No Takers For Cashback Green Deal Scheme

Not a single household has yet signed up for a flagship Coalition energy efficiency scheme despite a £1,000 cashback offer ministers said would get it off to a "flying start".

Green Deal is designed to help homeowners make energy saving home improvements to their properties from January.

The scheme covers the upfront costs of improvements such as insulation and new boilers and allows homeowners to pay the money back through savings on bills.

Households have had since October 1 to have their home assessed for improvements.

However, climate change minister Greg Barker has admitted that no home assessments "have yet been lodged on the register".

Labour said the admission meant the Green Deal scheme was in tatters.

But the Department of Energy & Climate Change blamed the lack of formal applications on people waiting until nearer January, when building work can actually start, before getting involved.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey announced the first-come-first served £125m cashback offer last month in a bid to persuade people to sign up - with those committing to the most work offered up to £1,000.

He said the scheme would provide an "unprecedented choice" for consumers wanting to make their homes more energy efficient.

"This cashback offer will help get the Green Deal off to a flying start. It really is a great offer - the more work households have done, the more energy they stand to save and the more cash they receive," he said.

In response to a parliamentary question from shadow climate change minister Luciana Berger, Mr Barker said: "While we understand a number of appointments for the in-property assessments have been made, no assessments have yet been lodged on the register."

A DECC spokeswoman insisted that the Green Deal was "coming alive" and that it was pleased with the progress made so far.

"We understand that assessments are generally being scheduled to take place closer to the date at which a plan can be signed and the work can begin - this makes perfect sense," she said.

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Meningitis B Vaccine Set To Be Approved

A lifesaving meningitis B vaccine is set to be licensed for use in the UK in a move that could save thousands of lives.

The disease, which is the most common and deadliest form of meningitis in the country, affects some 1,870 people each year, many of them children, and results in death for one in 10 sufferers.

The approval of the new 4CMenB vaccine, which has been developed by pharmaceutical company Novartis, has been hailed by the charity Meningitis UK as the "biggest leap forward in the field" in three decades.

The vaccine received a "positive opinion" verdict from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday, meaning that the vaccine is considered safe and effective.

It will be the first meningitis B vaccine approved for use in the UK, which has one of the highest incidence rates in the world.

One in four sufferers is left with life changing after-effects, such as brain damage and limb loss, with children under five most at risk from the disease.

The charity said the next stage will be to give the vaccine - which has the trade name Bexsero - a marketing licence. It is expected to receive its UK licence early next year.

Meningitis UK wants the vaccine to be introduced into the Government's routine immunisation schedule as soon as possible, so it will be automatically given to children. The jab is recommended for those aged two months and older.

Meningitis UK founder Steve Dayman, who lost his baby son to meningitis and septicaemia in 1982, said: "This is a landmark moment in the fight against meningitis - I have waited three decades to hear this.

"It is vital that the vaccine is introduced in the UK immunisation schedule as soon as possible. It will save countless lives and prevent many people enduring the suffering caused by this devastating disease.

"We will be campaigning hard to make the Government introduce it."

The decision on whether to introduce the vaccine to the immunisation schedule will be made by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), who advise the Government on vaccination.

There are a large number of meningitis B strains in the UK - more than in many other countries - which makes producing a vaccine very difficult. Meningitis B accounts for about 90% of cases in the UK.

The new vaccine is described as a real breakthrough as studies have shown it should protect against 73% of strains which cause the disease in the UK.

Scientists have been attempting to develop a broad-ranging Meningitis B vaccine for years and have used a revolutionary new approach called reverse vaccinology to create it.

This involved sequencing the genome of the bacteria and identifying proteins that provoke an immune response against a broad range of strains.

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Young Drivers 'Face Passenger Restrictions'

By Richard Suchet, Sky News Reporter

Young drivers could be banned from carrying passengers who are not members of their own family in a bid to cut the number of deaths on the roads.

More than 1,500 17 to 24-year-olds in the UK were killed or seriously injured while driving a car last year, according to the Department for Transport.

They accounted for 25% of all car deaths and injuries in 2011.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told the Daily Telegraph he would consider measures put forward by the Association of British Insurers which could cut the number of accidents involving young motorists.

