More petrol stations in North East Lincolnshire are checking that customers are using appropriate containers when buying fuel, following a test purchasing campaign.

The council’s public protection team e havcarried out test purchases over the past two years, following a fatal fire in Immingham on Christmas Eve 2007, when the use of an unsuitable container led to an explosion which killed two people.

In making test purchases, officers used an appropriate container for buying petrol, but hid it from the view of station staff when dispensing the fuel. In such cases the sale should not have been allowed until the container had been checked.

Last year, out 13 sites checked, seven failed on the first round of checks. This year’s tests saw just two failures on the first round, showing improved vigilance on behalf of service station staff.

Firms which failed the tests were given advice to ensure they adhere to regulations in the future. Test purchases will continue in an attempt to improve results even further.

Councillor Steve Beasant, the council’s portfolio holder for community safety, neighbourhoods and customer services, said:

“All have a role to play in preventing such accidents: firstly, ensure you use suitable petrol containers; secondly, if you suspect that petrol is being dispensed into a wrong container, tell the retailer immediately and report the matter to the public protection team on (01472) 324770.”

Three of the country’s most senior judges have ruledthat three former Labour MPs and a Conservative peer will not be able to use Parliamentary Privilege to protect themselves against charges of abusign their expenses.

Dismissing an appeal against an earlier ruling that the men should be tried in a criminal court, the judges said they were “unable to envisage how dishonest claims” by MPs could ever come under the protection of the ancient defence.

The Court of Appeal judges said that “ordinary criminal activities by members of Parliament” were never intended to be protected by Parliamentary privilige.

Former MPs David Chaytor, Elliot Morley, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield are now expected to take their case to the Supreme Court which mi9ght delay the date for the start of their trials in November.

The three judges, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with Lord Neuberger and Sir Anthony May said:

“The stark reality is that the defendants are alleged to have taken advantage of the allowances scheme designed to enable them to perform their important public duties as members of parliament to commit crimes of dishonesty to which Parliamentary immunity or privilege does not, has never, and, we believe, never would attach.”

The judges added:

“In our judgement no question of privilege arises and the ordinary process of the criminal justice system should take its normal course, unaffected by any groundless anxiety that they might constitute an infringement of the principles of Parliamentary privilege.

The four men, including the former MP for Scunthorpe, Elliott Morley, are charged with multiple counts of fraud including stealing tens of thousands of pounds, following disclosures in The Daily Telegraph.

They deny theft by false accounting.

North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus has now received its World Class Commissioning scores from the Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority – and it’s excellent news. All our scores have seen an improvement on last year. This means that out of possible scores of one to four across 11 competencies we now have:

Seven threes
Four twos

Our scores are an incredible achievement, not least because the process was tightened and the bar raised for this year’s assessment. We were also assessed ‘green’ for finance, strategy and governance.  The level three scores were awarded for:

• Locally lead the NHS
• Work with community partners
• Engage with public and patients
• Collaborate with clinicians
• Manage knowledge and assess needs
• Promote improvement and innovation
• Manage the local health system

And the level twos were for: 

• Prioritise investment
• Stimulate the market
• Secure procurement skills
• Ensure efficiency and effectiveness of spend

Here’s a flavour of what the assessment panel said:  

“This is a strong organisation, which has made significant strides over the past 18 months in turning its unique vision into a practical reality delivering benefits to its local community. There is a good alignment across the board, and with partners; and there is a healthy balance between shaping future strategy and delivering on the here and now. The CTP is aware of the challenges ahead, and is well positioned to be successful. The SHA should consider how it can share the learning more rapidly from this organisation and system.” The report is a credit to the CTP’s development and the hard work of staff. It is essential that we use the lessons from World Class Commissioning to ensure that the commissioning skills developed over the past two years are continued in our transition toward GP commissioning arrangements.

Download the assessment report:http://www.nelctp.nhs.uk/about/publications/default.aspx

Statistics published by Ofsted show that almost one third of childminders and nurseries are not good enough.

The figures show how successfully early years providers are meeting the needs of youngsters in their care.

30% of the childminders and nurseries inspected between September 2008 and June this year were rated only “satisfactory”, while a further 2% were declared inadequate.

58% were rated “good” for “meeting the needs of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage”, and 10% were judged to be “outstanding”.

