You and Yours - 03/01/2011

As cinemas prepare to show The Kings Speech, speech and language therapy is in the spotlight. The profession's Royal College is warning that provision is being cut. We speak to a Speech and Language Therapist, who himself has a stammer, about why he thinks the service is so crucial. An increasing interest in cycling has led to inexperienced or "rusty" cyclists taking to the road. London councils and Transport for London are running free or cheap courses offering one-to-one instruction where would-be cyclists can re-learn how to ride a bike and acquire confidence. Train fares are set to rise by an average of 6.2% this week. The current average price for a single journey is £4.89; this will rise to £5.19. The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) says that above inflation fare rises are the only way to sustain investment, and put the hike onto passengers not taxpayers. Vat rises to 20% on January 4th. We will look at how well Britain's 4.7 million small businesses are coping during this latest recession and how will they fare in the coming 12 months. The government is hoping they will grow so that jobs will be created in the private sector to make up for those lost in the public sector. But could 2011 be more difficult than last year? We launch a new series looking at the how different sized businesses are coping in the downturn. How will they fare over the next year? We take a look at two very different manufacturers in the steel industry - Tata Steel in Rotherham, part of the giant Tata group and one of the ten biggest steel manufactures in the world, and R Baker in Liverpool, a small manufacturing company of hand built transformers for the defence industry.