The UK employment minister has said rising food bank use is not the fault of Westminster's welfare reforms.

In a letter to the Scottish government, Esther McVey said food bank use was increasing across a number of different countries.
She said there was "no robust evidence linking food bank usage to welfare reform", despite reports from the charities suggesting this is the case.
The SNP described her letter as "heartless".
Ms McVey also turned down a request to meet publicly with the Scottish Parliament's welfare committee, but said she would meet them informally.
In her letter, seen by the BBC, she stated "the rise in food banks predates most of the welfare reforms this government has put in place".
However, figures from the Trussell Trust have indicated an increase of more than 300% in the past year.
Ewan Gurr from the Trussell Trust said: "All the empirical evidence and research shows that welfare reform is the main force driving increasing demand for food banks.
"Food banks are responding to a need that has always existed but welfare reform has exacerbated that.
"The rising cost of food and fuel is also a factor driving in the need for food banks but all the research indicates the key factor is welfare reform.
"All we are asking is that the UK government takes note of this and provides some creative solutions. In 2012-13 the Trussell Trust supported 14,318 people. In the past financial year we supported 71,428. The numbers speak for themselves."
The letter from Ms McVey came after growing cross-party concern amongst MSPs about the increasing demand for food banks in Scotland.
Neil Couling of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) gave evidence to the Scottish welfare reform committee last month. After which Minister for Housing and Welfare Margaret Burgess wrote to Ms McVey to express her concerns. This letter was her response.
SNP MSP and member of the welfare committee Kevin Stewart said: "This heartless letter from Esther McVey shows that the UK government has washed their hands of the ever growing number of people being forced to rely on food banks.
"The extent to which the Westminster government will bend the facts in order to try dodge their responsibility on this issue is astonishing.
"The crux of the letter is that Ms McVey has refused to formally attend the welfare reform committee to answer questions about the very policies she is enforcing on vulnerable people.
He added: "The UK Minister has offered some form of informal meeting - but what has she got to hide?
"This offering is effectively her snubbing the Scottish Parliament and the people of Scotland - it is a gutless proposition."
A DWP spokesman said: "The truth is that we're spending Â£94bn a year on working age benefits and the welfare system supports millions of people who are on low incomes or unemployed so they can meet their basic needs.
"The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) say there are fewer people struggling with their food bills compared with a few years ago, and our reforms will improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities by promoting work and helping people to lift themselves out of poverty."


Calls have been made for claims of financial mismanagement at an animal sanctuary in Flintshire to be investigated by the Charity Commission.

Capricorn Animal Rescue was the subject of a BBC Wales Week in Week Out programme which exposed animals being kept in poor conditions.
Former volunteers say they have evidence alcohol was bought with the charity's money.
Founder Sheila Stewart said the items had been bought fraudulently.
She told BBC Wales: "A fraudulent account was registered with Makro using the charity's name to purchase unsuitable items. This is from 2014 until 2015.
"The charity's bank's fraud department has this on file. It is being investigated. Makro are aware of this and are helping us find who has perpetrated this fraud."
Capricorn Animal Rescue is a registered charity that appears to house about 350 animals on two sites at Padeswood near Mold.
It is managed by Ms Stewart and has been the subject of protests and online petitions by former volunteers concerned about its animal welfare standards.
In 2015, the rescue centre raised £250,000 in donations and income from its charity shops.
Former volunteer Vikki Savage said trustees had concerns over bank account entries and receipts from a wholesaler.
"We noticed that there was a lot of spend in Makro and we never ever buy animal food from there, so we wondered what that spend could actually be," she said.
"So we went to Makro, asked if we could have the receipts which relate to [the purchases] and we were absolutely astounded to find it was alcohol.
"There was lots of spirits and shot glasses and basically stuff for a party. It wasn't anything related to animal care whatsoever."
On Saturday protestors gathered out the charity's shop in Mold, raising concerns about animal welfare and alleged financial irregularities.
One protestor, Daniel Rose, said: "I've been a trustee and a volunteer at the charity for several years and the amount of issues we've found - it needs looking into urgently.
"We want the Charity Commission to open their eyes and see that an inquiry is needed to make certain all the evidence we've provided to them is looked at properly."
The Charity Commission said it had received a number of complaints about Capricorn and that it had provided regulatory advice and guidance to the charity's trustees in the form of an action plan.
"Our case remains open and we are continuing to monitor the charity and its compliance with the action plan," a spokesperson said.
"We have met with the charity's trustees and will be engaging further regarding the issues raised. As such we cannot comment further at this time."


Glasgow Warriors have signed the New Zealand-born fly-half Hagen Schulte on a one-year contract.

Schulte - who qualifies for Scotland through his grandmother - is Warriors' eighth signing of the summer.
Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said: "Hagen came over to Glasgow in March and spent a few weeks training with us.
"He fitted in really well with our squad. We're delighted that he's accepted the opportunity to join us."
The signing of Schulte follows the arrivals to Scotstoun of hooker Corey Flynn, winger Leonardo Sarto, scrum-half Nemia Kenatale, props Jarrod Firth and Djustice Sears-Duru, fly-half Rory Clegg and second-row Tjiuee Uanivi.


A rare diamond known as the Pink Star has been sold in Hong Kong for more than $71m (£57m), setting a new world record for any gemstone at auction.

The oval-shaped 59.6 carat stone was bought after just five minutes' bidding at Sotheby's, reports said.
It is the largest polished diamond in its class to go under the hammer.
It sold for $83m in Geneva in 2013 but the buyer later defaulted. The record until now was held by the Oppenheimer Blue, which sold for $50m last May.
Bidding for the gem, which was found by De Beers at a mine in Africa in 1999 and cut over a period of two years, began at $56m.
Sotheby's said the buyer was Hong Kong jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook Jewellery.
Alexander Breckner, head of diamonds at jewellers "77 Diamonds", told the BBC that the stone was exceptional.
"It's the largest pink diamond ever found in the history of humankind. It's an incredible colour to it.
"And the sheer size of the stone already makes it so rare and so beautiful."
May 2016: A large diamond known as the Oppenheimer Blue set a new auction record, reaching a price of $50.6m (£34.7m at the exchange rate then current). The 14.62-carat gem was sold after 20 minutes of phone bidding at Christie's auction house in Geneva. The buyer's identity is unknown.
November 2015: The Blue Moon, a 12.03-carat ring-mounted blue diamond, caught the eye of Hong Kong tycoon Joseph Lau, who paid a record $48.4m (£31.7m) for the cushion-shaped stone. He bought it for his seven-year-old daughter, renaming it the "Blue Moon of Josephine" after her.
May 2015: An unnamed buyer made history after purchasing the Sunrise Ruby, a 25.59-carat "pigeon blood" coloured gemstone, for $30m (£19.1m). At that price, it became the world's most expensive precious stone other than a diamond.
November 2013: The "largest vivid orange diamond in the world", according to Christie's, attracted the highest price paid per carat for any diamond at auction, selling for $35m (£22m), or $2.4m (£1.5m) per carat.
November 2010: The Graff Pink, a 24.78-carat "fancy intense pink" stone described as "one of the greatest diamonds ever discovered", auctioned for $46.2m (£29m). At the time it was believed to be the most expensive gemstone bought at auction and was sold to the well-known British dealer Laurence Graff.


A gunman has opened fire at a restaurant in the Czech Republic, killing eight people before shooting himself dead, officials say.

The man burst into the Druzba restaurant in the eastern town of Uhersky Brod and started "shooting indiscriminately", mayor Patrik Kuncar said.
Police described it as the worst mass shooting incident on record.
Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said it was not a terrorist attack.
Some 20 people were thought to have been in the restaurant at the time.
A waitress who was shot in the chest by the gunman is in a serious condition in hospital.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said he was shocked by the attack and offered his condolences to relatives of the victims.
The suspect has been described as a local man in his 60s.
The town's mayor said he assumed the shooting "was an isolated incident".
"We have various anti-terrorist measures but we can see that, here, probably a lone shooter struck with no warning," he added.
"I'm rattled by this event. I never would have imagined something like this happening here, in a restaurant that I know well."
The restaurant's owner, Pavel Karlik, said the attacker had walked in to the property and started firing a handgun.
"I immediately ran out through the back door, along with other guests who then called an ambulance and police," he said.
The gunman had called a national television station before he started the attack.
Pavel Lebduska, head of regional broadcasting at the Prima channel, said the man had claimed "he was being bullied, no public institutions would help him, and that he had a gun and hostages and that he would deal with it his own way".
Mr Lebduska said the caller had given his name but the station would not reveal it for the time being. The station alerted the police immediately.
Mr Chovanec said on Twitter: "According to the available information, this was not a terrorist attack, but one carried out by an unbalanced individual."
Uhersky Brod is a town of 17,000 in the Moravia region, near the border with Slovakia.
Such shootings are rare in the country, says the BBC's Rob Cameron in Prague, but with hunting a popular hobby many people in rural areas own weapons.


The controversial French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala has been ordered to vacate the Paris theatre where he has been performing for the last 15 years.

A court granted an eviction order to the theatre's owners on technical grounds.
The comedian can stay there pending an appeal.
Dieudonne has several convictions for anti-Semitism, hate speech and glorifying terrorism.
His most recent was after the Islamist attack in January on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The theatre's owners said his current theatre company had no right to the lease, which had been made out to the previous incarnation of the company.
Several French cities have banned the comedian from performing.
He rose to prominence through the invention of the "quenelle", a hand gesture critics have likened to an inverted Nazi salute. He insists he is not anti-Semitic.


