the profession thanjoining it. a court has heard claims that the former manager of the wales national football team, gary speed, was one of four men, who took their own lives, after working with the coach barry bennell. he denies 48 counts of child sexual abuse. mps have approved a bill to sever ties with the eu, paving the way for the house of lords to have its say on the brexit bill. and a charm offensive or a genuine push for peace? north and south korea pledge to compete under one flag at the winter olympics. good evening and welcome to bbc news. there's some relief tonight for thousands of people affected by the collapse of the construction and services giant carillion. the government's insolvency service says most private companies carrying out work for carillion — like catering and cleaning — will continue to pay their workers until new suppliers can be found. the company's collapse prompted angry exchanges in parliament. labour said it was unbelievable that ministers continued awarding contracts to the firm despite a series of profit warnings. the prime minister said it would have been wrong to use public money to bail out the business. our business editor simonjack reports. after shutting up shop yesterday, work at highfields park in nottingham resumed today. a government promise to keep paying for work on carillion‘s public sector contracts was good enough for one stonemasons company. we've held the project for a day, pulled off the project, but now we're actually back on the project. our main concern is making sure that those payments are made. we've held the project for a day, pulled off the project, but now we're actually back on the project. our main concern is making sure that those payments are made. because small contractors and other people's livelihoods are the biggest thing in all of this, they are going to suffer from the impact of this severe problem that has been caused by carillion. private sector customers like nationwide were given just 48 hours to decide if they wanted to keep paying for services carillion was providing. nationwide was among 90% of customers who said yes, for now. great news for thousands of workers. not according to union leaders. i'm encouraged that these clients want the work to continue, but i think it is just a stay of execution for the people that i represent. we are not looking for short—termism, we're not looking for protection today, we are looking for protection long—term. this is a stay of execution, that frankly is not good enough. the banking industry promised today that it would extend overdrafts, waive fees and give payment holidays to firms owed money by carillion to help limit the knock—on damage down the supply chain. tonight then, a reprieve for thousands of private sector service workers, and the banks are promising to help limit the fallout. but here at this carillion constructions site in kings cross, activity has come to a standstill. and i'm told workers are disgruntled because they cannot get on—site to get their tools so that they can get on with otherjobs. i'm also hearing tonight that talks are advanced on the creation of a task force across industry and government to help limit the damage done by this construction bust. the pressure on former transport secretary chris grayling did not let up today. why did carillion land big contracts after multiple profit warnings? when hs2 awarded the contract last summer, a lot of work was done to make sure that if carillion ran into problems, the contract was covered, and that is what's happened. over the years, many uk construction firms have had ups and downs and issued profit warnings, and they have come through those and continued to deliver excellent work. deep ideological differences on the role of private companies in the public sector frothed over at prime minister's questions. as the ruins of carillion lie around her, will the prime minister to act to end this costly racket of the relationship between government and some of these companies? theresa may reminded jeremy corbyn that one third of carillion‘s public contracts were awarded under labour, and that the model was still valid. we want to provide good quality public services and deliver the best value to the taxpayer. we are making sure in this case that public services continue to be provided, that the workers in these public services are supported, and taxpayers are protected. outrage was expressed that the owner of this chalet, the former carillion boss richard howson, was due to collect his £660,000 salary until october. all severance payments to former directors will now be stopped. that may not be enough to cool tempers back in the uk. simon jack, bbc news. a little earlier i spoke to brian berry, who's chief executive of the federation of master builders, about some of his members who've have been affected by the collapse of carillion. i know for example one of our companies who is owed £230,000 from carillion, and unfortunately their tools are locked on site they can't actually get the tools to do work on other sites. there is another company owed another £20,000. they area company owed another £20,000. they are a window fitting company. but i think the real tragedy apart from that if there are a number of apprentices who now find themselves not knowing what to do and there is a meeting tomorrow we're going to have across the construction industry to try and work out with the construction industry training board about placements, what we can do for those young people, because they are the innocent victims in this tragedy. some good news today. the banks have made it clear that they will try to continue to make sure funds are available so people can get paid for those sites that continue to work. on monday the industry met with the secretary of state, we were aware banks were taking a very hard line towards small building companies. today we got the announcement they would be much more lenient in terms of more relaxed on interest payments, overdraft facilities, and also good news from revenue and customs that they are adopting a more lenient approach in terms of tax bills. this is very good news, we want to see it rolled out because lots of companies are wanting to know what to do now, and it another day in. and extra costs. the government is moving quite swiftly, there are some positive announcements today, but still much to do with the construction industry and the government working together. did you see this coming? any of this coming? with those profit warnings particularly last year. yes, i suppose we're at the bottom of the surprise change. the profit warnings being issued by the end of last year... i being issued by the end of last year. .. i suspect being issued by the end of last year... i suspect the government was trying to keep william going, not understanding the full situation. there are other factors as i understand with carillion that they are owed money as well. there also seems to be an issue about poor governance within correlli on. it's been the perfect storm. that was brian berry, chief executive of the federation of master builders speaking to me a little earlier. and just after 8.30, i'll be speaking to chris nott, a lawyer, who specialises in commercial disputes on the fallout caused by the collapse of carillion. