Party leaders have clashed over public spending, in a BBC election debate.

With Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg absent, Labour's Ed Miliband was challenged to be "bolder" on spending.
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood called on Mr Miliband to hold an "emergency budget" to reverse cuts made by Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg
The Labour leader said there was a "huge difference" between his plans and those of the Conservatives.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she would encourage Labour to spend more, in the event of a hung parliament.
"If Labour won't be bold enough on its own, I think people should vote for parties who will hold Labour to account and make them bolder," she said.
Ms Wood said people were "seeing through the austerity myth", and that austerity and old politics were not inevitable.
"We will work for a new politics for all," she pledged.
Mr Miliband said Labour would defend the NHS, with more doctors and nurses, and stand up for working families.
He said Labour's plans included a "mansion tax", ending the so called "bedroom tax" and a bankers' bonus tax to fund jobs for young people.
He said he would "reject" the arguments of parties trying to break up the United Kingdom.
Asked by Ms Wood to commit to Â£1.2bn extra for the Welsh government's annual budget, Mr Miliband said he would not make "false promises".
UKIP leader Nigel Farage called parties' spending plans "farcical".
He also accused the BBC of selecting an audience that was too "left-wing".
"The real audience is at home," Mr Farage said.
David Dimbleby, who hosted the event, said the audience had been chosen by an independent polling organisation.
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett called the austerity agenda "spiteful".
"The Green Party are the real challengers, offering a million new jobs, combating climate change, protecting vital community services," she said.
In later exchanges on the NHS, Ms Wood told Mr Miliband Labour's record on running the service in Wales was "not good, you know".
Mr Miliband said there were "challenges" for the NHS in Wales, but suggested cuts to the Welsh government's budget  - set in Westminster - were to blame.
In a BBC interview following the debate, Conservative Leader of the Commons William Hague said the debate highlighted the "interesting" relationship between Labour and the SNP.
"Nicola Sturgeon, it is very clear from this debate, wants to put Ed Miliband into Downing Street and then drive him into more and more extreme positions," he said.
"It is also very clear that she would be in the driving seat."
Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said a "centre-ground voter" would have been "alarmed" by the debate.
A "responsible, strong and balanced" coalition needs the Lib Dems, he said.
"Listening to that rabble tonight people will be very worried about the future of their country."


Hideki Matsuyama is the latest top-10 golfer to confirm he will compete at the Irish Open from 6-9 July.

The Japanese star will join Justin Rose, Jon Rahm, Danny Willett and Rory McIlroy in the field at Portstewart.
The world number four has been in superb form over the past 12 months with three wins on the PGA Tour, including the WGC-HSBC Champions.
This year's Irish Open is one of the eight tournaments on the European Tour's lucrative new Rolex Series.
Matsuyama, 25, has amassed an impressive majors record since turning professional in 2013 with five top-10 finishes and a further two in the top 20.
Matsuyama, who tied for 11th place at the Masters in April, will use the tournament to prepare for The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale from 20-23 July.
"It is important to play some links golf ahead of The Open Championship and I'm sure Portstewart will be the perfect preparation for me," he said.
"I know Rory puts a lot into this tournament and he has done an incredible job raising its profile. I'm really excited and I know it will be a great week."
Matsuyama is the third player in the current top 10 in the world to be named in the Irish Open field - following Rahm and defending champion McIlroy, whose charity, the Rory Foundation, host the event.
Fellow Japanese player Hideto Tanihara has also confirmed he will take part in the tournament, which will feature a record prize fund of nearly £5.5m when it takes place at Portstewart Golf Club for the first time.
The new Rolex Series, which includes the Irish Open, is a premium category of events on the European Tour calendar each with a minimum prize fund of $7m.


The repercussions from "Black Monday" - the global markets turmoil caused by a plunge in Chinese stocks - continue to be felt on Tuesday.

To the uninitiated, the situation may seem bafflingly complex, here's a breakdown of the issues:
The story of China has been one of extraordinary growth in the last decade, but there have been recent concerns that there will be a significant economic slowdown.
One worry is that this would trigger panicked reactions from domestic investors and lead to a stock market crash.
With China establishing its Shanghai stock exchange only in 1990, its market is considered immature compared to the rest of the world.
The shares are almost entirely owned by domestic traders, many of whom are 'mom and pop' investors with little experience in investing.
The lack of large, experienced and professional organisations as investors means that the market can be much more volatile.
Over the last few months, China's central bank has been repeatedly propping up the stock market to ensure stability.
They have been doing it through several big measures, such as cutting central bank interest rates - which allows more money to flow easily - and buying up shares to stop them from falling.
After losses last week, there was an expectation on Friday that there would be yet another such drastic move.
But that did not happen - causing panic to ripple out and a dramatic drop in shares on Monday. The stock market saw its worst single-day plunge since 2007.
Read more: China counts cost of Black Monday
One of the possible triggers for the drop in past trading sessions was the earlier decision by the central bank to devalue the yuan and allow it to trade more flexibly.
Unlike most currencies, the Chinese currency is not allowed to trade freely according to the number of buyers and sellers in international markets.
Rather, the central bank sets a daily rate to the US dollar and for the rest of the day, the yuan is allowed to trade 2% up or down from that rate.
Earlier in August, the bank cut that rate by almost 2%, sending a first wave of insecurity through markets. The move was seen as an attempt to help exports by making Chinese goods cheaper abroad.
The central bank also said it would set the daily rate based on how the yuan traded the previous day, which means that it could fall a lot further in future.
China's stock market slump caused investor uncertainty to spread across the region and then around the globe, destabilising stock markets in New York and Europe.
This knock-on effect has highlighted how much of a linchpin China's stock market is in the global marketplace.
Hong Kong-based investment analyst Peter Churchouse says China's market was "irrelevant" 35 years ago and as recent as a decade ago, it merely followed trends in the global economy.
But now the tables have turned, he says. "The global economy and global markets have a 'Made in China' label on them."
Read more: How China's share slump affects the world
Monday's global turmoil sparked fears of another international financial meltdown, but analysts say it was merely over-inflated markets correcting themselves.  They are however warning of further slumps in the long run.
Nicholas Teo of financial analysis firm CMC Markets says financial markets were "intoxicated" by easy and cheap funding in recent years, boosting stocks' value and consumer spending.
The turmoil caused by China's stock slump "suggested that the great unwind of the excesses is beckoning".
As for China itself, analysts say that as the market matures over the years and investors become more experienced, it will become less volatile.
This could also happen if China's government removes some of the restrictions that hinder foreign ownership of shares, thus paving the way for bigger more professional firms to come in and inject stability. Currently foreigners only own 2% of stocks.
Observers have described this incident as a "rude awakening" for global investors who have paid scant attention to China.
Extreme movements in China's market will probably become a more common sight, given its peculiarity of being dominated by small-time inexperienced investors.
Meanwhile China's economy is still expected to slow which in turn would affect the global economy, particularly Western growth, says the BBC's Duncan Weldon.
Read more: How worried should we be about Chinese share price falls?
The BBC's Robert Peston says that in the short term, the world will have an increase in spending power, but over the long term, this would make some countries like the UK considerably poorer.
Read more: Will China's slowdown make us poorer?
But many anticipate that the Chinese government will continue to prop up the economy one way or the other, and even more so in light of this recent financial volatility.
"It's difficult to see officials allowing the economy to slide further without some countervailing action," says Frederic Neumann, who co-heads Asian economics research at HSBC.


Charlie Raglan has joined Oxford United from Chesterfield on a permanent deal following a successful loan spell.

The 24-year-old defender, who made 17 starts for the U's last season, has signed a two-year contract with an option for a further 12 months.
Raglan is Oxford's second summer signing following the arrival of goalkeeper Scott Shearer.
"I thoroughly enjoyed last season and am looking forward to being here longer term," said Raglan.
He was among 12 players released by Chesterfield following relegation to League Two.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Drivers at Leeds' biggest bus operator, First, are staging a second 24-hour strike.

Unite members rejected a 3% pay offer tabled by First when talks were held with conciliatory service ACAS earlier this month.
The union said services across the city and the 72 between Bradford and Leeds were affected.
FirstLeeds managing director Paul Matthews said the strike was a "massive inconvenience for customers".
Live updates on this story and others from West Yorkshire
Phil Brown, of Unite, said bus drivers had been "backed into a corner".
"All our members are asking for is a decent pay rise," he said. "Colleagues in other parts of West Yorkshire are on over Â£2 more than us.
"We met hoping to resolve the dispute but were offered a worse deal than we originally rejected."
A spokesman for First queried how Unite had come to the Â£2 figure, saying the company "doesn't recognise any such difference".
Mr Brown apologised to passengers but said: "It's a last resort... but [First] is the one with the purse strings and the cash to resolve it.
"We've put countless counter-proposals on the table but they won't listen."
Mr Matthews said: "This is very disappointing news that will create massive inconvenience for our customers as well as hardship for our staff.
"Our offers continue to be well above inflation, as the pay deals have been each year for the last four years."
He said First was "open to meaningful negotiation to agree an affordable deal but not one that will push fares up for customers."
Unite said it was hopeful of taking part in further talks and had no plans for further strike dates.
First routes in Halifax and Huddersfield are unaffected, and Leeds' park-and-ride service is running as normal.
Get full details of service disruption here.


Nigeria striker Kelechi Iheanacho says that despite getting a chance under manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City he is not taking his place in the team for granted.

