coming up: theiultuteéectetaty 21st century fox's sky bid to the media regulator — a move welcomed by mps. the concentration of ownership is the problem here. nicola sturgeon says a second independence referendum is all about letting people in scotland choose their future. and an mp thinks it's time british sign language was granted... legal status like other recognised languages. hear, hear! but first, the culture secretary has confirmed that the media watchdog ofcom and the competition and markets authority ofcom and the competition and markets authority are to examine 21st century fox's proposed takeover of sky. karen bradley told mps she was referring the £11] billion bid on the grounds of "media plurality and commitment to broadcasting standards". fox is part of rupert murdoch's media empire. i am of the view that it remains important, given the issues raised, and wholly appropriate, for me to seek comprehensive advice from ofcom on these public interest considerations, and from the cma on jurisdiction issues. ofcom and the cma have until may 17 to investigate, and she said that the regulator ofcom would also conduct a "fit and proper" test into corporate governance. qn mondaythis week. fifcom' finngu nced= assessment, and at the same time it would consider any public interest test in response to my decision to intervene in the merger. and within14 working days it has to report to me on the public interests i have specified in the intervention notice. i welcome ofcom's announcement, which will provide clarity for the parties, but also provide reassurance to those who have expressed their own concerns about this issue. we welcome the fact that the secretary of state is intervening. she will have noticed that 215t century fox is happy, too. in a letter to her last week, they said, and i quote, that we welcome a thorough and thoughtful review. i have no doubt that this welcome is sincere, and that 215t century fox are thrilled by her decision. but can she confirm that, in her view, the broadcasting standards ground of her referral gives ofcom the power to investigate any corporate government issues affecting 215t century fox, including around the phone hacking scandal, any cover—up of illegality at news international, the rehiring of people responsible for governance failures, and ongoing sexual harassment claims in the united states? he made the point about broadcasting, commitment to broadcasting standards and whether that could look at corporate governance. i was clear in my original letter, and the statement i made to the house on the 6th of march, that corporate governance was one of the issues on which i was referring the matter to ofcom, and therefore i would expect them to look at that. but, clearly, ofcom is an independent regulator. i have made the decision to refer to ofcom, but it is for ofcom to decide what evidence they want to look at, is appropriate to enable them to make their decision. it's not the first time that there's been an attempt to take over sky, and we should be mindful of why the previous bid courted such controversy and failed. television is adapting to changes in viewing habits and competition throughout the world, and some will argue that investment in sky might allow the uk to thrive in the international arena, and to continue to compete with competitors such as netflix and amazon prime. this transaction represents an £11.7 billion investment by an international company into a british broadcaster, and, as such, is a fantastic vote of confidence that the uk will remain at the international centre of broadcasting long after we leave the european union. the concentration of ownership is the problem here, and sky now have nearly four times as much money every yearzte spread! as the bbc, so i hope that we will end up with a position where we maintain that diversity in the british ecology — a strong bbc, not being bullied by murdoch and sky. chris bryant. nicola sturgeon caught westminster by surprise at the start of the week, announcing her intention to call a second independence referendum in scotland. ms sturgeon‘s request for an order from westminster, which would be needed for holyrood to hold a legally binding ballot. making her first appearance at fmqs since the announcement, nicola sturgeon said she wanted to give people in scotland a choice over their own future, but the conservative leader questioned ms sturgeon‘s priorities. the truth is, a referendum won't help pupils in scotland, and it won't help patients come up waiting lists, and it won't help solve the gp crisis, and it won't cut violent crime. which is supposed to be its focus. ruth davidson talks about "the day job". yesterday, we saw the biggest u—turn from the tories in decades, blowing a £2 billion hole in their budget, and, because of brexit, every household in this country so i think scotland deserves a choice, and that choice is this — take control of our own finances to build, grow and innovate our way to a better future, or allow the tories to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, and make the situation worse. the scottish conservatives reject the proposals set out a referendum cannot happen when the people of scotland have not been given the opportunity to see how our new relationship with the european union is working, and it should not take place when there is no clear political or public consent for it to happen. our country does not want to go back to the divisions and uncertainty of the last few years. another referendum campaign will not solve the challenges that this country will face. we don't want it, we don't need it — why won't she listen? so, ruth davidson says she wants to put this parliament first — well, let me issue this direct challenge to ruth davidson and to the conservative party. if on wednesday next week this pa rliarne ntvotes foraninde gendence referendum to give the people of scotland a choice over their own future, will the conservatives respect the will of this parliament, or are the conservatives running scared? well, ruth