Brighton & Hove Police have donated £1,500 to the Brighton and Hove LGBT Community Safety Forum to fund the hire of a High Dependency mobile Unit (HDU) at Pride this summer.
The High Dependency Unit is a specialist facility that provides a range of features which makes events accessible for people with moderate to severe disabilities.
The unit incorporates many facilities for disabled people including a tracking hoist, height-adjustable changing couch, support hand rails for ease of movement, and emergency call alarm.
Last summer over 200 people used the HDU, including children, people with medical needs, attendees with physical and hidden disabilities and those needing a safe place to change their clothes. The HDU also has features such as a full length mirror and basin with running water, allowing trans people to change in the park, who would otherwise be too fearful to dress publicly for the first time.
It is hoped even more people can made use of the HDU this summer and that LGBT people who otherwise would feel unable to access the event are now able to.
Billie Lewis
Billie Lewis, Chair of the LGBT Community Safety Forum, said:“It’s brilliant that the Police have decided to support the access needs of the community at Pride. The HDU will play a significant role within the community area at Preston Park ensuring that those who need our support the most will get it. It will also change the way people access their Pride on the day. The facility at the Access Tent shared with the Trans* Community Area and the Family Area will draw different people together for the first time. We are deeply passionate about this project and thank the Police for their support.”
Rory Smith
Rory Smith, LGBT Liaison for Brighton & Hove Police, said: “I am thrilled that for a second year Sussex Police are able to contribute to the accessibility of Pride by supporting the financing of a HDU at the Access Tent. Pride is a place for all LGBT to be open and celebrate who they are”.
The donation comes from the Police Property Act Fund (PPAF), made up of monies received by the police from property confiscated by order of the court and then sold.
Record number of MPs and peers attend ‘Halfway to World AIDS day’ events at Westminster today.
A record number of legislators attended a ‘Halfway to World AIDS day’ event in the House of Commons today hosted by the Halve It campaign and Stuart Andrew MP, Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV & AIDS.
30 MPs and peers attended the event, 18 of whom took a HIV test administered by clinicians from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, in an act of solidarity with all those living with HIV across the world every day of the year, and in demonstration of the UK’s policy commitment to HIV testing.
This was the second HIV testing marathon run by the Halve It campaign, building on the success of last year’s event. During the event, members of the Halve It Steering Group, including leading HIV clinicians and CEOs of patient and policy organisations, spoke with parliamentarians about HIV testing and related sexual health issues.
This year’s event included exhibitors who are organising Halve It local groups designed to drive implementation of HIV testing guidance in specific regions by addressing issues relating to late diagnosed and undiagnosed HIV in their area.
Professor Simon Barton, Consultant in Genitourinary medicine from Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, said that the event was “a critical opportunity for parliamentarians to commit to combatting HIV in the lifetime of this parliament. It is imperative that MPs across the country show their support for local implementation of HIV testing policy.”
In the UK an estimated 107,800 people live with HIV every day of the year; 24% of these are undiagnosed and 42% are diagnosed late.
The sooner HIV is diagnosed the sooner appropriate care can begin, and thanks to medical advancements the life expectancy of someone living with HIV has increased markedly in recent years. By ensuring that HIV testing becomes routine there will be significant long-term savings; with one early HIV diagnosis saving the NHS £63,061.
Halve It is a national campaign that focuses on the expansion of HIV testing services, on the basis that early testing of HIV saves lives and also results in substantial savings to the public health budget.
Since its inception in 2010, Halve It has galvanised national and local cross-party support for HIV testing, and is supported in its aims by the Prime Minister, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health, and the leader of the Liberal Democrats.
In a move coined “a dark day for local democracy”, Brighton & Hove City Council Officers have blocked a Liberal Democrat petition that sought to give residents answers over the removal of outgoing CEO Penny Thompson, and the six-figure pay out she is set to receive.
Jeremy Gale
The proposed e-petition, was submitted via the Council’s website on Saturday, June 21. Council Officers took a week to inform the lead petitioner, Jeremy Gale, that the public would be denied the opportunity to add their support.
The petition read, we the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to:
a) Explain why the Policy & Resources meeting of Thursday, June 18 was held behind closed doors.
b) Explain the reasons as to why Penny Thompson was put in a position where she had to resign.
c) Explain why, at a time of budget pressures, a £269,000 payout was agreed.
d) State what safeguards will be put in place to protect council tax payers from obscene levels of payouts in the future.
Gale had hoped to get 1,250 signatures, which would have triggered a debate on the matter at full council.
Responding for the council, Mark Wall, Head of Democratic Services cited “possible legal sensitivities” as to why the petition had been rejected and that “it is not appropriate for the petition to be presented at a Council meeting.”
Liberal Democrat, Jeremy Gale, said:“The whole process of removing Penny Thompson has been shrouded in a cloak of secrecy.
“The meeting that decided Penny’s fate and also the £269,000 she is set to receive was held behind closed doors, followed by politicians hiding behind walls of silence and carefully constructed statements. We now have unelected Officers denying residents an opportunity to show that they want answers regarding the decision. It is a dark day for local democracy.
“The payout has seemingly been nodded through by the Conservatives despite the fact the Conservative Government, in its Enterprise Bill, hopes to introduce a cap on exit payments made to public sector workers to end six-figure payouts. It is this kind of toothless opposition that angers so many residents who will now be footing the bill for Thompson’s payout.
“Our petition also sought to establish what safeguards would be put in place by the Council to protect residents from any obscene payouts in the future. It is only right for the Council to establish such mechanisms to ensure our council tax is being spent on service provision rather than any future golden handshakes.”
Steve Parry
A second petition submitted by community activist Steve Parry was also declined.
Mr Parry’s submission was titled: “No to the payoff”
We the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to refuse to pay Penny Thompson £269,000.00 as a ‘Payoff’.
Justification: Nobody with a moral and ethical commitment to public service can justify such a payment especially when the proposed recipient received more than £310,000 after a severance package and expenses from Hackney Council when she resigned after two and a half years. This is particularly important as, under her “leadership”, ‘Penny’s Pennies’ have been refused to those receiving DLA despite such action being ruled illegal by the High Court.
Mark Wall, Head of the Council’s Democratic Services, responded to Mr Parry, saying: “Your Online petition NO TO THE PAYOFF has been rejected because it names individuals, or provides information where they may be easily identified, e.g. individual officers of public bodies, or makes criminal accusations.
“Following consultation with the Council’s Monitoring Officer, I can confirm that:
“Unfortunately, the nature of the subject you have raised, including potential legal sensitivities, means it is not appropriate for the petition to be presented at a Council meeting. It has therefore been decided, accordance with the council’s constitution, not to accept it.
Mr Parry was arrested by Sussex Police on October 23 2011 after making allegations of fraud in the Council’s Housing Department. He was held on bail for 12 months before police decided not to proceed with any charges.
Mr Parry always maintained he was arrested to silence him.
On March 30, 2015, The Independent Police Complaints Commission upheld a complaint made by Mr Parry about his arrest and have instructed Sussex Police to re-investigate Mr Parry original complaints surrounding his arrest in 2011.
That investigation is being conducted at the moment and is ongoing.
Jugal Sharma the Head of Housing at Brighton & Hove City Council was sacked in November 2014 from his £82,000 a year role, for gross misconduct following a disciplinary panel hearing.
Mr Sharma was one of four people being investigated during an £18 million Sussex Police housing fraud investigation.
The High Dependency Unit is a specialist facility that provides a range of features which makes events accessible for people with moderate to severe disabilities.
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