When you turn up for dinner it's polite to take a gift but when David Cameron shows up in Brussels tonight he won't be bearing flowers or chocolates.

What he'll hand over to his host to share with the 27 other guests is the "British problem". This is the important moment that it becomes the EU's shared problem.
Gone are the days when Europe's politicians and officials could kid themselves that if they waited long enough the British would change their mind or change their government.
They now know that, like it or not, there will be a renegotiation of the UK's membership of the EU followed by a referendum.
This will not, though, be the moment David Cameron spells out a detailed negotiating position, let alone begins haggling with his fellow leaders over what he will and will not accept.
He fears that if he did that now it would simply be an invitation for his opponents in Europe to chip away at his demands and for his critics at home to proclaim that he's demanding too little and already failing.
Besides, Europe's leaders have enough on their minds - with the Greek crisis still unresolved and the EU's migration crisis getting steadily worse.
His aim, instead, is to get the formal agreement of this EU Summit that it is now the job of the man in the chair - President Tusk - to add solving the British problem to his 'to do' list.
Yesterday he appointed a top Eurocrat - a Brit as it happens - to do just that.
How easy will that prove to be? The short answer is - not easy. Here's a few examples of why:
David Cameron believes that changes to the EU's treaties are necessary not just to implement the changes he wants but to convince Eurosceptics that his demands are not cosmetic.
Other EU leaders - the French president in particular - are already resisting this, fearful that it will invite other countries to make their own demands and that it will trigger unpredictable referendums in other countries.
The prime minister says he no longer wants Britain to be bound by this EU ambition. Some see this as mere symbolism but he sees it as critical to assuaging the anger of those, particularly older, voters who feel they were lied to when they were told that Britain was joining a "common market" and not a much wider political project.
Cameron hopes the change will allow him to assert that Britain is not and cannot be forced to join a European project which dreams of creating a single country with its own flag and anthem, elected parliament and army and, of course, a single European currency.
The phrase is, though, not only symbolic. It has legal status. The EU's other leaders will be reluctant to agree to something which they fear will allow Britain to claim the benefits but not share the costs of co-operation.
The PM has tried to make his proposals on immigration - the issue that upsets voters more than any other - more acceptable to the rest of the EU.
He has dropped proposals drawn up by the home secretary for a cap on EU migration or a so-called "emergency brake" which would allow any country to block their borders if too many people were arriving.
He's insisted that he's signed up to the key EU principle of freedom of movement. He's aiming instead for changes to the rules on welfare.
However, even his proposals to stop child benefit being sent abroad or to stop anyone who has not lived here for four year from claiming tax credits are hitting resistance from countries like Poland, who see them as designed to discriminate against their citizens, and others who believe the UK should simply reform its own over-generous benefits system and stop blaming everyone else.
There is more to the "British problem" than that short list.
This then is not the sort of gift that will be received with much enthusiasm at tonight's summit dinner. The prime minister will try to wrap it up with a cheery message.
Britain, he will insist, no longer wants to slow down or stop the rest of the EU pulling closer together if that's what they want to do.
Indeed, he'll argue that that's the only answer to the continuing problems of the eurozone.
His big ask is that the EU finally accepts that the UK will, though, be no part of that - not now and not ever.
After that he may share what I'm told is the favourite bit of advice he's picked up on his recent whirlwind tour of EU capitals.
It's a phrase used by Finland's prime minister which is said to capture David Cameron's desire to postpone protracted public negotiations for as long as possible and move instead into a long phase of private, behind the scenes, low key discussions about the best way forward.
He does not want to do now what can wait until later or, as they say in Finnish: "There is no need to skin the bear before Christmas".


Doctors in Kenya have agreed to end a 100-day strike that has paralysed the country's public health system.

Union officials representing thousands of striking medical workers have signed an agreement with government officials in the capital, Nairobi.
The doctors are to receive increased allowances as negotiations over other issues continue.
The doctors have been demanding higher wages and better working conditions and say more doctors need to be hired.
About 2,500 public health institutions were affected by the strike.
A number of patients are reported to have died from a lack of medical care during the walkout.
"We are grateful that this dark page in the history of our country has come to an end," Health Minister Cleopa Mailu said at the signing of the deal.
The authorities would do their best to ensure Kenyans "get services quickly", he added, without giving exact dates on when public health services would be back up and running.
Dr Ouma Oluga, head of the union of medical workers (KPMDU), said: "The strike may be over but the industrial dispute is not yet".
He reiterated the union's argument that it was impossible to separate the rights of patients from the rights of doctors.
The return to work agreement will see doctors receive an additional $560 (Â£460) to $700 a month in allowances.
However a separate agreement, called the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is yet to be discussed.
The CBA could take weeks to conclude as the organisations that actually employ the majority of the doctors - the County Boards of Health - were not involved in drafting the document and they need to study it before the county governors can sign.
Previous attempts to end the strike failed as doctors and the government refused to compromise on their positions.
Last week the government withdrew its offer of a 50% pay rise to the workers.
The jailing of KPMDU union leaders for refusing to honour a court order to call off the strike failed to persuade the doctors to back down.
As well as higher salaries, doctors have been campaigning for improvements to dilapidated public health facilities and want Kenya to address a huge shortage of doctors.


A watchdog has revealed it is investigating a premium-rate texting campaign, following complaints from recipients that they have been charged fees even though many believe they never opted into the service.

One expert claimed the messages look like spam, which could cause phone owners to ignore them.
There is also concern about conflicting advice being given to the public.
The two companies involved in the campaign deny any wrongdoing.
The BBC became aware of the campaign when one of its reporters received a text in June.
It said: "FreeMsg: U have subscribed to Comp House competition for £4.50 per month until you send stop to 82225. SP Pro Money HELLO? 08001577502?T&C".
A shortened Bit.ly link was sent as a follow-up message, and a third communication stated that this "text cost £1.50".
The company behind the campaign is called Pro Money Holdings, which is registered to an Ilford, London address.
It makes use of a second service, called Veoo - a St Albans-headquartered business that provides billing and messaging platforms to mobile-related companies.
The industry's regulator, the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA), later told the BBC it was "informally" investigating complaints about the Pro Money Holdings service and had "recently" opened a probe into Veoo.
"Under our code of practice, consumers must not be charged for phone-paid services without their consent," said a spokesman.
"We are currently looking into complaints regarding the service operating on 82225 and separately have an ongoing investigation into Veoo."
Members of the public have posted concerns about the 82225's operation over the past two months, with several saying they could not recall subscribing to anything that would account for the fees.
But Pro Money Holdings told the BBC it only charged people who had "pushed a key" in an online competition or in response to a phone message.
"There's a lot of compliance that goes into everything that's done with anything we do," customer care manager David Marshall said.
"Prior to anything starting, there's a lot of testing done to make sure that everything from our end is correct.
"From our own perspective, if there's something not 100% at our end, we would get it adjusted."
To prove the point, Mr Marshall offered to provide details about how the BBC journalist came to be subscribed.
But more than a month after making the promise, Pro Money Holdings has not shared the details, despite repeated follow-up requests, beyond saying the journalist had opted in and this had been "verified by an independent third party".
It did, however, refund the £1.50 fee that had been charged.
For its part, Veoo said it was no longer supporting the campaign.
"Following on-going compliance checks with the service... run by Pro Money Holdings, Veoo suspended the Pro Comp service and will not be reinstating that service via our messaging platform," said spokeswoman Vanessa D'Souza.
"We take our responsibilities very seriously."
One cyber-security consultant said he had concerns that the messages could be mistaken as spam, in part because of their odd punctuation and use of "u" rather than "you".
"It's exactly the sort of message that you might delete assuming it's spam only to realise, perhaps months later when checking your bill, that you've been paying," said Alan Woodward.
Mobile owners seeking advice about how to handle such demands are given contradictory advice online.
The PSA states that users should reply to rather than ignore Stop messages.
But the popular Money Saving Expert site, among others, says not to do so if the texts look suspicious.
"The golden rule is do not reply, at all, ever - do not text 'Stop'!" it states.
"These texts want any response to confirm you are a real person.
"Any numbers that are confirmed are likely to be sold on to... unscrupulous marketeers who may further spam you with unsolicited calls and texts.
"Ensure you don't click on any links within the text either."
For its part, Pro Money Holdings denies deliberately designing its texts to look odd and defended its use of "slang".
"The size of an SMS is a maximum of 160 characters as you are aware," it told the BBC.
"In order to fit the customer care telephone number on the message, it is necessary to shorten some words where applicable."
Mobile networks say customers who receive unsolicited texts can contact their support teams to confirm whether the messages are legitimate and if a Stop response should be sent.
"I have seen people ignoring these messages and being charged a lot," said one Vodafone call centre employee.
"Blocking doesn't stop these as customers are charged irrespective of whether they receive these messages or not, even if the phone is off."
The PSA said it could not comment further about Pro Money Holding's case.
But Mr Woodward urged it to review its guidance.
"If the regulator is expecting us to reply, 'Stop', there is a danger that it causes those heeding such advice to play into the hands of scammers," he said.
"Either way, the regulator is the one who needs to 'stop' this, not unsuspecting recipients."
The PSA issued more than £5m in fines in the past financial year against companies that had breached its rules.


The sale of a key part of the UK's energy infrastructure should be halted, according to the GMB union.