davidson had used up all her questions, so couldn't respond to that. the labour leader took up the subject. leaving the uk would be devastating for scotland's economy. it would mean even more cuts to the schools and hospitals, and cuts to those most in need. the first minister said this week she didn't want a fact—free debate, so let's start with one fact she can't deny — isn't it the case that, according to her own government statistics, leaving the uk would mean £15 billion worth of extra cuts? first minister. well, the band as well and truly back together, isn't it? tory and labour combining again to talk this country down. here's the reality — scotland has a deficit created on westminster‘s watch, and we have to deal with that deficit whether we are independent or not. isn't it much better to have the tools and the powers with our own values and not tory values? nicola sturgeon. meanwhile, back at westminster, theresa may said "now is not the time" for a second vote. the conservative party has been fined a record £70,000 for breaking the rules on election spending. it was found to have moved campaign teams from its national headquarters to help in three by—elections and key seats in the 2015 general election. the electoral commission said there was a "realistic prospect" that the money had given 55:7 ‘f' === w— _ the party insists its failure to report six—figure sums was an "administrative error". the snp‘s pete wishart called for a statement. we need to hear in that statement that this government are taking these allegations seriously, and not hitting out petulantly, like some members have this morning, at the electoral commission and treating them with contempt. 0ur electoral laws are critically important to protect our democracy, and the conservative party will now be investigated by the metropolitan police, just like i asked the police to do last year. £70,000 is absolute peanuts to the conservative party, so will the leader of the house now say today that they will fully comply and take part in every single one of these police investigations? this could well be the cash for honours of this parliament. the government will, of course, consider carefully recommendations from the electoral commission for a change in regulatory powers. we are already considering a number of possible changes to electoral arrangements, for example, following the report of my right brentwood on electoral corruption. though, i do have to say to the honourable gentleman, that complaints from his party, of all parties, about the use of battle buses, are more than a little odd. it is not exactly a secret that at the 2015 general election the scottish national party flew nicola sturgeon from constituency to constituency in support of their candidate, which suggests to me that some of his complaints, or the complaints of his party, in this respect, are both spurious and hypocritical. order. no, no, the leader of the house mustn't use that last word. he is a versatile fellow and he can use another word and i feel sure it i think the party... i make no allegation against an honourable member. i think the party in question has--. . , l, of approach when it comes to this matter. david lidington, testing his descriptive skills. mps have accused the large energy companies of "ripping off" and "robbing" customers by leaving them on the most expensive tariffs. in a debate in the commons, there were calls from all sides for action against the "big six", as they are known, for the introduction of a "relative" price cap limiting price rises once fixed deals end, and for more to be done to encourage consumers to switch between energy providers. the debate was opened by a conservative mp, who criticised the big firms for failing to reward loyalty. what other industry doesn't give their loyal customers any discounts or special deals, but charges them higher prices than anyone else instead? which companies believe that loyalty should be exploited, not rewarded ? who treats their longest—serving customers as chumps, to be quietly and secretively switched on to expensive and unfair deals when they aren't looking, and then milked, ripped off mercilessly, for as long as possible? the big six energy firms, madam deputy speaker, that's who. switching, he said, had to be made easier, and action taken to reduce the price increases faced by consumgg,’ even under the most optimistic scenarios, an unacceptably large number of households will still be being ripped off for too many years yet. so we need a stopgap as well — a temporary solution while all those other changes to make switching easier and less scary start to work and to take effect. the answer is a relative price cap — a maximum mark—up between each energy firm's best deal and their default tariff. it would mean that once your existing deal comes to an end, if you forget to switch to a new one, then you won't be ripped off too badly. customers can make savings of hundreds of pounds if they do switch. 0n the back of the recent price rises from energy companies, i switched for our house, madam deputy speaker, and we saved £249. you know, there are big savings to be made and i encourage customers to switch, switch, and switch again. the big six and veolia behave in a way because there is a culture of arrogance and entitlement, and that is the problem, actually, more to the point, these companies need to address that culture. about 80,000 customers, said, and i quote, energy customers are being robbed in broad daylight — robbed in broad daylight — and it's time for decisive action to end the misery for millions. so, will the government look favourably on the honourable gentleman's point about a price cap? because, mr deputy speaker, i think it is very clear that, at a time of crippling price rises from companies seemingly indifferent change to ensure that the market works for all. and even the energy companies have to face up to this — that they are being over the odds, they have a business model based on that. if, for example, all these customers