Iheanacho joined City from the Taye Academy in Nigeria in January 2014 and broke into the club's senior side last season with some eye-catching displays.
His blistering form this season - which includes a goal and assist in City's 2-1 derby win at Manchester United - has earned universal plaudits again, but he refuses to get carried away.
I'm definitely learning, quietly listening and watching others closely every day - I know in doing that I will achieve bigger things in my career
"I'm not letting all the praise get to my head because I still have a lot to learn in this game," Iheanacho, who has scored three goals in seven appearances this season, told BBC Sport.
"It's been a very progressive period for me at the club, but playing alongside stars like Sergio [Aguero], Yaya [Toure] and other great players provides a big chance to keep working hard.
"I'm definitely learning, quietly listening and watching others closely every day - I know in doing that I will achieve bigger things in my career."
The 19-year-old scored 14 times and produced seven assists last season even though 25 of his 36 appearances were as a substitute.
That feat saw him finish as City's third-highest scorer in all competitions, behind Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne.
Guardiola has rewarded him with a long-term deal on much improved terms at the Etihad, but the player admits he has a lot of work to do before he can nail down a regular place in the starting line-up.
"We have experienced players in the team and as someone who is learning and improving, I am happy to take my chance when the manager calls," Iheanacho said.
"Our manager has confidence in me and has been encouraging me. All I want to do right now is to keep learning under him and work hard for the club."
The young striker's goal-scoring form as a substitute is such that he is now seen as the most dangerous member of the squad on the bench.
But he is refusing to get swept away by his new star status, saying his goals and assists are down to teamwork.
"I score goals not just because I am playing up front but because I get to play in a fantastic team," said Iheanacho.
"Our defenders and midfielders supply the passes and support for me to deliver, so it is a collective effort."
Iheanacho has scored three goals in five appearances for Nigeria since making his senior debut against Swaziland in November 2015.
He starred as Nigeria won the 2013 Fifa U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates for a record fourth-time.
He emerged as the tournament's outstanding player, being voted the Most Valuable Player.
Iheanacho scored six goals to secure him the Silver Boot as the competitions' second-highest goal-scorer.


An inquiry into forestry and woodland policy in Wales has been launched by an assembly committee.

AMs will look at how well people feel the Welsh Government responds to climate change, contributes to heritage and landscapes and serves local needs.
The closing date for submissions to the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee is 7 April.
The AMs will also examine the Welsh Government's delivery of its Woodlands for Wales strategy.
Committee chairman Mark Reckless said: "Forests and woodlands cover more than 300,000 hectares in Wales, and the industry is worth half a billion pounds to the Welsh economy.
"We will be taking a close look at this sector, examining how the Welsh Government is balancing the sustainable environmental and commercial priorities.
"We would be interested to hear what anyone with an interest in forestry and woodland in Wales has to say."


Everton boss Ronald Koeman says he has become "worried" by his side's performances after a run of one win in eight Premier League games.

Koeman had an unhappy return to his former club Southampton as Everton lost 1-0 at St Mary's Stadium on Sunday.
The Toffees had one shot on target and Koeman said the performances of midfielder Ross Barkley and striker Romelu Lukaku were "not good enough".
"We need to be sharp, react fast to second balls," added Koeman.
Southampton's winner came after just 41 seconds and it was not until the 93rd minute that his side had an effort on target.
Koeman added: "It's incredible. You start a game to control a game and we didn't. We had bad defending positions for the cross. That [goal] made it difficult and a different game.
"The whole first half was not good. We had problems with Southampton's strikers, and that's strange because we know how they play.
"I'm not worried about results, I'm worried about what I see on the pitch."
Lukaku had just two touches in the Southampton penalty area - as many as he had in his own - as Everton struggled to test Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
Despite their poor run, Everton remain seventh in the table.
Three of their next four league matches are at home to Manchester United (4 December), Arsenal (13 December) and Liverpool (19 December).


A man has been arrested by police investigating a suspected hammer attack on a 17-year-old girl in Portsmouth.

An attempted murder investigation was launched after the attack at a property in Shearer Road on 11 April, which left the teenager with "life-changing" injuries.
Police said a 28-year-old man from Portsmouth was detained on suspicion of attempted murder.
In the past two weeks, police offered a reward and staged a reconstruction.
Officers have said the girl's injuries were believed to have been caused by a hammer.
Police also previously said they were investigating whether the address was targeted due to links with the sex trade.


Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has apologised for a scandal involving his wife's purchase two years ago of a $7m house from a government contractor.

Mr Pena Nieto said it had damaged people's faith in the presidency.
He said he had not broken the law and promised to redouble efforts to fight corruption.
Mr Pena Nieto's party, the PRI, suffered severe losses in recent local elections.
He was addressing political leaders at the unveiling of a new anti-corruption system that increases the monitoring of politicians.
Mr Pena Nieto is facing presidential elections in 2018.
Who can fight Mexico's corruption?
Mexico minister defends house purchase
What will be President Pena Nieto's legacy?
In an unusually frank apology, he said the scandal had damaged the Mexican people's faith in the presidency and the government.
"For this reason, with all humility I ask your forgiveness."
"I repeat my sincere and profound apology for the offence and indignation I have caused you."
Mr Pena Nieto had reacted angrily at the time when he and his wife were criticised for buying the luxury home from Grupo Higa, a major government contractor.
His wife, Angelica Rivera, denied wrongdoing and said she had bought the house with earnings from her career as an actress.
She later returned the mansion, which she had been paying for in instalments.
It emerged later that Mr Pena Nieto's finance minister had also bought a house from the same contractor.
A government investigation later found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Correspondents say the scandal may have also damaged Mexico's relations with China because they cancelled a a multi-billion-dollar contract won by the sole bidder, a Chinese-led consortium to build a high-speed rail link.
Grupo Higa was part of the consortium.


White House chief strategist Steve Bannon "fat shamed" press secretary Sean Spicer, Chelsea Clinton has said.

The former first daughter criticised Mr Bannon on Twitter, saying the White House was "using fat shaming to justify increased opacity".
Mr Bannon told The Atlantic in a text message a day earlier the reason news briefings had been held off-camera was because "Sean got fatter".
Mr Bannon did not respond to follow-up questions nor elaborate on his remarks.
The White House has been holding a series of off-camera briefings in place of the traditional daily media events.
The Trump administration has frustrated White House reporters by also restricting the use of audio and video during the briefings.
Ms Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, retweeted British author Brian Klaas, who called Mr Bannon's excuse "pathetic and undemocratic".
But some conservatives were quick to defend Mr Bannon, describing his response as harmless fun.
White House reporter Charlie Spiering of Breitbart News, which Mr Bannon previously led, insisted it was a joke on Twitter.
Jim Hanson, president of a national security group, called Ms Clinton's tweet a "PR-managed response from the humour-impaired left".
Ms Clinton fired back at both men, noting she didn't take fat-shaming lightly.
The Twitter spat comes as US media reported the White House is considering moving Mr Spicer to a more senior communications role.
Communications director Mike Dubke stepped down earlier this month.


The hunt for the driver suspected of killing 13 people in last week's attack in Barcelona has been extended across Europe, Catalan officials say.

Officials say they have confirmed the driver's identity as 22-year-old Moroccan Younes Abouyaaqoub.
Authorities earlier said they could not rule out the possibility that he had slipped across the border to France.
New CCTV footage from the day of the attack appears to show him fleeing the scene on foot.
Three images in El Pais newspaper allegedly show the man walking through La Boqueria market, wearing sunglasses, as he passes other people heading away from Las Ramblas.
Police say they are investigating the possibility that, some 90 minutes later, the suspect stabbed and killed a Spanish man and stole his car.
Two hours after the attack, 34-year-old Pau Perez from Vila Franca was found dead in his vehicle. He is the 15th person confirmed dead following the two attacks.
Thirteen were killed when the van, allegedly driven by Abouyaaqoub, swerved through crowds in the busy area Las Ramblas in Barcelona on Thursday, and one woman died during a second attack in Cambrils hours later, in which five attackers were killed by police.
On Sunday, Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero said that of the 12 suspects, only one - assumed to be Abouyaaqoub - remained at large.
Four were under arrest and there were two sets of human remains to be identified, he said. Five were killed during a second attack in Cambrils.
French media report that the vehicle used in Cambrils had been caught on speed cameras in France's Essonne region the previous week. But a direct link between the group of attackers in Spain and the car's appearance in France has not yet been established.
It has now emerged that an imam living in the town of Ripoll, where Abouyaaqoub and several other suspects came from, is suspected of recruiting young people to an extremist cause.
Family members of the dead suspects said they believe Imam Abdelbaki Es Satty radicalised several young people from the town.
A picture is now emerging of Imam Satty as a possible ringleader or key organiser of the 12-strong terror cell, the BBC's Europe reporter Gavin Lee said.
The imam apparently left the mosque in June for an extended trip to Morocco, but a flatmate told the BBC he had been seen in Ripoll as recently as last Tuesday.
The father of two of those shot dead by police in Cambrils, Mohamed and Omar Hychami, told the BBC he was devastated. Hecham Igasi also accused the imam of radicalising his sons.
The search for Imam Satty has lost some urgency after police suggested he may have died in an explosion in Alcanar on Wednesday.
The explosion is believed to have been an accident during the manufacture of explosives the group was making.
The group had apparently been planning three coordinated attacks using the home-made bombs. Police found about 120 gas canisters at the site.
Spanish media outlets say Imam Satty had spent some time in prison, and had met prisoners involved or linked with the 2004 Madrid train bombings, in which 191 people died.
He also stayed in Belgium for some three months last year, where he had been searching for work, including in Vilvoorde, a small town of just 42,000 - from which more than 20 jihadists departed for Syria in 2014.
The mayor of Vilvoorde, Hans Bonte, said the imam had spent time there between January and March 2016, and had been screened by police.
But at the time, there did not appear to be a serious issue, he said.
So-called Islamic State (IS) said it had carried out the Las Ramblas attack, though it is not clear whether any of the attackers were directly connected to the group or simply inspired by it.


A Catholic priest who was investigated over abuse allegations has returned to ministry.