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers — our guestsjoining me tonight are jessica elgot, political reporter at the guardian and henry zeffman, political reporter at the times. motorists in central and southern scotland are being advised to stay off the roads tonight as heavy snow and ice make driving conditions treacherous. more than 200 motorists were left stranded last night on the m71; — the motorway linking scotland to england. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon is there. from the air, it is stunning. a white band of snow covering much of scotland. gritters cutting a path through the drifts. but for those travelling last night, it was a different story. traffic on the m71; grinding to a halt in the treacherous conditions, stranded drivers stuck for hours. terrible! just cars, lorries everywhere, five hours i've been stuck on the m74, then i eventually got here. a lot of idiots on the third lane, going too fast. steady, but it was getting worse, so i chose to stop here, now i'm going up to glasgow. these pictures show just how dangerous driving in the snow and ice can be — a runaway lorry smashing into a car and then a van, after the driver got out to help clear the road. no—one was injured. mountain—rescue teams turned from the hills to the roads, checking that those trapped in their vehicles were warm and had supplies. a lot of vehicles were basically struggling to get grip on the snow etc, so the issue was there was a lot of lorries jackknifing, which was obviously blocking the motorway behind, so we were called in by police scotland to basically go and check the welfare for the people that were in their vehicles. the difficult weather reached into parts of england too — in halifax in yorkshire, the public helping out after an ambulance responding to a 999 call got stuck. in northern ireland, some of those missing classes took to their sledges instead. nearly 300 schools there were shut. a similar number in scotland were also closed for the day. scotland's gritters, with affectionate nicknames such as sir andy flurry and sir salter scott, have been working round the clock, but with warnings of much more snow to come, drivers tonight are being urged to stay off the roads. lorna gordon, bbc news, abington. nick millerfrom bbc nick miller from bbc weather centre is here with me. sir double scot working hard overnight. assist in driving snow, how unusual is that for a place like scotland in the middle of winter? funny you should say that, not that unusual. clearly there are impacts from them. still 36 centimetres of white stuff on the ground. it is a persistence of the snow showers that have come in and just how much snow each one of these have dumped in some of the same areas, which is why there has been such a rough 2a hours. great extent through scotland, northern ireland and northern england and we're still not really out of it. tonight is going to be pretty bad by all accounts. this isn't snow showers, this is an organised by the system coming in from the atlantic, a proper band of wet weather coming in. what can we expect into tomorrow morning. a lot of this is across other parts of the uk, going to fall as rain. rain, sleetand other parts of the uk, going to fall as rain. rain, sleet and snow in northern ireland. look how it lingers through parts of southern scotla nd lingers through parts of southern scotland and northern england through the night, that is where the met office has brought a triangle. up met office has brought a triangle. up to 20 centimetres in the southern uplands, northern pennines. 3—8 centimetres at lower levels. it lingers on. it'll clear later in the night. to the south there is another hazard, you can see the big wind arrows. gales or severe gales. we could be getting gusts of 50, 60 miles an hour, maybe 70, big waves coming to the coast of north wales, north—west england, maybe into the morning tomorrow. lincolnshire, east anglia need to be watched. potentially damaging gust of wind with this weather system. a spell offering to the south, strong winds, but yes, more snow. the bulk of the system clears away by the time most of us are up about tomorrow. it will have less and problems overnight so it's worth checking before you head out in the morning the travel situation near you. motorists have been warned not to take to the roads if they don't have too tomorrow. what about any suggestion that all this will come to an end at some point and people can get on with their lives? we've got a cold air mass across the uk for the rest of this week. though a system like that is going to clear away, we're left with further snow showers peppering the same sort of areas, western scotland, northern ireland, northern england for thursday into friday. into next week after a system that may produce no one sunday, next week looks like it might become a little less cold and most of us will see rain rather than us know. nick miller. one in ten nurses is leaving the nhs in england every year — according to the latest figures. and the gap between the number leaving and those joining has widened to 3000 — the highest for at least 5 years. the royal college of nursing says the nhs is haemorrhaging staff but the government says it has plans to boost recruitment. our health editor hugh pym reports. voices from the front line. nurses on the challenges of their jobs in the 70th year of the nhs. they do it because it's in their bones, they have this desire to care for the most vulnerable people. just having a lot of patience to look after... per one member of staff. patient—to—staff ratio, it's quite high. much of the work that nurses carry out today is the type of work doctors were carrying out when i initially trained. but for some, like mary, the pressures are so great they feel they have to quit. she qualified two years ago, but found the strain was affecting her health, so decided to leave. i was so excited at my graduation to finally become a nurse and really make a difference. there's just so much pressure, so much paperwork, so much bureaucracy. so many little things that all add up to take up so much time in our days. even those with decades of experience say the stress is almost too much. sally joined the nhs in the late i970s. she has enjoyed her career, although says the demands are much greater because the role has expanded. never when i started nursing did i imagine i would be doing anything like the role i'm doing. i don't think it was even heard of. the government says the