By Clare Jerrom, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.
Britain pays for £5m Sangatte fence
Britain is to help fund a £5 million security fence at a French railway depot in a bid to deter illegal immigrants entering Britain.
The government is also to provide high tech scanning devices for French officials, under a package of measures agreed last night. But David Blunkett and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy failed to agree on a timetable for the closure of the Sangatte Red Cross centre near Calais, which houses around 1,500 asylum seekers.
Blunkett hopes an agreement can be settled at a meeting in Paris on 12 July, but France claims it will take no action until measures in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill begin to take effect.
Blunkett will publish a consultation paper next week on entitlement cards.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 26 June page 2
Vitamin boost for young criminals cuts offence rate
Young offenders commit fewer crimes and behave better in jail when their diet is supplemented with vitamins, minerals and fatty acids, research has shown.
Violent offences at Aylesbury young offenders’ institution in Buckinghamshire, fell by almost 40 per cent among those who took the dietary supplements, according to research by the charity Natural Justice, which carried out the study.
The study found that poor diets may also influence criminal behaviour in the community, Bernard Gesch from the department of physiology at Oxford University, who led the team of researchers, said.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 26 June page 7
Dangerous psychopaths may be held indefinitely
Dangerous psychopaths could be detained indefinitely, and people with mental health problems in the community could be compelled to take medication, under reforms to the mental health legislation.
In the draft mental health bill published yesterday, the measures aim to close a legal loophole that allows patients with dangerous and severe personality disorders to avoid detention in mental hospitals if doctors consider them to be "untreatable".
The changes mean, however, that if it becomes law, anybody with a "disability or disorder of mind or brain which results in an impairment or disturbance of mental functioning" could be forcibly detained or treated, providing they are at risk of harming themselves or others, and if treatment is available.
However, the plans provoked widespread condemnation from the mental health field. Michael Shooter of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said the criteria for compulsion were so wide that a huge number of patients would find themselves inappropriately sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
The Mental Health Alliance, which represents over 50 organisations, said more compulsory detentions and forced treatments in the community would increase stigma associated with mental illness and deter people from seeking treatment.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 25 June page 10
Police investigate second hospital rape
Police in London are investigating allegations that a 60-year-old female patient at a mental health unit was raped – the second sexual attack on a hospital patient in two months.
The woman was attacked on a ward at the John Connolly unit of the West London Mental Health Trust.
The first victim was a terminally ill 71-year-old patient, who was assaulted by a man in his fifties in a lavatory on a ward at King’s College Hospital in south London.
Source:- The Independent Wednesday 26 June page 4
Guardian Society
Eyes open
It takes two to tango – so when a project in Rotherham was started to tackle the problem of teenage pregnancies, boys were targeted as well as girls
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 26 June page 2-3
Specially unhealthy
Problems of obesity and heavy smoking at Rampton
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 26 June page 4
The way-in sign
Top award for charity helping offenders
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 26 June page 4
Getting the giving habit
Schoolchildren targeted in charity and volunteering drive
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 26 June page 4
Off the ground
New thinking on different ways of funding charities is helping to effect change in the sector
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 26 June page 10
Baby alarm
How agencies are facing up to the growing problems of adopted children born to drug abusers
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 26 June page 120-119
Polishing the flaws
East Sussex council acts after review slams adult services
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 26 June page 119
Desperate shortage
Survey pinpoints need for thousands more foster carers
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 26 June page 119
Scottish newspapers
Councils defend performance on free elderly care
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has claimed that staff "had moved mountains" to ensure older people do not miss out on their entitlement to free personal care.
Cosla was hitting back at criticisms that thousands of older people were likely to miss out on the package because of lack of information. Cosla claimed that staff working on the implementation of free personal care "should be congratulated not criticised or sniped at". Free personal care will be introduced in Scotland on 1 July.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 26 June page 10
Welsh newspapers
‘We need a crusade against poverty in Wales’
A major Welsh assembly programme aimed at tackling poverty has been marred by confusion and lack of funding, according to a council chief.
Cardiff council’s deputy leader Lynda Thorne described the £83 million earmarked for the 100 most deprived wards in Wales over three years under the 'Communities First Programme' as a "national scandal".
Thorne, who has special responsibility for community planning and neighbourhood renewal, said that the aims of the programme were laudable, but that Wales desperately needed a concerted campaign to tackle poverty and deprivation.
She added that the Communities First programme was failing to meet the challenge and had been marred by confusion and failure to clarify the responsibilities of local agencies.
Edwina Hart, the assembly minister with responsibility for the scheme, declined to comment on the criticism.
Source:- South Wales Echo Tuesday 25 June page 14
Call for a conference to tackle drugs problem
The Welsh assembly yesterday heard a call for an all-Wales conference to look at how to curb the growing problem of drug misuse in the country.
Deputy health minister Brian Gibbons said that while a rise in drugs misuse linked to crime had not yet materialised it was important to "head off" potential problems.
Police have warned that Wales is likely to become a major market for illegal drugs in the future.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 26 June page 2
Probation service told it could do better
The north Wales probation service has been given an official pat on the back, but told it could do better.
In a report published today the area's probation service is praised for delivering an above average service with particularly good work managing high risk cases, pre-sentence reports, enforcing court orders and supervising people on licences following their release from prison.
The report though does say that there are areas of weakness with inspectors noting that the quality of supervision plans and assessments could be better, and in total there are some 15 areas of work that require improvement.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 26 June page 9
