Politics

The Department for Education has today (27 January 2017) published a new report which provides best practice guidance to help universities, colleges and independent higher education providers support their disabled students.

It will help to ensure that all higher education providers are best equipped to support disabled students to reach their full potential and succeed. It encourages providers to look at how they can support and offer the best possible environment for disabled students to pursue their studies.

The report has been produced by the Disabled Students Sector Leadership Group, which is a new sector-led group, supported by the Department for Education, and chaired by Professor Geoff Layer, Vice Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton.

The group is comprised of senior representatives from higher education as well as educational sector groups and was created in order to share best practice and reflect on how providers can best cater for disabled students.

Universities Minister Jo Johnson said

I welcome this guidance from the Disabled Students Sector Leadership Group, and would like to thank members of the group for their work. The guidance will support all higher education providers in expanding their inclusive teaching and learning practice, bringing benefit to them and their students.

This group is an excellent example of how the higher education sector can work together for the benefit of all students, supporting this government’s social mobility agenda – giving everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, the chance to study at higher levels of education.

The National Union of Students, who are also members of the group, have produced a survey format for providers to collect their own student feedback. This will enable them to gather information about the challenges their students’ face in accessing their higher education course, and inform their approach to reducing barriers within their organisation. It will be issued alongside the report.

Professor Geoff Layer, Vice Chancellor University of Wolverhampton led on the development of this guidance. He said:

Higher education has the power to transform lives, providing skills, experiences and opportunities that leave an indelible positive impression. However, we know that a student’s experience can be adversely affected if they have a disability and do not receive the right support to enable them to reach their full potential.

The Disabled Students Sector Leadership Group was set up to build on the work and good practice in place across our universities to support our disabled students to succeed. By addressing equality issues and adopting inclusive teaching practices, universities can recognise and value the diversity of the student body and work with them to enhance the learning experience for all.

This report complements the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), which will put a renewed focus on teaching quality and encourage providers ensure that students from all backgrounds, including disabled students are able to get the most of their university experience.

Higher education institutions should also review learning, teaching and assessment approaches to identify and address inclusion and equality issues. There should be a renewed focus on learners and staff with disabilities to ensure that any concerns they have are being listened to and addressed.

1. Read the inclusive teaching and learning in higher education report.

2. National Union of Students survey format for providers to collect their own student feedback.

3. The membership if the Disabled Student Support Leadership Group:

Organisation represented	Member
Chair	Geoff Layer, University of Wolverhampton
Higher Education Funding Council for England	Sarah Howls
Higher Education Academy	Pauline Hanesworth
Equality Challenge Unit	Chris Brill
National Union of Students	James Elliott
HE institution representation	John Conway, Royal Agricultural University Jo Cooke, De Montfort University Mark O’Hara, Birmingham City University Sue Rigby, University of Lincoln Richard Reece, University of Manchester
Scottish HE representation	Sheila Williams, University of Edinburgh
Health Education England	Emma Wilton
AMOSSHE	Ben Bailey
Universities UK	Fiona Waye
GuildHE	Kate Wicklow
Association of Colleges	Arti Saraswat
Independent Higher Education	Pete Whittard
Office for Disability Issues	Katherine Toomey (nominee)
Association of Heads of University Administration	Mark Ellul
Department for Education	Matt Toombs, Georgina Watts, Paul Higgs (Secretariat)

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Colin Barnes had previously failed to clear the site ahead of the court hearing on Wednesday 25 January after his environmental permit was revoked.

Barnes, who traded as CT Barnes Autos, was taken to court by the Environment Agency after failed attempts to get him to comply with the law.

King’s Lynn magistrates deferred sentencing him and have given him six months to clear the site. He is due back in the court on 26 July.

The permit held by Barnes, aged 59, of Podmore Lane, Scarning was revoked by the Environment Agency after he continually failed to run the site in line with the conditions in his permit. Following the revocation Barnes was required to remove the large amounts of waste remaining on site.

Mrs Megan Selves, prosecuting, said the deadline for removing all the waste was extended three times to dates suggested by the defendant, as waste officers tried to support him to do the right thing. But despite removing some of the waste, most of it remained two years later.

She told the court that Barnes had an environment permit to store waste vehicles and parts but it was revoked on 15 September 2014. All the waste should have been removed by 3 November 2014.

Barnes failed to respond to advice given by Environment Agency officers and despite agreeing to deadlines for when he could remove the waste, he has failed to comply and the waste remains on site,

He has repeatedly flouted the law and undermined the legitimate waste management industry.

Magistrates heard that Barnes had operated the site since 1977 as a vehicle repair and service business until 2006 when he obtained a permit and began depolluting and dismantling vehicles which had come to the end of their lives.

Since the issuing of the permit there has been a history of non-compliance so the permit was revoked.

Barnes told investigating officers that since the revocation he had been removing some of the waste but had to rely on others as he did not have a waste carriers licence at the time and they sometimes took a long time to collect it as the value of the waste had decreased.

After the hearing Environment Agency officer Rob Brodie said:

Unregulated waste activities can impact both visual and amenity and can cause harm to the environment and human health.

