Tuesday 11 November 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Howard unveils new face of the Tories
Michael Howard announced a new more slimline Conservative shadow
cabinet yesterday.
Moves within the shadow cabinet, which has been cut from 12 to 26,
include David Davis becoming shadow home secretary taking over from
Oliver Letwin, who has become shadow chancellor. Other changes
involve Tim Yeo taking on a newly created role of shadow secretary
for health and education.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 11 November page 1
Soham jurors retract girls’ steps
Jurors in the trial of Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr
retraced the final known steps of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells
yesterday in the village of Soham in Cambridgshire.
Their journey involved looking round the house where the
10-year-olds are alleged to have been murdered by Huntley.
They also went to the storage shed where the girls’ partially
burned clothes were discovered.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 11 November page 5
Secure homes at risk
The Youth Justice Board announced plans to dramatically cut its use
of secure children’s homes last night throwing the institutions’
future into question.
The YJB said it would be cutting the number of places it uses in
homes by almost 40 per cent due to the level of young people being
held in custody falling, and because privately run secure training
centres were a cheaper option.
Most secure children’s homes are run by local authorities who have
warned that many will now have to close due to the YJB’s plans. The
board currently uses up to 75 per cent of the homes’
capacity.
The 28 secure children’s homes in England generally look after
young people aged 10-17 who are sentenced or on remand, but some
also care for “welfare” cases where the young person is showing
extreme behaviour.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 11 November page 8
Labour divided over childcare
Supporters of prime minister Tony Blair and Chancellor
Gordon Brown are divided over plans for a central plank of the
manifesto to be the provision of universal childcare for all
pre-school children.
While Brown wants to direct money towards poor families, Blair’s
advisers are in favour of spreading the funding across the board to
gain support from the middle classes.
Children’s minister Margaret Hodge will outline part of the
government’s plans today at a speech to childcare charity Daycare
Trust.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 11 November page 13
Scottish newspapers
Man who abused boy for 12 years goes free
A sheriff decided yesterday not to jail a chapel worker who
sexually abused a boy for 12 years because it would not be in the
public interest to lock him up.
Patrick McGrath groomed a 16-year-old boy after the teenager’s
cousin died in the late 1980s. The 71-year-old could have faced up
to 10 years’ imprisonment after he admitted a charge of
shameless indecency. But Sheriff Lindsay Wood placed him on three
years’ probation, giving his backing to a social work report
which recommended he should not be jailed.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 11 November
Protesters oppose eviction of asylum seekers
Protesters rallied outside Glasgow City Chambers last
night in objection to the eviction of asylum seekers who have been
refused permission to stay in the UK. Around 20 asylum seekers have
been removed from their homes in the past four months. Campaigners
fear a new wave of evictions shortly because many of those housed
temporarily in the city’s Sighthill area as part of the dispersal
scheme are due to receive decisions on their asylum
applications.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 11 November
Welsh newspapers
Asylum seeker must go
An asylum seeker, who fled Croatia following the imprisonment of
his father for alleged war crimes, has been told he must return to
his homeland.
Mihajlo Graorac settled in Newport three years ago and has married
and established a promising career. But at a hearing last week an
adjudicator for the Immigration Appellate Authority ruled that he
must now return to Croatia.
Amnesty International is still fighting to free Graorac’s
father who it said was imprisoned following an unsafe trial.
Newport East MP Alan Howarth said that returning to Croatia would
put Graorac in genuine physical danger.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 10 November page 6
Help now at hand for drug addicts
Help for drug addicts in Gwent will take a major leap forward later
this month with the official launch of the
‘Kaleidoscope’ project.
The Church-sponsored project will work with the Gwent support
services already established across the county via the Drug and
Alcohol Treatment Fund.
Martin Blakebrough from Kaleidoscope said that the project would
offer an appointment-based service, and that the service should
mean that no-one with a dependency would have to wait for basic
treatment.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 10 November page 13
Views of children should be heard
The charity, Save the Children, has launched a major report on
children and young people’s views on education.
The report recommended that children’s opinions should always
be canvassed during school inspections to help tackle bullying and
discrimination.
The report also called on the Welsh assembly to provide more
resources for peer support schemes, and to introduce child-friendly
complaints procedures.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 11 November page 2
Pupils’ free breakfasts policy flawed
The Welsh Liberal Democrats said that the flagship policy to
provide free breakfasts in primary schools across Wales is
flawed.
The Welsh assembly plan to launch free breakfasts in the most
deprived parts of Wales next September, and extend them to the
whole country by 2006.
But Liberal Democrats said that the policy, though
well-intentioned, was flawed and that there was no budget for the
scheme. They also said that other parts of the education budget
could suffer as a result.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 11 November page 7