number of nurses on the wards in england has gone up by nearly 12,000 since 2010. but when you look at all nurses, including community and mental health, the figure has barely increased over that time. last year, wales, like england, saw more nurses leaving than joining. in scotland and northern ireland, there were morejoining. filling vacancies is certainly a challenge, but for the nhs, what is just as important is retaining existing staff. at a time of concern about pressure on the service and what future pay deals might be, it's important for employers to do everything they can to persuade people to stick with their careers. anything i can help you with today? i'm ok at the moment... there is a mentoring scheme at this hospital in romford. megan was encouraged to stay thanks to support from bev. in my other trust that i work in, you didn't have somebody like bev to turn to to make sure that you were in the right environment for you. she's been amazing. nhs england wants to see that approach adopted more widely. we want to work with front line staff to understand what matters to them and to listen and try and do something about that. clearly it's difficult at the moment. the government says there are more new nurse training places in the pipeline. but in the short term, the pressure is on. hugh pym, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: work has been paused on construction sites run by the failed company carillion, but most of the firm's private sector service contracts such as catering and cleaning are continuing. you warnings of heavy snow for many northern parts of the uk after hundreds of drivers spent last night stranded in their cars. more than one in ten nurses is leaving the nhs in england every year according to new figures. and more people are now leaving the profession thanjoining more people are now leaving the profession than joining it. olly foster has the sports news from bbc sport centre. the last of the fa cup third—round replay is taking place tonight. there are three of them, all scheduled for 7:45pm at chelsea's match with norwich was delayed 15 minutes due to problems with the tube. around a quarter of an hour into this match at stamford bridge, no goals yet. chelsea have drawn their last four games including the goalless draw against the canaries at carrow road. they've made nine changes to the team. danny drinkwater had an effort flash wide. the winners will face newcastle at home in the fourth round. on the other replays swansea lead wolves 1-0. we other replays swansea lead wolves 1—0. we can up against bournemouth. phil neville appears to be moving closer to coaching the england women. the former manchester united and everton and england defender emerged as a surprise candidate to replace sacked mark sampson over the weekend. he's been speaking to radio five live this evening. i've got the opportunity if the talks come off that i can go to a world cup and be successful and have a chance of winning a world cup with a set of girls who are extremely driven, extremely professional. and i think in terms of my development as a coach, i think this is the bestjob that i could wish to ask for. what international football will allow me in between get—togethers and games, it will allow me to absolutely get my teeth stuck into learning the culture of the women's game. something i'm really excited about and looking forward to. theo walcott has completed his move to everton from arsenal 13 and half year deal. forward has had 12 years at the gunners. hejoined forward has had 12 years at the gunners. he joined when forward has had 12 years at the gunners. hejoined when he was 16. scored over 100 goals in almost 400 appearances. he's sam allardyce's second signing of the january tra nsfer second signing of the january transfer window after the turkish striker. he is believed to have cost £20 million. ben stokes can resume his england career next month. the ecb say he's available for selection for the tour of new zealand. the decision comesjust two for the tour of new zealand. the decision comes just two days after he was charged with affray following a nightclub brawl last september. he was left out of the ashes tour because of the ongoing police investigation. michael atherton the former england captain says the ecb decision to recall their star all—rounder is illogical. the england rugby union head coach eddie jones has signed a two—year contract extension. it's sees him through until 2021. is overseen 22 wins from 23 tests since he took charge two yea rs 23 tests since he took charge two years ago. they will look for a hat—trick of six nations titles when the tournament starts next month. he's going to leave midway through a world cup cycle but says he is also going to help choose his successor. everyone has a shelf life. in each job, a coach has a certain amount of time. somebody might be one year, some two years. some jobs it might be five and a half. clearly you feel four you have a bit more to give. or you wouldn't have signed the deal. 100%. also, for me, i can do is in quite selfless here for english by, quite selfless here for english rugby, and i have had the opportunity to coach the national team, it's a way of me giving something back. james haskell is going to miss england's first 26 nations games, he's been banned for four weeks after he was sent off for a dangerous tackle on harlequins jamie roberts while playing for wasps over the weekend. shaun murphy had a scare but finally saw off ali carter to reach the masters snooker quarterfinals at alexandra palace. he was 4—0 up. carter fought back to 5-4 but he was 4—0 up. carter fought back to 5—4 but the former world champion recovered to seal a 6—4 win. he will playjudd trump next but has been singing the praises of ronnie o'sullivan. we've run out of superlatives for money. it's what sets him apart at the moment, he gets to the line and runs over it. everyone else struggles with that to a degree. i mean i didn't feel like i was battling him, but i had my chance to win. i didn't take them. if i'd lost i would only have myself to blame. an update on the fa cup. swa nsea lea d to blame. an update on the fa cup. swansea lead world, wigan leading bournemouth, still goalless between chelsea and norwich at stamford bridge. we'll be back with sportsday and show you all of those goals if there are any. mps have approved a key piece of brexit legislation paving the way forward the final hours of debate in the commons on key brexit legislation have begun. the ayes to the right, 324. the nos to the left, 295. the commons approving the eu withdrawal bill that transfers all european union laws into uk legislation with a majority of 29 votes. it will now face scrutiny from peers at the end of the month. anthony scaramucci lasted six days as donald trump's white house communications director, but he's certainly remained loyal to the president, and