Police Commissioner secures ₤600,000 to tackle domestic abuse and protect families

MORE than ₤600,000 of funding has been secured by Merseyside�s Police Commissioner for three projects which will work with the perpetrators of domestic abuse to tackle their behaviour and protect families at risk. Emily Spurrell has been awarded the funding from the Home Office�s Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Fund after submitting bids with partners from Knowsley, Liverpool and Wirral for initiatives running until March 2022. ₤217,000 of the funding will go to the charity Merseyside Domestic Violence Service (MDVS) to enable them to continue to run a programme that aims to challenge the behaviour of men who have been identified as potential perpetrators. The charity received a similar pot of funding in 2020 and used it to work with charity Change Grow Live to simultaneously tackle domestic abuse and substance misuse among 117 high risk, serial offenders across Liverpool and St Helens. With this new funding, their caseworkers will be able to work intensively 1 to 1 with more than 40 perpetrators to tackle their behaviour and address the underlying problems which is identified as triggering their abusive behaviour, such as:- use of alcohol and drug, debt, homelessness and mental health issues. They will also use the funding pot to deliver Liverpool�s 1st service which looks to tackle the behaviour of young people who are abusive towards their parents or carers, as well as introducing a new way of working to tackle stalking by using a state of the art tool to assess and manage the risks posed by perpetrators and by bringing in a new Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworker (ISAC). In Knowsley, the cash boost of ₤203,000 will be used by the Council to expand their service assessing and managing the threats posed by existing perpetrators to ensure measures are put in place to challenge their abusive behaviour and protect victims and their families. This will ensure each offender who is identified has a dedicated caseworker, with another support worker allocated to their victim and family. With their award of ₤200,000, 12 staff from the 8 organisations making up the Wirral�s multi agency Domestic Abuse Alliance will be trained to deliver a specialist course for offenders for who are also parents. Over the next year, they will then work with up to 160 men to challenge their behaviour, while support will also be provided to their partners and children. The funding will also be used to train teachers to increase awareness of domestic abuse in Schools and Colleges, and provide courses for up to 60 parents whose children have been aggressive or violent.

Merseyside�s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell said:- "If we are to truly tackle domestic abuse we must stop it from happening in the 1st place. To do that, we must challenge the behaviour, attitudes and underlying issues that cause people to become abusive and violent. The right interventions at the right time can stop abuse from occurring, recurring or escalating. By confronting perpetrators with both the consequences of the behaviour and starting to address the underlying issues that trigger that abuse, our aim is to end the misery and suffering of their partners and children. These three projects will hopefully do just that; working to change mind sets and patterns of behaviour among offenders to try and stop offences from taking place, protecting more families and preventing harm. I'm delighted to have secured this funding on behalf of these excellent projects, but this is challenging work and it takes time. This additional funding will help these projects to expand and enhance the services they can offer in the short term, but it is not the answer if we want to put a stop to domestic abuse for good. Over the next eight months, I will lobby the Government to commit to providing this vital funding long term."

Knowsley Council�s Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods Cllr Shelley Powell, said:- "We are committed to supporting those who experience domestic abuse, ensuring they receive access to specialist care. However, we must also work with the perpetrators of domestic abuse in order to provide long term support to both them, their victim and family. This funding boost will allow us to provide this crucial service in order to tackle the perpetrator's behaviour and hopefully break the cycle of abuse."

In June, the Police Commissioner invited charities and eligible groups to contact her with their proposals for projects which she could submit for funding. Bids were asked to focus on addressing the issues of known offenders, children and young people and stalking. A total of 5 bids were received. These were reviewed by a panel, with 3 being assessed as meeting the criteria and eligible to be put forward for funding by the Police Commissioner. All three received the full amount of funding requested. As part of the bidding process, organisations were required to provide:- "match funding" to enable the programmes to run for 12 months in total.

Want to save a threatened historic building? Nominate it for the Victorian Society's endangered list

THE Victorian Society is seeking nominations for its 2021 Top Ten Endangered Buildings Campaign. The annual event highlights buildings that are in dire need of repairs or are at risk of being lost completely. Buildings included in previous years' lists have already seen new funding, planning applications, and structural improvements that preserve them for future generations. Historic Middlesbrough Pub, the Captain Cook, has received half a million pounds in emergency funding after being included in last year's Top 10, and Brighton Hippodrome has not only a found a new owner, but maintenance works began this year to save the building. A comprehensive list of updates, and link to images can be found at the bottom of this message. With the UK hosting COP26 in November this year, The Top 10 Campaign also raises awareness on how heritage conservation can play a significant role in combating the causes of climate change. Restoration and reuse of our historic buildings reduces waste, and carbon emissions. A 3rd of the UK's waste output comes from construction and demolition. Restoring and updating historic buildings reduces operational carbon emissions (carbon emissions created from the day to day use of the property such heating, lighting, maintenance) by up to 84%. Join the campaign to save our heritage nominate a building or structure that deserves some much-needed public attention by emailing:- TopTen@VictorianSociety.Org.UK with details of when the building was built, its location, why the building should be included in our campaign. Nominated buildings or structures must be in England and Wales and built between 1837 and 1914, Listed buildings are more likely to make the Top Ten, and the closing date for nominations is Friday, 15 October 2021, at midnight.

