Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI), a leading provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions, has recently announced that Hampshire Constabulary has reduced logon times for print, file share and reporting applications from as much as 20 minutes to only a few seconds with Blue Coat® MACH5 WAN Optimization appliances. This significantly reduces the amount of time officers spend on administrative and incident reporting tasks that take them away from their beats. To deliver the same experience to officers working in rural locations with low bandwidth, Hampshire Constabulary also deployed Blue Coat ProxyClient software for WAN optimization.
In the absence of local print and file servers, which were impractical from a cost and management perspective, police officers were forced to deal with painfully slow application performance, which limited the amount of time they could spend on patrol in their neighbourhoods, said Tony Hutchings, senior network engineer for Hampshire Constabulary. -The Blue Coat solution has minimised the amount of time and effort required to access applications through the remote server and has resulted in significant productivity gains for Hampshire Constabulary.
Hampshire Constabulary has almost 7,000 employees at 85 sites around Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. With officers located far from centralised applications, including print and file share systems, and others located in areas with limited bandwidth, basic administrative tasks often consumed large amounts of time. In addition to being cost prohibitive, installing and managing print servers at each police station posed an unacceptable security risk. Any deployment would require metal cages, extra ventilation and cooling and an uninterrupted power supply.
With the Blue Coat MACH5 appliances, Hampshire Constabulary dramatically reduced the time to logon to applications, print or access files. As a result, the IT and Communications department is no longer inundated with complaints about slow application and service response times. In addition to reducing the burden on the network administration team, officers can more quickly complete their required paperwork and return to providing a visible policing presence in the neighbourhoods to which they are dedicated.
As a result of the overwhelming improvement in productivity that the ProxyClient software delivered for remote officers, Hampshire Constabulary anticipates a broader roll out that will include all of the force’s laptop computers. ProxyClient software is currently available with MACH5 appliances at no additional charge.
In the current climate of local authority spending cuts, adding bandwidth to address slow application performance is not an option, even if that means officers spend more time on administrative tasks, said Steve Daheb, chief marketing officer and senior vice president at Blue Coat Systems. The Blue Coat WAN optimization solution enables organisations to accelerate access to centralised applications and services without adding additional bandwidth capacity, so officers can quickly complete their administrative duties and return to their beats.
You can read more about how Hampshire Constabulary is enabling its workforce to be more productive in the case study at www.bluecoat.com/doc/13966.
Fund will seek to invest in infrastructure assets in Ireland – including assets being disposed of by the Government and commercial State enterprises and new investment projects
National Pensions Reserve Fund has committed a 250 Euro million as cornerstone investor
AMP Capital has been appointed as the investment manager of a major new infrastructure fund being established by Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM). The new fund – Irish Infrastructure Trust – will target investment in Irish assets including those designated for disposal by the Irish Government and Irish commercial State enterprises and also in new infrastructure projects in Ireland. It will seek up to 1 Euro billion from global and Irish institutional investors and has already received investment commitments of 300 Euro million from institutional funds including Euro 250 million from the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF).
AMP Capital will invest and manage the portfolio of infrastructure assets with full responsibility for all investment decisions.
AMP Capital Head of Infrastructure Europe Boe Pahari said: We are very pleased to be appointed as infrastructure manager for this Irish infrastructure fund which will provide institutional investors globally with a unique opportunity to invest in the Irish infrastructure sector.
We have over 20 years experience in owning and managing infrastructure assets and are well positioned to effectively manage and add value to the fund’s investments. With the first close of the fund we are progressing an active deal pipeline consistent with our strategy of investing in quality Irish infrastructure assets across a range of sectors.
Irish Life Investment Managers Chief Executive Gerry Keenan said: -We expect considerable investment opportunities to emerge in the coming years with infrastructure assets which have traditionally been closed off from outside investment. This fund aims to provide long term investors with a stable income yield as well as the potential for capital growth from a substantial portfolio of assets which underpin the Irish economy.
National Pensions Reserve Fund Chairman Paul Carty said: -This commitment by the NPRF is a significant building block in the establishment of a Strategic Investment Portfolio that is focused on investments in Ireland. It has the added benefit of allowing the NPRF to fulfil its goal of investing on commercial terms and alongside other investors in Irish infrastructure.
A British manufacturer has teamed up with a nursery school owner to raise the standard of hand hygiene in educational settings after it was revealed millions of school days are missed each year due to avoidable illness.
Research also shows the spread of common bugs and infections throughout schools costs the UK economy millions of pounds and forces thousands of teachers to regularly take time off.
However, many of these illnesses could be avoided by simple improvements in hand hygiene. Donna Row, who runs the Yorley Barn Nursery in Suffolk and DaRo UV Systems – which makes hand hygiene inspection cabinets used by NHS organisations throughout the UK – have now joined forces to raise awareness of the importance of hand hygiene in educational settings.
Mrs Row decided to review her nursery’s hand hygiene policy during the recent swine flu outbreak and approached DaRo UV Systems after reading how its hand hygiene inspection cabinets had played a vital role in the reduction of hospital superbugs such as MRSA. The pair decided to carry out some research – which included gathering facts and figures from the Department of Education and the Office of National Statistics – and were startled by their findings:
Department of Education statistics show 58,90,790 school days were missed by children in England in 2009/2010 due to them being absent and the overwhelming majority of absences were due to sickness. The top five illnesses which cause children to miss school are the common cold, sore throat, stomach bugs, ear infection and conjunctivitis. These illnesses could be avoided if stringent hand hygiene practices were in place and implemented, meaning millions of missed school days could be avoided.