These offences were committed over 21 months and despite advice and guidance from us and agreements to extend deadlines for the removal of waste, very little of it was removed.

Mrs Selves said Barnes had a history of non-compliance with warnings from the Environment Agency and has previous convictions for similar environmental offences.

Barnes pleaded guilty to: Between 4 November 2014 and 2 August 2016 on land at Willow Lodge, Podmore Lane, Scarning, Dereham, Norfolk NR19 2NS you did operate a regulated facility, namely a waste operation for the storage of waste motor vehicles and vehicle parts, without being authorised by an environmental permit granted under Regulation 13 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.

Contrary to Regulation 12(1)(a) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010

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Tony Delahunty and Terence Jagger have been appointed to the Board of the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) by Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom.

Additionally, Board Member Nigel Reader has been reappointed and three other Board Member positions have been extended by one year.

The new appointments will run from 1 February 2017 until 31 January 2020. Nigel Reader will remain from 1 February 2017 to 31 January 2019. Board Members receive a remuneration of £11,804 for a minimum of 36 days per year.

The appointments have been made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.

In accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if any declared) to be made public. Tony Delahunty and Terence Jagger have not declared any political activity.

The MMO was created under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to deliver the Government’s policy objectives for clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas. In addition to managing fisheries around England, the MMO works to prevent illegal and unregulated fishing worldwide.

Tony Delahunty

Tony Delahunty is a fisherman and businessman with over 40 years’ experience of working in the inshore fishing industry. He has represented and championed fisheries management issues locally, nationally and internationally throughout his career driven by a lifelong commitment to the sustainable management of our seas.

He has experience in Board and Chair roles, in both the public and private sectors, including his appointment as National Chair of the National Federation of Fisherman; Chair of the Sussex Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority and Vice Chair of Sussex Sea Fisheries Committee.

Tony has been a member of Selsey Lifeboat since 1978 serving as a crew member, senior helmsman and deputy coxswain and currently serves as deputy launch authority.

Terence Jagger

Terence Jagger’s early career was in investor relations/financial communications and strategy development with a number of major international companies, including Shell, Burmah Oil and Unigate. After a Masters degree in Finance, he joined the Ministry of Defence as a civil servant; his roles included managing a PFI programme, leading the QinetiQ privatisation, Director Financial Management, Command Secretary to the RAF, and political advisor to the NATO commander in Afghanistan.

From 2011-2015, Terence was Chief Executive of Crown Agents, the international development company working in Africa and Asia, where he also was deputy Chairman of Crown Agents Bank and Crown Agents Investment Management.

He has previously served as a non-executive or trustee of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group, the Met Office, the Gloucestershire and the London Wildlife Trusts and the London Library. He is currently Chair of Bath Spa University, a director of the London Pension Funds Authority, a member of ACOBA, and a trustee of Tree Aid.

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On Thursday 26 January 2017, Stuart Curle, director of MJ Curle Ltd, Sunnymead Farm, Shifnal, Telford, pleaded guilty at Telford Magistrates’ Court to operating a regulated facility that was not authorised by an environmental permit, both on behalf of the company, MJ Curle Ltd and separately in his capacity as the director of the company.

The 45-year-old was fined £1,200 and ordered to pay in excess of £25,000 in compensation and costs to the Environment Agency, along with a £120 victim surcharge. Additionally, the company was fined £6,600. The court also ordered that the 1,700 tonnes of waste that remains on-site is to be removed within the next 6 months, by 25 July 2017.

Environment Agency officers visited the site on 13 January 2015 to carry out an inspection. They found a large number of skips containing a variety of waste, including cardboard and green waste. Other parts of the site were used for storing and sorting a variety of waste, some of which originated from demolished conservatories. There was also evidence of waste being burned on the site.

The activities undertaken on the site require an environmental permit. However, the defendant never applied for one. As a result the defendant avoided application and subsistence fees in excess if £14,000. Around 1,700 tonnes of waste were found on the land. To dispose of this legally it will cost MJ Curle Ltd approximately £130,000.

Under caution, Stuart Curle admitted to a range of waste being brought to the site as a result of a business relationship with a local company. He also accepted that MJ Curle Ltd had been collecting skips full of waste and once they were transported back to the site, the waste was sorted and stored. He accepted that the activity required an environmental permit, something which the Environment Agency had warned him about in 2008.

During the hearing at Telford Magistrates Court, the Bench found that the previous warnings given by the Environment Agency to the defendant regarding the illegal activities on the site, in 2008, were a seriously aggravating feature of the current offending. However in mitigation the defence raised the defendant’s serious ill health and the financial difficulties that have blighted the family as a result. The defendant also asked the court to take into account the defendant’s co-operation with the Environment Agency and his admissions in interview.

Speaking after the case, an Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation said:

When we entered the site in 2015, there was clear evidence of a deliberate and unlawful waste processing and storage operation. Stuart Curle was previously spoken to by Environment Agency officers about the need to obtain an environmental permit to undertake this activity. Unfortunately he failed to heed that guidance. We are pleased with the outcome of this case and we will actively bring prosecutions where deliberate unlawful processing and storage is identified.

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