Education Secretary Michael Gove has lost a High Court battle with Essex County Council over government cuts to nursery funding.

The council claimed Mr Gove breached equality laws when he slashed part of its budget by £10m in 2010 – hitting the county’s disabled children.

The High Court ruled Mr Gove’s decision was unlawful and must be reviewed.

Mr Justice Mitting found Mr Gove had not met his legal obligations under equality laws.

Andrew Sharland, for Essex County Council, told the court the council was told its budget for nursery and primary school building projects would be about £27m for 2008 to 2011.

‘Duty of equality’

It said it had allocated more than £26m of that money, by June 2010, to building projects aimed at improving pre-school education, particularly for the disabled.

But when Mr Gove announced his cuts in July that year, the council was told to review its spending and identify any “uncommitted” funds, the court heard.

A dispute then arose between Westminster and Essex over how much money had been allocated – with government accountants estimating more than £12m was still in the pot, but the council insisting they had less then £2m left.

Essex County Council argued that by not consulting it before cutting funding by £10.7m, Mr Gove breached his “equality duties”.

Mr Sharland told the court: “The grant was expressly aimed at meeting the needs of disabled children. Further, the level of funding was calculated taking into account the level of deprivation in a particular area.”

He added: “It is clear that equality issues were neither ‘central’ to the decision making process nor exercised in substance with rigor and an open mind.”

‘Greater knowledge’

Government lawyers insisted the decision making process was correctly handled.

Mr Justice Mitting ruled: “Local authorities obviously would have greater knowledge of the impact the cuts would have on families in their areas and it would be reasonable for the Secretary of State to assume that any such detailed assessment would be carried out by the local authority.”

He added: “Accordingly, I do not accept that the Secretary of State, either personally or through his officials, fully discharged the duty upon them.”

The Department for Education has yet to comment.

Rebecca McKeown’s grandparents are on trial accused of her 2001 manslaughter.

Dr Mary Donnelly admitted in court that for 11 years, she had failed to report full details of the intimate exam.

She said two of her fingers had “unintentionally” slipped inside the teenager’s vagina.

The 14 year old died in hospital in March 2001, five days after she had been looked after by her grandparents.

Rebecca, who was severely disabled, could not walk, talk or feed herself and needed 24-hour care.

She died after contracting pneumonia which, according to the prosecution, came as a direct result of a sexual assault she suffered at the hands of one or other grandparent.

David and Sarah Johnston, from Carwood Drive in Glengormley, deny the charges.

Nervous

Dr Donnelly, who was working as an out-of-hours locum GP at the time, was called to examine Rebecca on 19 March 2001 after the teenager started bleeding from her vagina.

Under cross examination at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday, the doctor admitted that she did not reveal full details of what happened during the medical exam either to the police investigation or to a medical review of the treatment Rebecca had received.

Defence QC Gavan Duffy told Dr Donnelly that she had not given “candid and clear and complete” answers to the medical review and he asked if she had failed to do in order to protect her own interests.

Dr Donnelly said: “It might have been, yes”, after she was urged to answer by the judge.

During her earlier evidece on Thursday, the doctor said the police came to her surgery to take a statement from her less than 24 hours after she had carried out the examination.

She said she felt it was “completely out of the ordinary” to make a statement without any notes available to her but said she “wasn’t given an option”.

She told Mr Duffy that she felt “nervous” about making the police statement but denied it was because she felt she had done something wrong.

Dr Donnelly said she had never given a statement to police before and added that it would be “quite intimidating for anyone”.

Mr Johnston, 88, and his 86-year-old wife, are accused of Rebecca’s manslaughter on 24 March 2001 and a further offence of child cruelty five days previously on 19 March.

The teenager was registered blind and suffered from a number of medical conditions including cerebral palsy, scoliosis of the spine, and severe epilepsy.

David Blunkett has thrown his weight behind a campaign to exempt guide dog food from VAT saying the issue is “far more serious than hot pasties”.

Special high protein food eaten by racing greyhounds and other “working dogs” is VAT exempt.

But the tax break does not extend to guide dogs – costing the Guide Dogs charity an estimated £300,000 a year.

The former home secretary has called on the Treasury to reclassify guide dogs as “working dogs” for tax purposes.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association – to give Guide Dogs its full title – is angry that the Treasury appears to consider guide dogs to be in the same category as “pets”.

Labour MP Mr Blunkett, who is accompanied everywhere by guide dog Cosby, a black curly coat retriever, says it is a greater injustice than the “pasty tax” – the levy on hot food that landed Chancellor George Osborne in trouble in his March Budget.

Toilet breaks

But his call for reform was this week rejected by Treasury minister David Gauke, who said HM Revenue and Customs definition of a working dog was based on the type of food it consumes rather than the role it performs.

And, he appears to suggest, there is nothing to stop guide dog owners buying high protein food if they want to benefit from the tax break.