The Department of Education also revealed around 300,000 teachers take sickness leave each year, which equates to around 2,700,000 school days. It is estimated around half of staff sickness is also due to common infections, such as colds and stomach bugs. The annual cost of supply teachers and support staff to cover for sick days is around £3m.
Sickness in school environments also has a significant impact on the UK economy. A 2005 report by the Office of National Statistics estimated the cost of absence from work to the UK economy to be £11.6b. The same reports shows evidence that parents take more time off work than those with no dependents, as they often need to care for sick children.
Julian Cant, General Manager at DaRo UV Systems, said: We have been astounded by the results of our research. It is quite clear the spread of infections in schools causes children to miss school unnecessarily, forces teachers to take time off work and costs the UK economy millions of pounds.
-We know from our experience within the NHS that improved hand hygiene measures can dramatically reduce the spread of infections and cross contamination. Microbiologists and infection control experts now recognise without any doubt that stringent hand hygiene procedures will reduce infections and this is why we have seen such a dramatic decline in hospital superbugs, such as MRSA. Clearly, the educational sector needs to follow the example of the NHS and introduce comprehensive hand hygiene policies.
Together with the Yorley Barn Nursery the company has developed an innovative hand hygiene educational support package called Buster, which is being offered to nurseries and primary schools across the UK.
The Buster packs use cartoon characters to take children on a fun, educational journey about the importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of infections. The packs use an ultra-violet light ‘glow box’ to ensure children are using the correct hand washing techniques. A special glitter lotion is applied to the hands and then washed off. Hands are then placed under the colourful Buster ‘glow box’ and any remaining lotion will fluoresce showing any flaws in the hand washing process. The Buster packs also come with exciting, fun-packed posters, stickers, certificates and an interactive activity book to teach the children about the importance of hand hygiene.
Donna Row said: It is clear many agencies are trying to re-educate parents and teachers of the importance of thorough hand washing, but until now there was no actual complete educational and support package, such as Buster, available to schools and nurseries. We are already using the Buster pack at Yorley Barn and the children love it, they really engage with the characters and have a lot of fun learning how to wash their hands properly.
The safety of our children is always paramount so it is vital they understand the importance of hand hygiene. We believe the Buster package could significantly reduce the amount of time both pupils and staff miss from school.
With further revelations in the media about teams of border agency inspectors being shipped in for inspections then moved out when the inspectors have gone, the Home Secretary says she will not resign as per her statement in Westminster yesterday the Home Office tells GPSJ.
A UK Border Agency spokesperson also said:
Keeping our borders secure is this government’s priority. Any allegations that checks were loosened without the knowledge of ministers will be the subject of an independent investigation to be carried out by the Independent chief Inspector John Vine.
Four brave police horses who worked for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) are hanging up their horseshoes and retiring to The Horse Trust’s sanctuary2 in Speen, Buckinghamshire.
They have notched up nearly 50 years’ service between them and have been involved in a wide range of duties, including policing public order situations, crowd control at football matches and city centre patrols.
Three of the horses – Nickleby, Oliver and Fairfax – helped to police the recent disorder in Manchester city centre, and Nickleby and Fairfax’s last job was policing the Manchester derby match on 23 October.
Ann Firth, Groom Team Leader for Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP’s) Mounted Branch, said: “The disorder over the summer was challenging for the horses, as their initial reaction in a situation like that is to run away. They dealt with it really well though as they are big, brave horses that everyone loved riding as they knew they’d be safe. All four animals were stalwarts, and were often the first to be selected for operations as they could be used for all types of work and nothing scared them.
-They will be hugely missed, but everyone’s thrilled that they’re getting such a well-deserved retirement at The Horse Trust. After more than a decade pounding the streets of Manchester, it’s lovely that they’ll get to be horses again and can spend their days grazing in the fields at the sanctuary.”
Jeanette Allen, Chief Executive Officer of The Horse Trust, said: “We are delighted to offer Nickleby, Oliver, Fairfax and Jack lifetime sanctuary after their loyal and brave service to the police. Our staff will give them the loving care they need for the remainder of their years.”
Emap has recently announced a new content-led B2B exhibition: The Renewables Event. The show explores renewable energy solutions for major end users such as major corporations, manufacturers, retailers and the public sector.
The show will run alongside its two market leading events: The Energy Event and RWM (Resource and Waste Management), taking place on 11th and 12th September 2012 at the Birmingham NEC.
The free to attend event will attract Environmental Managers, Energy Managers and Sustainability professionals as well as senior business professionals, enabling them to :
Learn more about which renewable technologies provide solutions for business
Understand the investment required and the payback periods
Meet providers and experts who can provide suitable solutions
Discover more about incentives and schemes that will ease the cost burden
Alison Jackson, MD of Emap’s environment portfolio, points out, Energy costs are on a steep incline, making renewable energy solutions more viable, although there are considerable knowledge gaps. With the UK’s commitment to a low carbon future, energy users are deciding their strategy to achieve a greener energy mix. It was always our intention to increase our focus on renewable energy, once we had transferred the event to its new home in the NEC.
