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Quangos – short for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation – are seen by many, including the current administration, as a waste of money. Consequently the government, keen to make savings, has abolished many of them, putting many thousands of public sector workers out of a job. Half of these bodies in the department of health have gone, as confirmed by the minister concerned, Andrew Lansley. Doctors and nurses' groups have criticised the decision to axe organisations like the Health Protection Agency. Tensor can make savings for employers and organisations with its state of the art time and attendance clocking systems. Under this regime, employees clock in and out using smart cards, the data from which is used to create a wide range of daily working patterns (shifts), with either fixed or flexitime rules. These can run past midnight, making night shifts simple to define. The WinTA Lite software has a familiar Windows™ interface, providing quick and easy access to information. A range of output styles let you export to web pages, spreadsheets or as simple text files.  

Questions will be asked about security procedures because an armed robber absconded for a second time after he was sent to an open prison. Twenty-six year-old David Patmore had already escaped custody from the dock seven years ago. "Open prisons have existed since 1936 and they are the most effective means of ensuring prisoners are tested in the community before they are released,” a Ministry of Justice spokesman said. "To release prisoners directly from a closed prison without the resettlement benefits of the open estate would undoubtedly lead to higher levels of re-offending.” As well as being experts in Access Control, Tensor offers its Prison Pass computer based pass system for registering each visitor, both on and off site, to improve security. It allows HM Prison Service Officers to quickly check the identity of visitors. A photograph taken by a digital or eyeball camera is printed on a bar-coded pass using a high speed printer so each visitor is easily identified. At controlled monitor points, the visitor pass badge is swiped, thus verifing that the correct person is passing through.  

CCTV genuinely helps the police with their enquiries. For instance, camera footage has aided their investigation of a missing office worker in Edinburgh, which has resulted in Lothian and Borders Police launching a murder inquiry. The cameras show 38-year-old Suzanne Pilley just outside her office in Thistle Street on the day she went missing. The force has employed unusual methods in order to jog people’s memories. These have included a large screen placed in St Andrew Square, which showed CCTV footage of her on the way to her office. A massive array of digital CCTV cameras and recording systems is available from CCTV Surveillance Ltd for all budgets and all needs. These include infra-red, which have the capability of seeing in ‘absolute darkness’ and are ideal for town centre alleyways; and bullet cameras, which are cameras mounted in a cylindrical or bullet casing. They are perfect for situations where space and price are key factors because of their compact size and inbuilt lens. Our cameras are evidence quality so you will be helping the police to fight crime.

A former Scotland Yard commander has said a heist on two of the capital's most upmarket shops may have been an inside job. Raiders smashed windows at Omega and De Beers jewellery stores in the Royal Exchange shopping centre in the City of London on Saturday night. Ex-Flying Squad officer John O'Connor told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The villains did not drive up on the off-chance they could get through security gates. There is always the suspicion that they had somebody on the inside." Tensor’s technology is ideal for the current security climate with its access control range. Automatic barriers can be installed at the entrance to your site and enable you to securely control vehicle access. At this point you are able to allow or deny access to anyone visiting your site. Barriers can be controlled remotely, from your reception area; or locally, from a guard post next to the barrier. Smart cards can be used to automatically open the gate when an authorised member of staff needs to get in. Accurate records of any visitors are stored within the monitoring software.  

In a drive to save money in the civil service and public sector, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles announced that the Audit Commission will be scrapped. Mr Pickles said the body had "lost its way." As an example of his displeasure, he vetoed the appointment of a new chief executive for the Commission; and was angry that the Commission splashed out on a corporate event – all at a cost of nearly £250,000 to taxpayers. Tensor installs Time and Attendance technologies including biometric fingerprinting, smart cards and key fobs so that businesses or bodies can save money on their clocking bottom line. Whichever software system you choose, whether it’s the basic WinTA Lite or advanced WinTA Enterprise, you can be assured that you will receive a simple to use, highly secure way of monitoring your employees' time and attendance clocking data. The WinTA package also has the facility to export reports as either plain text or CSV files, making interfacing with all popular payroll packages simple. The Tensor WinTA Lite package includes a T32xx Clocking Station and 50 smart cards.  

A £37 billion deficit needs to be cleared by the Ministry of Defence, although the Government is targeting the civil service mandarins rather than troops. The Minister in charge, Liam Fox, said it would be "difficult and painful" to deal with this "dangerous deficit", but pledged a stop to the "endless salami slicing" of military budgets. Dr Fox ruled out any merger of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF but has hinted there were still disagreements between the MoD and the Treasury over who will pay the £20 billion cost for replacing Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent. Savings can be made at your work environment via Tensor’s proven range of Windows™ based time and attendance products, from simple collection of employees' clocking data, through to extensive labour hours analysis. Our software has lots of standard analysis and viewing screens which enable you to analyse, approve and audit clocking transactions made by employees. A report can also be saved in a variety of formats or even transferred to other Windows packages. This is a quick and easy process once users become familiar with Windows.

