Eighteen police and crime commissioners (PCCs) will receive an additional £35 million to continue funding specialist teams to tackle violent crime in their area, the Home Secretary has announced today (29 December 2019).

Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) bring together different organisations including police, local government, health, community leaders and other key partners to prevent serious violence by understanding its root causes.

This early intervention approach forms one part of the government’s drive to tackle serious violence, which also includes bolstering law enforcement with 20,000 new police officers and increasing prison sentences for violent criminals.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

I will not tolerate criminals drawing vulnerable young people into a life of violence.

We are delivering on the people’s priorities by recruiting 20,000 new police officers and introducing tougher sentences to keep offenders behind bars for longer, but agencies must also work together to tackle this issue head on.

These units are already playing a vital role in diverting young people away from crime – and the funding I have announced today will allow them to continue this important work.

Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) Serious Violence Lead, Mark Burns-Williamson PCC OBE said:

This funding is very welcome as it will enable PCCs to continue to develop and fund their Violence Reduction Units in the short term. PCCs are investing in preventative and early intervention initiatives around the country and are working to deliver a whole-system approach to tackling serious violence.

We will continue to work with the Home Office and our partners to ensure longer-term investment over the period of the next spending review for all police force and PCC areas to deal with the scourge of serious violence in helping to keep our communities safe.

Earlier this year the Home Secretary allocated £35 million to 18 PCCs in the areas worst affected by violent crime to set up Violence Reduction Units, as part of an additional £100 million fund to support police to surge their response to serious violence.

Each unit has been tasked with delivering strategies that involve police, healthcare workers, community leaders and others, and aim to reduce and prevent violence in both the short and long term.

Work already under way from the Violence Reduction Units includes new virtual reality technology to teach young people about the dangers of getting involved in serious violence and putting community leaders in hospital A&E departments to provide support to those involved in violence when they are most vulnerable.

The announcement also follows a raft of new commitments from the government to crack down on violent crime, such as creating a legal duty on public bodies to work together to tackle and prevent violent crime.

Overview of funding for Violence Reduction Units

Funding is subject to receiving proposals from Violence Reduction Units on spending allocations and being agreed by the Home Office.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said:

A version of the New Year Honours 2020 list was published in error which contained recipients’ addresses.

The information was removed as soon as possible. We apologise to all those affected and are looking into how this happened.

We have reported the matter to the ICO and are contacting all those affected directly.

We are contacting affected individuals in order to provide advice and guidance should they have any security concerns, as well as apologise for the error.

Anyone affected should contact the Cabinet Office at honours@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Published 28 December 2019

General Sir Patrick Sanders KCB CBE DSCO ADC Gen:

Congratulations to all those that have been recognised for their excellent contributions, we are privileged to have such hard working, committed personnel working at Strategic Command.

Knight Commander of the Order of Bath (KCB)

• British Army General Sir P Sanders

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

• Royal Air Force Air Vice Marshal Reid

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

• Royal Air Force Wing Commander T Bottrill
• Royal Air Force Wing Commander M Stow
• Royal Navy (RM) Colonel G Manger
• Royal Navy (RM) Colonel P Maynard
• Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander A Spike
• British Army Lieutenant Colonel L Orr
• Civil Service Mr. Matthew Ward

Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)

• Royal Air Force Sergeant D Gordon
• Royal Navy Commander (acting Captain) M Hankey
• Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander A Spike
• Royal Navy Warrant Officer Class 2 B Dent
• British Army Captain C Crompton
• British Army Major (acting Lieutenant Colonel) J Moore
• British Army Major D Robinson
• British Army Lieutenant Colonel S Stevenson

Royal Red Cross (RRC)

• Royal Navy Commander I Kennedy
• British Army Warrant Officer Class 2 (Now Warrant Officer Class 1) E Jolliffe

Military Service Medal (MSM)

• Royal Air Force Warrant Officer K Middlemiss
• Royal Air Force Warrant Officer M Robinson
• Royal Air Force Warrant Officer K Skinner
• Royal Air Force Flight Sergeant J Dowling
• Royal Air Force Flight Sergeant R Law
• Royal Navy Warrant Officer Class 1 D Normington

Published 28 December 2019

As Sellafield Ltd Chief Executive, Paul has overseen unprecedented progress in the mission to make Sellafield safer, sooner.

In the process, he established Sellafield Ltd as a business that delivers more value for money for the taxpayer than ever before: The company is on target to deliver £1.4b in efficiencies by 2020 and has pledged a further £1.4bn to government by 2029.

