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Sex charge tutor case reveals ‘massive safeguarding hole’

Published

4 hours ago

October 3, 2024

NewsAdmin

Sex charge tutor case reveals ‘massive safeguarding hole’

Getty Images Child writing in a note pad

A man charged with sexual assault has been advertising as a private tutor for children in maths and science, a BBC investigation has found.

The man, who we’re not naming for legal reasons, left his job as a teacher last year.

Bail conditions prevent him having any contact with children and he is due to stand trial in March.

We also found another teacher who has been barred from the classroom by a disciplinary panel but is now advertising one-to-one online tutoring sessions.

It comes after the BBC reported more than 90 private tutors had been convicted of sexual crimes against children over the last 20 years.

BBC News has continued to examine the tutoring industry, in which there is no legal obligation for private tutors to undergo any background checks or be qualified to teach.

Charities say the cases of the two private tutors highlight a lack of regulation in this area.

The man charged with sexual assault only removed his tutoring ad after the BBC contacted him

Online tutoring advert for man contacted by the BBC — The man charged with sexual assault only removed his tutoring ad after the BBC contacted him

Until recently the ex-teacher who is charged with sexual assault had a personal tutoring website and an online advertisement which remained active.

The ad was only removed after the BBC made contact.

We don’t know whether the man continued giving private lessons in maths and science after he was charged, but in a phone call he claimed to have stopped.

“It’s a massive hole in safeguarding,” says Marilyn Hawes, chief executive of the child protection campaigning group Freedom from Abuse.

“It’s a huge risk. The onus is on the individual [tutor] to be honest.”

The second tutor we found is a former science teacher who was brought before a disciplinary panel after taking a pupil on an overnight trip.

The panel heard the girl’s parents had given permission for the outing and ruled that his interest in the child had been paternal and not sexual in nature.

But it decided his conduct was unacceptable and he had failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries.

He was banned from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

He has been given permission to appeal against the decision in two years’ time.

Criminal checks

Anyone wanting to work with children has to apply for a DBS – or Data and Barring service – check, which looks at criminal records and other databases of individuals banned from this kind of work.

There are three types, basic, standard and the most detailed – an enhanced check.

Under current regulations the former teacher does not need a DBS check to work as a tutor.

But in his case, if an enhanced check had been done, it would have revealed the outcome of the disciplinary panel.

We discovered the man is still offering private online tuition.

We contacted him, posing as a parent, asking about lessons for a 15-year-old girl.

He messaged back, offering GCSE support with exam techniques and a trial online lesson.

Following our investigation in September, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, called for all private tutors to be properly DBS checked.

The Tutors’ Association, an optional membership organisation that represents 50,000 tutors across the UK, already demands its members have an enhanced DBS check.

‘My daughter was put at risk’

Our original report prompted several emails to the BBC from victims of abuse. They didn’t want to give their names.

“I had a tutor at the age of 12. He tried to touch my breasts,” wrote one anonymous contributor. “I ran away to the bathroom and locked myself in. I refused all future lessons with him.”

A mother told us that she had dismissed her daughter’s English tutor for swearing and using inappropriate language. She told the tutor’s agency but it took no action.

“I later found out the tutor had been in a news report for physical assault,” she said. “My daughter was put at risk.”

The BBC has not corroborated their stories.

The tutor who had been charged with sexual assault had been advertising on a website called Superprof.

It claims to be the top platform for private tutoring in the UK.

The company says it expects its tutors to have a DBS check and it encourages them to keep it updated.

There’s no suggestion that Superprof could have known about the charge against this particular tutor.

It’s not clear when the man posted his advert, or whether he provided a clear DBS check, carried out before he was charged.

However, even an enhanced DBS only provides a snapshot of the applicant’s criminal record at the time of application.

Superprof told BBC News: “Our priority is the safety and wellbeing of everyone who uses the platform.”

The platform said tutors are asked to upload identification, education and work credentials when they sign up.

Tutors also contacted the BBC to say they want to be able to get an enhanced DBS check to reassure clients. But these can only be applied for by an employer or an approved organisation.

One told us: “It should be a legal requirement, just like if you work in a school.”

The government says it expects tutoring agencies to follow safeguarding guidance – and that means DBS checks should be undertaken.

The Department for Education says it is now considering what further action might be appropriate.

Ms Hawes, from Freedom from Abuse, suggests adults accompany children to tutoring sessions, adding: “If you’re taking your child to a tutor’s home, sit in the room with them, sit in the corner and read a book while they’re having their lesson.”

If you are experiencing any of the issues mentioned in this story you can visit BBC Action Line for a list of websites and helplines that can offer direct help at any time.

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Customers face heating problems if meters not replaced

Published

3 mins ago

October 3, 2024

NewsAdmin

Customers face heating problems if meters not replaced

Older meters need to be replaced due to the end of the longwave signal

BBC Older style electricity metre hangs on a wall with cables coming in and out — Older meters need to be replaced due to the end of the longwave signal

Around 175,000 Scottish energy customers face major problems with their home heating systems if they do not have their meters upgraded in the coming months.