"There is a suggestion as to whether you should look at a restriction whether anyone could carry passengers for six or nine months when they have first passed their test," he said.

"There are suggestions about them only perhaps being allowed to take a family member to drive a car when you are learning, you have to have a qualified driver in the car. So these are all sorts of areas that I think we can look at."

Kelly's sister, Abi (left), and mother, Della

Kelly Phillips, 17, from Surrey, died in 2005 when the car she was a passenger in hit a tree at 80mph.

She had been sitting in a car listening to music with a 17-year-old boy who did not yet have his licence.

The decision to go for a drive on the public road cost them both their lives.

Kelly's mother, Della Phillips, told Sky News: "I try to hide behind this facade of strength. But inside I'm crying all the time, I'm missing her all the time.

"It's like a craving, you're not seeing the memories you expected to see when you have a child."

Ms Phillips is calling for an alternative approach to the measures being considered by the Government.

The Drive IQ campaign

She is backing a free education campaign called Drive IQ - an online education programme that puts pre-drivers and novices through potentially hazardous road scenarios. 

Some 350 schools and 30,000 young people already use the programme but it could be rolled out to thousands more.

She said: "When it comes to young people being safer in cars, lack of knowledge can kill. I know that only too well.

"We want every mum and dad out there to ensure their child and their child's school/college uses Drive IQ straightaway as it addresses attitude and behaviour.

"We have to tackle this issue right now." 

:: Road Safety Week runs from November 19 to November 25. For more information visit www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk.

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Electoral Commission To Probe Police Vote

Low Turnout For Police Commissioner Polls

Updated: 7:33pm UK, Friday 16 November 2012

Dire turnouts have threatened to undermine the first ever police and crime commissioner elections, with as few as 10% of voters casting their ballots in some areas.

The Electoral Reform Society branded the elections a "comedy of errors" after a record low turnout left at least one polling station - in the Newport area - completely unused.

It said it could end up being the lowest voter turnout ever in peacetime history.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the elections for the new commissioners had descended in to a shambles, with many voters taking to Twitter to describe the low turnout at their polling stations.

A UKIP MEP, John Bufton, even called for Home Secretary Theresa May to resign for presiding over a "shamefully low turnout".

In Wiltshire, the first force area to declare, the overall turnout was 15.8% as Tory candidate Angus Macpherson, a magistrate, won after a second round of voting ahead of Labour's Clare Moody.

But in one part of Wiltshire, Devizes, only 10.41% of voters took part.

Polling stations elsewhere across the country appeared to be equally as quiet as many people opted not to vote for the first generation of PCCs, despite about £75m being spent on the campaign.

Newport City Council confirmed to Sky News that no voters attended one of its polling stations, despite it being open for 15 hours from 7am to 10pm on Thursday.

Elsewhere, turnout was 11.42% in Wigan, 12% in Rochdale, 12.59% in Oldham and 12.49% in Manchester. For Greater Manchester as a whole it was 13.46%.

In Essex, just 12.81%% of voters took to the polls.

Even in Humberside, where Lord Prescott's name on the ballot paper raised the profile of the election, turnout was only 19.48%.

Sky's election analyst Michael Thrasher said the low turnout was "hardly surprising" given the elections were held in dark and chilly November "for an office that no-one has heard of" across unfamiliar police authority areas.

He said the numbers raised questions over the legitimacy of the office and those elected.

Mr Thrasher, a professor of politics at Plymouth University, added that it could end up costing as much as £13 per vote that was cast.

"When you work out how much it's going to cost per vote it becomes quite ridiculous," he said.

But policing minister Damian Green defended the turnout, saying it would improve in years to come.

He told Sky News: "I think it's likely with something new coming on that people will take time to get used to it.

"But I'm absolutely sure they will get used to it in the future and the measure of the success will be the difference they make to policing over the next few years."

Prime Minister David Cameron insisted police commissioners would have a mandate despite the low turnout.

He added: "Remember, these police and crime commissioners are replacing organisations that weren't directly elected at all."

Elections for the new office have been held in 41 police areas outside London.

