Wednesday 21 April 2004

By David Callaghan, Lauren Revans and Alex
Dobson.

Brown challenge to unions on public sector
pay

Chancellor Gordon Brown will warn the public sector unions today
that the government will not tolerate inflationary pay
settlements.
He will tell the British Chambers of Commerce there will be no
u-turn on the decison to cut 40,500 jobs in the civil
service.
“There will be no going back to the old days of inflationary pay
deals that would put hard won economic gains in jobs, prosperity
and stability at risk,” he said.
Source:- Financial Times Wednesday 21 April page 2
Inquest call for abuse anonymity
A coroner has called for a change in the law to give anonymity to
alleged child abuse offenders.
John Matthews, the coroner in Newport, Isle of Wight, said it was
unfair on the alleged perpetrators of child abuse to give the
alleged victims anonymity.
He was speaking at the inquest into the death of Alastair Wilbee, a
headteacher who hanged himself at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, hours
before a local newspaper was to report allegations that he
indecently assaulted an eight-year-old boy.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 21 April page 6
New jail units for girls
Home secretary David Blunkett announced four new units are to be
built to take female prisoners aged under 18 to avoid the need to
keep them in adult prisons.
The new units costing £16 million will be built within
existing jails by 2006.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Wednesday 21 April page 6
Father cleared of killing 10-week-old
daughter

A jury at Winchester crown court was ordered to return a not guilty
verdict yesterday on a father accused of murdering his 10-week-old
daughter.
Mr Justice Grigson stopped the trial of Mark Latta from Hampshire,
saying that although it was possible he was responsible for his
daughter’s injuries, “there is absolutely no
evidence”.
However, he added that it was “beyond doubt” that
Charlotte Latta, who suffered brain damage and 32 bone fractures to
her arms, legs and ribs, had been abused by someone.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 21 April page 4
Donors and offspring can unite
A voluntary register of adults conceived with the help of
donated eggs or sperm was launched yesterday to help people contact
their genetic parents where they are happy to be identified.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 21 April page 8
Peer pressure
Local politics is failing to attract young people –
the average age of councillors is 57. Carl, Kate and Bill bucked
the trend, but can they encourage others?
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 2
Contributions welcome
New benevolent fund seeks better retirement plan for voluntary
sector
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 4
Net loss for disabled
Olympic website fails to offer accessibility for all, says
expert
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 4
Surplus and a smile
At Oxford, he was a “Bollinger Bolshevik”. But Stephen
Bubb has a new purpose: to make delivering public services
financially viable for charities
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 6
It works both ways
A project in east London that helps unemployed parents to find jobs
by providing free childcare – while they train to be
carers
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 7
Eastern promise
Geoff Mulgan is moving from his job at the heart of the
government to run the Institute of Community Studies, and spend
more time with his wife
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 8
Think tank
Demonising child experts is damaging child protection, writes Chris
Hobbs, consultant paediatrician at St James Hospital, Leeds
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 9
Worth the wait?
Patient forums were created so that communities could scrutinise
local health services. But there is a lack of resources,
accessibility, and awareness
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 10
The carrot crunch
Can bonuses and performance-related pay provide the right
incentives for public sector staff?
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 14
What else can I do?
Working for the intelligence service or for a council wired into
e-government are possible options for David, an IT specialist
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 21 April page 132
Blunders and shortcomings
The Bichard inquiry into the Soham murders will present its
findings in May. It is likely to reveal a disturbing lack of
systematic data-sharing between the 43 police districts of England
and Wales.
Source:- Guardian epublic, Wednesday 21 April, page 8
No longer a skeleton service
The first phase of the ‘spine’, a comprehensive
database of medical records for everyone in England, is soon to go
live
Source:- Guardian epublic Wednesday 21 April page 12
Scottish newspapers
Scout leader’s kid porn shame

A male nursery nurse, who was also a cub scout leader, has admitted
having 41 pictures of young boys on his computer. One of the images
showed a boy being abused.
Richard Carroll, of Donbank Terrace, Aberdeen, was caught after a
clampdown on child porn by Russian police. His credit card details
were passed to police in Scotland and his computer seized.
Carroll, who is now unemployed, was placed on the sex offenders
register. Sentencing at Aberdeen sheriff court was deferred for six
weeks for reports to be done.
Source:- Daily Record Wednesday 21 April page 24
Death Knell for Queen Mother’s
There are doubts over the future of Scotland’s largest children’s
hospital after health board managers decided to close a
neighbouring maternity unit.
Greater Glasgow NHS Board decided to shut the Queen Mother’s
hospital at Yorkhill in Glasgow. They also agreed to consider
moving the Royal Hospital for Sick Children despite earlier
assurances its future was secure for at least 15 years.
Source:- The Herald Wednesday 21 April
Welsh newspapers
Police claim Soham case prohibits payout for falsely-accused
teacher

A teacher has claimed that her career was ruined after police
passed on details of a false allegation of assault to her new
school.
Dyfed-Powys police have now apologised to Liz Moore, but said that
she cannot claim compensation because of issues surrounding the
Soham case.
Moore was working in a school in 1994, when three children made
allegations of assault against her. The allegations were unfounded
but seven years later, police passed the details to another school,
and Moore lost her job.  But insurers working for Dyfed-Powys
police said that such information must be able to be passed on,
without fear of litigation and have rejected Moore’s claim
for compensation.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 21 April page 2
Plea by children’s champion
Welsh children’s commissioner, Peter Clarke has again urged
politicians in Westminster not to give some of the powers he wants
to an English counterpart.
Clarke is concerned that children in Wales could be confused by the
government’s decision to split responsibilities for child
welfare between himself and a new commissioner in England.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 21 April page 3
Out on the mean streets of Prestige all’s, um,
quiet

A decision by the council in Prestige on whether or not to
introduce a curfew that would see young people kept off the streets
at night, is expected today.
The council had asked police for advice last month after children
were accused of smashing windows and causing late-night
noise.
The police told the council that a 200-year-old by-law could be
used to keep children off the streets and councillors are to vote
on whether to invoke it.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 21 April page 7
Big Issue says its work, not begging
Street vendors selling the Big Issue magazine in Wales have become
targets of “incessant abuse”, it has emerged.
Nine out of 10 are regularly abused and now the Big Issue is
launching a week-long ‘Working Not Begging’ campaign
that it is hoped will help people to understand that vendors are
earning a legitimate income.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 21 April page 7

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