File on 4 Investigates

It's estimated there are around 620,000 people in England with dementia. Prime minister David Cameron says fighting the disease is a personal priority and doctors in England have been encouraged to proactively identify people with early stage dementia.The PM says that an early diagnosis allows families to prepare for the care of a relative, but others argue there's no treatment for such a diagnosis and no robust evidence to justify a process that might lead to harm. Deborah Cohen hears from doctors who are concerned the drive to raise diagnosis rates is leading to people being misdiagnosed. The Government has also pledged millions of pounds to help make England "the best place in the world to undertake research into dementia and other neuro-degenerative diseases". Scientists leading the research say they are making progress to find tests which could identify people at risk from the disease and develop a cure. But other researchers say money is being wasted because current directions in drug development are following the same path as those of the past which have ended in failure. Producer: Paul Grant.

Are international conflicts creating tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims in the UK? Shabnam Mahmood reports from both Sunni and Shia communities and reveals how divisive messages from the Middle East are fuelling intolerance here. Organisations which monitor hate crimes say sectarian violence, while low level, is increasing.One Shia man tells the programme: "It is now becoming quite dangerous. It is an attack on me as a Shia that really scares me." Mahmood reports from one of an increasing number of unity events being staged across the country to foster good relations. A Sunni imam tells her: "These are dangerous times and the religious leadership need to be seen to be doing things to bring communities together." So can such work prevent tensions escalating in the face of the sectarian propaganda that's increasingly available online and on satellite television channels? Producer: Sally Chesworth.

The Dutch city of Nijmegen has much in common with the English city of York. Similar in size, both are much visited by tourists because of their histories and architecture. But both also have rivers running through them and are susceptible to flooding. So how do their defences compare? And, as York and other communities continue to mop up the damage caused by the latest catastrophic flooding, did basic mistakes and a failure of planning make a bad situation very much worse? Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Rob Cave.

Vaccination has long been one of the greatest weapons in the battle against a range of potentially fatal diseases. Millions of lives have been saved worldwide, and Britain has played a major role in helping to combat new pandemics. But, rarely, things do go wrong and people develop serious side-effects. In the UK, the Government's Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme is supposed to help those left severely disabled as a result. Among those currently arguing their case are the families of children who developed an incurable and devastating sleep disorder after being immunised against swine flu. But, to date, most have received nothing and Ministers have now gone to the Court of Appeal to try and establish a less generous interpretation of the pay-out rules. Lawyers for the families say the whole scheme is outdated and unfit for purpose. Are they right? Jenny Chryss investigates.Reporter: Jenny Chryss Producer: Ruth Evans.

File on 4 uncovers the story behind the collapse of one of the biggest health contracts ever put out to tender. Last April an NHS consortium of Cambridge University Hospitals and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust successfully bid to run older peoples' health services. But in December the £800m, five year contract ended without warning, with local commissioners saying only that it was "no longer financially sustainable." Jane Deith asks what the failure of the Cambridgeshire contract means for the broader policy of trying to improve NHS services by opening massive contracts to competition between Trusts and the private sector. Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

File on 4 reveals secret evidence of match fixing in tennis and investigates claims that sport's governing bodies have failed to act on repeated warnings about suspect players. The programme has seen confidential documents which reveal how some were linked to gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy which won hundreds of thousands of pounds betting on matches they played in. A number of those who have been repeatedly flagged on fixing lists passed to the game's Tennis Integrity Unit have continued to attract highly suspicious gambling activity. Reporter Simon Cox also has an exclusive interview with one of the most high profile players to be banned for match fixing who says the problem is widespread in the sport. Reporter Simon Cox Producer Paul Grant.

In the first of a new series, Allan Urry investigates claims by former officers from one of Britain's biggest police forces that they've been the victims of crimes committed by their own colleagues. He hears claims of dirty tricks by a secretive police unit within Greater Manchester Police which some officers say have led to criminal charges against them. Others say they've been unfairly targeted through the internal disciplinary process, with evidence distorted and statements changed. Are they bad cops with an axe to grind or victims of corrupt practices and institutional cover up?Producers: Sally Chesworth and Neil Morrow.

