Inaccurate migrant numbers may lead to rise in council tax

Inaccurate migrant numbers may lead to rise in council tax
Council tax could rise by six per cent in some areas because government funding of councils has not taken account of levels of immigration, town hall leaders have claimed. In a letter to home secretary John Reid, the Local Government Association said government miscalculations of migrant numbers were loading pressures on up to 25 councils.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday August 8 2006, page 9

Primary school pupils fail to hit targets for maths and English
Ministers have failed to reach their key education goal of getting 85 per cent of 11-year-olds to master the three Rs before they leave primary school, this year’s test results will show.
Source:- The Independent, Tuesday 8 August 2006, page 8

Investigation into forced marriage
Hundreds of British children, some as young as ten, face being taken abroad to be married against their will
Source:- The Sun, Tuesday 8 August 2006, page 36

Amateurish civil service needs a powerful boss
The civil service is amateurish and under-performing a survey by the Institute of Public Policy Research has found.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 8 August 2006, page 6

Scottish news
 
Self-harm – the secret epidemic afflicting Scotland’s older people
Thousands of older people in Scotland are being admitted to hospital each year for self-harming, mental health campaigners have warned.
Support groups for self-harmers report growing numbers of cases emerging among people in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
The scale of self-harm in older people is unknown because they are much less likely to come forward for help because of the stigma around mental health issues. But it is thought around 3000 – a quarter of the total yearly total – hospital admissions for self-harm are of those aged over 45. 
Source:- The Scotsman, Tuesday 8 August 2006

Welsh news

No social care stories today.