20 December 2015 Last updated at 18:08 GMT
The Public Prosecution Service found Fr John McManus from the Diocese of Down and Connor had no case to answer.
Claire Graham reports.


British sprinter Adam Gemili says the hamstring tear which forced him to miss the 2015 World Championships was "almost a blessing in disguise".

The 22-year-old, who had been sidelined since last June, returned to action over 60m last weekend.
"The injury taught me a lot about myself, my body and where I need to be," he told BBC Radio Kent.
"Since I came into the sport it has been non-stop. You get to see the sport from a different perspective."
Gemili, who suffered the injury in Birmingham last summer after running his first sub-10 seconds 100m, added: "It is not always the person who is in the best physical shape that is going to win.
"You need to be mentally strong. I wouldn't have seen that if I wasn't injured."
Media playback is not supported on this device
After missing August's World Championships in Beijing on medical advice, the European 200m champion returned to competition on Sunday, winning the 60m at the Welsh Senior Indoor Championships in a personal best of 6.59s.
"There are still lots of improvements to make on my performance, but it is a good start," he said.
"I have got to learn and try and be up there with the best in the world. They are running a little bit faster so I have got to step my performance up."
Gemili reached the semi-finals at the London Olympics in 2012 after committing to the sport full-time the previous January, having previously been on the books at Dagenham & Redbridge FC.
He says his hamstring has "no residual effects" from his injury last summer and is now targeting selection for his second Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio.
"It is a big summer ahead," he added.
"It only feels like last year that we were getting ready for London and now Rio has come around.
"The British squad has such depth in sprinting that it will be tough to make the team but I believe I can do that."


A telescope to find thousands of planets beyond our Solar System is the hot favourite for selection as Europe's next medium-class science mission.

Known as Plato, the concept was chosen by an expert panel as the standout candidate in a competition run by the European Space Agency (Esa).
The Paris-based organisation's Science Policy Committee will now have the final say at its meeting in February.
If given the go-ahead, Plato would probably not launch until 2024.
The name of the mission is an acronym that stands for PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars.
It is not really one telescope but rather a suite of 34 telescopes mounted on a single satellite.
The intention is for Plato to sweep about half the sky, to investigate some of its brightest and nearest stars.
It would monitor these stars for the tell-tale tiny dips in light that occur when planets move across their faces.
Critically, Plato would be tuned to seek out rocky worlds orbiting in the "habitable zone" - the region around a star where water can keep a liquid state.
A fundamental part of its quest would be to perform an intricate study of the host stars themselves, using their pulsations to probe their structure and properties.
Such observations, referred to as asteroseismology, would provide key, complementary information for the proper characterisation of the rocky worlds.
Although other missions have pursued this kind of science before, Plato is described as a major leap forward in capability.
The hope is that it could find really promising targets for follow-up by the big ground-based telescopes due to come online in the next decade.
These facilities, which will have primary mirrors measuring tens of metres in diameter, should be able to examine the atmospheres of distant worlds for possible life signatures.
The James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble, due for launch at the end of this decade, would likely still be working in 2024/2025 and could also pursue Plato's discoveries.
Plato has spent the past two years in an assessment process that has pitted it against four other concepts.
These alternatives included another planet observatory (Echo), an asteroid mission (Marco Polo-R), an X-ray telescope (Loft), and a satellite that would perform a precise test of Einstein's equivalence principle (STE-Quest).
All were vying for the third medium-class launch opportunity to be offered under Esa's so-called Cosmic Vision programme, which defines the organisation's space science priorities.
"Medium class" means a cost to the agency of no more than about 600m euros (Â£490m; $820m), although following the practice of previous missions this does not include the budget for instruments.
These are usually provided directly by Esa's national member agencies and mean the final price tag can approach one billion euros.
All the competitors were invited to make a final presentation to representatives of the scientific community, industry, and national member agencies on 21 January. This was followed by closed-session discussions by two working groups, which rated the quality of the missions.
Their recommendations were then passed to Esa's top space science advisory committee (SSAC) to make an evaluation.
It proposed that Plato be carried forward as the mission of choice, and this preference has now been sent on by Esa's executive to the SPC.  The committee has the prerogative of "selection" at its 19 February gathering, and could still reject Plato - but this would be a major surprise.
The final green light is known as "adoption" in Esa-speak. This is unlikely to happen until 2015, after member states have made firm commitments on their participation and an industrial team to build the satellite has been identified.
One big industrial contribution from the UK seems assured. This would be the camera detector at the base of the telescope suite.
Supplied by e2v in Chelmsford, the array of more than 130 charge-coupled devices would be 0.9 square metres in area.
This would make it the largest camera system ever flown in space, and twice the size of the array e2v produced for Esa's recently launched Gaia telescope.
The first two medium-class missions to be selected under Esa's Cosmic Vision programme in 2011 were Solar Orbiter, a space telescope to study the Sun, to launch in 2017; and Euclid, a telescope to investigate "dark energy", to fly in 2020.
The American space agency (Nasa) plans a similar mission to Plato called Tess (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) in 2017, but the specifications mean that its rocky worlds will probably be in closer orbits around lower-mass stars than the discoveries made by the European project.  In other words, the Plato planets are more likely to be in the habitable zones of more Sun-like stars.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


Crime thrillers are the most borrowed books from British libraries.

Novels by authors such as James Patterson and Lee Child dominate the top 10 most borrowed books, with Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol in top spot.
Patterson remains the most borrowed author for the fifth year running, with five books written, or co-written, by the prolific US author, in the top 10.
Author Lee Child claims crime fiction gratifies "a desire for safety and security and the rule of law".
"In the decade following 9/11, I believe crime fiction has become more important in people's lives," Child told the Public Lending Right (PLR), who compile the annual data.
"It gratifies their desire for safety and security and the rule of law, because at the end of crime novels, order is restored."
"In US crime fiction and thrillers, the canvas is bigger, and the stakes are higher, making them particularly successful in this context."
British-born Child, who has two books in the most borrowed list, currently lives in the US.
Writer Ian Rankin is the only UK-resident author in the Top 10.
The data comes in sharp contrast to the charts from a decade ago, which saw British romance novelist Catherine Cookson dominate the list of most borrowed books, with five novels in the top 10.
Patterson - whose novels Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider were both made into films - is the only author to record more than two million loans in UK libraries between July 2010 and June 2011.


Vitamin D supplements could spare more than three million people from colds or flu in the UK each year, researchers claim.

The sunshine vitamin is vital for healthy bones, but also has a role in the immune system.
The analysis, published in the British Medical Journal, argues food should be fortified with the vitamin.
But Public Health England (PHE) says the infections data is not conclusive, although it does recommend supplements.
These, it says, should be taken for improved bone and muscle health.
The immune system uses vitamin D to make antimicrobial weapons that puncture holes in bacteria and viruses.
But as vitamin D is made in the skin while out in the sun, many people have low levels during winter.
Trials on using supplements to prevent infections have given mixed results, so the researchers pooled data on 11,321 people from 25 separate trials to try to get a definitive answer.
The team at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) looked at respiratory tract infections - which covers a wide range of illnesses from a sniffle to flu to pneumonia.
Overall, the study said one person would be spared infection for every 33 taking vitamin D supplements.
That is more effective than flu vaccination, which needs to treat 40 to prevent one case, although flu is far more serious than the common cold.
There were greater benefits for those taking pills daily or weekly - rather than in monthly super-doses - and in people who were deficient in the first place.
One of the researchers, Prof Adrian Martineau, said: "Assuming a UK population of 65 million, and that 70% have at least one acute respiratory infection each year, then daily or weekly vitamin D supplements will mean 3.25 million fewer people would get at least one acute respiratory infection a year."
PHE already advises everyone to take vitamin D supplements in autumn and winter for the sake of healthy bones and muscles.
They are recommended all year round for some people who get little sunlight on their skin, including people in care homes or those who cover up.
However, there is considerable debate about the importance of the latest study.
Prof Louis Levy, the head of nutrition science at PHE, said: "The evidence on vitamin D and infection is inconsistent and this study does not provide sufficient evidence to support recommending vitamin D for reducing the risk of respiratory tract infections."
But Prof Martin Hewison, from the University of Birmingham and the Society for Endocrinology, said the findings were "striking".
"I agree with the authors that this study supports a new indication for vitamin D beyond its established benefits for bone health," he added.
And the research wing of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research which funded the study, said the findings were "worthy of serious further debate".
Ultimately, the researcher team at QMUL want vitamin D to be added to food like in the US where milk is fortified.
Prof Martineau said: "Vitamin D fortification of foods provides a steady, low-level intake of vitamin D that has virtually eliminated profound vitamin D deficiency in several countries.
"By demonstrating this new benefit of vitamin D, our study strengthens the case for introducing food fortification to improve vitamin D levels in countries such as the UK where profound vitamin D deficiency is common."
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Heathrow Airport has unveiled three options for a new runway, saying each one would be "quicker and cheaper" than plans for a rival hub airport.