insists he will secure a second term in office. ‘the mooch‘ , as he became known during his short tenure, has been speaking to stephen sackur for bbc hardtalk. let me give you a news flash and put your view at ease, perhaps the global community at ease. when he's doing that, ok, some did like don junior myself, we look at that, we laugh. ok. we get thejoke embedded inside of that. we get the sarcasm laced inside of it. we don't micro—analyse it like liberal journalists do and then strike a match to it, we look at it for exactly what it is. when he says he bigger than the other guy's, it's a joke. it's part of his wit, part of his personality. you may not like it but he's 71 years old and he believes, and i also believe, he used twitter to jump over the mainstream media to direct message, to people that voted for him. former white has gamine additions direct anthony scaramucci. to see more of the interview you can watch hardtalk on the bbc news channel at half—past midnight tonight. then it will be on the bbc iplayer. a man who was abused by the former football coach barry bennell has told a court that the former wales manager — gary speed — was one of four men who took their own lives. they'd all been coached by 64 —year—old barry bennell who is on trial at liverpool crown court. he denies 48 counts of sexual abuse against 11 boys between 1979 and 1990. our sports editor dan roan reports. we're now into the second week of this trial and today the jury heard from a victim that barry bennell had admitted abusing in 1998 when he was handed a nine—year jail sentence. this man told the jury that the former wales manager gary speed, who hung himself in 2011 aged 42, was one of fourformer hung himself in 2011 aged 42, was one of four former youth team players of barry bennell‘s who had gone on to commit suicide. the man told the court whether they've taken their own lives due to barry solely i don't know, but all i know is how it has has an impact on me and how it has has an impact on me and how it could impact on other people. the man went on to say he knew other former youth team players who had become destitute, or who suffered alcohol problems. he told the court he tried to get in touch with the family of gary speed when he read in the newspapers they had been unable to get closure because they couldn't understand the reasons for his death. earlier today a complainant in this case told the jury when he played for one of manchester city's junior teams he had been abused by barry bennell more than 100 times. he went on to say that two officials at the club including a former player and chief scout, ken barnes, who died in 2010, had known about the abuse but done nothing. he said he wanted an apology from the club. barry bennell denies 48 counts of child sex abuse against 11 complainants. the trial continues. dan roan reporting. a man who strangled a teenager in a violent sexual attack , before hiding her body in a wardrobe for almost three weeks , has been sentenced to life in prison. wolverhampton crown court heard that ashley foster, who's 24, had been released from prison only three days before he killed 17 year—old megan bills at a hostel in brierley hill. he will serve a minimum of 26 years in prison. a court at the old bailey has heard that a man kidnapped two women and cut their throats, before leaving one of them dead in a freezer in a disused house. muj—ahid arsh—id, from kingston in south london, is facing multiple charges, including the rape and murder of 20 —year—old celine dookh—ran. mujahid arshid denies the charges. another sign of rapprochement between north and south korea. they have agreed to watch together under a pro—unification flag at the winter olympics taxman. it's the result of the first between the neighbours for more than two years. north and south have also agreed to form a unified women's ice hockey team for the games which will be held in south korea. our correspondent laura bicker has been speaking to the south korean foreign minister about signs of friendliness. she emphasised a need for humanitarian assistance for the northern neighbours. i'm very clear, my government is clear despite the situation, humanitarian assistance needs to ta ke humanitarian assistance needs to take place. north korea is a classic case of humanitarian need. un agencies do a very good job of making sure the assistance goes to those who needed. these are things, medication, nutritional supplements. and vaccines. un agencies are suffering because of lack of funds. because there is fatigue in the international community about the situation in north korea. my government is very clear that despite the situation with the nuclear missile programme, as a matter of principle, that is written in fact into the security council resolutions, yes, there are sanctions, but there is always an exemption for humanitarian work. the south korean foreign minister. thank you for being with us. i don't know whether you heard what the foreign minister was saying. whether you heard what the foreign minister was sayinglj whether you heard what the foreign minister was saying. i did. it seems clear she was making the point it's important to engage despite tensions. engage as a matter of principle. help the north get out of the crisis that is affecting the peninsula. how does that attitude square, do you believe, with the views of the white house? it's very difficult to know. you might have been quoting me over the last 15 yea rs or been quoting me over the last 15 years or so about the need for engagement. i'm a very strong believer in it. it was engagement that led us to establish an embassy in north korea. there are problems of course. the foreign minister mentioned donorfatigue. there is also now the increasing worry over north korea's nuclear programme. if a state can spend on the argument is, if the state can spend money on these sorts of things, on rockets and nuclear development, why shouldn't it spend money on people? that is fine except the people go suffering because the government doesn't regard this as a priority. i agree entirely that humanitarian aid is important and should be resumed as far as possible. it's never been com pletely as far as possible. it's never been completely broken off. as the foreign minister said, donor fatigue is setting in and that is a problem. it seems the white house attitude is very different from that of south korea, the immediate neighbour. donald trump has made it clear he wa nts donald trump has made it clear he wants more pressure, much more pressure, from the chinese to be applied to the north. he wants oil exports completely cut off, which would potentially leave the country destitute. there does seem to be a divergences attitude here between what many people in the west and donald trump see as the way forward and what the south koreans want. i think that's right. i think the government of mr moon that