By Amy Taylor, Natasha Salari, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson
Pay parents to raise children, says bishop
The Bishop of London would back a move to pay women to stay at home to raise their children.
In an interview for GMTV's Sunday Programme, he said he found it "bizarre and unfortunate" that childcare was seen as being "of less worth and value than standing on a production line".
Source:- The Times Saturday 7 February page 15
Arsonist jailed for paedophile home attack
A man who burnt down a convicted paedophile's £1m Grade II listed home was jailed for eight years yesterday.
Roy Eveleigh said that Peter Hamilton-Harvey had shown him photographs of boys being abused which caused him to attack the house.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 7 February page 7
Officials to resist NHS racism findings
Three recommendations from the official inquiry into the death of David "Rocky" Bennett, which exposed racism in the NHS are set to be rejected or watered down by officials.
They do not want to accept the recommendations of the official report when it comes out on Thursday and are not convinced of the need for an ethnicity "tsar" to help reform mental health services.
They are also unwilling to accept the report's view that institutional racism is rife in the NHS.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 7 February page 8
Young to get £3 an hour minimum
A new minimum wage of £3 an hour is being introduced for workers under 18.
It is the first time young workers will benefit from having a minimum wage.
The £3 figure has been recommended in a report to ministers by the Low Pay Commission, an independent statutory public body that sets the minimum rates.
Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 8 February page 3
Coroner seeks inquiry into 'mass euthanasia' at hospital
A coroner is concerned that Britain's first case of forced 'mass euthanasia' may have taken place at a hospital in Derby.
Coroner Peter Ashworth is demanding a public inquiry into allegations that 11 older patients were deliberately starved to death at Kingsway Hospital.
There is growing concern about the way hospitals appear to be hastening the deaths of older patients.
Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 8 February page 7
Migrants to be targeted in new ad campaign
Ministers are planning a hard-hitting advertising campaign to discourage migrants from abusing the benefits system and deter illegal immigrants.
Initial talks are understood to have taken place between the Home Office and officials at COI Communications, the agency which works on government advertising campaigns.
The government is preparing for an influx of thousands of workers from 10 countries, including Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which join the European Union in May.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 8 February page 6
Militant fathers’ group to step up road and rail disruption
The group campaigning for guaranteed rights for estranged fathers to see their children is drawing up plans to further disrupt road and rail travel.
Fathers 4 Justice is holding a summit meeting in the Midlands after another round of demonstrations caused traffic disruption in London, Bristol and Newcastle last week, resulting in eight arrests and police raids on the homes of those involved.
Fearing police are about to arrest the organisation's central figures, co-ordinators will also be given detailed instructions of what is believed to be a plan to disrupt almost every major motorway in Britain.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 8 February page 19
Defiant mothers could lose driving licenses
Mothers who stop fathers seeing their children could have their driving licenses confiscated under radical proposals to give family courts greater powers to enforce child contact orders.
The idea is borrowed from America and Australia, where it has been found that taking a mother’s driving licence away is a more successful method of bringing recalcitrant parents to heel than other more draconian punishments.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs has said that ministers will respond to the driving licence confiscation orders, along with other recommendations, by Easter.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 8 February page 19
$90m payout over child abuse drug
The company behind the controversial drug cisapride, whose side-effects on young children may have led to false accusations of abuse against their parents, is to pay out millions of pounds in compensation.
The payments will raise further questions about the theory of Munchausen’s Syndrome By Proxy (MSBP), which suggests that some parents harm their children to draw attention to themselves.
The US-based Janssen Pharmaceutica, which markets cisapride, is to offer up to $90m to settle claims involving 4,000 individuals affected by the drug, of whom 300 are alleged to have died. Cisapride is used to treat digestive problems but was taken off the US and UK markets three years ago amid concerns about its side-effects.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 8 February page 6
Violent men will be sent to class
Violent men are to be sent to American-style classes under a nationwide programme to reduce domestic violence.
The training will aim to prevent abusive men attacking future partners or taking revenge on former wives.