miraculously were going to move to a lower tariff tomorrow, where would these companies be left? the inertia is compounded by a management approach that doesn't seem to want any form of effective change. just because consumers, very often vulnerable consumers, are not able to negotiate the process of switching, this doesn't mean that they should be left at the mercy of a market which punishes them for that. replying, the minister referred to recent findings by the competition and markets authority. it is a fact that the majority of customers, around 66%, are on standard variable tariffs, and they continue to pay considerably more than customers who are on fixed—term deals. the cma highlighted that these customers are losing out by what it estimated — it's fair to say that the numbers over the last few years. we are acting to make switching easier and quicker. we are rolling out smart meters, we are continuing to help the vulnerable and low—income houses with their energy bills. we recognise that the cma did important work in highlighting how much consumers are currently losing out. we recognise that recent price rises underline the fact that the majority of consumers are paying more it appears than they need to. we believe that current practice as it stands is not acceptable and we will set out proposals to address these issues shortly. you're watching thursday in parliament, with me, alicia mccarthy. the conservative chair of the health committee made the plea as she outlined the findings of her committee's report on the subject. sarah wollaston set out the figures. it remains the leading cause of death in young people between the ages of 15 and 2a and it is the leading cause of death in men under 50. but she said the key message her committee had heard was that suicide was preventable and there was more that could and should be done. we know, for example, that half of those who take their own lives have self harmed, and we feel that it's really disappointing that so many of those with experience of self harm, their experience when they go to casualty departments is sometimes that they are made to feel that they are wasting people's time. we know that liaison psychiatry but there are resourcing issues around liaison psychiatry. should receive a visit within three days of leaving inpatient services but there simply aren't the resources there for that to be put in place and we call on the government to go further in looking at the work force and resourcing for this to take place. the minister accepted there was more to be done. the refreshed strategy does now include better targeting of high risk groups and for the first time addresses self harm as an issue in its own right, which is one of the most significant issues of suicide risk. we have also published guidance to local authorities injanuary on developing and improving suicide bereavement services as an important plank of the plan. furthermore we announced we would publish a green paper this year on children and young people's mental health and announcde that we would develop a national internet strategy which will explore the impact of internet and social media on suicide prevention and mental health. nicola blackwood. parliament should in future set the terms of reference for major according to an influential commons committee. the investigation by sirjohn chilcot took seven years to complete and its final report ran to 2.5 million words, spanning 12 volumes. the chairman of the public administration & constitutional affairs committee set out how things could be done differently in the future. pacac recommends that in future, before an inquiry is established, parliament should set up an ad hoc select committee to take evidence on the proposed remit of the inquiry and to present formal conclusions and recommendations to the house. there should then be a full debate and vote in parliament on an amendable motion setting out the precise terms of reference, and an estimated timeframe and a proposed budget for that inquiry. this shouldensurejhat lnfuture i at the outset of an inquiry. i welcome the various recommendations in today's report, especially strengthening the independence of the cabinet secretary and the role of the commons, but frankly i would say to the house those recommendations are timid. does the chair, and perhaps the select committee, agree with me that it will require a root and branch transformative change of the whole of our political structures and culture before we can honestly say again to the british people that there will never be such a failure? chilcott was set—up to identify mistakes, mistakes that led to the loss of life, military and civilian. with that in mind, seven years to come to conclusion is unacceptable. those mistakes could potentially have been repeated during that time scale. the overriding lesson that most people will think we can learn from chilcott is that these reports take too long and cost too much. david nuttall. what's to be {lane t—e stag geu ngst—er—s— backgrounds ending up in young offenders‘ institutions? the government has published new sentencing guidelines for young offenders, which came under scrutiny in the lords. 