Wednesday 27 October 2004

By Shirley Kumar, Lauren Revans, Clare Jerrom and Amy
Taylor

Jails merger in danger, officials warn

The planned merger between the prison and probation service risks
failure because it is so large and complex, a leaked Home Office
document has revealed.

The internal document presented in the second board meeting of the
newly merged organisation warns that the confidence of ministers,
unions and staff is in danger of being lost.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
2

New parents could get a year’s pay to stay at
home

Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt strengthened her
commitment to giving 12 month’s paid leave to new parents by
meeting with business leaders.

Hewitt said the idea of extending paid leave was a “high
priority” at a gender and productivity summit hosted by the
chancellor and organised by the Equal Opportunities
Commission.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
6

Home Office acts on forced marriages

The Home Office is to publish proposals for a specific criminal
offence of forcing someone into marriage.

The announcement is part of a package of measures to curb a
cultural practice which affects girls as young as 13.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
7

More than a third of Asbos are breached

Around a third of antisocial behaviour orders are breached,
according to official figures released yesterday.

Between June 2000 and December 2002, 305 out of 855 Asbos issued in
England were flouted.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
6

Council censured in truancy case

Senior judges censored Sutton Council in south London yesterday for
pursuing the parents of an emotionally disturbed girl all the way
to the High Court on charges of abetting truancy.

Magistrates had said the parents of the 14-year-old girl were doing
their best. She became aggressive when they forced her to go to
school claiming she was being bullied.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
18

Boot camps for thugs aged eight

The Youth Justice Board and Ministry of Defence are to run three
pilot schemes that would result in sending children as young as
eight to military bases.

The move, minister’s hope, would turn them away from a life
of crime.

Source:- The Daily Mail Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
41

Villagers blame farmer who sold field to gypsies

A farmer and his wife who used to own land that has since been
turned into a gypsy encampment have been inundated with calls from
villagers.

Brian and Kathryn Jeanes, said that some of the calls had been to
complain while others had called to give them support.

The couple, from North Curry near Somerset, sold the land at
auction and did not know what the purchasers intended to do with
it.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 27 October page 4

Protest priest ‘stripped off to chase
7-year-old’

A priest stripped naked and chased a seven-year-old girl
round his room before she touched him intimately, it was alleged at
the Old Bailey yesterday.

Cornelius Neil Horn of Nunhead, south London, denies gross
indecency with a child on an occasion between 1990 and 1992.

The incident is alleged to have taken place when the girl and her
mother visited St Anthony’s Church, Penge, in South London,
where Horn was working as an assistant priest.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 27 October page 9

Blunkett rejects refugee agency’s call to halt forced
return of Iraqis

Home secretary David Blunkett has rejected a call from the United
Nations High Commission for Refugees to suspend all forcible
returns of rejected Iraqi asylum applications.

A Home Office official said the returns were necessary “to
maintain the integrity of the asylum system”.

Source:- Financial Times Wednesday 27 October page 4

Department faces charity criticism

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has frequently ignored
or overlooked its written agreement with the voluntary sector
signed in 1998, a report from the National Council of Voluntary
Organisations published today reveals.

The report into the government department’s adherence to the
code of conduct for dealing with charities concludes that the DCMS
failed to consult with the voluntary sector or follow funding
guidelines.

Source:- Financial Times Wednesday 27 October page 4

Face-off

As civil servants prepare for their first national strike in 11
years, Helene Mulholland meets union leader Mark Serwotka, the
‘faceless bureaucrat’ who aims to fend off job
cuts.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
6

The gap years

Juliet Rix reports on attempts to build a vital bridge that will
ensure a smooth transition between mental health services for young
people and those for adults.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
8

Pained by success

The government has capped the funds of charities tasked with
shifting those on incapacity benefit back into work they are over
performing. Mark Lupton reports on how the New Deal is
unravelling.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
10

Pro active

It’s professionalism – but not as we know it. David
Walker reports on the all-round skills that will now be needed to
join the new-look civil service.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
14

What else can I do?