took over in may last year wants to go back... not entirely to the engagement policy, the so—called sunshine policy, the so—called sunshine policy of the early part of this century. but it does want to move away from the confrontational approach, from the hostility, and the refusal or the unwillingness of people to talk to north korea. there isa people to talk to north korea. there is a problem. there is much more than just is a problem. there is much more thanjust a is a problem. there is much more than just a nuclear problem. is a problem. there is much more thanjust a nuclear problem. the report indicates there is a humanitarian problem, a major humanitarian problem, a major humanitarian problem. and there has been a constant theme that we don't wa nt to been a constant theme that we don't want to hit the ordinary people of north korea because they have no say over what goes on. so it is very important that isn't forgotten. that the difficulty with sanctions is that they are very broad brush, they are very sweeping. evenif broad brush, they are very sweeping. even if they don't intend to hit ordinary people, they do hit ordinary people, they do hit ordinary people. they hit particularly the vulnerable, who are the people that international aid goes to, the sick, the old, the young, the and so on. at the same time, there is the potentialfor a huge humanitarian problem if you could off oil entirely. oil is not just a question of driving cars or lorries. that is important, also in the distribution of food in the country. but it is also a question of fertilisers. if you cut off fertiliser, you damage north korean agriculture tremendously. is there perhaps, perversely, a cause for a sense of optimism through all this? we are seeing the north and south potentially sending a united team to the olympics, the winter olympics, a little bit later on this year. north korea are little bit later on this year. north korea a re pretty little bit later on this year. north korea are pretty close in the estimation of many to having a kind of verifiable and workable missile that could cause damage to us territory in the pacific and possibly even the continental united states itself. as a result, north korea actually has the rest of the world where it wants it. worried that it has a viable weapon, and, as a result, the north koreans are now going to be much more willing to be less bellicose and be more willing to talk? i think there is something in that. having, as they see it, the means to develop the regime, provided with security so that nobody will easily undertake an attack on them, they now may well feel that they can relax a little this and reach out. the obvious one to reach out to is south korea. they are brothers, they all speak the same language, they have the same cultural background and so on. it is understandable that south korea is the target. the trouble is that many in the united states, notjust in the administration but more widely, don't trust north korea under any circumstances whatsoever. they say the only way you can deal with these people is either by force, isolation. both of which tend to have the opposite effect of what is intended. they make the north koreans more belligerent, more aggressive, certainly more rhetorically loud and offensive to many. but there is a cause and effect here. the olympics are a cautious moment of optimism, i think. at this point, we have been here a number of times in the past, when they seem to be operating. in march 2000, they marched into the summer olympics under the same client. they never fielded a joint team, this is the first time there would be a joint team, which is to do with logistics. north korea, it is not qualified for any of the olympic sports in its own right. if they combine with the south korean team, north korean athletes can take part. these things, we've got to remember, these things have got to that sort of stage before, and sometimes it has fallen apart. i hope it doesn't, because i think it is positive. but i think one should not build too much on it as a sign that everything is going to be all right from now on. it defuses tension a bit, but it does not solve the problems. indeed, lots of underlying problems of course. doctorjames hall, thank you very much indeed forjoining us. you are watching bbc news. time for the weather. more snow on the way for some tonight, particularly across parts of southern scotland and northern england, and where it hangs around the longest we are likely to see some disruption going into the morning with a met office amber warning in force. here is a mass of rain, sleet and snow sweeping east across the uk. it is into the southern uplands, northern pennines that we're going to see accumulations up to 20 centimetres, eight inches in the hills. lower levels, we will see several centimetres of snow, southern scotla nd centimetres of snow, southern scotland and northern england. the flank of the weather system, 50 or 60 mph. you will hear the wind overnight with rain moving through across the west of england and wales. there is ice to start the day, scotland and northern england in particular. many areas stayed fine with the wind easing in thursday. further wintry showers pushing into west of scotland, northern ireland, north—west england. a few showers for wales and the midlands as well. this is bbc news — our latest headlines... work has been paused on construction sites run by the failed company carillion. but most of the firm's private sector service contracts, such as catering and cleaning, have continued. more warnings of heavy snow for many northern part of the uk, after hundreds of drivers spent last night stranded in cars. people are being urged to stay off major roads unless absolutely necessary as the met office issues an amber "be prepared" alert for tonight. more than one in ten nurses is leaving the nhs in england every year, and more people are now leaving the profession thanjoining it. high court has heard claims that the former manager of wales gary speed was one of four men who took their own life after working with the coach barry bennell. he denies 48 cou nts coach barry bennell. he denies 48 counts of child sexual abuse. and mps have approved a bill to sever ties with the eu, paving the way for the house of lords to have its say on the brexit bill. well let's get more now on the collapse of carillion. it has caused many projects across the country to be halted. but some had already run into trouble like one of its biggest projects, the £335 million contract to build the new royal liverpool hospital, as our correspondent judith moritz reports. brick by brick, floor by floor, the new £335 million royal liverpool hospital has been taking shape, building work ongoing. until this week. since carillion's collapse, subcontractors here have stopped work. some are owed money and have downed tools for now. meanwhile, next door