By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.
Child abuse watchdog for priests
Catholic bishops of England and Wales have appointed a non-Christian social worker, in a bid to rid the Church of paedophiles.
Former senior official at the NSPCC Eileen Shearer will run the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults, in Birmingham.
It is the first time a non-Catholic has been appointed to such a high profile office.
A Church spokesperson said it would be wrong to narrow the field for such an "important" job by restricting it to Catholics or even Christians.
The new office was set up after a critical report by Lord Nolan on the Church’s child protection policies.
It will run a database on all clergy and lay workers and hold intelligence on convicted and suspected paedophiles.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Saturday 12 January page 10
Policeman lied to inquiry into Climbie killing, says colleague
A senior police officer accused a colleague of lying at the Victoria Climbie inquiry on Friday.
Chief superintendent Susan Akers accused detective chief inspector Philip Wheeler of lying in his evidence that he had a "purely administrative role" over the "totally unacceptable" child protection services.
Akers told the inquiry that he had operational line management responsibilities for the teams, which he had condemned in a report as "bereft" of proper organisation.
The inquiry found there was no system for managing or allocating cases, no proper supervision, and a team whose members turned up for work whatever hour it suited them.
Wheeler claimed a senior officer told him his role with the teams was strictly administrative.
Neil Garnham, QC counsel to the inquiry, asked Akers if Wheeler was lying by claiming that was what he had been told.
"Yes, I am afraid it does," Akers said.
Lauretta Okocha will appear in court on Tuesday charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and possession of cannabis after she threw a black substance over Wheeler as he gave evidence on Thursday.
Source:- The Independent Saturday 12 January page 12
Most hospitals reach patient waiting target
The number of long waits on hospital treatment lists is continuing to fall, although 10 thousand more people are on the NHS lists than a year ago.
More than 1 million people were in the queue for hospital treatment at the end of November, which is 1 per cent up on the previous year.
But the figures showed that two thirds of NHS trusts have achieved the government’s aim of having no patient wait longer than 15 months for treatment.
There are three acute hospital trusts in England where no-one waits more than six months for operations: Poole Hospital NHS Trust, West Dorset General Hospitals NHS Trust and the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust.
Source:- The Times Saturday 12 January page 9
Fury over UK refugee expulsions
Britain faced growing condemnation of its policy of deporting Zimbabwean asylum seekers last night, after allegations they were being handed over to President Robert Mugabe’s secret police.
Refugees with links to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change are being deported every day despite evidence they face torture or death in Zimbabwe.
Some have been attacked or arrested on their return to their country and others have gone missing. Opposition politicians and human rights groups accused the government of ignoring the dangers faced by returning the deportees in the run up to presidential elections in March.
"The home office needs to take immediate and urgent action," said Nick Hardwick, chief executive of The Refugee Council.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 13 January page 1
Heroin users will go free as police focus on dealers
People caught using heroin, cocaine and ecstasy will not face court action under reforms of the drug policies being considered by police chiefs.
Thousands of users who are arrested with small amounts of hard and soft drugs will be referred to medical centres for treatment rather than face charges, under the reforms.
Chief constables insist they are not decriminalising hard drugs and emphasise that police will retain the option of pressing charges.
Chiefs say the aim is to focus resources on hard drug dealers. They believe that "medicalising" instead of "criminalising" the problem is the only way to cut the number of hard drug users and the 80 per cent of property crime that is drug related.
Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 13 January page 26
Autistic man was held by force
A hospital has been condemned by the NHS watchdog for forcibly detaining an autistic man.
The NHS ombudsman said the man, known as Leonard for legal reasons, should never have been held in the first place.
Bournewood Psychiatric Hospital refused to let the man’s guardians, who care for him at home as a member of their family, see him for three-and-a-half months.
When the relations won visiting rights, they found Leonard with blood pouring from his head. His clothes were soiled and he had lost two stones in weight.
Leonard’s guardians are going to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights to try to change a ruling which means that hospitals can hold such patients without legal proceedings.
David Pamment, director of mental health services at Bournewood, said the hospital fully accepted the findings of the report and had apologised to Leonard’s guardians.
Source:- The Times Monday 14 January page 9
BA halts Zimbabwe deportation
British Airways has refused to accept a home office directive to fly a deportee from Gatwick to Zimbabwe, it emerged yesterday.
Ministers gave their first hint that they may halt the expulsion of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers, among rising fears that deportees face arrest by Robert Mugabe’s secret police.
Home office officials have suspended the expulsion of another Zimbabwean asylum seeker from Heathrow.
An official statement from the department said that although they were not going to suspend all removals at this point, they were monitoring the situation very closely and acknowledged the situation in Zimbabwe had deteriorated.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 14 January page 2
Scottish newspapers
Crime set to be abolished for under 12s
Thousands of children under the age of 12 years in Scotland will not be prosecuted for crimes under a radical plan to be published this week.
The Scottish Law Commission is expected to recommend raising the age of criminal responsibility from the age of eight to 12 years in a report ordered by the Scottish executive. If the move is implemented it would mean 5,000 crimes committed in Scotland each year by eight to 11-year-olds would no longer be taken to court regardless of how serious. The proposal is set to raise a fierce debate between child welfare groups and organisations which believe the law is going soft on crime.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 13 January page 1
Parents fight to save son trapped in State Hospital
A mother and father from Dundee are set this week to petition MSPs over a problem which has left their son languishing in the State Hospital Carstairs.
Darren Crichton, aged 20, was sent to Carstairs when he was 17 after a series of mental health problems in his teens. However, his condition improved and in 1999 doctors recommended that he should be returned to the community.
A subsequent review last year repeated the recommendation, but Crichton has had to stay on in Carstairs because of a lack of facilities in his home area of Tayside. Last year a Scottish Health Advisory Service report indicated that there were more than 30 patients "trapped" in Carstairs due to similar circumstances.
Source:- Sunday Herald 13 January page 10
NHS – the critical debate
The first in a series of full length investigative features into the state of the NHS. Is it terminally ill or misdiagnosed? Should we use private hospitals and why are 600 consultants against this move?
Source:- Sunday Herald 13 January pages 12 & 13
Chief inspector of prisons to go
Clive Fairweather, the outspoken chief inspector of prisons, is to leave his post. Fairweather, who has been scathing in formal reports about private prisons and general conditions for prisoners, refused to comment as to the reasons for his departure. The Scottish executive has denied claims by the SNP that Fairweather was being forced out of the post. A spokesperson for the executive said that the appointment was "coming to a natural end".
Source:- The Herald Monday 14 January
Delay looms on free personal care
Malcolm Chisholm, health and community care, minister, is expected to announce this week that the implementation of free personal care will be delayed until the summer. The original implementation commitment was for April of this year.
Source:- The Herald Monday 14 January page 8
