Water companies dumped untreated sewage into England’s rivers and seas for more than 2.7 million hours last year.
Each pipe should have a permit from the environment regulator. But #Dispatches can reveal some are being used illegally.
Our #Dispatches investigation has found there are 870 sewage discharge pipes across the country without permits.
Dumping sewage from these pipes is illegal.
Welsh water has 184 and says they’re all in use.
Northumbrian Water has six which are all in use.
And Severn Trent has 420 but did not state how many are being used.
“This is off the books, so we have no idea when it blows or how much comes out”
@jimmysfarm spoke with a campaigner from @LDNWaterkeeper who found one of these illegal pipes without a permit on the River Brent in London.
On average over the last 10 years private water companies have invested five to six billion pounds a year in infrastructure.
But they’ve also paid out £1.7 billion a year in dividends to shareholders. So have they invested enough?
“The situation will get worse every year if we don’t invest in upgrading the infrastructure.”
Research by @imperial College London for #Dispatches reveals four out of the five largest sewage treatment works that dumped sewage last year did so because they're too small to cope.
Illegal child labour is being used to supply cocoa beans to Cadbury – Britain’s favourite chocolate brand.
#Dispatches has been undercover in Ghana where children as young as 10 have been working gruelling hours to supply cocoa beans to Cadbury.
“Did it hurt?”
Young children bear scars from the dangerous work they do using sharp knives and machetes on coca farms linked to Cadbury. Other children are seen struggling with heavy loads, long hours and dangerous tools.
“I suffer a lot when I am farming.”
Some of the children working here have been sent by their families to live and work on the farms, stopping them from going to school.
One of the experts who advised the Department for Work and Pensions on the benefit system, and raised concerns was clinical psychologist Professor Geoff Shepherd. 2/
#Dispatches conducted a survey which shows many disabled people feel this system impacts their health. We contacted 80,000 disabled benefit claimants and had over 3,500 responses. 3/
- Desperate staff shortages
- Outdated equipment
- Dangerously long wait times
- Delayed diagnoses
- Botched operations
- Needless baby deaths
- And 12,000 negligence claims in a single year
@Channel4 “You feel ashamed of the care you’re giving.”
Chronic staff shortages are putting patients and staff at risk, and affecting healthcare outcomes across the country. By 2024, it’s estimated there will be a shortage of 160,000 NHS staff - over 10% of staff.
@Channel4 In parts of the UK, there’s just one GP per 3,000 patients. Nationwide, that number is three per 1,000 - the lowest ratio in Europe.
Currently 10% of NHS jobs are unfilled, and there is a shortage of 40,000 nurses. By 2024, there is predicted to be a shortage of 11,500 GPs.
In the past four years, nearly 2000 police officers, special constables and PCSOs in the UK have been accused of some form of sexual misconduct, #Dispatches can reveal.
@Channel4 Two weeks ago, the sickening details of how Sarah Everard was kidnapped and murdered by a police officer shocked the nation. But this abuse of power and authority by serving officers is not a one off. 2/
@Channel4#Dispatches received responses to Freedom of Information requests from 39 police forces revealing the shocking scale of the abuses. 3/
A global pandemic. A maze of unanswered questions.
The lethal cost of Covid-19 has been felt around the world - but where did the virus come from? Did it leak from a lab, or is that just a conspiracy theory? #CovidLeak?