An inside job: the Britons smuggling illegal immigrants into the UK. File on 4 hears from Britons jailed for hiding people in their cars. They reveal why - and how - they did it. They were paid to smuggle people across the Channel by gangs based in London and the North West. This unofficial migrant taxi service - run from camps in Calais and Dunkirk - is believed to be netting criminal networks millions of pounds a year. But even that is dwarfed by the money to be made by British criminals bringing migrants over by the lorry load. Jane Deith reveals how the trade is spreading along the coast of Northern Europe, to Belgium and Holland. And she hears from Europol's Chief of Staff about the extent to which criminal networks based in Britain are involved in people smuggling. He tells the programme that more than 800 people have been identified as suspects. Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Paul Grant.

How safe are we in the hands of locum staff at NHS hospitals? The Government's crackdown on big fees charged by agencies that hire them out has been making headlines, but what's being done to ensure they are up to the job? Allan Urry investigates recent cases which raise questions about the quality of care delivered by some temporary staff. Should an agency doctor have better assessed a poorly surgical patient on his ward who died a short time later from a post -operative bleed? The programme also asks how well the agency sector is regulated following the revelation that a partly-qualified doctor was able to treat more than 3000 patients after lying about his qualifications. Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: David Lewis.

As the crisis in Syria deepens and refugees flock westwards, the UK government insists it is helping with a £1.1bn aid package to neighbouring countries - but is it being spent wisely?Simon Cox tracks money going from the UK to projects on the ground in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, trying to find out how much eventually gets to refugees. It's easy to see how funding an NGO to build new homes for Syrians is money well spent. But can the same be said for the hundreds of millions of pounds that go through the United Nations?The programme hears from aid workers, UN officials, refugees and UN investigators about cuts to food rations against a backdrop of high salaries and overheads.So is the UN up to the job of managing a modern-day refugee crisis?Producer: Lucy Proctor.

Like other steel communities, Rotherham faces the loss of hundreds of jobs following the recent announcement of redundancies at the local plant. It's the latest blow to a town now synonymous with widespread child grooming. Last year the Jay Report estimated that 1400 young people had been sexually abused there. It said most of the victims were white and most of the perpetrators were Asian men. So what's been the impact on community relations and how far has the scandal affected the local economy? For File on 4, Manveen Rana returns to the town to talk to families, business owners and the authorities to find out whether Rotherham can recover. Producer: Sally Chesworth.

David Cameron has promised three million new apprenticeships by 2020. But Further Education colleges must deliver them against a background of year-on-year cuts - with the axe likely to fall again in this Autumn's spending review.The National Audit Office has warned more than a quarter of further education colleges could be deemed financially inadequate by the end of the year. And this month MPs on the Public Accounts Committee will launch an inquiry into the financial sustainability of the sector.But how far is the crisis also a result of poor planning and excessive borrowing by colleges themselves? A File on 4 investigation finds some institutions taking increasingly desperate measures to make ends meet.And it asks whether the sector is being adequately policed: when a college faces financial collapse, what safety nets are in place?Reporter: Fran Abrams Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

What does the theft of a billion dollars from Europe's poorest country have to do with a run-down housing estate in Edinburgh? Moldova was robbed of 12% of its GDP by the bafflingly complex financial scam uncovered earlier this year. It involved a web of companies in the ex-Soviet country, with the money thought to have ended up in Russia via Latvian banks.But the trail also goes via a number of UK-registered companies, including one based in the district of north Edinburgh made famous by "Trainspotting", the novel about heroin addicts. It's not the only example of Eastern European fraudsters using the UK to launder their dirty money in this way. So why is it allowed to happen? Why is it so easy to set up an opaque shell company in the UK? And what is the role of so-called company formation agents? Tim Whewell investigatesReporter: Tim Whewell Producer: Simon Maybin.

