By Clare Jerrom, Nicola Barry, and Alex Dobson.
Parents of truants face on-the-spot fines
Parents who let their children play truant will face on-the-spot fines in a crackdown on ill-discipline in England’s schools, according to Charles Clarke.
The education secretary suggests that legislation in the Queen’s speech will give police and welfare officers powers to fine parents who allow their children to miss school.
Officials declined to say how much the fines would be.
Local authorities already have the powers to take wayward parents to court where they may be ordered to attend parenting classes or even fined up to £2,500. However, these measures have rarely been used.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 12 November page 1
Children failed by social services, says Booth
Cherie Booth castigates the government today over the failure of social services to protect children from death and neglect.
In an article in The Times, which coincides with a test legal challenge against the home secretary over children in prison, Booth says that the care system "often fails the very children it is set up to serve".
"It is an unbearable fact that between one and two children die every week in England and Wales as a result of abuse and neglect," she says.
The repercussions are devastating too, she says as too many young vulnerable people end up in the criminal justice system.
She calls for the government to create a Children’s Rights Commissioner to bring Britain into line with most of Europe.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 12 November page 2
Human rights ‘risk’ in mental health bill
A wide range of people could be subject to compulsory treatment under the government’s mental health bill, the joint parliamentary committee on human rights warned ministers last night.
The committee of MPs and peers said that the proposed definition of what constitutes a "mental disorder" goes much further than is necessary to ensure dangerous people can be removed from situations where they put themselves or others at risk.
It says epilepsy sufferers and people with diabetes could be subject to compulsory treatment too as the new definition will cover illnesses such as epilepsy, which can interfere with the functions of the brain.
They also warn the proposed legislation is in danger of turning psychiatrists into "guardians of morality" by deleting safeguards which prevent the compulsory detention of the sexually deviant, alcoholics and drug addicts.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 12 November page 10
Riot police seal off church used as sanctuary by 100 Sangatte refugees
A church in Calais where more than 100 asylum seekers on their way to Britain had been sheltering, was seized last night by French riot police.
Officers from the national CRS stormed through a crowd of human rights activists when the deadline for the asylum seekers to leave the church expired. Sixteen officers sealed the area.
A stand-off developed as the police were reluctant to use force and the asylum seekers warned they would go on hunger strike rather than leave, as it emerged that the closure of the Red Cross Centre yesterday would not deter asylum seekers from trying to reach Britain.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 12 November page 1
Police want more cash to fight paedophiles
The government was urged to provide more money for police officers to fight internet paedophilia.
The Association of Chief Police Officers is said to be concerned that some forces do not have the funds to prosecute suspected child abusers operating on the internet.
The demand follows an FBI investigation identified up to 7,000 people in the UK who were downloading child pornography from a website.
Details of British users were passed to the authorities six months ago, but some individual police forces with few resources were left to investigate the suspects.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Carole Howlett of ACPO told the BBC that she had no doubt there were going to be similar scale operations to Operation Ore.
"We need to be properly resourced in order to deal with that," she said.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 12 November page 6
Scottish newspapers
One in four young women drinking too much
One in four young Scottish women drink in excess of safe levels of alcohol, an investigation into binge drinking has found.
The figure has almost doubled in the last decade.
The Scottish executive, which this year launched an alcohol action plan for Scotland, is concerned at the trend.
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 12 November page 3
Red wine may halve risk of senile dementia
Drinking red wine may halve the risk of developing dementia, but beer might make people doubly prone to the condition, according to Danish scientists.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 12 November page 7
Man admits having sex with girl, 15, he met in internet chat room
A naïve 15-year-old girl had sex with a man who swept her off her feet with flattery.
Phillip Bugler, aged 45, an occupational health nurse, yesterday faced allegations at the high court in Edinburgh of abducting and raping the girl.
Bugler was put on the sex offenders’ register and remanded in custody for background reports.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 12 November page 6
Welsh newspapers
Harman in blitz on domestic violence
Solicitor General Harriet Harman wants Welsh women to contribute their views to tough proposals aimed at cracking down on domestic violence.
Harman was speaking at the Welsh Labour Women’s conference that was held last week in south Wales.
She said that 25 per cent of all violent crime was domestic violence, and one third of all murders were domestic killings. Changes in the law and people’s attitudes to such crimes were needed.
Harman also called for local agencies to work together after every domestic homicide to find out what had happened and work to prevent such tragedies in the future.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 11 November page 5
Asylum row builds up
The row over where to site a controversial asylum appeals centre in south Wales has intensified with the intervention of Newport East MP Alan Howarth.
Howarth says that centre should be built in Newport itself rather than on the outskirts, following protests by community leaders and residents.
Howarth said that he appreciated the need for the centre, which would accelerate the appeals process, but that the proposed site at Langstone was unacceptable. He said the area could not provide the range of facilities that asylum seekers would require while awaiting their appeal.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 11 November page 11
I’m happy I left world of crime
A new joint project by police, probation and schools in south Wales is helping to deter young people from becoming involved with crime.
Former young offender Alana Davies is visiting schools as part of the initiative called ‘The Crime of Your Life’ that presents drama workshops aimed at showing children how destructive getting involved in crime can be.
Following the workshop, young people are able to talk to members of the police, prison service, youth offending team and magistrates.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 11 November page 13
‘It’s been a three-year living nightmare…I don’t know if I can stay around here now…’
A care home manager who had her conviction for wilful neglect of an older patient quashed, says that she may not be able to remain in her home community.
The court of appeal quashed Karen Morrell’s conviction last week. She had spent 19 days in prison in June 2001 after she was found guilty of wilful neglect of a 73-year-old resident but was then released on bail pending appeal.
Morrell says that the experience has left her scarred, and that she may not be able to return to her former life.
Source:- South Wales Echo Monday 11 November page 9
Cardiff social worker claiming unfair dismissal
Charles Faber, the social worker at the heart of a whistle blowing controversy in Cardiff, has taken his case to an industrial tribunal.
Faber says that he was dismissed because he raised concerns over the way that children’s services in Cardiff were being run.
The council says that he was dismissed because of financial mismanagement.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 12 November page 5
