‘Respect tsar’ is No 10’s favourite to take over youth justice board

‘Respect tsar’ is No 10’s favourite to take over Youth Justice Board
Downing Street is pushing for Louise Casey, Tony Blair’s “respect tsar”, to take over the job of chair of the youth justice board left vacant last month by the resignation of Rod Morgan.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 13 February 2007, page 4

Top policeman backs call for drugs rethink
One of the Metropolitan police’s most senior officers is backing a major report which will argue that the government needs to rethink its drugs policy, and possibly take the issue out of the authority of the Home Office. The study, which will be released next month, will say that Britain’s drugs problem should be treated predominantly as a medical, rather than a criminal, issue.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 13 February 2007, page 11

Social housing tenants to be helped onto property ladder
Social housing tenants will be given the chance to get a foot on the property ladder even if they can afford only 10% of the value of their home, the communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, will say today.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 13 February 2007, page 12

Online doctor put patients at risk, hearing told
A doctor who pioneered the sale of drugs over the internet “lined his pockets” and drew vulnerable patients into drug dependency and abuse by prescribing powerful painkillers and sedatives without questioning them properly, medical regulators heard yesterday.
Julian Eden, a GP who ran an online service called e-med, prescribed betablockers to a 16-year-old boy with a history of mental illness and attempted suicide without discussing it with his family doctor or offering to liaise with him. A week after he issued a repeat prescription the boy tried to kill himself.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 13 February 2007, page 6

Sion Jenkins denies compensation claim
Lawyers acting for Sion Jenkins yesterday denied that he had submitted a compensation claim to the Home Office after being accused of murdering his foster daughter.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 13 February 2007, page 10

Falling into debt is ‘way of life’ for today’s teenagers
Teenagers are growing up believing that getting into debt is a way of life, a charity warned yesterday. The Personal Finance Education Group said that a survey of 1,000 14- to 18-year-olds found half had been in debt by the time they were 17, and a quarter believed that having a bank overdraft would enable them to spend more than they earned every month.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 13 February 2007, page 15

Immigration ‘costing council tax payers up to £200m a year’
A study claims immigration is costing local authorities £200m a year in terms of new pressures on services. The London School of Economics study says it costs an average of £800 for each child enrolled in school and also quanitifies the tens of millions of pounds spent on social care, housing and destitution payments for those migrants not entitled to benefits.
Source:- Daily Mail, Tuesday 13 February 2007, page 6

Campaign for disabled children
The Daily Mirror has backed the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign, which is looking to increase support and funding for disabled children and their families.
Source:- Daily Mirror, Tuesday 13 February 2007, page 8

Scottish news
 
Clubs sign up to tackle youth unemployment
Scotland’s top football clubs have been asked to help tackle youth unemployment by sending representatives to attend a summit with the first minister at Bute House.
Jack McConnell visited learning support centres operated by Celtic and Rangers two months ago and this morning will meet young people at Tynecastle taking part in Hearts’ Support Employment programme before he attends the Bute House summit.
Ministers hope the meeting will result in a new initiative between government and the top 12 clubs to tackle the problem of young people not in education, employment or training.
Source:- The Herald, Tuesday 13 February 2007
 
Dementia widow leaves priest £1m
A priest who took control of a dementia victim’s finances has been left £1 million in her will.
Catherine MacNeill left her entire estate to Father Mustaq Azad. Fr Azad gets the frail widow’s house in Campbeltown, Argyll and her second home on the isle of Barra. The priest is the executor of the will as well as its main beneficiary.
And he has been made the legal guardian of her son Ian who has a genetic disorder which can cause learning difficulties.
But Catherine’s family have vowed to force Fr Azad to give up her money, and his lawyer has already told him to surrender his rights to the estate.
Source:- The Herald, Tuesday 13 February 2007

Welsh news

No social care news today.