Source: BBC News published on this website Tuesday 29 April 2025 by Jill Powell

The report into the review was published on the 28 April 2025 and has been undertaken on the BBC’s behalf by Change Associates in response to the guilty pleas of Hugh Edwards into inappropriate behaviour at work.

This follows the earlier Respect at Work Review 2013 following the Jimmy Savile scandal.

In the Introduction of the 2025 report it states:

“The creative industries are not alone in being under the microscope when it comes to scandals involving people behaving inappropriately. The attention this generates may be because of the newsworthiness of the people involved as they are on our screens or radios daily. Or it may be because of the pressures involved in being ‘live’, where exacting production standards apply. We do know that in the past, egos, reputations and the perceived quality of output were considered more important than behaviours and standards of leadership and management. We also know that the BBC operates under intense scrutiny, from itself as much as others, and subjects itself to forensic and public examination. Since our involvement in the Respect at Work review in 2013, we have been told many times that things are changing for the better in the industry. This is against a backdrop of higher behavioural expectations in society. It is also, though, because of activity undertaken within organisations to handle issues more effectively. So, how has this impacted the BBC’s culture?”

To read the full report

To read the BBC’s responses to the report

Source: Staffordshire Poilce published on this website Thursday 24 April 2025 by Jill Powell

The Staffordshire police  are working with participating schools across the county as part of a national scheme focusing on identifying and protecting children at risk of domestic abuse, with officers using an automatic alert system to make safeguarding referrals.

The national scheme, called Operation Encompass, is aimed at ensuring key school staff are kept informed of any domestic abuse incidents, in the 24 hours prior to the school day, so they can put measures in place to support the child.

As part of their joined-up working, any officer attending incidents where children have been exposed to domestic abuse are required to submit details of what happened in real-time via their specialised electronic devices.

This then sends an alert to a key staff member at the child’s school, who begins appropriate safeguarding and puts support measures in place for the child during the school day.

Officers send these alerts to all relevant schools, even if the child concerned was not present at the time of the domestic abuse, as we recognise any instance of domestic abuse in a location where a child attends poses a risk to their future safety and wellbeing.  

The logging of the affected household means that officers are able to record every person and child who may be impacted by domestic abuse and work with partners to safeguard them.

The approach helps to provide schools with vital information about a child, and the home environment that been exposed to domestic abuse, enabling staff to put measures in place to support them when they attend school.

These instant, automatic electronic referrals also mean that any child believed to be at risk is identified as vulnerable, enabling other agencies to become aware and involved in protecting the child going forward.

Not only this, but officers also record the details of children who may be exposed to domestic abuse who are not yet of school age, in order to ensure they experience is documented and voice is heard.

Detective Chief Inspector John Bissell, of our Public Protection Unit, said: “These referrals are a vital in providing critical information to enable schools and other partners to support the affected household and child.

“The concept is simple, but the impact is vast. That is why the operation is so important; it recognises how significant it is to share this type of information with a child’s school, acknowledging the harm such exposure to domestic abuse has on schooling as well as many other aspects of a child’s life.”

All key staff members at schools involved in the operation have also undergone training in safeguarding and management of personal data, to ensure that the child’s right to privacy is also respected.

Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Crime Ben Adams said:

 “Domestic abuse can happen to anyone, and the impact on children living in households where there is domestic abuse can be significant. 

“It is vital that victims and their families are able to access the effective, targeted support they need when they need it, to help them recover from the impact of these crimes.

“That’s why my office commissions the New Era service, alongside the county and city councils, to provide consistent support to adults, children and young people aged four to 17 impacted by domestic abuse across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.”

To find out more about the operation, how to get involved and access resources visit: Home : Operation Encompass.

Source: Home Office published on this website Friday 25 April 2025 by Jill Powell

Even tougher action to hold tech platforms to account for failing to protect children from harmful knife crime content online, the government has announced.

As part of the Plan for Change, tougher sanctions will be brought in to combat the unacceptable content circulating online that advertises deadly and illegal knives and other offensive weapons to young people – or which glorifies or incites violence.  

The government has already announced a significant fine of up to £10,000 for individual tech bosses whose platforms fail to remove this content within 48 hours following a police warning. Following significant consultation with the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime, the government is going even further with an additional fine of up to £60,000 to be paid by the company. This means tech platforms and their executives could collectively face up to £70,000 in fines for every post relating to knife crime they fail to remove. 

A greater range of online platforms will be liable under these new laws to also include online search engines as well as social media platforms and marketplaces, to capture all online providers which might currently be failing to remove content. 

The move bolsters further measures set out yesterday by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Ofcom, to protect children from a broad spectrum of harmful online content including pornography, suicide and self-harm under the Online Safety Act.  The laws will be some of the most comprehensive online safety protections in the world and mean platforms must protect children from content including suicide, self-harm, and pornography by taking steps such as introducing age checks like photo ID matching or facial age estimation and filtering out harmful content from algorithms.   

