MONDAY 10 APRIL 2006

Public sector jobs at record six million under Labour
The number of people working in the public sector has risen to almost six million – the highest level on record. Over the past year jobs in central government increased by 45,000 while employment in local government rose by 25,000.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 8 April 2006, page 12

Home Office ignored rule of law in asylum case, says judge
The High Court found Home Office officials had improperly detained a Croatian asylum-seeker and his pregnant wife in order to minimise their access to lawyers and the courts. Mr Justice Munby said the case revealed an unacceptable disregard of the law by the Home Office.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 8 April 2006, page 12

Autistic boy, 10, taught in school cupboard
An autistic boy has been taught in a school cupboard since last August because there is nowhere else to teach him. Oliver McCleary, 10, has been receiving one-to-one tuition in a store cupboard at Castle Douglas primary school, in Dumfries and Galloway, because he cannot be accommodated in existing facilities for children with special needs.
Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 8 April 2006, page 7

Lift repair ends residents’ three-month ordeal
A broken lift which left 12 elderly residents trapped on the upper floors of the Clashfarquhar House care home in Stonehaven for more than three months was finally repaired yesterday.
Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 8 April 2006, page 8

Amphetamines affect men more than women
Scientists believe they may have found a reason why men are more likely to take some illegal drugs and women are more prone to depression. A US study reveals than men produce more “happy chemicals” in their brains after taking amphetamines.
Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 8 April 2006, page 12

Hundreds of NHS jobs go as new cuts take effect
Hundreds more hospital job cuts were announced yesterday, bringing overall losses in the NHS to about 7,000 in recent weeks. York Hospitals NHS Trust decided to cut 200 jobs and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust announced 720 job losses.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 8 April 2006, page 2

Care rationing plan a panic measure to solve cash crisis
Attempts to ration NHS care by restricting referrals from GPs to consultants were a “panic measure driven by the cash crisis” according to the pressure group Health Emergency.
Source:- The Times, Saturday 8 April 2006, page 9

Children must respect other religions by the age of five
Five-year-olds will be expected to show respect for other religions and cultures under new government targets for children’s development. The requirement is one of seven standards the government says children should be meeting by the age of five.
Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 8 April 2006, page 28

Parole board clashes with Charles Clarke over release of violent offenders
A government U-turn over the early release of violent and sexual offenders from prison has sparked a clash between the parole board and Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary. The parole board has said it will return to holding face-to-face hearings with serious offenders seeking early release from jail.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 9 April 2006, page 12

Social worker fights for her ‘right’ to double as an escort
The first ever General Social Care Council tribunal has adjourned until after Easter to consider its verdict into the case of a social worker who allegedly doubled as an escort. The hearing in Newcastle into Yvonne Doyle, who worked for Darlington independent fostering agency Jafa Care, was held in private.
Source:- Mail on Sunday, 9 April 2006, page 46

Child sex tourists exploit legal loopholes in Europe
Ministers are preparing tough new measures against sex tourism to close loopholes which British paedophiles are exploiting to abuse children abroad.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 9 April 2006, page 18

Transsexual UK
Over 1,000 transsexuals have got married since last April, when the Gender Recognition Act came into force, allowing them the right to apply for their original gender to be wiped from their records.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday, Sunday 9 April 2006, page 24

Let’s stop lecturing parents, Cameron tells the Tories
David Cameron urged the Conservatives yesterday to ‘fast forward’ into its future with new ideas to woo parents and pensioners and reward the ‘selfless love’ of carers.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 9 April 2006, page 2

Key workers shun Prescott’s low-cost homes
John Prescott’s flagship scheme to help nurses and teachers onto the property ladder is being shunned by the workers it is designed to help.
Source:- The Sunday Times, Sunday 9 April 2006, page 4

Russell killer fights to keep inquiry under wraps
Michael Stone, the man convicted of murdering Lin Russell and her si-year-old daughter Megan, is fighting to prevent the publication of a report which details widespread failures by the authorities in the months before he killed.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 10 April 2006, page 1

Seven out of 10 absent parents pay maintenance
Figures from the Child Support Agency, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show that in the three months to the end of last year some 30 per cent of nonresident parents refused to pay maintenance.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 10 April 2006, page 8

Union leader warns of ghetto risk in new education bill
The education bill is “a mess” that will widen the divide in the education system by creating ghettos of schools for the underclasses, Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, will warn today.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 10 April 2006, page 11

Killings prompt plea to restore pre-release interviews
The parole board is urging the Home Office to pay for the reintroduction of interviews with serious offenders seeking early release from prison, a spokesman said yesterday.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 10 April 2006, page 13

Harman hints at more transparency to raise confidence in family courts
The Department for Constitutional Affairs is to publish a delayed consultation paper on the family courts next month. The DCA recently finished a lengthy round of discussions on the topic with judges, lawyers, psychiatrists, paediatricians, social workers and others.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 10 April 2006, page 14