Research carried out since we acquired The Energy Event confirms that end users really want to learn more about commercial renewable energy opportunities. RWM already has a large energy from waste section and this new dedicated show will link it with the Energy Event to allow visitors the opportunity to see the broadest range of current and future energy technologies. The event will provide education, information and quality networking with solution providers.
The show will primarily focus on viable technologies that major energy users are now implementing:
Wind
Solar PV
Solar thermal
Energy from Waste
Micro CHP
Hydro
Bioenergy- including biomass, biogas and biofuels
Ground source heat pumps
The timing for the show is perfect, as end users look to reduce energy bills and find low carbon solutions. Whilst the UK’s Renewable Energy Strategy means that it must generate 15% of energy from renewables by 2020, it is currently only achieving around 3%. Making businesses pay the cost of carbon emissions coupled with incentives such as FITs means that UK businesses now have a better business case for investment. There is still a lot of uncertainty and unease surrounding the justification of the massive investments required. -Our show will inform end users, helping them to make the right decisions and purchase the right solutions, comments Jackson.
A trail-blazing Nottinghamshire County Council initiative, which boasts blanket success in keeping girls out of the youth justice system, has received recognition from the national body which works to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under 18.
Last week, the Council was named as runner-up in this year’s Youth Justice Board’s Innovation Award for a project which looks at what works specifically for girls when it comes to keeping them out of the penal system.
Part of the project, which was set up in 2008, delivers programmes in secondary schools across the county tapping into the particular needs of girls.
County Council manager for targeted support and youth justice, Rachel Tunaley, who is leading the subject, said: “To date our school programmes have had a 100% success rate in keeping girls out of the youth justice system.
“The youth justice system is predominantly focused on the male population quite simply because the vast majority of offenders are male, but research was carried out into why so many young women were breaching their statutory court orders. Following this, our staff received training on the risk factors for female offenders and the importance of gender-responsive working. It was this training that inspired us to design the Pearl Project.
“Research indicates that young female offenders have often had difficult early life experiences including childhood abuse such as neglect and exposure to domestic violence. This links in with issues such as low self-esteem and a lack of aspirations.
So far 12 schools have taken part in the group sessions for 11 to 14 year olds which look at issues relevant to girls such as peer pressure, nurturing healthy relationships and friendships, sexual health and self-image.
Congratulating Nottinghamshire County Council its innovative work, chair of the Youth Justice Board Frances Done said: “Well done to Nottinghamshire Youth Offending Service.
“This is an excellent example of how a Council has embraced the idea of working with young women and recognised their specific needs.
“Early intervention programmes such as this are vital if we are to steer young people away from becoming involved in crime in the future. Fewer young people who come into contact with the system means safer communities with fewer victims of crime.
The Council’s cabinet member for children and young people’s services councillor Philip Owen added: “We’re delighted to have won this high profile recognition for such innovative work – there aren’t many councils across the country which have adopted such a targeted gender-specific approach with their preventative work.
“The aim is to raise the aspirations of girls in Nottinghamshire, prevent them from becoming victims of domestic abuse and prevent them from becoming involved in anti-social behaviour or offending.
Depending on need, programmes in schools are followed up with
one-to-one support. And staff also organise ‘girls only’ days for young women often used as rewards for those who have voluntarily completed the sessions.
GPSJ has raised concerns around a possible security risk arising from the sale of unauthorised press cards on EBay that look very similar to the official UK Press passes used to identify professional journalists in various work situations.
These unauthorised press passes are being offering for sale on EBay for anyone to purchase regardless of any journalistic or media experience. By simply sending off their details and a photograph they can receive an official looking press pass complete with hologram and membership number. The colour and layout are almost identical to the real approved passes.
There is only one officially recognised press pass in the UK and is approved by the UK Press Card Authority, a number of gatekeepers then issue the passes to eligible people working in the media, the holder of the card is also verified by New Scotland Yard and is given a password to enable their identity to be checked by anyone needing to do so. It is also recognised by ACPO the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Although it is not a legal requirement for any journalist to carry a press pass the various gatekeepers who issue them have spent a long time organising the scheme and designing the cards to ensure that holders are recognised as bona fide reporters and media workers.
The card is recognised by ACPO and all police forces are made aware of what a genuine pass looks like and that anyone carrying one should be given access and accommodated where possible to report freely from incidents and situations where normal members of the public would be excluded.
The sale of unauthorised passes is obviously a serious security issue especially when anyone carrying these similar looking cards could be allowed into sensitive buildings and allowed access to VIP’s including royalty and government ministers. Although most police and press officers are trained to recognise the approved card, a quick glance at these similar ones could allow anyone, including terrorists, to gain access to a wide range of potential targets in certain situations.
Journalists who show a valid press card can normally gain full access onto Downing Street and into Westminster. Although security checks, including a body search and x-ray of baggage are carried out, there is still the potential risk of a rogue card holder being given access and then disrupting a meeting. Or for a potential terrorist organisation to do a close up pre attack reconnaissance mission.
These are just a few potential dangers from people carrying bogus press cards that have no connection with the media and who wish to cause disruption and possibly worse in security sensitive areas.
We contacted the seller of these passes and he told us he was doing nothing wrong and a press card did not entitle anyone to get into any meeting or interview, we told him they looked very similar to the only UK authorised card and this was also in his description.
