Never mind Exmouth, at the election it was the thought that counted.

Anyone looking after Axminster?

Put it down to another “mutant” algorithm – Owl

Minister’s constituency gets three pots of cash

George Grylls Political Reporter The Times (paper edition Saturday)

Robert Jenrick’s constituency of Newark has been fast-tracked to receive tens of millions of pounds from all three of the government’s funds designed to tackle regional inequalities.

The town represented by the Conservative cabinet minister has received £25 million from the Towns Fund while also being prioritised for the £220 million Community Renewal Fund and the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund.

The constituency is the 357th most deprived in the UK, according to House of Commons data.

Labour has accused the government of engaging in “pork-barrel politics” after political scientists ran mathematical analyses showing that Conservative marginal seats were more likely to benefit from Towns Fund money.

Jenrick, the communities’ secretary, was responsible for selecting the 61 areas that could bid for money from the Towns Fund, but he has denied any role in choosing his own constituency despite video from the 2019 election showing him saying that he “helped to secure” the money.

Steve Reed, the shadow communities’ secretary, said: “This formula confirms fears that the Conservatives are funnelling money to richer areas and leaving poorer areas to sink.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “This analysis is deeply misguided and demonstrates a lack of awareness of the need to level up the country, as well as failing to take into account the need to correct historic underinvestment in small towns and regions across the UK. Ministers did not see a list of specific places before agreeing the list of metrics.”

Residents in Exeter are angry after a ‘bin conflict’ erupted between East Devon District Council (EDDC) and Bloor Homes.

Chloe Parkman www.devonlive.com 

Members of the ‘Broadclyst Environment Group‘ (BEG) say that they have noticed a littering problem in and around the new Bloor Homes development in Westclyst.

According to one BEG member, residents have had difficulty disposing of their waste as there is only one bin at a new skate and play park.

A spokesperson for BEG said: ”The park is adjacent to the Co-op and so it is a no brainer that people will nip to the shop to get snacks and come to the park.

”With that said, there is only one bin and sure enough the first weekend the park opened there was litter everywhere. It has been stacked full and not emptied because nobody is taking responsibility for the bin.

”It’s a ridiculously bureaucratic situation where the management company associated with Bloor Homes are responsible for that bin but they have not yet signed the contract over to EDDC for the responsibility of emptying the bin.”

The spokesperson for the group said that a few days ago one member of the group, Kitty, was in the area when she noticed that the park was covered in rubbish.

”There was litter everywhere but also the bin was stacked full.

”Kitty decided to pick up all of the litter and left it next to the overflowing bin.”

Angered by the situation BEG took to social media to share the incident with local residents of Westclyst.

”There was uproar. This is a new community moving into these developments and it is not a great starting point when something like this happens.”

Things took a turn for the worse on March 11 after bin was covered up and put out of use.

”Yesterday (March 11) Kitty was in the area and noticed that the bin had been covered up. Nobody is emptying or taking responsibility for the bin.

”What has really wound us up is that Bloor Homes have a sign up which states that they are part of and support the community but they absolutely are not doing that.

”I can understand EDDC’s point of view, they cannot take on every single bin in the community.

”Something needs to be done.”

Following the incident, a spokesperson for Bloor Homes said: ”The play area at Westclyst has only opened to the public very recently.

”Bloor Homes can confirm that it has instructed the management company to ensure that the bin at the play area is emptied moving forward.

”As an immediate solution, we will also ensure that the refuse is collected.”

‘What has really wound us up is that Bloor Homes have a sign up which states that they are part of and support the community but they absolutely are not doing that.’ (Image: Ben Evans)

Additionally, a spokesperson for EDDC said: ”We have received an enquiry about the bin in question, which was not owned by the council.

”Nevertheless we investigated the issue and discovered that it was put in place by a developer without the council’s knowledge.

”This meant there was not a service contract in place to have it emptied, resulting in an overflow causing a litter issue. The council had it covered up until a contract could be arranged.

“Given that these new developments have not been adopted they do not fall within the responsibility of EDDC to supply or service any litter bins.

”Whilst we do offer the service to the developer they are under no obligation to use our services and can, and do, use their own contractors.

The bin has now been covered over and is unusable (Image: Ben Evans)

”This means some are managed by the developer, some the local parish council and some later become EDDC’s responsibility, once the land is adopted.

“We have since been out to this particular litter bin and one nearby and arranged through Broadclyst Parish Council for a service contract to be set up and added to our contractors list, which will be put in place as soon as it can be processed.

“We would like to thank residents for their patience while the issue is resolved and ask until the contract is in place if they could use a litter bin some 30 yards away, that is serviced by EDDC, at the bus stop.

“If you have an issue you are unsure about, please don’t hesitate to contact us through our website here. Your developer should also be aware.”