The airport's submission to the Davies Commission, which is looking at raising airport capacity, outlined a runway to the north, north-west or south-west of the existing airport.
It said a new runway could be in place by 2029, allowing 260,000 more flights.
Residents, environmentalists and the London mayor oppose Heathrow's plans.
Heathrow submitted its options to the government-appointed Airports Commission, headed by former Financial Services Authority chairman Sir Howard Davies.
It is reviewing how the UK might expand its airport capacity in south-east England and interested parties have until Friday 19 July to submit their preferred options.
By Robert PestonBusiness editor
Ahead of submitting its proposals on Friday, Gatwick bosses said this week that they would prefer "a constellation system of three London airports - keeping Heathrow open, whilst building an additional runway at Gatwick, and then perhaps in time a new runway at Stansted".
On Monday, Mayor of London Boris Johnson published proposals for three possible replacement hubs - an artificial island in the Thames Estuary dubbed "Boris Island", a major expansion at Stansted, or an airport at the Isle of Grain in north Kent.
The commission is expected to recommend options by the end of this year, but will not submit its final report until summer 2015 - after the next general election.
According to Heathrow's submission, building a new runway would deliver extra capacity at the airport by 2025-29 and would allow it to operate 740,000 flights a year - up from the current limit of 480,000.
Heathrow's preferred option would be to place a new runway to the north-west or the south-west of the airport.
This would "deliver a full-length third runway while minimising the impact on the local community".
The submission also detailed how a new westerly runway would help reduce noise pollution because planes would not have to fly so low over London.
It predicted that, even with a third runway, there would be 10-20% fewer people affected by noise under its new plans.
Each of the options would mean the compulsory purchase of some properties and some property demolitions, as well as potentially major work on the M25.
Stanwell Moor is a village near Heathrow and one of its councillors said it would "get completely destroyed" under one of the options.
By Richard WestcottBBC transport correspondent
I've just been looking back through my notes from last year, when I talked to government officials about the prospect of building a third runway at Heathrow.
They told me it was "dead and buried" and said they'd look at "all ideas bar a third runway". Back then we also had a Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, who lived under the flight path and had campaigned against the plan.
What a difference to today, when a third runway at the UK's biggest and busiest airport is very much back on the table.
This is a big week for airports. By Friday, we'll know all the different suggestions on how they could expand.
But don't let all this apparent momentum fool you. This is one of the thorniest issues in politics, and there are plenty in the industry who think that 20 years from now, nothing will have actually been done.
"I wasn't totally surprised because we knew these would be in the pipeline but it's a pretty desperate situation and pretty frightening," said Robert Evans.
"The real problem now is the area is blighted and there will be a period of uncertainty; people will be anxious because they bought their homes and now they find the home isn't the asset they thought."
Residents' group Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (Hacan) said it would fight any proposal for a new runway "tooth and nail".
Hacan chairman John Stewart said it was difficult to square Heathrow's claim that expansion could take place while cutting noise for residents.
Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews said the UK "desperately needed a single hub airport with the capacity to provide the links to emerging economies which can boost UK jobs, GDP and trade".
"It is clear the best solution for taxpayers, passengers and business is to build on the strength we already have at Heathrow," he said.
Mr Matthews said he had not ruled out a fourth runway at Heathrow, but said this would not be needed until at least 2040.
However, Mr Johnson said the proposals for a new runway at Heathrow "were politically, environmentally and socially unacceptable".
"There will be more pigs flying than aircraft if we are to believe the claim that three runways at Heathrow will make less noise than two," he said.
Mr Johnson added the move "would be a disastrous outcome for Londoners, nor would it solve our aviation capacity crisis as a fourth runway would need to be in the planning process before a third was even open".
Greenpeace accused the airport of presenting a "reheated and rehashed" plan with the same "flawed arguments that failed so categorically last time around".
But business groups backed the plans, including the trade body which represents Britain's airlines.
The Board of Airline Representatives said no other proposal so far on airport capacity could "deliver the UK's hub airport capacity quicker, at the right cost, or in the right place for airlines and their passengers".


Tributes have been paid to the "pioneering" BBC journalist Sue Lloyd-Roberts, who died on Tuesday aged 64.

Ms Lloyd-Roberts, who had acute myeloid leukaemia, died following complications from a stem cell transplant.
She ran a public appeal to find a donor and kept a video blog on her illness in which she said in August that she had been confined to bed with pneumonia.
Among those paying tribute to her was Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who praised her "great courage".
Ms Lloyd-Roberts died on Tuesday evening at University College Hospital in London.
Ms Lloyd-Roberts, who had also worked for ITN, reported on events in Syria, Burma and North Korea among many others, and campaigned for human rights.
BBC director general Tony Hall called her a "pioneer video journalist" and praised her "extraordinary" determination and courage.
"She went to dangerous places to give a voice to people who otherwise would not be heard," he said.
"She was quite simply a remarkable woman who got remarkable stories. She will be deeply missed."
Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader in Myanmar, also known as Burma, said: "Sue Lloyd-Roberts showed great courage and commitment in reporting from Burma during some of our darkest days, and exemplified my belief that the best journalists are also the nicest."
Sue Lloyd-Roberts
Sue Lloyd-Roberts was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College and St Hilda's College, Oxford.
She worked as a journalist for ITN before joining the BBC, reporting on issues including human rights abuses around the world.
In 2011, she was the first journalist into Homs - the so-called "capital of the Syrian revolution".
Also during her career, she was sentenced in her absence in China to seven years in prison for her reporting, and was one of the first journalists to talk about female genital mutilation.
She was appointed MBE and CBE for her humanitarian journalism.
She also received the European Women of Achievement Award and won an Emmy for her reporting from North Korea.
Ms Lloyd-Roberts was married to BBC producer Nick Guthrie and the couple had been living in Spain, where they ran a rural hotel.
She wrote a number of articles for the BBC Magazine. Here are a few of them:
Earlier this year she said she had "always joked that the part of my brain that recognises fear doesn't exist".
Describing being shot at in Bosnia, she told the Daily Mail such situations make people "scream or pray".
"But I picked up my camera," she said.
"Concentrating on filming displaces you from what's going on. There is nothing better at dispelling fear than having something constructive to do."
She called her illness "unnerving", adding: "When I was working, the decision to go into a dangerous situation was a conscious one. Now it's different. My life is at risk and it's not of my choosing."
Many paid tribute to the journalist, including these tweets from Channel 4's political correspondent Michael Crick and BBC newsreader Huw Edwards.
Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor, described her as a "brilliant and indefatigable journalist", while the BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet said she was a "brave journalist, kind colleague and wonderful person".
Sky News presenter Kay Burley paid tribute to "a magnificent woman and journalist", while BBC news anchor Jane Hill described her as "a role model for female journalists".
Labour's Harriet Harman also paid tribute to the journalist on Twitter.
The BBC hosted an open day in June to encourage potential stem cell, or bone marrow, donors to come forward after Ms Lloyd-Roberts missed out on a transplant in May when a previous candidate failed a medical.


The second phase of a £15m project to upgrade the water and sewer pipes in Stafford is under way.

The water pipes in the town are old and prone to leaks and bursts, Severn Trent Water said.
Part of Milford Road is expected to be closed until the summer as a metal water pipe is replaced. Diversions will be in place.
The road is "just too narrow" in parts to be kept open as large machinery will be used, a spokesman said.
More than 12 miles (20km) of new water pipes are being laid from the Shugborough area into Stafford town centre.
In the first phase, which began in September, pipes were installed on Tixall Road for a new housing development nearby.


Labour leaders have confirmed that Cynon Valley MP Ann Clwyd should face re-selection after reconsidering her decision to step down at the election.

The 77-year-old MP announced in February she would retire after more than 30 years in Parliament but said in September she had changed her mind.
Welsh Labour said the selection of a candidate for 2015 had already begun.
Labour's national executive committee decided on Tuesday to press ahead with the process.
Ms Clwyd said in September that local voters had asked her to reconsider her retirement, and said she had received a "very enthusiastic" reaction to her change of heart.
It followed a row over Labour's decision to use an all-women shortlist to select her successor, which has been strongly opposed by the local party.
Ms Clwyd, a former Labour shadow minister, has been outspoken on the state of the NHS following failings in the care of her husband at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, in the days leading up to his death.
David Cameron appointed her as an adviser on how hospitals in England should handle complaints.
Ms Clwyd has represented the Cynon Valley since winning a by-election there in 1984.
Under Labour party rules a serving MP can be re-selected by a "trigger ballot" if more than 50% of local party members agree to back them.
However, sources within the Labour party questioned whether there was sufficient time to organise a trigger ballot in Cynon Valley before the 2015 general election in May.
A Welsh Labour spokesperson said: "Under established procedures a full selection takes place where a sitting MP announces their intention to stand down. The selection will begin later this month."
Labour's national executive committee decided on Tuesday to ratify a sub-committee's decision to press ahead with a full candidate selection process.
Ms Clwyd has been asked to comment.


Europol has warned that militants from so-called Islamic State (IS) will aim to step up attacks on European targets, as they face defeat in the Middle East.

The European police force says more foreign fighters will try to come back to Europe, and "several dozen" capable of attacks could already be there.
Their tactics could include car bombs, kidnappings and extortion, it said.
But the report plays down the likelihood of attacks on critical infrastructure, such as nuclear sites.
It says that IS militants now prefer soft targets, and there is now a greater emphasis on "lone actors" such as the perpetrator of the lorry attack in Nice in July.
It warns that some Syrian refugees in Europe may be vulnerable to recruitment by extremists who infiltrate refugee camps.
Europe has been shaken by a series of attacks in recent years blamed on IS militants.
How France is wrestling with jihadist terror
Europol terror data found online
The report said the EU faced a range of threats and attacks from both organised networks and lone actors, either directed or inspired by IS and involving a range of weapons including bladed weapons and vehicles.
Home-made, commercial and military explosives in improvised devices such as those used in Syria and Iraq had not yet been used in Europe but this was "conceivable... at some stage", it added.
January 2015 - Massacre at the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and siege at a Jewish supermarket
November 2015 - Attacks on Bataclan concert hall and bars and restaurants in Paris. 130 killed
March 2016 - Suicide bombings in Brussels airport and metro leave 32 dead
14 July 2016 - More than 80 people killed after a lorry ploughed into a crowd in the southern French city of Nice during Bastille Day celebrations
18-24 July 2016 - Series of violent attacks in various locations in southern Germany leave 10 dead
26 July 2016 - Priest Fr Jacques Hamel killed in knife attack in French church
"The so-called Islamic State has proven to be very effective in inspiring people to commit terrorist acts and in setting attacks in motion themselves," the report said.
Europol Director Rob Wainwright told the BBC that improved collaboration between European intelligence agencies had reduced the chances of large-scale attacks.
But he cautioned against complacency regarding potential terrorists: "They're resorting to random attacks by lone actors," he said.
"The threat is diverse and challenging as we have to make sure our intelligence collection and exchange is up to the mark so we can identify who among them pose the greatest danger."
Other key points of the report:


A man has been shot dead in a "cold-blooded, targeted attack" outside a Liverpool chip shop, police said.

