Including headlines from Saturday and Sunday.
By David Callaghan, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.
Electronic tag girl, 12, is taken into care
A 12-year-old girl, who was the youngest person in Britain to be electronically tagged, has been taken into care after breaching curfew conditions.
Her parents, who live in Walsall, said they were unable to control her after she caused damage to their home. The girl, who will soon be 13, has been taken to secure local authority accommodation outside of Walsall.
The girl was tagged because she breached bail conditions. She will now be sentenced for the offences of breach of bail and criminal damage.
Her father said: "We have tried, tried and tried again, but we just cannot deal with the situation."
Source: Daily Telegraph Saturday 8 June page 12
Paternity leave figures soaring
The number of men taking paternity leave is soaring, a new study has found. Forty five per cent of men now take paternity leave up from nine per cent in 1999.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development survey found that 81 per cent of firms offer an average of two weeks off to fathers when their babies are born, compared to 66 per cent three years ago.
Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 8 June page 17
'Homes for pensions' deal to tackle recruitment crisis
People could be able to use their homes to fund pensions rather than pension schemes under plans being drawn up by Standard Life Bank.
The bank is devising a specialist pension mortgage to be launched later this year. People will be able to draw a pension set against the value of their home, using a special credit card. Standard Life would recoup the costs by selling the home when the person dies.
Source:- Sunday Times 9 June page 10
Rethink over asylum children
Home secretary David Blunkett hopes to prevent a rebellion of backbench Labour MPs by softening his proposals in saying that children of asylum seekers will be allowed to attend schools after six months.
He had previously suggested that children of asylum seekers will only be educated in new accommodation centres.
Source:- Observer Sunday 9 June page 3
Blair wins welfare revamp
Prime minister Tony Blair will today promise a new raft of welfare reform measures. There will be a big increase in the Job Centre Plus system, where claimants are denied benefit if they refuse work.
The 56 existing centres are to be increased by 50 covering a quarter of the country by April next year. The announcement will come as MPs return following a recess sparked by the Queen's jubilee.
Blair will also announce new measures to help lone parents and disabled people return to work. The new scheme 'Ambition Energy' will involve leading energy companies, such as Centrica and
the National Grid Group, which are said to be keen to hire lone parents. They will help fill vacancies for gas fitters and engineers.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 10 June page 1
'Police fail to prosecute scores of child killers'
Incidents of shaken baby syndrome are now about 200 per year and appear to be increasing, a new home office study has shown.
But many parents, who are usually young fathers or stepfathers, escape action because prosecutors and police officers lack training in such cases.
Detective chief inspector Phil Wheeler of the metropolitan police wrote the report, which found clusters of baby deaths in Avon and Somerset, Hampshire, Derby and south London.
Source:- The Independent Monday 10 June page 5
Scottish newspapers
Women’s campaign to prevent closure of prison
Peterhead Prison is due to be closed and its world-renowned STOP programme working with sex offenders transferred to prisons in the central belt.
This feature examines the success of the campaign against closure led by prison officers’ wives and community groups, and concludes it is all the more successful because men are not involved.
Source:- The Herald Saturday 8 June page 11
Addicted to legal substances
Dependency on over-the-counter drugs is growing throughout the UK, but little is being done to address the problem.
This feature examines the extent of the problem and the work of addiction counsellors, psychiatrists and voluntary groups such as Over-Count.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 9 June page 13
Time limit on child witness evidence under review
The crown office should introduce much shorter time limits for child witnesses to be called to court, according to campaigners.
Under the current rules the crown has up to 110 days after the child witness has been interviewed before bringing a case to court. Campaigners say that such a wait can cause undue stress and damage to child witnesses.
Attention has also been drawn to the case of 13-year old girl in the Tayside area still waiting to give her evidence three years after the alleged offence. By the time she appears in court she will be more than 16-years-old and have lost her right to anonymity. Child welfare organisations such as Children 1st are calling on the crown office to urgently review these time limit rules.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 9 June page 9
Domestic abuse courts to be set up
Strathclyde police and court officials in Glasgow are examining ways in which to set up courts dedicated to dealing with domestic violence, after a plea by senior judge, Lord Carloway.
Last year in Strathclyde there were 14,900 domestic abuse complaints, which is believed to be only a fraction of the real total of incidents. The proposal follows the establishment of courts dedicated to dealing with crimes motivated by drug addiction.
Lord Carloway made his plea for courts dealing solely with domestic violence at a conference in April. He called for an additional package of reforms to co-ordinate faster, simpler justice and protection for victims.
Source:- Daily Record Monday 10 June page 1
Welsh newspapers
Cure-all for health service failing
Wales is missing out on vital health targets and in some instances the health of the country is actually getting worse.
Although 9 per cent more is currently spent on health in Wales than in England, the English are way ahead on tackling the biggest killers, such as heart disease.
Despite millions of pounds being spent, health experts say that there are still chronic shortages of specialists in rheumatology, cardiac care, cancer care, radiology, mental health services and GPs and nurses.
In 1996 the old Welsh office set itself 15 targets on improving health from the cradle to the grave, ranging from teenage smoking and suicide to lung cancer and heart disease. Some of those targets were due to be met this year, but only three look like having a chance of being met, and some health problems are worsening, according to Ruth Hall, the chief medical officer for Wales.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 10 June page 1
Select committee listens to children
History will be made today when a group of children aged from 10 to 16 become the first to give evidence to a parliamentary committee.
The joint select committee on human rights made up of MPs and peers will hear the views of young people as part of a long-running inquiry into whether the UK needs a new human rights body.
Committee chairperson Jean Corston said that debates on human rights rarely extended to children, and that she was very much looking forward to hearing what they had to say.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 10 June page 4