The figures also show that 29% of the places inspected were rated no better than “satisfactory” for safeguarding – the extent to which children feel, and are kept, safe.

Separate statistics released by Ofsted show a drop in the number of childminders working in England and a drop in available childcare places.

At the end of June there were 57,204 childminders registered in England, compared to 57,732 at the end of March. This means around 500 childminders have left the profession in the last three months.

The statistics also show that there are now 1,303,547 childcare places available,compared with 1,309,856 at the end of March, meaning there are now 6,300 fewer places.

Liberal Democrat Children’s minister Sarah Teather said:

“Early years professionals should be congratulated on their hard work to drive up standards. However, we want to see more children from poorer backgrounds getting the right support so that they have the same opportunities to achieve as their peers.

“That’s why I’ve asked Dame Clare Tickell to review the Early Years Foundation Stage to ensure all young children are getting the best early learning, as well as keeping them safe and supporting their healthy development.”

Responding to the latest results from British Gas, Audrey Gallacher, Head of Energy Policy at Consumer Focus, said:

“Millions of customers struggled to afford high energy prices over one of the coldest winters in recent years and for British Gas and other companies the result is massive returns. Such huge supplier profits will sound alarm bells, yet again, over wholesale price cuts not being fairly passed onto consumers. 

“We are concerned that energy firms may actually raise prices this winter. With only small price cuts for customers in the last two years, despite wholesale prices being half what they were at their peak and beginning to fall again, customers will rightly be outraged if this happens.”

A programme to help solve North East Lincolnshire’s unemployment problems has had a successful start.

The Change programme, which uses local organisations and trained key workers to support people into work, has secured over 300 enquires resulting in 27 people getting jobs.

The project is paid for by Working Neighbourhoods Funding, a fund given to deprived areas across the UK. The money was given to North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) to help deal with reducing unemployment and growing enterprise in the borough.

Since December 2009, it has successfully commissioned a string of projects including one to create work opportunities at Shoreline Housing Partnership.

Shoreline offer Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) opportunities to residents of North East Lincolnshire who have been unemployed for six months or less. The aim is to create placements to help develop the skills and employability of someone who would otherwise be out of work. To date, Shoreline has created 19 ILM placements leading to 27 actual jobs.

Change also helps to build and strengthen partnerships and has brought 22 organisations from across North East Lincolnshire together in a bid to make the programme easy to access and simple to use.

Those involved include the Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education (GIFHE), Foresight, CERT Ltd and Second Avenue Resource Centre. All organisations are dedicated to ensuring that unemployed people involved in the project receive a seamless, helpful experience.

The Change partnership is also responsible for introducing community ‘buddies’ or key workers to the programme who are based in the community. Forming the employment support key worker team, their job is to reduce the amount of confusion and break down the barriers associated with being unemployed.

In the case of one client, who is both unemployed and a lone-parent of two young children, Change has made an impact. After speaking with a key worker, she realised that there was help available. She received support from her designated key worker to develop her confidence and realise she can achieve, this led to her being interviewed by NHS Employability. She has now secured a placement and is hopeful of employment at the end.

Councillor Steve Beasant, portfolio holder for Community Safety, Neighbourhoods and Customer Service, said: “The aim of the Change programme is to find sustainable outcomes to worklessness, this is exactly what it seems to be doing so far.”

“With projects such as the Worklessness Collaborative and the Key Worker Team at the heart of the programme, local people are being helped to combat the barriers they are facing that are preventing them from getting into employment. Some good work is being done and Change can only continue to help more people throughout North East Lincolnshire.

“The initial success of Change bodes well for the future of the programme which is expected to continue for the next decade.”

North East Lincolnshire’s Urban Renaissance team is holding a public exhibition and consultation day in the town centre on Saturday, August 7.

The Renaissance Shop at 33 Victoria Street will be hosting an exhibition of concept designs to showcase what improvements to the Riverhead Square and Station Approach areas could look like, and St James’ Square will be hosting a public consultation on the redevelopment plans for the Square and St James’ House.

The events will take place between 11am and 4pm and members of the public are urged to visit both venues for their chance to comment on proposals and provide input into the design process.