We contacted the UK Press Card Authority to alert them to these cards, they then tried to purchase one of these cards of EBay but had their money refunded and the cards were then removed from the site. A spokesperson for the UKPCA said they thought these cards were in breach of their copyright and should be removed. Some journalists we spoke to also reported the matter through EBay’s complaints procedure as a potential copyright infringement.
Dominic Cooper of the Chartered Institute of Journalist said, “Members of the public should be aware that the defacto Press accreditation for genuine journalists in the UK is the National Press Card. This card, issued by the UK Press Card Authority, carries the support of the journalistic industry and the authorities in the UK.
“The guidelines for the issue of this card are strict and there is a method by which a card carrying journalist may be reported for inappropriate use of the card or unacceptable behaviour. For these reasons it is endorsed by the Association of Chief Police Officers.
“From time to time there become available so-called press cards, or press passes, which are offered to anybody who cares to apply. Such cards are sold only for profit, and there are no checks made on the individual who applies. As such they have no standing and anybody who purchases a card in this way should not be surprised if they find their money has been wasted.”
John Toner of the National Union of Journalists said he was also concerned about this matter.
“These cards are not official press cards and anyone in doubt of the validity of a press card should check the back and look for the card verification number, ” he told GPSJ.
“If there is no number then the card is not valid and we spend a lot of time educating people like the police on these matters.”
The Home Office refused to comment and said it was a matter for the card issuers and checks at sensitive buildings should be carried out by the police and security services.
The fact is that a number of these unauthorised cards have already been sold on EBay and possibly through other outlets, the potential risk now is that one of these could have found its way into the hands of a terrorist, political activist or somebody intent on making a statement in a very public way with an attack or stunt against a high profile target. It is to be hoped that the police and other agencies are checking press cards properly and looking for the security features built into the genuine ones.
Legal expert Cleland Thom, director of CTJT, said: “These cards are worthless. But they’re potentially dangerous, not just for security. If people used them to gain some kind of financial advantage, they could be arrested for fraud. Buyers ‘beware.’
A spokeswoman for ACPO said, Any type of forged or fake identity cards is always a concern, however it should be understood that access to sensitive or high risk areas does not rely alone on the production of an ID card like this. Police and security services will seek to make addition checks when and where necessary. If anyone is offered these cards for purchase they are urged to report it to the UK Press Card Authority who in turn should report it to the police.
Clearly there are many possibilities for breaches of security with people holding these cards who are not authorised. It is to be hoped that the authorities take particular care in checking the authenticity of press cards in the future and if in doubt contact New Scotland Yard to verify the holder is genuine.
Public sector optimism for cloud computing seems as buoyant as ever, despite the mist surrounding the government’s cloud policy yet to clear.
According to research from Xantus Consulting, released in September, the public sector sees the cloud as a positive opportunity to change the IT landscape, despite the government’s apparent focus on shorter-term, tangible cost-savings through data centre consolidation and a less cloud-focused approach.
Despite a change of government, the departure of Government CIO, John Suffolk, and a re-write of the IT strategy, cloud remains very clearly on the horizon for many central government departments, even if the G-Cloud banner may have been taken down.
Bright clouds
In fact, the biggest benefits of cloud may lie not with central administration, but with local authorities.
In terms of the ‘big picture’, Xantus’ research showed that The Cloud is clearly being seen as some kind of solution across all public and private sectors, with 98 per cent of those surveyed having already undertaken some level of feasibility study for using cloud services within their organisations.
Moving further towards implementation, the public sector is clearly way ahead. A third of public sector organisations have agreed a business case for some form of cloud-based computing, against just under 20 per cent in the private sector; a further third of public sector departments have already examined and deployed a system, against just 10 per cent of corporates.
Jumping hurdles
The most significant blocks to implementing cloud based services is integration with existing IT estates and the complexity involved. When it comes to managing cloud services, compliance was stated as the biggest internal block for the public sector.
But again, the public sector’s optimism shone through with 70 per cent of public sector respondents seeing rapid resolution to the challenges, while almost 10 per cent of private sector counterparts could not see any chance of resolution in the foreseeable future.
A wind of change for local authorities
The most significant benefits from cloud computing appear to be amongst local authorities, which can score massive, authority-wide returns through purchasing cloud-based finance, payroll and HR applications plus large process-driven governance areas such as planning.
So, for a cluster of 10 regional authorities, for example, significant cost savings are certain through a collaborative approach to cloud services. Just as well, because, according to the Xantus report, a quarter of public sector respondent expected returns of around 50 per cent.
In essence, for the public sector to maximise The Cloud (whether ultimately called G-Cloud or not) and IT departments to sell the true benefits, four key areas require examination:
Environmental – By reducing the amount of hardware required by each Department or Authority, the public sector can significantly lower carbon emissions associated with delivering ICT services.
Agility – cloud can provide greater agility and speed in delivering policy and services underpinned by lower-cost, shared infrastructure. Re-using existing assets, reducing procurement time and costs simply adds to implementation speed.
Effectiveness and efficiency – cloud will fundamentally contribute to cost savings for OEP and facilitate and accelerate public sector OEP targets.
Collaboration – smarter ways of collaborative working are on the horizon through integration of government information and data sources. In fact, 40 per cent of public sector respondents to the Xantus survey saw improved partner and supplier working as a key benefit.