“If this specially-formulated food is suitable for guide dogs and other assistance dogs, it will already benefit from the zero rate,” said Mr Gauke in a written answer.

Guide Dogs says high protein food – formulated to give working dogs an energy boost – is not suitable for guide dogs as it lessens the owner’s “control over their dog’s toilet habits”.

The association pays for the majority of food given to guide dogs in the UK and in 2010 was responsible for supporting 8,000 animals, including puppies in training.

It tends to supply owners with premium dry dog food to allow the dog to work in public with fewer toilet breaks.

‘Unjust regime’

Mr Blunkett told BBC News: “The Treasury appear to have got themselves into a complete bind.

“The nature of the food given to certain working dogs does not define the nature of the work they do but rather the historic feeding patterns.”

He said it was “ludicrous to suggest that because guide dogs can use commercially available high-energy food, they should not be designated in the same way”.

“This is far more serious than hot pasties. It’s about costing those using the cutting edge of the skills of working dogs 20% more than those whose activities, no matter how interesting, are much less critical to the wellbeing of their owners which, after all, should be the objective of government,” added the former minister.

Guide Dogs says it intends to keep pushing for an end to what it sees as an “unjust regime” and was seeking advice from VAT experts on the government’s position.

Head of campaigns David Cowdrey said: “For guide dogs to be charged VAT on their food is unfair when gundogs and racing greyhounds get a tax break.

“This is an injustice in the tax system and we are asking that food for working guide dogs is zero rated as they are working dogs, not pets.

“Guide Dogs pays more than £300,000 in VAT on our dog food each year, which could be used to help more blind and partially sighted people.”

Mr Cowdrey added that even rabbit food was VAT exempt “as they are classed as a food source, even though most rabbits are kept as pets”.

The campaign to exempt guide dog food from VAT was launched last year by SNP MSP Linda Fabriani.

Employers who take over any of the 36 state-owned Remploy factories facing closure will be offered a short-term subsidy of up to a third of the wages of the units’ disabled workers, the government has announced.

The £10m concession has been announced by ministers in an attempt to firm up bids for the factories, which have been declared unviable in their existing forms. The deadline for submission of business plans has been extended.

There have already been 44 expressions of interest, but many of the potential bidders have asked for some financial support if they are to take on the risk of the loss-making units.

The government announced in March that the 36 factories, which provide sheltered employment for 1,500 disabled people, would close by the autumn unless they were taken over. The future of Remploy’s remaining 18 factories, considered potentially viable, would be reviewed on the assumption that all options would be “outside government control”.

The announcement came in response to a review which found that the average subsidy for each job in a Remploy factory was £25,000, and that the money could achieve more if spent helping disabled people find and retain jobs in the mainstream labour market.

Most disability organisations support the decisions in principle. But trade unions representing Remploy workers have launched a campaign to save the factories, arguing that disabled people stand little chance of finding other jobs at a time of high unemployment.

The wage subsidy concession follows an earlier offer of funding worth up to £10,000 a time for Remploy staff who may be developing plans to take over any part of the business.

Under the terms of the wage concession, new employers would be able to claim up to £4,800 for each employee in the first year of operation, £1,000 in year two and £600 in year three. The average annual pay of Remploy shopfloor workers is £13,800.

The new deadline for submission of business plans by prospective bidders is 25 June.

Maria Miller, minister for disabled people, said: “We’ve always said we wanted to safeguard as many jobs as possible and we have listened to those who have already come forward and bid for the factories. That is why we are now offering this extra support which will add to the variety of innovative and enterprising bids.”

Remploy was established after the second world war to provide employment for people disabled in the conflict.

The Circus Challenge game, created with a computer game studio, aims to help patients recover motor functions.

Players use wireless controllers to perform virtual circus acts such as lion taming and plate spinning.

It is hoped the PC-based game will serve as a cheaper and more effective alternative to existing treatments, with patients able to play at home.

The project received a £1.5m grant from the Health Innovation Challenge Fund, a partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health, to allow further development.

‘Trapeze artist’

One patient, who suffered a stroke in February, said the game was “something different which encourages me to keep going with my therapy”.

Danny Mann, 68, from Dudley, Northumberland, said the game compared favourably with the “dull” exercises he had previously been instructed to complete.

“This is the first time I’ve ever played a video game – I mean, I don’t even own a computer.

“When I got the controllers I tried being a trapeze artist – something I never expected to try at my time of life,” he said.

Mr Mann said he was looking forward to furthering his recovery by playing the game with his grandchildren.

‘Engrossed in competition’

Janet Eyre, Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience at Newcastle University, said the game would help meet the shortfall of trained therapists who stroke victims must normally work with on a frequent basis as part of their rehabilitation.

“With our video game, people get engrossed in the competition and action of the circus characters and forget that the purpose of the game is for therapy.”

Professor Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer and chief medical adviser at the the Department of Health, said the newly-developed technology was a “remarkable innovation in the NHS”.