Initial bids were due by Friday night for National Grid's gas distribution arm, which supplies millions of homes.
However, the union called on PM Theresa May to intervene and put the sale on hold until new safeguards covering the sale of national assets are introduced.
Foreign bidders are said to be eyeing the business, which analysts believe could be worth Â£11bn.
Potential buyers are thought to include a Chinese consortium and one of Asia's richest businessmen.
The sale comes as the government seeks to tighten up rules surrounding foreign takeovers of critical infrastructure, which will include a review of the Enterprise Act.
But the GMB says the sale should now be stopped.
"Theresa May should intervene and put this sale on hold until the review of the Enterprise Act is completed and there are proper safeguards in place," said Justin Bowden, GMB national secretary for energy.
"If it was good enough in her opinion to delay the go-ahead to Hinkley Point, then it is certainly good enough to put the brakes on here," he said.
National Grid announced plans to sell a majority stake in its gas distribution business last year. It comprises four regional networks which provide gas to some 10.9 million customers.
The regulated business made an operating profit of Â£428m in 2015.
However, the prospect of this key part of the UK's energy infrastructure falling into foreign hands is raising concerns.
"This is not a cash cow but a key piece of infrastructure, vital to our economy," Mr Bowden said.
"Just days after the government promised to review the Enterprise Act and introduce some long-overdue checks and balances into the sale of our key assets, yet another example comes down the line of fundamental UK infrastructure being flogged off to the highest foreign bidder", he added.
Last week, the government said it would impose "significant new safeguards" for future foreign investment in the UK's critical infrastructure.
However, this sale is expected to be completed by early next year which would be before the new takeover measures are in place.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) insists that the government currently has a robust system to look at merger cases to defend national security.
This allows the secretary of state to intervene in transactions if there are issues of public interest.
A BEIS spokesperson said: "The safety and security of our infrastructure is non-negotiable. There are already robust processes in place to carefully scrutinise investment and ensure the safe operation of our electricity and gas networks."
National Grid is selling the networks to focus on higher growth parts of its operations.
"Gas demand in the UK has fallen nearly 20% in a decade", said Peter Atherton, an associate at Cornwall Energy Consultants.
"So National Grid is looking to sell as it sees gas networks as low growth going forwards".
But the business is proving attractive to foreign investors.
"It's rare for a business of this size to come on the market so global investors are attracted," Mr Atherton said.
"Investors are desperate for assets that can provide a decent dividend yield and UK regulated utility networks do just that," he said.
Likely bidders for the network are thought to include Li Ka-Shing, the Hong Kong based billionaire regarded as one of the most powerful businessmen in Asia.
The BBC understands representatives of his investment vehicle Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) met with National Grid's management to discuss the sale some months ago.
Others reported to be tabling bids include Chinese conglomerate Fosun and consortia led by the Canada Pensions Plan Investment Board and the Australian banking giant Macquarie.
The government's plan for new takeover safeguards emerged last week when it gave the green light to Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear plant in the UK for a generation.
China's CGN will provide around a third of the funding for the Â£18bn project, with the rest coming from the French energy giant EDF.
But in return the Chinese want to build their own reactor technology at Bradwell in Essex, giving their nuclear industry a foothold in the West.
The government says that it will take a "special share" in future nuclear projects to prevent stakes being sold without consent.


The UK's third biggest property portal, OnTheMarket.com, plans to raise £50m by issuing shares on the stock market.

It will use the money to help it compete against its larger rivals Zoopla and Rightmove, which currently dominate the market.
OnTheMarket.com is owned by over 2000 estate agents, including Savills, Knight Frank and Strutt & Parker.
It has previously accused Zoopla and Rightmove of charging too much for advertising properties on the internet.
"For consumers and agents alike, we are committed to creating a genuine agent-controlled alternative challenger business and brand to the two leading incumbent portals," said Ian Springett, chief executive of the parent company Agents' Mutual.
The money will be spent on a "heavyweight" advertising campaign on television, and in digital and print media.
OnTheMarket's members will vote on 6 September whether to go ahead with the float, which if successful would value the company at between £200m and £250m.
The offer will be open to institutional investors only.


US President Donald Trump has said his eldest son's controversial meeting last year with a Russian lawyer counted as "opposition research".

Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Paris, Mr Trump said "most people" would have taken the meeting.
Emails show the president's son and two top campaign officials met the Russian attorney during the campaign.
A Senate panel is asking Donald Trump Jr to publicly testify about the meeting.
Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the judiciary committee, said he would issue a subpoena, compelling the president's son to testify, if necessary.
Several congressional committees and a special counsel are investigating alleged Russian efforts to influence last November's US election and whether Trump aides colluded.
Flanked by French President Emmanuel Macron, President Trump said on Thursday: "From a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting.
"It's called opposition research or even research into your opponent."
Mr Trump twice referred to his son, who at 39 is the same age as Mr Macron as "a young man".
"My son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a Russian lawyer, not a government lawyer but a Russian lawyer," Mr Trump said, in response to the first question he was  asked by journalists at the news conference.
"I've had many people call up 'Oh, gee, we have information on this factor or this person, or frankly, Hillary - that's very standard in politics.
"Politics is not the nicest business in the world, but it's very standard, where they have information and you take the information," he said, blaming the press for inflating the significance of the story.
"Nothing happened from the meeting. Zero happened," Mr Trump insisted.
Mr Trump Jr was joined by the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort, in meeting Natalia Veselnitskaya at New York's Trump Tower on 9 June 2016, as Donald Trump Snr closed in on the Republican nomination.
The lawyer, who US media report has ties to the Kremlin, was said to be offering damaging information to provide to the Trump campaign regarding Hillary Clinton.
The documents "would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father", according to the email sent to the president's son by British music promoter, Rob Goldstone.
Mr Goldstone's email added: "This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr Trump."
"If it's what you say, I love it," the president's son responded.
Ms Veselnitskaya denies having ever worked for the Russian government. Donald Trump Jr told Fox News the meeting was "such a nothing" and described it as a waste of time.
During the event in Paris, Mr Trump also blamed members of the Obama administration for allowing Ms Veselnitskaya to be admitted into the United States.
Also on Thursday, a spokesman for US Vice-President Mike Pence said his boss "had no meetings with any individual associated with the Russian government during the campaign or transition" into the White House.
The denial comes after a Fox News interview on Wednesday in which Mr Pence's spokesman ducked a question three times on whether Mr Pence had attended any such meetings.


Leicester City "achieved the impossible again" according to captain Wes Morgan, after a stunning win over Sevilla sent them into the Champions League quarter-finals.

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The Foxes won 2-0 at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday to progress 3-2 on aggregate.
It continues a fairytale 12 months for Leicester following their Premier League triumph last season.
"I'm not sure if it will happen again but we did it," Morgan told BT Sport.
"We proved a lot of people wrong and pulled off the impossible again."
Leicester, who are still battling for survival in the Premier League despite successive wins under new boss Craig Shakespeare, now go into Friday's quarter-final draw.
Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus are among the teams they could play for a place in the last four.
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said after his side sealed their place in the last eight by beating Porto on Tuesday that Leicester are the team to avoid in the next round.
"We will take whoever comes," added Morgan.
"It is a fantastic night for Leicester. We still need to concentrate on the league but we will enjoy this moment."
Victory continued Leicester's impressive resurgence under Shakespeare.
The 53-year-old Englishman stepped up from his role as Claudio Ranieri's assistant following the Italian's sacking on 23 February - after the first leg of this tie - and has now led the Foxes to three straight wins.
Shakespeare, who has been made permanent Leicester manager until the end of the season, believes the win ranks alongside the biggest in the club's history.
"It has to stand up there with all the achievements, because of the quality of the opposition," he said.
"We know there's going to be some terrific teams, as there were in the previous round. We're in there on merit. Make no mistake about that.
"It will be memorable for everyone at the football club. We might just be the surprise team."
Shakespeare was keen to highlight Ranieri's part in the club's success in Europe.
"Claudio will always be fondly remembered by everyone at this football club for what he achieved and helped us achieve," he added.
"The performance in the first leg when Claudio was in charge, that gave us the springboard for the result tonight."
Almost seven years ago to the day, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was playing in League Two for Notts County as they drew with Bournemouth.
On Tuesday, he played a crucial role in securing Leicester's place in the Champions League last eight, saving Steven N'Zonzi's late penalty that could have taken the game to extra time.
"It is a great feeling to help the team progress," said Schmeichel.
"We have gone out and played more like we did last season and we are reaping the rewards of it now.
"A lot of us have come a long way. I've been all the way down in League Two and to be standing here in the Champions League quarter-finals is incredible."
Foxes midfielder Marc Albrighton, who scored his side's second, added: "I'm a bit lost for words.
"I think we thoroughly deserved the victory. We pressed them from the first whistle to the last and rode our luck at times, defended triumphantly, and to get the two goals against such a good team and keep a clean sheet is fantastic for us."
Former Leeds United and Manchester City defender Danny Mills told BBC Radio 5 live: "It's just a different Leicester from what we have seen so far this season.
"All those fans who thought it was a disgrace that Ranieri was sacked, they have got to eat some humble pie.
"There had to be something wrong there."
Ex-Leicester manager David Pleat: "They looked so fluid and had such amazing passion and determination. It has been such a fantastic time for them over the past few years, which is why we love the game.
"You have to beat your opponents over the course of 180 minutes, which makes the win even more impressive.
"Who would have thought they would win the title last year so whoever they face, who knows? I don't think they would want either Real Madrid or Barcelona in the quarter-final. Perhaps Monaco if they make it through against Manchester City tomorrow."
Sunday Times football correspondent Jonathan Northcroft added: "It reminded me of last season so much. It just had that epic quality. Everything was the same as last year tonight, except the man in the dugout.
"But you have got to be honest, this is not the set-up Ranieri would have chosen - they would have had different instructions.
"This was back to basics for Leicester tonight and that is what the players wanted - that's what got them success last year. It's a pretty simple blueprint but they do it so well."


