The promise commits the force to supporting people with learning disabilities and standing by them when they need help. The promise consists of 10 key points which, when adhered to, will ensure that the force delivers a quality service to some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

Chief Constable Tim Hollis said:

“Humberside Police officers and staff have been working with Mencap and other learning disability groups for many years, and by signing this promise we are cementing this relationship and demonstrating our continued commitment to those groups and the individuals they support.”

Prior to signing up to the promise, Humberside Police has consulted with various groups both to inform them of the plans but also to gather feedback from them on the best way to implement the promise. A training programme for staff is to be implemented which will enhance the understanding of law and procedures and should also better equip staff to communicate with those who have learning difficulties and assist in distinguishing between this and mental ill health.

Mr Hollis added:

“Many of the aspects of the promise are part of everyday policing which we have been working on for many years, others focus specifically on those with learning disabilities and their families and carers. We look forward to working with the public in implementing the Mencap promise and providing an improved level of service which will contribute to stamping out hate crime in the Humberside Police area.”

The Mencap Stand By Me – Police Promise is shown below: We want all police services to promise to stand by people with a learning disability to end hate crime. We are asking the police to commit to ten promises that will make a huge difference for the victims of disability hate crime. By signing-up to the promise, we pledge to:

1. Make sure that information is available and presented in a suitable form.
2. Get better evidence and increase convictions by allowing more time for interviews, particularly where the victim has difficulty communicating.
3. Understand how to identify if someone has a learning disability.
4. Listen to, respect and involve families, carers and support staff of disabled people.
5. Challenge discriminatory attitudes and language among fellow officers.
6. Ensure that victims are kept up to date with the progress of the case once they have reported a crime.
7. Recognise that disability hate crime is as harmful as other types of hate crime.
8. Don’t label disability hate crime as anti-social behaviour – identify the crime and deal with it.
9. Hold regular beat meetings and ensure they are open to disabled people.
10. Display the Stand by me promises where everyone can see them.

Classic and historic vehicles are often very well maintained by their owners and have a much lower accident and MoT failure rate than newer vehicles.

The current requirement to undergo an MoT test goes over and above the obligations set out in European legislation. Following a public consultation which showed high levels of support for the proposals, vehicles manufactured before 1960 will be exempted from the MoT test from 18th November 2012 reducing costs for owners.

Owners of affected vehicles will still be able to take exempt vehicles for an MoT test on a voluntary basis.

Mike Penning said:

“We are committed to cutting out red tape which costs motorists money without providing significant overall benefits. Owners of classic cars and motorbikes tend to be enthusiasts who maintain their vehicles well – they don’t need to be told to look after them, they’re out there in all weathers checking the condition of the engine, tyres and bodywork.

“Owners of classic vehicles will still be legally required to ensure that they are safe and in a proper condition to be on the road but scrapping the MoT test for these vehicles will save motorists money.”

Liberal Democrat MEP for South East England Catherine Bearder has welcomed pledge from all EU member states to enforce a ban on battery hens

Cramped cages were set to be banned from January, but the European Commission looked set to let some member states off the hook. and UK egg producers who had spent around £400million on larger bird cages were angered that some EU countries were set to ignore the ban.

John Dalli, European Agriculture Committee commissioner, has said this week that all member states have now promised to fall into line by the end of the year.

Catherine Bearder said:

“The Commission must ensure countries keep to their word and support countries such as the UK where farmers have already made changes.

“Our farmers are being undercut by competitors who ignore animal cruelty to illegally produce cheaper eggs.”

The European Parliament passed the law in 1999, but it is thought there are still around 50 million battery hens across the EU producing eggs.

Supermarkets in the UK agreed not to stock illegally produced eggs, but there were concerns over a loophole which would have seen powdered eggs in cakes and biscuits slip under the radar.

Catherine Bearder added:

EU pledge to enforce a ban on battery hens is welcomed by Catherine Bearder “A full ban is the only way to make sure consumers can be sure products they buy meet welfare standards.

“It’s taken far too long to get this agreement and UK egg producers have been forced to compete with one hand tied behind their back.

“I’ll be keeping a close eye to make sure this time it happens.”

Mike Crockart has started a campaign to bring an end to nuisance telephon calls. He writes on his website:

I have written a joint letter to Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport and Lord McNally, Minister of State and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, to demand that the legislation around cold-calling via people’s home and mobile phones be strengthened and more rigorously applied.

The joint letter highlights the fact that consumers are currently let down because where responsibility lies in unclear. OFCOM is responsible for the Telephone Preference Service, but the Information Commissioner regulates the protection and sharing of data.

At present, once you have registered your phone number with the telephone preference service, a ban comes into effect that forbids cold-calling you over the phone. Recorded messages, however, are covered by other legislation (Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003) and unsolicited SMS messages don’t appear to be covered at all.

