Wednesday 1 September 2004

By Shirley Kumar and Clare Jerrom

Asylum seekers still held in jail

The government is betraying its pledge to keep asylum seekers out
of jail, according to the charity Bail for Immigration
Detainees.

The campaigners have drawn up a file of innocent men held alongside
convicted criminals for up to two years.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
2

Blair admits Asbos have yet to beat the louts

Prime Minister Tony Blair has admitted the government’s
crackdown on loutish behaviour has yet to persuade culprits that it
no longer pays to be a nuisance.

He told residents in Harlow, Essex, that a person cannot be changed
over night, but said the government had to get to the critical mass
so that people know it is not worth being a nuisance.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
6

Apology over priest’s abuse

Westminster Roman Catholic diocese has apologised to male victims
who were abused by priest William Hofton, who was jailed yesterday
for four years.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
8

Keep watch on childcare, parents told

Ofsted has urged parents to keep an eye on childcare and nurseries
after it revealed it received one complaint for every 20 registered
care providers last year.

The education watchdog investigated 6,250 complaints in the year to
last March. It took legal action in 378 cases, out of that it made
four prosecutions, shut 49 nurseries and childminders and suspended
122 more.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
9

11-plus favours wealthy children

Bristol University research shows poor children are only half as
likely as wealthy children to get into grammar school.

Out of 19 local education authorities studied, six per cent of
pupils eligible for free school meals attend grammar schools
compared to 26 per cent of other children.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
9

Children abandoned in car park

Two young girls were abandoned in an unlocked car in Stansted
airport car park by their grandmother and uncle, so they could go
on holiday.

Police have cautioned the relatives from Goole, East Yorkshire who
left the children in the car because they were told their passports
would expire in two days and they could not fly.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
10

Kindred spirit

Anthony Douglas today takes the helm at the troubled Children and
Family Court Advisory Support Service. He can empathise with
children in need as he has awkward family issues of his own.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
6

Meeting of Minds

Parents of children with disabilities face a daunting range of
service providers and appointments, but a successful project is
taking away the stress.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
7

Crowd control

Despite fears that the far right will jump on the bandwagon,
respected figures are now calling for public debate on how a
predicted population explosion in the UK will be devastating for
sustainable development.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
10

What else can I do?

After 10 years of working for a local authority in the same
personnel department, Jane has itchy feet. She is sure she needs a
new challenge, but doesn’t know where to start.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
84

Asylum seekers at lowest level in 17 years

The United Nations refugee agency said the number of people seeking
asylum in industrialised countries fell in the second quarter of
2004 to the lowest level for 17 years.

The UK had dropped from first place in 2003 to third place in the
number of asylum applications it receives.

Source:- The Financial Times Wednesday 1 September 2004
page 1

Domestic violence ‘costs £3bn a
year’

Time off work because of domestic violence injuries costs British
industry around £3 billion a year, according to research
carried out by Leeds University for the government.

The cost of emotional suffering costs a further £17 billion.
Domestic violence costs social services £250 million per year,
housing authorities £160 million, the criminal justice system
£1 billion and the National Health Service £1.2
billion.

Source:- The Financial Times Wednesday 1 September 2004
page 4

Divorce rate hits highest level for 7 years

Divorce in England and Wales last year topped 150,000 and is the
highest for seven years.

The total for 2003 is 153,490 is an increase of 3.9 per cent on the
previous year.

Source:- The Financial Times Wednesday 1 September 2004
page 5

Father’s suicide over shame of beating

A father who was beaten by teenage drug gangs in front of his two
young sons felt so humiliated he hung himself, an inquest
heard.
Paul Wardell of Thornaby, Teesside, stood up to the youths and his
home became a target. The inquest recorded a verdict of
suicide.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 1 September 2004 page 7

Girl forced out of Kosovo at gunpoint wins Oxford
place

Vildane Berani has won her battle to be allowed to study medicine
at Oxford after the Home Office granted her indefinite leave to
remain in Britain.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 1 September 2004 page 9

Children smuggled into UK for crime

Children are being smuggled into Britain to work as thieves and
prostitutes.

The multi-million pound trade was exposed during the arrest of
Johar Shah and Alia Kanwal who admitted charges including
facilitating illegal entry into Britain. The couple from Pakistan
will be sentenced next week.

Source:- The Daily Mail Wednesday 1 September 2004 page
33

Scottish newspapers

Minister: Kirk too scared to rock boat over sex row

A minister criticised the Church of Scotland last night for showing
“a lack of courage” for its decision not to back
Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s attack on the Scottish
executive’s plans for sex education in schools.

The Reverend Iain Murdoch said Kirk leaders had “lost their
critical faculties” and were frightened to “rock the
boat” on controversial issues.

O’Brien triggered the row when he said the executive’s
plans for a new sexual health strategy were a “state
sponsored sexual abuse on minors”.

The cardinal claimed the executive had plans to teach children as
young as three sex education and warned that teenagers would be
given contraceptives without their parents’ knowledge.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 1 September

School play photo ban used by just 83 families

Aberdeenshire Council’s decision to introduce strict controls
on photography of nativity plays and pantomimes were taken
advantage of by just 83 families, it has emerged.

Despite the small number of parents who decided to object to their
children being photographed at school, members of the
council’s education authority will be urged by officials at a
meeting in Aberdeen tomorrow to approve the new policy fully.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 1 September

Row as figures show council staff numbers near quarter of a
million

The number of workers employed by Scottish councils has risen by
more than 4,600 to nearly a quarter of a million in just one
year.

The number of full time equivalent staff employed by local
authorities in September last year was 248,181, a 1.9 per cent
increase on the previous year’s figures of 243,518, according
to statistics from the Scottish executive and the Convention of
Scottish Local Authorities.

The executive attributed the rise to increased recruitment of
frontline workers in social services, school, and the police.

The Conservatives branded the figures as evidence of the need to
“cut government down to size”.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 1 September

Race officials criticise suicide verdict

A fatal accident inquiry which cleared prison chiefs of any blame
for the suicide of a Chinese immigrant at a jail was criticised by
race relations officials yesterday.

The Commission for Racial Equality Scotland said Liu Jin Wu, who
had access to an interpreter three times during his 10 weeks in
jail, had become “invisible in the system”.

The man, who had been facing deportation after his trial for two
counts of attempted murder, killed himself while on remand at
Barlinnie prison in May last year.

Prison staff failed to implement correct procedures for hourly
observations on the mentally ill asylum seeker after he was found
to be suicidal.

But the fatal accident inquiry at Glasgow Sheriff Court found the
suicide was due to his mental health rather than any failure of the
prison authorities.

Source:- The Herald  Wednesday 1 September