The newly-elected police and crime commissioner will have the power to control budgets, set policing priorities, and hire and fire chief constables.

The Electoral Reform Society had predicted a turnout of 18.5% before the polls began, which would be below the previous record low in a national poll in peacetime - 23% in the 1999 European elections.

The society's chief executive, Katie Ghose, said: "This election has been a comedy of errors from start to finish.

"The Home Office has operated under the assumption that 'if you build it they will come'. Democracy just doesn't work that way.

"There have been avoidable errors at every step, and those responsible should be held to account."

One of the biggest problems has been that people are not prepared to put a cross beside the name of someone they know little, if anything, about.

Glenda Adcock from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk said she always votes, but not this time.

"I know nothing about the candidates or anything really so I'm not bothering," she said,

And while Bernard Jennings had decided he would take part, he agreed the information had been poor.

"I think they could have done a lot more to help people out so you have a better understanding of what everyone stands for," he said.

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Antibiotics Resistance A Growing Health Threat

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent

The Chief Medical Officer has raised the prospect of a future without cures for common infections - unless antibiotics are used more responsibly.

In a stern warning to doctors and patients, Professor Dame Sally Davies said antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to modern health.

"Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness at a rate that is both alarming and irreversible," she said.

"Bacteria are adapting and finding ways to survive the effects of antibiotics, ultimately becoming resistant so they no longer work.

"The more you use an antibiotic, the more bacteria become resistant to it."

In 2000, six per cent of serious bloodstream infections of E coli were resistant to the powerful antibiotic ciprofloxacin. That has now risen to 21%.

Penicillin is no longer effective against wound infections caused by the bug staphylococcus, and doctors are alarmed by the emergence of an untreatable form of the sexually-transmitted infection gonorrhoea.

Professor Dame Sally Davies

Pharmaceutical companies are struggling to find new drugs.

Prof Davies said doctors should take care to prescribe antibiotics appropriately, and she urged patients not to demand antibiotics for winter ailments.

She told Sky News: "When we get coughs, colds, and sore throats, mostly they are viruses. Antibiotics don't help.

"GPs should help decide when they are needed, prescribe the right drug, and right dose and we as patients need to take the whole course."

A campaign launched to mark European Antibiotic Awareness Day featuring a hedgehog warns patients not to "get prickly" if doctors refuse to give them a prescription.

According to the Health Protection Agency, six per cent of patients keep unused antibiotics to use in future.

But antibiotics should only be used when prescribed by a doctor and should never be shared with anyone else.

Anna Luhar, a London lawyer, developed a deadly form of tuberculosis (TB) that is highly resistant to antibiotics.

She was isolated in hospital for nearly five months while doctors used a cocktail of six drugs to control the infection. It took 18 months to finally eradicate the bug.

She told Sky News: "They really had to search high and low to find drugs that would work.

"Some had to be imported from Germany and the US. One of them - streptomycin - is usually not used.

"They were really at the last line of defence."

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Fuel Prices: AA Demands Action For Motorists

The AA has accused ministers of failing drivers and businesses by not clamping down on what is sees as unfair fuel prices.

The motoring group says while average unleaded prices have gone down from 138.95p a litre in mid-October to 135.08p - with diesel dropping from 143.74p to 141.89p - motorists are still being short-changed.

It believes the fall in wholesale petrol prices across Europe should have knocked UK pump prices down by between 10p and 11p a litre instead of by an average 4p.

Despite the signs that the Chancellor is poised to postpone the planned fuel duty rise of 3p a litre due in January, the AA said drivers were facing a series of pressures including a "postcode lottery" in fuel prices.

It found that motorists in one area can be charged as much as 5p a litre more than drivers a few miles away.

AA president Edmund King said: "The Government momentarily had a grip of this monster when the previous Transport Secretary (Justine Greening) called in the industry to agree wholesale price transparency.

"This initiative stalled when the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) called for information on road fuel pricing - to which the industry has responded by pumping up wholesale prices and then not passing on cost savings in a timely fashion.

"The average UK domestic energy bill is £1,252 but the cost of fuel for the average car consuming 1,200 litres a year is over £1,500.

