Commenting on the latest Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Report 2021-22 that shows nearly one third of patients who were in hospital for 21 days or more were fit for discharge, Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said:“These data reflect the deepening social care crisis.
“We currently have the highest number of long stay patients (21 days or more) since winter 2017-18. Last week, on average, 6,500 beds were occupied by patients who are fit for discharge, and only one in 10 of these patients were able to be discharged daily (on average). All these patients will want to return home and to their communities, but they are unable to because there isn’t the support to aid them upon their discharge.
“There must be a system-wide effort and focus on discharging patients, but such effort will only translate to meaningful action if the government address and take urgent steps to resource social care. Freeing up these beds would help alleviate system pressures, particularly those on Emergency Departments, and promote vital flow throughout the hospital.”
Reports of scam HMRC phone calls have fallen by 97% over the last 12 months, latest HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures show, which display a downward trend in reports overall throughout the past year.
Reports of scammers impersonating HMRC in phone calls peaked at 79,477 in March 2021 and fell to just 2,491 in December 2021.
The fall in scam call reports to HMRC has also been seen elsewhere with an 92% drop in phishing email reports and a 97% drop in scam text reports over the last year.
These significant results are testament to some of the work of teams across HMRC in tackling these attempts to defraud people, including dedicated customer protection teams and helplines, tools to refer scams, and use of innovative technologies. It also signals that the public is more aware of cyber criminals and the methods they use to trick people, in part thanks to HMRC’s awareness raising efforts, meaning fewer members of the public have been the subject of scammers and attempts to steal their money.
All of HMRC’s work to protect the public and make people aware of scams and the advice available on GOV.UK, has helped move HMRC from third most phished brand globally to outside the top 100.
Mike Fell, HMRC’s Head of Cyber Security Operations, said:“We work incredibly hard to protect the public from these criminals who ruin lives by stealing from people. It’s great news that fewer people are receiving and reporting these attempted frauds, but it is still important they continue to report suspicious contact to us. We will continue to do everything we can to protect the public from these cynical attempts to impersonate HMRC to steal from people.
“Our advice is – never let yourself be rushed. If someone contacts you saying they are from HMRC, wanting you to urgently transfer money or give personal information, be on your guard. HMRC will never ring up threatening arrest, only criminals do that. Contacts like these should set alarm bells ringing, so take your time and check HMRC scams advice on GOV.UK.”
Some HMRC-themed scams originate abroad. HMRC works closely with national and international law enforcement agencies to combat scams, including collaboration with India as a key international partner in tackling the organised crime groups that run these scams.
Work by the Indian authorities last year resulted in multiple arrests and the closure of criminal call centre operations. In June 2021, 51 people were arrested at two call centres in Delhi, India, that were dedicated to facilitating HMRC scams.
HMRC has a dedicated Customer Protection team working on cyber and phone crime around the clock, closing down scams and sharing intelligence with law enforcement agencies. HMRC also deploys innovative technologies to prevent misleading and malicious communications that impersonate its genuine e-mail channels, from ever reaching the public. Since 2017 these technical controls have allowed HMRC to prevent 500 million bogus emails reaching customers.
More recently, new controls have prevented 90% of the most convincing text messages from reaching the public and joint working with industry partners has prevented the spoofing of most of HMRC’s helpline numbers.
In the last year, HMRC has responded to 670,793 referrals of suspicious contact from the public, with 283,157 of these cases offering bogus tax rebates. Others threaten arrest for tax evasion or offer fake financial support.
As part of HMRC’s action to combat voice scams, the department has set up a direct referral route on GOV.UK where people can report HMRC-related telephone phishing.
HMRC also works with the telecoms industry to remove phone numbers being used to commit HMRC-related phone scams. In December 2021, four phone numbers being used to commit HMRC-related phone scams were removed, which is likely to have prevented hundreds of scam calls being made.
HMRC uses a range of modern methods when communicating with its customers. Criminals will often then try to duplicate those methods to take advantage of people. HMRC is doing everything it can to stay one step ahead of the criminals to keep its customers and their information safe.
