The government is set to end the intervention into Rotherham council 3 years after calling in inspectors, Communities Secretary, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, has announced today (23 July 2018).

The intervention began in February 2015 after Baroness Alexis Jay and Dame Louise Casey found significant failings at the council that contributed to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.

Since then, the council has worked hard to turn services around.

Mr Brokenshire says in a written ministerial statement he is minded to return control of all services to the metropolitan borough council, including children’s social care, and withdraw all 3 commissioners.

He adds this was on the condition the council receives an independent review before 31 March 2019.

The action follows the gradual return of selected functions to the council on 4 separate occasions since the intervention began in February 2015.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

Vulnerable young people were repeatedly failed in Rotherham, which is why the government stepped in to ensure these errors can never occur again.

The council has made strong progress and, having carefully considered evidence provided by our commissioners, I am minded to return all powers.

This is not a decision I take lightly, but I am assured the council has turned itself around and is now providing the services that its residents deserve and expect.

Minister for Children and Families, Nadhim Zahawi MP said:

Keeping children safe is paramount and I am pleased to see the vast improvements Rotherham has made to its children’s services, shown through its recent ‘good’ Ofsted rating. We all know that for too long, children and young people living there were failed by the authorities in charge of protecting them.

In these cases the government will not hesitate to intervene and support improvements but it is down to strong leadership and the hard work of staff at Rotherham that they have been able to turn services around.

The ‘minded to’ decision to return the control of all services to the council marks a positive step for this town and I hope the community can continue to move towards a bright future.

Mr Brokenshire says the government is continuing to work with Rotherham council and the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner to secure funding for victims identified through the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood and will do so for as long as the need is there.

The council will now have a period of 4 weeks to make representations on the proposals before the Secretary of State makes a final decision.

Three commissioners have been working with Rotherham council. They are:

• Mary Ney (lead commissioner)
• Patricia Bradwell (children’s social care)
• Julie Kenny CBE, DL

Selected functions were returned to the council on 11 February 2016, 13 December 2016, 21 March 2017 and 12 September 2017.

The Secretary of State will consider representatives on his ‘minded to’ decision until August 16 with a further decision to be made after that date.

Operation Stovewood is the National Crime Agency investigation into non-familial child sexual exploitation and abuse in Rotherham, between 1997 and 2013. It is the largest ever investigation into non-recent child sexual exploitation undertaken by law enforcement.

As part of the decision-making process on the announcement, Mr Brokenshire and Mr Zahawi met with Rotherham’s MPs on Monday, July 16 who indicated their support to conclude the intervention

Updated: The RSR standard rules set relevant to this permit has been added to the attachments.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson paid a visit today to Rubb in Gateshead, global-leaders in innovative defence structures and hangars for the military sector, where he outlined the benefits of defence to local jobs and industry.

The Defence Secretary met with staff and toured the facility during his visit of the company, which has been a long-standing supplier to the UK Armed Forces, going back to 1979 when the RAF tasked them to supply military buildings for the world-famous Red Arrows.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

A strong defence industry throughout the four corners of the UK is crucial to our economy as well as our national security, and Rubb UK are an outstanding example of our world-leading homegrown engineers in the North East.

Their workers are part of some 700 jobs we support in this area, and their pride in making the homes for our world-class jets and aircraft is clear to see.

With this region benefitting from £100m of defence investment and in line for more business, it is playing a key role in ensuring our Armed Forces have what they need to protect our country from intensifying threats.

Rubb’s expertise in rapid deployable hangar solutions have been used to house operation-ready fighter jets and carry out essential maintenance on large Chinook helicopters.

The hangars have been invaluable to British, Canadian and US forces deployed on operations across the globe. Rubb continue to provide the Armed Forces with long-term assets and are exploring the potential of their cutting-edge cooling techniques and structural fabric technology for the UK’s new Lightning jets.

Rubb are an exemplary British business who design and manufacture their military buildings in the local area, securing jobs and investment into the region and delivers the UK with a much-valued domestic industrial capability. Rubb also export their products across the globe to consumers in Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

The company has over 50 local employees and currently benefits from a £6.86 million contract with the MOD. A significant local employer, Rubb’s first ever apprentice in 1977 has now risen to become Steel Production Manager after more than forty years of service.

Ian Hindmoor, Managing Director at Rubb Buildings Ltd, said:

Working with the MOD is a long-standing relationship that we have nurtured over the years. We are proud to be part of an industry that helps provide equipment, which supports our troops at home and in the field. It is encouraging to learn that the North East is being recognised for its engineering knowledge and skills, and for Rubb to be recognised as an ‘outstanding’ example in this field by the Defence Secretary. We hope to see future investment in this industry so R&D and jobs can continue to grow.

As outlined in former Defence Minister Philip Dunne’s report on the contribution defence makes to British prosperity, the North East plays an important role in UK defence, providing over 3,000 regulars and reserves to the Armed Forces, supporting over 700 industry jobs, and is renowned for its defence manufacturing industry.

The region benefits from MOD investment in local industry and commerce totalling £100 million, where The largest MOD industry group expenditure in the area is with computer services totalling £63 million. Key suppliers include DXC Technology, Capita and Pearson Engineering.

UK organisations can apply for a share of up to £12.5 million for projects to transform how the construction sector delivers new buildings.

The funding is provided by UK Research and Innovation and delivered through Innovate UK.

The need to transform

There is a shortage of high-quality housing in the UK and we need more affordable, energy-efficient and healthier places to live and work. This is creating demand to produce buildings more quickly, safely and with lower emissions.

For this to happen there has to be a revolution in the construction sector. Currently it lags behind other industries for productivity – and hasn’t changed much in more than 40 years.

So through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund government is supporting a transformation of UK construction.

The £170 million government investment, matched by £250 million from industry, will create new construction processes and techniques for building manufacture.

This £12.5 million funding competition is one element of the programme, which also includes funding for research, a new construction network and the creation of an active building centre and innovation hub.

It is a core part of the Construction Sector Deal, which sets out its vision for a future-proofed sector that can provide affordable, energy efficient homes in days or weeks, rather than months, and at a third of the cost.

Tackling the construction lifecycle

We are looking for projects that address the 3 main stages of the construction lifecycle. Specifically, they should focus on how we:

• design and manage buildings, such as using digitally-enabled performance management systems
• construct high-quality buildings, taking a manufacturing approach
• power those buildings, for example, through the use of active energy components

The idea proposed should ultimately lead to cost savings, reduced delays and improvements in collaborations, productivity and outputs.

Delivering the modern Industrial Strategy

To meet the objectives of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, projects must do one or more of the following:

• encourage the adoption of design approaches that favour pre-manufacturing and assembly
• increase productivity on construction projects
• develop scalable methods to speed up construction and provide greater certainty over budget and time
• develop integrated building components that generate, manage and store energy at lower costs
• reduce the construction and whole-life costs of built assets
• improve the whole-life value and safety of built assets, while reducing the carbon impact of that asset

Depending on the length, projects can be for feasibility studies, industrial research or experimental development.

Competition information

• this competition opens on 23 July 2018, and the deadline for applications is midday on 19 September 2018
• a UK business must lead the project, working with other businesses, research, public sector or third sector organisations. At least one SME must be involved
• total project costs can be between £25,000 and £500,000 for projects that last 6 to 12 months, or between £250,000 and £1 million if they last 12 to 24 months
• you could attract up to 70% of your project costs
• projects must start by December 2018
• as part of the competition you can attend a briefing event, where you’ll find out more about how to create and submit a quality application. Register for: