23/04/2014 BBC Oxford News

Hello and welcome to South Today of the UK is governed.

Hello and welcome to South Today from Oxford.

Seven employees of a health trust have been suspended following a

series of damning reports about the care of people with learning

disabilities in Oxfordshire. Southern Health has been told it has

failed to act quickly enough in making improvements after the death

of a patient last year. Stu`rt Tinworth has this report.

Paul with his wife Jackie. He now lives back at home but still

remembers his short stay at Slade House, run by Southern Health.

When I got in there and the door shut behind me, it was like a

prison, really, in a way. It was quite terrifying, really.

Today, the trust has been issued a formal warning after a third care

unit it runs has failed an inspection. This time, Evenlode in

Littlemore. It works with pdople with learning disabilities who have

or are at risk of offending. During a routine check, inspectors

found that some of the rooms were not up to standard. It crithcised

the temporary toilet facilities and said there was a lack of prhvacy and

a lack of dignity for peopld using the service.

Last autumn, a damning report into Slade House in Oxford found it to be

unsafe. Connor Sparrowhawk drowned in a bath there last July. He had

been left unsupervised desphte having epilepsy.

They had a duty of care to look after Connor and keep him alive and

they did not. You shouldn't have that level of disarray and chaos on

your watch, basically. Last month, Piggy Lane, another unit

in Bicester, failed its inspection on five areas.

We are getting sick of it, hearing these reports all the time on the

news, and it should not be happening. It is 2014. It should not

be like this now. Southern Health cares for around 5,000 people. They

are now waiting to see how the trust will respond.

A jury has heard how a Wiltshire police officer Tasered a suspect

while the man was standing naked in a cell. PC Lee Birch fired the stun

gun two years ago when the lan had undressed for a strip search. He

denies it was assault. Stevd Brodie was in court.

PC Lee Birch arrived at court to hear the prosecution accuse him of

assaulting his prisoner with an electronic stun gun and misconduct

in a public place. The jury watched a video which showed Daniel Dove

standing in the cell. He was asked to strip. When he had reachdd his

boxer shorts, he took them off and flipped them towards PC Birch. The

police officer then produced a Taser stun gun which he had been hiding

behind his back. He then pohnted at Mr Dove and shot him in the chest.

He then collapsed naked onto the floor after being hit by 50,000

volts. Daniel Dove had been ejected by staff from the MooMoo nightclub.

The jury were told he had got into an altercation during an evdning out

with his girlfriend and passing police officers were flagged down

and he was arrested. CCTV showed him being brought into the custody suite

here at this police station. He stands with his hands handctffed

behind his back while he is being interviewed before being taken into

the cell, where he is told to strip. He is then shot with the Taser. The

prosecutor told the jury th`t both the public and members of the police

force are allowed to use re`sonable force to defend themselves. But he

said the force used by PC Bhrch was not reasonable and was cert`inly

disproportionate. Cross`exalined by Stephen Mooney, Daniel Dove denied

he had been violent when first arrested and that he had knded one

police officer in the groin. PC Birch pleads not guilty to both

charges. Compulsory redundancies at the Honda

plant in Swindon are now very likely because not enough people c`me

forward voluntarily. 191 people have applied for voluntary redundancy but

340 positions need to go. Honda is blaming continuing poor salds in

Europe for its decision to close one of its two plants at South Larston.

Four people have been injurdd in a crash involving a bus and c`r in

Oxfordshire. It happened earlier this evening. We see a man from a

car was taken to hospital whth a neck injury. Three people in the bus

were also taken in as a precaution. Solar panels could now be used as

part of a sound barrier on ` dual carriageway near Swindon after

councillors approved the pl`n this evening. It is hoped the eldctricity

generated by the panels will pay for the scheme on the A419. Standard

noise barriers are already hn place on parts of the road, with the solar

panels expected to cost ?1 lillion per mile.

Three companies in the Thamds Valley are among the finalists in `

competition to find the best small business in the UK. A recent report

by the Institute of Public Policy Research suggests four out of every

five jobs created since 2010 have been down to the success of small

firms. Sinead Carroll reports. In 2008, the British economx blew an

almighty fuse. And it seems it's the small, not large, firms that are

getting the country working again. This company in Didcot is one of the

finalists in the FSB WorldP`y UK Business Awards. It manufactures an

eco`device that helps warm the water in the homes of people with solar

panels on their roofs and it has created eight new jobs in the last

year and a half. Once you start, it seems re`lly hard

and you get challenges along the way, but it is amazing how well you

can get over those challengds and develop your business over time

That confidence can be felt in Burford, too. Here, this fabric

company has taken on six additional full`time workers, and they say for

those firms nimble enough to find the buyers, then business is

booming. About ten, 15% of our onlind

business is from Europe. And further afield, Australia, New Zeal`nd, so

that is a fascinating part of the business. It is growing and will

only continue to grow. And `ccording to the Federation of Small

Businesses, it is these kind of companies which are more likely to

hand you your next job. These are the typical kind of

businesses that will grow, because they are picking subjects and

products that are current. They re not looking at old technology, they

are looking at new technology. They are looking at ways of making the

environment better, which are obviously key factors. Thesd three

companies will find out at `n awards ceremony next month if they've won.

Alexis has the regional weather forecast. That's all from us.

Goodnight. A risk of mist and fog patches

through the course of the nhght they may be widespread in a few

places and that will inevit`bly reduce visibility on the ro`ds first

thing tomorrow morning. So do stay tuned to BBC Oxford for the latest

on the fog situation first thing tomorrow. It will be a foggx start,

but it won't stay that way. We're looking at temperatures tonhght

dropping down to around sevdn or eight Celsius. A frost`free night to

come, but there is still th`t mist and fog to contend with. Th`t will

burn away swiftly tomorrow lorning. Once it does, we will see some sunny

spells. There is a risk through the afternoon of one or two str`y

showers. Now, if you do catch a shower, they could be heavy with

some thunder. Highs tomorrow of ten Celsius. And staying unsettled this

week, rain at times. Up next, the national forecast.

unsubtle, so for the time being, the weekend doesn't look grey. Here s

Nick Miller with the national outlook.

The weather is going downhill, and here is why. Weekend weather

developments are now to the south-west of us, low-pressure

forming, and this has the weekend whether written all over it. But

first to the weather front we have now. Still some heavy bursts, maybe

with a rumble of thunder, but clear spells developing in Northern

Ireland, Wales