at the hospital it's due to replace, there is frustration for staff, who are waiting for the new building to be ready. but until things are clearer, hospital bosses know it will be difficult to get the builders back to work. i would say the contractors, please come on site, you will get paid for the work you are doing now. we recognise there is an issue with the money you are owed by carillion, but there are guarantees about future payments. we will work with the hospital company and the receivers to try and ensure that there is some compensation for the work that you've done up to now. is there anger about this? i wouldn't say it's anger. because obviously we feel sorry for the staff and the subcontractors of carillion. so it's not anger. it's empathy with the situation they're in, really. the old hospital was built in the 1970s, and is showing its age. crumbling concrete and rusting pipework. the new building was privately financed, but its progress was slow for various structural reasons, and it was sited at the time of carillion's first profits warning. the new hospital should have been completed last march, but carillion missed that deadline. and for every month it was delayed, the company faced a bill of £1.5 million. despite the carillion chaos, the trust says it's confident that work will restart soon. although it can't say exactly when the city will get its new hospital. judith moritz, bbc news, liverpool. as we know an official investigation has been ordered into the collapse of carillion, as questions are asked about whether warning signs were ignored. alastair fee has been to meet one hampshire company who decided they didn't want to continue working with them. with jobs worth up to half a million a year, carillion was this company's biggest customer, but when it came to paying up they became the biggest headache. massively frustrating. it was the last thing we were talking about at night and the first thing in the morning, and that went on for weeks and months because you're waiting on such large amounts. sometimes up to £200,000. for 10 years they were doing as many as 200 jobs a year at the 0a hospital in portsmouth. in hindsight, carillion's reluctance to pay up finally makes sense. it was purely and simply to protect their own cash flow. they were obviously overstretching themselves in so many different areas and one way to deal with that was manipulating the smaller contractors. the work in offices and hospital wards was a sizeable part of their regular business but if you wanted the money within100 days, carillion insisted that they were paid a percentage of that invoice. eventually, amanda decided enough was enough and walked away. i think it's fair to say that everyone in the business thought i was little bit crazy when i made that decision, but for me they made it easy with the rudeness that came from the management i spoke to. the complete and utter disregard when they spoke with you, and that, for me, made it quite easy. while others have been counting the cost of their continued dealings with carillion, last night amanda's foresight was rewarded by a meal out with her husband and business partner. as much as i am glad we got out, there have been smaller contractors who have been caught out with carillion, so was pleased as i am for us it is dreadful to think they took so many people down. well we can speak now chris nott, who's a senior partner at capital law. he's a specialist in commercial disputes at the law firm and joins us live now from our cardiff studio. thanks for being with us. i don't know if you heard some of alistair‘s report. that company in hampshire talking about not being paid by carillion, more than quarter of £1 million. this blanket rule, it seems to be, that they would get a percentage of the invoice if the invoice was paid within100 days. have you heard that before? invoice was paid within100 days. have you heard that before ?|j invoice was paid within100 days. have you heard that before? i have heard that before, yes. i won't say that it heard that before, yes. i won't say thatitis heard that before, yes. i won't say that it is common, but it is not uncommon that large companies with very substantial buying power look to squeeze the margins in that particular way. i think it was quite well known that some of the larger retailers adopted that practice sometimes. some of the banks have made it clear that they are going to goa made it clear that they are going to go a bit easy and saw the firms that might be in trouble, some of the contractors that may have been suffering as a result of the colla pse suffering as a result of the collapse of carillion, extending ove rd rafts, collapse of carillion, extending overdrafts, waiving fees and so on. if that doesn't happen, what legal recourse do some of these companies have? they have very legal recourse. while i hear that the kind words are coming out of the banks, my expectation is, on a case—by—case basis, they will treat them in a dry as dust fashion and look at the viability of the businesses that are left and the extent to which the carillion debt has heard them. to the extent that the debt is pre—january the 15th, the company is almost certainly not going to get that money and they have that cash flow hole. a bleak future for some of the subcontractors. i suppose they are hoping that the official receiver at the high court will step in and help? it works in three ways, really. i think there are three types of subcontractors. i think there are those that will be on projects that will submit close down, and nobody will replace carillion. the construct will crumble. they will have neither past income of future income. i think there will be those that survived there will be those that survived the cash flow hole, and where somebody steps into carillion hood shoes, whether it is the nhs or another main contractor, they will be able to survive their business because they will continue, effectively, as if there had been no disruption. they had the cash flow hole for the whole debt. there will bea hole for the whole debt. there will be a third category, subcontractors that have some leverage. the project they might be involved in is dependent on them, they have some particular unique skill. they may be able to negotiate seven enhanced terms, may be taking carillion's margin or getting a backdated payment in consideration of them agreed to carry on with the project. there is a real contractual mess here. if we say there are 500 or so separate carillion project, there will be thousands of separate contractors. the thing that people have to remember is that they are all different. some of them may have been based on the same standard carillion president, in the construction or outsourcing field. but they will all have been individually negotiated. how people handle that depends. the starting point is what are the terms of the contract? that