The Inspectorate is clear, police funding and police numbers have been cut under the Tories – Abbott

Following today’s publication of the PEEL report on the effectiveness of individual police forces in England and Wales, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said:  

“HMIC has previously warned that the police are not well equipped to prevent crime. These individual assessments of police forces show that verdict is fully justified.

“We have some police forces artificially lowering demand, crimes being written off and fewer arrests being made, even for serious crimes. HMIC also found that in some forces key capabilities, such as skilled investigators and community policing are insufficient or are declining.

“We should be clear. This is not the fault of the police forces of individual officers. The government is in denial, but the Inspectorate is clear, police funding and police numbers have been cut under the Tories. This is where the problem lies. These problems of police effectiveness are a Tory failure.”



The Centre for Environmental Geochemistry secure £450,000 funding for research on the Red River Delta, Vietnam

A new £450,000 research project investigating sustainable water management on the Red River Delta in Vietnam has recently been awarded UK and Vietnamese Collaborators under the Newton funding Scheme. The project will involve collaborators from the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham (in UK and Malaysia), British Geological Survey and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) in Hanoi.



Firm fined after worker injured when pipe fell into trench and struck him

An Essex company who are specialists in gas infrastructure have been fined after an employee suffered serious injury when a pipe fell into the trench he was working in and struck him.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how an employee of Forefront Utilities Limited had entered a trench in Rochester, Kent to connect gas pipes. The new pipes were rested on packing timber across the trench, but the weight caused the tarmac to give way. The pipe fell into the trench and struck the employee causing significant injury including a fractured spine. He is paralysed and has no feeling in his bowel.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident which occurred on 23 May 2014 found the method for jointing newly laid sections of pipe to previously laid pipe was unsafe.

Forefront Utilities Limited, of Stephenson Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, were found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £56,686.

After the hearing HSE inspector Andrew Cousins said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers in the safe system of working.

“If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”

For further information on safety in construction visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/2015/contractors.htm

Notes to Editors:

  1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
  2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
  3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases.



Engineering firm fined after worker crushed in machinery

Moy Park Ltd has been fined after a worker was injured at the company’s site in Anwick near Sleaford, Lincolnshire

Lincoln Crown Court heard on the an engineer was checking the blades on the cutting line when the machine restarted and he wasn’t able to move his hand away from the blade he was inspecting when the machine started up. The worker suffered deep laceration to his hand as a result of this incident.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company failed to implement a safe system of work in relation to isolating procedures when maintaining the machinery in the production line.

Moy Park Ltd of Main Road, Anwick, Lincolnshire have pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and have been fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,924.

Speaking after the hearing HSE Principal Inspector David Butter said: “Duty holders must put measures in place to ensure there are safe procedures in place which are then followed when checking faults on machinery.”

Notes to Editors:

 

  1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
  2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
  3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases.



News story: World War 1 soldiers finally honoured after over a century

In a moving ceremony at Hebuterne Military Cemetery in France, new headstones were dedicated to Lance Corporal (L/Cpl) James Thomas Spencer, Private (Pte) Joseph Turton Cleaver, Pte Walter Jennings and Pte Reuben Kimberley at a service arranged by the MOD’s Joint Casualty & Compassionate Centre (JCCC) and led by the Reverend Justin Bradbury, Regimental Chaplain of The Queen’s Royal Hussars.

Bob Bristow relative of of Pte Cleaver with Rev Justin Bradbury, Crown Copyright, All rights reserved
Bob Bristow relative of of Pte Cleaver with Rev Justin Bradbury, Crown Copyright, All rights reserved

All 4 soldiers were killed on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme but their final burial location has until now been unknown. War Diaries from the Warwickshire Regiment provide evidence that 14 soldiers of the 1/7 Battalion were killed that day and whilst it was believed all were buried in Hebuterne Military Cemetery, it wasn’t possible to confirm this positively for each individual.

However, a more recent review of the evidence, including historical records, has allowed JCCC to be able to say there is now firm evidence the 4 soldiers are indeed buried at Hebuterne. Although it still hasn’t been possible to confirm in which of the many unknown soldier’s graves they are buried, the new headstones, provided by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), mean there is now a permanent memorial to them within the cemetery.

New headstones at Hebuterne Cemetery, Crown Copyright, All rights reserved
New headstones at Hebuterne Cemetery, Crown Copyright, All rights reserved

All 4 men were from Coventry. Two of them, Pte Kimberley and Pte Cleaver, had been friends from childhood, joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment together, served and later died together.

Rev Justin Bradbury conducting the service, Crown Copyright, All rights reserved
Rev Justin Bradbury conducting the service, Crown Copyright, All rights reserved

Rev Justin Bradbury said:

It has been a privilege to conduct this rededication ceremony in such a beautiful cemetery and finally recognising their final resting place.

Nicola Nash, from the Joint Casualty & Compassionate Centre (JCCC), said:

We feel very lucky to have been able to attend such a moving ceremony for these four Warwickshire soldiers, made even more poignant that two were very close friends and died together on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.