Why is the NHS struggling to get hold of some life-saving medicines for its patients? Allan Urry reveals serious concern over the availability of some drugs used in the treatment of cancer and for pain control. Pharmacists and doctors say they face a daily battle to get access to a range of medicines and either end up buying alternatives at a greater cost to the health service or using less effective alternatives which can compromise patient care. So is the Government doing enough to ensure essential supplies are available? And has Whitehall's drive to push down the NHS drugs bill deterred some manufacturers from supplying the UK?Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Emma Forde.

With the Government cracking down on migrants working illegally, Simon Cox investigates Britain's shadow economy. He meets illegal workers to ask whether the get-tough message is putting them off. And he reveals the ways in which both employers and workers are getting round the law. So can the UK Border Force deliver on ministers' promises to make the UK an "unattractive" place for those who want to work illegally?Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: David Lewis.

Controversial charging decisions in the cases of Lord Janner, Operation Elveden and a doctor accused of female genital mutilation have brought a hostile reaction in the media to the Director of Public Prosecutions and increasing concern about the health of her organisation - the Crown Prosecution Service. Over the past five years the CPS has seen budget cuts of over 25% resulting in job losses and internal reforms. Despite this, the organisation maintains that it continues to improve performance - measured by conviction rates in both magistrates' and Crown Courts.However, there are increasing concerns about staff morale, the quality of decision-making and the standard of advocacy in court . BBC Home Affairs Correspondent, Danny Shaw has been hearing frank testimony from both inside and outside the CPS which presents a revealing picture of the justice system in England and Wales.Presenter: Danny Shaw Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

Tea is still the UK's favourite drink - but what's the human cost of a cuppa?In the first of a new series of File on 4, Jane Deith reports from Assam on the plight of workers on tea plantations which help supply some of Britain's best known brands.India is one of the largest tea producers in the world with an industry worth billions of pounds - but critics say pickers often have to endure long working hours and insanitary conditions, leading to poor health and high levels of maternal and infant mortality.Producer: Sally Chesworth.

Complaints against the police are running at a record high. The vast majority, nine out of ten, are rejected from the start. But when complainants appeal to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, one in 2 cases is overturned. Others - disgruntled with the way they've been treated by the police - sue the force. File on 4 hears from people who've been battling for years to pursue a complaint and who claim the process is unfairly weighted in favour of the police. In the Queen's Speech the Government confirmed its plans to overhaul the complaints system in order to restore public confidence. As part of the reform, Police and Crime Commissioners could be able to decide if they want to handle allegations against their local forces. The Commissioners themselves are divided on whether they want this additional role and critics say they would not have the resources to do it effectively. So just what recourse do you have when you feel you've been dealt with unfairly by the police? And will the Home Office proposals make any difference? Claire Savage investigates. Presenter: Claire Savage Producer: David Lewis.

Works behind schedule; costs going up; an inquiry into poor performance announced by the industry regulator. It's a depressingly familiar story on our railways. From brand new station escalators at a standstill in Birmingham, to only 10 per cent of trains on time at one of London's busiest stations, even the Chancellor's planned Northern Powerhouse is threatened as line upgrades between Manchester and York are delayed. Allan Urry investigates Network Rail's woes as pressure mounts to deliver £24 billion of infrastructure improvements. Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Rob Cave.

The UK's £12 billion pound foreign aid budget is one of the few areas of Government spending protected from cuts. The commitment to spend 0.7% of Britain's gross national income on aid means at least 60 billion pounds will be spent on overseas development in the next five years. Many of these projects are delivered by large companies that receive tens of millions of pounds from DFID (the Department for International Development). They can charge over a thousand pounds a day for a consultant and their directors earn six figure salaries but how effective are they are and the programmes they are paid to deliver? Simon Cox investigates the UK's aid industry and asks how taxpayers can know that they're getting value for money. Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: Gail Champion.

