By Clare Jerrom, Shona Main and Alex Dobson.
Black day for Blair as party revolts
Tony Blair was defeated yesterday in a vote at the Labour Party Conference over the private financing of public services.
The prime minister will fight back today by telling his party that Labour has not been bold enough in its reform programme and that the pace of change must be speeded up rather than slowed. The minister was slow hand clapped and booed off the platform as he defended the controversial Private Finance Initiative. Unions voted for an independent inquiry into PFI.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 1 October page 1
Records check missed charity workers’ crimes
A children’s charity has demanded an investigation into the Criminal Records Bureau after two people with a previous conviction were cleared by the agency.
Chief executive of Barnardo’s, Roger Singleton said his confidence in the bureau had been damaged after checks on two applicants failed to register their previous convictions of which the charity had been aware.
One worker had a conviction for possessing cannabis and the other had four convictions, including one for threatening behaviour, Singleton told BBC Radio 4. He said it was important to know what went wrong in these two cases.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 1 October page 2
Domestic violence to become an offence
Domestic violence is to become an offence in its own right under proposals currently being drawn up by ministers.
Modelled on stalking legislation, the offence would be based on a pattern of abusive behaviour rather than one-off episodes that may appear minor in isolation.
Solicitor general Harriet Harman believes the courts need the new offence to cover abuse that may not amount to common assault, grievous bodily harm, arson or manslaughter under which abusers are currently prosecuted.
The new measure is to be included in a domestic violence bill which could become law by next summer.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 1 October page 2
Boy, 15, stabbed in race attack
A black teenager is recovering in hospital after he was stabbed in the heart in a race attack a few miles away from where Stephen Lawrence was murdered in south-east London.
Two young white men began making racist remarks to a group of four youths who boarded a bus at Brockley Rise last Friday evening.
Yesterday the stabbed 15-year-old was described as in a critical condition, but police confirmed that he was no longer in intensive care.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 1 October page 3
Police consider ‘drug room’
Kent police are considering allowing drug users to take prescribed heroin in a controlled environment, in a bid to drive down crime, it emerged yesterday.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 1 October page 6
Too many women jailed, says Booth
Too many women are imprisoned, according to Cherie Booth last night.
The prime minister’s wife called for greater use of alternatives such as electronic tagging and weekend jail.
The QC, speaking at the launch of a commission on women and the criminal justice system argued that the growing female prison population did not succeed in reducing re-offending and represented a tragedy for both the women and their families.
Women become trapped in a “vicious circle” of jail, separation from their communities and families and then further offending, Booth said.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 1 October page 11
Morris attacks asylum centres
The government’s plans for accommodation centres for asylum seekers will prove to be Labour’s “Greenham Common”, Bill Morris predicted yesterday.
The general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union has also strongly criticised David Blunkett’s attempts to “out-do the right” and argued that for the government to pursue such a policy is “morally and intellectually confusing”.
Morris says the initial plans for four accommodation centres planned to open from 2004 could turn into a 15-strong “series of mini towns” all providing separate housing, education, legal services and health care facilities. Residents will be compelled to live there, he argues, or risk destitution for themselves and their families.
He claims they are, in reality, detention centres founded on the socially repugnant objective of separating refugees and their children from society.
Barring children from mainstream schools is not only a clear breach of United Nations guidance on the rights of the child, but also sends out a dreadful message about the value society places on these children, he added.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 1 October page 12
Over-60s now outnumber the under-16s
There are more people aged over 60 in Britain than children under 16 for the first time, according to the census 2001.
The proportion of under 16s has decreased from around a quarter in 1951 to a fifth while the population of those aged 60 or more has increased from 16 to 21 per cent. The census “snapshot” confirms fears of a “pensions time-bomb” caused by an ageing population.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 1 October page 4
Scottish newspapers
Dangers of Scotland's vanishing youth
Scotland's spending plans have been threatened by a "demographic time bomb", according to new figures.
The 2001 census has confirmed that older people out number young people. While in the rest of the UK's population is rising, Scotland's total population has fallen by 150,000 since 1981.
John Curtice, of the University of Strathclyde, warned policy makers to consider the impact these figures will have on social policy.
"It raises questions about the degree to which, by 2020 or 2030, we will be able to support the older population. They will require more health services, they will require more pensions. If the number of people in the workforce is low, then you lose the capability to maintain that."
Source: - The Scotsman Tuesday 1 October page 5
Campaign anger as MSPs ditch smack bill
Children 1st has renewed calls for a ban smacking under threes.
The Scottish executive had abandoned the proposals following lack of support from the parliament's Justice 1 committee.
Margaret McKay, chief executive of the charity, warned politicians that it wasn't too late to "do the right thing for children".
Source: - The Scotsman Tuesday 1st October page 10
Quicker results urged as blocked beds total falls
Frank McAveety, the deputy health minister, welcomed a fall in the number of delayed discharges but warned NHS boards and local authorities that more must be done to meet the targets.
Figures for July showed that 'bed blocking' had reduced by 1.1 per cent since April when new monies were made available to tackle the problem.
Source: - The Herald Tuesday 1 October page 11
Welsh newspapers
Society changes its mind over bequest
A u-turn by the Welsh Language Society in deciding not to accept money from alleged paedophile John Owen's estate has been welcomed by his "victims".
The organisation, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg had originally said that it would accept a reported £100,000 from the former drama teacher's will.
But following a furious outcry from alleged victims and their families the Society has decided to reverse its decision.
Solicitor Lynda Roberts, who is acting for the families of some of those who are giving evidence to the Clywch inquiry, set up to look into Owen's activities said she was glad the society had come to a quick decision.
She said that her clients were very disappointed with the society's initial decision to accept because to do so would have been inappropriate and immoral.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 1st October page 9