Angelina Jolie cooked up a storm while promoting her latest film in Cambodia by eating bugs with her kids.

The actress was seen frying a scorpion and eating the leg of a spider which she said had a "really good flavour".
Eating creepy crawlies has been long associated with the TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.
But should we all be more like Angelina and swap our bacon for bugs?
It's estimated that by 2050 the world will be home to nine billion people, meaning current food production will need to almost double.
As the population grows, there's been a real push to look at sources of food - particularly protein - other than your traditional meat and fish.
Eating insects is said to be one way of meeting this challenge because they are environmentally sustainable, nutritious and can be harvested relatively cheaply and easily in the right conditions.
It's estimated that two million people worldwide eat insects as part of their traditional diet, but Western countries have yet to catch up.
There is a "yuck factor", says the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). It says Western attitudes towards entomophagy - humans eating insects - are negative because bugs are seen as unclean and disease-carrying.
The rise of agriculture and a change in lifestyle in Western societies has also led to insects being seen as "pests", says the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Mosquitoes and flies invade homes and bite, termites destroy wood, and some insects end up as unwanted extras in restaurant meals - all of which trigger a "disgust" reaction, it added.
However, there has been a slow shift in attitudes with the art of eating bugs being considered a novelty, which has seen a rise in their purchase as an unusual gift.
"They are the original superfood," says Shami Radia, co-founder of Grub which sells a range of edible bugs. "They are high in protein, minerals and amino acids so it makes sense to eat them."
Insects are also better for the environment than conventional livestock farming. They can feed on bio-waste, produce less greenhouse gases, use less water and take up less land than animals.
Bugs also have what's called a high feed conversion efficiency because they are cold-blooded. On average, insects can convert 2kg of feed into 1kg of insect mass, whereas cattle require 8kg of feed to produce 1kg of body weight gain.
There are around 1,900 different species of insects that have been used as food, according to the FAO.
The most commonly eaten insect groups include beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, termites, dragonflies and flies.
Despite such a variety of insects being available though, UK suppliers have focused on a more limited choice with the most popular being crickets, mealworms, locusts and grasshoppers.
Grub sellers believe the UK is a long way from embracing spiders and scorpions on our dinner plate.
"We have to take baby steps," says Mr Radia. "It's not something we would sell. You've got to think about what insects to push and what will get people into eating grubs.
"You have to think of the consumer journey. You can start off with cricket powder because you can't actually see the insect and hopefully it will make people more comfortable with eating insects as a whole."
So far, the UK market has seen pop-up shops and restaurants incorporate insects into more traditional dishes such as buffalo worm macaroni cheese, meal worm bolognaise, chocolate cherry cricket brownies or sprinkled on a pizza.
They are also marketed as an on-the-go snack that would sit alongside your roasted peanuts or chia seeds.
Bug sellers say there has been a real shift in the popularity of edible bugs.
Nick Cooper, owner of Crunchy Critters which was set up in 2012, has seen a sales growth rate of 25% year on year with products being sold to schools as well as gyms. He notes there is a particular boom around Halloween and the festive period.
"People are much more aware of eating insects," he said. "There's not that shock horror factor now. The market is definitely heading in the right direction. It won't be an overnight change and will probably be led in the future by youngsters."
Mr Radia believes that eating insects will one day become as popular as eating sushi.
"Behaviour can be changed," he said. "Prawns are ugly and taste delicious and there's no reason why eating insects can't be normalised."


A man has been killed in a suspected hit-and-run crash while on honeymoon in Mexico.

Ray Cottam, 55, from Middlestown near Wakefield in West Yorkshire, died in the resort of Cancun, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed.
He was on holiday with his new wife Karen after marrying last Saturday near Pontefract, according to reports.
A FCO spokeswoman said: "We were made aware of the death of a British national in Cancun, Mexico on 30 June."
Mrs Cottam is now back home in Middlestown being comforted by family.
Staff at a nearby bookmakers where Mrs Cottam works have set up a collection for her.
"We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time," the FCO spokeswoman added.


Two thieves were caught red-handed after they became trapped inside a house they had broken into.

Del Banks, 27, and Liam Pringle, 28, were unable to find a way to open the doors after climbing in a window of the home in the Craigie area of Perth.
While they were stuck inside, a police cordon was set up outside.
Banks was once taken by a social worker to see a Black Eyed Peas concert as a teenager in a bid to curb his offending.
But since then has been sent to prison on 24 separate occasions. He has committed more than 50 crimes and left three victims scarred for life in separate attacks.
The 300-mile concert trip, funded by taxpayers, was hailed by the local authority at the time as a success.
Both men admitted breaking into the semi-detached property in Cavendish Avenue, Perth, on 29 January with intent to steal.
Perth Sheriff Court heard that at the time Pringle had been freed from court on bail just hours earlier.
The pair, both drug addicts, left syringes in the householder's bed and threw items around the house.
Fiscal depute Sue Ruta told the court that two neighbours saw the men climb onto a flat roof at the back of the property. Pringle then reached down and pulled Banks up and they climbed in through a bathroom window.
Police arrived straight away and saw Pringle inside the property. He ran to the front of the house but could not get out to escape.
"A number of officers arrived and a cordon was placed around the property," Ms Ruta said. "One of the officers smashed a window panel on the front door but there was no key or unlocking mechanism.
"Pringle came to the door and intimated he would leave the locus, but he couldn't as he was unable to unlock the door from the inside. Banks also came to the door."
The pair eventually managed to get out of a window and were arrested.
Solicitor Billy Somerville, for Banks, said: "It was a fairly awful attempt at breaking in. They were caught red-handed and nothing was taken. It was committed with a view to getting money to buy drugs."
Solicitor John McLaughlin, for Pringle, said: "Mr Pringle would have gone out of the front door had there been any way of opening it. Some people think taking diazepam makes them invisible."
Sheriff William Wood said: "It is perhaps unfortunate for the householder that there wasn't a key left to hand so they could get out and avoid any damage."
Sentence was deferred for reports and both men were remanded in custody.


Sixty-two men and women from Northern Ireland, who responded to requests to perform sex acts online, have been targeted by blackmailers.

The cases have all been uncovered in the past seven months - an average of two cases per week.
On Tuesday, the police issued a warning after it received "several local reports of cyber-related blackmail".
Recordings of the sex acts were used by blackmailers who threatened to publish the footage online if they did not pay.
The victims were told to transfer money to an account based in west Africa.
Ch Supt George Clarke said women, as well as men, are being deceived into performing sex acts online, which are recorded and later used to try to blackmail them.
Previously it was thought that only men had been targeted.
Organised crime gangs, at home and abroad, are being blamed.
Mr Clarke urged any victims of the crimes to come forward and ring police on the non-emergency 101 number.
He said that although it was difficult to trace and delete the images and recover any money handed over, it was not impossible.
The crimes happened in the Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus and Antrim areas of County Antrim.
The PSNI posted the warning on its Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus Facebook page.
In the statement, Det Sgt Neil Maxwell said: "In the most recent cases men of various ages have been asked to perform or participate in a sexual act online which is recorded and then used to blackmail the individual with threats to upload the material on to social media platforms.
"Some victims have paid money because they have felt embarrassed and this usually involves a Western Union transfer to an account in the Ivory Coast.
"We want anyone who has been the victim of this type of crime to come forward. Do not feel pressurised into paying money as this is unlikely to resolve the issue," the officer added.


A look at eye-catching policy ideas that are often talked about but never seem to feature in UK general election campaigns.

