

There's plenty of scope for savings. A recent survey found one Hospital Trust bought 177 different types of surgical gloves. Across the NHS, hospitals buy more than 1,700 different kinds of canula. Rationalising this medical shopping list could free-up £500 million a year for investment in patient care, the National Audit Office estimates.

But can the increasingly complex NHS procurement system in England deliver the major savings the Government wants to see?

Critics say Foundation Hospital Trusts increasingly make their own buying decisions, with little or no national co-ordination. Inside hospitals, managers tasked with purchasing millions of pounds worth of equipment often lack the authority or the support of their superiors to drive through savings. Meanwhile new private sector companies are moving in to take over the purchase and supply of NHS equipment.

Will the Government's plans for a more devolved health service help or hinder the drive to save taxpayers' money. Jenny Cuffe investigates.

Producer: Andy Denwood.

The criminal exploitation of the internet poses one of the biggest threats to UK national security. As organised crime gangs and terrorists use it to communicate and plan their activities, the police and security agencies are turning to hacking to conduct surveillance and gather intelligence.

In the first of a new series, File on 4 looks at the covert techniques being used to get beyond the firewall of a suspect's PC. But are the tactics legal? One leading expert says the rules governing interception are inconsistent and on occasions, misinterpreted by the police.

Reporter Stephen Grey also examines the way British companies are helping to proliferate this hi-tech snooping to countries with questionable human rights and which use it to monitor political opponents and dissidents.

And, with the Ministry of Defence developing its defences against sophisticated international attacks how vulnerable is the UK to "cyber warfare". Why did a Chinese state telecommunications company briefly 'hijack' most of the world's internet traffic one day last year?

The Government's strategy to boost local enterprise in England began poorly. The Director of the CBI criticised it as 'a shambles' and Business Secretary Vince Cable admitted it was 'Maoist and chaotic'.

Now 36 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been established with the aim of supporting economic growth and innovation and encouraging a network of Enterprise Zones. But some experts remain sceptical. They claim that the policy has failed to put business interests first and that in some parts of the country it has been hijacked by local politicians. Others complain that areas of deprivation have been overlooked in favour of more affluent neighbours. There is also concern that the strategy is not implementing the government's policy of localism.

Can LEPs deliver the economic fruits they promise? Or will some just fizzle out, as one insider fears? Gerry Northam reports.

Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane

The UK is the largest bilateral donor to Rwanda, giving around £83m a year. President Paul Kagame is praised by the British government for bringing stability and economic growth to a country torn apart by the genocide in 1994. But recently it was revealed that two opponents of the Rwandan regime living in London had been warned by police they were in danger of being assassinated by their own government. Other Rwandans living in the UK have been threatened too. The Rwandan High Commission say the allegations are baseless.

Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe also receives substantial amounts of British aid but via charities and other non-governmental organisations. However, an exile who had attended opposition Movement for Democratic Change meetings in the UK has been revealed as a former torturer. Although he's rejected his past, its alleged the man was until recently on the pay-roll of Zimbabwe's notorious Central Intelligence Organisation - leaving the ex patriot Zimbabwean community scared and in disarray.

Jenny Cuffe asks whether in the light of such claims the British government should question its aid policy.

Each year scores of senior civil servants and ex-government ministers quit Whitehall for higher-paid posts in business. Companies in the fields of defence, health, energy and transport are particularly keen to recruit experienced politicians, policy makers and managers with close links to the wheels of power and procurement. This is the so-called "revolving door" between government and the world of commerce and industry. In recent years a free flow of talent both ways has been encouraged in the name of both efficiency and better communication between Whitehall and the wider world. But Government orders for goods and services are worth billions of £'s every year, and critics say the system is vulnerable to abuse and conflict of interest. For 'File on 4' Julian O'Halloran examines the effectiveness of the independent committee whose job it is to police the divide and protect the public interest.

Why are ambulances queuing up to unload patients needing treatment at hospital Accident and Emergency Departments? Some senior A and E medics say there are too few beds and not enough staff in a front line service struggling to cope. Cash strapped NHS Trusts are closing casualty units, or replacing them with lower grade Urgent Care Centres but what's been the impact on patients? Allan Urry asks whether A and E is on life support, at a time when the NHS is trying to make £20 billions savings without compromising patient care.

The Border Agency is charged with preventing drugs, weapons and would-be illegal immigrants from getting to the UK. But three years after being created, the Agency has been accused by MPs of failing to enforce immigration rules. Faced with cuts to its budget and the loss of around one-fifth of its staff over the next four years, the Agency is looking to new technology to improve its effectiveness. But with delays to the e-borders project and problems with existing computer systems, Morland Sanders investigates whether the strategy will work.

In the wake of the financial disaster, policy makers and regulators around the world pledged to make banking safer and more transparent. But the reality, many experts claim, is proving very different.