Concerns have been raised that staff working on NHS test and trace call centres used their personal email accounts to handle individuals’ health data. 

www.healthcareitnews.com

The issue was raised by a former employee of outsourcing giant Sitel, which runs a large part of the test and trace call centre operation.

She told PoliticsHome, that managers instructed call handlers to use their own email accounts to send case information for review because the internal systems made it unmanageable for details to be shared securely via their online platform.

The whistleblower believed the practice was in breach of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

A spokesperson at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirmed it is investigating the complaint.

WHY IT MATTERS

The former staff member said it was likely that personal information, including names, date of births, phone numbers and NHS numbers, was being sent via personal email accounts.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

It’s not the first time the NHS test and trace programme has faced controversy. The contract tracing app was affected by numerous software issues including a bug that meant the system failed to send notifications to users who should have self-isolated.

Concerns were also raised about the vulnerability of health data when test and trace contracts service company, Serco was hit by a ransomware attack.

The European Commission recently granted the UK preliminary data access on the basis that its data protection rules are “essentially equivalent” to the EU’s GDPR and Law Enforcement Directive (LED). 

ON THE RECORD

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We expect the highest standard of our suppliers and expect them to fully comply with their obligations in regard to their data protection requirements.”

A Sitel spokesperson said: “We are currently investigating the suggestion that certain team members have used personal email accounts in the course of their work.

“This is something we take very seriously and multiple controls are in place to prevent this from happening. Any actions taken by team members that are not in compliance with our controls will be addressed through the appropriate channels and consistent with our internal policies.”

Pascale Robinson, campaigns officer at We Own It said: “These revelations about Sitel’s practices are shocking. But sadly they’re not surprising. Throughout the pandemic we’ve seen numerous reports of private companies involved in running England’s broken contact tracing system engaging in dodgy practices when it comes to managing data.

“Contact tracing is delicate, sensitive work, and it requires the utmost commitment to best practice of data protection. It’s disappointing to see that this appears not to have been followed by one of the companies directly involved in the management of the system.” 

House builders that carry out repairs on newly built homes need to be more open about what work has been required, according to the chairman of Parliament’s Housing Committee.

By Dan Whitworth www.bbc.co.uk

Some home owners say they were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) as a condition of repairs being done.

The practice was “appalling” Clive Betts MP told Radio 4’s Money Box programme.

The Home Builders Federation said NDAs were “not widely used” by developers.

Mr Betts said housebuilders should be obliged to inform home owners when systematic defects were identified that might affect their property, which he said would be normal practice in other areas.

“If this kind of thing happens in the car industry for example, car companies have to tell their customers, issue a recall, and get the problem fixed.

“I don’t see why it should be any different when it comes to buying houses,” he said.

It is hard to establish an accurate, independent picture of how common such NDAs are. People who have signed them are worried about speaking out because of the threat of legal action.

But Money Box spoke to several industry experts who said these gagging orders were used regularly.

‘Despicable practice’

Chris Blythe, former chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Building, said it was “quite common” for developers to use them.

“Unfortunately, because of the nature of the agreement, i.e. non-disclosure, no-one knows very much about it,” he said.

“But it’s done for commercial reasons, because if it became known on a particular development that there are problems [then] other house buyers would be asking the house builder to do remedial work [for them too].

“So they use these to silence people… and it’s a despicable practice.”

Around 250,000 new houses were built in Britain, according to the latest annual figures, and defects in new build houses are common.

Many are minor and fixed without any problems, but serious defects can cost thousands of pounds to put right.

These include things like poor brickwork, faulty foundations, problems with windows and external doors, structural weaknesses with rooves and issues with plumbing and sewerage systems.

When remedial works cost such large sums of money developers sometimes delay carrying out work, Money Box was told. The programme was also told of cases where developers fought home owners for years and refused to carry out remedial works at all.

Hidden risk

Geoff Peter is a solicitor and founded Wingrove Law to help homeowners who bought houses and later discovered serious defects with their properties.

“Non-disclosure agreements… are of no practical benefit or use to homeowners,” he said.

“The effects of them when they’re used at scale, as they are in the [house building] industry, is really just to keep a lid on the true nature and scale of problems.

“So it’s really impossible for… the buying public, to have any real idea of the risks they are taking when they buy a new build property… because there’s no reliable source of information as to the nature and scale of the problems that they’re likely to encounter.”

When asked about NDAs industry body, the Home Builders Federation, said: “Settlement Agreements are legal contracts that are used by businesses across all sectors.

“They are not widely used by housebuilders and when they are, it tends to be with regards to details of compensation payments, sometimes at the request of the customer.”

If you’ve been asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of getting repair work done to your newbuild house email us in confidence at moneybox@bbc.co.uk and tell us about your experience.