The Radio Teleswitching Service (RTS) controls energy tariffs for hundreds of thousands of homes, sending signals to store energy via the BBC’s longwave transmitter.

The signal is due to be turned off for good next June but hundreds of thousands of homes have still to be converted to updated systems.

If this does not happen, customers could lose control of heating and hot water, leaving the systems either permanently on or off.

The deadline has already been extended from last March, but energy regulator Ofgem said that work to replace the old infrastructure needed to be accelerated.

Charlotte Friel is its director of consumer protection.

“The pace of replacement is not where it needs to be,” she told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme.

“The industry has been working on RTS replacement for some time and has replaced 200,000 meters this year, but there are still 700,000 to go.

“This call to action is about bringing the industry together and emphasising the pace needed to accelerate the replacement programme, dedicating resources, getting boots on the ground in the right places.”

How do you know you have an RTS meter?

Some customers may be unaware their meters are controlled by RTS. But there are clues.

Ms Friel said: “Typically if your meter switches between on and off-peak rates, if your home is heated by electric storage heaters and if you live in a region that is off-gas supply, these are typical features that could mean you have an RTS meter.”

The RTS switches the meter from on to off-peak mode. Once that signal is switched off it will mean the customer loses control of their heating and hot water.

This could have different outcomes in different households.

In worst case scenarios, it could mean that the heating and hot water is permanently on or permanently off.

Ms Friel said: “Some of the challenge is around getting customers to engage with their suppliers. Not everyone understands the arrangements they are on and we appreciate that.

“It is on suppliers to reach out to customers but they can play their part too by letting engineers in to upgrade their meters.”

She said that the vast majority of cases are straightforward replacements. There will be some more complex installations but Ofgem is confident there is a technical solution for everybody with an RTS meter.

Homes running from the RTS system need to be upgraded to more modern methods before next summer

Getty Images A modern smart meter displaying the number of units used sits on a kitchen counter. A set of keys is on the counter beside it. — Homes running from the RTS system need to be upgraded to more modern methods before next summer

Frazer Scott, from campaigning group Energy Action Scotland, said there were growing concerns around the switch happening on time.

“With the scale of these changes over such a short period of time, we’re really concerned that it’s simply not going to happen,” he said.

“And the consequences are considerable for all those households that might be affected when it’s switched off.”

He added: “It is unacceptable that it is so late in the day with so little certainty.”

Mr Scott said it now felt as though the industry was working together to solve the issue but described it as the “eleventh hour”.

“It is incredibly worrying but at least they’ve finally got together some kind of taskforce and hopefully this will mean there will be an acceleration in this change,” he said.

He said about a quarter of the affected households were in Scotland and the country was “disproportionately affected”.

Mr Scott also called for “proper support” for people in case their heating fails.

“People just want a certainty of supply with a much cheaper cost,” he added.

“What we’re looking for from industry is certainty that people’s bills will not rise as a result of making a meter change, which would seem ridiculous.

“But at the moment we’ve not even got those kinds of assurances from industry, and nor is it clear who will pay for additional costs should a household require them to ensure they have a safe supply to their house.”

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Tesla stock drops 3% after Q3 deliveries fall short of estimates

Published

3 mins ago

October 3, 2024

NewsAdmin

Tesla Q3 deliveries could drive 'further strength' in the stock

Tesla (TSLA) announced third quarter deliveries on Wednesday that slightly missed expectations, sending the stock down about 3%.

The EV maker delivered 462,890 vehicles in the three months ending Sept. 30, up 6.4% quarter over quarter to mark the first quarter of delivery growth this year. The numbers also came in ahead of the 435,059 EVs the company delivered in the year-ago period.

Wall Street had expected Tesla to deliver closer to 463,897, according to Bloomberg.

The Model 3 and Model Y represented the bulk of Tesla’s overall total, with those two vehicles combining for 439,975 deliveries.

Prior to the delivery numbers’ release, Tesla stock had been up around 20% in the past month, fueled by optimism about its upcoming robotaxi event on Oct. 10 and good news coming out of China indicating rising sales there.

But investors have also debated a “notably lower” annual vehicle growth rate, which Tesla warned about after the first quarter.

The company is currently dealing with stiff competition in China from Chinese automakers like BYD and Xpeng. Recent price cuts have also squeezed profit margins as competition intensifies.

Analysts have said next week’s robotaxi event will serve as a pivotal moment for the company’s future and its plans to further utilize artificial intelligence.

“We believe Robotaxi Day will be seminal and historical day for Musk and Tesla and marks a new chapter of growth around autonomous, FSD, and AI future at Tesla,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.

Tesla will report third quarter earnings on Oct. 23.

Alexandra is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @alliecanal8193 and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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