TODAY (Friday, 21st January 2022) Bob Downes, Chairman of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, has confirmed that following conduct allegations, Terry A’Hearn has stepped down and left his position.
Mr. Downes said: “Following conduct allegations, Terry A’Hearn (above) has stepped down and left his position. SEPA has a clear Code of Conduct and takes conduct allegations very seriously indeed. In order to protect anonymity, SEPA is unable to comment further.”
Mr. Downes confirmed that recruitment for a new Chief Executive would shortly commence and in the interim, Chief Officer Jo Green would be Acting Chief Executive, supported by SEPA’s Agency Management Team.
Legislation to end the harmful practice of setting ‘glue traps’ is to be brought forward by the Scottish Government in order to protect animal welfare.
Glue traps are devices, most commonly but not exclusively, used by professional contractors in food premises, where the use of rodenticide poisons are undesirable due to the risk of poison contamination.
The glue boards work by placing them along areas where rats and mice are likely to frequent; once the animal steps onto the board, it is then firmly stuck to it and is unable to free itself. Once an animal is captured the glue trap can be retrieved and the animal dispatched.
The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) undertook a review of the use of glue traps and concluded that there are significant animal welfare issues related to their use, not only for rodents but also for non-target species such as wild birds.
Given this, the Scottish Government intends to implement a full ban and will seek stakeholders’ views through a consultation, before forward bringing legislation during this parliamentary term.
Environment Minister Mairi McAllan said: “We are committed to maintaining the highest welfare standards in Scotland for animals, including wildlife.
“We have carefully considered the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s findings, alongside all other relevant evidence, I am pleased to announce in Parliament today that we intend to end the cruel practice of setting glue traps.
“The Commission’s report is clear that there are significant animal welfare issues related to the use of glue traps, not only for rodents but also for other animals such as wild birds. Therefore, we will bring forward legislation to ban glue traps in this parliamentary term.
“Our intention is to ban the sale as well as the use of glue traps. However, there are implications arising from the Internal Market Act which can undermine decisions made by this Parliament, including in devolved climate and environmental policy. We intend to work through these issues.”
UK government to review and remove train announcements that add unnecessary noise and disruption to journeys
the Department for Transport will ensure train operating companies retain important safety messages and work with accessibility groups so that passengers receive the necessary information
announcement follows the publication of the government’s Plan for Rail, which puts passengers back at the heart of the railways
Quieter train journeys are set to become the norm after the government announced it will identify and remove repetitive and unnecessary onboard announcements on trains in England.
The changes mean that passengers will no longer be bombarded with unnecessary ‘tannoy spam’ that distracts from important safety-critical messaging.
Working closely with the Rail Delivery Group, passenger groups including Transport Focus, and train operators, the Department for Transport (DfT) will identify how the vast number of announcements can be cut or reduced while maintaining vital obligations to ensure train travel remains accessible for all. Messages that play a safety critical role, or that ensure the railways are accessible for all, will remain.
The review will take place over the course of this year, with redundant messages identified and starting to be removed in the coming months.
Banal announcements set to be culled include self-evident instructions, such as having your ticket ready when leaving the station and contradictory calls for passengers to keep volume levels low while onboard announcements blare out. There will also be new curbs on the maximum frequency at which remaining announcements will be heard.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Train passengers are all too often plagued by an endless torrent of repeated and unnecessary announcements.
“In line with the passenger improvements, we are rolling out with our Plan for Rail we want to see improvements to the railways for those who use them day in day out.
“That’s why I’m calling for a bonfire of the banalities to bring down the number of announcements passengers are forced to sit through and make their journey that little bit more peaceful.”
As passengers come back to the railways, DfT will continue to ensure journeys are more comfortable to all users and that passengers continue to receive the important information they need about their journey.
Officials will work with accessibility groups to ensure that access for all is maintained.
The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, launched last year, ‘puts passengers at the heart of the railway’. To improve the comfort and enjoyment of train travel, customer service will be modernised and upgraded across all stations and, on trains, focused on providing passengers with better communication and a more personalised service.