Men will have weekly sessions for up to 10 months on everything from "sexual respect" to how violence affects children, in the first nationwide approved programme, to be introduced in April.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 8 February page 7
Shock survey reveals ‘violation of rights’
Almost one in six women imprisoned while waiting for trial goes on to be acquitted or given a non-custodial sentence, according to the biggest survey ever conducted into women on remand.
The Prison Reform Trust survey also found that 40 per cent of women on remand have received help for a mental health problem in the year before imprisonment.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 8 February page 11
Asylum rejections show ‘staggering lack of knowledge’
Amnesty International has accused the Home Office of a “staggering” lack of knowledge about human rights abuses.
The organisation said that 14,000 asylum appeals were granted in the last full year for which figures are available, an average of one in five of the 64,405 appeals heard.
Amnesty highlights a number of cases, including an Algerian woman who claimed she was raped and tortured with soapy rags stuffed in her mouth, who were later told that these crimes against them were not evidence of persecution.
Source:- The Independent Monday 9 February page 1
UK opens door to migrants
The home secretary has strongly rejected calls for Britain to ban jobseekers from states that will be joining the EU in May.
David Blunkett revealed that preparations are under way to encourage new migrants to go to Scotland as well as London and the south-east of England.
He has joined Scotland’s first minister Jack McConnell in arguing that Scotland needs an influx of new workers for demographic and economic reasons.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 9 February page 1
Abuse survivors attack ‘whitewash’
A report has found that a national child abuse inquiry in Ireland set up to uncover the truth behind 60 years of state denial is being obstructed by the department of education and science and the Catholic orders who ran the notorious institutions.
Around 150,000 children were interned by such institutions between the 1920s and 1980s but survivors' groups in Ireland and the UK have condemned the inquiry as a whitewash.
The commission’s former chairperson, Ms Justice Laffoy, denounced it as “devoid” of independence and also criticised many of the Catholic orders which ran the institutions for contesting every point.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 9 February page 11
Police close in on gangs behind cockling deaths
More than a dozen addresses on Merseyside were raided yesterday as police attempted to close in on the gangmasters behind the deaths of 19 young Chinese cockle pickers at Morecambe Bay.
Officers seized computers, mobile phones and documentation.
Source:- The Times Monday 9 February page 5
UC urges more action to reduce child poverty
Next month's Budget should take more steps to reduce child poverty and reform the pension system for women, the Trades Union Congress has said.
The union has called for the Child Tax Credit to be increased by an extra £2 per week on top of the £3.50 rise already announced in the pre-budget report. It says this will bring 40 per cent more children out of poverty.
It also calls for the government to improve the pension system with only 49 per cent of women qualifying for the state pension compared with 92 per cent of men.
Source:- The Financial Times Monday 9 February page 4
Maxine: Let me go on TV
Maxine Carr is planning to give a television interview in an attempt to "clear her name".
Carr will be released from prison within weeks after being jailed for lying to protect her ex-lover Ian Huntley, who murdered Soham school-girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Source:- The Daily Mail Monday 9 February page 1
Scottish newspapers
Social workers miss out on colleagues’ pay rise
Social workers in schools, residential units and those working with foster parents will not benefit from pay rises of up to £3,000 that other social workers will get under a new pay deal in Edinburgh.
Their highest-paid colleagues in child protection and criminal justice will have their salaries raised from around £24,000 to £27,000 and staff who obtain extra qualifications will be given a £650 bonus.
Cash incentives are being targeted at frontline child protection social workers in a bid to prevent a mass exodus in the wake of the damning inquiry into the handling of the case of Caleb Ness.
Source:- Evening News Saturday 7 February
Jail term ‘too lenient’
A five-year jail sentence given to a man who raped a child is to be increased after it was branded too lenient by Scotland’s senior judge yesterday.
The Court of Criminal Appeal, headed by lord justice general Lord Cullen agreed that James Taylor’s sentence should not be allowed to stand after it was greeted with public outrage.