Sixty thousand people have crossed the Mediterranean and made it to Europe so far this year.Frontex, the EU border agency, warns that between 500,000 and 1 million people - Eritreans, Syrians, Afghans, Somalis - could be waiting to leave the shores of Libya for Italy.Its latest report says resources are being devoted to migrants' care but not towards screening and collecting basic information such as their nationality - which means many are quickly moving on to countries like the UK. According to the report, 'this puts the EU internal security at risk'.There are also fears terrorists belonging to the so-called Islamic State could secrete themselves among the migrants.So how easy is it for people to avoid security checks as they journey across the EU?European countries are supposed to stop illegal migrants and enter their fingerprints and details on a central database. EU rules state that the country where people are first fingerprinted must look after them and consider their asylum applications.This means many migrants set on coming to this country try to stay under the radar in Italy and France, hoping to reach the UK without being processed.Jane Deith follows the routes used by some of those headed for Britain.She also investigates the smugglers who help them - from individuals using their own cars, to organized crime gangs offering money back guarantees on a new life in the UK.Is Europe losing the battle for control?Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Paul Grant.

Later this month the medicines regulator, the MHRA, is due to complete its review into the clot-busting drug Alteplase, the frontline treatment used in many cases of stroke. A number of experts in the UK, US and Canada have raised serious doubts about the drug's safety and effectiveness. They are concerned about potentially fatal harm to patients through an increased risk of bleeding in the brain and they question the credibility of scientific research on which Alteplase was licensed. Supporters and regulators say any risks are outweighed by the benefits of improved recovery. BBC Health Correspondent Adam Brimelow assesses the evidence and the dilemma posed for doctors and their patients. Producer: Sally Chesworth.

With the urgent need for more housing, Britain's planning laws are under pressure like never before. Greenbelt land and even sites designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, are being earmarked for development. So how far can we protect the countryside when the need for houses is so acute? Allan Urry reveals new figures on scale of the problem and investigates claims that the planning system is being stretched to breaking point.Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Emma Forde.

Next month the National Audit Office is due to report on the outcomes for young people leaving care. There are claims that, under financial pressure, local authorities are pushing too many teenagers into independent living before they're ready. File on 4 investigates new figures that suggest many young care leavers are failing to cope - with large numbers ending up in custody, homeless, sexually exploited or pregnant. Social services chiefs say the welfare of care-leavers must be a key priority for the new government. But who holds them to account when they fail those they are meant to have looked after? And, with more cuts on the way, can the system cope? Fran Abrams reveals how hands-off caring can have tragic consequences.

Mental health services are facing a period of unprecedented change. The Department of Health has committed itself to reducing the disparity between spending on physical and mental illness, and a new payment system means services will be funded differently in the future. In the meantime there are concerns that vulnerable patients are dying because of pressures to release them from hospital too quickly, and a failure to provide adequate support in the community.Can a new focus on what has traditionally been dubbed a 'Cinderella service' reverse the impact of years of cuts? Reporter: Adrian Goldberg Producer: Gail Champion.

Emma Caldwell was a young woman from a good home who developed an addiction to heroin after the death of her sister and then descended into street prostitution. When her body was found dumped in a ditch in Lanarkshire in May 2005, the police launched an unprecedented murder hunt. But ten years on, after an investigation costing millions of pounds, no one has ever been convicted of her killing. Eamon O Connor investigates what went wrong. Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

It's taken a long time to break through the culture of denial, but child sexual exploitation cases from Rochdale to Oxford have shown that grooming of children can happen in any community.There seems to be a growing acceptance that what the Deputy Children's Commissioner says is true: 'there isn't a town, village of hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited'.Councils that thought they were immune from groomers and traffickers, are now training staff to spot child sexual exploitation. And children are being taught how to avoid falling prey.But, as children become more aware of grooming, are abusers increasingly turning their attention to people with learning disabilities?In the first of a new series, File on 4 hears warnings from disability workers and detectives that abusers are increasingly targeting people with disabilities - because they're less likely to know what grooming is, less likely to tell, and if they do, their case is far less likely to go to court.Jane Deith visits the only safe house in the UK for women with learning disabilities who've been victims of rape and sexual exploitation, and hears even this secret address is now on the radar of gangs trying to groom the residents.Women with learning disabilities tell their stories of being groomed and exploited, how they eventually broke their silence, only to be told the crimes would not be prosecuted. Of an estimated 1400 cases of sexual abuse each year, only 1% result in a conviction. If offenders aren't being punished, can we prevent the abuse by protecting those at risk? Councils worried someone is being exploited can go to the Court of Protection for permission to restrict their relationships on the grounds they don't have the mental capacity to consent to sex. But it's a difficult thing to rule on. File on 4 hears from disability workers who say men and women are being left open to rape and abuse, but also from campaigners who say the state is denying people their fundamental human right to sexual relationships.Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Sally Chesworth.

