HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is today announced as winner of a prestigious award from the Campaign for Learning, for awards presented to companies and organisations for running excellent Learning at Work Week campaigns.

We won the category for ‘promoting a learning culture’, sponsored by Pearson. All entrants were required to show that creative and inclusive events were shaped to the needs of employees and that businesses had stimulated an appetite for learning and build learning cultures at work.

The Learning at Work Week at HMCTS helped to develop an inclusive learning culture, giving every member of staff access to the learning and development opportunities they need.

This supports our broader capability strategy and employee value proposition, which has a commitment to learning and development at its core.

Antonia Dietmann, Deputy Director, Organisation Capability at HMCTS said:

It’s a huge honour to be selected as winners in this category. We’re absolutely delighted that the hard work of many people across all of HMCTS has been recognised and rewarded.

Many operational staff played a critical role in coordinating the huge number of local events that took place – it certainly was an organisation-wide effort. We will continue to build on the legacy of this work and further embed the learning culture for all our staff.

Julia Wright, National Director for the Campaign for Learning, commented:

Once again, the high standard of entries demonstrates the power of well thought our campaigns for achieving cultural shifts in how people and businesses view and engage with learning. Congratulations to all of the successful organisations this year. Their impressive Learning at Work Weeks show how bold and ambitious programmes can have a real and lasting impact – from building employees’ confidence in the use of new technology to creating new connections that will support learning in the future.

Overall there were more than 800 events at national, regional, and local levels. Topics on offer included building inclusive teams, influencing skills and mental health awareness. All staff were encouraged to access at least one session as part of their ongoing personal or career development during the learning hour initiative. HMCTS used social media to promote the Learning at Work Week activities, talk about their existing capability offer, and promote bite-size learning to staff.

An unknown British soldier has been afforded a final resting place 100 years after he was killed during World War 1. The burial, with full military honours, took place on 8 November at Buttes News British Cemetery near Ypres, Belgium

Members of the current day Royal Regiment of Fusiliers formed a bearer party to escort their fallen former comrade into the cemetery within a coffin draped in the union flag. The Reverend Stuart Richards CF, Chaplain to the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers conducted the service and paid tribute to the sacrifice the soldier made, and by so many more, 100 years ago.

The service was organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre, part of Defence Business Services, who work to identify the 40 plus sets of remains of British personnel found on historical World War 1 battlefields, and where possible, trace their surviving families.

The soldier was discovered during engineering works in February 2017 in a field near to the village of Westhoek, near Ypres. Although it can’t be certain when he died, research shows the village of Westhoek was fought over from August to September 1917 during the 3rd Battle of Ypres.

Artefacts found with the soldier included British uniform buttons, a belt buckle and a folded rain cape. Unfortunately, as no regimental insignia were found it has been impossible to trace his name because of the tens of thousands of British soldiers killed with no known grave within the Ypres Salient.

Tracey Bowers, Head of the JCCC Commemorations team said:

Today we have provided a British unknown warrior with his final resting place, 100 years after he died. Sadly, it was not possible to identify him but his name is known unto God and we will always remember the sacrifice he made.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, who own and maintain the Buttes News British Cemetery, will now care for the soldier in perpetuity.

East Midlands officers are now wearing body worn video cameras to aid prosecutions and as a deterrent to violence

Environment Agency enforcement teams in the East Midlands have adopted wearing body worn video cameras in their fight against crime following a successful six-month trial of the practice in the North-East.

The trial in the North-East found that wearing the cameras helped to reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour, assaults and threats against Environment Agency staff.

Following a growing number of abusive incidents during site inspections to waste sites, enforcement officers will be equipped with body worn video cameras on their visits. The cameras will also be used by fisheries enforcement officers during their routine activities.

Footage captured on a bodycam in the North-East was recently used by the Environment Agency for the first time to convict an offender. The defendant pleaded ‘guilty’ of wilfully obstructing the officers in the execution of their duty and using abusive behaviour towards two officers when he knew they had video evidence.

Pete Haslock, Enforcement Team Leader for the Environment Agency in the East Midlands, said:

The safety of our staff is paramount. They are well trained in dealing with hostile situations and we take any threat against them very seriously. Our preference is to prevent hostility in the first place and wearing the cameras can prevent threatening situations from escalating.

We want to get on with our jobs without the threat of violence and the cameras will help to protect staff and bring obstructive individuals to justice. Officers will switch on the cameras if and when they enter a hostile situation or where hostility may be anticipated. That could be a site where they have experienced aggressive behaviour in the past or an unknown quantity, such as on a remote river bank.

Studies also show that people are less likely to contest the evidence when they know their offence is captured on camera, which could help speed up justice and reduce legal costs.

Anyone with information about illegal fishing activities or to report illegal waste activity, should contact the Environment Agency’s 24/7 Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.