Griff Rhys Jones, President of the Victorian Society said:- "After 18 months of a Covid crisis which has seen shops and offices close, the Top Ten Campaign is more important than ever to bring heritage and conservation back into public discussion and continue the fight to find new uses to save our endangered historic buildings. 99% of people who live in England and Wales live less than a mile away from a listed heritage site. Preserving our heritage not only improves the places where we live, it also helps to combat the wider climate emergency. Compared to refurbishing a traditional Victorian terrace property, a new building of the same size produces up to 13 times more embodied carbon."

As opposed to operational carbon, embodied carbon is the CO2 associated with the entire construction process, including:- transport, production of building materials, and energy use. To find out more about the Victorian society and see all the buildings which have previously been listed in the top 10, visit:- VictorianSociety.Org.UK. Join the fight to save England and Wales' Victorian heritage by becoming a member of the Victorian Society at:- VictorianSociety.Org.UK/Join.

Lowest ever levels of A&E performance show NHS:- "near boiling point"

RESPONDING to the latest set of performance figures released by NHS England for July 2021, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson, said:- "The NHS has been running hot for months now and these figures show we are nearly at boiling point. We are worried that the public think that things are getting back to normal on the virtual eve of a further reduction in restrictions, and messages from the centre that says things are OK are disingenuous; the reality is that the health service is really struggling. 4 hour performance has sunk to its lowest ever level, we have levels of 12 hour waits we would usually associate with winter, and July saw the second highest ever number of attendances across emergency care units. Yet there is no sign of rescue ahead of winter. Despite our calls for action, crowding is back with us and is compromising patient care."

Performance figures for Emergency Care for the NHS in England in July 2021 showed that, there were 1,431,499 attendances at major Emergency Departments; the 2nd highest on record. 67.7% of patients waited less than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer, or discharge in Type 1 EDs, the lowest percentage on record. The number of patients waiting more than 4 hours after a decision to admit them stood at 89,768. This is a 30% increase compared to June 2021 (66,619) and is the 3rd highest ever the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours after a decision to admit them stood at 2,215; by far the highest July figure on record (2nd highest is 451 from July 2019).

Dr Henderson said:- "The NHS was in a pretty dreadful state going into the Pandemic; we were seeing record waits across the board, due to insufficient resourcing, but the sheer determination of an overstretched workforce, combined with a 'whatever it takes' approach, got us through. The problems that were with us before the Pandemic have not gone away. Not only do they remain but are now much worse due to the impact of Covid, as these figures make crystal clear. The Ambulance service saw the highest ever number of Ambulance callouts for life threatening conditions in July, and we saw 'trolley waits' in Hospitals go up by 30% on the previous month. This means there have been delays offloading Ambulances and patients have experienced long waits to be seen and moved to a bed if they need admission. Emergency Departments are very, very busy. There has also been a steady rise in Covid presentations and even though numbers are still low all the infection risk concerns remain in Hospitals, further depleting capacity. Staff have had no let up and are worried about what the winter will be like if this is where we are in the summer. Demand is driven by multiple factors; difficulties accessing Primary Care, complications of chronic conditions, new presentations of significant illness and waiting list patients with on going symptoms and no sign of getting their care sorted any time soon. NHSE recommends patients to access help via:- 111, but unless the system is responsive and clinically supported and other options available that advice too often defaults to go to the Emergency Department. Local health systems must ensure adequate urgent care facilities for their communities, letting Emergency Department have capacity to treat the seriously ill and injured. The other side of this is problems with supply; we do not have enough staff, beds, or equipment. There is still no plan for social care, which has a huge impact on the NHS. These have been issues for some time, but on top of this is the growing waiting list for elective care, staff absence due to a combination of leave and necessary self isolation, and an even lower bed capacity due to infection prevention control measures. We fear for what winter may hold; we know it will be worse than now but a heavy flu season, another potential Covid surge and an understandable desire not to cancel elective care this winter could cripple us and put patient safety at risk. NHS Trusts must do all that they can to wring out every drop of capacity ahead of winter and the Department of Health and Social Care must extend:- 'discharge to assess,' which made a significant difference freeing up beds during the Pandemic. There has been a sustained rise in the number of patients experience long stays in Hospital, and this funding is critical to freeing beds and maintaining flow in Hospitals. We also need clarity in terms of performance; we are currently in a performance vacuum with Trusts uncertain about what they need to focus on. Implementing some of the metrics proposed by the Clinical Review of Standards is vital ahead of winter. We need to operationalise the metric of a maximum of a 12 hour stay from point of arrival. This will be a small step to reducing exit block, and allow timely Ambulance offloads. While the NHS rollout of the vaccine has been an incredible success, parliament must not take its eyes off the ball regarding the state of the NHS. This autumn's spending review; 1 which has not been put out to consultation; is an opportunity for the government to further signal it's:- 'peace time' commitment to NHS funding and help prevent the NHS from boiling over this winter."