After two decades of working in the civil service, Dan is ready for
a change but is unsure what is out there for him.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 27 October 2004 page
96

Service with more than a smile

Getting help with benefits and employment is much easier now that
Citizens Advice bureaux are using the web as a bridge to
government.

Source:- epublic, (Guardian) Wednesday 27 October 2004
page 5

Scottish newspapers

Extra £6m for children in care to gain higher marks in
class

An extra £6 million will be given to councils to educate
children in care after figures showed that many emerged from
education with few qualifications.

Sixty per cent of 16 and 17-year-old care leavers did not achieve
any qualifications in the past year at or above the standard grade
foundation level. This compared with 10 per cent for Scotland as a
whole.

A Scottish executive spokesperson said the statistics were
disappointed and ministers were becoming very concerned about how
councils were dealing with it.

Source:- The Herald  Wednesday 27 October

Unemployment ‘invisible burden on city’

Unemployment could stall the economic renaissance of Glasgow, the
leader of the council warned yesterday.

Charlie Gordon said Glasgow’s economy was growing at a faster
rate than the majority of its counterparts in the UK. But he warned
that chronic inactivity which blights nearly a quarter of the
workforce could threaten the city’s bright economic
future.

Source:- The Herald  Wednesday 27 October

MSPs query saving from Reliance jail escort services

MSPs yesterday questioned claims that Reliance security firm would
save the taxpayer £20 million.

The Scottish Prison service had estimated that continuing to
deliver escort duties would cost £20 million more than getting
Reliance to do the job.

However, Andrew Walsh, the SNP member for Angus said the savings
were “speculative”. Auditor general for Scotland Robert
Black added that the savings which had been promised were not
guaranteed.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 27 October

Study reveals dramatic rise in numbers of at-risk
children

The number of at risk children referred to social work protection
officers in Scotland has risen dramatically in the past five years,
according to the latest statistics.

Figures from the Scottish executive were described as
“disappointing” by the ministers after it emerged that
there had been a 24 per cent increase in the number of children
placed on the child protection register.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 27 October

RNIB says four out of ten Scots drivers with poor
eyesight

More than a million Scottish drivers are taking to the roads with
poor eyesight, a survey for the Royal National Institute for the
Blind Scotland has found.

The charity claims two out of every five drivers north of the
Border could be putting lives at risk and breaking the law.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 27 October

Conference on mental health starts

Experts from the UK and Ireland were due to attend a
conference on mental health problems in Edinburgh today.

Around 140 mental health professionals were expected to attend the
two-day event, which is sponsored by the Scottish executive.

Research was expected to be presented showing the link between poor
mental health and poverty, unemployment and poor quality
housing.

Source:- Evening News  Tuesday 26 October

Welsh newspapers

Price boom causes homeless crisis

There has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of homeless
households in Wales in the last year with the figure rising to
9,147.

Experts said that vast rise in house prices throughout Wales had
led to the increase in homeless.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 27 October

Pupils suspended over gun incident

Four pupils aged 13 and 14 have been suspended from school in
Swansea after a boy was shot at with an air gun.

The incident took place at Olchfa Comprehensive, one of the leading
school’s in the area.

The two pellets fired narrowly missed the boy.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 27 October

Anti-bullying: photo pulled

The photo of schoolgirl Laura Rhodes has been removed from an
anti-bullying campaign by South Wales Police.

The 13-year-old from Neath died after an apparent suicide pact with
her best friend Rebecca Ling, 14, last month.

After Laura’s death her parents released an account Laura had
written of how she had been bullied at her school, Cefn
Saeson.

The head teacher at the school, Alun Griffiths, said that the
school did all it could to help Laura.

An inquest has still to be held into Laura’s death and after
talking to her parents the police decided to withdraw her
photo.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 27 October