"This week the Government said it was going to tackle high gas and electricity bills, yet lets drivers and businesses down by not reacting swiftly to runaway wholesale and pump prices."

Earlier this week, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Sajid Javid said the Government understood the pressures facing households and was determined to help with the cost of living.

He said: "The Government is doing all it can to help hard-working families with the cost of living and putting money back into their pockets.

"Action on fuel duty is part of this. Fuel duty is currently 20% lower in real terms compared to its peak in March 2000 and 7% lower compared to May 2010."

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Ashdown: Withdraw Troops From Afghanistan Now

British forces must withdraw from Afghanistan as quickly as possible before any more troops are killed, Liberal Democrat former leader Lord Ashdown has said.

In a damning assessment of the campaign in Afghanistan, he said allied forces had failed to build a sustainable state and establish a government which was untainted by corruption.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said British forces will leave the country by the end of 2014 but writing in the Times, Lord Ashdown said it should be sooner.

He said: "We cannot pretend there is any more to do in Afghanistan. The urgent priority is to get out. It is not worth wasting one more life in Afghanistan.

"All that we can achieve has now been achieved. All that we might have achieved if we had done things differently, has been lost.

"The only rational policy now is to leave quickly, in good order and in the company of our allies. This is the only cause for which further lives should be risked."

Lord Ashdown said the failure to establish a functioning state was not the fault of British troops but of the international community to work with the country's leaders and neighbours.

Former Royal Marine Lord Ashdown wants an immediate exit

He added: "The international community in Afghanistan needed to speak with a single voice in pursuit of a single plan with clear priorities.

"Instead we have been divided, cacophonous, chaotic. We should have concentrated on winning in Afghanistan where it mattered, instead of distracting ourselves with adventures in Iraq.

"We should have engaged Afghanistan's neighbours, instead of going out of our way to make them enemies. Our early military strategy should have been about protecting the people instead of wasting our time chasing the enemy.

"We should have made fighting corruption our first priority instead of becoming the tainted partners of a corrupt Government whose writ, along with ours, has progressively collapsed as that of the Taleban in the south has progressively widened."

His comments come amid an increasing number of green-on-blue attacks where members of the Afghan National Army have turned on allied troops.

On Remembrance Sunday, Captain Walter Barrie was playing in a football match between British and Afghan soldiers at his base in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province when he was shot dead at close range.

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Demoted Christian Wins Facebook Post Ruling

A Christian man demoted for posting his opposition to gay marriage on Facebook has won his breach of contract action against his employers.

Adrian Smith lost his managerial position, had his salary cut by 40%, and was given a final written warning by Trafford Housing Trust (THT) after posting that gay weddings in churches were "an equality too far".

The comments were not visible to the general public, and were posted outside work time, but the trust claimed he broke its code of conduct by expressing religious or political views which might upset co-workers.

Mr Smith brought breach of contract proceedings, saying the trust acted unlawfully in demoting him.

At London's High Court Mr Justice Briggs ruled in his favour, saying the trust did not have a right to demote Mr Smith as his Facebook postings did not amount to misconduct, and the demotion imposed by way of purported disciplinary sanction constituted a breach of contract.

Justice Briggs concluded: "Mr Smith was taken to task for doing nothing wrong, suspended and subjected to a disciplinary procedure which wrongly found him guilty of gross misconduct, and then demoted to a non-managerial post with an eventual 40% reduction in salary. The breach of contract which the Trust thereby committed was serious and repudiatory."

Mr Smith said in a statement: "I'm pleased to have won my case for breach of contract today. The judge exonerated me and made clear that my comments about marriage were in no way 'misconduct'.

"Britain is a free country where people have freedom of speech, and I am pleased that the judge's ruling underlines that important principle.

"But this sad case should never have got this far. Long ago, Trafford Housing Trust should have held their hands up and admitted they made a terrible mistake.

"Had they done this then my life would not have been turned upside down and my family and I would not have had to endure a living nightmare."

The Christian Institute, the group that paid for Mr Smith's legal case, welcomed the ruling.