Regional and local transport minister Norman Baker said on the imminent end to wheel clamping on private land, set to be implemented by the end of 2010: “The rules governing parking on private land should be proportionate.” He added: “Cowboy clampers have had ample opportunity to mend their ways, but the cases of bullying and extortion persist. That’s why we are putting an end to these outrageous practices once and for all. Drivers will no longer have to fear intimidation from rogue traders, and we can then allow the parking industry to begin to restore its reputation with the motoring public.” Any change in change in is unlikely to affect those premises which install Tensor access control systems – these allow entry via contactless smart cards and are able to control your site’s gates, barriers and turnstiles. It means neither cowboy clampers nor illicit parkers can enter your facilities. The system can be used for multi site companies and will control most standard types of internal or external electronic, magnetic door locks or releases. Smart card readers are located out of sight and there is no need to remove your ID badge from a wallet or purse to use it.  

The government has reached a landmark of time spent in power – and this has been ‘celebrated’ in an unusual way. The TUC (Trades Union Congress) has listed 100 cuts affecting poor families to mark the coalition's first 100 days. The union organisation gave as examples the cancellation of an expanded free school meal programme and literacy help for children with learning difficulties as evidence that the pain of repaying the huge national deficit was not being equally spread. The TUC is asking for all future Budget cuts to meet a 'fairness test'. Your company can meet its tight budget, even when cuts are necessary, thanks to Tensor time and attendance systems. After employees clock in with smart cards, with the WinTA Lite software you can view all time and attendance information for an employee or a single department and see when jobs are going over budget. Tensor even offers a specialised and simple PC-based clocking system for schools, WinTA PC Clock. The entry level WinTA Lite is designed to self-install. Alternatively, you can buy engineering or training days from us and we will install the system and train your staff.

David Thompson, freshly arrived in the West Midlands as deputy chief constable after three years as Assistant Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police, said until the details of the comprehensive spending review were announced it was hard to predict its impact on the number of his officers. Plans had been put in place to protect front line delivery. His comments came as Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the current level of police officers was not “sustainable”. Unrestricted by the number of employees and packed with additional features, WinTA Enterprise is specifically designed for firms who require the ultimate time and attendance system to enable them to produce greater productivity and efficiency. It provides total control over working rules, job costing and fire roll call, and biometric technology is easily added to prevent an employee clocking in on someone else’s behalf. Biometrics (use of unique characteristics – in this case fingerprints) would be useful for organisations like the police which need extra security as it provides irrefutable proof of identity.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted a partner in construction company Bryan Brown & Son, of Flamborough, Bridlington, after finding substandard staff toilet facilities. Following the initial HSE inspection an Improvement Notice was served on Mr Brown (later fined) as the principal contractor. Bridlington Magistrates Court heard that on a subsequent Humberside site visit it was found that the requirements of the Improvement Notice had not been complied with. A sewage outlet had been provided to the toilet, but there was no water supply to the unit. Neither was there any water available at the sinks. Installing a Tensor toilet turnstile is a simple solution to giving decent toilets to workplaces where there are large numbers of employees. Since they are coin operated they can mainly finance themselves. Half height toilet turnstiles provide an unobtrusive method of controlling access to your facilities. Speed and reliability are provided, ensuring that even during busy times, your half height turnstiles do not compromise the safety and security of those passing through it. All our turnstiles are durable so they are ideal for long-term use.

Caught on camera was the moment a man threatened a petrol station cashier with a rock – just a few hours after being released from prison. The result of this night-time robbery in Exeter was David Fairbairn being jailed for a staggering 73rd time. Recorder Jeremy Wright told Fairbairn: "This was a very serious crime. You went into this garage, wielding a stone as a weapon, which is a frightening thing to do, and you carried out this crime at night." Fairbairn was sent to prison for 30 months for holding up the Devon service station. A CCTV surveillance system is one of the many security products offered by the group of companies under Tensor’s umbrella. One of the main features of our CCTV’s is that they are integrated to work with a standard PC monitor; while the cameras can be added to our many smart card and biometric access control networks. Password and security features limit the viewing of certain cameras to specific groups of people, enabling you to securely manage who is able to see particular areas of activity.

Time and Attendance technology from Tensor would benefit local authorities, especially as the Government has put pressure on them to save money. Minister Eric Pickles said council leaders could do some of the work currently carried out by chief executives, and added that authorities could save on the bottom line by merging departments such as accounting, instead of cutting front line services. Speaking to the Local Government Association, Mr Pickles stated: “Is it really right, in this day and age, to have separate planning departments? Lawyers? Communications teams?” The time and attendance contactless smart card clocking system is suitable for both small and large public bodies or companies; and enables them to fully cost jobs, identify those jobs which are over budget and deal with all manner of complicated working patterns. A WinTA Lite time and attendance system comprises of: WinTA Lite software installation CD, a T8440 Clocking Station, 50 Smart Cards, an extensive user manual, a serial cable for communications to a PC and ten days of free helpdesk support from date of purchase.