Clear skies?
Undoubtedly, public sector cloud computing is here to stay. Yet, overall direction on cloud remains unclear from central government, despite recent confirmation of a £2bn public services network (PSN) framework. In the meantime, the public sector can only maintain its optimism for cloud in the hope that the landscape becomes clearer sometime soon.
The author is Clive Read, Principal Consultant at Xantus Consulting.
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Dynamic Tour took place at Central Hall, Westminster, London on the 4th October, GPSJ editor Stuart Littleford attended the event which included a live demonstration of the OpenTouch converged multimedia communications solution which brings together multiple parties across multiple devices and on multiple media.
Xavier Martin, Vice-President of Product Marketing and Communications Solutions at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise gave the live demonstration of OpenTouch, and explained how Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is developing innovation to the enterprise via this new suite of communication solutions.
There was also a opportunity to take part in breakout sessions as well, Stuart spoke to John Parmiter, Head of ICT Development at Warwickshire County Council and Stuart Smith, who is responsible for Public Sector UK for Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. The interview was recorded and can be heard below.
Altro has introduced the new Altro Multiscreed EP Naturals system and improved its popular Altro SoloSafe screed to ensure its award-winning range of resins is better than ever. Produced in the UK using a proportion of post-consumer recyclate, Altro’s new ranges offer enhanced performance and increased colourways giving even more reasons to choose Altro.
The new Altro Multiscreed EP Naturals system has real designer appeal with tones evoking natural stone and polished concrete, and accent colours to contrast. Combining clear resin and coloured graded aggregates, nine colourways are available in either a silk or matt finish.
This three-part, solvent-free epoxy resin system offers excellent performance producing a high strength floor screed with low potential for slip and exceptional abrasion and chemical resistance. Altro Multiscreed EP Naturals contains up to 25% post-consumer recyclate.
It is installed at a nominal thickness of 4mm and can be coved and laid to steps or drainage falls. The durability you’d expect from Altro is underwritten by a ten-year manufacturer’s warranty. With improved installation characteristics and cleanability, Altro Multiscreed EP Naturals replaces previous Altro Multiscreed and Altro Pastelscreed ranges.
In another development to the Altro resins range, Altro SoloSafe screed now performs even better than ever due to a new and improved formulation. Rapicure Technology ensures reduced down-time for this 5mm-depth, low odour, quartz screed, which is ideal for a wide variety of areas where speed of installation and a rapid return to service are essential.
The self-sealing screed can be formed into coves and is easy to clean and hygienic. Altro SoloSafe offers effective inbuilt slip resistance in barefoot and shod environments. It contains up to 30% post-consumer recyclate.
London. September 23, 2011: Intellect, the trade body for the technology industry in the UK, has today welcomed the Home Affairs Committee report, New Landscape of Policing, which has adopted several suggestions made by Intellect in evidence to the committee.
The report recommends the creation of a single national register of approved suppliers for police IT and has urged the newly created Police IT body to reduce procurement timescales as a high priority. Both issues raised by Intellect.
Terry Skinner, chair of Intellect’s Criminal Justice and Emergency Services group told the committee that because of bad procurement processes police forces were overspending on IT by at least 20 per cent and that procurement times in the UK were almost double those in Germany and Italy.
Today he said: -We are pleased to see that the committee has picked up on many of the key issues we raised and is pressing for urgent action to be taken on them. By tackling these issues we can ensure that IT procurement across all police forces is dramatically improved and costs reduced.”
Intellect’s criticisms of police IT in its evidence has struck a chord, but Intellect feels the report should have been more explicit in its explanation of the situation the police forces find themselves in. Skinner did this in his oral evidence saying, -instead of engaging with the ICT industry to explain a problem and the outcomes they want to address, the public sector procures bit-part technology that may not deliver the desired objective.”
The report also urges the new IT body to consider at an early stage what processes should be involved before awarding a major new contract is the best way of meeting the business aim.
Francis West, Intellect’s programme manager said: -The committee’s recommendation to introduce a single national register of approved suppliers is a common sense move that would save suppliers and police time and money. When an SME conducts business with one police force it is beyond understanding that they then have to go through the same amount of paperwork 42 times with the other forces.”
An interview with Debbie Abrahams MP – Oldham East & Saddleworth for GPSJ.
This interview took place in early Summer 2011 so some answers will be relevant to that particular period only.
Stuart Littleford: What do you think the labour party needs to do to secure a victory in the next general election and do you feel the state of the economy at the moment is the fault of the last Labour government?
Debbie Abrahams MP: I think we need to do what we are starting to do around the ‘Refounding Labour Initiative’ which is what we should be doing all the time, engaging with communities and identifying their needs and issues and responding to them in the policies we develop. There is a big push on this now and the shadow cabinet team are going around the country to feed in ideas from local people.
I don’t believe the recession is the Labour governments fault despite what the current government would like us to believe, if you look at President Obama’s speech a few weeks ago he made it very clear the recession started in the United States and was the fault of the banks, with it being a global recession we have suffered as well.
SL: What are the main concerns of your constituents in the Oldham East & Saddleworth area?
DA: A whole range of different issues are being raised by my constituents at the moment, I do have regular surgeries, and as an example the NHS and police cuts are a real concern and also issues around immigration.