With Britain on heightened alert following Islamist shootings in Paris and Copenhagen, how well prepared are we to deal with a similar attack?Allan Urry discovers how extremists in neighbouring European countries were able to get access to guns and hears concerns about the ready availability of illegal weapons from Eastern Europe and North Africa.So what risk does that pose for the UK? Britain prides itself on tough gun control, but is that enough to prevent determined would-be terrorists getting access to firearms?Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Gail Champion.

Is the pressure on teachers reaching crisis point? Record numbers are leaving the classroom and thousands of teachers recently responded to the Government's workload survey to say they were struggling with their workload. They blamed the pressure of Ofsted inspections and pressure from school management. Official absence statistics are silent on the causes of sick leave - but now File on 4 reveals new figures on the number of teachers off long-term because of stress. Jane Deith hears from those who say they were pushed to the brink by the pressure - some suicidal and others hospitalized or diagnosed with depression. Teaching has always involved long hours and heavy workloads but, with schools' performance open to unprecedented scrutiny, some education academics argue that the 'surveillance culture' is now seriously harming teacher's health and their ability to provide high quality education. Are they right? How alarmed should we be about the mental well-being of our children's teachers? Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Matt Precey.

In Canada, everything is big - including powerful pension funds such as the Ontario Teachers fund which owns half of Birmingham airport and other large projects around the world. It's all a far cry from the British pension scene, where a hundred local government pension funds each run their own affairs separately and pay costly fees to City firms for investment advice. Many of them still have financial deficits. Taxpayers have been forced to pick up bills to pay off those shortfalls and already hard-pressed local services have been stretched further. Lesley Curwen investigates how these individual funds are run and asks whether we should have larger funds with cheaper costs - like Canada does. And she asks whether more councils should be using pension money to invest in housing and infrastructure as a way to boost their local economies?Producer: Anna Meisel Reporter: Lesley Curwen.

Secure children's homes look after some of the country's most vulnerable youngsters. Largely run by local authorities, they provide safe accommodation for children placed on custody grounds or for welfare reasons because they present a danger to themselves or others. The demand for places is rising but the number of beds is falling. So where does that leave those they are meant to cater for? With the government currently conducting a review into the system, File on 4 gets rare access to one home in the Midlands to meet children and staff; and talks to those struggling to find places for children across the UK. Reporter: Fran Abrams Producer: Emma Forde.

With a growing number of compensation claims arising from cases of historic sexual abuse and more recent high profile cases of sexual grooming, Tim Whewell investigates the key role which insurance companies play. In representing the local authorities where scandals occurred, insurers naturally seek to limit liability but are they doing so at a cost to victims? Lawyers say they have to battle to get access to files and other information - causing further distress and delaying help for those damaged by abuse. Some say the fight is getting harder as insurance companies have toughened their approach in recent years. And, with a national inquiry into historic cases of child sex abuse, how much influence did insurance companies have on the way some past investigations were carried out? File on 4 talks to senior local authority insiders who say they were told to alter their approach to abuse investigations to protect the insurers' interests. But was that at the expense of children at risk? Reporter: Tim Whewell Producer: Sally Chesworth.

Satellite images reveal the extent to which sites of important historical interest have been looted in Syria. Some of these are in areas controlled by Islamic State where looters are believed to pay a tax to allow them to operate. Iraqi military say evidence from a senior IS member revealed the group is making millions of pounds from the trafficking of looted antiquities Simon Cox investigates the global trade in stolen artefacts and traces smuggling routes through Turkey and Lebanon and onto the international antiquities market. He hears concerns that dealers and collectors are not doing enough to verify the provenance of ancient works of art and asks whether the authorities in the UK and elsewhere are doing enough to prevent the trade. Why, for example, does the UK remain the most significant military power not to have ratified a UN convention to protect cultural property during armed conflict? Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: Paul Grant.