Britain's railways were nationalised by Labour in 1948 and returned to private hands by John Major's Conservative government in 1993.
Labour was initially committed to renationalisation but the policy was dropped when Tony Blair came to power in 1997. Track, signalling and stations were taken out of private hands, and put into a not-for-profit company, Network Rail, after the collapse of Railtrack in 2002.
Labour has yet to reveal its transport policies for the next general election, but they are not thought likely to feature rail nationalisation.
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has launched a private members' bill to allow the train companies to "fall back" into public ownership, which is supported by a number of Labour backbenchers and Plaid Cymru MPs.
The train companies insist the debate about nationalisation is solely driven by the unions.
In 1993, Britain's railway was broken into pieces and handed, mostly as local monopolies, to profit-taking companies.
The cost of the railway to the taxpayer has subsequently more than doubled in real terms, a rise out of all proportion to the 33% increase in train services over the same period.
The cost rises stem from wastage as shareholder dividend pay-outs, other inefficient private sector financing and inefficiencies created by fragmentation of the railway.
The wastage amounts to over Â£1bn per year, enough to cut fares by 20% if the railway were reunified as a public company.
Instead, fare increases on the privatised railway threaten to turn it into a "rich-man's toy", as this government's first Secretary of State for Transport put it.
Unbeknown to most passengers, one portion of our railway, the East Coast mainline, is still run by a publicly-owned company, Directly Operated Railways, which picked up the pieces after its two private sector predecessors walked off the job.
Recent calculations by the Office of Rail Regulation revealed how the public money that helps maintain the rail tracks or directly supports rail services splits between the train companies and showed that DOR receives less subsidy than any other rail franchise operator.  DOR's success is a glaring embarrassment for the Government, who now intend to privatise it post-haste, even though that will increase costs to the taxpayer.
Most other rail franchises in the UK are, ironically, also run by companies that are wholly or partly publicly owned, but by other countries.  Deutsche Bahn is foremost - they even run the Royal Train - and the German Government have said "We're skimming profit from the entire Deutsche Bahn...it is invested in the rail network here in Germany".  So, if you are reading this on an overcrowded train with a ticket that made a painful hole in your wallet, take heart from your generous contribution to improvement of Germany's fine publicly-owned railway.
The UK's railway network was built privately and competitively and by some way its most successful years were the private eras between 1830 and 1922 and 1994 to the present.
Returning it to centralised state control would be a step backwards and a mistake.
Instead we should end the practice of franchising, which creates private monopolies, and allow real competition and diversity.
Our system began with the first steam train in 1825, and despite costly government licenses, investors built the bulk of today's network (about 6,000 of approx 11,000 miles) in just three or so years, between 1844 and 1846.
Journeys rose to from about 500 million a year in the 1870s to 1.5 billion just before the First World War. After the war, David Lloyd George judged that rail firms profits were too low due to too much competition, and decided to merge nearly all the UK's railway firms into just four firms, practically monopolies.
Between 1923 and 1947 the so-called Big Four government-supported firms ran the roost and journeys fell to about 1.2 billion by the onset of the Second World War.
After the war, these and others were consolidated further into British Rail. Under British Rail, there were steadily fewer and fewer journeys per yearâ€”from around 1 billion in 1948 to only 750 million by 1995, just before the onset of the franchising system.
Now there are deep flaws with franchising, and undoubtedly it has been lucky, coinciding with higher congestion, fuel prices, and a renewed rise in London as the UK's economic centre. But the sharpness of the change since 1995 is undeniable.
Since then journeys have spiked dramatically, rising every year to close on the 1.5 billion not seen for almost a century.
The solution to our current problems is not more state bungling, it is a return to diversity, competition and open markets.


Enda Kenny has tendered his resignation as Irish prime minister but will continue as acting taoiseach until a successor is appointed.

On Thursday, the first day of the 32nd Irish parliament (Dáil) , Mr Kenny, Micheál Martin, Gerry Adams and Richard Boyd Barrett failed in their bids to be prime minister.
Mr Kenny later tendered his resignation to President Michael D Higgins.
However, he will hold the acting role until the Dáil meets again on 22 March.
Talks on the formation of a new government continue.


Two men have been arrested during a large-scale operation against suspected fuel laundering in South Armagh.

Officially, HM Revenue and Customs would only confirm that an operation is ongoing in the Newry area.
However, BBC News NI has been told that the operation began on Wednesday and centred on a property just outside Newry.
It is believed the property was searched on a previous occasion without anything untoward being found.
This time, however, HMRC investigators brought with them specialist metal-detecting equipment.
It is understood that two underground pipes were discovered apparently leading under a field to what the authorities believe is an illegal laundering plant.
Some 18,000 litres of suspected illicit fuel are believed to have been recovered.
This is the second suspected plant to be discovered in days, with one having been recovered in Cullyhanna earlier this week.


Residents close to Edinburgh Airport have been warned about increased aircraft noise while the regular flight path is temporarily changed.

Work is to be carried out on Edinburgh Airport's main runway over the next three weekends between 23:00 and 05:30.
Areas affected include Bonnyrigg, Loanhead, Fairmilehead, Colinton, Sighthill, South Gyle, Oxgangs, Kirkliston and Bo'ness.
The work will resurface runway areas particularly the touchdown zones.
The airport said 16 flights would operate during the renovations, and the main runway would reopen before 06:00 each morning.
Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: "As the airport continues to grow our runway is subjected to heavier loads and more frequent aircraft movements.
"These heavy forces can cause the runway surface to degrade over time.
"The work we're carrying out over the next few weeks will involve resurfacing a number of areas on the runway, particularly at the aircraft touchdown zones.
"As we'll be operating a different take-off and landing route, some areas around Edinburgh may notice a slight increase in the number aircraft operations between the hours of runway maintenance.
"Although this runway maintenance work may cause some minimal inconvenience in the short term, it is essential that we continue to invest in and improve our facilities."


Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has criticised judges who give permission for anti-government protests which later turn violent.

He said the judges showed a reckless disregard for peace, and warned that they should not dare to be negligent when making decisions.
The opposition has accused him of trying to intimidate the judiciary.
On Monday, opposition supporters are going to court to challenge a two-week ban on demonstrations.
There have been a number of violent protests in Zimbabwe in recent weeks as the country's economic crisis deepens.
The president recently warned protesters there would be no Zimbabwean uprising similar to the "Arab Spring".
He has routinely blamed the country's economic problems on sabotage by Western critics of his policies - which include the seizure of white-owned commercial farms for black people.
The opposition says the latest demonstration ban is unconstitutional and has approached the High Court to challenge it.
Mr Mugabe was reported to have told a conference of the governing Zanu-PF's youth wing on Saturday that "enough is enough" and he would not permit violent protests to carry on.
The latest bout of violence began more than a week ago when tear gas and water cannon were used by police to stop protesters.
"Our courts, our justice system, our judges should be the ones who understand even better than ordinary citizens. They dare not be negligent in their decisions when requests are made by people who want to demonstrate," the Sunday News quoted Mr Mugabe as saying.
The president said there was violence each time the court had allowed the protests to go ahead.
Police routinely blame a lack of manpower and the security threat as reasons for barring opposition protests, but their arguments have often been overturned by the High Court.
Mr Mugabe, 92, recently arrived back in Zimbabwe from abroad amid rumours about his state of health, joking at the main airport in Harare that he had died and been resurrected.


Yellow car owners have rallied in support of a vehicle blamed for ruining tourists' photographs in a picturesque Cotswold village.

A convoy of 100 cars has driven through Bibury in an act of solidarity towards Vauxhall Corsa owner Peter Maddox, 84.
Mr Maddox has come under fire for parking his car outside his cottage in Arlington Row.
Tourists have complained that it "ruins" the view and, earlier this year, the vehicle was vandalised.
Hundreds of yellow car owners applied to join the drive-through, which had a set limit of 100 cars for safety.
Organiser Matty Bee, from Coventry, said it was "a celebration of anything yellow".
He added: "The response has been amazing and overwhelming; people from all over the country and all over the world have applied to join the group.
"We've had everything here from a three-wheeler and a Mini to a Lamborghini super car...I've never seen so many yellow coloured cars in one place."
Mr Maddox, who watched the convoy as it drove past his cottage, said he was "overwhelmed" by the show of support for his yellow car.
Bibury, near Cirencester, was once described by William Morris as "the most beautiful village in England".
The National Trust owns the 17th Century cottages of Arlington Row, which are featured on the inside cover of the British passport and are some of the most photographed dwellings in the country.
Complaints about Mr Maddox's car began in 2015 after Lee McCallum posted a picture of the car with the comment: "Picture postcard street photobombed by ugly little yellow car."
Numerous visitors then took to Twitter claiming it "ruins" the view and is a "shot spoiler".
In February, vandals scratched the word 'move' into the car's bonnet, damaged panels and smashed its windows - causing approximately Â£6,000 of damage.
At the time, a defiant Mr Maddox said that if it was too expensive to repair the car he would buy a replacement - in lime green.
Yellow cars


A man and two teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of child abduction after two 13-year-old girls went missing, police said.

The girls vanished after getting off the number 97 bus on Garrison Lane in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, at about 21:00 GMT on Friday.
The girls were found by officers at an address in Washwood Heath on Sunday.
A 27-year-old man and two boys, aged 16 and 17, have been bailed while inquiries continue, police said.
The girls are said to be safe and well and receiving specialist support.


West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Pulis says he would no longer be in football management if he had not learned to adapt in the way he handles players.

The 57-year-old Baggies head coach has been a manager for over 23 years - or fast approaching 1,000 football matches - at eight different clubs.
"It's become a lot different to what it used to be," he told BBC WM.
"But, unless you're prepared to change, if I had not adapted, then Tony Pulis wouldn't be in football."
Pulis has been in charge at Bournemouth, Gillingham, Bristol City, Portsmouth, Stoke City (twice), Plymouth Argyle, Crystal Palace and now Albion since he first entered management.
It was in June 1992 that he stepped up from player-coach to replace Harry Redknapp at Dean Court when his old boss left to return to West Ham as assistant manager to Billy Bonds.
Since then, he has won more of his 958 games in charge than he has lost - 353 to 323 - in the top four divisions of English football.
But, in a revealing exchange with BBC WM's Paul Franks, despite the frustrations of having to keep within the budget of a lowly but now established Premier League club who are still open to takeover offers, he makes it clear that he remains as committed and passionate as ever about football management.
"If you said I can have another three years at the club and do what I wanted to do within those three years, then I'd be more than happy," he added.
"Dealing with players. Years ago, they weren't all multi-millionaires. They weren't earning what they're earning now. Players have become like the film stars of the 1960s and 70s. They're recognised everywhere they go.
"Football has gone through the roof in lots of respects. Not all good, in my opinion, but you have to deal with it and work with it. There's too many other things that go on now and surround football.
"There used to be a little bit more respect and perspective and love of what they were involved in. But I don't say that in a bad way."
"You can get on a team bus now and the lads will stick their earphones on and get their computers out and do what they do. But I'm not into all the gadgets. I'm just a human being who enjoys other people's company.
"When we were young, on coach trips to away games when I was at Bournemouth, there'd be four of us at the front of the bus - myself, Sean O'Driscoll, Gerry Peyton and Mark O'Connor (now part of Pulis' Albion coaching team).
"All we'd do is sit there and talk football. We'd discuss the game, the training, the things that were relevant to our our lives.
"If we'd been up at Middlesbrough we'd talk football all the way back to Bournemouth. Unfortunately, I just don't see that so much any more."
"Everybody has an opinion. Everybody understands the game better than you do.
"You respect people's opinions. But, if you listened to what everybody said, it would drive you insane.
"This is the best footballing nation in the world. Without the support the clubs get, the passion and the commitment that supporters show their clubs, we wouldn't be where we are now. It's almost tribal.
"But it makes it more difficult than ever to manage."
"I'm a nightmare. If we lose, even at this stage of my career, I manage it a little bit better but I'm not good to be around. I analyse things too much. My wife's been able to put up with me for a long time now and the children understand and accept the way I am. But I can be a nightmare at times.
"My wife's been with me since I was 18. She knows how I work, accepts the way I am, how I am as a person, as an individual. She works around me.
"My son [Anthony] is away working in America at the moment. He's decided to go into coaching now, taking the Under-21s at Orlando City. He understands what Dad goes through and the life I lead. We talk twice, maybe three times a day. It'll be interesting to see how he works and reacts to the rigours of management.
"My two daughters tell me if I need to lighten up. lf there's two people in the world who can get away with it, it's Laura and Stephanie. But the girls are also very protective of me."
BBC WM's hour-long special with Tony Pulis, including his favourite music, will be on BBC WM 95.6, DAB & Online on Thursday's Football Phone-In (19 November, 18:00 GMT).


