Ed Balls urges teachers and lawyers to become social workers

Ed Balls urges teachers and lawyers to become social workers

Ed Balls, the education secretary, is to unveil plans to draw 200 people from careers such as teaching and the law to become social workers.

The move is part of proposals brought in after a damning report on the state of child protection in the wake of the death of Baby Peter.

He died after months of violent abuse by his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger, despite being on Haringey Council’s child protection register and being visited at least 60 times.

Read more on this story in The Daily Telegraph

Row delays green paper

Long-awaited plans for a radical new approach to funding the care of older and disabled people are being held up by a Whitehall row over fears that the proposals will be portrayed as a £10bn raid on benefits claimed by 4 million people.

The plans, billed one of the “big ideas” for a Labour fourth term, are due to be set out as options in a green paper that has been postponed repeatedly. The launch was expected finally on Tuesday of this week, but was again put off with no explanation.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

Alcohol-related deaths up by 40% in ten years

The number of people dying from alcohol-related causes rose by nearly 40 per cent from 5,287 in 1999 to 7,341 last year, figures obtained by the Conservative MP James Brokenshire, a shadow Home Office minister, show.

The number of deaths among women rose by 32 per cent and among men by 43 per cent. Deaths with an underlying cause related to alcohol among people under 40 rose by 24 per cent, the figures revealed.

Read more on this story in The Times

Jack Straw sticks to promises on family courts reporting reforms

Jack Straw is sticking to his guns and doing what he promised The Times he would, in response to our campaign to open up the family courts.

Removing all the layers of secrecy will take time. But the latest changes mark an important step towards getting justice, and telling the public what is being done in their name, when the State breaks up families.

Read more on this story in The Times

Widow died after care staff left her for 14 hours

An elderly widow died after she broke her hip and was left in agony without medical attention for 14 hours at a private nursing home.
When Winifred Mitchell was eventually taken to hospital with an ‘obvious’ fracture, she contracted pneumonia and died eight days later, an inquest heard.
Read more on this story in The Daily Mail

Child snatched in RSPCA raid must be given up for adoption, rules judge

A couple who say their daughter was ‘kidnapped’ by social services yesterday lost a two-year legal battle to stop her being adopted.

The child was taken away from her parents at the age of five after they were arrested for failing to co-operate with police during a raid on a dog-breeding business run from their home.

Read more on this story in The Daily Mail