Around 28 thousand people are claiming asylum in the UK. They're accommodated in some of the nation's most deprived areas while their cases are considered. Now, with numbers on the rise, some communities say they're struggling to cope. Allan Urry reports from the Northwest of England where, in some areas, there's concern about growing pressures on health services and schools. In Liverpool the City's Mayor, Joe Anderson, talks of an asylum "apartheid" and says other towns and cities need to take a fairer share. In Rochdale in Greater Manchester, there are more asylum seekers than the whole of the south east of England. The local MP Simon Danczuk says he's worried the pressures could undermine the good community relations that have always existed in the town. Recent stories of asylum seekers living in fancy hotels have led to outraged newspaper headlines but are they a symptom of bigger failings in the UK's system for housing those who come here seeking refuge?Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Matt Precey.

Where have all the nurses gone? File on 4 looks at the reasons for the nursing shortage in the NHS in England and the cost of plugging the gaps at a time of peak demand. A decision four years ago to cut training places to save money is still haunting the health service. There's no shortage of people wanting to be nurses but the NHS is badly understaffed. Recruitment in countries like Spain, Portugal and Italy has quadrupled in the last year as NHS trusts fail to find enough domestic nurses. But with thousands of European nurses encouraged to come here with incentives like relocation bonuses and free accommodation, why are hospitals still breaking guidelines on the level of acceptable vacancies? And how much has that contributed to the winter crisis in Accident and Emergency Units across the country? Hospitals aren't the only area of concern. Professional bodies like the RCN say there has been a reduction in the number of experienced senior nurses working in the community. Has the recent focus on increasing nurses on hospital wards meant other areas have suffered? And what impact will that have on the Government's long term plan to solve our hospital crisis by caring for more patients at home? Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Gemma Newby.

Benefit sanctions are supposed to be part of a system helping people back to work. But critics say they penalise the vulnerable and are among the reasons for the growing use of food banks. So how fair is the Government's system of withholding state payments for those who don't comply with welfare rules? Allan Urry hears from whistleblowers who allege some JobCentrePlus staff are setting claimants up to fail in order to meet internal performance targets. Why did a recovering amputee lose his benefits because he didn't answer the phone?Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Nicola Dowling.

With serious assaults at a record high, File on 4 investigates the growing tension within Britain's prisons.In the first of a new series, BBC Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw meets recently released prisoners and families of those inside to hear about their safety fears.And he talks to the Prison Officers Association about their concerns for the frontline members who they say are facing unprecedented levels of pressure and danger in a "chaotic" system.The Howard League for Penal Reform has used Ministry of Justice figures to calculate that around 40% of prison officer jobs have been cut - leaving inmates spending longer locked in their cells and less time preparing for their release.Lawyers and campaigners tell File on 4 that overcrowding and gang activity are adding to a "toxic mix" of problems leading to instability and tension.Twenty five years after the prison system was shaken by a series of riots centring on Strangeways in Manchester, is a new crisis starting to unfold?Reporter: Danny Shaw Producer: Sally Chesworth.

Is demand for long term nursing about to tip NHS finances over the edge?Under the system of "Continuing Healthcare" people with complex medical needs can claim the costs of nursing and medical help to keep them out of hospital. But the system has become mired in controversy with many people claiming they've been denied funding to which they are entitled.Now there's a deluge of backdated claims against Clinical Commissioning Groups. File on 4 finds the backlog is creating long delays in new assessments of patients.And it hears claims the assessments themselves are a postcode lottery, with the chances of being deemed eligible varying wildly between GP commissioning groups.The programme also hears evidence of NHS commissioners and councils fighting each other not to take responsibility for patients.Patients and their families are going to the health ombudsman in their hundreds.18 clinical commissioning groups are already going to end the year in the red, with some threatened with being put in special measures over their finances. Now they owe millions of pounds in backdated claims, plus interest.Is this creating an incentive to squeeze spending on continuing care? GP commissioners are about to be asked to put £1.9 billion into the pot for new joined-up health and social care services. Do they have the money, or the will, to buy into joined-up care?Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Nicola Dowling.