Paul oversaw the successful completion of nuclear fuel reprocessing at the Thorp plant, while ensuring every employee working at the plant remained in employment within the business.

He has recently overseen the creation of the Programme and Project Partners, a 20 year partnership with the supply chain that will enable more progress to be made at Sellafield with partners able to work both on the site and in other markets, locally and nationally.

Additionally, a new approach to how Sellafield Ltd acts as a responsible corporate citizen was established during Paul’s tenure.

This has seen Sellafield Ltd invest more than £40m in projects of benefit to the communities closest to Sellafield since 2015.

They include:

• £10m investment into the Campus Whitehaven project
• £1.75m into the WELL project, designed to lift educational attainment levels in every west Cumbrian classroom
• £3.6m into new economic growth and diversification projects in Whitehaven
• community apprenticeships scheme to help 50 people into employment

Paul will leave Sellafield Ltd at the end of January 2020.

Jamie Reed, Head of Corporate Affairs for Sellafield Ltd, said:

This award is richly deserved for the impact of Paul Foster’s leadership at Sellafield Ltd and for the successes he has achieved both on the Sellafield site and across the local community.

Sellafield Ltd is a relatively new business and Paul has ensured that more value than ever before is delivered to the NDA, the taxpayer and the country as a result of Sellafield’s operations.

At Sellafield Ltd, we will continue to work to make Sellafield safer, sooner, deliver increased value and invest in the local community – these achievements are a result of Paul’s leadership and the CBE is recognition of that.

Thousands of people with Parkinson’s, dementia, epilepsy and other ‘invisible’ disabilities have gained access to the benefits from Blue Badges under new rules introduced last summer.

In the first 3 months, new figures show, 12,299 new badges – around 130 a day – were granted to people who cannot walk as part of a journey without considerable psychological distress or the risk of serious harm, as well as to people with a non-visible disability.

The new rules, introduced by the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, in August, widened the eligibility criteria to ensure that people with ‘invisible’ disabilities are not disadvantaged. The badges help people access shops and services, by enabling them to park closer to their destinations.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

People with hidden conditions like these have to fight not just their disability, but the psychological worry that others may not recognise them as disabled.

I’m proud that our reform is already changing thousands of people’s lives, allowing those in need to carry on their daily lives with more confidence and helping combat loneliness and isolation.

Ahead of the change, DfT issued new guidance to councils in England on Blue Badge parking permit eligibility, and launched in August a new online eligibility checker to make the scheme clearer for people before they apply.

While the new criteria gives clear and consistent guidelines on Blue Badge eligibility for the whole of England, not everyone with non-visible disabilities will qualify for a badge. Local authorities decide if an applicant meets the eligibility criteria, as is currently the case.

The Blue Badge scheme had already meant that people with physical disabilities can park closer to their destination than other drivers, as they are less able to take public transport or walk longer distances.

Keith Richards, chair of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), said:

DPTAC has worked hard to bring the issue of non-visible disabilities to the fore. Enabling those with non-visible disabilities to benefit from a Blue Badge will bring a critical improvement in the lives of many disabled people and it is right that the criteria was changed.

We have stressed the importance of enforcement of the scheme and we are pleased to see the number of prosecutions increasing.

Abuse of the scheme on-street is something that local authorities have been cracking down on and the department has given them the powers to seize badges on-street when they are being misused.

At the end of 2018, the Local Government Association estimated that the theft of Blue Badges had risen by 45% in 12 months and was up six-fold since 2013.

Latest statistics from DfT show prosecutions for blue badge misuse in England have risen 17.9% in 2018 to 2019, with almost all of these being instances where someone used another person’s badge – typically family members or carers.

Samantha Tomlin, whose son Henry has autism and has a new Blue Badge, said:

The key thing with the Blue Badge is that is has increased safety and reduced anxiety for the child and their carer.

For a parent or carer of someone with ASD, some of the most challenging times are the most mundane for others. A child with sensory difficulties can be triggered by a car horn or lights – and even road awareness can also be an issue – so going to a new location can be very stressful.

When my son was younger sometimes I didn’t go out because I just couldn’t face trying to find a safe place to park near the shop or doctors.

Having the blue just makes you feel slightly less anxious about the situation and feel your child is safer.

It will make a huge difference to parents going through the early years and those with older children and adults that suffer with all the challenges autism brings.

Councils may need to review on street parking provision to increase the number of spaces, both in terms of the availability of disabled parking, and the overall number of parking spaces if disabled spaces take up other existing parking spaces.

To help councils with the expected increase in applications, the department has agreed with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to provide £1.7 million to local authorities in England in the first year of the programme.