Fresh inquests into the deaths of 21 people who died in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings offer an opportunity for the perpetrators to come forward, said Canon Janet Chapman after Birmingham's top coroner ordered them in view of ‘significant’ new information that West Midlands Police missed two potential warnings of the bomb attacks. Canon Chapman belongs to Birmingham Cathedral, which has been holding an annual vigil for the victims of the double bombing, which struck two pubs in 1974. Explaining her hopes for the new inquests, she said, ‘I think it is about discovering more about the truth. It is a desperate situation with the gross miscarriage of justice over forty years ago. As I have worked in the cathedral and have got to know some of the victims of the families, I can see the heartache they carry because they do not know the truth.’

In her first major statement since the Home Office took over responsibility for fire and rescue services this year, Theresa May said that lack of diversity and accountability and bullying make reforms necessary. She criticised the services for being 96% white and 95% male, and for condoning a ‘culture of bullying and harassment’ in some parts of England and Wales. In her speech she confirmed her intention to allow elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs) to take over fire and rescue services where a local case to do so is made, and to introduce an independent inspection regime, which she said was currently impossible. Mrs May described a toxic and corrosive culture in some parts of the services, necessitating a programme of reform that was ‘radical and ambitious’.

Schools in England are struggling to support pupils with special needs or disabilities. A survey of 1,100 school leaders found delays to assessments, insufficient budgets, and cuts in funding to local authorities. The Government says it has increased funding for those with ‘high needs’. There are 1.3 million children in England - 15% of the total - who have special educational needs or disabilities. Of these, 1.1 million are in mainstream schools rather than in special schools. 82% of mainstream schools do not have sufficient funding and budget to provide adequately for pupils with special educational needs. 89% of school leaders believe cuts to local authority services have had a detrimental impact on the support their school can give these pupils. Three-quarters of schools have pupils who have been waiting longer than expected for assessment of special needs or an education, health and care plan. 88% of school leaders think that initial training does not prepare teachers adequately to support pupils with special needs.

Criminal gangs are using over a dozen small ports and harbours not protected by border officials to smuggle hundreds of migrants into the UK. Europol has identified the following smuggling hotspots: Hull, Immingham, Orford Ness, Harwich, Tilbury, Purfleet, Whitstable, Dover, Newhaven, Chichester, Portsmouth, and Portbury. The Chief Inspector of Borders warned that border officials are not collecting details about the identity of passengers entering the country on small boats. Captains routinely ignore legal requirements to report their movements and who they have on board. The Border Force rates its own performance as poor in 27 out of 28 areas.