File on 4 Investigates

Success of the Government's proposed NHS reforms in England rests on family doctors. GPs will be responsible for commissioning treatment for their patients, and managing the £80 billion NHS budget. But how much do we know about the effectiveness and value for money offered by doctors in General Practice? Gerry Northam reports.

Business travel and Christmas holidays were ruined for hundreds of thousands of people by snow. While many airports abroad bounced back quickly from bad weather, some in Britain began to resemble refugee camps. But discontent among passengers and airlines goes well beyond winter readiness. Julian O'Halloran asks how one operator BAA, justifies its grip on no fewer than half a dozen British airports? And questions whether government and regulators need to take more control over the industry in order to prevent further damage to Britain's image abroad.. Producer : Samantha Fenwick.

Each year, around 250 parents and carers are accused of killing or injuring children by shaking them or inflicting some other form of head injury. But an acrimonious scientific debate over the theory behind so-called Shaken Baby Syndrome, has turned toxic among the expert witnesses whose evidence is so critical in determining guilt or innocence. Andrew Hosken examines claims of a campaign of dirty tricks to discredit those who question the orthodoxy and hears calls from one of the country's leading pathologists for an inquiry.Producer Paul Grant.

Are police doing enough to tackle corruption in their ranks? Following a number of high profile trials in which officers have been jailed, Allan Urry investigates the crimes they committed and asks if more could have been done to stop them. A constable given a life sentence earlier this month for a series of sex attacks on vulnerable women he met while on duty, had previously been put on trial for rape, during his time in the army. Why didn't the police service know this when they agreed to employ him? How was a police sergeant able to live a double life as a respected bobby and as the leader of a ruthless underworld crime gang, dealing drugs, laundering money, and intimidating witnesses? Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

Reporter Jenny Cuffe investigates claims that one of the groups behind the blasphemy law in Pakistan is also active in the UK. The religious extremists are accused of spreading a hate message against members of other Islamic sects who they regard as infidels. One group that's been targeted accuses the authorities of not doing enough to protect them - and says political correctness has resulted in Britain tolerating the intolerant. Producer: David Lewis.

Homes but no loans. Despite the threat of a new slide in house prices and rising levels of negative equity, the number of property-buyers having their homes repossessed has declined over the past year. But now many economists predict interest rates will rise in the course of 2011, fuelling fears that Britain's housing market could be facing a double dip. With banks chasing profits and affordable mortgages harder to find. Michael Robinson asks what impact the new housing freeze will have on Britain's already battered economy. Producer: Andy Denwood.

Legal aid has been withdrawn from a long-running case against a pharmaceutical giant. Children born with severe disabilities, including spina bifida, were suing the manufacturer of an anti-epilepsy drug which their mothers took during pregnancy and which they blame for causing birth defects - a claim the company denies. After years of legal proceedings which the claimants' solicitors say have so far cost £3.25m, the Legal Services Commision refused a much smaller sum to take the case to trial, just weeks before hearings were due to start. As a result, more than a hundred claimants are left with no chance of their day in court. Their case was not deemed strong enough to pass the standard test which requires them to prove that the drug doubled (at least) the risk of harm. This test is called into question by experts in cases against pharmaceutical companies in Britain and the USA. A lower level of proof is needed in American courts.The government has announced that future patients in England and Wales alleging clinical negligence or personal injury can expect to have their applications for legal aid refused under its programme of spending cuts.No such change of policy is planned in Scotland. A case is proceeding there with support from legal aid by a patient who took another drug, for relieving arthritis, which is blamed for increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes - again this is denied by the company concerned. Patients in England and Wales who took the same drug and suffered heart attacks have been turned down for legal aid funding and have shelved their cases.Will government cuts effectively put wealthy pharmaceutical companies beyond challenge in the civil courts?Reporter: Gerry Northam Producer: Gail Champion.

Europe's Missing MillionsOver the last seven years, the European Union has paid out billions of Euros in grants designed to revitalise Europe's poorest regions.But an investigation for File on 4 has revealed the extent to which these payments are open to widespread fraud, abuse and mismanagement.Angus Stickler tracks how money has gone astray across the 27 member states and asks why funding continues in regions with proven records of corruption and fraud. Throughout the EU there is evidence that money has been wasted or even stolen. In Southern Italy, money has gone to Mafia-controlled construction companies and bogus energy projects. Across the EU expensive projects lie unused and unfit for purpose, despite receiving funding of millions of Euros.The EU has created its own anti-fraud agency, OLAF, to stop these abuses, but are critics right when they claim it's underfunded and ineffective? File on 4/Bureau of Investigative Journalism co-production. Producer: Gail Champion Editor: David Ross.

A new law regulating care homes in England came into force last month. All homes must be registered and ensure they meet certain standards of quality and safety. The regulator - the Care Quality Commission - is promising to monitor homes and take action against those who fail to meet standards. But unions say the numbers of inspectors has been cut. They are warning of fewer inspections and say staff are so overstretched they could miss vital warning signs of abuse or neglect. Worried relatives say they feel their concerns are not being heard. Fran Abrams asks whether the elderly in care homes are being adequately protected.Producer: Paul Grant.

