THURSDAY 12 JANUARY 2006

Sex offender given job as teacher not an isolated case
The education secretary admitted there have been more cases where sex offenders were cleared to work in schools by ministers. Ruth Kelly announced an urgent review of “a small number of cases” as she came under mounting pressure over the sex offender given a job at a Norwich school.
Source:- The Independent, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 6

Families sue Rochdale Council for negligence
Twelve men and women who were taken as children from their parents and placed in care after social workers in Rochdale wrongly suspected they were victims of satanic abuse are suing the council.
Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 16

Kinnock breaks ranks over dangerous education reforms
Lord Kinnock condemned the government’s education reforms as “at best a distraction and at worst dangerous” and said it should change the white paper radically.
He said the white paper was a “strange document” that looked as if it had been written by a committee, “and the committee should have spent more than an extra week on it”.
Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 1

Headteacher vacancies expose schools crisis
A shortage of headteachers in England and Wales has escalated into a leadership crisis, according to a survey which describes an “alarming” turnover of staff in state secondary schools.
Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 6

Doctors will shun silly games to save cash
A doctors’ revolt against cost-saving measures to pull hospitals out of financial difficulty was announced yesterday by the British Medical Association. Consultants will not cooperate with “silly games” being played by NHS managers in trusts with deficits who are trying to delay operations until the new financial year.
Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 13

Travellers vent anger at eviction to make way for Olympics
A group of travellers in east London could be the first residents forced to leave their homes to make way for the 2012 Olympics. Yesterday they told MPs they had not been consulted about plans to shift them and called for action to prevent them being pushed into what they described as dangerous and unsuitable sites.
Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 16

Elderly face cutbacks in care as councils fight to keep tax down
Town halls are planning to withdraw care services from hundreds and thousands of elderly and disabled people and to raise charges to keep council tax down this year. Many councils are now considering raising charges for domiciliary care and withdrawing care from less dependent people altogether by changing eligibility criteria.
Source:- The Times, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 8

Care home residents left to go hungry
Tens of thousands of elderly care home residents suffer malnutrition because of the appalling standards of food, MPs were told yesterday. A private members bill from Liberal Democrat Paul Burstow aims to improve standards.
Source:- Daily Mail, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 31

Hewitt to vote for full ban on pub smoking
Smoking looks certain to be banned completely in all pubs in England from next year after the government performed a spectacular about-turn last night.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 4

Cancer patients missing out on £200 million
Cancer patients are missing out on benefits of at least £200 million a year because of the “scandalous” failure to tell them about entitlements, the health select committee said  yesterday.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 4

Celebrity fad diets blamed for phantom food allergies
Growing numbers of people are missing out on important nutrients because of celebrity fad diets, doctors told a survey by Norwich Union Healthcare. Almost two thirds of GPs report an increase in patients claiming to be intolerant to dairy and wheat – three quarters of doctors surveyed believe the cause is psychological rather than physical.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Thursday 12 January 2006, page 5

Scottish news

Executive urged to hand out more cash for councils
The Scottish National Party has called on the Scottish executive to give Scotland’s local authorities an extra £94 million in return for a promise from them to keep council tax levels to the rate of inflation. Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP deputy leader, said councils should be given back £59 million taken from them in efficiency savings, and another £35 million from money that has come to Scotland as a result of extra Whitehall spending on local government in England.
Tom McCabe, the finance minister, ruled out more money this year, but said he would consider additional funding for 2007-8 if councils were more efficient.
Source: The Scotsman, Thursday 12 January 2006

Welsh news

Mother died while bathing baby son
A mother is believed to have died after suffering from an epileptic fit and falling into the bath while she bathed her son.
Gail Simmons, 28, was found lying face down in four inches of bath water with her 18 month old son Finnegan crying next to her.
An inquest heard how Simmons, of Fairwater, Cardiff, had suffered from epilepsy for 16 years.
Source:- Western Mail, Thursday 12 January 2006


 

More from Community Care

Comments are closed.