File on 4 Folgen

Ministers have promised a new focus on home care for the elderly and disabled amid concern that 15-minute calls and a low-paid, underskilled workforce are leaving vulnerable people at risk.From this Spring, inspectors will ask how councils' commissioning practices are affecting the daily lives of those they care for. But with authorities under pressure simultaneously to cut costs, will quality continue to suffer?Fears have been mounting about whether the basic needs of vulnerable people are being met. The government's human rights watchdog has been pressing the issue, along with tax officials who say many companies are breaching minimum wage legislation.This week File on 4 reports on the results of its own survey of local authorities in England. Have councils increased spending to keep pace with inflation in the past few years, or have they actually driven down costs? And are they providing even the most basic level of resources that social service chiefs say are needed to keep those in their care safe and well? Reporter: Fran Abrams Producer: Emma Forde.

A year after the horsemeat scandal there are calls for a new police force to fight food fraud amid concerns that organised crime is increasingly targeting the sector because there are huge profits to be made at the expense of the consumer. Prof Chris Elliott, who was commissioned by the government to investigate the UK's most serious food scandal in recent years, says criminals are committing more food fraud because there's little risk of detection or serious penalties if they're caught. Gerry Northam investigates the extent of food fraud across the UK and reports from Brussels on whether the EU has learned enough lessons from last year's scandal. Producer: Carl Johnston.

Last month a report by a government advisor, Lawrence Tomlinson, accused The Royal Bank of Scotland of forcing some viable businesses into insolvency. The Bank has denied Tomlinson's claims and has asked a leading law firm to carry out an independent investigation. With their findings due to be published shortly, File on 4 assesses the evidence. Jane Deith speaks to families who claim their companies were unfairly forced to the wall and their lives ruined as a result of the actions of the Bank's Global Restructuring Group.Billed as the equivalent of an intensive care unit designed to help nurse distressed businesses back to health, did the Global Restructuring Group kill some of them off instead? And was RBS able to profit as a result?With a rising tide of complaints against the taxpayer-owned bank, the Financial Conduct Authority is beginning its own investigation. So, was RBS being predatory or prudent?Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Nicola Dowling.