News in brief

The Department for International Development has awarded
disability experts at De Montfort University a £500,000
contract to provide disability equality training in Russia and
Mozambique. 

Sex and relationship education should be giving more attention to
HIV and Aids to raise awareness among young people and to combat
prejudice, say the National Children’s Bureau, the HIV Forum on
Children and Young People, and the Sex Education Forum. Their
remarks coincided with World Aids Day this week.

The Department for Work and Pensions has published an information
pack to inform disability organisations of the new permitted work
rules for people receiving an incapacity benefit. Go to www.dwp.gov.uk

The Fostering Network has received funding to develop a pilot
scheme to train 36 young people to participate on fostering panels.
Training will take place over the next four months in London,
Cardiff, Birmingham and north Wales. It is open to young people who
have spent time in foster care and the children of foster carers.
Call 020 7620 6400.

A book detailing the personal accounts of people who have
experienced mental health problems has been published by the Royal
College of Psychiatrists and the West London Health Promotion
Agency. Changing Minds: Our Lives and Mental Illness feeds into the
anti-stigma campaign being run by the Royal College of
Psychiatrists. Go to www.rcpsych.ac.uk/publications