Afternoon briefing Friday 12th December

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands, so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk. This is the Times Afternoon Briefing for Friday the 12th of December. A senior figure within the NHS has told Times Radio that he's concerned by the potential threat to the health service by the spread of flu.

0:47It's after the health secretary West Streeting warned the NHS faces collapse this Christmas amid the threat of strike action by resident doctors next week. The National Clinical Director for Emergency Care for NHS England is Julian Redhead. Speaking to Times Radio, he defended the NHS response with more than a half of children aged between 2 and 17 still unvaccinated. Transmission starts in the younger children and then moves through the generations and obviously it's those patients who are vulnerable, who are more likely to need to be admitted into hospital. So we target very early on to ensure that those children have got availability of their vaccine and that's why it's important that we talk to the public and we talk to people about the safety of that vaccine.

1:30The UK's economy contracted for a second successive month in October despite expectations for a rebound. Car manufacturing only made a slight recovery from the Jaguar Land Rover cyber attack, prompting GDP to fall by 0.1%. It means the UK economy has now not grown since June, although the CBI recently delivered an upgraded growth forecast of 1.3%. Richard Fuller is the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Speaking to Times Radio, he accused the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, of disincentivisation. The government always say they're going to deliver growth, but the people who deliver growth are the people who go out to work hard every day, start a business, hire new people, invest for the future.

2:12And if you raise the tax on hiring people, you're going to hire fewer people. So the government's strategy doesn't seem to be directed towards creating growth, no matter what their words say. The schools minister has told Times Radio that the system for educating children with special needs and disabilities absolutely needs to change. But Georgia Gould wouldn't be drawn on what will be included in the government's white paper coming in the new year. The funding of£3 billion being announced today will allow for 50 ,000 specialist places nationwide. Local authorities will receive additional per-pupil funding to deliver those places more efficiently.

2:51Amanda Hobgood is the local government chair of the Children, Young People and Families Committee. As with everything, the devil will be in the detail as to how that's going to be allocated. Local government are calling for that to go to local authorities because they're best placed to know where these places are needed, given that they have the statutory responsibility. And the Nationwide Building Society has been fined£44 million by the Financial Conduct Authority. It found Nationwide was aware that some of its personal current account customers were using their accounts for business activity, meaning it was unable to recognise and manage money laundering risks.

3:31In one case, it missed opportunities to spot a customer receiving more than£27 million in fraudulent COVID furlough payments. You can follow the Times News briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:50This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere. In the news, in our hands, but return on investment, not so much. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business? Strong foundations unlock AI's potential. That's why PwC takes you further with tech, strengthening the data quality, processes and workflows that shape how well AI performs. PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale. Discover more at pwc.co.uk.

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