Aaron Lewis, 26 and from Toxteth, was shot three times outside Anna Jungs in Grosvenor Road, Wavertree at about 19:00 GMT on Wednesday.
He was taken to Aintree Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Merseyside Police believe the offender ran down the road towards the city centre and said the shooting was related to organised crime.
Officers said Mr Lewis was known to them.
At about 19:40, a 19-year-old man went to hospital with a gunshot wound to his upper body.
His condition is not thought to be life-threatening and detectives believe he had been with Mr Lewis.
The latest death follows the fatal shooting of Thomas Baker at Stanley Meat Market in Old Swan on Friday and highlighted a "serious escalation" of gang violence in Liverpool, police said.
Police said that while both deaths were related to serious and organised crime, the shootings were not linked.
In addition to Mr Baker and Mr Lewis, Mark Hillman and Blake Brown have been killed in the city.
A police spokesman said gun crime had increased in recent months after falling year on year from 2013 to 2016.
Since April, 78 firearms have been discharged, 18 more than in the whole of the previous 12 months.
An increasing number of new guns are being used, the spokesman added, and officers do not know how or where gangs are obtaining them.
Police said the majority of shootings this year were linked to organised crime and the victims will not co-operate with officers.
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson and Wavertree MP Luciana Berger have joined forces with Merseyside Police to appeal for public help.
Ms Berger said: "We as a community need to work together to help end this violence on our streets."
Mr Anderson said: "By coming together as a city we can send out a powerful message to the perpetrators that they will be found and... punished."
A series of warrants are being executed across Liverpool as part of a planned crackdown on gun crime, but no weapons have been recovered.


'Project Camborne', for this is the plan of George Osborne as well as David Cameron, is well and truly under way.

Occupy the Labour Party's former ground while it is consumed by its own issues and moving to the left.
David Cameron made promises on equality, poverty, improving the lives of children in care, getting rid of discrimination in all its forms from the platform today. There were profound echoes of his early "compassionate conservatism".
It is impossible to imagine that at a Conservative conference a decade ago the audience would have leapt to its feet to applaud the idea of equality, yet that's what has just happened in Manchester.
It is possible however to imagine a different leader, Tony Blair, giving a very similar speech in that same era.
In 2015, David Cameron wanted to show that he is still very much in charge of his party, and that he is still brimming with ideas, many of them very far from traditional Tory territory. It was the speech, his close advisers say, that he had always wanted to give as prime minister. Now, they believe, as the country's economy is recovering and he has a majority, he is free enough to do so.
And what was striking was the kind of pick and mix approach it means in practice. So he promised to send inspectors into Madrassas, Muslim schools, which may seem hardline, but in almost the same breath, he committed to fighting discrimination against those same communities.
He pleased the Conservative crowd with tributes to the armed forces and commitments on defence spending, yet emphasised the significant amount of taxpayers money sent abroad in international aid.
It was an effective speech, designed to demonstrate his authority. Unless he ends up on the losing side in the EU referendum it is hard to see him leaving No 10 until the next general election is very near.
But this project will meet obstacles. There was little red meat for the traditional Conservative audience - hardly anything on controlling borders, lowering taxes, or even stern words on the EU. Compassionate conservatism wasn't enough for his own party in the first few years of his leadership, and he eventually said goodbye to the huskies and hugging hoodies.
And outside the party, the Tories will be met with challenges over whether the rhetoric and the reality matches. Can you really commit to improving the lives of children in care if social service budgets are being hacked back?
Can you really turn around the lives of prisoners if jails are overcrowded and don't have enough staff? Most immediately, can you really say you are on the side of the working poor when some of them will lose out significantly due to changes to tax credits?
Internally and externally one speech will never satisfy all those questions. But as a political moment this was a test of the prime minister's mettle - one he passed.


A wonky cycle path sign that appeared in the Lincolnshire market town of Sleaford last weekend caused much mirth among local residents, who described it as looking like a penny farthing - albeit one with angular wheels.

But this was far from the first time bungling contractors have been left with red faces. BBC News rounds up some of the gaffes that have hit the headlines.
When a misspelt road marking appeared outside a school in Chester, the finger of blame was as usual pointed at hapless contractors.
The lettering outside Highfield Community Primary School, in Blacon, was "claer" evidence that spelling was not the forte of the person who painted it.
The marking was hastily corrected, at no cost to the council, after it appeared in February 2014.
At least the simplest of fixes was possible when blundering workmen misspelled the word "minutes" as "minuites" at an NCP car park at Cambridge's railway station.
Although it was two years before anything was done about the gaffe, eventually an NCP boss harnessed an inner Mick Jagger and gave the order: "I want it painted black."
Thus the offending "I" was covered up to restore basic literacy to this corner of Cambridge.
NCP said those responsible for the cock-up were "committed to playing Scrabble in their lunchtimes as spelling revision".
A set of double yellow lines that appeared in Cardiff last summer couldn't be faulted in terms of execution - but the location chosen for the markings led to the city council being widely mocked.
That's because the road on which the lines were painted is barely 5ft (1.5m) wide and too narrow for anything but a toy car.
Despite the markings being branded "ridiculous" and a "waste of money", the beleaguered council stuck to its guns, arguing the double yellows were necessary to "deter anti-social parking on the narrow access lane".
Motorists using a supermarket petrol station in Doncaster were amused to find themselves being directed towards a species of low-flying seabird.
The word "petrel" was painted in 3ft letters, next to the flawlessly spelt word "exit" and some perfectly drawn arrows, on the approach to the pumps at the Sainsbury's Edenthorpe store in September 2016.
In a light-hearted response, Sainsbury's said it was "correcting the misteke".
Not wanting to let anything as inconvenient as a parked car get in their way, slapdash council contractors tasked with painting double yellow lines in a suburb of Leeds simply daubed the markings around the vehicle.
However, once the car's owner returned and drove away, the lines were left sticking out from the kerb.
Leeds City Council branded the markings in Hyde Terrace, Clarendon, as "ridiculous" and said it would remind contractors "to use common sense" in future. The lines were later repainted.
Welsh-speaking drivers in Swansea were bemused to encounter a road sign that informed them: "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated."
Above the baffling statement on the dual-language sign was the correct wording in English: "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only".
The howler came about because a non-Welsh speaking council employee emailed the authority's in-house translation service, and took the response received as the translation being sought for the new road sign.
Brensiach!


The number of babies dying before their first birthday in England and Wales is at its lowest ever rate, new figures have revealed.

The infant mortality rate was 3.6 deaths for every 1,000 live births, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Some areas saw rises, including the East of England, north east England, West Midlands and parts of South Wales.
The ONS said improved healthcare was partly behind the fall.
There were 2,517 infant deaths - deaths of children under one year old - in England and Wales in 2014, compared with 2,686 in 2013 and 6,037 in 1984.
Respiratory and cardiovascular problems were the most common causes of infant deaths, responsible for 41% of the total.
The ONS figures showed that between 1984 and 2014 the mortality rate for children aged 1 to 14 years dropped by 64%.
There were 10 deaths per 100,000 children in 2014, compared with 28 per 100,000 three decades earlier.
Cancer and diseases of the nervous system are the most common cause of death for children aged 16 and under, the ONS reported.
The rate of stillbirths increased in Wales, rising from 4.5 for every 1,000 births to 5.2 between 2013 and 2014.
It also increased in England in the South West, East Midlands, West Midlands  and South East.
The England average was unchanged, at 4.6 stillbirths per 1,000 babies. The North East saw the biggest fall in England from 5 stillbirths per 1,000 babies to 4.3.
In a report on the figures the ONS said: "Infant mortality rates have decreased in England and Wales since the early 1900s. More recently, over the past 30 years, the rate of decline has varied; the decrease between 1984 and 1994 was more than double the decrease recorded in each of the latter two decades.
"Since 1984, when the rate was 9.5 deaths per 1,000 live births, there has been a 62% fall in the infant mortality rate in England and Wales.
"General improvements in healthcare and more specific improvements in midwifery and neonatal intensive care can partly explain the overall fall in mortality rates."
A spokeswoman for the Lily Mae Foundation, which supports parents and families following stillbirths and neonatal deaths, said: "The statistics for infant mortality being at their lowest ever in England and Wales are great news and seem to suggest that something is being done correctly.
"Sadly when you then look at the rise in stillbirth figures in specific areas of the country including the West Midlands it highlights that either the improvements are not being made nationally, or that there are other factors that are playing a large role in theses figures.
"My main concern with a significant regional variation is that there are other demographic and socio-economic factors that may contribute to these higher rates in specific areas regionally.
"Whilst improvements are being made these figures highlight that there is still a lot of work to be done to lower the stillbirth rate consistently across all regions of the UK."
The Department of Health said it has made a number of investments to cut the number of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and neonatal brain injuries.
Health Minister Ben Gummer said: "Although progress has been made, the death of a child is always a tragedy and we know that more needs to be done to address variation.
"We've committed to halve the number of stillbirths and neonatal deaths by 2030 - investing in improved training for staff, new safety equipment and making sure hospitals review and learn from every tragic case."


He stood proudly on the podium during the London 2012 Olympic Games on the same day as Anthony Joshua.