The UK generates nearly 300 million tonnes of waste every year. That's rich pickings for criminals who illegally dump what we don't want, damaging the environment and threatening our health. The black market in rubbish is said to be worth a billion pounds. With such huge sums at stake there's concern that organised crime is increasing its grip on the sector. Allan Urry examines the efforts of Britain's Environment Agencies to try to hold the line. But it's tough going at a time when cuts have led to a reduction in staffing. Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Carl Johnston.

Recent high-profile collapses of high street names such as Comet, Phones4U and other companies have left thousands of people out of work and have cost the taxpayer millions in statutory redundancy payments and unpaid taxes. This week File on 4 goes behind the headlines to examine the role of the companies' private equity backers. Were these failed businesses which were bound to have to close? Or might they have survived for longer under different ownership? Fran Abrams investigates. Producer: Emma Forde.

As inquiries into child abuse in Rotherham continue, File on 4 investigates claims of a hidden problem of sexual abuse within Britain's Asian communities.While the victims of recent grooming scandals have mostly been white girls, campaigners say Asian boys and girls have also been subjected to abuse over many years.Male and female survivors tell Manveen Rana there's a powerful culture of denial stopping many speaking out and getting justice. They say communities too often close ranks and ostracise or threaten those who complain, while leaving perpetrators to carry on.Reporter: Manveen Rana Producer: Sally Chesworth Assistant Producer: Yasminara Khan.

Ebola is now regarded as an international threat to peace and security, according to the World Health Organisation. Yet, when the WHO was first warned of an unprecedented outbreak, the organisation said it was "still relatively small." Now the UK has asked for volunteers to travel to West Africa to try to bring Ebola under control. Thousands of American troops are also flying out to the region. But could all this have been avoided? Simon Cox asks why it took so long for the world to wake up to the threat posed by Ebola? He also investigates the treatments that are now, belatedly, being developed - treatments that have existed for decades. Vaccines and other drugs are being rushed into production at an unprecedented pace, by-passing the usual safety controls. However, all predictions are that many more people will die before the disease is brought under control. Even then, will it become endemic?Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: John Murphy.

In the biggest outsourcing to date, the NHS in England has announced it is tendering a huge £700 million contract for providing NHS cancer care in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, along with another £500million for end of life care in the region. Officials say it will streamline services and provide better treatment while critics say it's the most reckless privatisation yet. BBC Health Editor Hugh Pym investigates.. Producer: Paul Grant.

The nature of crime is changing, with much of it now happening online, sparking growing concern that official figures fail to account for potentially millions of fraud offences. Experts say frauds involving plastic debit and credit cards are among the crimes left out of the data. So just how reliable - and useful - are the statistics?At the same time, police economic crime units, which investigate fraud, have become increasingly stretched, partly as a result of government budget cuts. BBC Home Affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw, asks whether law enforcement has kept pace with the changing face of fraud and if there are enough resources to tackle financial crime and bring fraudsters to justice.Reporter: Danny Shaw Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

How well are Britain's borders patrolled and defended at a time when the authorities are battling to stem the flow of illegal immigrants coming across the Channel and tightening national security because of fears of a terrorist attack by extremists returning from fighting in Syria and Iraq?Allan Urry assesses the vulnerability of our ports, struggling with cuts to Border Force personnel and problems with a computer system that was supposed to have identified all those coming into and going out of the UK. The programme reveals how security checks on cargo are being compromised and hears concern about the gaps in surveillance of our coastline.Producer: Emma Forde Reporter: Allan Urry.

