Wednesday 25 June 2003

By Amy Taylor, David Callaghan and Alex Dobson.
Heating scheme ‘gives cold comfort to fuel-poor’

A scheme designed to provide help with heating to people who can’t
afford to pay fuel bills is failing to reach those most at need,
according to the National Audit Commission.
The commission said that about a third of the people who received
help from by ‘The Warm Front’ scheme were ineligible to
receive it.
Source:- The Financial Times Wednesday 25 June page
5
Flagship jobs scheme for single parents boosts government
coffers

A four-year study has found that single parents who go on to the
government’s New Deal for single parents jobs programme double
their chances of getting a job.
The scheme has helped tens of thousands of single mothers who have
left the scheme to go into work, no longer requiring income
support.
Critics will point out that despite the success of this programme a
parallel scheme for people on incapacity benefit has had little
success.
Source:- The Financial Times Wednesday 25 June page
5
My daughter was driven to despair by a school
bully

The parents of a nine-year-old girl who has been driven to having
suicidal thoughts due to bullying are in uproar due to their local
authority refusing to exclude the bully responsible.
The  parents claim that despite a string of vicious assaults on
their daughter, officials refuse to exclude the girl responsible
from St.Wilfred Roman Catholic School in Ripon, north
Yorkshire.
The family state that when they went to see their daughter’s
headteacher to discuss the problem and asked if he could guarantee
her safety, and he said he could not.
Source:- Daily Mail Wednesday 25 June page 31
Football thugs ‘led attack on Kurd refugees’
A group of football hooligans was accused by the police of
leading one of the worst racially motivated disturbances in recent
years yesterday.
The gang, who support Wrexham United in north Wales, was a part of
a larger gang of 200 who went on the rampage on a housing estate in
the town in search for Kurdish refugees and then fought with
police.
Source:- The Telegraph Wednesday 25 June page 8
Protests over stifled debate on curbing louts
The government’s amendments to the Anti-Social Behaviour
Bill got through the Commons last night, despite Conservatives and
Liberal Democrats claiming that there was not enough time to
discuss the new measures.
Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem’s home affairs spokesperson, accused
ministers of denying MPs the chance to scrutinise the amendments
made to the bill properly.
Source:- The Telegraph Wednesday 25 June page 10
Blair fights off attempt to ban smacking of
children

The prime minister rejected calls from two parliamentary inquiries
to ban parents and from smacking their children yesterday.
The demand came from the Lords and Commons joint committee on human
rights and the Commons health select committee.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 25 June page 8
Think-tanks feel pressure from funders
The prime minister’s favourite think-tanks are under increasing
pressure to change reports from companies offering financial
incentives rather than produce new ideas for government
policy.
Organisation’s such as Demos, the IPPR and the Fabian Society deny
that they give up  their independence in return for money, but
admit that some companies try to influence reports when offering
financial assistance with research.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 25 June page 10
Clergy to withhold absolution for child abusers
New guidelines for Church of England priests will instruct
them to withhold from granting absolution to child abusers who
confess to them until the abuser has told the police or social
services.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 25 June page 11
Guardian Society
Position of trust

Will the new foundation hospitals wreck coordination of local
health and social care provision?
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 25 June page 4
Berkshire cuts point to funding crisis
Mental health services in Berkshire are to experience the
largest cuts seen in over a decade.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 25 June page 4
Emissaries to spread best practice
Two senior local government professionals are leaving their posts
to join the local government improvement and development agency
(Idea) as strategic advisers in social care and education
services.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 25 June page 4
Commission with teeth and transparency
The chief executive of Guide Dogs for the Blind, Geraldine Peacock,
is stepping down from her position in order to become a charity
commissioner.
She replaces Julia Unwin and has called on the commission to be
bolder in its work.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 25 June page 4
Public order
It’s been a whirlwind first year for youth offender panels, charged
with steering young people back on to the straight and
narrow.
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 25 June page 10
A sympathetic ear
Profile: Fin Kennedy, playwright inspired by social work
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 25 June page 15
Damning evidence
Ivor Gaber on how courts are failing witnesses
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 25 June page 16
More flexible friends
Leonard Cheshire awarded for innovative training scheme
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 25 June page 135
Scottish newspapers
Nurses take anger on to the streets
More than 2,000 nursery nurses marched through the streets of
Glasgow to campaign for more money.
The protest was part of a nationwide day of action that saw
virtually all council-run nurseries in Scotland close down.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 25 June page 9
PM refuses to ban smacking in light of Scottish executive
fiasco

Tony Blair refused to ban smacking in response to two reports from
MPs’ committees calling for it. The Scottish executive was
forced to climb down last year after deciding to ban smacking on
children aged under three.
Former justice minister Jim Wallace was unable to convince enough
MSPs to support the measure despite making it a personal
crusade
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 25 June page 9
Welsh newspapers
£60,000 – and rising
The bill for keeping a former residential home that now
stands empty, secure, has topped £60,000 and continues to
rise.
The home, Hazelcroft in Fairwater, Cardiff, was the subject of an
inquiry by the Welsh assembly, following allegations of abuse of
residents.
In March this year, Cardiff council said it was involved in
negotiations with Hafod housing association over the sale of the
site but the issue has still not been resolved.
Source:- South Wales Echo Wednesday 25 June page 6
Free summer swimming for children a first in
Europe

Summertime swimming will be free for all children across Wales, in
the first national scheme of its kind.
Following the success of pilot schemes in 10 of Wales’s 22
local authorities, a further £2.5 million scheme is to be
introduced, so that more children in the principality can take
part.
According to Welsh assembly sports minister Alan Pugh children in
some of the most deprived areas of Wales have so far benefited from
the scheme.

Source:- Western Mail  Wednesday 25 June page 10

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