Today, Tuesday 16 October 2018, Adam David Orsler from Solihull, West Midlands appeared before Birmingham Magistrates Court, for illegally depositing 26 tonnes of general household waste on disused land in Smethwick Birmingham, on 10 July 2016. He was sentenced to a 12 month community order and he is required to complete 220 hours of unpaid work. He is also required to pay compensation to the land owner of £2,974, in addition to £2,000 prosecution costs and victim surcharge of £85.

Earlier this year, Mr Orsler entered a guilty plea to the charge of unlawfully depositing the waste. He then failed to attend the subsequent hearing, where the Magistrates found that he had committed the offence deliberately and with a flagrant disregard for the law. The illegal waste deposit had an adverse impact on the amenity value of the area and the defendant benefited financially.

The Environment Agency investigated the incident after a local business owner photographed the defendant depositing the waste. When Environment Agency officers interviewed Mr Orsler, he admitted that he was paid £650 to collect the waste from a site in Dudley, but he received no formal paperwork.

In sentencing Mr Orsler, the Judge took into consideration the absence of any similar previous convictions and Mr Orsler’s personal circumstances.

An Environment Agency Officer in charge of the investigation said:

Waste crime is serious offence as it can damage the environment, blight local communities and undermine those who operate illegally.

This successful outcome shows that the courts take such incidents actions very seriously. In this case, the defendant showed a total disregard for the law as it would have been obvious to him that the site where he tipped the waste, was not a legitimate one.

The Environment Agency provides advice about how to responsibly manage any waste a business produces. If you need advice about waste at your premises, please call us on 0370 850 6506 or visit our web page.

Everyone can play a part in helping to prevent waste getting into the hands of criminals. If members of the public suspect that a company is doing something wrong, they can call the Environment Agency on 24/7 on 0800 80 70 60 or report it anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Outdated and obstructive NHS IT systems will become a thing of the past, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has said as he launches his technology vision in The Future of Healthcare.

This vision transforms NHS technology to allow appropriate access to real-time data. This will underpin the digital services and data innovations needed.

The vision outlines plans to introduce minimum technical standards that digital services and IT systems in the NHS will have to meet. Having these open standards in place means systems will be able to talk to each other securely and ensure they are upgradable.

Any system that fails to meet these standards will be phased out. The government will look to end contracts with providers who do not understand these principles for the health and care sector.

Outside those standards, all trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will have freedom to buy what they need. This should encourage competition on user experience and better tools for everyone.

The changes will secure a brighter future for the health and social care system and are central to unlocking the potential of innovative technologies to support care.

The government wants to hear from staff, technology experts and suppliers to make sure the standards are the best choices for our users and can help improve outcomes in every area of the health and care system.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

The tech revolution is coming to the NHS. These robust standards will ensure that every part of the NHS can use the best technology to improve patient safety, reduce delays and speed up appointments.

A modern technical architecture for the health and care service has huge potential to deliver better services and to unlock our innovations. We want this approach to empower the country’s best innovators – inside and outside the NHS – and we want to hear from staff, experts and suppliers to ensure our standards will deliver the most advanced health and care service in the world.

Dr Simon Eccles, Chief Clinical Information Officer for Health and Care, NHS England, said:

Investing in excellent digital systems means patients can access the best and safest treatment pathways available, as swiftly as possible at the best value for taxpayers.

This, combined with our plan to use technology to improve existing treatments and join up information across the NHS, will set the health service in England on track to be the world-leader in innovative health care.

Sarah Wilkinson, Chief Executive at NHS Digital, said:

Greater standardisation of data, infrastructure, platforms and APIs will create a health and care system that is more joined-up, and as a result safer and more efficient. Connected systems ensure that clinicians have immediate access to all relevant and appropriate patient data from all care providers and settings, and ensure that data is communicated between systems with absolute fidelity, eliminating misinformation and misunderstandings. In addition, we will increasingly be able to provide citizens and patients with direct and immediate access to their medical records.

Everyone understands the value of this work but progress in recent years has been limited. Today, responding to a direct challenge from the Secretary of State to transform the fortunes of this work, we are injecting a new level of energy and commitment. NHS Digital is providing a new clear framework to simplify the guidance on those standards that matter most. We are going to build the detailed guidance on these standards in partnership with technologists across the system and with industry partners.

We recognise that the implementation journey is complex. Through consultation we will seek to understand in detail what the challenges are for different parties and throughout implementation we will focus on providing clear specifications, detailed guidance and extensive support. Our goal is to ensure successful implementation through engagement and facilitation, ensuring that changes that are mandated are reasonable and achievable.

This work matters too much for any of us to shy away from the challenge.

Adam Orsler of Solihull, was sentenced today, for charges relating to the illegal dumping of waste in Smethwick.

A 44 year-old man has been fined £120 after pleading guilty to transporting waste without the necessary licence. The offence was discovered during Operation Highway, a multi-agency operation between the Environment Agency, Nottinghamshire Police, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), HM Revenue and Customs, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service and Via East Midlands.

On 12 October 2018, at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court, Carl Fairhurst was fined £120, ordered to pay Environment Agency Costs of £135 as well as a victim surcharge of £30

Sheffield based Mr Fairhurst was caught transporting controlled waste without a licence during the multi-agency road stop on the A1 at Blyth in Nottinghamshire. Police directed him to pull in to a check point at the services where the vehicle was examined and confirmed to be carrying waste.

After providing various different names, and claiming to be working for a number of different companies, the driver finally identified himself as Carl Fairhurst. It was confirmed that Mr Fairhurst was self employed.

Mr Fairhurst was unable to produce a valid waste carrier registration and was interviewed under caution at the check point by an Environment Agency officer.

Anyone transporting waste as part of their business, whether it’s their waste or someone else’s, has to register for a Waste Carriers Licence.

During the search of the vehicle, Environment Agency officers established that Mr Fairhurst was working as a sub contractor to a multinational telecommunications company.

Speaking after the case, Iain Regan, Waste Regulatory Specialist at the Environment Agency said:

We were concerned to find that in this case a blue chip telecommunications company was employing an unregistered waste carrier, which increased the risk that their waste would not be managed appropriately or legally. We promptly raised the matter with the company concerned, requiring them to take action to prevent possible further breaches of their Duty of Care. We are pleased to report that the company has since reviewed its procedures and checked its supply chain to ensure that its waste is managed legally in the future

We want householders and businesses to only use licensed waste carriers. Large companies have an important role to play in protecting the environment by only using legal waste management contractors. We hope the legitimate carriers in the industry see that we are taking action against free riders and illegal operators who seek to evade the system.

Operation Highway and its sister operation; Operation Transporter are taking place regularly throughout Nottinghamshire on all classes of road. As this case shows, unregistered waste carriers face a greater risk of being caught and prosecuted as a result of these operations.

Members of the public can report unregistered waste carriers or illegal waste sites to the Environment Agency, in confidence on 0800 80 70 60 (24/7 service), or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.