Including headlines from Saturday and Sunday.
See below for newspapers in Scotland and Wales.
By Clare Jerrom, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.
More inmates to be released early
Offenders with prison sentences of four years or less may be released under plans aimed at reducing overcrowding in prisons.
Burglars, fraudsters and non-violent robbers would be allowed to go home under a night time curfew, monitored by an electronic tag.
The proposal to extend early release to cover those jailed between 12 months and four years is one of a number of emergency plans being discussed by prison chiefs in Whitehall, as the prison population hit a record 71,233.
Currently, it covers those jailed for up to one year.
Source:- The Times Saturday 29 June page 2
Goody bags will help lads to be good dads
New fathers are to be given a magazine offering parenting advice under government proposals to counter the "only mums matter", and encourage men to take paternity leave.
Secretary of state for trade and industry Patricia Hewitt is also examining the possibility of launching a "goody bag" for new fathers similar to packs received by pregnant women.
Jack O’Sullivan, of the charity Fathers Direct, which is in discussion with the department about producing the magazine, said men were crying out for an impartial source of advice on how to be a good father.
Source:- The Times Saturday 29 June page 6
Schoolboy guilty
A judge has hinted that he may impose a custodial sentence on a teenager who tried to persuade his girlfriend to commit suicide.
A jury at Swansea crown court found the 15-year-old schoolboy guilty of trying to persuade his girlfriend to jump off a jetty at Aberystwyth.
Judge Gerald Price adjourned the case for sentencing, but said he was considering imposing a prison sentence.
Source:- The Times Saturday 29 June page 10
Drunk on flight
A care worker has been jailed for four months for terrorising passengers on a holiday flight from Newcastle to Tenerife.
Charlotte Davies drank a bottle of duty-free rum to combat her fear of flying before spreading panic on the aircraft and forcing the pilot to divert the flight.
Source:- The Times Saturday 29 June page 15
Teachers obliged to report abuse
Teachers who fail to report evidence of child abuse can be taken to court under the tightening of new legislation, the department for education and skills said yesterday.
Schools and local education authorities are being given a legal duty for the first time to promote and safeguard the welfare of their pupils. Ministers agreed to amend the education bill, which is passing through the House of Lords, and a new clause was introduced during the bill’s report stage this week.
Further education colleges will also be covered by the law.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 29 June page 6
Court fight for abandoned son
A British woman who abandoned her baby near Faro airport in Portugal as she fled the country with the baby’s father, will ask a judge on Monday to make him a ward of court in a bid to win her son back.
Katherine Penny and Mark Beddoes, who have split up since returning to Britain, face charges of criminal abandonment if they return to Portugal.
The baby, who is eight-months-old was born with a cleft palate. He had corrective surgery in Portugal in February.
Mr Justice Sumner, sitting in the family division of the high court, will hear the application in private.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Saturday 29 June page 6
Mental unit rape charge
A man has been charged with the rape of a 60-year-old woman on a ward at a mental health unit.
Maurice Castillo, of Ealing, west London, is accused of attacking the patient at the Brent Ward at the John Connolly Unit of the West London Mental Health Trust earlier this month.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Saturday 29 June page 10
Teenager held over death of teacher is sent to mental unit
A teenager, who has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a teacher last week, was referred by police to a secure unit under the Mental Health Act yesterday.
Doraj Miah will have a 28-day assessment. He was held last week after Hazel Prager was found dead on a footpath in Essex.
A health service trust inquiry has already been opened after Miah was turned away from 24-hour emergency centre for people with mental health problems, hours after Prager was killed.
A trust spokesperson said that Miah was assessed by an experienced nurse and "seemed calm and settled".
Source:- The Independent Saturday 29 June page 4
Samurai sword maniac is freed after two years
A man, who rampaged naked through a church with a Samurai sword, has been released from a secure mental ward after just two years.
Eden Strang has responded well to treatment, according to a panel of experts, and is fit for freedom.
Strang’s victims were told at his trial in June 2000 that he would be held indefinitely. But it has emerged that he has been released into a hospital and is under far less supervision.
Strang was not imprisoned following his rampage as he pleaded insanity.
He lashed out with the sword at a church in Thornton Heath, south London, leaving 11 people badly injured.
The judge was told he was suffering from schizophrenia, and he was told by voices in his head to carry out the attack.
Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 29 June page 40-41
Rebellion over plans for ID cards
David Blunkett will call for a national debate on introducing ID cards for everyone living in Britain.