Child porn teacher can carry on working
Protests have greeted a judge’s decision not to ban a teacher from working with children despite a conviction for making and possessing indecent images of youngsters. The Department for Education and Skills said Mark Jordan, assistant director of music at Kimbolton, an independent school, could still face a ban.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Monday 10 April 2006, page 12

40 rapists could get away with just a caution
Forty rapists a year are escaping jail sentences and instead are allowed to walk free with a caution, reprimand or final warning after admitting sex attacks on men and women, Home Office statistics show.
Source: The Times, Monday 10 April 2006, page 1

Asbo bars gangster from city centre
A gangster accused of terorising Liverpool’s clubland has been barred from the city centre for ten years in a move by Merseyside Police to use antisocial behaviour orders to fight organised crime.
Source: The Times, Monday 10 April 2006, page 24

Family size shrinking due to cost of children
New figures from the Skipton Building Society suggest that the average family now has 1.3 children, almost half the size of the traditional family of 30 years ago, with 2.4 children.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Monday 10 April 2006, page 9

More mothers shun work to spend time with families
Increasing numbers of mothers do not want to go out to work because they prefer to stay at home with their children, government figures suggest.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Monday 10 April 2006, page 9

Embarrassing chair claim fails
A deputy head lost a million pound claim against her former school for failing to replace a chair that made an emabarrassing noise every time she moved.
Source: The Times, Monday 10 April 2006, page 25

Scottish news

Charity plan helps elderly claim £300k in benefits
An initiative run by Help the Aged has enabled elderly people in Edinburgh to claim more than £300,000 in benefits. The charity says that every day, £10 million of benefits are not claimed by older people in the UK because the system is too complicated.
The programme based at Granton Information Centre has helped people make more than £300,000 in claims.
Source:- The Scotsman, Saturday 8 April 2006

Low-paid young men are among most likely to commit suicide
Young Scottish men working in low-paid jobs, such as counter assistants, hotel porters and labourers, are at increased risk of committing suicide. New research has also revealed that, among the middle-aged, professionals such as judges, lawyers and doctors are more likely to take their own lives.
Other jobs found to have increased suicide risk included rural occupations such as farmers, forestry workers and fisherman.
Source:- The Herald on Sunday, 9 April 2006

Refugees unite to fight back against removals
Asylum seekers are planning a campaign of direct action to prevent immigration officers removing people who are threatened with deportation.
They aim to erect human barricades in front of flats and houses to prevent officials gaining access and set up watches to alert people who fear being taken into detention.
The radical tactics are being deployed by Unity, a new organisation set up by asylum seekers living in Scotland to campaign for improved rights and support for people whose cases have been rejected by the Home Office.
Source:- The Herald, Monday 10 April 2006

Police roadside drug checks fail to detect heroin
Roadside checks to detect motorists driving under the influence of drugs are failing.  In some cases the tests – conducted by police – failed to detect drivers with heroin in their system, the RAC Foundation has said. In an experiment conducted by Glasgow University, drivers who passed police roadside tests were invited to voluntarily, without penalty, be tested to see if they actually had drugs in their system.
Source:- The Scotsman, Monday 10 April 2006

SNP pledge to cut tax and public sector
The Scottish National Party is planning to go into the 2007 Holyrood elections with a bold promise to reduce the size of the public sector. Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, has backed a plan to reduce the amount that people pay to councils if the nationalists can carry through their plans to replace the council tax with a local income tax.
Source:- The Scotsman, Monday 10 April 2006

Welsh news

£27,500 fine after patient left at wrong house
NHS officials were fined £27, 500 yesterday after an elderly patient who was dropped off at the wrong house died.
Mary Purnell, 93, was taken to another patient’s house and left there for nearly two hours. She broke her leg while trying to climb over a fence to escape from the house and died five weeks later in hospital.
The Welsh Ambulance Service Trust and the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust admitted neglecting their duty of care to Purnell.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday 8 April 2006

Website blunder over free care for disabled
The Welsh Assembly government has been heavily criticised after a key pledge it dropped in February was mistakenly promoted on its website.
The pledge to provide free home care to disabled people was scrapped due to being viewed as too expensive.
Tory health spokesperson Jonathan Morgan said that the government was guilty of a “cruel deception” for promoting the dropped pledge.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday 8 April 2006

Paedophile’s shocking attack on girl, 3,
A convicted paedophile admitted abducting a three-year-old girl and sexually assaulting her at Cardiff crown court yesterday.
Craig Sweeney, who is from Newport, pleaded guilty to one count of taking the girl from her house and three counts of sexually assaulting her.
The abduction took place last January.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday 8 April 2006

 

 

 

 

 

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