Fines for truants in plan to raise school-leaving age

By Mithran Samuel and Maria Ahmed

Fines for truants in plan to raise school-leaving age

Teenagers will face fines of up to £200 for failing to turn up to school or a training course under legislation to raise the school leaving age to be unveiled in today’s Queen’s speech.

Under the plans, there will be a legal duty on schools and colleges to inform truancy workers and career guidance staff when a student drops out.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 6 November 2007 page 14

Adoption myths linked to shortage

Public attitudes towards adoption are 40 years out of date, according to a British Association for Adoption and Fostering study, which found that 29% of people knew that most children seeking adoption had suffered neglect or abuse.

Over 40% still believed that parents put their babies up for adoption after birth, which now applies to a small minority of cases.

Source:- The Times  Tuesday 6 November 2007 page 22

Britons arrested as police smash global paedophile ring that abused to order

Police have arrested 93 people, about half of whom were living in Britain, and rescued 23 girls after breaking a paedophile ring that covered 28 countries.

Operation Koala, which involved the UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, involved the seizure of 1000s of computers, videos and photographs of children being abused.

The ring seemingly made tailor-made films of abuse for individual customers.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 6 November 2007 page 27

We’re badly managed, say health staff

Fewer than one in 12 Department of Health staff feels their department is well-managed, according to the results of an internal survey.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 5 November 2007, page 2