More than 100 pressure groups and unions vow a ‘war of attrition’ against the plan that the cards must be carried to gain access to public services such as health, benefits and education.
Home office officials have made it clear that the home secretary is to push for some form of ID card, to be called an ‘entitlement card’.
He will launch a six-month consultation with a decision by the end of the year.
Blunkett has allegedly told colleagues that the fight against illegal working, identity theft, benefit fraud, terrorism and illegal immigration is helped by ID cards.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 30 June page 1
Blair tackles violent schools
A Downing Street summit on bad behaviour in schools is to be chaired by Tony Blair, as the discipline crisis threatens to spiral out of control.
The prime minister and education secretary Estelle Morris have invited head teachers to Number 10 to plan a crackdown on the problem.
Teachers have complained of increasing violence and bad behaviour in schools.
Blair will demand that local authorities make greater use of parenting orders.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 30 June page 2
The treatment of the mentally ill that shames us all
The professional body which will have to implement the government’s Mental Health Bill will condemn the idea of locking up people with mental health problems before they have committed any offence as "ethically corrupt" and "morally indefensible".
The attack by the Royal College of Psychiatrists is backed by the Law Society, Labour MPs and opposition parties.
The draft Mental Health Bill, that aims to close a loophole that allowed Michael Stone to go free before murdering Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter, even though he had been diagnosed with a severe personality order, will require people with mental health problems to submit to compulsory treatment.
But critics believe it will force psychiatrists to act as police, locking people before they have committed crimes.
Source:- The Independent Sunday 30 June page 1
Communication ‘lapse’ freed sword man
A man with mental health problems, who attacked 11 churchgoers in south London with a Samurai sword, was discharged from a mental health hospital as a result of a breakdown in communication between psychiatrists and police, Scotland Yard said yesterday.
Eden Strang was freed in March, 21 months after a judge said he should be detained indefinitely.
Police are to hold an urgent meeting with health authorities.
Source:- The Sunday Times 30 June page 26
Cannabis to be ‘legalised within year’
Cannabis will be decriminalised despite public concern that it will lead to an explosion in drug abuse.
Home secretary David Blunkett is to risk a public backlash by announcing in July his plans to reclassify cannabis, allowing those who possess it to escape arrest.
The plans could see the drug effectively legalised across Britain by the end of the year.
Ministers and police chiefs say the pilot scheme in Brixton, south London, has been an "undoubted success", allowing police to concentrate on tackling street dealers and violent crime.
Source:- Sunday Times 30 June page 1
Abuse law ‘threat to teachers’
Teachers unions fear that new legislation making teachers responsible for reporting suspected child abuse to social services could result in schools being sued and teachers being sacked.
Changes proposed in the education reform bill, which is passing through the House of Lords, were tabled following the death of a six-year-old girl whose abuse went unreported by teachers.
Lauren Wright died after being punched so hard that her digestive system collapsed.
The National Association of Schoolmasters and Union Women Teachers said the amendments to the bill could greatly extend a school’s duty of care: "We believe it is a mistake to write into legislation a duty which has arisen from an admittedly tragic case."
Source:- The Times Monday 1 July page2
RAF care homes in debt crisis
The organisation that looks after RAF men and women is more than £3 million in debt and could lead to hundreds of former workers losing their homes.
The Royal Air Force Association operates 10 residential and respite homes caring for more than 300 former service personnel.
The association has breached its £3 million overdraft and is selling its London headquarters. St David’ House in Brecon has also been closed with the possibility of further closures.
In today’s 'RAF News', the association's president,air chief marshal Sir Michael Stear, blames the crisis on mismanagement and the failure to act on warnings given 10 years ago.
Source:- The Times Monday 1 July page 2
Surrogacy couples are rated the best parents
Couples who use a surrogate mother to start a family show exceptional levels of love and parenting skills, according to British psychologists.
These families are generally closer and better adjusted than conventional families.
Fears that such couples would have difficulty bonding have been dispelled as the research shows the opposite. Babies born to surrogate mothers show no differences in temperament or behaviour from those who are conceived naturally, and the couples who raise them score well on four out of five standard measures of parenting.
The Family and Child Psychology Research Unit at City University in London, also found the majority of surrogate mothers experience no emotional problems when handing children over to families who commissioned them.
Source:- The Times Monday 1 July page 3
Smack of firm parenthood ‘works for one moment’
Smacking works best when carried out by a loving parent in a situation where it is essential the child obeys immediately. However, it does not work as a punishment in the long term, and may worsen child behaviour.
Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff of Columbia University carried out one of the biggest studies on smacking, and found children aged 10 to 12 were harmed most by smacking.
Smacking cannot be recommended, she says, because there is no evidence that it has positive effects. But she accepts that parenting devoid of any punishment is likely to increase bad behaviour in children.
In the July issue of the American Psychological Association’s 'Psychological Bulletin', Gershoff says: "Corporal punishment does not teach children the reasons for behaving correctly, does not involve the communication of the effects of children’s behaviours on others, and may teach children the desirability of not getting caught."
Source:- The Times Monday 1 July page 3
Youth held for murder
A 17-year-old youth has been arrested on suspicion of murder after police were called to a house in Leverington, Cambridgeshire, on Saturday, and a 23-year-old man later died in hospital.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 1 July page 9
Patients ready to go abroad, BMA poll finds
Two thirds of NHS patients would travel lengthy journeys for major surgery if it avoided waiting for treatment, a British Medical Association poll has found.
It emerged that 41 per cent of patients would travel abroad, and a further 27 per cent would travel anywhere in Britain to avoid queuing for operations.
More than half – 51 per cent – thought the service to NHS patients would improve if there were a mix of providers, including private hospitals.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 1 July page 10
Children’s stress a growing problem
Children’s stress levels are worrying two thirds of parents, with teenage girls being the greatest cause for concern, according to a survey.
The findings reinforce research that has found growing rates of depression and anxiety in children, with an estimated one in five children experiencing mental health problems.
The survey for national helpline Parentline Plus said 66 per cent of parents were worried about children’s challenging behaviour, which they attributed to distress or anxiety.
The majority of calls concerned teenage girls, with 23 per cent, followed by boys aged nine to 12 with 18 per cent.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Monday 1 July page 9
Measles soar as parents say no to MMR
There were calls last night for a public inquiry into the MMR jab following a dramatic increase in measles cases.
The number of children catching the disease has quadrupled, as parents fear a link between the vaccination and autism.
Chief executive of the Patient’s Association Mike Stone said: "We need an inquiry the public can contribute to. People have lost confidence in the vaccination, and there are so many new pieces of evidence coming forward."
Source:- Daily Mail Monday 1 July page 1
Scottish newspapers
Older people may face rise in care costs
Older people may face a rise in the costs of residential and nursing care, the architect of free personal care, Lord Sutherland of Houndwood, has warned.
Sutherland said he had received reports of many independent care units where price rises are already being planned. He also warned that if the agreed fees do not increase then many more care units will be forced to close.
Sutherland referred to an independent report saying that £459 per week was necessary to cover care costs rather than the £390 recommended for local authorities to pay in Scotland.
Source:- The Herald Saturday 29 June page 6
Hundreds of older people may miss out on free personal care
Voluntary organisations have warned that hundreds of older people may miss out on free personal care when it is implemented in Scotland on 1 July.
Age Concern Scotland is concerned that, despite hard work by the Scottish executive and local authorities, many older people will have failed to apply for the funding package.
Recent figures showed that in Edinburgh only a third of the 1,055 self-funders in private care had applied, and the ratios were believed to be the same in other council areas.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 29 June page 8
Checks to stop care homes charging too much
There will be additional scrutiny by the Scottish executive to stop private care home owners from cashing in on free personal care, introduced today, by charging higher fees.
Frank McAveety, deputy health minister, admitted that the system is open to abuse and criticised those who hoped to profit from the scheme.
Scottish Care, the umbrella group representing most private home owners, said it was not aware of any homes seeking to benefit from the changes.
McAveety said there was nothing that the executive could do to stop private companies from "bumping up their prices", but he hoped that private care home owners accepted that the introduction of free personal care was intended to benefit older people.
Source:- The Herald Monday 1 July page 5
Giving smacking a red card
Is there a new way for parents to discipline their children? A full-length feature examines an innovative approach based on a football-inspired system of yellow and red cards.
Source:- The Herald Monday 1 July page 12
Welsh newspapers
Autism hits 10 times as many as 10 years ago
Autism cases have risen 10-fold in the past decade, and policy makers admit that Wales is unprepared to deal with the increase.
A new Welsh Assembly all-party committee on autism said the increase in numbers suffering from the condition has left support services struggling to cope.
Although it is difficult to be precise on the exact number of cases of autism as there is no central register, the Medical Research Council said that there are 10 times as many cases as there were a decade ago.
Assembly member Dr Dai Lloyd who chairs the Welsh committee said that the rise in autism is one of the greatest challenges facing policy makers in Wales.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 1 July page
