Category: news

The Home Office is being urged to rethink the phasing of cuts to police budgets in England and Wales.

Cuts over the next four years are due to start with 8% reductions in 2012-13, 6% the year after, and 4% in each of the following two years.

But the Association of Police Authorities say imposing the deepest cuts in the first two years will make it hard to protect front-line services.

The Home Office said greater efficiency would help “protect the front line”.

A letter to Policing Minister Nick Herbert from leading members of the cross-party association says it is “committed to doing everything possible to face the challenge” of funding reductions while protecting services, particularly front-line officers.

But it says “a sensible, realistic approach is necessary to realise the savings objectives and avoid long-term damage to policing capability”.

The APA members say they are “deeply concerned that front-loading cuts will strip out the required financial flexibility” police forces need to transform their working practices in order to make savings.

The existing cuts timetable will mean fewer community support officers and could affect “safe and secure delivery of the Olympics” in 2012, the letter suggests.

Shadow home secretary Ed Balls said the government should “seriously consider” the cross-party plea and “think again”.

“Police forces have already made clear the speed and scale of the cuts means the front line can’t be protected by long-term efficiencies. It will inevitably mean thousands fewer police officers, which will undermine the fight against crime,” he said.

“But doing all this at a time when there are a growing number of public protests, an ongoing terror threat, the security challenge of the Olympics and an expensive experiment with directly-elected police chiefs is a reckless gamble.”

A Home Office spokesman said it had already been made clear that the police service must “bear its share” of public spending cuts.

The department was “cutting red tape and bureaucracy, freeing officers to get back to the front line where people want to see them”, he said.

The spokesman added: “Forces must focus on driving out wasteful spending, and increase efficiency in the back office to protect the front line.”

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A Paris court is set to give its verdict in a trial to determine any criminal responsibility in the crash of a Concorde supersonic jet 10 years ago.

US airline Continental is accused of involuntary homicide after a report found a piece of metal from one of its planes caused a tyre-burst in the jet.

The jet caught fire shortly after take off from Charles de Gaulle airport in July 2000, killing 113 people.

Two airline operatives and three French officials have also been charged.

Continental faces a fine of 175,000 euros (£150,000, $218,000) if it is found guilty of indirectly causing the Concorde crash through an act of negligence.

It was argued in the trial that a piece of titanium from a Continental Airlines DC-10 plane fell onto the runway just before the Concorde took off.

This piece of metal burst a tyre on the Concorde, sending up debris into the fuel tank which then caught fire.

Continental fiercely disputes this version, and during the trial its lawyer presented a different explanation for the crash, putting the blame on the jet’s operator, Air France.

In addition to Continental and its two operatives, three French officials were also accused of indirect responsibility for the crash – for failing to enact proper safeguards following previous tyre-burst incidents on Concordes.

All the individuals face smaller fines and possible suspended jail terms.

The trial was supposed to conclude the protracted debates over responsibility for the crash, but Monday’s verdict may still not be the end.

Air France paid out 100m euro in compensation to victims’ families.

If Continental is convicted, the French carrier could decide to seek to reclaim that money from the American company.

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Retailers selling sexualised products aimed at children could face restrictions under plans being considered by the government.

An inquiry is getting under way to explore whether new rules should prevent the marketing of items such as “Porn star” T-shirts or padded bras.

Among the measures being considered are a code of conduct on “age appropriate” marketing, or setting up a watchdog.

Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said parents faced a tidal wave of pressure.

She told the Sunday Times: “There are huge pressures on children to grow up too quickly and to buy stuff, some of which is completely unsuitable.

“I know when I walk down the high street there is one shop after another marketing highly sexualised clothes to young children: short, tight dresses; T-shirts with unsuitable slogans.

“Parents are under a tidal wave of pressure. There are all sorts of messages that bombard children and make them grow up quicker than parents want them to.”

She said it was difficult for parents to protect children because of the influence of music videos, displays in high street shops and features in teen magazines and on websites.

The inquiry is being headed by Reg Bailey, from Christian charity the Mothers’ Union, who wants parents to send him examples of products of concern.

