By Shirley Kumar, Amy Taylor, and Derren Hayes
Minister calls on businesses to reform sick pay
Businesses should take more responsibility to stop their employees falling into long-term welfare dependency, said work and pension’s secretary Alan Johnson.
Johnson is expected to tell a conference on stress in the workplace today that the government is looking at changes to statutory sick pay.
Source:- The Financial Times, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 3
Government proposes changes to parental leave
The government is set to ease the pressure on businesses in relation to parental leave by obliging women to give more notice before they return to work.
The move follows concerns raised by businesses over the possible disruption if a move to double statutory paid maternity leave is changed from six to 12 months.
Source:- The Financial Times, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 3
Milburn backs voluntary service provision
Labour’s election and policy co-ordinator Alan Milburn is backing the use of the voluntary sector in the provision of public services.
Milburn told the Association of Chief Executives Voluntary Organisations that the voluntary sector should become as integral to the public service delivery as the public or private sectors over the next 10 years.
Source:- The Financial Times, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 4
Private hospitals face inspection costs
Private hospitals and treatment centres could be charged the full cost of their inspection and regulation as part of the government’s efficiency drive.
The government is also considering recovering full or partial costs for the inspection of care homes.
Source:- The Financial Times, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 4
Judge allows dying woman to commit suicide abroad
A High Court judge said he would not stop a woman with an incurable brain disease from travelling to Switzerland for an assisted suicide because she has full mental capacity.
However the judge warned her husband who will accompany her that he could face criminal charges by assisting in his wife's suicide bid.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 1
Schoolboy dies after argument in games lesson
A 15-year-old boy died after being attacked following an argument over a game of basketball.
David Sandham was allegedly butted by one boy and punched in the chest by another at Broadoak High School, Partington, Greater Manchester.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 7
Schoolchildren fingerprinted to stop truancy
Children at a school in Cambridge are to be fingerprinted before each lesson in an attempt to combat truancy.
If pupils do not check in, a scanner system will send a text message or email to the child's parents reporting the suspected absence.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 7
Single adults are ‘the forgotten poor’, says charity
More than 3.9 million working age adults with no children live below the poverty line, says the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which is 300,000 more than when Labour came to power in 1997.
While poverty among children and pensioners has declined rising numbers of single adults are blighted by low pay, homelessness and poor health, found a study by the foundation.
Source:- The Independent, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 8
Labour to offer three months paid leave to fathers
Labour has pledged to give fathers up to three months paternity leave to be included in the Party’s general election manifesto.
The promise by Chancellor Gordon Brown will be announced in the pre-budget report tomorrow.
Source:- The Independent, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 19
What do you teach in Liverpool, shoplifting?, asks celebrity
Anne Robinson has been advised to steer clear of her native city Liverpool after declaring on her quiz show, The Weakest Link, that Liverpudlian children were so good at shoplifting they must have lessons in it.
Source:- The Daily Mail, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 9
Curfews banned for mothers who block fathers’ visits
The government is planning to electronically tag or issue curfews on divorced or separated women who defy court orders and refuse to let their ex-partners see their children.
Judges will be given the powers to impose a range of sanctions on such women including forcing them to do community service or undergo anger management courses in the plans expected in a draft bill from the government soon.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 5
Teacher in sex case faces jail
Richard Small, a teacher and former Conservative Party agent has pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting boys in the 1980s at Reading Crown Court, Berkshire.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 7
Blair backs plans for private sector probation officers
Prime Minister Tony Blair has Home Office plans to put parts of the probation service and a group of prisons out for tender, according to a leaked document from Downing Street.
Not for profit voluntary organisations and the private sector will be given the opportunity to run parts of the £4bn a year prison and probation services.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 8
Killer of Asian inmate had wooden dagger, inquiry told
Zahid Mubarek’s killer had a 20cm wooden dagger three days before the attack at Feltham Young offenders’ institute, an inquiry heard.
Jamie Barnes, a close friend of Murbarek, said Robert Stewart had calmly pulled out the dagger and showed it to Murbarek.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 9
Police seek mother who left 14-year-old girl home alone
Police and social workers in Merseyside are investigating claims by a 14-year-old girl that she spent two weeks living on her own after being abandoned by her mother.
Chloe Riley, whose father died two years ago, said she came home from school and found that her mother Stephanie had gone missing.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 9
Drug charities criticise government plans on tackling addiction and crime
Drugs charities have said governments plans to break the link between drug addiction and crime don't go far enough.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 2
Without fear or prejudice
Although the subject of sex and teenagers is controversy, Jan Barlow, head of Brook Advisory Service, tells Mary O’Hara that a ‘hysterical media won’t stop the charity’s confidential relationship services to young people.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 6
Blogger gives inside story on life in NHS
Dr Dre isn’t his real name, but his blog on being an IT worker in Anytown NHS trust reads like a warts-and-all account of health service life.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 8
Exercise in giving
This year’s Guardian Christmas Appeal is raising money for older people’s charities. Malcolm Dean explains why this good cause – and the 10 organisations in line to benefit – have been chosen.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 10
Judge and jury
It seems hardly a week goes by when there isn’t an official inquiry into public service failings. But how do we know whether they make a difference.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 14
What else can I do?
Could the expertise that a 52-year-old Susan has built up as a professional artist be used to benefit others? Debbie Andalo suggests a range of creative opportunities.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2004, page 88
Scottish newspapers
£83,000 pay offer for top nurses
An elite group of nurses will earn up to £83,546 a year to act as advisors to NHS management and give guidance on clinical strategy, is among a package of measures announced by health minister John Hutton yesterday.
Starting salary for nurses would rise by six per cent to £18,114, while midwives will start on more than £29,000, a rise of 12 per cent.
Source:- The Daily Record, Wednesday 1 December 2004
Security row over Fathers 4 Justice protest
Fathers 4 Justice protestors who climbed on to the Scottish parliament roof for three hours have predictably caused questions to be asked of Holyrood security.
Paul Grice, the head of the Scottish Parliament, last night ordered a report into the security breach after the campaigners climbed the front of the building in broad daylight.
Source:- The Herald, Wednesday 1 December 2004
Welsh newspapers
Wife of insane killer to sue social services
The wife of a mentally ill man who killed his daughter has been granted permission to make a negligence claim against Monmouthshire social services.
Karen Hall, from Monmouth, said the local authority did not do enough to prevent her husband Andrew getting so ill that he killed their 12-year-old daughter.
She was given permission to pursue the claim by a High Court judge in Swansea.
Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday 1 December 2004
Mothers fear partners are seeking child pornography
An increasing number of mothers are calling a child protection helpline after becoming worried that their father or partners are downloading child porn.
The number of mothers ringing with such concerns has increased over the five years since NSPCC Cymru launched its bilingual helpline in Wales.
Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday 1 December 2004
