Category Archives: England

Ofsted chief ‘should quit now’, says Ruth Perry’s sister as briefing memo is revealed

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Family of headteacher who killed herself calls on Amanda Spielman to resign over inadequate response to coroner’s verdict

Ruth Perry’s family has called on Ofsted’s chief inspector to resign immediately after it was revealed its lead inspectors will spend just 90 minutes on a briefing to address concerns raised by the headteacher’s suicide.

Julia Waters, Perry’s sister, said the “shocking” response showed that Amanda Spielman had “lost the plot” as chief inspector and should resign now ahead of her term finishing at the end of the year.

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UK weather: Met Office issues yellow alerts for rain and wind

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Dozens of flood warnings in place as Britain and Ireland hit by fifth named storm since September

The Met Office has issued yellow alerts for rain and wind across large swathes of the UK and the Republic of Ireland on Saturday, with dozens of flood warnings in place as the countries are battered by the fifth named storm since September.

As Storm Elin hits the UK and the Republic of Ireland, there are yellow alerts for wind covering Wales, the Midlands and parts of Northern Ireland and the north-west and south-west of England. Yellow alerts for rain are in place in the north-west of England and parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

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Police still victim blaming in grooming gang cases, watchdog finds

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Inspection in England and Wales criticises pace of change since child abuse scandals in Rotherham and Rochdale came to light

Police are still blaming child victims of sexual grooming gangs for the attacks they suffer, an official report has found.

The inquiry by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) comes more than a decade after scandals in Rotherham and Rochdale came to light, revealing failings by the authorities that left gangs of men free to attack vulnerable young girls.

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Ofsted inspection contributed to headteacher’s suicide, coroner rules

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Inquest examined watchdog’s role in Ruth Perry’s decline after Reading primary school’s rating was downgraded

A headteacher killed herself this year after an Ofsted inspection of her school downgraded it from “outstanding” to “inadequate”, a coroner has concluded.

Heidi Connor, the Reading coroner, found Perry’s suicide was “contributed to by an Ofsted inspection carried out between 15 and 16 November 2022” and that “during and after this inspection Ruth’s mental health deteriorated significantly” before her suicide on 8 January 2023.

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London borough of Richmond is ‘happiest place to live in Great Britain’

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Access to huge parks, restaurants and transport links plus a Ted Lasso-factor lead area to top Rightmove’s ‘happy at home’ index

It is home to London’s largest royal park as well as big-hitting tourist attractions such as Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace, and has more recently become a place of pilgrimage for fans of the hit TV comedy Ted Lasso. Now, the borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London has been named “the happiest place to live” in Great Britain.

It received the accolade from property website Rightmove, which runs a “happy at home” index – now in its 12th year – where it asks residents how they feel about their area based on 13 “happiness factors”.

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Father of British student tells Paris court her killer ‘devastated’ family

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Roger Parrish says murder of daughter Joanna by serial killer Michel Fourniret in 1990 had never-ending impact

The father of a British student murdered by a French serial killer has told a court how the “narcissistic psychopath” devastated his “perfect” family.

Roger Parrish, 80, whose daughter Joanna was beaten, raped and strangled by Michel Fourniret in 1990, said: “Never-ending devastation doesn’t even come close to describing the effect Joanna’s murder has had on our family.”

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UK weather: drivers warned of roads becoming ‘ice rinks’ as snow refreezes

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Yellow warning in place for ice across north of England and snow warnings for parts of Scotland, Wales and Peak District

Drivers have been warned they face “very treacherous” icy conditions in parts of the UK on Monday after another night of sub-zero temperatures.

A yellow weather warning for ice by the Met Office is in place across much of the north of England until noon on Monday, with further warnings for snow covering eastern Scotland, high ground in Wales and the Peak District until the same time.

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Thousands of new foster carers urgently needed in England, experts say

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Social workers scrambling to find places for children after net loss of 1,000 foster families in past year

Child protection experts have called for an urgent nationwide hunt for thousands of new foster carers after a net loss of 1,000 families in the past year and a record number of children being placed far from home.

Social workers have described scrambling to find friends and family to take children in urgent need of safety, and reported that children are sometimes placed in hotels.

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Cumbria police declare major incident after heavy snowfall

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Drivers urged not to make unnecessary journeys as cars stuck in traffic and some roads impassable

Cumbria police have declared a major incident and warned against unnecessary journeys after heavy snowfall on the county’s roads, as freezing conditions hit the UK.

Police said a “multi-agency response” is under way, with reports of cars stuck in traffic and some roads in the South Lakes area impassable due to the snow.

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Laurence Fox accused of ‘insulting intelligence’ of libel trial attendees

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Actor called critics ‘paedophiles’ after they labelled him ‘racist’ following his call for boycott of Sainsbury’s over Black History Month stance

The actor and politician Laurence Fox has been accused of “insulting the intelligence of everyone present” during a libel trial at the high court over an argument on social media.

Fox had called for a boycott of Sainsbury’s in October 2020 on X, then known as Twitter, in response to the supermarket chain saying it would provide a safe space for black employees during Black History Month. He was called “a racist” by the drag artist Crystal, the former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake, and the broadcaster Nicola Thorp.