Anthony Smith, Chief Executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Passengers will welcome a review intended to cut out unnecessary announcements.
“Transport Focus looks forward to helping with the review so passengers get the information they want, including those with additional accessibility needs.
Jacqueline Starr, CEO of the Rail Delivery Group, said: “We know people want the most relevant and timely messages on their journeys and to help with this, train operators are continuing their work to improve customer information, including cutting unnecessary onboard announcements.
“We’re also going further by asking customers what they want to know and using their responses to plan more useful and consistent announcements across the network, helping people have a better experience travelling by train.”
New research says lack of trust in public sector officials has played a key role in low uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations amongst groups termed “high risk.”
According to research from the Universities of Birmingham and Leeds, vaccine hesitancy was greatest among people from lower socio-economic and/or ethnic minority backgrounds. The researchers recommended that the Government should review public health messaging, with a focus on tailoring health promotion advice to these groups and greater effort in improving trust in public sector and the Government.
The study showed during the period immediately before Britain’s COVID vaccine rollout in December 2020, over 11% of UK adults said they were unwilling to take a COVID vaccine. But this hesitancy wasn’t spread evenly across the population.
It was lowest among white people, with 9% saying they didn’t want a COVID vaccine. In comparison, 50% of Black people said they didn’t want to receive the vaccine, and hesitancy was also high in other non-white groups: 28% of South Asian and 17% of other Asian respondents said they were unwilling to be vaccinated.
Dr Kausik Chaudhuri, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Leeds University Business School and lead author of the study said: “Our study shows that hesitancy is at least partly driven by people feeling disenfranchised by the state or not trusting government personnel.
“When we analysed data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, we found that participants who agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that “public officials don’t care”, or who felt that they “don’t have a say in what government does”, were least likely to want to get vaccinated.
“It is worth noting that their responses were not based on how the government had been managing the pandemic. Rather, they can be interpreted as a reflection of peoples’ overall faith in public institutions, irrespective of COVID.”
Even though rates of declared vaccine hesitancy have since fallen, the research paper suggests that the general trends have been borne out over the past year across every age group: COVID vaccine uptake has been highest among white people and lowest among Black people, with the difference often a sizable gap of around 20 percentage points.
Among those eligible for the vaccine, the uptake of booster doses has also been low among non-white groups.
The research also showed that:
Clinically-vulnerable respondents were more willing to take a COVID jab.
Self-employed people were less willing to get vaccinated compared to employed people.
Respondents who said that they felt positive about their financial wellbeing were almost three times as likely to be willing to take a vaccine compared to those felt they were just getting by or struggling.
Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, Professor of Economics from the University of Birmingham and co-author of the study (above) says: “Building trust in the public sector and government are essential to improving uptake amongst groups who are most at risk from COVID.
“Public sector officials along with government need to look at new and innovative ways to engage with citizens as well as be transparent in their communication to refute fake news related to vaccines.
“Similarly, it is imperative that politicians and officials maintain high ethical standards during times of emergency like the pandemic when there is reduced oversight. It hasn’t helped in the UK where we see news of parties being held at Downing Street in the middle of lockdowns along with reports of the government breaking the law in the awarding of PPE contracts which has only lowered public trust in officials.
“During a period when new COVID-19 variants are on the horizon, the focus should be on clear public health messages around vaccination, rather than what is making headlines in this regard.”
“Shameful shambles” of DWP’s long term underpayment of state pensioners with “little interest” in consequences
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) estimates it has underpaid 134,000 pensioners, mostly women, over £1 billion of their State Pension entitlement, with some of the errors dating as far back as 1985.
In January 2021, DWP started an official exercise to correct the errors, the ninth such exercise since 2018. The errors, which mostly affect widows, divorcees and women who rely on their husband’s pension contributions for some of their pension entitlement, happened because of the Department’s use of outdated systems and heavily manual processing. Small errors that were not recognised each time added up over years to significant sums of money.