The new sentence will be announced in a few weeks to allow fresh background reports to be prepared.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 7 February
Mother’s grief at killing of her baby son
The mother of a nine-month baby whose step-father has been charged with his murder has spoken out about her devastation.
In a statement, Karen Ullah said she felt that part of heart was missing following the death of her son, Kyle Mutch.
Mohammad Ullah appeared in court charged with the child’s murder last week.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 7 February
£15m IT system to help save children
Social workers in the capital are to benefit from a new £15 million computer system.
The project will replace current “medieval” equipment, which city leaders admit is hampering the work of frontline staff.
The integrated system aims to improve information sharing between the social work department, health service, police and other agencies.
Source:- Evening News Saturday 7 February
Scots child killer cases set for review
The Crown Office is to review the cases of 19 child killers in Scotland, including that of Edinburgh toddler Caleb Ness.
The move follows a review of cases of child killing in England where many defendants were convicted on the back of evidence from expert witnesses.
The Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC will now scrutinise every Scottish case of murder or culpable homicide of a child under two years old during the last 10 years.
Source:- Evening News Saturday 7 February
Alexander calls for action over birth rate
A former enterprise minister will claim this week that ministers have failed to tackle Scotland’s looming population crisis and should give working women incentives to have children.
Wendy Alexander will argue that the Scottish executive ignored imaginative plans to help with childcare costs, placing Scotland in Europe’s "slow lane" on family-friendly policies.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 8 February
Fire chiefs demand care home sprinklers
Sprinkler systems should be fitted in all Scottish care homes, Scottish fire-masters urged last night.
Fire service leaders said the systems were the “only way” to protect older and vulnerable people who were difficult to evacuate from buildings when a fire alarm is raised. It would cost an estimated £30 million.
Fourteen older residents died as a result of a fire at Rosepark Care Home, Uddingston, last week.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 8 February
Minister blocks plans to stop gangs exploiting immigrants
A government is to block a bill before parliament to outlaw gangs exploiting immigrants like those involved in the Morecombe Bay drownings, because it claims it would be over bureaucratic.
A private member’s bill put forward by Scottish Labour MP Jim Sheridan to license the gang-masters who organise gangs for casual labour, has received only luke-warm support from a key government minister this week, despite outcry over the deaths.
Rural affairs minister Alun Michael said there was no “magic wand” to solve the problem.
Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 8 February
Drugs tsar to target organised crime
The new head of the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency has said police need to tackle the “underlying logic of crime” as seizing large quantities of heroin or cocaine on the way into Britain was virtually useless in the fight against drugs.
Graeme Pearson said he would steer the agency towards a broader crusade against around 100 major league organised criminals active in Scotland.
Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 8 February
Tribunal finds city guilty of serious racism
Glasgow Council has been accused of institutional racism after one of its race equality officers was found to have been discriminated against when he applied for a job on an asylum seeker project.
An employment tribunal decided in favour of Kuldip Dhesi, ruling that the discrimination on the part of the council had been serious. It awarded Dhesi a total of £6,173 in compensation.
Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 8 February
Tagging ‘breaches child rights’
Electronically tagging children under-16 would breach the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a Scottish lawyer has claimed.
The former head of the Scottish Human Rights Centre, professor Alan Miller, said the measure in the proposed Antisocial Behaviour Bill conflicted with the UK’s commitment to article 8 of the ECHR and article 40 of the UN Convention which says children should be treated with dignity.
Source:- The Herald Monday 9 February
Welsh newspapers
Wales ‘to get Euro-cash boost’
Leaked plans suggest that Wales could be in line for a new regional aid regime from the European Commission.
Euro MP Eluned Morgan says that, following meetings with EC officials, she is optimistic that Wales will receive money to help improve economic performance and increase wealth in the principality, which has high levels of poverty and deprivation.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 9 February page 2
Teens ignorant on finance
The UK’s 16-year-olds are worth £2.1 billion but almost half do not understand the difference between a credit and a debit card, according to a new survey.
Eight out of 10 teachers, who responded to the survey by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, said teenagers needed to learn more about how to manage money but that timetable pressures made this difficult.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 9 February page 5
