内容摘要：Leader of Somerset Council Bill Revans said the authority had previously spent about £100,000 over the years on keeping the Willow Man in place.

Leader of Somerset Council Bill Revans said the authority had previously spent about £100,000 over the years on keeping the Willow Man in place.

A report said the force was too slow to respond to calls and "failing to support victims" and called for urgent improvements.Chief Constable Paul Gibson said he accepted the report's findings, but said the force was "starting to see some real improvements".

Some of the report's findings, and the force was moved into an enhanced level of monitoring.The full report, published on Wednesday, gave more detail and said the way the force investigates crime was of "serious concern" and must be "urgently improved".

Although it does "a good job" of investigating the most serious crimes, "the force isn't allocating investigations to appropriately trained officers and staff who have the right skills and experience", according to the report.Inspectors found officers only met incident response targets in 52.6% of cases, which meant the force was "missing opportunities to safeguard the public and reduce crime".

They said in the year ending March 2024, black people were nearly five times more likely to be stopped and searched or subjected to force than white people. The report said there were "gaps" in the records to explain why.

On finances, the report said Lincolnshire Police's savings plan did not address several areas of inefficiency.Representatives from Japan have visited the town to learn about the award-winning, community-led, blood pressure-check programme entitled 'How's The Ticker'.

Representatives from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government visited Barnsley to see first-hand how the scheme works.The initiative, launched in 2022, has delivered more than 8,000 free blood pressure checks across the borough, with the scheme popping up in barber shops, cafes, libraries and workplaces.

The Japanese delegation visited Barnsley to witness how the town uses local data to target residents who are most at risk of heart problems, and how public health teams are reaching people in familiar, everyday settings with schemes such as 'How's The Ticker'.They continue to urge employers in the area to take part in the scheme by hosting on-site health checks.