is what people have to look at now. a little bit more on the challenges facing nursing in the nhs. figures obtained by the bbc show a net reduction in the number of nurses in england's health service. nearly a quarter of those leaving the profession were under 30. our health correspondent catherine burns has been hearing from nurses at birmingham children's hospital. this is the paediatric intensive care unit. it is the largest of its kind in europe. there are 31 beds here and 30 are taken right now and this is with the most dreadfully sick children this hospital. some would stay here for maybe two hours, others the average is six days, but some are here more about a year. i'm joined by the lead nurse, jill campbell. jill, nursing is a toughjob at the best of times, but this must be an emotionally tough job to do? it is a very difficult job because we have the sickest children in the country that are in our intensive care unit and the difficult journey for our families and parents, but it is an amazing job as well. the job satisfaction one gets from being able to make a difference to our families and parents is second to none. it is so great to hear you talk about job satisfaction, but you told me there are two to three deaths on this unit every week. how do you cope with that? we have a fantastic team approach here and it is multidisciplinary approach and it is about working together, we have team briefs and we have a fantastic staff nurse who works with us and she is accessible to all our staff and we have a multidisciplinary team where we can have a debrief and an opportunity to have a chat, have a conversation and just share one another's emotional journey, how we are all feeling. most of the children have at least one nurse looking after them at any time and it is striking how young a lot of your nurses are. one of the things that came out in the figures is more than half the nurses leaving the nhs are under40. why do you think that is and have you experienced that kind of thing here? like all of the nhs, we are, there is obviously, an ongoing shortage of nurses. we have nurses that are leaving, they are not leaving the profession though, they are going out to work in the community. they will be continuing to work in health care. what we have noticed over the last few months is we have lost nurses to the middle east, and that's, you know, there is a big new hospital out there. people want to go and have another opportunity to be able to learn different cultures and things like that, so that's something we have noticed in the last few months. the other reason people are leaving or moving out of the acute settings and working in the community is theyjust want a better work—life balance and although, you know, you get the most amazing job satisfaction in acute medicine and working in intensive care, unfortunately with the job comes nights and weekends and for some of the nursing staff, they want to be able to have their work—life balance and that's what is more important for them. thank you very much, jill. to give you a bit more context of the figures, 33,000 nurses leaving the nhs in england every year, birmingham children's hospital employs over 1300 nurses. so that means that those 33,000 leavers could staff this hospital 25 times over. catherine burns there in birmingham. it's almost a thousand years old and one of the great historical records of the middle ages — depicting the norman conquest of england. but now the bayeux tapestry could be about to leave france for the first time. the french president, emmanuel macron, is expected to announce tomorrow that the ancient tapestry is being loaned to britain — as long as experts agree that it is safe to move. here's our paris correspondent lucy williamson. if anything puts current anglo—french relations in context, this is it — a tapestry from almost a thousand years ago describing a very different kind of summit meeting. now the french president has given approval for the 50 metre bayeux tapestry to leave french territory for the first time. but moving something this big and old is no simple matter. it's difficult to imagine all the practical things to put it in a case and to put it in a train. no, we don't know. president macron's gesture highlights france's deep ties and long history with britain, though cynics might say it also highlights a crucial french victory over its anglo—saxon neighbour. art experts say it is a benign telling of the tale, with moments of comedy and artistic influences from both sides of the channel. there's a lot of excitement from british museums. obviously, the opportunity to get really close to the bayeux tapestry and explore it and look at it is what's fascinating to all of us who have studied the bayeux tapestry. the exact location of the tapestry‘s famous battle has long been in dispute, but in hastings today locals said the artwork should be displayed there. a lot of people in hastings are proud of hastings and if it's returning to hastings, all the better. the battle of hastings, good tourist attraction. the battle happened here and there's not enough displays of what happened in hastings so it should come here. britain has twice requested the tapestry on loan, the first time for the queen's coronation, but has always been refused. this initiative has the backing of president macron, part of the cultural exchanges he promised in his election campaign. but the deep ties with britain have often been tinged with rivalry, and one french official wasjoking today about whether britain would find anything of similar merit to send them in return. lucy williamson, bbc news, bayeux. with me now is pauline bock from the new statesman. good to see you. we will get on to what we could send them a little bit later. we have asked for this thing twice, it has been refused, how come it is coming over now? well, it is highly symbolic, for macron to choose the bayeux tapestry. it is something he has been doing quite regularly with his diplomacy stance. when he visits a country, he was in china last week, he brought this very beautiful horse from france's national guard over to resident xi jinping, asa national guard over to resident xi jinping, as a symbol of the french and chinese relationship and french. he has done before, in his election during bastille day, when trump visited, he had an extravagant military parade. he always has this almost tailor—made present for world leaders. it works every time. it worked for trump. macron is one of the only world leaders that is respected by trump and can also disagree with him and voice these disagreements. he has worked every time. obviously the bayeux tapestry would be historic. it would be a really big gift. it is not happening yet, but it will. they still have to work it out. this thing is more than 1000 years old, it is fragile. has it been moved before? it has, within france, two times. it was displayed