DWP will only contact pensioners when it finds through these exercises that they have been underpaid, and admits that many more are not receiving their due – these “risk missing out on significant sums”, with “little guidance for those currently claiming State Pension who are concerned that they have been underpaid” and people left “in the dark over their entitlement”.
There is currently no formal plan for contacting the next of kin where a pensioner who was underpaid is now deceased.
DWP is only paying those it has identified as having a legal entitlement to arrears, in some cases many years after the event, and has been inconsistent in paying interest. It has shown little interest in understanding the further knock-on consequences, including on social care provision, for those it underpaid.
Fixing DWP’s mistakes itself comes at great cost to the taxpayer – expected to cost £24.3 million in staff costs alone by the end of 2023. Experienced, specialised staff have been moved away from business-as-usual and as a result DWP is already experiencing backlogs in processing new applications.
The risk remains that the errors that led to underpayments in the first place will be repeated in the correction exercise, if not also in new claims.
Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “For decades DWP has relied on a State Pension payment system that is clunky and required staff to check many databases – and now some pensioners and the taxpayer are paying in spades.
“Departments that make errors through maladministration have a duty to put those it wronged back in the position they should have been. In reality DWP can never make up what people have really lost, over decades, and in many cases it’s not even trying. An unknown number of pensioners died without ever getting their due and there is no current plan to pay back their estates.
“DWP is now on its ninth go at fixing these mistakes since 2018, the specialised staff diverted to fix this mess costing tens of millions more to the taxpayer and predictable consequences of delays in new pension claims. And there is no assurance that the errors that led to these underpayments in the first place will not be repeated in the correction exercise.
“This is a shameful shambles. The PAC expects DWP to set out the step changes it will make to ensure it is among the last.”
Learning new things: where and how would you want to do it?
If you were looking to learn something new – whether it’s to get a job, for a hobby or just because you fancy it – where would you want to do it? At home? In a local school or community centre? With a local employer or community group? Online?
We’re working with our Granton Waterfront regeneration partners to find out what people living in the area think about learning – why is learning important to you?
How does it affect you and your life? What you would like to learn about? How do you learn best? What things help you learn? What things make it harder to learn?
Please give us your answers on our online questionnaire:
An NHS Lothian staff member has received his MBE at the Palace of Holyroodhouse for his voluntary work with mountain rescue teams.
Stephen Penny, 61, has worked with NHS Lothian as a training advisor and lead for volunteer responders within the Lifelines team at the Rivers Centre since 2021. Lifelines helps support the physical and mental wellbeing of volunteer and emergency responders.
Stephen, who is married to Sarah and is a dad of three, lives in the Scottish Borders and has been a mountain rescue volunteer for over 30 years with Scottish Mountain Rescue and Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team.
Stephen said: “You can’t volunteer as a responder without the support of your family and at yesterday’s MBE investiture at the Palace of Holyroodhouse Sarah was beside me all the way through – just like over the years of volunteering.
“I grew up in a rural area and it’s always been important for me to give something to my community. I was inspired to join mountain rescue after meeting some volunteers at an emergency services open day.
“My greatest sense of achievement comes from knowing you’ve helped someone in their time of need. I’ve found that the skills you learn from being a mountain rescue volunteer also have a lot of value in other aspects of your life, including in your day job.”
Stephen was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List in 2019 but, due to pandemic restrictions, was not able to receive this until now.
Sixty years before, in 1959, Stephen’s grandfather received an MBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his efforts during and after World War Two, as well as his voluntary work as a special constable.
Stephen said: “Community was really important to my dad and grandfather, and they instilled this in me. It was an honour to be given an MBE, especially sixty years after my grandfather received his.”
Gill Moreton, Lifelines lead for NHS Lothian, said: “Stephen brings a wealth of knowledge to his role at Lifelines, including his lengthy and extensive volunteering experience with mountain rescue. The Lifelines and Rivers teams are delighted for Stephen as he finally receives his MBE.”
As we enter into a new year, cyber crime continues to threaten businesses. Cyber attacks cost the global economy an estimated $6 trillion USD in 2021, and the costs are predicted to increase for 2022.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, hackers have been quick to exploit the growth in home working practices. Small businesses also reported an increase in attacks, and with 60% closing within six months of falling victim to a data breach, establishing a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy has never been more important.
