04/02/2013 Inside Out East

$:/STARTFEED. 38 homes, by the age of 15. That's the reality for this

mum's daughter. We ask if our vulnerable children are being well

looked after, as budget cuts bite. When you don't know what's happened

to that child, it rips you apart. Marks and Spencer in the firing

line - a �1 million fine for asbestos breaches. We reveal the

company was warned of problems eight years earlier.

And why are more and more of us taking to extreme endurance events?

I'm finding out for myself, at Tough Mudder in Northamptonshire.

This is unbelievable. The more mud you go through, the harder it gets,

the more exhausting it gets. They're the stories that matter

To mack, we are in it Whitlingham. Managers turned up a blind eye to

complaints about asbestos, and shoppers are right to be anxious

about whether they have breached -- breathe asbestos fibre. That was

the view of a judge as it -- as he imposed a �1 million fine on a

store in the south. But we have been asking if the problems were

confined to just one Marks & Spencer outlet.

Pietter Pipping was a warehouse manager at odd Ford from the 1960s

to the 1980s. -- M&S. His working life was Marks &

Spencer. Peter suffered from rheumatoid

arthritis. In 2010, he was diagnosed with diffuse pleural

thickening. He believed he may have been exposed to asbestos at five on

Ford stories in the 1960s and 1970s. He described people smashing down

at seedings, taking cladding off walls and columns, and all of that

book as he described to me was made of asbestos.

P to die from a heart attack in May last year, before he could pursue

his claim for compensation. M&S says they were not responsible

in any way for Pietter Pipping's exposure.

He is one of a number of people who it is claimed developed asbestos

related diseases from working at Marks & Spencer.

More Pietter Pipping work there at Folkestone in Kent from 1961 until

1966. During that time that there was renovation work involving

asbestos. Her only route to go to the canteen or toilet was fire

where the work was being carried out on the floor above.

Int 2007, Freda Hughes developed mesothelioma. She discovered the

exposure may have been a at M&S. She met the local chemist and the

hairdresser had been reading that Bristol had had asbestos in it.

Marks & Spencer paid three doubt a substantial amount in compensation.

She died of mesothelioma in 2011. It is possible that staff were

exposed to asbestos in our stores. It is tragic that our staff and

colleagues were affected. Any illness relating to asbestos is

terrible, and we did pay compensation which is absolutely

right. As society has learned, our policies have become Industry

leading. Most of our major it retailers have

stores but used as best as former. Some have been fined for breaching

red -- regulations. They include House of Fraser, the Co-op, Top

Shop and John Lewis. But evidence we have about how

Marks & Spencer have handled as best has been on Mac stores is

worrying. It suggests warnings may not have been fully heeded. In 9098,

but Ford refurbishes its store in more blotch.

But -- more above large. You could not have guaranteed the safety of

anybody. Wallace begins copping pages from

reports the left by the day and night shifts, and this report says

Somebody has to control the day shift, if they do not want the

store closed and the the HSE crawling all over you.

A recommended that all areas where it was reasonable to assume we

would find it, be handed over for asbestos removal.

Were you Wallis riots took M&S Chief Executive Sir Richard

Greenbury. M&S say they are taking the

appropriate action. Our team are at the time, 15 years ago, thoroughly

investigated on the day and some three months afterwards, and I can

find no case whatsoever to say that any member of staff or the public

was put at risk. M&S also says William Wallace was

mistaken about what materials may have contained asbestos.

understand there was not asbestos everywhere. We met Mr Wallace in a

third party location. His claims were discussed. He went away,

rethink, happy. He was then invited to take those claims to the Health

and Safety Executive. He did not do that.

He in 2006, William Wallace begins working as a safety can tractor

working at M&S wedding. There was very little control on the

contractors working on the ceilings. We find other reports of incidents

that had occurred. -- we find other reports.

For wing a tip off, the HSE swoops on the Reading store. Or M&S is

prosecuted. Among the witnesses in 2011, this building worker. We have

disguised his identity. He described it to be caught a girl

stacking sandwich packs. A you could see the dust falling

down on health. We asked her if she could move somewhere else. We were

told, we do not tell staff where to Began its in the ceiling are

initially sealed with hardboard. The dust narrowly missed a small

child in a buggy. In court, Marks & Spencer tried to

blame its contract is for all the problems. The implementation of on

that policy was not correct. We will make sure it never happens

again, and we are clear that our policy to date is leading the

industry. And yet fans were switched on in a roof where there

was potentially asbestos? This was regrettable. The implementation was

not carried out. M&S was found guilty of asbestos

breaches, fined �1 million and �600,000 in costs.

His Honour Judge Christopher Harvey Clark said there had been a

systemic failure by management. Marks & Spencer's response was to

turn a blind eye to what was happening, because the asbestos

what was already costing the company too much. To keep profits

as high as reasonably possible, insufficient time and space were

allocated to asbestos removal. have never, ever put profit before

safety. Investigations were full and thorough. Our policies were

described as sensible and practical. We regret what happened at Reading.