England can be the world's leading Test side for the first time in more than 40 years under new head coach Wayne Bennett, says full-back Sam Tomkins.

England have not been the world's leading side since Great Britain claimed the World Cup in 1972.
Australian Bennett, 66, has signed a two-year deal to replace Steve McNamara, whose contract expired.
"The gap between us, Australia and New Zealand is smaller than ever," said Tomkins.
England are currently third in the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) world rankings behind New Zealand and Australia.
Bennett is the most successful coach in NRL history, with seven Grand Final wins.
"His experience will help us," added Tomkins. "Becoming the world's leading side is the target, 100%."
'McNamara should be commended'
The Rugby Football League announced on Tuesday that McNamara's five-year reign would not be continuing, despite the 44-year-old leading England to victory over New Zealand.
Bennett, who will lead England through the 2016 Four Nations and 2017 World Cup, was announced as his successor just hours later.
"We've had the potential and players to become the world's number one side but we've not quite performed," Tomkins, 26, told BBC Sport.
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"Wayne Bennett is a big signing. He's been proven in the NRL for a number of years.
"He's got all the experience in the world so there's no reason he can't bring that to us and push us on."
The Wigan player added: "Steve McNamara has done a great job and he should be commended.
"He's leaving the England set-up in a much better place than he found it and that's testament to him."
Tomkins has rejoined Wigan for the new Super League campaign, determined to prove he deserves to be England's first-choice full-back.
Leeds Rhinos' Zak Hardaker, the 2015 Man of Steel, took the role in the Test series against New Zealand after Tomkins was ruled out after knee surgery.
Tomkins' absence meant McNamara did not have to choose between the pair, or find an alternative role for one of the men.
"Zak played there, I was injured, and it's good we've got healthy competition," said Tomkins, who believes he will be fit enough to make his Wigan return in May.
"But I want to play full-back - no doubt about it."
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Wigan begin the new campaign on Thursday hoping to go one step further than the back-to-back Grand Final defeats they have suffered in the past two seasons.
"We've got a very strong squad, playing in two Grand Finals and coming close is heartbreaking," said Tomkins. "I had to watch it as a fan and this season we will be aiming to rectify that.
"Hopefully the team will be in good stead when I come back from injury and my experience and leadership can give them that boost."
Tomkins returned to Wigan after spending two years at New Zealand Warriors, leaving the NRL with a year left on the three-year deal he initially signed.
"I missed playing the big games - the likes of St Helens, Warrington, Leeds - those big rivalry games. You don't get the same atmosphere in the NRL," he said.
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"Over there I had to adapt my game to how other players play and hopefully that will give me some new tools to perform in Super League."
BBC Radio 5 live sports extra has live coverage of two fixtures on the opening weekend of the 2016 Super League season.
You can listen to defending champions Leeds Rhinos hosting Warrington Wolves on Thursday (19:30 GMT), before Wigan Warriors' home game against Catalan Dragons on Friday.


The first drug that can potentially correct the underlying defect that causes Huntington's disease has been taken by patients in a clinical trial.

Doctors at University College London, which is leading the study, said it was an important moment in tackling the incurable condition.
Current medication treats the symptoms, but cannot slow or prevent the progressive damage to the brain.
The Huntington's Disease Association said the trial was "very exciting".
The disease is caused by the brain producing a mutant protein called huntingtin which damages and ultimately kills off brain cells.
As Huntington's progresses it leads to uncontrolled movements, behaviour changes and poor cognition. Life expectancy after diagnosis can be as short as 10 years.
The drug, known as ISIS-HTT, is from an experimental class of medicines known as "gene silencers".
The huntingtin gene in a patient's DNA contains the instructions for building the destructive protein.
Those blueprints are carried to a cell's protein-making factories and the drug effectively kills the messenger.
The trial will be led by Prof Sarah Tabrizi, the director of the Huntington's Disease Centre at University College London.
She told the BBC News website: "It's the beginning of quite an important journey in Huntington's disease, it is clearly very early but this is a step forward.
"The preclinical work shows that if you lower production of the mutant protein then animals recover a large amount of motor function.
"Huntington's is a really terrible disease that blights families. I know a mother whose husband and three children were affected, this would have a massive impact [if it works]."
The trial will test the drug's safety by progressively increasing the dose in 32 patients.
It will be injected into the spinal cord of patients once a month for four months and they will then be observed for a further three months.
Clinicians will be ensuring there are no dangerous side-effects, such as allergic reactions, as well as measuring the impact on levels of the corrupted huntingtin protein.
At the highest doses they hope to halve levels of the protein.
Cath Stanley, the chief executive of the Huntington's Disease Association, told the BBC News website: "There's a lot of different trials and avenues of research, but this is the most exciting.
"People develop Huntington's disease between the age of 30 and 50 so delaying it for a few years allows people to spend more time with family in the prime of their life.
"This is the first, potential, major breakthrough in terms of delaying symptoms of Huntington's disease, it's such an exciting step forward."
The drug has been developed by ISIS-pharmaceuticals.
It targets strands of genetic code called messenger RNA which carry instructions for huntingtin out of a cell's nucleus.
The drug is a manufactured stretch of genetic code that is the mirror-image of the messenger RNA that binds strongly to it to neutralising it.
In the UK, 12 in every 100,000 people have the condition.
Follow James on Twitter.


A man has been charged after another man was seriously injured in Fraserburgh.

The 33-year-old man was hurt in the Denmark Street area of the Aberdeenshire town on Sunday at about 02:50.
He was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where his condition was described as critical but stable.
A 23-year-old man was expected to appear at Peterhead Sheriff Court on Monday.
Det Insp Norman Stevenson said: "I would still urge anyone with additional information to come forward as every witness viewpoint is extremely important in assisting us with the investigation.
"Around the time in question large numbers of people would have been leaving nearby licensed premises and I would ask that anyone who saw anything and has information that could assist to contact us as soon as possible."


Tributes have been paid to "dynamic, beautiful" television writer Carla Lane, who has died aged 87.

The screenwriter, who created hit shows including The Liver Birds, Bread and Butterflies, passed away in a nursing home in Liverpool, her family said.
Friend and comedian Ken Dodd said she was "a lovely, lovely writer", while Jean Boht, who played Nellie Boswell in Bread, said "she loved everybody".
Lane was also hailed as a "champion of animal welfare".
Much of Lane's writing focused on women's lives and featured frustrated housewives and working class matriarchs.
She first became known for The Liver Birds, a sitcom about two women who shared a flat in Liverpool, which she co-wrote with her friend Myra Taylor.
The programme aired from 1969 to 1979 and returned for a one-off series in 1996.
Your tributes: 'The world has lost an irreplaceable jewel'
She was perhaps best known for the sitcom Bread, which depicted the working class Boswell family struggling through high unemployment and poor prospects in the late 1980s Liverpool, and ran for seven series between 1986 and 1991.
Actress Jean Boht, who played Bread's matriarch Ma Boswell, said she was "dynamic, beautiful, she looked 16 all the time always and loved her animals, more than us I think, and you know she loved everybody".
Melanie Hill, who played Aveline in the series and starred in long-running school TV drama Waterloo Road, tweeted: "Very sad to hear #CarlaLane has left us. Writer and creator of many fantastic shows."
Fellow Liverpudlian Dodd said Lane was "a great observer" who absorbed the humour of the people of Liverpool.
"She was a wonderful, a true modern comedienne writer, but as well as that, you know, she left a wonderful legacy of happiness and proving that once again ladies can be just as funny as men."
Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Simon Blackwell, who has worked on series including The Thick of It, said she was "a prolific talent".
"Her masterpiece, Butterflies, unlike anything that had come before in British sitcom," he tweeted.
Mark Linsey, director of BBC Studios, said: "Carla Lane was a supremely gifted writer of bitter-sweet family comedies, loved by generations.
"Her legacy is extraordinary. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this time."
Comedy writer and radio DJ Danny Baker tweeted a "real comedy mind and force" had left the planet.
Lane was awarded an OBE for services to writing in 1989 but returned it to the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002 in disgust at animal cruelty.
In 1995, she was given a Royal Television Society award for her Outstanding Contribution to British Television.
In later life, she became known for looking after hundreds of rescue animals - running an animal sanctuary from her mansion in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, until 2009 - and was a close friend of Sir Paul McCartney's late wife Linda.
Speaking to the Observer in 2008 about their friendship, Lane said she and Linda were "friendship-struck from moment one" and bonded over their love of animals.
Lane also had an animal sanctuary named after her.
Fran Ellis, founder and trustee at the Carla Lane Animals in Need Sanctuary in Melling, Merseyside, paid tribute to a "champion of animal welfare".
Lane's family confirmed she died at Stapely Care Home on Tuesday
"With heavy hearts we said goodbye to our darling Carla today," they said.
"But with smiles on our faces we also take this opportunity to reflect on her incredible achievements all of which make us so unbelievably proud to be part of her family."