SL: How would you address any concerns raised by business owners in Oldham?
DA: Business people have been in touch with me on a regular basis, one recent example is a local haulier who raised the problem of late payments, he waits in many cases up to 90 days to get paid which for a small company is a huge problem. We are launching our ‘Be Fair – Pay on Time’ campaign, you are now the first to find out actually, it is important that large business pay on time.
The ‘Federation of Small Businesses’ had one of their best feedbacks on this issue.
SL: How do you think the government should address the poor level of manufacturing output at the moment?
DA: We have not seen any growth over the last six months and one thing businesses needs to make them invest money is stability, so we need to make sure the growth we need is secured.
SL: The Chancellor of the Exchequer seems to have no plan B at the moment and plan A is simply not working anymore , what do you feel needs to be done to stimulate growth and recovery?
DA: We have mentioned cash flow and we also need to make sure that banks are lending and this is a major problem, we need people in jobs and the government is going to be borrowing £46 billion pounds over the next six years.
SL: Are the Bank of England doing the right thing by not raising interest rates and do you feel that would cause severe hardship to people who have recently taken out mortgages?
DA: I think it is right what the Bank of England is doing, we can remember when interest rates went up a few years ago, we nearly lost our house and we don’t want a repeat of that, so it is right that the interest rate has been cut to the level it now is.
SL: Do you feel there has been more support for labour with the coalitions cost savings starting to hit harder or do you think the public understands that these measures need to be taken?
DA: We have definitely benefited from the disappointing view people have had about the Liberal Democrats, the cuts to frontline services, like the police, that affect people’s everyday lives are having an effect, I have people in my surgery saying they are being affected by NHS cut backs and people feel very disappointed about these things.
SL: I recently produced a documentary on the ‘Oldham riots’, do you think much has changes since that dark time ten years ago and are the communities in Oldham more integrated?
DA: I recognise ten years on from the riots this is a subject of key interest and the review in your own media shows that there has been some moves forward but not always felt on the ground, I will listen to your news definitely for this, we have seen some moves around the ‘Waterhead Academy’ and we need to make sure we have a fully representative public service and also in business to focus on equality.
SL: 26 men have been arrested over a period of several months in relation to the sexual exploitation of teenage girls in neighbouring Rochdale since 2008 – this has been happening in Oldham with arrests and convictions in recent times do you think this is just the tip of the iceberg and is this a racial problem at all as some people suggest?
DA: Any exploitation of children is reprehensible and these crimes should have the full force of the law behind them to catch the perpetrators and I don’t think it is associated with any particular group of people and these people should be addressed through the law. We need to make sure we are addressing the problem and look at the underlying causes that makes people do this sort of thing.
SL: What is your prediction for the economic outlook for the rest of this year?
DA: I wish I could be more positive but the independent forecast is very poor and the OBR has downgraded its view of how we will grow this year but it has said there may be better growth next year. But we do need to be focusing on jobs and we are cutting too far too fast and the way we are going to recover from this recession and grow is about jobs and we should be investing in those.
Stuart Littleford MCIJ spoke with
Debbie Abrahams MP for Oldham East & Saddleworth.
WRG is celebrating the outcomes of an 18-month drive to enhance its portfolio of more sustainable and efficient waste management and renewable energy generation options.
A renewed focus away from disposal activity has seen the business successfully introduce a range of new waste treatment and energy initiatives, some of which where be showcased at the recent RWM with CIWM Exhibition, at the NEC, Birmingham.
The starting point for these new approaches was last year’s Recycling Waste World National Energy from Waste conference in February 2010 at which WRG unveiled plans to introduce wind turbine energy generation on both its closed and operational landfill sites.
Planning committee approvals have already been received for the installation of two turbines at each of two sites in the East Riding of Yorkshire – Carnaby and Gallymoor – with a total capacity of up to 6MW of electricity.
Further wind farm planning applications have also been submitted for a total of 14 large turbines at three other sites, and for single turbines at five other sites. A significant number of other projects are at the pre-planning stage.
Expert Answers – which has an online team of solicitors and barristers – is planning to team up with councils across the country to offer their unique service that allows customers to choose what they pay for their legal advice.
The timing of this service is perfect given we are in a time when everyone is looking for ways to reduce costs, said James Mather, a practicing solicitor and director of expert-answers.co.uk.
This will help councils reduce hours they spend trying to help their customers with queries that are beyond their remit and, in turn, help everyone access legal advice at a more affordable rate.
Every day councils across the country receive hundreds of calls from both individuals and businesses that they do not have the expertise or mandate to answer, such as queries about boundary issues, divorce, debts, wills, inheritance and family disputes. Those queries have to be sympathetically dealt with and signposted to outside sources.
expert-answers.co.uk is already helping dozens of people every week throughout England and Wales.
Talks have already started with two councils about how Expert Answers could benefit them and one agreement is about to be concluded.
We believe in working as part of a socially responsible team to ensure everyone has access to high quality legal advice that is freely available at low cost, said James.
Councils will be able to direct enquiries to us rather than advise people to seek help with a high street solicitor with high street rates. Instead the caller will be able to use Expert Answers to answer their legal questions for a nominal fee. Councils will receive a percentage fee for the referral.
Anyone who asks a question through expert-answers.co.uk will have it answered by a solicitor, barrister or other qualified adviser, who will give an answer for the fee offered by customer.