Is a new scandal about to engulf the UK's banking industry? Was LIBOR just the tip of the iceberg? Regulators around the world are looking at the way important financial benchmarks have been calculated. These are used to set the value of pension funds, investments and international contracts worth billions of pounds. Financial regulators in the UK, across Europe and in the US are investigating whether the benchmarks have been rigged to increase bank profits - and to short change their customers. Banks are already receiving big fines over the LIBOR interest rate scandal but the focus is now shifting to the way prices in the foreign exchange, gold and interest rate swap markets have been set. Reporter Lesley Curwen assesses the evidence that banks have got together to manipulate the markets and asks what it means for the reputation of London as a global financial sector and public confidence in banking. Producer: David Lewis.

Knowl View special school for boys has become infamous as the haunt of Cyril Smith. Prosecutors now say 'Mr Rochdale' should have been charged with abuse of boys while he was alive. But he was not the only one. In the first of a new series, former pupils in the 1970s, 80s and 90s tell File on 4 how a web of abusers, including local paedophiles and other pupils preyed on boys as young as eight while people supposed to protect them looked the other way. Previous police investigations came to nothing. A new probe is underway, focusing on who could be guilty of a criminal cover up. But what became of the innocent? Jane Deith hears from some of those who experienced life in Knowl View. Telling their stories for the first time, they describe childhoods twisted by sexual abuse. Now questions are being asked about whether the failure to end the abuse at Knowl View led to a culture in which the subsequent grooming of young girls in Rochdale was allowed to happen. Alan Collins, a specialist child abuse lawyer representing some of the men who're suing Rochdale Council over abuse at Know View, believes things would have been different had Cyril Smith been prosecuted and convicted: "That would have sent a clear message through Rochdale and much further afield that there was clearly a problem and that problem would not have been so easy to brush away. I think that had a very long tail and that that tail continued right up until recent times."Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Sally Chesworth.

Every year more than 1,500 UK children are diagnosed with cancer. For some the outlook is good but for those struck down by one of the rarer cancers, the prognosis can be a bleak one. Two hundred and fifty children die each year from the disease. Parents have told File on 4 there is a worrying lack of research into new drugs for childhood cancers, with youngsters sometimes offered treatments which have hardly changed in the last forty years - treatments that can have a limited chance of success and which can cause fatal, serious and life-long side-effects for those lucky enough to survive. In the battle to get the most up-to-date treatments for children with some of the most aggressive cancers, increasing numbers of families say they are forced to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to travel abroad to take part in pioneering drugs trials elsewhere. Meanwhile UK researchers say they face a constant battle for funding. They also warn of a loophole in European regulations which they say stops break-through drugs that have been developed for adult cancer sufferers, being developed to benefit children. As science takes the treatment and understanding of disease to new levels, Jane Deith asks whether enough is being done to give children a fighting chance. Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Nicola Dowling.

Last month, in the Queen's Speech, the Government announced a series of measures to support small businesses -- including proposals to deal with the problem of late payment of bills by larger companies.It follows a long history of horror stories about major high street names leaving suppliers and sub-contractors out of pocket because of delays in settling accounts. Figures produced by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that 85 per cent of small and medium sized businesses said they had experienced late payment in the last two years and that, in total, there was £30bn outstanding to them. But File on 4 has found that it's not just in private business that serious problems are occurring. The programme speaks to business owners who say that that ineffective rules and sanctions have left them badly out of pocket on contracts undertaken in the public sector.Local authorities, the NHS and other Government departments have strict rules about how long they should take to pay their contractors. But Jenny Chryss reveals how some small firms are having to cut back on staff because bills still aren't being settled promptly. And she reveals how big contractors who do get paid on time, often delay before passing the money down the supply chain. So are critics right when they say the Government's proposed new measures still aren't enough to deal with the problem?Reporter: Jenny Chryss Producer: Emma Forde.

In many parts of the world, charities are trying to deliver much-needed aid to desperate people living in areas controlled by militant groups. What do they do when counter-terrorism laws ban them from contact with those de facto authorities?Risk of prosecution has now created a climate of fear in many aid agencies - and the UN wants counter-terrorism policies redrawn to ensure lives can be saved without charity workers risking jail.Tim Whewell reports from Gaza - and talks to aid workers operating in Syria, Somalia and other places - on the practical and moral dilemmas involved.Producer: Paul Grant.