In Today's Papers

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Howard unveils new face of the Tories
Michael Howard announced a new more slimline Conservative shadow cabinet yesterday.
Moves within the shadow cabinet, which has been cut from 12 to 26, include David Davis becoming shadow home secretary taking over from Oliver Letwin, who has become shadow chancellor. Other changes involve Tim Yeo taking on a newly created role of shadow secretary for health and education.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 11 November page 1

Soham jurors retract girls' steps
Jurors in the trial of Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr retraced the final known steps of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells yesterday in the village of Soham in Cambridgshire.
Their journey involved looking round the house where the 10-year-olds are alleged to have been murdered by Huntley.
They also went to the storage shed where the girls' partially burned clothes were discovered.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 11 November page 5
Secure homes at risk
The Youth Justice Board announced plans to dramatically cut its use of secure children's homes last night throwing the institutions' future into question.
The YJB said it would be cutting the number of places it uses in homes by almost 40 per cent due to the level of young people being held in custody falling, and because privately run secure training centres were a cheaper option.
Most secure children's homes are run by local authorities who have warned that many will now have to close due to the YJB's plans. The board currently uses up to 75 per cent of the homes' capacity.
The 28 secure children's homes in England generally look after young people aged 10-17 who are sentenced or on remand, but some also care for "welfare" cases where the young person is showing extreme behaviour.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 11 November page 8
Labour divided over childcare
Supporters of prime minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown are divided over plans for a central plank of the manifesto to be the provision of universal childcare for all pre-school children.
While Brown wants to direct money towards poor families, Blair's advisers are in favour of spreading the funding across the board to gain support from the middle classes.
Children's minister Margaret Hodge will outline part of the government's plans today at a speech to childcare charity Daycare Trust.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 11 November page 13
Scottish newspapers
Man who abused boy for 12 years goes free
A sheriff decided yesterday not to jail a chapel worker who sexually abused a boy for 12 years because it would not be in the public interest to lock him up.
Patrick McGrath groomed a 16-year-old boy after the teenager's cousin died in the late 1980s. The 71-year-old could have faced up to 10 years’ imprisonment after he admitted a charge of shameless indecency. But Sheriff Lindsay Wood placed him on three years’ probation, giving his backing to a social work report which recommended he should not be jailed.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 11 November
Protesters oppose eviction of asylum seekers
Protesters rallied outside Glasgow City Chambers last night in objection to the eviction of asylum seekers who have been refused permission to stay in the UK. Around 20 asylum seekers have been removed from their homes in the past four months. Campaigners fear a new wave of evictions shortly because many of those housed temporarily in the city's Sighthill area as part of the dispersal scheme are due to receive decisions on their asylum applications.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday 11 November
Welsh newspapers
Asylum seeker must go
An asylum seeker, who fled Croatia following the imprisonment of his father for alleged war crimes, has been told he must return to his homeland.
Mihajlo Graorac settled in Newport three years ago and has married and established a promising career. But at a hearing last week an adjudicator for the Immigration Appellate Authority ruled that he must now return to Croatia.
Amnesty International is still fighting to free Graorac’s father who it said was imprisoned following an unsafe trial. Newport East MP Alan Howarth said that returning to Croatia would put Graorac in genuine physical danger.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 10 November page 6
Help now at hand for drug addicts
Help for drug addicts in Gwent will take a major leap forward later this month with the official launch of the ‘Kaleidoscope’ project.
The Church-sponsored project will work with the Gwent support services already established across the county via the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Fund.
Martin Blakebrough from Kaleidoscope said that the project would offer an appointment-based service, and that the service should mean that no-one with a dependency would have to wait for basic treatment.
Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 10 November page 13
Views of children should be heard
The charity, Save the Children, has launched a major report on children and young people’s views on education.
The report recommended that children’s opinions should always be canvassed during school inspections to help tackle bullying and discrimination.
The report also called on the Welsh assembly to provide more resources for peer support schemes, and to introduce child-friendly complaints procedures.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 11 November page 2
Pupils’ free breakfasts policy flawed
The Welsh Liberal Democrats said that the flagship policy to provide free breakfasts in primary schools across Wales is flawed.
The Welsh assembly plan to launch free breakfasts in the most deprived parts of Wales next September, and extend them to the whole country by 2006.
But Liberal Democrats said that the policy, though well-intentioned, was flawed and that there was no budget for the scheme. They also said that other parts of the education budget could suffer as a result.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 11 November page 7