For Fred Evans, that was supposed to be the start of a glorious boxing career, the kind Joshua has enjoyed since 2013.
However, five years, two convictions for assault and a British Boxing Board of Control ban later, it is only now that Evans is daring to dream again.
His professional career begins on Friday in Cardiff, as the 26-year old looks to live up to his potential.
Evans was once one of British boxing's top prospects, having dazzled in London and then in the World Boxing Series that followed for Britain's brightest amateur prospects.
The super-welterweight now faces Belgian Najim Fennane at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena in his debut, but the St Mellon's boxer is only too aware he almost curtailed his career before it began, almost cost himself the chance to even compete.
The St Josephs-trained boxer was given a suspended jail term in 2015 shortly after turning professional, while a 2014 assault in a lap-dance club had already cost him the chance to represent Wales in the Commonwealth Games.
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It is fair to say, lessons have been learned.
"Things haven't worked out as I wanted, I've had a few backward steps and a few issues, but I just put that behind me now and look to the future ahead," Evans said.
"It was stuff outside the ring, I've got some regrets, I've been in the wrong place at the wrong time and of course I regret it, but now I have to look to the future.
"I had to put the boxing to one side and I had to accept what was going on (the judges' decision to find him guilty twice) that's what gave me the backward steps.
"But now I am hopefully looking towards a bright future ahead."
For Evans, only 21 when he dazzled at the Olympics, fame simply came too fast.
"Adjusting to fame after the Olympics was weird to adapt to, it was a shock to the system, but I tried to take it in my stride," he said.
"It was very hard after London, all I've known since I was 10 years old is boxing, and I've been in the gym all the way through.
"So to not be able to do it, leading up to the professional ranks, it's a time I am glad is behind me.
"I had a couple of little hurdles to cross over in terms of getting a licence from the British Boxing Board of Control, but we got there in the end and I am back where I belong.
"I've ticked over for the last few years, just waiting for that period in my life to be over.
"I've had to take lessons and I have learned the hard way.
"It has been a long time coming turning pro, it is something I have been looking forward to."
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Evans, proud of his Traveller heritage, says he has been inspired in recent years by both Tyson Fury and Billy Joe Saunders making a big impression across the world stage.
Evans thinks it is even an advantage for a fighter to come from a background where your supporter base remains strong.
"I've been inspired by Tyson Fury and Billy Joe Saunders, they've shown what is possible (for someone from a Traveller background) and I want a piece of that," he told BBC Wales Sport.
"They've gone out and won world titles and that's hopefully something I can follow.
"Travelling fighters have an advantage in that we have a huge in-built fan base, I will never have a problem selling tickets, they can't wait for me to get going and I know for a fact they will follow me for my whole career.
"I've had months preparing, I put on a lot of weight, but that is trimmed off, I am as strong and as fit as I have been."
For promoter Barry McGuigan, the Fred Evans story now only has one likely outcome.
"He's got all the talent to go right to the very top," he told BBC Wales Sport.
The journey there, begins now.


A charity which helps deliver blood and urgent medical supplies to hospitals needs more volunteers, it says.

The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes last year responded to 39,000 requests for help from the NHS.
Volunteers work at night and at weekends delivering blood, samples, medical notes, donor breast milk or medical equipment between hospitals.
Northumbria branch chairman Peter Robertson said the service was "invaluable".
"We're making a difference to the lives of local people as well as saving the NHS money," he said.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said the service was "of great benefit", especially in serious cases when "time really is of the essence".
The organisation was "finding it harder than anything else" to fill positions for volunteers to take calls from hospitals and then dispatch riders, Mr Robertson added.
Few people know the charity exists, which limits donations and new recruits, the organisation said.


Swansea boss Francesco Guidolin insists he has no issues with Neil Taylor after substituting the defender in the first half of their 2-2 draw with Chelsea.

Wales international Taylor, 27, was replaced by Modou Barrow after just 41 minutes as the Swans trailed 1-0.
The left-back looked furious as he left the pitch, but Guidolin says the matter is resolved after he apologised.
"I'm sorry with Neil Taylor because I'm not used to changing a player before half-time," Guidolin said.
"If I waited three minutes, maybe it was better for him, but Mo [Barrow] was ready five minutes before and I decided to change.
"No problem between me and Neil. I spoke with him in the dressing room. I think this change was good for us."
Trailing 1-0 after a torrid first half, Swansea fought back to lead 2-1 before Diego Costa's late acrobatic strike snatched a point for Chelsea in a fiery encounter.
Left-back Taylor had been recalled to make his first Premier League start of the season as Guidolin switched to a 5-4-1 formation, but the Italian soon ditched the new system in an attempt to salvage the game.
The draw lifts Swansea up to 13th place in the Premier League table and, although his new system initially proved problematic, Guidolin would be happy to use it again.
"In my opinion, we have the characteristics to play this way," added Swansea's head coach.
"I was not very happy about my wingers and I decided it was the right moment to change something.
"We can play again with this shape because, in my opinion, we played well before the first Chelsea goal but not what I want. We can improve."
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Coach Shaun Wane spoke of his pride after guiding Wigan to a 30-16 Super League Grand Final win over Warrington.

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In his second season in charge, the 49-year-old has taken a youthful team built on home-grown talent to a league and Challenge Cup double.
"I was expecting a few apologies after how we have been doubted this year," said Wane.
"The players got hammered and told they couldn't carry on [with their form]. I can't tell you how proud I am."
Wigan lost form towards the end of the regular Super League season, losing five of their last six fixtures.
And Warrington led 16-2 in the first half during the Grand Final, but Wigan scored 28 unanswered points to become the first team to complete a league and cup double since St Helens in 2006.
"When I got in at half-time, the players were already talking about what they had to fix," added Wane.
"That's the mentality they have. I told them the way we played wasn't us, that we needed to sort our defence out. I admire the players so much, the character and the tough men that they are."
The Grand Final success ensured that Wigan's NRL-bound trio Sam Tomkins,Pat Richards and Lee Mossop head down under on a victorious note.
"I'm really pleased, not just for the ones who are leaving but for them all," continued Wane.
"I knew this was a good day and I can't tell you how happy I am. I have seen these players come of age but I want them to be good players and good men, and what satisfies me is to see them having good family lives as well."
Warrington built a 14-point lead before losing winger Joel Monaghan, stretchered off with concussion, and Wigan closed the gap almost immediately through Darrell Goulding's try.
Blake Green was the recipient of the coveted Harry Sunderland Trophy after being named man of the match at Old Trafford.
His half-back partner at Wigan, Matty Smith, won the Lance Todd Trophy in August's Challenge Cup win against Hull FC at Wembley.
The Wolves also saw Stefan Ratchford forced off with an ankle injury in the second half after being brought down by Mossop and Harrison Hansen, his exit beginning a sequence that saw Warrington use three full-backs in as many minutes.
"We can't be decisive about whether or not that was disruptive. You have to be able to handle those situations," said Wolves coach Tony Smith.
"We weren't able to and in the second half; field position hurt us more than anything. Wigan are fantastic close to the line.
"Also our discipline was an issue, big time. We got smashed in field position, in penalties - it was seven two against us in the second half. You can't do that, Wigan were way too good tonight and deserved it. It's a really big effort for them to do the double."
Smith, though, called for more protection of players after the tackle that left Ratchford with damage to ligaments in both ankles.
"We don't protect players enough," Smith told BBC Sport. "That style of tackle is tolerated. We only tap people on the wrist. It's sad a player can be injured from it."
As well as Wigan's departing trio, Warrington were bidding farewell Adrian Morley,Mike Cooper,Garreth Carvell and Brett Hodgson, who was not in the matchday squad.
Veteran forward Morley, who will join Salford next season, said: "I'm devastated, but really proud of the boys for their efforts this year and before that.
"The try before half-time gave Wigan hope and the injuries didn't go our way. In the second half, they shut us out."


The girlfriend of a rapist who recorded the testimony of one of his victims on her phone has been jailed for three months.

Mother-of-two Patrice Brown, 28, had said her phone automatically started recording while one of Dwayne Kesto's victims gave evidence at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Kesto was jailed for 16 years in July for raping two girls.
She was found guilty of contempt in December last year.
The court heard suspicions had been raised that Brown, an Aston University student, was secretly recording a victim's evidence during Kesto's trial, and she was arrested on 14 July last year.
She said her phone had malfunctioned after she had dropped it in the toilet, leading it to record without her knowledge.
However, Judge James Burbidge QC told the defendant she had made the 12 minute recording "deliberately".
While no evidence of her sharing the recording has been found, the court heard Brown had been in touch with Kesto's mother in Jamaica to keep her abreast of proceedings.
Brown, of Parkfield Avenue in Birmingham, claimed a custodial sentence would be "ridiculous", citing a lack of childcare arrangements, but Judge Burbidge said the seriousness of the case meant "a message needed to go out to the public".
He said: "If people come to court prepared to give evidence, whether vulnerable or not, and believe what they say is being recorded by a member of the perpetrator's family - and might be used elsewhere - that would undermine the system of justice."


An Indian court has dismissed an attempt to bring criminal charges against a Tamil novelist whose writings on caste angered Hindu groups.

The high court in Chennai (Madras) threw out a slew of petitions demanding that Perumal Murugan be prosecuted.
"Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at: Write," said the judges.
Murugan gave up writing last year after protests over his novel Madhorubagan. The verdict is being seen by supporters as a victory for freedom of expression.
There was no immediate comment from Murugan.
The court also said that a "settlement" between the novelist and a "peace council" in Tamil Nadu state, where the author agreed to apologise for his novel and withdraw all unsold copies of the book, was not legally binding on him.
Madhorubagan (One Part Woman) is set about a century ago near the author's home town of Tiruchengode in southern India. It is about a childless woman who participates in a sex ritual during a temple festival in order to conceive, a scenario Murugan says was based on historical fact.
Local groups led protests against the book, saying the "fictitious" extramarital sex ritual at the centre of the plot insulted the town, its temple and its women.
Copies of the novel were burnt, residents shut down shops and a petition sought the arrest of the author.
This prompted the author to write a dramatic Facebook post which read: "Perumal Murugan, the writer is dead. As he is no God, he is not going to resurrect himself. He has no faith in rebirth. As an ordinary teacher, he will live as P Murugan. Leave him alone."
He also instructed his publishers not to print and sell his work and promised to compensate them for the unsold copies. He implored his readers to burn his books, and said he would stop attending literary festivals.
Murugan is described by many critics as one of the finest writers in the Tamil language.