“The government is committed to supporting such work and bringing breakthroughs from every area – even video gaming – to the front line of patient care,” she said.

Circus Challenge becomes more difficult as players gain more strength as their recovery progresses. The tasks require both gross and fine motor skills and can be performed by people in wheelchairs.

About 80% of stroke patients do not fully regain their arm and hand functions, however it is hoped there will be some improvement on this figure as patients are able to continue their rehabilitation at home.

In the UK, 150,000 people suffer a stroke every year, costing the economy an estimated £4bn in care and loss of income.

RT @dwppressoffice: Minister for Disabled People Maria Miller will be on @bbcquestiontime tonight in Cardiff. #bbcqt—
BBC Ouch! (@bbcouch) May 17, 2012

What would you ask her?

The Wolfson Foundation has pledged £700,000, which almost completes the Nottingham Hospitals Charity’s £2.1m part of the funding package thanks to other funding raised.

The centre, at the City Hospital, helps make extended stays more comfortable.

A charity spokesman said the donation underlined the project’s importance to patient wellbeing.

The rest of the funding to make up the final cost of £6.6m will come directly from the NHS.

The new centre, which aims to treat 250 patients each year, is intended to create a more homely environment.

It will include video phones so patients can speak to each other without the risk of infection and a specially designed outdoor exercise area.

Building work is due to start this year, with work estimated to take approximately one year.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder which causes thick secretions in the lungs, inhibiting breathing.

East Cheshire Community Transport said it had a monthly Cheshire East Council grant cut from £10,506 to £6,186.

The group, formerly Crewe, Nantwich & Congleton Dial-a-Ride, said it was “very, very sad” about the closure.

The council said it was told trading would end on Tuesday despite its “generous” £81,000 grant on 1 April.

Co-founder Bill Scragg said his organisation, which covered east Cheshire apart from Macclesfield, estimated it had more than 900 memberships.

‘Cup of tea’

He said it introduced a membership scheme of £12 a year in 2011, which was “helping to top up reserves, but it wasn’t enough”.

He added: “Our drivers would often carry shopping in for them [passengers] and make a cup of tea.

“There will be a replacement service by Cheshire East Council, but it won’t be the same as our service.”

Mr Scragg said the group claimed concessionary fares back from the council and these amounted to £73,000 annually, but that stopped from 1 April.

However, he added: “Every council has got to save money. I haven’t got a complaint about that.”

‘Alternative providers’

The council said it was “disappointed” to hear that the independent operator could “no longer sustain Dial-a-Ride in Crewe”.

A spokesman added: “We can confirm that we have swiftly sought other providers to ensure that schoolchildren affected will receive home-to-school transport immediately.

“Around 60 adults who rely on the transport to access social care establishments will be catered for in the short term by our own fleet of buses.”

The spokesman said customers who booked a journey for this week would have to make other arrangements, adding: “We are urgently seeking alternative providers and the charity’s current membership will be contacted immediately, once new arrangements have been secured.”

He said the council had been informed that the transport charity’s trustees were talking to professional advisers about the current financial position and “only then will we be able to glean a better picture of why this situation arose”.

It is part of a new project called Memory Bank developed by the Yorkshire Film Archive (YFA) along with healthcare professionals and carers.

Old films have been carefully selected to help participants remember the past.

YFA director Sue Howard said one user had said: “It’s like peeling back the years – the memories are still there, its just needs a trigger.”

The majority of the films being used are home movies shot in and around Yorkshire from the 1940s to 70s, all of which are housed at YFA which is based at York St John University.

The six-minute clips feature familiar subjects such as holidays, sports, school days, shopping and working life.

The YFA said they focus on everyday activities that participants will have experienced at one time or another in their youth.

Fashion mistakes

The films come in a resource pack, complete with notes and tips on what to discuss at various points.

Memory Bank follows an 18-month research project.

Organisers of the study said the films prompted conversations with the participants on everything from knitted bathing costumes, free school milk and 1960s fashion mistakes and clocking on at work.

Ms Howard said: “Memory Bank is about opening up our collections to a huge range of old people, many of whom face a number of age-related challenges, and who often have very few opportunities to see and enjoy films such as these.

“Reminiscence therapy and memory work play an invaluable role in improving a sense of personal identity and well being, and stimulating communication and sociability.

“Memory Bank is a unique proposition – it uses films taken largely from our home movie collections, which are a fantastic visual record of everyday life over the decades.

“It is these films that trigger our collective memories.”

Social gerontologist Professor Dianne Willcocks, emeritus professor at York St John University, said: “Memory Bank offers older people a compelling and fun tool to reclaim their lived past and to share it with family, friends and carers.

“It works both for those living with dementia and for those simply living with rich memories.”

The project has been supported by the Screen Heritage UK programme, which is a partnership between the British Film Institute, Screen Yorkshire and English Regional Film Archives, to safeguard the future of the UK’s national and regional film collections funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.