It’s a concept that is already hugely popular in America where websites link in to a network of attorneys and qualified experts who give bespoke advice in real time.
Typically the cost of the online advice can be 95% below the price of the high street.
This is a service that can make a real difference to people, said James. -Not only does it immediately save people money, but it could also help them to sort out, in a most timely fashion, a particular issue in their life that might be proving stressful or difficult.
For further information call James Mather on 07784 370625.
I’m assuming the majority of people are sitting smugly reading this thinking ‘of course I haven’t!’ You do everything you’re supposed to do, right? You’ve installed a firewall, you’ve got some anti-virus software, you never follow links in emails or open attachments from someone you don’t know or trust. Well, that’s all very commendable but unfortunately it isn’t you that’s been hacked. It’s your information stored by the companies you trust that’s been compromised.
Since the start of this year, globally, there have been 365 data loss incidents involving 126,727, 474 records. According to research by analyst house, Juniper Research, 90% of organisations have suffered data breaches in one form or another over the past 12 months. Testament to this is the number of household brands that have inadvertently divulged the information of hundreds of individuals:
– Epsilon’s mailing lists were breached which affected, amongst others, a number of UK brands including Marks & Spencer and Mothercare
– Sony Playstation had its systems hacked with the personal information of 77million gamers accessed.
– Numerous incidents by the NHS that holds millions of sensitive personal information records for almost every individual in the country
– RSA experienced a breach that has jeopardised the security of thousands of users of its physical two factor authentication tokens
– Travelodge is still holding its cards very close to its chest but it has confirmed that the email address of some of its customers have been sent spam messages.
We conservatively estimate that the average family’s personal information has been breached 10 times since June.
Organisations ask you to trust them to store your information. However, the stark reality is that all too often someone’s lax security controls allow a malicious person to gain entry to your personal records.
Too Little Too Late
Each time an organisation is breached we see them desperately trying to reassure customers that it’s all going to be okay. What organisations fail to grasp is that, each time your record is breached, organised cyber criminals are piecing together bits of information about you, your habits, and that of your family’s that together creates a complete picture.
What can be done with an email address? Well, a criminal could spoof you into responding to a phishing email purported to be from the bank you use or the store you shop at. If they have some further details about you, for example date of birth, children’s names etc. they may be able to ‘guess’ your password and access your account.
Take Back Control
Although you can’t personally go into every organisation and ask them how they protect your information you need to treat your personal information as you would any of your physical possessions in the real world. Here is a list of things you can do to prevent cyber-criminals capitalising on your personal information:
– Put a lock on the door by installing a firewall and make sure it is properly configured and up to date.
– Keep your operating system and browser patched and up to date.
– Install an alarm by using industry standard anti-virus software and make sure you install any updates.
– Restrict key holders by not sharing your password with anyone.
– Change your password regularly and make it hard to crack – but one you can remember without writing it on a post-it-note and sticking it to the screen!
– If you change your PC make sure you get the hard drive scrubbed.
– Be careful about the personal information you divulge when filling in registration forms. Ask yourself whether the organisation really needs that much information about you and, as importantly, can you trust them to keep it safe?
– Be careful what you tell strangers on social websites and in chat rooms.
– Question the validity of emails you receive and never click on an embedded link or down load attachments if you’re at all suspicious.
– If you have children, and allow them to use your PC to access the internet, make sure they know about online safety.
– If you are using your computer for work purposes and store sensitive data on it, get your employers to install 2 factor authentication, that’s something you know (like your own strong and made up password) and something you have like a -one-time - password which can be sent to you via an SMS message on any mobile device you own.
We’ve all got used to locking our front doors and keeping valuables out of sight. Until we can trust organisations to give our virtual possessions the same protection we need to take steps to protect ourselves.
The 9th of September 2011 saw a power outage in the US affecting 5 million people in the area of Southern California – the root cause analysis of which is said to have been one single employee switching out a piece of problematic equipment. The upshot of this single act is nevertheless extremely worrying, as it manifested in traffic chaos, cancelation of flights, the shutting down of two nuclear reactors, a widespread impact on business, and on the residents.
This event does, however, raise a number of questions and points back to the long debate about the security of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, which are considered, in some cases, to host a soft underbelly for Cyber Attack. There is also the question of timing – whilst I do understand the public notice, let us be honest here – if this were anything other than a mistake by an employee, would the public really expect to be told? Additionally, if a single employee’s mistake, with just one piece equipment can have such a devastating consequence on what is National Critical Infrastructure, then what does this tell us about Security, Change Management, and of course, Business Continuity?
The timing of this event may not, in my opinion, be a complete coincidence, coinciding as it did with the 9/11 memorial – an event which cost the lives of many innocent, ordinary people – and an event which changed the world for ever. While it is not being suggested for one moment that this is the consequence of a cyber attack, in my mind the jury is still out and it is a concern I am not able to satisfactorily resolve. It may also be worth noting that in the UK, the time/date format is 9/9/11.
I believe this event again places focus in the frailties of an infrastructure which is subject to targeting by extremists who are seeking to cause disruption, to create chaos, and to possibly follow through with loss of life. It must also be accepted that to place a cyber warfare attack capability alongside a conventional theatre of war would seem to make a great deal of battle field sense – causing wide spread disruption, outage of power, followed by what I would expect to be opportunist public disorder.