Consultants from Whitelaw Turkington and EC Harris, who are providing the landscape architecture and project management services for the Riverhead Square and Station Approach projects will be based at the Renaissance Shop on the day to talk about the designs and to listen to how people feel about their proposals.

At St James’ Square, a team led by urban designers URBED who have been commissioned to review redevelopment options for St James’ Square and St James’ House will be displaying a series of options which members of the public can look at and give their opinions on.

The project activity has been commissioned by NELC supported by funding from Yorkshire Forward and Councillor Lowis, portfolio holder for regeneration and housing, said:

“This is such an important step in helping local people to influence the designs for how this town will look in the future.

“The finalised designs will be used to help develop detailed project delivery plans and help secure the necessary funding to turn them into reality. I urge people to visit the Renaissance Shop to have their say on the future of the Riverhead Square and Station Approach areas and also to visit St James Square to look at some of the great ideas that are being suggested for their redevelopment.

“These are just three of the projects outlined in the Grimsby Town Centre Masterplan. We want to generate interest and excitement in these areas, to attract new visitors and to guide new investment and development into the area.”

The events follows a number of consultations where members of the public have been able to give their views on the initial thoughts for these areas to help shape the concept designs.

The events on August 7 will give people a further chance to comment on and provide input to the proposals.

Liberal Democrat Employment Relations Minister Ed Davey today announced the end of the default retirement age. This will give people the freedom to choose their own retirement date rather than being forced to stop working when they reach the age of 65.

Commenting, Ed Davey said: “With more and more people wanting to extend their working lives we should not stop them just because they have reached a particular age. We want to give individuals greater choice and are moving swiftly to end discrimination of this kind.

“Older workers bring with them a wealth of talent and experience as employees and entrepreneurs. They have a vital contribution to make to our economic recovery and long-term prosperity.”

The North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus coronary heart disease collaborative has been working in the East Marsh area of Grimsby to raise awareness of risk factors relating to coronary heart disease. 

The collaborative have been focusing on encouraging people who have not already had blood pressure checks to have them by offering them in community settings.  Hypertension (high blood pressure) puts a strain on the heart and can lead to coronary heart disease. 

Blood pressure testing has been carried out in Ron Ramsdens superstore, Asda, Harbour Place Day Centre, Your Place, and Grimsby Central Library as well as Freeman Street market.  By attending venues such as these the collaborative members have the opportunity to encourage people to visit their GP for further checks.   

This work constituted part of a pilot scheme which is now to be extended to all areas in North East Lincolnshire.  

Initial data provides a useful insight in to successful intervention locations. 75 per cent of patients referred on to GPs for further checking and management by the collaborative members have resulted in actual attendances at GP surgeries. 

Julie Grimmer and Martin Wakefield, joint collaborative project managers, said: “Coronary heart disease is the UK’s biggest killer, with one in every four men and one in every six women dying from the disease. In the UK, approximately 300,000 people have a heart attack each year. 

“By offering people free blood pressure checks we can identify if they may be potentially be at risk from coronary heart disease and recommend a follow up appointment with their GP.” 

The coronary heart disease collaborative is always looking for enthusiastic new team members of all ages to help raise awareness among the general public. For further information about the collaborative, please contact Julie Grimmer or Martin Wakefield  (01472) 232261/67.

Employers will be stopped from forcing workers into retirement at 65 under new proposals being unveiled by the government.

The ban will come into effect from October 2011.

Employment relations minister Ed Davey said the proposals were not about forcing people to retire later, but about giving them the choice to work longer. He said:

Employment relations minister Ed Davey said: ‘With more and more people wanting to extend their working lives, we should not stop them just because they have reached a particular age.

‘We want to give individuals greater choice and are moving swiftly to end discrimination of this kind.

‘Older workers bring with them a wealth of talent and experience as employees and entrepreneurs. They have a vital contribution to make to our economic recovery and long-term prosperity.

‘We are committed to ensuring employers are given help and support in adapting to the change in regulations.’

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) welcomed the announcement, adding that following many years of campaigning to remove the DRA it was “delighted” with the “breakthrough”.

Rachel Krys, campaign director of anti-ageism group the Employers Forum on Age, said: “This is an incredible leap forward on employment practices and great news for individuals. After years of campaigning, the law will finally reflect the fact that it is fundamentally discriminatory to force someone to retire just because they reach 65.”