Anthony Green, CTO and cyber crime expert at FoxTech, discusses what businesses should watch out for in the coming year: “In 2022, with many organisations implementing flexible working policies, and bringing personal devices into the office, it’s important to understand how cyber attackers might continue to exploit our changing working practices.
“It is often easier for attackers to breach home network devices, so when personal devices are being used to access company data at home, or brought into the office and connected to company networks, it can expose their system to hackers searching for vulnerabilities to exploit. With hybrid working policies expanding companies’ cyber risk, it’s vital to be aware of what the threats are, and how to prevent attackers gaining access.”
To help businesses plan their cybersecurity strategies, FoxTech has put together a guide to the top predicted cybersecurity threats for 2022, and what organisations can do to protect themselves:
Ransomware
Ransomware was the defining force of cyber attacks in 2021. Hackers infiltrate a system, steal sensitive data and demand a ransom for its return. Ransomware attacks surged by 144% in 2021 from the previous year, and the problem is only expected to develop in 2022.
Anthony comments: “A spate of high-profile ransomware attacks in 2021 has led many organisations to review their cyber risk controls and implement more effective strategies against data loss.
“While this might make it more difficult for cyber criminals to mount traditional ransomware attacks in the short term, attackers are incredibly agile, so we are expecting their strategies to shift in the coming year”
“To prevent your business from falling foul to a ransomware attack, there are two things to consider:
Preventing an attacker from gaining network access – investing in an external security assessment is the most reliable way to discover your vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity experts can then configure your security tools to protect you from the latest methods of attack.
Catching an attacker before it’s too late – it can take months for an attacker to gather the data they need to demand a ransom. Working with an external, specialised cybersecurity company that can monitor your system and quickly alert you to any suspicious activity can be the difference between a minor incident and devastating financial loss.
“Constant systems monitoring – by someone who is aware of developments in attackers’ tactics – will be more important than ever, as cyber criminals are looking for new ways to circumvent security operations. Currently, businesses are subject to 10,000 attempted attacks a day, but it often takes months for hackers to infiltrate an organisation’s most well-protected data. Catching a threat straight away, and acting quickly to mitigate the effects of a breach, will prevent attackers from stealing enough sensitive data to deliver a ransom.”
Phishing
Over 75% of cyber attacks start with someone opening a malicious email. These emails are designed to extract data from the recipient, usually a password, which is used to gain further access to an organisation’s network. Once an account takeover has been successful, hackers are able to mount more sophisticated attacks.
So how can businesses protect themselves from phishing scams?
Anthony comments: “Security awareness training is essential. Only 14% of UK companies perform cybersecurity awareness training, but educating employees on how to spot phishing scams is crucial.
“Things such as shortened links, an impersonal address, or anyone asking for private information, can all indicate that an email is not legitimate, even if it appears to come from a trusted source.”
The NCSC provides free security awareness training available here:
It is also imperative to set up Two Factor Authentication on email accounts and ensure the secure configuration of your email service.
Business Email Compromise Attack
In 2022, when so much business will be conducted through online conversations between remote workers, organisations need to be aware of business email compromise attack – also known as ‘conversation hijacking.’ These attacks are well-researched, and highly personalised, making them difficult to detect and very effective.
This kind of attack usually comes once access has been gained through a phishing attempt. A hacker reads through breached emails to learn as much as they can about business practice and payment details.
Next, they will use this information to craft seemingly authentic messages which can be sent to both employees and customers, with the aim of tricking them to transfer money or update their payment information.
“A scam that we are seeing more and more frequently is when a hacker impersonates an organisation’s CEO to redirect large payments to their own accounts,” says Anthony.
“Once this money has been lost, it is almost impossible to retrieve, so it really is crucial to prevent hackers gaining access in the first place – and to have your accounts frequently and carefully monitored by cybersecurity experts who can spot an intruder before the final attack has been mounted.”