One last point of interest here is, only last week I was sent an image by one of my many distant contacts – and as I recall the message said, – You may find this interesting – it was a picture of New York in a blackout condition.
To conclude: no matter mistake or cyber attack, the time has arrived to reassess just what security is surrounding the various Critical National Infrastructures (CNI) around the world, and to place them, where possible, in an enhanced profile of security hardening. It may also be beneficial to revisit the standard operational practices around such areas as change management, and of course business continuity. Last but not least, I am sure this has been considered, but if Al Qaeda can get one of their radicalised operatives into a prime position of flying an aircraft, gaining employment with a power company in some capacity should prove to be a much less onerous objective. As I have said before in many articles, it is time for the security professionals to take a more proactive stance and look at what needs to be done.
The first task must be to get serious about the landscape of security which surrounds these systems which we rely on to service the CNI. And here I don’t just mean applying a few policies, and then following them with the religious contempt that we so very often see practiced in some sectors of IT Governance, in the form of tick box security and lip serviced compliance. I am talking about serious programmes that are commensurate to the potential risk and impact posed against, and by these Key Point Infrastructures and Assets.
I am asserting that the induction processes for selecting employees into these Key Point areas are both robust, and consistent throughout all organisations who supply such critical services. If not, then now would be a good time to rethink the recruitment processes.
In closing, I see a need for more Security Professionals with a willingness to go to the next level and embrace this specialist area of SCADA Systems, Applications, and Infrastructures Security. And more importantly, for these professionals to immerse themselves in learning, and specialising in these environments, in particular, relative to their foibles and challenges. Possibly here, there may even be a future for focused Training Certification to be created specific to SCADA environments. One thing is for sure, these systems, applications, and infrastructures are not just run of the mill. They are the very lifeblood of the global economy, business, and our communities, and they demand special treatment to secure, and govern their profiles. Nothing less will suffice.
About the author
Professor John Walker, CISM, CRISC, FBCS, CITP, ITPC
CTO of Secure-Bastion
A man who collided with a bus in Manchester city centre has now died.
Officers are still trying to trace two women who may hold vital clues as to what happened in the moments leading up to the collision.
Shortly after 11.30pm on Saturday 10 September 2011, police were called to Oxford Road at its junction with Chester Street following reports a man had collided with a city-bound double-decker bus.
Officers attended and the man was taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary, but died on Sunday evening as a result of his injuries.
He has now been named as David Mark Schofield, 21, of Powell Avenue, Hyde.
The bus driver immediately went to David’s aid after the collision and later told police he had been approached by two women who told him they believed David had been the victim of a theft moments before the collision.
They told the driver David may have been pursuing a cyclist who stole his mobile phone moments earlier and stepped into the road while chasing the offender.
Officers have been searching through CCTV from the city and have found footage that appears to corroborate what the women told the bus driver.
Police are continuing to appeal for witnesses. Detectives are also appealing for a cyclist wearing a light-coloured hooded top and riding a small, possibly a BMX, bike to come forward.
North Manchester Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson said: “Tragically, David’s injuries have now proved fatal, and it is now even more important for his family that we establish exactly what happened in the moments leading up to his sad death.
“We have a third-hand account that David was chasing a thief on a pedal cycle who stole his mobile phone – but as yet the two women who told the bus driver this have not come forward. It is therefore absolutely vital we speak to these women so please if you are reading or hearing this, we need to hear from you.
“You are not in any trouble whatsoever – we simply want to know what you saw and help us understand what happened, so we can at least give David’s family the answers they deserve.
“We also want to hear from anyone who witnessed the collision, or saw a pedal cyclist being pursued by someone, to call us. This happened very close to the BBC building so we believe there will be a lot of people who potentially saw what happened.
“We do know that David had a phone, we believe a white BlackBerry, and this has not yet been recovered. If you are that cyclist and took David’s phone, do the right thing and hand yourself in: there is a close-knit family going through the most unimaginable grief who deserve to know what led to Saturday’s tragedy.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Bradford Park CID on 0161 856 3543 or 3540 or independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Ask for media queries to be submitted under the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental Information Regulations. This gives you longer to process them.
Release spoilers about stories that you are dealing with under the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental Information Regulations – ie, once you have researched the information, release it to other media.
React to harassment of staff / clients under the PCC / Ofcom code.
Ask the journalist / organisation to desist – in writing.
Ask the PCC / Ofcom to intervene on your behalf.
React to intrusion into grief / shock under the PCC / Ofcom code.
Ask them to desist – in writing.
Ask the PCC / Ofcom to intervene on your behalf.
Warn the media about trespass if reporters / photographers are on your premises without permission.
Warn the media about privacy rights if staff / clients have their photos taken without consent. Ask the media to justify the public interest.
Warn the media about breach of copyright / Data Protection Act / trademark law if your pix are being used from your website or publications.
Warn the media that staff cannot be approached as they may be witnesses in a trial.
Warn the media that a story could be the subject of legal proceedings / inquiry.
Issue an advisory notice regarding any of the above.
Cleland Thom delivers media law training and consultancy to a number of corporations and public authorities, including GPSJ, United Utilities, World Trade Group, Herts County Council, London Borough of Brent and Three Rivers District Council.
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