Crime and Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson said:  

“The kind of content that young people scroll through every day online is sickening and I will not accept any notion that restricting access to this harmful material is too difficult. Our children need more from us. That is why we are now going further than ever to hold to account the tech companies who are not doing enough to safeguard young people from content which incites violence, particularly in young boys. Curbing the impact of this kind of content will be key for our mission to halve knife crime, but more widely our Plan for Change across government to do more protect young people from damaging and dangerous content.”

As previously announced, the Home Office will introduce a new system to be carried out by a new policing unit backed by £1.75 million of funding to tackle the sale of knives online. This will have a national capability and be run by the National Police Chiefs’ Council. They will be responsible for issuing Content Removal Notices which inform the tech platform of illegal content, giving them a 48 hour window in which they must remove it.  

Failure to comply will now result in a Civil Penalty Notice rather than taking the company to civil court, which include the respective fines for both executives and the wider company. This will mean sanctions can be inflicted much more quickly and is the same penalty that an employer may receive for employing an illegal worker to reflect the vital importance of removing harmful knife related content.     

These sanctions are part of a range of measures being introduced by this government in its mission to halve knife crime in a decade. These include: 

• banning zombie-style knives and ninja swords, with a nationwide surrender scheme launching in July 
• introducing stronger 2-step verification for online retailers selling knives online and banning delivery of weapons to alternative addresses that don’t match the buyer 
• requirement for online retailers to report any bulk or suspicious-looking purchases of knives to the police 
• launching a consultation in spring on the introduction of a licensing scheme for retailers who wish to sell knives
• increasing prison sentences for selling weapons to under 18s from 6 months to 2 years
• introducing a new offence for possessing a weapon with intent for violence with a prison sentence of up to 4 years

The sanctions for tech platforms will be introduced via an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which was tabled on 24 April for committee stage.

Source: Suffolk Police published on this website Wednesday 23 April 2025

“He appeared at my workplace regularly, sometimes multiple times a day… I was safe with security and cameras all over and people that knew of the situation… The times I saw him outside work were even more terrifying… It disturbed me thinking about his confidence to go an arms-length close to me… where he isn’t being monitored… [because] he CAN.”

A young woman “Amy”, not her real name, became the fixation of a man who was almost 50 years older than her after she served him while working in a customer service job in a Suffolk town centre.

For more than a year he would turn up at her place of work, just to stare at her, and he would walk in her workplace to try to have contact with her. He left cards inviting her to meet with him and confessed strong feelings for her, despite the fact that she had only interacted with him in a professional capacity.

He would actively follow her outside of her workplace, even showing up when she attempted to change her route, and turned up when she was out shopping away from work.

Once challenged about his behaviour by Amy’s colleagues, he became aggressive and wrote a letter to her manager to complain about her, following which she became fearful of his intentions and that she was at real risk of physical violence.

Amy reported his activity to police and following enquiries, he was arrested and charged with stalking three months later. Four months after he was charged, he was sentenced at a county court in Essex to four months’ imprisonment, with further restrictions not to enter the town centre where Amy worked or to contact her.

Amy’s experience demonstrates the typical FOUR behaviours of stalking, which should be recorded and reported to police before it escalates further. These are:

Fixated

Obsessed

Unwanted

Repeated

Detective Chief Inspector Brett Harris said: “Stalking is a frightening offence that can happen to anyone. It can be a former partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, an acquaintance, a work colleague, or – as was in Amy’s case - a complete stranger.

“In 2024 we had 848 victims report incidents of stalking and harassment in Suffolk, and we take each report incredibly seriously. Our priority is the safety of our communities and I want to encourage anyone who has been affected by this type of behaviour to contact police so that we can take steps to keep you safe.

“This includes Stalking Protections Orders (SPOs), which are civil orders that we can apply to the court for to help with early intervention.

“These can be used to monitor the actions of a person, impose restrictions or requirements – such as to ensure they stay aware from certain locations – and if they breach these they will be arrested. The aim is to address stalking behaviours before they escalate and to help protect victims from more serious harm.

“We understand that not everyone has the confidence to speak to police right away. There are support services, independent of the police, that can help you if you’ve been a victim of stalking. This includes the National Stalking Helpline, which is 0802 802030.

“Whatever you do, do not let stalking or harassing behaviour continue.”

Social media and the internet are also often used for stalking, and cyber stalking or online threats can be just as intimidating. If you are affected by cyber stalking, you can get more information and safety tips from Get Safe Online or please visit Support for victims and witnesses of stalking or harassment | Suffolk Constabulary

Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said: “Stalking is a very frightening and distressing crime and I am reassured that Suffolk Constabulary takes all reports of stalking and harassment very seriously.  

“I would urge anyone suffering from persistent and unwanted attention of this kind to contact the police immediately. It’s not something that you should have to live with, and it’s important that victims know there is help available.  

“As PCC I commission services to support victims and this include victims of staking and harassment.  In partnership with my counterpart in Norfolk, we fund Norfolk and Suffolk Victim Care to offer support and advice and they are available via their website or on 0300 303 3706, alternatively contact the National Stalking Helpline.”

National Stalking Helpline online tool 'Am I Being Stalked?'