Merseyrail Mitie Cleaners Strike and protest again in fight for:- 'Pay Justice'

RMT Mitie Station and accommodation cleaners on the Merseyrail Contract will be striking and demonstrating again tomorrow; Friday, 13 August 2021, in their ongoing campaign in support of pay and workplace justice. The demonstration, involving the cleaners and their supporters, will be outside Mitie and Merseyrail's Liverpool Headquarters, at Rail House, Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool L1 1JF, at 8am, on Friday, 13 August 2021.‎ The cleaners voted by a massive majority for action over the offer of a pitiful increase in their poverty pay rates which would have still left them far short of the Real Living Wage and the absolute minimum of ₤10 an hour which RMT is campaigning for as recognition of these real hero's of the COVID Pandemic who have worked throughout. This key group of staff have already taken part in 1 day of rock solid strike action last month and are determined to secure the justice that they rightly deserve. The cleaners are also protesting the imposition of punitive rosters and attacks on holiday pay. RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said:- "‎These workers have been on the frontline throughout the Pandemic, keeping the Merseyrail network clean and safe for passengers, yet they are being treated with disdain by their employer, who is more interested in keeping costs down than treating its workers fairly. Mitie cleaners on the Merseyrail contract are paid significantly below the Real Living Wage and far less than RMT's minimum demand of ₤10 per hour. Yet, Mitie's latest accounts boast of:- 'good trading resilience through Covid19' and reveal that revenue was up nearly 20% on the year before.‎ Even the paltry and unacceptable offer the company put on the table is now being withdrawn in what is effectively a punishment beating for these low paid workers for having the guts to fight for justice from this bullying and greedy outfit. We thank the people of Merseyside for their support for their cleaners in their fight for workplace justice and the union remains available for talks."

Local Authorities in the North West encouraged to use local Covid19 impact analysis reports to aid recovery

A series of reports demonstrating the local impacts of Covid19 are now available to all Local Authorities in England as a result of the ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK) funded Local Data Spaces programme. The reports; which are free to access; have made use of de-identified, local level public sector data and are a highly valuable resource for informing local Pandemic responses in both the short and long terms.

The Local Data Spaces (LDS) programme is a collaboration between the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and ADR UK. The reports; produced by a group of researchers from the Consumer Data Researcher Centre (CDRC); used de-identified data securely held within the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS). This included data from the national Test and Trace programme, alongside health and administrative data from ONS and Local Authorities themselves, to understand the spread of the Pandemic in local areas and its impact on communities. The data used covers the period March 2020; March 2021.

The research team co-designed the analyses alongside an initial 25 Local Authorities to ensure the work was driven by local policy needs. They identified two consistent, core research priorities: broader Covid19 health impacts and inequalities; and economic vulnerability and recovery potential. From this, they developed a series of 10 reports for each authority, which were then replicated for all Local Authorities across England.

The reports profile a variety of themes related to the local impacts of Covid19, from demographic and occupational inequalities, through excess mortality, to economic vulnerabilities. More specifically, the reports cover topics such as local changes to retail and recreation over time; and positive Covid19 rates by work sector. Local figures are presented alongside national figures to allow comparison to England as a whole, enabling a better understanding of local inequalities related to the Pandemic.

Locally focused research and data is clearly in demand; it is hoped that the reports will be used by Local Authorities and stakeholders as an evidence base on the impact of Covid19 at a local level, to help inform their Pandemic responses. The series of 10 reports for each Local Authority, in HTML form and accessible offline, are available on the CDRC website for any local stakeholder to download for free.

Dr Emma Gordon, Director of ADR UK, said:- "The Local Data Spaces programme, 1 of the 1st ADR UK funded programmes to focus on administrative data research at the local level; successfully demonstrates the huge importance of access to local level data and analysis to inform local decision making. The value of the reports for informing understanding of the local impacts of the Pandemic cannot be underestimated, and I hope to see them widely used to the benefit of local communities across England."

Dr Mark Green, Lead Researcher, University of Liverpool, said:- "The Pandemic has showed the importance of getting the right data into the right hands. Local Data Spaces has helped to open up new sources of data to Local Authorities that they were previously unaware of. Reports have been used to support real world policy decisions including the evaluation of lateral flow testing in Liverpool, impacts of the furlough scheme in Norfolk and providing urgent data to SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies)."