The judge said contract as an staff and shoppers have a right to be

anxious about whether they have breathed asbestos fibres, and what

effect that might have on their well-being and future. I think best

-- expert testimony would say there was no risk to Obama customers or

staff. Two of Bob Ford's staff were also

fine. -- M&S's staff. Mesothelioma can take decades to

develop. Many people never know when or where they were exposed to

asbestos. For Marks & Spencer and the Hall of the retail industry,

what happened at ten or 20 or 30 years ago may still have an impact

today. Any suggestion that staff or customers were put at risk,

deserves to be examined. If there is anything you think we

should be looking into, please send me an e-mail.

Still to come. I get submerged in mart to find out

why we love pushing ourselves. These people need the excitement of

realising they could get hurt! The number of vulnerable children

being taken into care is increasing, and it can be difficult for local

councils as they struggle with tighter budgets. A few years ago

Essex County Council was leading the way with a new kind of care.

But now that has been scrapped. BBC Radio Stoke's political reporter,

Elizabeth Glinka -- reporter macro meets the mothers with think that

was wrong. Having your child taken into care

is one of the most difficult things are more they could face. But some

in Essex say that situation has become a whole lot worse.

I have come to meet a mother whose son was taken into care when he was

eight. Since then, here has been looked after in a care home run by

Essex County Council, but the home a long with 11 others has been

close. She cannot be closed, to protect her son's identity.

would smash a house up, try to jump out of windows, tried to smash

windows. Then he started getting violent with his siblings and

myself. On a daily basis I would be How did it feel to let your trout

down? I felt like a complete failure. -- your child. He settled

there really well, he was getting on so well. How did you feel when

the County Council announced they were going to close the home?

Absolute devastated. Panic. It is the worst decision that Essex

County Council have ever made. These are children's lives. But her

son is not alone because Essex County Council didn't just close

his home, over the past three years its shut all of its mainstream

childrens homes - including this one here at Little Clacton - the

only county in the east to take such a radical approach. The only

care homes now owned by Essex County Council are those that

specialise in children with disabilities, meaning all the

children in the mainstream care homes, around 70 in all, had to be

rehomed, the majority with foster parents. Figures show the number of

children in foster care in Essex gross 66 % during the closures. And

it's that concentration on fostering that is causing concern.

This Essex mother has two children who've been in care for most of

their lives. One has thrived in foster care - but for her 15-year-

old daughter it has been a disaster. She wants to remain anonymous to

protect their identity. How many place whence her she had now?

placements up to last year. -- How many placements has she had. How do

feel? It upsets me, especially when you don't know what has happened to

your child. It happens you -- it rips you apart. Because you know

she isn't settled? Yes. But what has surprised and angered parents

is the method of care practiced at homes like this one was pioneering

and had implications for the care of children across the country. The

system Essex was using is called social pedagogy. Although

successfully practised in Europe, it is uncommon in the UK. Essex

County Council were so enthusiastic about the idea four years ago, 160

staff were trained up and the system was rolled out across all of

its 12 mainstream care homes. Jonathan Stanley helped them set it

up. The Ofsted inspection showed the Essex homes were all working to

an extremely good standard and that was being sustained over a number

of inspections, so the homes in themselves were really offering

very good care to young people. Essex scrapped the entire social

pedagogy project and the last home was closed last year. However,

elsewhere some counties are still using the system. This residential

care home in Cambridgeshire is run by the charity, Break, and helps

provide stability for youngsters who've already had numerous

placements in other care or foster homes. What is Social Pedagogy?

Social Pedagogy for me is very much a child -focused way of working its

about building relationships up with young people. -- it's about.

What do you think then are the main differences between this childrens

home and what somer people might perceive to be a traditional

childrens home? It's a home. It doesn't Look institutionalised. We

focus on the love. If you're working or living with someone for

years, it is not difficult to form attachments. We love the people we

work with. The staff at this care home are convinced social pedagogy

works - particularly with children that have experienced multiple

placements. Essex was a leader in this at that time. It was a service

that people were looking to an something they wanted to emulate.

We were mystified. Essex County Council say the homes were closed

because there were too many vacant beds and that the children would do

better in foster care or by going to a privately run home.." This has

saved a lot of money, hasn't it? It costs just under �700 a week to

fund a child in foster care, but in a local authority children home it

costs about �2700 so is this more about money? I don't think it's

about money at all. I'd never apologies for having saved

taxpayers' money and used it more wisely and more appropriately.