Could putting vibrations into the ground be a way to keep elephants from coming into conflict with humans?

Already, attempts have been made to scare the animals away from villages using their own very low-frequency alarm calls - with partial success.
Now scientists are studying whether even better results could be obtained if this sound in the air is accompanied also by a seismic signal underfoot.
The work is being led by Prof Sue Webb from Wits University in Johannesburg.
The ultimate goal she said was to try to find a means of keeping everyone safe - both humans and elephants.
"Elephants can be incredibly destructive, especially with people's farmlands," she told BBC News.
"They come on to the farmland and they eat the crops and they push over the houses, and even kill people sometimes.
"So this is a huge problem in some rural parts of Africa and the issue is to try to find a way to keep the elephants out of human areas."
Prof Webb was speaking at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union - the world's largest annual gathering of Earth scientists.
Various ideas have been proposed for scaring elephants away from populated areas.
Putting beehives near crop fields is one solution: elephants hate being stung on their trunks.
Another method that has drawn considerable attention in recent years is the use of infrasound.
Elephants can communicate at auditory frequencies that are well below what humans are capable of hearing.
This noise can travel large distances, and so efforts have been made to record the animals' alarm calls and then play them back in the infrasonic band to keep herds as far away as possible.
"The problem is that elephants are incredibly smart, and they soon figure out when things are fake," explained Prof Webb.
"If you're just playing back the infrasound, they'll work out that it's not the real signal and they learn that it's not something they need to be afraid of."
Prof Webb's hypothesis is that a critical element could be missing from this approach: seismic signals.
She is working on the assumption that elephants communicate both through the air and through the ground.
It is possible the elephants know a fake infrasonic call when they do not sense a seismic signal at the same time.
"I strongly suspect it is a coupled signal between the infrasound and the seismic, but it's not clear to me yet just how big the seismic signal is, and how important it is in all cases."
To investigate, Prof Webb is using the trained animals of the Adventures With Elephants organisation, just north of Johannesburg.
These creatures will rumble on command - just as dog will bark when asked to "speak" by a handler bearing a treat.
Prof Webb's team puts geophones on the ground to record and characterise the rumbles' seismic signature in the earth.
It is early days in the experiments, but it is already clear that there is a sizeable signal to detect and that it can travel a considerable distance.
Of course, the rumbles coming from Prof Webb's elephants are just the murmurings of greedy animals.
A future step would be to record the seismic signals associated with real elephant alarm calls.
"Eventually, the idea is to have something cheap and mobile that can be deployed quickly to scare the elephants away.
"It may just be a speaker that you have to couple with the ground in a more effective way than has been done in the past."
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


The chief constable of Police Scotland has confirmed he is being investigated for misconduct.

Phil Gormley said he was the subject of a probe by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc).
The investigation followed a referral by the Scottish Police (SPA). Pirc has said that, if the allegations were proved, they would amount to gross misconduct.
Mr Gormley said he was cooperating fully with the Pirc investigation.
There has been no formal indication of the nature of the complaint made against him.
In a statement, Mr Gormley said: "I can confirm that today I was informed by the Pirc that I am the subject of a conduct investigation.
"I am cooperating fully with the Pirc and will provide all necessary assistance to bring this matter to a timely and satisfactory conclusion. In fairness to others who may be involved, it is not appropriate for me to comment further at this time.
"I would like to stress that I remain focused on leading Police Scotland, ensuring that we continue to serve and protect the people of this country."
Analysis by Reevel Alderson, BBC Scotland home affairs correspondent
We understand that the allegations concern Phil Gormley's conduct interacting with a more junior officer.
Normally these investigations would be investigated by the force's professional standards department, but because Mr Gormley is of such a senior rank, the regulations require that it's passed to the Scottish Police Authority.
They don't have any investigation capabilities so they have passed it to the Pirc - and that investigation is now under way.
Mr Gormley has said it is inappropriate to comment further while that is ongoing. In the meantime, he continues to work while he awaits the results of this inquiry.
The Scottish government said it noted the inquiry Pirc investigation but that it would be inappropriate to comment further at the present time.
However, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie, said Mr Gormley should consider stepping aside until the matter was resolved.
He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "When the senior, the head of the organisation is being investigated, perhaps it would be best if they stood to one side while a quick investigation was under way.
"That's something for him to consider, depending on how serious the allegations are."
Phil Gormley - a career officer
Mr Gormley began his career with Thames Valley Police in 1985.
He was appointed to lead Police Scotland on 2 December 2015.
He served previously as the deputy director general of the National Crime Agency. Before that he was the chief constable of Norfolk Constabulary for three years.
He is a former deputy chief constable of West Midlands Police and also served as a commander in the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Gormley's deputy, Iain Livingstone, announced last week that he plans to retire in the autumn of this year.
Gross misconduct is defined as "a breach of the standards of professional behaviour, as detailed in Schedule 1 of the 2013 Regulations, which is so serious that dismissal may be justified".
These standards cover:
At the conclusion of a Pirc investigation, it will generally recommend to the SPA whether the allegation should be referred to a misconduct hearing.
An SPA spokesman said: "If an allegation relating to the conduct of a senior officer of ACC rank or above is made, the SPA has the responsibility for receiving and assessing that allegation in line with The Police Service of Scotland (Senior Officers) (Conduct) Regulations 2013.
"If the SPA decides that a misconduct allegation is to be investigated, it must refer the allegation to the independent Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.
"The SPA can confirm an allegation against the chief constable has been referred to Pirc for their investigation. However, consideration of complaints and conduct issues are confidential while being progressed, and the SPA has a policy of not commenting on individual cases."


Britain's relationship with the EU has been turbulent right from the start, when it joined the bloc over 40 years ago.

Who can forget Margaret Thatcher's speech in the House of Commons, with her: "No, no, no" to European integration and a single currency?
It's never been a marriage of conviction. More assumed convenience. Sometimes fruitful; often fraught.
Now, viewed from Brussels, EU-UK relations have changed fundamentally again with what's seen here as Britain's audacious demand for reforms that Europe has taken seriously.
This is the first time in EU history that one country has stood up in front of the rest, threatening to leave if the EU doesn't dance to its reformist tune.
And then got what it asked for. To a certain extent. In draft form. Well, at least in the minds of EU institution bigwigs.
UK-EU draft deal - Latest updates
What you need to know
But now it's over to the other 27 EU countries to have their say. All have to agree to the text of the deal before it can be passed.
Dismissed by David Cameron's critics at home as weak and meaningless, this draft new EU-UK "settlement" as it is known here is - predictably - ruffling some continental feathers among those who believe it goes far too far.
Central and Eastern Europe grumble about the plan to cut EU migrant benefits.
They say it goes against the founding EU principle of the freedom to live and work anywhere across the bloc.
Expect them to bargain hard over the next few days to water down that proposal.
A high-level EU source told the BBC that France and its concerns kept UK and EU negotiators up late Monday night, as the draft deal was being finalised.
The Hollande government is grinding its collective teeth at the very notion that the UK and other non-euro nations could stall Eurozone decisions.
They say a definite "Non!" to a full veto for the UK, though anything less is dismissed as pointless by Mr Cameron's critics.
Over the next couple of weeks leading up to the EU leaders' summit, expect Germany to play the role of the behind-the-scenes mediator. It's determined that everything must be done to keep the UK in the bloc.
A close ally to Chancellor Angela Merkel, German MEP David McAllister, told us today: "These are hard and tough negotiations.
"Nothing will be agreed until everything is agreed. But in general I would say, we are on the right way. We want the UK to stay an active and strong partner in an active and strong EU."
The man who represents all EU countries here in Brussels is the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk.
Accompanying his tweets releasing the draft UK deal, Mr Tusk cryptically added the words: To be, or not to be.
And it won't necessarily be.
David Cameron is banking on a grand finale at the EU leaders' summit, where his reforms will be applauded by peers in Europe, then presented to the British people, allowing the prime minister to set a date for the UK's referendum on EU membership as early as this June.
But EU leaders are an unpredictable lot and they need to sell the deal to their voters back home too.
No surprise, then, that Mr Cameron is off to Poland this Friday. For tea and a schmooze on migrant benefits, one might assume.
It is not inconceivable that some EU countries could try to use the next two weeks of bickering and bartering over the UK deal to score their own political points.
The European Union is beset by crisis at the moment: terror/security, ongoing malaise in the eurozone and, of course, mass migration.
What's to stop Greece, for example, refusing to sign off on the UK deal unless it receives better support from EU colleagues with the boats filled with asylum seekers landing on its shores or with the international loan repayments it's struggling to meet?
It's not likely to play that hand. But it could.
Mr Cameron's Eurosceptic adversaries will be vying for his attention back home now.
He'd be well advised to keep an eye on his European colleagues too until his EU deal is signed and sealed.
Expect the bickering and bartering to continue well into the summit on 18 and 19 February.
The outcome is not - altogether - a foregone conclusion.
Guide: All you need to know about the referendum
Referendum timeline: What will happen when?
Q&A: What does Britain want from Europe?
More: BBC News EU referendum special


Construction of a third crossing over the Menai Strait could begin by 2021 if it gets the go ahead, the Welsh Government has said.