0n the moj's own evidence the system currently disadvantages ethnic minority boys in particular, who are more likely to be arrested, then to be charged, then to be sent to crown court for sentence, then to receive custodial sentences. how does the mo] proposed to address this inequality and in particular what help with this can they offer young offending teams? my lords, the noble lord is right that judges, particularly when children or young people are evolved consider the individual circumstances of each case to prevent reoffending and stop young people from falling into a life of crime, and this does very much include being aware of the factors contributing to the overrepresentation of black and minority ethnic children and young people in the youth justice system, and the new guideline aims to ensure greater detail at the age, background and circumstances appropriate sentence that will best achieve the principal aim of the youth justice system of preventing reoffending. keeping young people in custody is financially very costly, and very costly to them on an individual basis, and wouldn't it be better if we could devise greater ways of diverting young people from custodial sentences and to prevent this downward spiral into long—term criminality? it is quite clear that to us we have to tackle underlying factors which lead to children and young people committing offences, thereby blighting their life chances, and indeed, since the peak in youth offending in 2006/7, there has been an incredible, i think, my lords, 71% fall in young people sentenced, from around 94,600 tojust under 28,0000 in 2015/16. custodial, a 70% fall. my lords, i think this is amazing progress. it is impossible for us to review the kind of institutions that we have and probably return to the good old days of what was called reformatory system, the approved school system, where people were got hold of and transformed and educated and brought back into society so that they did not become recidivists. i'm pleased to say that for example in 2015 only around 6% of children and young people were sentenced to immediate custody. it's changed, my lords, is changing, we're making progress, we want to make it better e through vast experience, we haven't done enough to date for our young children and young people. back to the commons where a piece of history was all over in less than half a minute. the speaker announced the queen has granted royal assent to the bill that gives theresa may the legal power to trigger the uk's exit from the european union. i have te ngtifg the hnyge ' *”' ' ” act 1967, that her majesty has signified her royal assent to the following acts, supply and appropriation anticipation and adjustments act 2017, european union notification 0f withdrawal act 2017. the commons speaker, john bercow. finally, a labour mp used her chance at questions to the leader of the commons to make an appeal for the hearing impaired. i would like to sign my question. will the minister agree... sorry... the 18th of march marks the 14th anniversary since the uk government recognised british sign language? will the minister agree time! to bring and give british sign language legal status like other recognised languages? the leader of the house, mr david lidington! speaker, the honourable lady has very eloquently reminded us of the importance of british sign language to a number of our fellow or severe hearing impairment. the department for work and pensions has underway a review of the provision of signing services in this country, they haveth eeve—rel gig gr=§g= conclusions in due course. i can also say to the house that the department for education does now plan to accept british sign language as an alternative qualification to functional skills in english within apprenticeships and i hope that that will be one step forward towards giving opportunities to more people who live with deafness to play a full part in the labour market. edition of the programme, but dojoin me on friday night at 11.00 for our round—up of the week in parliament, as we look back at brexit, calls for a second scottish referendum, and the government's national insurance u—turn. but, for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. we start the day with quite a lot of variety up and down the uk. the southern half of the country enjoying a reasonable start as we step outside. some rain for the north and it does not look so pretty. for wales, not too bad at eight o'clock breakfast, there will be sunshine here and the wind is not too strong. quite chilly, mind you. further north it is wet with rain piling into northern ireland from the west. a period of heavy rain through the morning at least. rain into the west of scotland merging with the wintry showers over the highlands makes a cold wet start to the day. sunshine further east, but temperatures are not much above freezing. some dampness is coming into north—west england over the pennines but to the east i think it will be a dry start. plenty of sunshine there across the midlands and east anglia as well southern england. a nip in the air but, again, sunshine makes a difference. wind will be light across the southern parts of the country. as we go through the day, all of this will head eastwards but, having said that, the high ground the heavy stuff there is further west and there will be snow over the highlands. cloud coming down over the southern and eastern areas of england and wales but will stay dry here and reasonably mild to stagger down into more western areas overnight. gusty and pleasant winds. far north will probably have most of the rain here will be chilly and we will wake up to a touch of frost first thing on saturday morning. frost free but cloudy and breezy for the rest of us. in some places pretty wet. persistent and heavy rain across more western parts of the country as well, especially for the hills. pulses of rain further ease but probably not a lot reaching the south—east. mild clea ra nce reaching the south—east. mild clearance and brightness across the north of scotland. another weather system north of scotland. another weather syste m co m es north of scotland. another weather system comes in on sunday with most of the rain across western areas. the best of the will be further east. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: complete and utter nonsense — that's what britain's communications intelligence agency calls allegations from the white house that it helped carry out surveillance on donald trump. what happened when a bbc team faced the volcanic fury of mount etna in sicily. we're on the ground in china's xingiang province — with the so—called people's war on terror. recent attacks here have all been local and low—tech, a handful of young farmers armed only with knives. and a new network of national parks for chile as the government there receives an unprecedented private donation of land.