02/03/2017 East Midlands Today

Now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Dominic Heale.

There's a warning tonight that Leicester's reputation for employing

cheap labour in so-called sweat shops could ultimately

It follows a visit today by Westminster's

A leading clothes manufacturer says unless the industry cleans

Our reporter Nisha Chopra can tell us more.

From catwalk to high street in a matter of weeks.

Leicester is the place for fast fashion, turning around an order

from design to product and onto the shop floor

My biggest concern is that retailers will move out of Leicester.

They will start sourcing offshore, and it's a sad day for Leicester

Workers here are paid ?7.20 an hour, proving that factories can

be competitive and pay the minimum wage.

People here who mainly speak English as a second language told me

they would not work for as little as ?3 or ?4 an hour.

These unscrupulous factories are exploiting that skill base.

They are producing an excellent garment, but the fact

is they are not paying the correct wages.

They've seen turnover rise by ?3 million and workers

But other factories in Leicester need to change if the city

is going to see the true benefit of fast fashion.

Nisha Chopra, East Midlands Today, Leicester.

Harriet Harman is the chair of the Joint Committee

on Human Rights and was one of those visiting Leicester today.

She told us the law on regulation of the garment industry

We were hearing from suppliers that they estimate between a third

and more than one half of the people working in the industry

here in Leicester are being paid below the minimum wage,

are in unsafe conditions, and don't have contracts of employment.

If it's between a third and more than one half, that's a great

many people whose rights are not being protected.

Leicester City Council lost their low pay unit some years ago,

so they are not releasing it here, they do not have regulatory powers

It's a combination of making sure the authorities

have the right powers, whether that's the gang

masters licensing authority or new powers for the Council -

that's one of the things we're going to be considering and we've

been discussing today - but also the question of

If we want to protect the workers themselves,

what rights do they have to whistle-blow, to report

anonymously what's going on, or to make a claim?

How can they be incentivised financially to make the disclosures,

to make the protests, to make it worth their while?

So that they can actually expose the bad employers.

How much of a responsibility lies on the high street retailers,

because at the end of the day, if they are selling the clothes

cheap, if the clothes are made cheap, how can fast fashion

I think fast fashion can be ethical, it's obviously the way of the future

but the price has got to be fair on those who are actually

A teenage boy who died following an incident at a house

in Nottingham has been named by police.

Officers were called to Sloane Drive in Bramcote in the early

13-year-old Josh Clark was taken to hospital where he later died.

His family described him as a "very loving young boy".

A 36-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of supplying

a controlled drug and causing grievous bodily harm.

She has been bailed pending further enquiries.

A woman's been injured during an armed robbery in Leicestershire.

It happened at a convenience store in Melton yesterday afternoon.

She suffered a head injury before her attacker,

who was wielding an axe, fled with cash.

A few minutes earlier police had been called to a nearby

shop on Grange Drive, after an attempted

Officers are appealing for witnesses.

Nottinghamshire Police is stepping up its campaign to stop police

The force's Chief Constable says it shouldn't be an accepted part

of the job and action will be taken in all cases.

Stand back, put your arm down, otherwise you're going to get CS.

Body cam footage showing PC Tom Andrews being

The Nottinghamshire Police officer says the man changed

from cooperative to violent, eventually attempting to choke him.

At the time, your instincts and your training take over,

and you do not necessarily think about it.

But it's only when you watch the footage back again that you

It makes the hairs on your arm stand up, and get goose bumps.

Assaults on a police officer, I feel, aren't treated as seriously

currently as assaults on anybody else, or taken with the seriousness

Recent figures from Nottinghamshire Police show that in a year,

there were reports of 160 assaults on police officers

The force are backing a campaign to tackle the problem and to provide

The Chief Constable, along with the Police Federation

and two unions, have signed a pledge to tackle violence against officers.

In my experience, it's always been an aspect of the job.

But I want to say quite unequivocally, it is unacceptable,

completely unacceptable, and what we are here to do is not

From my position as Chief Constable, I want to make sure I send the right

message to the staff about the fact that the organisation

The force says it wants to raise awareness about the dangers officers

face and the need to ensure that those officers

Meanwhile, several East Midlands police forces have

Government inspectors say Leicestershire Police aren't good

enough at investigating cases and reducing offending.

They've also concluded that the police in Nottinghamshire

and Lincolnshire need to do more to support victims

But the Derbyshire force had one of the top ratings in the country -

classed as "outstanding" in dealing with serious crime.

More than 50 reports of lasers being pointed

at aircraft were recorded at East Midlands Airport last year.

That's according to the Civil Aviation Authority,

which says there were at least 54 incidents at Castle

The pilots' association, BALPA, wants tougher prison

And it's warning that the effect of lasers on pilots puts lives at risk.

It's cost East Midlands councils almost ?1.5 million to clear

And as Quentin Rayner found out, it's not just rubbish that's left

Despite the threat of an unlimited fine and or five years in prison,

fly-tipping still blights, as enforcement officers

This is a marine paint, used for the underneath of boats,

and also for concrete posts within water to stop them

Discarded tires, along with cables stripped of their copper,

have also been dumped on these bridleways near Mount Sorel

Latest government figures show that total numbers of fly-tipping

instances in the East Midlands exceeded 30,000 last year, up more

It cost councils ?1.43 million to clear it up.

Derby and Leicester accounted for a third of that.

More than 5000 black bags had to be disposed of,

along with 1800 white goods and 178 animal carcasses.

We obviously need the evidence, we rely on the public to support us.

Having said that, we have had 11 prosecutions and issued 80 penalty

Council say if they had more cash to spend on CCTV,

But could Leicestershire's decision to reduce tip opening times be

It could, but having said that, our fly-tips

It's no excuse if the tips are closed, when there are other

If you're tempted by a quote from a man in a van, beware.

If you haven't checked their license is valid, and the waste

is traced back to you, you are the one who

Quentin Rayner, BBC East Midlands Today.

So, it's goodbye from me - but with your weather

Good evening. As we move towards the weekend were looking at a slightly

unsettled picture, low pressure in charge and some weather

coming up from the south-west. We coming up from the south-west. We

will see some rain in the next days. First of all, this evening ended

with some beautiful sunsets sent in by our weather watchers. We had a

similarly beautiful photo sent in. Beautiful skies there. As we move

through tonight, quite a calm night, most of us staying largely dry. Just

a chance of isolated showers in the north. Variable amounts of cloud,

temperatures falling to an overnight low between four and 5 degrees. As

we move into tomorrow, some brightness around first thing, but

we will see a band of low cloud and rain coming up from the south. That

rain could be quite heavy at points, we see the wind picking up as well

while we have that rain. Will introduce some slightly milder air

though, temperatures between six and nine tomorrow. South easterly

breeze. As we move through the evening we will see that rain

clearing out to the north, just a chance of one or two heavy showers

through the night. Into Saturday, this front could cause some trouble

in the east. A bit of uncertainty as to its exact positioning. Looks like

it will be cloudy with some outbreaks of rain on Saturday. I'll

weekend, we have more rain in the forecast. Rain at times this

weekend, not all the