By Clare Jerrom, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.
More
social services ‘would ease NHS strain’
The prime minister and Chancellor have been urged to increase spending on social services by a joint force of public sector managers.
Sir Jeremy Beecham, chairperson of the Local Government Association, and Dianne Jeffrey, chairperson of the NHS Confederation, complain that social services spending has failed to keep up with NHS spending in a pre Budget letter sent yesterday.
"Problems will intensify in the NHS and the modernisation agenda will be slowed" if this is not put right, they say.
"Immediate additional funding for local government social services" is needed to prevent problems such as delayed discharge in hospitals as well as long term investment.
"We all agree that the recent instability in the residential and home care sectors must be removed if we are to maintain the whole system approach to providing services," the letter continues.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 10 April page 2
Disability
benefit tests ‘are poorly managed’
The medical assessment system for disability benefits fails up to 130,000 vulnerable people a year, is poorly managed and inaccurate, according to the House of Commons public accounts committee.
Thirty thousand people are called in unnecessarily for testing every year because of difficulties in obtaining accurate medical information, says the critical report by the spending watchdog, published today.
A further 17,000 disabled people are turned away unseen from medical tests for benefits every year because of a policy of deliberately overbooking, the report continues.
Ten per cent of the 1.3 million medical reports submitted each year are substandard, and can lead to wrong decisions over benefit payment.
The system overseen by the department for work and pensions and contracted out to private company SEMA, has resulted in delays in benefits for thousands of people, the report says.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 10 April page 2
Refugees
breach Tunnel security
Extra security measures at a goods yard near Calais failed to prevent 80 asylum seekers entering England after hiding aboard a Channel Tunnel goods train.
An estimated 26 asylum seekers were on the run yesterday after fleeing Dollands Moor freight depot near Folkestone on Monday night.
The men, who are believed to be from Afghanistan, jumped from the side and roof of the goods train, clambered over security fencing and disappeared into the countryside.
Fifty three were captured around the depot and five in a container where the seal had not been broken, British Transport Police said.
Senior directors of rail freight company EWS said that repeated assurances had been given by the French authorities that security had improved.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 10 April page 17
Girl,
13, caught with £1m of heroin
A girl thought to be the youngest ever 'drug mule' has been caught at Manchester airport with almost £1 million of heroin hidden in her suitcase.
The 13-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested in the arrivals hall after she stepped off a Pakistan International Airlines flight from Islamabad on Monday afternoon.
Customs officers seized the drug with a street value of £910,000. The girl is to appear before Manchester magistrates court tomorrow, charged with illegally importing a controlled drug.
A customs and excise spokesperson said the girl had been born in the UK, and was a British national.
She is now in the care of Bradford social services.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 10 April page 2
Boy,
11, who ‘steals car a day’ is sent to a new home
An 11-year-old boy, who is believed to have stolen a car a day for the past two years, has been arrested again hours after his latest court appearance.
The boy was remanded in local authority care after his 152nd court appearance on Monday because he was part of a group of juveniles who forced their way into a house, stole some keys and drive off in a family car.
He was arrested again on Monday night for burglary and theft of a vehicle, and has been placed in alternative local authority care.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been ordered to observe a curfew between 7pm and 8am, and not get into a car without an adult’s permission.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 10 April page 8
Guardian
Society
Brand
of fortune
Charitable giving campaign to be boosted by image revamp
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 10 April page 4
Power
transfer
Reforms to improve tenants’ rights
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 10 April page 4
Working
model
Somerset survey positive on the impact of integrated care
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 10 April page 4
Bags
of praise
As Macmillan Cancer Relief declares its 100th care centre officially open, Laura Haydon looks at how the new building is catering to the needs of the people who are using it
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 10 April page 5
Unholy
mess
Needles discarded by drug users are a growing hazard, as a vicar in Yorkshire found out to his cost
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 10 April page 6
Shy
embrace
The unheralded launch of four pioneer care trusts designed to integrate health and social care
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 10 April page 120-119
Everyone
included
New headquarters sets the standard for disabled access
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 10 April page 119
Scottish
and Welsh papers
A
feature examines the way forward to help women avoid prostitution, to leave
prostitution and to make the streets safer through an interview with Nanette
Pollock a former senior detective in Strathclyde Police.
Pollock
expresses the view that Glasgow has an unofficial tolerance zone while saying
that she is against "no policing" policies. The men who prey on
prostitutes should be prosecuted instead of the women. Pollock, who is against
legalising prostitution, says that greater efforts should be invested into
schemes to help women leave prostitution – a process that takes three to five
years.
Source:
The Herald Wednesday 10 April page 14
Councils
warned of £2.5 billion spending gap
Local
authorities in Scotland are facing a £2.5b spending gap over the next three
years according to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.
In
a report to the Scottish executive, Cosla says that between 2003 and 2006,
existing spending commitments will result in inflation and public-private
partnership costs rising by a total of £2.5b. Cosla is asking the executive to
increase funding.
Source:
The Herald Wednesday 10 April page 8
One-boy
crimewave is back in court again
An
11-year-old Cardiff boy has made his 152nd court appearance. The boy who has
been called "the worst car thief in Britain" appeared before Cardiff
youth court yesterday accused of bursting into a schoolgirl's home and stealing
the keys to her mother's car.
He
was found guilty of burglary and taking a car without consent but cannot be
locked up by the court until his 12th birthday next month.
The
boy has been remanded into local authority care on condition that he does not
enter a car without the authority of an adult and has been ordered to
After
the hearing the boy's father said: "It is clear my boy needs treatment."
Source:
South Wales Echo Tuesday April 9 page
9
No
camp site for you, gypsies told
Gypsies
and travellers who intend to visit the Royal Welsh Show in mid Wales in July
have been told that there will be no official camp site for them
Powys
Council said that it had carried out an extensive advertising campaign to try
to find a suitable location near the show, which is held near
Until
1998 there was land near the showground which was used as an official gypsy
site but that is no longer available, and the council has now written
A
spokesperson for the council said that considerable efforts had been made to
find a site but that they had been unsuccessful and the authority was not
Source:
Western Mail Wednesday 10 April page 7