Former Leicester City, Coventry City and Fulham boss Micky Adams has taken up a role with ninth-tier club Harborough Town's Under-18 side.

The 55-year-old will run the youth team for the Leicestershire-based United Counties League Premier Division club.
The ex-Southampton full-back also previously managed Brighton and Sheffield United - in between spells at Port Vale - and Tranmere Rovers.
He left League of Ireland side Sligo Rovers in 2015 for "family reasons".
A statement on the Market Harborough club's website said Adams "will be an inspiration to both the players and the club's coaches."
Adams has won promotion with four different clubs in his career, taking Leicester back into the top flight in 2002-03.
His most recent Football League role ended in April 2015, when he parted company with Tranmere by mutual consent with the club then at the bottom of League Two.


Alastair Cook has vowed to remain England one-day captain despite losing a fourth successive one-day series.

Cook made only a single as England lost to Sri Lanka by 90 runs to trail 4-2 with one match remaining on Tuesday.
Asked if he expected to be captain when England travel down under next month, first of all for a tri-series against Australia and India, he said: "Yes.
"It's tough at the moment. I'm a better player than I'm showing at the moment, and I've just got to keep going."
The skipper has now scored 499 runs at an average of 24.95 - with only one half century - in his last 21 ODIs, during which time England have won only eight matches.
"Not scoring the runs I'd like is not a great place to be as a captain," said Cook, who has scored five ODI centuries in 91 one-day international appearances.
Four of those hundreds have been as skipper, but the most recent came against West Indies in June 2012.
"You want to lead from the front, and when it's not happening for you it is incredibly frustrating," he said.
Cook's difficult day began when he dropped key Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara on 41 and the left-hander went on to make 112.
"Days like these don't make the job any easier," he said.
"It's probably a good job I'm off a lot of social media and in the middle of Sri Lanka at the moment where the internet is not so great."
Meanwhile, England coach Peter Moores said the situation would be assessed after the completion of the Sri Lanka series.
"It would be wrong of me as a selector and coach not to review things at the end of this series," Moores told Sky Sports.
"Alastair's in a tough patch at the moment but he's working extremely hard to get out of that."
After Tuesday's final match in Colombo, England have only four guaranteed matches in the triangular series against Australia and India next month before their World Cup campaign begins against co-hosts Australia on 14 February.
Moores also defended Eoin Morgan, who was out first ball in Pallekele on Saturday and has made only one fifty in his last 18 ODI innings.
"I think Morgan's playing well. He got a beauty today. He plays a style of cricket that aggressive and can win matches," he said.
"Australia is a place where he has performed well in the past.
"We'll try and pick a 15 for the tri-series that will be the team for the World Cup. You want your side settled by the time you get to that stage."


Torquay United loanee Jordan Lee is undergoing tests after suffering chest pains.

The 20-year-old right-back, on loan from Bournemouth, went to hospital with club physiotherapist Gareth Law on Wednesday and now faces some time out.
"When it's chest or heart-related things you've just got to make sure," said Gulls manager Kevin Nicholson.
"He's going to go up to St George's Park to have a thorough set of tests, just to make sure there's nothing."
Nicholson told BBC Radio Devon: "I'm pretty sure that it's nothing major, but until ourselves and Bournemouth are comfortable that he's 100% then, unfortunately, he's not available to us."
Lee, who has made two FA Cup appearances for the Cherries, has played 11 times for Torquay over two loan spells.
"He just woke up in some discomfort in his chest," Nicholson added.
"It's probably a virus, and these things can show up like that, but we've just got to make sure he's right and so we wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to getting him back."
Last year Gulls midfielder Aman Verma, now at Tamworth, spent a month out after collapsing at home after a training session.


A minister in Ivory Coast has been sacked over his alleged role in the disappearance of millions of dollars meant for victims of pollution.

Adama Bictogo says he has not done anything wrong.
The case relates to a 2006 incident in which thousands became ill after toxic waste was dumped in Abidjan.
Multinational Trafigura, which shipped it, denied any wrongdoing but made a series of payments in relation to the case without admitting liability.
The company denies the waste could have caused the reported illnesses and said it was not directly involved in the dumping of the waste, saying it paid a local company to properly and legally dispose of the waste.
Last year London-based rights group Amnesty International urged the new government of President Alassane Ouattara to investigate why victims of the pollution had not yet received their compensation.
The BBC's John James in Abidjan says an investigation was then opened and found that about $8m (Â£5m) from the compensation fund had indeed disappeared.
An Ivorian police report handed over in February to judicial authorities recommended the opening of a case for fraud and misuse of funds - and named three men:
According to the police report, which was leaked to the Ivorian media this week, Mr Bictogo received $1.2m for these mediation efforts from the fund.
The minister, who held the African regional integration portfolio in Mr Ouattara's government and has been the lead negotiator in regional efforts to resolve the crises caused by recent coups in Guinea-Bissau and Mali, denies any wrongdoing and says he can explain his role.
In 2007, Trafigura paid an estimated $160m to the Ivorian government in compensation.
Two years later it also agreed to pay $45m to individual claimants in an out-of-court settlement before the case came to trial in London - after a group of British lawyers, Leigh Day and Co, organised a class action involving 30,000 Ivorians.
This money paid out by Trafigura was transferred to an Ivorian bank account.
Just before it was due to be handed over to the claimants by the British lawyers,
          the Ivorian courts ruled in favour of Mr Gohourou
, who said his group for victims should be given control of the money.
But some 6,000 people who claimed to have been made ill by the dumping of chemical waste have yet to receive any payments.
Mr Bictogo is the first minister to be sacked by President Ouattara since he took over power from Laurent Gbagbo in April 2011 after a five-month-long crisis following disputed presidential elections.
In July 2010, a Dutch court found Trafigura guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste from Amsterdam and concealing the nature of the cargo.
The oil trading company was fined 1m euros (Â£880,000) after its ship, the Probo Koala, transited Amsterdam with its cargo - which then went on to be unloaded in Ivory Coast.
The exact risk to humans from the waste has been heavily disputed.


Police in the Bahamas have launched an island-wide manhunt after a British man living in the islands was shot dead.

Police said Gary Vanhoeck - 51, and originally from Grimsby - was killed at 22:00 local time (03:00 BST) on Friday on his boat docked in South Ocean, on the island of New Providence.
He was confronted by two men who demanded cash before firing two shots.
Police are searching for four men in connection with the killing but no arrests have been made.
Two of the men are believed to have tied up a security guard while the others boarded the boat, where Mr Vanhoeck lived with his wife, Kathryn.
Mr Vanhoeck, who worked at Stuart Cove's dive centre 17 miles (27km) from Nassau, capital of the Bahamas, is reported to have been shot in front of his wife.
Their boat was moored in front of the dive centre where he was a scuba diving instructor and dock manager.
Michelle Cove, managing director of Stuart Cove's dive centre, described Mr Vanhoeck as "irreplaceable" and "one of a kind".
She added: "Gary was passionate about diving. He was amazingly knowledgeable not just about the marine environment but also about IT and he was a gourmet chef.
"He was happy-go-lucky and fun to be around. Now when I see someone else at the desk, doing the daily roster, it doesn't feel right."
Mr Vanhoeck's brother Wayne told the BBC: "The family are devastated, we're finding it hard to come to terms with.
"Gary was everything to us, we can't believe he's gone."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in the Bahamas. We are providing the family with consular assistance at this very difficult time."
The Bahamas' Tourism Minister, Obie Wilchcombe, told the local Tribune 242 newspaper in the wake of Mr Vanhoeck's murder that he was "very concerned" that crime was "ruining" the reputation of the islands.
According to Tribune 242, there have been 50 murders in the Bahamas this year.
Last April, Briton Edgar Dart, 56, was shot dead and his family attacked with a machete during a robbery in the Bahamas.
Police said Mr Dart, who lived in Winnipeg, Canada, was killed when the masked gang attacked his mother's home in Emerald Bay, Grand Bahama.


Warrenpoint Town say they are "shocked" by an IFA ruling that confirmed their relegation from the Premiership and saw Carrick Rangers stay in the top flight.

An IFA Disciplinary Committee opted not to impose any sanction after finding that Carrick did not properly implement manager Gary Haveron's touchline ban.
The committee said it would "exercise its discretion" in the matter.
A Warrenpoint Town statement argued that the decision "contradicted the IFA's obligation to apply objectivity".
"The board of Warrenpoint Town have read the IFA Disciplinary Committee determination regarding the breach of Article 23.1 of the IFA Disciplinary Code by the Carrick Rangers FC Manager," the statement began.
"We are shocked that the IFA having found Carrick guilty failed to implement the requisite admonishment as per established rules.
"The board will be meeting soon to discuss further this matter and the complaint we formally raised surrounding eligibility which is in abeyance."
Carrick faced a possible three-point deduction and relegation from the top flight, plus a possible fine of at least £350, if the outcome of the hearing did not go in their favour.
However in a statement released on Wednesday night, the committee indicated that "the interests of justice were best served by not imposing a sanction in all the circumstances".
As it stands, Ballinamallard United and Institute await a date for the second leg of their promotion-relegation play-off, the Mallards having won the first leg 2-1 at the Riverside Stadium on 6 May.
Haveron sat out a three-game ban handed out by the IFA, but was in the dugout for his club's match against Dungannon Swifts on 23 April when he should not have been.
"The club did not explain to the Committee's satisfaction the reasons why the start date for the suspension set out in the initial charge letter (18 April 2016)  was not complied with and therefore the challenge from Carrick Rangers was not upheld," read the IFA statement released on Wednesday night.
"The Committee took into account the points made on behalf of the club and decided to exercise its discretion under the overriding objective as outlined in Articles 1.6 and 1.7 of the Disciplinary Code and found that no sanction should be applied."
"In applying its discretion it took into account, what it found to be the honest intention of the club to serve a suspension, the fact that three matches had been served and points made regarding possible confusion in the way in which the suspension was to be implemented."


