By Amy Taylor, Nicola Barry and Alex Dobson
Suffering of the couple who were treated 'like child abusers'
A couple have told of how they were suspected of abusing their 10-month-old son, when the one behind the attacks was his childminder.
The parents, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were regarded with suspicion when they took their son to hospital with bite marks on one arm and two broken legs.
Their child was subsequently put on the 'at risk' register and they were not allowed to take him home for over two weeks.
They said that it took over a year to get the childminder, Geraldine Rama, suspended from the council's childminding register and charged with assault.
Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 18 March page 19
Minimum wage will rise to £4.80
The Government will announce tomorrow that the national minimum wage will increase from £4.20 to £4.80 an hour by 2005.
The creation of a minimum wage, which occurred four years ago set at £3.60 an hour, was a key Labour manifesto commitment in 1997.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 18 March page 8
Scottish newspapers
The front line nearer home
The battle to save children from abuse or from their own emotional problems is being lost because of a shortage of social workers.
In Glasgow, social work services are 25% understaffed and in children and families work the figure stands at 36%.
Source: The Herald Tuesday 18th March page 14
Campaigners fear mental health bill may be flawed by changes
Legislation to bring about the most radical overhaul of mental health laws in 40 years could be fundamentally flawed due to a last-minute rush to pass it through parliament.
Mental health campaigners and MSPs have raised strong concerns about the bill after the Executive added more than 700 amendments just days before the final vote in the Scottish Parliament.
Source: The Scotsman Tuesday 18th March page 7
Kirk’s care homes facing axe
The Church of Scotland admitted yesterday that some of its 30 residential care homes for the elderly would be forced to close because of a multi-million pound funding crisis.
More than 800 pensioners across the country face an uncertain future as the Kirk struggles to balance the books.
Source: The Scotsman Tuesday 18th March page 2
Welsh newspapers
‘We’re under yobs’ curfew’
A community on a south Wales housing estate is being kept under a curfew because of the anti social behaviour of youths an angry resident told police.
The woman who does not want to be named told a special consultation meeting that the youth problem on the Bettws estate in Newport was the worst it had ever been and the community was effectively being placed under a curfew because people were frightened to go out.
Gwent police have organised the public consultation to discuss residents’ fears and help them prioritise activity to deal with problems affecting the community.
Source: South Wales Argus Monday 17 March page 6
Vicar would play hardcore videos while sexually abusing priest, court is told
An alleged victim of sexual abuse has told how a senior clergyman would watch hardcore porn videos while carrying out sex assaults.
The alleged victim who is now a priest said that Church in Wales vicar Canon Lawrence Davies, 62, would play hardcore pornography from countries such as Sweden and the US.
Davies is accused of carrying out sex assaults over a 25-year period that are said to have taken place in the church hall, the vestry, the vicarage and during a summer trip.
He denies eight counts of indecent assault and five counts of serious sexual assault on three males - two of whom are now priests.
Source Western Mail Tuesday 18 march page 3
Sword of Damocles hanging over Wales’s most frail and elderly
Older people who are evicted when care homes close are giving up the will to live because they are frightened of the future, a campaigner claimed yesterday.
He is calling for a change in the law to ensure that older people, who spend their last years in residential or nursing homes, can do so safe in the knowledge that they will have a permanent roof over their heads
Ken Mack who says his late mother-in-law was a victim of a home closure wrote to the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn seven months ago outlining his concerns but says he has still not received a reply.
He has now enlisted support for his campaign from veteran trade unionists Jack Jones, Lord Alf Morris and Rodney Bickerstaffe.
Source Western Mail Tuesday 18 March page 11