However, the thing that we needed to do was ensure we got the right

placements for the right chidlren and just having a sort of block

booking for beds didn't necessarily provide them with the right

placement. He trained 160 staff and invested a lot of money, yet it was

scrapped within a year. The process worked well in some cases of, not

so well in others. Certainly, the children that go for whatever

reason into care homes don't have good outcomes. Their educational

outcome is not as good, their lifelong health tends to be worse,

so if we can get the nearest thing that equates to their loving family,

that is the best we can do. challenge what is presented as a

fact of the that children under fostering do better than those in

children's hopes -- homes. The outcome currently shows that

children in children's homes are doing less well, that is true, but

they have more negative life experiences to be overcoming.

is other things they can cut costs with. This is children's lives,

this is the future. They are messing about with their lives and

it should never have happened. Never. 20 12th was a great sporting

year. -- 2012. What if you fancy doing something very extreme? I

spent a lot of time running around here getting a red -- ready for an

event in Northamptonshire that is tough. Described as the toughest

obstacle course in the World, Tough Mudder is a 12-mile endurance test.

It makes running a marathon seem These people need the excitement of

standing there and realising that they could seriously get hurt.

tried have obstacles that test every different way the human body

can be tested. Tough Mudder's been a huge success in the United States

and now it's coming to Britain. Kettering in Northamptonshire has

Over recent years, marathons and triathlons have become increasing

popular. Something like Tough Mudder is obviously trying to tap

into that demand from people looking to challenge themselves.

There is only one way to get an idea of how difficult it is. I'm

quite fit anyway, but I have had to train really hard over the past

couple of months for this. This is Scratby beach near Great Yarmouth.

Now, I've run marathons in the past, but what I'm planning to do

seemsfar more challenging. I need to know if I'm really prepared so

I'm meeting Ben Price, a fitness So, what kind of challenge will I

be up against? What kind of challenge are you not going to be

up against?! Upper-body strength, lower body strength, all sorts of

stuff. Do you think I will cope? Physically, no worries. It will be

tough but your mind might struggle a little bit. We don't know what's

coming. It is an unknown quantity, This is 12 long miles of hell!

event's being staged in the grounds of Boughton House, a stately home

near Kettering. More than 10,000 people have paid around 60 quid for

the privilege of taking part. It is really loud, but the atmosphere is

tense and it's really starting to get to me now, it's really helping

We are really trying to test people without obstacles in every which

way, mental toughness, physical death -- toughness, we testing your

stamina, agility and endurance. We're really testing your fears, as

well. We do have a injuries, a lot of sprains, but we have had their

it -- we have been very fortunate not to have any major injuries.

That is a credit to allow a event planners and the medical staff we

have one side. Dutch that is a credit to an hour event planners.

The 12-mile long course has 25 obstacles and should take me around

three hours to complete. Watching with interest is sports scientist

Simon Rea, he thinks some people are naturally drawn to take part in

events like this - it's something Watching with interest is sports

scientist Simon Rea, he thinks some people are naturally drawn to take

part in events like this - it's something they feel they just have

to do. Certain researchers have looked at personality and they have

identified that there may be a risk gene. Certain people are

predisposed to put themselves at risk. That is why people come out

on a Sunday morning and put themselves at serious risk to their

health. They may find their lives a fairly safe and routine, lacking

challengers. They may have a sedentary day job where it is all

quite routine. It goes back to our hunter-gatherer days whenever we

were that threat, had we had to go out to us Hunt to survive. All of

that challenge has been taken away. They need the excitement and these

thrills in their lives, hence the success of things like the Tough

We work in a hospital, so we are very clean all the time. A little

different! If you do it as a team, it's not so bad. People who watch

television all the time and don't go to the gym, there's always an

easier option in life, but this is a way to challenge yourself and

make yourself work harder. For some reason, I managed to book myself on

to this act of sheer madness. But, great day and fantastic competitors.

A real team effort. This is unbelievable. You think, this bit's

OK, then there's a bit round the corner that is even worse. The more

modest you go through, the more exhausting it is. -- the Mork --

the more mud. While it looks competitive, organiser's stress the

event is not about racing round trying beating other people, the

challenge comes from finding your own personal limits and working

together as a team. A lot of people in work situations want to develop

cameraderie. Cohesion, to stick together and work together at all

costs. A lot of companies will invest money in taking days out and

doing team-building activities, but this is a real-life situation. They

come and work as a team. It builds really deep bonds. This is the last

obstacle now. We're going to get electric shocks. We're going to

finish it together. I feel a bit shell-shocked now I've finished it.

There were times when I did feel pretty tired and about half way

round, I thought, I don't think I can finish, but glad I did it. It

wasn't quite as tough as I thought it was going to be, but it was

still pretty tough. I've run marathons in the past, but I've got

to be honest, for me, Tough Mudder wasn't quite as physically hard.

Maybe next time I'll try to do it quicker. That is it from Norfolk.

If there's anything you think we should be looking at on the

programme, you can contact me via Twitter or e-mail. I will be back

next week with these stories from the east. We investigate if

councils from the east are building the right house is where we need

them. The heart-warming story of the self-made Norfolk businessman