Saracens made the European Champions Cup quarter-finals with a commanding victory over Ulster at Allianz Park.

Luke Marshall's neat early score had put the visitors ahead before Billy Vunipola crossed from a rolling maul to give Saracens a narrow half-time lead.
The Premiership leaders cut loose after the break though, with Duncan Taylor going over before forwards Maro Itoje and Schalk Brits got in on the act.
As Pool One winners, Saracens will be at home in the last eight.
They have made at least the semi-finals in the past three seasons, but France's top teams - and Europe's top prize - have remained tantalisingly out of reach.
However, the clinical way in which the north London side became the first team to make the last eight of this season's competition suggests they are in with a real shout to finally claim the trophy.
Despite failing to secure any bonus points in defeat, Ulster can still also make the quarter-finals.
The Irish province are second in Pool One with 13 points and a home match against Oyonnax to come next weekend. The three best runners-up across the five pools will also qualify.
Coach Les Kiss will have been pleased by the performance of Ireland's Jared Payne who, in his first start since breaking his foot at the World Cup, showed that his rugby brain was as sharp as ever, dribbling a delicious grubber kick through for Marshall to dot down for the first score.
Saracens' set-piece delivered their first try. Hooker Jamie George picked out Itoje, the hosts soaked up Ulster's counter-shove and rolled around the corner to allow Billy Vunipola to burrow over.
The combination will have impressed watching new England coach Eddie Jones, who included all three in his Six Nations squad on Wednesday.
Farrell's place kicking may not have done, with the usually metronomic fly-half missing a couple of shots at goal in the first half.
However, the 24-year-old has added a new attacking edge to his excellent distribution this season and his adventure paid off shortly after the break as he dummied and darted between Paddy Jackson and Robbie Diack to break clear and put Taylor away into the corner.
Itoje then dotted down from less than a metre before replacement Schalk Brits bundled his way over after a typically bustling burst.
Replacement Ian Humphreys broke clear for a late score for Ulster, but it was too little, too late for the visitors.
Saracens: B Ransom, C Ashton, M Bosch, B Barritt (c), C Wyles, O Farrell, R Wigglesworth; M Vunipola, J George, P Du Plessis, M Itoje, G Kruis, M Rhodes, W Fraser, B Vunipola.
Replacements: S Brits, R Barrington, J Figallo, J Hamilton, J Wray, N De Kock, C Hodgson, D Taylor
Ulster: J Payne, A Trimble, L Marshall, S McCloskey, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; K McCall, R Best (capt), W Herbst; A O'Connor, F van der Merwe; R Diack, S Reidy, R Wilson.
Replacements: R Herring, C Black, R Lutton, L Stevenson, C Ross, P Marshall, I Humphreys, R Scholes.


Arsenal and Chelsea are meeting in this year's FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium today.

27 May 2017 Last updated at 08:59 BST
Former England captain Alan Shearer played in two finals while at Newcastle - but how well does he really know the FA Cup?
Newsround went to meet him ahead of this year's Wembley showpiece and set him 10 challenging FA Cup questions.
How well do you think he did? Can you do any better?


A lorry firm whose driver caused the death of two charity cyclists "put profit before the law", a licence hearing was told.

Andrew McMenigall and Toby Wallace were killed near Newquay in July 2013 by lorry driver Robert Palmer.
Traffic Commissioner Sarah Bell said Fry's Logistics disregarded rules on when drivers should take breaks.
The firm was disqualified from holding an operator's licence for 10 years.
Company director Mark Fry showed a "reprehensible approach to road safety", Ms Bell said.
Palmer, 32, from Grimscott near Bude in Cornwall, was jailed for eight and a half years in September 2014 after pleading guilty at Truro Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
At a hearing in Bristol on Monday, Ms Bell said Fry's Logistics breached drivers' hours rules consistently.
In a written judgment she said Mr Fry was "knowingly sending his driver out to drive when he had not had sufficient rest".
Felicity Hine, solicitor for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, told the hearing: "It would appear that the importance of profit for the company supersedes issues of compliance and road safety."
Fry's Logistics and Mr Fry are disqualified from holding an operator's licence for 10 years and Mr Fry is disqualified from acting as a transport manager for 10 years.
He did not attend the hearing but said his company would be appealing against the ruling.
The national cycling charity CTC questioned why it had taken 28 months to revoke the licence.
Duncan Dollimore from CTC said Fry's Logistics have "been able to carry on trading, putting road users at risk while the enforcement process has progressed at a snail's pace".


Two former foreign secretaries have been suspended from their parliamentary parties after being secretly filmed apparently offering their services to a private company for cash.

Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Labour's Jack Straw both say they have broken no rules.
Reporters for the Daily Telegraph and Channel 4's Dispatches posed as staff of a fake Chinese firm.
The MPs have referred themselves to Parliament's standards watchdog.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has written to the  prime minister calling for a ban on MPs having second jobs.
It is claimed that Mr Straw was recorded describing how he operated "under the radar" and had used his influence to change EU rules on behalf of a firm which paid him £60,000 a year.
On the subject of payment, Mr Straw is heard saying: "So normally, if I'm doing a speech or something, it's £5,000 a day, that's what I charge."
Sir Malcolm is reported to have claimed he could arrange "useful access" to every British ambassador in the world.
The MP for Kensington and chairman of Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee was recorded saying: "I am self-employed - so nobody pays me a salary. I have to earn my income."
He said his usual fee for half a day's work was "somewhere in the region of £5,000 to £8,000".
MPs' second jobs: What are the rules?
Both men defended themselves on appearances on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday morning.
Sir Malcolm said he had "nothing to be embarrassed about". He said the allegations were "unfounded" and he vowed to fight them "with all my strength".
He said he had never accepted an offer from the fake firm, saying it was a "preliminary" discussion "about what they had mind".
Sir Malcolm is paid £67,000 a year and he said telling the company he was not paid a salary was a "silly thing to say".
"Of course I receive a salary as a Member of Parliament but I was referring to my business interests, from none of which I receive a salary. I receive payment for services I provide," he said.
He told the Daily Politics an MP's salary "sounds a lot of money to anyone earning less than that".
But he added: "The reality is that to anyone from a professional or business background earns considerably more than that."
Limiting MPs to their parliamentary salary would be "excluding very large numbers of very able people" who could not "accept such a substantial reduction in their standard of living," he added.
£65,738
MP's salary
£78,298 Headteacher
£72,649 Police superintendent
£88,000 Senior civil servant
£63,032 NHS director
About 200 MPs have business interests, he said, and everything he earns is detailed in the Register of Members' Interests.
Sir Malcolm said he would not stand down as security committee chairman, unless his committee colleagues wanted him to.
"One's got nothing to do with the other," he said. "None of the matters are remotely to do with intelligence or security."
He said he had a letter from Channel 4, accepting he had not offered access to any privileged or secret information.
Mr Straw has suspended himself from the Parliamentary Labour Party, and the party said it was aware of the "disturbing allegations" against him.
The Blackburn MP, who had already announced his intention to stand down in May, said he was "mortified" that he had fallen into the reporters' "trap" but that he had said nothing "improper".
He told Today the language he used had been "not necessarily wrong but could be taken out of context".
During his 36 years as an MP he had been "absolutely scrupulous" about observing the rules, he said, adding that the entire discussion had been around what he would do after leaving Parliament.
He acknowledged he should have postponed the conversation until after 7 May.
Earlier, Mr Straw said he had taken on one consultancy role since his ministerial career ended in 2010, with commodity suppliers, ED&F Man (Holdings) Ltd, saying it was done in accordance with the MPs' Code of Conduct.
Sir Malcolm and Mr Straw both said they had requested copies of the recording transcripts, but that Channel 4 and the Telegraph had not provided them.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair offered Mr Straw his support, saying he was a "byword for being a hard-working constituency MP and parliamentarian".
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said her party would "end second jobs for MPs".
Mr Miliband said the allegations against Mr Straw were "disturbing" and called for the issue of second jobs to be settled "once and for all".
Prime Minister David Cameron said he did not favour a complete ban on MPs having other employment, saying Parliament was "enriched" in some cases by members' outside experience.
Describing the reports as "very serious matters", he promised an "immediate disciplinary inquiry" into Sir Malcolm's case.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which manages MPs' pay, has recommended a 9% salary rise, but party leaders have said that would be unacceptable.
Phillip Blond, director of the centre-right thinktank ResPublica, said MPs should be banned from having outside jobs - but should also have their pay increased.
"We need to recognise that MPs are at the top of the public service tree, and pay them at the same level as top GPs, top civil servants, top head teachers," he said.
The undercover reporters had created a fictitious communications agency called PMR, which they said was based in Hong Kong.
A statement on Channel 4's website said 12 MPs with "significant outside interests" were invited to apply for jobs with PMR, which had "plenty of money" and wanted to hire "influential British politicians to join its advisory board".
"Not all politicians are for hire," the statement added.
"Half of those approached didn't respond. One said he wanted to check us out in Hong Kong so we took it no further. And another said he just wasn't that interested. Of the others, two stood out - Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw."
The documentary, called Politicians for Hire, will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 20:00 GMT.