in paris under napoleon bonaparte and then again during world war ii. but it is displayed in normandy and it is 70 metres long, so it is willie difficult to move and obviously really old. it has not been really out of france since it was created. apparently it was created in england. in kent, yes, by all accounts. depending on your point of view, it either represents britain's move, closer move towards europe, with the norman conquest, or you could see it as the beginning of... well, you could just see it as a british defeat, a british failure, depending on your point of view? yes, you could. i think it is a bit ironic that it does symbolise the invasion from the normans. but it would still be great to have it displayed in the uk. would still be great to have it displayed in the uki would still be great to have it displayed in the uk. i would love to see that as well. briefly, what could we give you all the french? on the today programme, it was suggested we could give the trafalgar square lions, which were forged from the bronze of french cannons, taken from the battle of trafalgar fustian mark weinberger i am sure serious thought is being. —— the battle of trafalgar. i am sure serious thought is being given to it. russia has been accused of an orchestrated disinformation campaign in western democracies, in a european parliament report. the report says the meddling was extremely successful with russia reported to have sent out thousands of piece of fake news. they included claims that france has banned christian symbols, and that denmark is feeding family pets to zoo animals. the eu's findings largely corroborate a report released in washington by democrats on the senate foreign relations committee, they found that the kremlin backed a coup in montenegro and supported right—wing groups in france and germany, as well as left wing ones in italy and greece. the senate report also concluded there'd been meddling in the brexit referendum and catalonian independence referendum and that putin had ordered the killing of a number of russian opposition figures across europe, not to mention the invasion of crimea and ukraine. senator ben cardin, who commissioned the report, said president putin's tactics had worked. we know that he has caused a slowing down of serbia's integration into europe because troops, russian troops, are in georgia, in ukraine. it's much more difficult to see that those countries are fashioned into nato. we know that russia was active in the brexit referendum. we know that they have seen some success from their operations, and european countries have recognised that and taken precautions. so, we saw in the german election, we saw in the french election, that the impact of russia was much more minimised because they took steps to prevent that type of influence. a piece of a flag believed to have flown from nelson's hms victory during the battle of trafalgar, has sold for almost £300,000 at auction. the hand—woven woollen fragment, made up of eight red, white and blue panels, fetched three times sotheby‘s estimate of between £80,000 to £100,000. lord nelson was killed when he led the british fleet against france and spain in the 1805 battle. sailors at his funeral reportedly tore scraps from the flag to keep as mementoes. time for a look at the weather... very important, particularly for northern part of the uk and scotland. when it comes to snow overnight, more incoming, but also very strong wind for some of us as the night goes on. clearly, some of us already have a fair goes on. clearly, some of us already haveafairamount goes on. clearly, some of us already have a fair amount of snow on the ground. some will be adding to that through the night, quite significantly in some places. here comes an area of low pressure. very strong wind on the southern flank through england and wales, where some here willjust get rain. but the met office warning for snow, southern scotland and parts of northern england, where we could see up northern england, where we could see up to 20 centimetres, the southern problems, northern pennines. this is where the wintry weather is going to hang around long overnight. rain, sleet and snow begins to pull away from northern ireland. wintry showers across northern scotland, otherwise it is dry. very strong wind with rain across the rest of england and wales, costing 50, 60 mph, maybe england and wales, costing 50, 60 be up england and wales, costing 50, 60 mph, maybe up to 70 in some spots. disruption overnight and into the morning, certainly possible to travel, whether it is from snow with a strong wind, or the icy conditions we started the day within scotland, northern ireland and northern england. i think you will be struck by this picture at 8am, which shows the bulk of the weather system overnight has cleared away at this stage. of course, it is the problem that has left behind, why you should be checking the travel situation near you before you head outjust about anywhere, whether you have had the snow or the very strong wind overnight. we still have further sleet and snow showers coming towards western scotland, northern ireland and north—west england. none of the snow initially on hills, it will be rain showers in south—west england. as we go through the day, some of the showers will turn to snow. many southern and eastern parts, bar the odd stray shower, will have a fine day. we start with very strong wind. last to see those moderating through western england. still be breezy, and a chilly wind, feeling at all below freezing. a frosty start to friday. more of the sleet and snow showers per print parts of scotland, northern ireland, north—west england. southern and eastern areas will avoid much of the showers and stay dry, still a chilly saturday. a lot of fine weather on saturday, before we see another atlantic system coming in on sunday, bringing higher temperatures for some and rain. still some sleet and snow on the system that feeds north and east across the uk, on its leading edge. another weather system to watch on sunday. there are, as i have mentioned, met office weather warnings in force. read all about them online. i'm ros atkins, welcome to outside source. after months of tension there appears to be a thaw in relations between the north and south of career. they have announced they will have a unified team at the winter olympics next month and march and april unification flag at the opening ceremony of the winter olympics. the ultra—‘s former chief strategist steve bannon will no longer be testifying in front of a grand jury. there are reports he has cut a deal with the mullet investigation into alleged collusion between the trump presidential campaign and russia. we'll talk about cape town. it has just over 90 days before it runs out of water. we'll talk through what the city is trying to do to avoid that happening.

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