He said: “It’s about the tone and the style of the way things are marketed to children. When you are so bombarded by marketing and sexualised imagery, it almost becomes wallpaper.”

Other items which have been criticised include lap-dancing kits and Playboy-branded pencil cases.

In May, Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to take action to protect children from “excessive commercialisation and premature sexualisation”.

He said he was shocked to discover beds with a “Lolita” branding were being marketed towards six-year-olds.

Lolita is a novel, later adapted into an Oscar-nominated movie, in which a middle-aged man becomes sexually obsessed with a precocious 12-year-old girl.

The Family and Parenting Institute welcomed the inquiry, and said parents were concerned that young children were experiencing “too much too young”.

Chief executive Katherine Rake said: “Mothers and fathers regularly tell us that they don’t want to see childhood disappearing.

“Confronting this issue is vital if we are to move closer to a family friendly society. We look forward to seeing progress made.”

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The government will be forced to defend its Budget in the High Court later, against claims it broke equalities law.

The Fawcett Society is seeking a judicial review, arguing that ministers failed to consider the impact of tax and welfare changes on women.

The women’s rights group says £5.8bn of the £8bn savings outlined in June’s Budget would come from women – and its case is being supported by Labour.

The Treasury said it took its equality obligations “very seriously”.

Judges will consider the Fawcett Society’s oral application for a judicial review of Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget, an earlier written application having been turned down.

It will seek to argue the Budget measures – which included caps on housing benefit, a freeze on child benefit and a rise in VAT – were unfair, as the Treasury failed in its legal duty to consider whether women would be affected disproportionately.

As lawyers from both sides make their arguments, the Fawcett Society is expected to say the cuts will hit women far harder than men, as women account for 65% of all public sector employment and were more likely to be affected by pay freezes and job losses.

Campaigners say ministers are legally obliged to carry out an equality impact assessment before taking policy decisions and, where this reveals a risk of discrimination, to take urgent action.

It is not clear whether there will be a ruling during the day’s proceedings. If a decision is taken that there should be a judicial review, this is unlikely to begin until early next year.

“We await the court’s decision on the Fawcett Society’s renewed application,” the Treasury said.

Ministers have insisted the measures in the Budget and October’s Spending Review – which outlined plans for £81bn in budget cuts over the next four years – are “tough but fair” and that all sections of society and income groups must contribute to dealing with the £150bn deficit.

They have pointed to measures, such as the increase in the child element of the child tax credit by £150 above inflation from next April, as evidence of support for families in difficult times.

But speaking in August, when the Fawcett Society launched its legal action, shadow cabinet minister Yvette Cooper said the government’s plans were “peppered with policies that hit women hardest”.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is carrying out a separate assessment of whether the Spending Review adversely affected women, ethnic minorities and the disabled.

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Disney’s Tron Legacy has premiered in the UK with director Joseph Kosinski hailing the film as ”a true 3D movie”.

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Iran says it has delivered domestically produced uranium to an enrichment plant, ahead of talks on its disputed nuclear programme with world powers in Geneva.

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The UK manufacturing sector is in rude health, thanks in large part to strong demand from overseas customers, an industry survey suggests.

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The number of complaints against Scottish police forces has fallen for the first time in four years, according to new figures.

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Graeme McDowell overhauls a four-shot deficit before beating Tiger Woods in a play-off to win the Chevron World Challenge in California.

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A Bangladeshi-flagged ship is thought to have been seized by pirates off southern India, say shipping officials.

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Mayor of London Boris Johnson has withdrawn the offer of a free stay in London’s exclusive Dorchester hotel for Fifa executives during the 2012 Olympics after England lost out on hosting the World Cup in 2018.

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England declare on 620-5 with a lead of 375 over Australia on day four of the second Test in Adelaide.

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Albania is experiencing its worst flooding in living memory, its interior minister says, with more than 12,000 people moved from their homes.

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A British soldier dies from his wounds after being shot while on patrol in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence announces.

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Demonstrators demanding an annulment of last week’s election in Haiti clash with police in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

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