The World at One
BBC Radio 4

What precisely is David Cameron after in his renegotiations over the EU? Finland's finance minister, Alexander Stubb, says he thinks the PM's agenda is "very clear". He sounds optimistic about some elements, like exemption from the "ever-closer union". Mr Stubb, who has just met George Osborne, says the chancellor and the PM are doing a "stellar" job on renegotiations. For a few years, he says:

The senior figures from Kids Company were called before MPs following the charity's closure amid a row about funding and with its performance and management under close scrutiny.

At times, the exchanges were heated and tetchy. At one point Camila Batmanghelidjh, the charity's founder, was told to "please stop talking" by committee chairman Bernard Jenkin.

Together with chairman Alan Yentob, they were repeatedly questioned about how the charity was run, including how payments were made, its lack of reserves and the numbers it helped.

They both rejected claims of financial mismanagement, insisting the charity was properly audited.

Ms Batmanghelidjh accused civil servants of briefing against the charity and Mr Yentob, who is also the BBC's creative director, claimed there had been four suicide attempts, stabbings and a murder in the wake of Kid Company's closure. Ms Batmanghelidjh rejected the idea then put to them that police said that was because "desperate kids no longer had money to pay their drug pushers".

Here's our story.

The Commons Speaker, John Bercow, has spoken out against Parliament taking a long break during the Party Conference season. MPs returned to Westminster after a three week break for the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative party conferences.

A Conservative, Philip Davies, said it was "unacceptable" that Parliament took such a break and asked if political parties couldn't organise their conferences at weekends so that Parliament could continue to sit?

John Bercow said it was a matter for the parties themselves but said he agreed with Mr Davies. He added: 

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee's questions of Kids Company founder Camila Batmanghelidjh and chairman of trustees Alan Yentob concludes. BBC special correspondent Lucy Manning has a summary of the hearing:

The SNP membership has reached 114,000, leader Nicola Sturgeon has announced at the party's conference.

That means SNP membership has increased by 43% from 80,000 under Ms Sturgeon's leadership, since the referendum last year.

To put that in context, currently 2.5% (or 1 in 40) Scottish adults are members of the SNP. In China, 8.7% of the adult population are members of the Chinese Communist party.

Does this indicate that the SNP are on track to be one of the biggest political parties - proportionally - in any world multi-party democracy?

No, says Jack Evans, from the BBC's political research unit, who has been crunching the numbers. 

The SNP's figures are still quite low internationally and nowhere near the BJP’s 13% of the adult Indian population.

About 1.53% of the UK adult population are currently members of a major political party; more than 800,000 in an adult population of 52,000,000. Even with the recent increases in membership seen by a variety of parties post the 2015 election, that is still  low by European standards.

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Kids Company would not have folded if it weren't for the "malicious allegations" of sexual abuse, says chairman of trustees Alan Yentob. He says a lot of charities get in trouble and tells MPs he can't see how he could have done more, "but I do see the regrets that I have".

"We carried the government's troubles," adds Camila Batmangelidjh.

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Alan Yentob is asked if his "emotional attachment" to the organisation "blinded you to the fact you should no longer have chaired it". The charity chairman says he should be credited with "competence", telling MPs he has managed to "keep the place afloat". He says he didn't just "sit in the office and look at charts and money", he also took an interest in the work it did. Him leaving could have "destabilised" the organisation, Mr Yentob tells MPs. He says he regrets the charity didn't respond to the challenges it faced earlier.

The Daily Politics

Schools minister Nick Gibb told the Daily Politics:

Mr Gibb added: 

Some civil servants have been "absolutely brilliant" in their dealing with Kids Company, says Camila Batmanghelidjh, but she adds: 

She accuses some civil servants of "briefing against us" even though they've "never had any dealings" with the charity.

The founder also questions the "very suspicious timing" of the government grant arriving in the charity's account and allegations against the company being made.

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Image source, bbc

Camila Batmanghelidjh says the Cabinet Office agreed to the charity spending £880,000 on staff costs from the £3m government grant, which was intended for a "transformation and downsizing plan" that would support Kids Company as it reformed itself.

The deal was £3m from government, £3m from philanthropists and she was to raise £8m, she explains, but she adds that she fell short by £350,000 "and put her flat up as a surety".

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The Kids Company founder is asked if it's true some of the payments it made were used to help people pay their mortgage. She says there was one case "but I would like to discuss it separately". 

After further questioning, she says a client who lived overseas was helped, but stresses it was for a "transition" period", saying it was "the responsible thing" for the charity to have done as one case involved a person with no parents, and who had mental health problems.

The SNP's leader at Westminster, Angus Robertson, tells the London Evening Standard , externalthat military action in Syria could prompt a second vote on independence.

Martin Bright says never seen anything like this morning's committee hearing into the collapse of Kid's Company

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NHS trusts were referring difficult clients to Kids Company "without paying," claims Camilla Batmananghelidjh.

She calls for an "objective" review of the charity's case load, accusing the authorities of "collusion" to hide the real scale of the problems they were dealing with.

Tory MP Cheryl Gillan accuses Ms Batmananghelidjh of "name dropping" during the session - something she denies. 

MPs will hold an emergency debate next Monday to discuss the so-called Wilson doctrine after a court ruling yesterday that the convention, which is meant to stop phones of MPs and peers being tapped, has no legal basis.

On Wednesday, the SNP's Alex Salmond suggested a cross-party group of MPs may bring forward a motion to reassert an "essential democratic protection". 

Shadow Commons leader Chris Bryant said: "The freedom of members to be able to speak without fear or favour, and without fear of being spied upon by the Government or any other agency, is a vital part of our being able to do our job as representatives. "I think it strikes at the heart of our liberties." 

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Did you have privileged access to ministers in government over the years, is a question put to Alan Yentob by Conservative MP David Jones. "I didn't see them that much, it was Camila," Mr Yentob responds. He says the charity was not "indulged".

Bernard Jenkin, committee chairman, argues that the charity's "financial fragility" was evident for years. Mr Yentob says this was down to the demand from "very vulnerable children" who, he says, no-one else would look after. He tells MPs "there was a balance  to be struck" and insists the charity acted "responsibly" and was run "properly".

Camila Batmanghelidjh tries to intervene but Mr Jenkin responds with a loud "Order!". "I don't know that shouting is going to get me to behave any better," she tells him.