It's been dubbed the Great Train Robbery, but Allan Urry asks who's robbing who? With fares set to rise, the programme examines why Britain's railways are so much more expensive than other European countries. Passengers in some parts of the UK complain they are caught out by a complex and confusing system of ticketing, which unfairly penalises them. Does it have to be so difficult to find out what the restrictions are on your journey? Why aren't there enough carriages for commuters travelling at peaks times? Overcrowding's got so bad, some are left behind on the platform. Much of the criticism is aimed at the Train Operating Companies, but how much are they to blame? And why does Network Rail, the company responsible for the national infrastructure, soak up the bulk of the 5 billion pounds of taxpayer's subsidy, yet according to its regulator, is 40 per cent less efficient than its EU rivals?Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

Under the Prime Minister's project for The Big Society, the coalition government wants charities to have much greater involvement in the running of public services. At the same time, substantial cuts are expected in official regulators which check that charities are competent and honest. Recent financial scandals have shown the vulnerability of even the most prestigious organisations to systematic fraud. The Charity Commission admits that a quarter of charities fail to file their accounts on time, covering a combined annual income of £6 billion. The Commission also says that in future allegations of fraud may no longer be automatically investigated. Meanwhile, other national charities are facing rebellions from lifelong local supporters over planned reorganisations designed to win huge public contracts. Gerry Northam asks if we can be confident that charities are fit and honest enough to take responsibility from the public sector. Producer: Sally Chesworth.

Jenny Cuffe investigates how British-based Somalis are being lured into fighting for the al-Qaeda-linked Islamists of al-Shabaab.There have been consistent rumours that dozens, perhaps scores of British-based Somali men have travelled to Somalia to join the militant Islamist group which was banned by the British Government earlier this year. In September the rumours were given new urgency when the Director of MI5, Jonathan Evans, warned it was only a matter of time before the UK suffered an act of terrorism committed by al-Shabaab-trained Britons.File on 4 explores the techniques used by Al-Shabaab to persuade young members of the 250,000-strong British Somali community to sign up for Jihad in Somalia. Members of the close-knit and reticent British Somali community tell Jenny Cuffe of their fears that youngsters are being seduced through the internet and by shadowy recruiting sergeants for the Horn of Africa's most feared military force. And the programme travels to the state of Minnesota to see how a vigorous FBI investigation and cooperation from the Somali community have laid-bare a pipeline which first lured, then transported young American Somalis to the training camps and battlefields of Somalia. Producer: Andy Denwood.

While the government axes public spending to try to cut the deficit, Michael Robinson investigates loopholes which let big businesses slash their UK tax bills. This month George Osborne said he plans to make Britain the most attractive corporate tax regime in the G20. But some companies have already moved abroad for tax reasons. And for others able to operate on a global scale, there are many ways for them to reduce their tax liability. So how does the Government square the tax circle? Producer: Gail Champion.

The drive to make acute hospitals more prudent and independent through foundation trust status was meant to usher in a new era of prudent spending for the whole of the NHS. But now the process is faltering, as a series of foundation trusts hit grave financial, managerial or care quality problems. And though the NHS was meant to be ring-fenced from the deep cuts now hitting the rest of the public sector, a number foundation hospital trusts are facing bed closures and serious job losses. In some cases emergency measures have been adopted to turn failing trusts around by bringing in highly paid crisis managers. But these have alienated staff and unions and seemingly pushed some hospitals further into the red. So where does this leave the Government's plans for all hospitals to be run by foundation trusts? Julian O'Halloran reports.Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

Do Insolvency Practitioners measure up to the high standards expected of them when they are called in to a stricken business? Allan Urry examines concerns that some IP's don't always act in the best interests of creditors who are owed money when companies fail. Are landlords right to complain they've been getting a raw deal because some corporate undertakers side too much with their retail paymasters, who are pushing for reduced rents because their businesses are in trouble. The Office of Fair Trading is calling for far reaching reforms amid concerns about high fees and low recovery rates for some creditors. So is there proper oversight of a profession which takes a billion pounds in fees each year, but isn't subjected to much public scrutiny? PRODUCER: Paul Grant.

The planned withdrawal of British and other foreign troops from Afghanistan relies on the Afghan army and police to take over security duties. Since 2002, the USA has spent $27bn - over half of its total reconstruction fund - training and equipping Afghan forces. The aim is to build up an army of 171,600 people and a police force of 134,000 by October 2011. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants national forces to be in complete control of the country by 2014. But these targets, and the loyalty of some personnel, are called into question by recent killings carried out by members of the Afghan security forces: *20 July 2010: two US weapons trainers were shot dead by an Afghan soldier *13 July 2010: three British soldiers were attacked by an Afghan soldier who shot one dead in his bed and fired a rocket-propelled grenade which killed two others *3 November 2009: three British soldiers and two members of the Royal Military Police were shot dead by an Afghan policeman. An investigation published in June 2010 by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that officials had often overstated the readiness of Afghan forces, rating some units as first class when they were incapable of fighting the Taliban on their own. It also reported high levels of desertion, corruption and drug abuse. Gerry Northam asks if the transition to Afghan control is really on track. Producer: David Lewis Editor: David Ross.