Spokesman Mike Judge said: "This is a good day for free speech. But would Adrian have won his case if marriage had already been redefined? I don't think so. The Government should stop playing politics with marriage, because it's ordinary people like Adrian who'll get it in the neck."

Matthew Gardiner, chief executive at Trafford Housing Trust said: "We fully accept the court's decision and I have made a full and sincere apology to Adrian.

"At the time we believed we were taking the appropriate action following discussions with our employment solicitors and taking into account his previous disciplinary record.

"This case has highlighted the challenges that businesses face with the increased use of social media and we have reviewed our documentation and procedures to avoid a similar situation arising in the future. Adrian remains employed by the Trust and I am pleased this matter has now concluded."

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Twilight's Final Movie Premieres In London

Thousands of Twilight fans, some of whom had camped out for days, got their reward when the stars of the vampire saga arrived for the premiere of the final film in the series.

Robert Pattinson told frenzied fans in London's Leicester Square that the saga had "changed everything" about his life.

The arrival of the British actor and his co-stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner was greeted with wild screaming and cheering from thousands of so-called 'Twi-hards'.

Some 6,000 of them packed the square. Many came from outside the UK, with fans from the USA, Dubai, Sweden, Norway and Hungary all amongst the crowd.

Stewart, who plays Bella, dazzled in a black lace jumpsuit, designed by Zuhair Murad.

Meanwhile, her on and off-screen partner Pattinson, who plays Edward, and Lautner, who plays Jacob, wore smart suits.

Pattinson, 26, told the crowds the saga connected to people on a "primal" level.

"For me it's changed everything about my life. I don't even think I'd be acting if I wasn't doing this, or if I hadn't done the first one," he said.

"It's crazy. The character and the whole experience combined for me.

"It's definitely really created something which connects to people on a very fundamental level, it's like primal."

He joked the fans must have a "mental disorder" to camp out in the cold but said it was "really nice" that they had stuck around, especially after five years of the films.

He said: "It's very, very, very cold and I don't understand what kind of mental disorder you have."

Stewart, 22, said: "This is weird, right? I don't know. I'm so happy that every single bit of the story is done.

"Usually we're at one of these premieres going, I don't know, you can't really feel it because you're not done. You're a little desensitised by it all because you have another one coming up.

"This time it's a trip, it is weird."

Meanwhile, Lautner, 20, said the director calling the final cut on his final scene was an emotional moment for all involved.

"My last scene was the slow dance scene between Jacob and Bella. It was an emotional time for all of us."

He also refused to settle the fierce debate among Twi-hards, who divide themselves into 'Team Edward' and 'Team Jacob' camps, in reference to the love triangle at the centre of the saga.

Asked if Bella made the right decision, Lautner said: "To be honest, I don't think she could have gone wrong either way - Jacob and Edward couldn't be more different.

"So yeah, I think she made the right choice but I don't think she would have made the wrong choice if she went with Jacob."

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 is released in UK cinemas on Friday.

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Savile Cops Arrest Man For Sex Offences

A man in his 60s and from Bedfordshire is being held by police investigating the Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal.

He was arrested at 7.45am on suspicion of sexual offences and is being questioned.

A police spokesman said the allegations made against him do not directly involve Savile and are classed under the strand of their investigation termed "others".

The Metropolitan Police Service is leading a national investigation into abuse allegations made against the disgraced television presenter.

So far, around 450 potential victims have come forward and 200 allegations of sexual assault have been made.

Officers are looking at three strands within their inquiry - claims against Savile, those against Savile and others, and those against others.

Most of the "others" allegations have been made against people associated with the entertainment industry.

So far Gary Glitter, comedian Freddie Starr and a 73-year-old man have been arrested and bailed in connection with the investigation.

Children's charity the NSPCC said it had received 236 calls about Savile, an average of five per day, since the first sexual abuse allegations emerged.

The number of contacts made about other claims of sexual abuse has trebled in the last month, rising to 550.

Director of the NSPCC's helpline Peter Watt said: "Sometimes people wait months or years before reporting abuse but we would urge them to act quickly so they can get help as soon as possible.

"While the whole Savile episode has been distressing it has also led to more victims of abuse seeking support, which is positive."

More follows...

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