Consultants are to be hired later this year to look at routes for a proposed new crossing to Anglesey.
Funding options to pay for the scheme are also to be examined.
Plaid Cymru welcomed progress on the proposal, saying current traffic congestion in the area causes "unnecessary misery" for commuters.
Currently, there are two Menai Strait crossings: the Menai Bridge, which was built by Thomas Telford in the 1820s, and Robert Stephenson's Britannia Bridge, which was opened to carry rail traffic in 1850 but rebuilt in the 20th century to also carry road traffic.
The A55 runs as a dual carriageway from Holyhead to the Britannia Bridge, where it is carried as a single carriageway road, before returning to a dual carriageway on the other side.
There have been proposals for a third Menai crossing for some time to alleviate traffic on the two bridges over the strait.
According to a Welsh Government document, Economy Secretary Ken Skates has now "agreed to appoint technical advisors to take forward the third crossing project".
He also decided to appoint "external support to advise on possible financial packages to fund the project".
Dyfed Edwards, Plaid Cymru council leader for Gwynedd council, said "it is absolutely key that there's a new crossing" if the new Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant development "comes into place".
"It's not just commuter traffic, it will be construction traffic as well," he said.
A Plaid Cymru spokeswoman said: "This is a project which we have long championed yet which is sadly still to materialise due to the Labour Welsh Government's lethargy on the matter."
She said: "Current traffic congestion causes unnecessary misery for commuters on a daily basis and there are already concerns over the existing two bridges' long-term resilience."
Russell George, the Welsh Conservatives' economy spokesman, said the project was "long overdue".
"The third bridge has been on the agenda for more than a decade", he said, referring to a consultation in 2007.
"Yet the Welsh Government have done nothing," he added.
"The time for announcements is over - action is what is now needed."
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "We are currently in the process of procuring consultants to carry out a route selection study for the third Menai crossing.
"This will appraise various options and designs for the third crossing and will include a public consultation.
"Construction could start in 2021 subject to gaining all the necessary statutory consents."
Consultants are expected to be hired in the autumn, with the study to take 18 months.


YouTube is to scrap "unskippable" 30-second advertisements on the video-streaming service, from 2018.

Google confirmed the plan to the BBC's Newsround programme, saying it wanted to focus on "formats that work well for both users and advertisers".
Long unskippable adverts are seen as a nuisance by many viewers, and Google has introduced shorter formats.
One media agency said the move reflected the difference between online video and linear television services.
"The 30-second ad is a legacy from TV times," said Will Smyth, head of media at the Agenda21 agency.
"It's a standard TV unit which has been put online, but it's not the most effective way to advertise.
"This will encourage advertisers to be more creative about the way they use the platform."
Many other websites, including the BBC's international offer, feature unskippable 30-second ads on video content.
"Demand from advertisers for video content is high, but there's a shortage of quality content," said Mr Smyth.
"It's good business for everyone to focus on 'skippables' - people aren't forced to sit through ads, and advertisers don't need to pay if their ad is skipped."


Angry Haitians looted aid trucks as the UN secretary general visited parts of the country hit by Hurricane Matthew, which killed 900 people.

Ban Ki-moon said he witnessed a looting incident in Les Cayes, where he promised more aid to Haiti. He also urged countries to donate more.
Officials says more than 1.4 million people urgently need humanitarian help.
There are also fears of a cholera outbreak, with spikes in cases and deaths reported in the south west.
The waterborne disease reached the island via Nepalese UN troops after the deadly earthquake in 2010, causing the deaths of nearly 10,000 people.
Tensions have been high as help has yet to reach many families whose crops and water supplies have been destroyed.
Haitian police and UN peacekeepers used tear gas to disperse a group of 100 residents who attacked humanitarian convoys in Les Cayes on Saturday.
"We understand the impatience and the anger of the population who are waiting for emergency relief. We are doing all we can to facilitate the arrival of the assistance soon as possible," Mr Ban said.
He flew over areas hit by the hurricane alongside Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles.
"I was very, very sad when we saw the complete devastation. But people the world over stand with you," the UN chief added.
"We are going to mobilize as many resources and as much medical support as we can to first of all stop the cholera epidemic and second support the families of the victims."
Some 120,000 homes were either damaged or destroyed when Category Four Hurricane Matthew swept through on 4 October with winds of 145mph (230km/h).
Mr Ban visited a shelter in Les Cayes and told the displaced "kembe fem" in Creole, meaning "hang in there".
In the town, one of the worst affected by Matthew, the streets have been cleaned and business have reopened.
But power, transport and communications links are still difficult in other areas.
Last week, Mr Ban called for a "massive response" to help the country, the poorest in the Americas.
The UN launched an emergency appeal for nearly $120m (Â£97m) in aid, but just a fraction of it has been raised.
Mr Ban acknowledged there was aid "fatigue", but urged countries to help Haiti.


Some homes in Scotland remained without electricity for a second night as engineers worked to restore supplies after Thursday's storms.

Scottish Hydro said several hundred customers were still without power on Saturday morning.
About 300 Scottish Power customers remained off supply but were expected to be reconnected later in the day.
At the height of the storms, the entire Scottish rail network was closed and power was cut to 130,000 properties.
Scottish Hydro said the remaining customers without power were in small pockets in rural areas across Argyll, Perthshire, Stirlingshire, the Highlands and Shetland.
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The company, which has reconnected almost 80,000 customers since the storms began, said its engineers were "out again at first light" with the aim of restoring electricity to all remaining households on Saturday.
A spokesman added: "We are working closely with community and resilience groups in the affected areas and welfare vans have been deployed to provide hot water, charge mobile phones and provide hot food and drinks."
Scottish Power said on Friday 650 engineers, 150 of them brought in from England, were working to reconnect supplies.
The worst-affected areas included Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders. Faults were also reported across Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and the Lothians.
The biggest problem has come from uprooted trees and other debris which has been blown on to overhead power lines, causing damage and bringing down the lines in some areas.
A Scottish Power spokesman said about 300 customers remained without power overnight on Friday. He added: "All customers will be reconnected today."


Glamorgan welcome back seamer Michael Hogan for their county championship match against Worcestershire at the SSE SWALEC which starts on 14 April.

Hogan missed the crushing opening defeat of the season inside two days against Northamptonshire.
The Australian fast bowler comes into the 13-man squad instead of Owen Morgan.
Will Bragg, Timm van der Gugten, Graham Wagg, Ruadhri Smith and Kieran Bull are still unavailable through injury.
Glamorgan batsman Colin Ingram promised an improvement after the opening defeat.
"It was a poor start to say the least but I feel like during the week the guys have worked really hard," said Ingram.
"There is definitely a lot to prove and the guys are ready to go."
Australian seamer John Hastings is set to make his debut for a Worcestershire team under the fresh captaincy of Joe Leach, with Daryl Mitchell returning to the ranks.
Glamorgan (from): J Rudolph (c), N Selman, D Lloyd, C Ingram, C Cooke, A Donald, K Carlson, C Meschede, A Salter, M De Lange, M Hogan, L Carey, H Podmore.
Worcestershire (from): D Mitchell, B D'Oliveira, T Fell, J Clarke, T Kohler-Cadmore, B Cox, J Leach (c), E Barnard, J Hastings, J Tongue, J Shantry, G Rhodes.


Midfielder Stuart Sinclair says playing for Bristol Rovers will be one of the biggest achievements of his career.

Sinclair signed from Salisbury in June and is set to make his first appearance for the Pirates in Saturday's Conference opener against Grimsby.
Speaking about the prospect of making his debut, the 26-year-old told BBC Radio Bristol: "It's such a big moment in my career.
"When I look back at where I was, I can think that I've done well."
He added: "I'd put it up there as one of my biggest achievements, after signing for Rovers."
Sinclair started his career as a youth player at Luton but failed to make a first-team appearance before his release in 2005.
He went on to play semi-professionally in the lower echelons of non-league while also working as a personal trainer.
Last season was his first as a full-time footballer and he made 37 appearances for Salisbury.
"I always held that dream [to play full-time]. I said I'd never give up until I was 35 or 36," he said.
"Don't get me wrong, I was enjoying what I was doing back then, but there's nothing better than this. This is what it's all about."
Salisbury finished 12th in the Conference last term but financial issues saw the majority of their squad leave, and the club have since been demoted.
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Sinclair was picked up by Rovers manager Darrell Clarke, who he worked under at the Whites, and is one of eight summer signings for the club, who are playing in non-league for the first time in 94 years.
And Sinclair is hoping he can become a fans' favourite by helping Rovers back into the Football League at the first time of asking.
"It would be a massive thing for me. It's the ideal - you want your fans to love you and to think you're doing well, and appreciate the effort you put in," he added.
"I'd thank any fan who comes to watch me. At one point in my career, I only had three fans coming to watch me so I definitely appreciate them.
"Now, I just want to keep progressing and keep going higher. Hopefully we will push back into the league."