I have called for the Information Commissioner’s powers to be strengthened to take in all forms of unsolicited contact and for there to be a single simple point of contact for any individual wishing to protect their privacy whether from unwanted faxes, mail, phone calls or texts. I have also asked that OFCOM’s responsibility to maintain a register of people who do not wish to receive sales calls is more rigorously applied.

People should be able to guarantee their privacy in a simple and effective way. The present situation where responsibility lies with OFCOM, the Information Commissioner and various ‘preferencing services’ is merely a charter for unscrupulous companies to ride roughshod over the regulations with very little chance of any charges being pursued.

I’ve lodged ten separate complaints with the Information Commissioner relating to unwanted text and phone marketing calls I’ve received just in the last few weeks. I urge you to do the same and to let me know so I can add them to the list I’m now compiling. You can get in touch with me here.

People shouldn’t have to put up with this menace which puts many vulnerable and elderly people at risk of fraud just as much as if the crook or pushy salesman was turning up at their door.

Many of the big energy companies have recently stopped cold-calling in person thanks to a strong and vocal local campaign. I urge people to get involved again so we can stamp out these nuisance calls once and for all.

Liberal Democrat MP for Wells Tessa Munt used her opportunity to ask the Prime Minister a question about highly paid public servants who avoid paying tax during the weekly Prime Minister’s Question session.

Tessa Munt was shocked to discover that 2,000 heads of quangos and senior civil servants had made special arrangements to avoid paying their fair share of tax and National Insurance.

Tessa Munt’s question was:

“Some 2,000 highly paid public servants have been exposed for avoiding paying their fair share of tax. Does the Prime Minister agree that whenever someone is paid a salary using taxpayers’ money, the Government should insist that they are on the payroll and pay full pay-as-you-earn income tax and national insurance contributions?”

The Prime Minister replied:

“The Hon. Lady is right to raise that and I agree with what she says. We have been shocked by the level of this problem and the Treasury is looking at it closely, but the principle she announces – those paid by the public should pay tax properly – is absolutely spot on.”

Having researched the matter further, Tessa Munt found that of the 2,000, one is paid an annual salary of £182,000 and 1,500 are paid more than £380 per day!

Tessa Munt welcomed the application of new, very strict rules governing the tax arrangements for those paid from taxpayers’ money. Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, warned that if civil servants given a salary using taxpayers’ money do not pay their full share of income tax and national insurance contributions within three months, then they would be fired.

Tessa Munt said:

“I am pleased that the Prime Minister agreed with me on this. Officials paid high salaries from public money should be on the Government payroll, as other public servants are. I was amazed by the scale of tax avoidance in the public sector, and look forward to Danny Alexander’s new rules coming into effect as soon as possible. The new rules for paying a fair share of tax should also apply to all those working in local government, the NHS and our schools.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced on Monday that there will be up to £10million of additional support for Pupil Premium children who leave primary school without Level 4 literacy – the expected level.

In a keynote speech to teachers and school leaders, he said that the Education Endowment Foundation will be awarding the money to pilot projects to help disadvantaged pupils make the transition from primary to secondary school. The money will be targeted at struggling Year 7s from deprived homes.

“How can a child start secondary school unable to read with confidence?” declared Nick. “That is a basic building block of a good education and no child should begin the race so far behind the starting line. We need to do everything we can to help these children through this transition to get them up to speed.

“That is a responsibility the government takes extremely seriously. And I can confirm that the Education Endowment Foundation will shortly be inviting groups of local schools, in the areas that suffer most with this problem, to bid for extra funds for struggling Year 7s from deprived homes to help them get their reading and writing up to scratch. Extra ‘catch up cash’, if you like.

“We envisage that schools will want to use it for small catch up classes, or one-to-one tuition, or vouchers for literacy tuition that parents can spend. We will run a proper evaluation, sharing what works with all schools not just those areas taking part in these pilots. It’s likely this kind of targeted support is the best way to crack this problem – next year we’ll know.

“Of course, we hope as few pupils as possible need it, thanks to the Pupil Premium. And I know primary and secondary schools up and down the country are determined to make this work.

“Some are using the money for breakfast clubs; homework clubs; or to provide one-to-one-tuition. Some are funding counselling services, so troubled kids are in the right place, emotionally, to learn. Some are using it for educational visits to places like museums: the sort of experiences middle class children take for granted but poorer child might rarely enjoy.”

Nick also announced that he wants to “strike a deal between the Coalition government and our schools and teachers. Teachers who help these children unlock the doors that otherwise hold them back … they are the key to an open and fair society … the key to the opportunity Britain I am determined we build.”

The best teachers will be offered incentives to work in schools that have large numbers of disadvantaged pupils. The government will ask the School Teachers Review Body to look at giving other schools the same flexibility Academies currently have to use pay to hold on to the best teachers.

Also, from next year, there will be Pupil Premium Awards for the 50 schools that do the best to boost the performance of their poorest pupils and narrow the gap – with cash prizes of up to £10,000 for the best of the best.

The Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, Norman Baker has announced the final approval to proceed with a pilot of Tram Train technology in South Yorkshire, with South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
lead with the delivery of the vehicles and sponsoring the pilot in collaboration with Network Rail, Northern Rail and Stagecoach Supertram.

The pilot will allow us to determine the practical and operational issues of extending Tram Trains from the national network to on-street running and running trams and heavy rail vehicles safely over existing heavy rail infrastructure. It will also allow us to gauge passenger perception and acceptability of Tram Train.

The knowledge that we obtain from the pilot will enable us to understand the technical and operational challenges involved in this project so that the concept can potentially be rolled out elsewhere in the UK.

The pilot will see the introduction from 2015 of new Tram Train vehicles capable of using both light and heavy rail infrastructure, so providing continuous travel from Sheffield’s Supertram network onto Network Rail’s national rail network, as well as providing more capacity on the Supertram system itself.

The new vehicles will provide three services an hour operating from Parkgate Retail Park in Rotherham, travelling through Rotherham Central Station and joining up to the existing Supertram network at Meadowhall where the services will then continue onwards to Sheffield City Centre. The project is also expected to create 25 new driver jobs locally, plus around 10 additional jobs in maintenance and revenue protection.

The pilot will run for two years and alongside the additional capacity being provided for the Supertram system, is expected to cost £58 million, including the cost of the vehicles and infrastructure changes.

Commenting on today’s research from Which? into payday lending, Sarah Brooks, Director of Financial Services at Consumer Focus said:

“This research throws up some extremely troubling findings and poses many uncomfortable questions about the growing payday loan sector. We have long held concerns about the behaviour of some payday lenders and whether consumers are losing out because this industry is not regulated strongly enough.

“Our research in 20101showed problems with inadequate affordability checks and borrowers being offered multiple new loans or roll-overs on existing loans. Which?’s findings suggest that problems have worsened in this industry and that more borrowers are finding themselves caught in debt traps. Millions are turning to these loans in the current economic climate and it is usually those on lower incomes that suffer most.

“This work is timely given the OFT’s compliance review of payday lenders. There is clearly a continuing problem with payday loans and this should give further incentive, if any is needed, for the OFT to act quickly to protect consumers from irresponsible lending.”

The scam involves the caller telling a resident they will have no problem in being granted a loan but in order to access the money they need to pay a fee up front to buy UKASH vouchers, and the fraudsters then tell the victims that paying this upfront fee will allow them to transfer the money.

Merthyr Tydfil Trading Standards have issued the following advice:

• Don’t transfer money to loan companies using money transfer services when applying for loans.
• Don’t go ahead with a loan if a company approves it and then demands a fee before you get the money.
• Do be cautious if a loan company cold-calls you.
• Do some research about the business offering the loan – look for correct phone numbers and physical addresses and ask for information in writing.

Craig Rushton, Trading Standards officer at Merthyr Tydfil Council, said:

“In the current economic climate individuals are finding it difficult to obtain credit and criminals are capitalising on this using devious means and targeting vulnerable people

“Consumers are advised never to transfer money using services such as UKASH or Western Union when taking out loans and to be always be on your guard if someone cold calls you and offers you a loan.”

For further information visit the Merthyr Tydfil Trading Standards website.

To report a fraud, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use their online fraud reporting tool.

Next week is Dementia Awareness Week and people in North East Lincolnshire are being urged to Remember the Person.

People in our area are living longer than ever before. However, as our local population gets older, long term health conditions like dementia are having an impact on a growing number of families.

There are currently 617 people in North East Lincolnshire who are registered with their GP as having dementia. However, many people remain undiagnosed and national estimates suggest there will be up to 2,000 people with dementia symptoms in the area.

The over 65 population in North East Lincolnshire is expected to increase by 38% from 2008 to 2025 with a corresponding increase of 52% in the incidence of dementia.

Dementia Awareness Week, which starts on Sunday, aims to increase understanding of the condition and address misconceptions. At the end of the week, there will be an opportunity to give your views on how you feel dementia services should be provided in North Lincolnshire.

Early intervention and the right support can improve mental health, enhance the quality of life and enable people with dementia to live as independently as possible for longer.

Between the 20th and 26th May six local organizations are putting on more than 20 events to raise awareness of dementia. These include stands in Freshney place, Reminiscence Pods, Talks and Tea Dances. For full information about the planned events please download our full guide from here.

The theme of Dementia Awareness Week this year is ‘Remember the person’ and everyone is being encourage to learn a little about dementia so they can see beyond someone’s diagnosis.

The following five things are what everyone should know about dementia:
1. It’s not a natural part of growing old.
2. It’s caused by diseases of the brain. The most common of these is Alzheimer’s.
3. It’s not just about losing your memory – it can affect thinking, communicating and doing everyday tasks.
4. It’s possible to live well with it.
5. There’s more to a person than the dementia.

Remember the Person.