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NHS England faces lawsuit over patient privacy fears linked to new data platform

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Four groups claim no legal basis exists for setting up the Federated Data Platform which facilitates information sharing

The NHS has been accused of “breaking the law” by creating a massive data platform that will share information about patients.

Four organisations are bringing a lawsuit against NHS England claiming that there is no legal basis for its setting up of the Federated Data Platform (FDP). They plan to seek a judicial review of its decision.

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One in seven HR heads believe men are better suited to top jobs

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‘Shocking’ poll in England and Wales shows nearly one in five reluctant to hire women they think may go on to have children

A significant minority of human resources executives believe men are better suited to senior management than women, according to the results of a “shocking” poll.

Nearly one in seven HR decision-makers rate men as better for top jobs and nearly one in five admitted they were reluctant to hire women they thought might go on to start families, the survey of personnel managers in England and Wales for the charity Young Women’s Trust (YWT) found.

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Thousands of refugees in England and Wales ‘face homeless Christmas’

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Government push to clear asylum backlog is not giving people granted refugee status enough time to find new home, say councils

Tens of thousands of refugees are at risk of sleeping rough this Christmas after a Home Office drive to hit Rishi Sunak’s asylum case target, the umbrella body for local councils has said.

The Local Government Association said councils across England and Wales were facing a “perfect storm” as the government worked to clear 92,327 asylum cases by the end of the year.

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Senior doctors in England reach pay deal with government

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NHS leaders welcome breakthrough as ‘vital step’ towards halting walkouts by various staff groups

Doctors’ leaders have struck a deal with ministers that could end the strikes by hospital consultants that have badly disrupted NHS care for months.

Grassroots members of the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) in England still have to approve the government’s offer. But if medics accept it in referendums then both unions will call off the industrial action that has led to hundreds of thousands of operations and outpatient appointments being cancelled.

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Stalking victims face ‘postcode lottery’, says coroner after Gracie Spinks killing

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Concerns raised over ‘consistency and availability’ of stalking advocates in UK police forces to support victims

Stalking victims face a “postcode lottery” of support due to a lack of advocates in police forces across the UK, a coroner has said following the death of Gracie Spinks.

The 23-year-old was killed in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, by a work colleague, Michael Sellers, who had become “obsessed” with her after previously harassing a number of other women. On 18 June 2021 he followed Spinks to the field where she kept her horse before fatally stabbing her and taking his own life soon after.

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Terror response Met officer cleared of dangerous driving could still face sack

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Force’s boss called prosecution of PC Paul Fisher over crash while racing to Streatham stabbings ‘appalling’

A police officer who was cleared of dangerous driving after crashing while racing to the scene of a terrorism attack may still face the sack, the Guardian has learned.

PC Paul Fisher was acquitted by a jury at Southwark crown court on Friday, leading the Metropolitan police commissioner to describe his ordeal as “appalling”.

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School leaders in England feel lockdown ‘broke spell’ of bond with parents

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Education experts agree with Ofsted chief that many parents now disregard rules previously taken for granted

Lockdown “broke the spell” that bound parents and schools together, according to school leaders and experts who have endorsed the Ofsted chief’s view that many parents now disregard rules on behaviour and attendance they once took for granted.

Delivering her last annual report as chief inspector of schools in England, Amanda Spielman said: “The social contract between parents and schools has been fractured by lockdowns and closures.” And she warned: “That social contract took years to build and consolidate and it will take time to restore.”

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Stockton MP rejects Cleverly’s claim that insult referred to him, not his town

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Home secretary under pressure over abusive comments in Commons, with Tory mayor among those condemning them

James Cleverly is coming under pressure over abusive comments he made in the Commons after his explanation that he was insulting the local MP, not calling a Labour-held constituency a “shit-hole”, was met with scepticism.

After Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor for Tees Valley, condemned what he called Cleverly’s “childish and unprofessional language”, the Labour MP concerned, Alex Cunningham, said he simply did not believe the home secretary.

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Jonathan Van-Tam’s family ‘threatened with having throats cut’, Covid inquiry hears

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Former deputy chief medical officer said police advised they move out of their home at one point in pandemic

Prof Sir Jonathan Van-Tam and his family were advised by police to move out of their home at one point during the Covid pandemic because of a threat that they would have their throats cut, he has told the inquiry into the pandemic.

Van-Tam, who was one of the deputy chief medical officers for England during the pandemic, said he was worried that the scale of hate from people who objected to lockdown-type measures could put off other people from doing jobs like his.

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Soaring special needs school transport costs ‘unsustainable’, say councils

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Local authorities fear service cuts or even bankruptcy as costs jump from £400m to £700m in five years

Soaring costs of school transport for children with special educational needs is causing councils in England to warn of service cuts and potential insolvency, according to local authority leaders.

The County Council Network (CCN), which represents mainly rural local authorities in England, says its 37 members are spending more than £700m a year on school transport for 85,000 children with special education needs and disabilities (Send), compared with less than £400m five years ago.

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