In Today's Papers

By Shirley Kumar, Craig Kenny, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Spending on elderly 'will be more than forecast'

The Treasury has accepted that the long-term cost of public expenditure programmes will be higher than previously forecast.

The cost of pensions, health, long-term care and education would rise from 19 per cent today to 24 per cent of gross domestic product in 2053, according to an economic trends report published along side the pre-Budget report.

Source:- The Financial Times Friday 3 December 2004 page 4

 
Maternity leave extended to nine months

The Treasury announced a 10-year strategy that includes extending maternity leave from six months to nine months from April 2007.

The strategy also includes making maternity leave transferable to fathers, increase in free nursery care for three and four-year-olds to 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year.

Source:- The Financial Times Friday 3 December 2004 page 5
 
Consultation on child trust fund-top up payment welcomed

The Government is to seek views on the value of the top-up payment for Child Trust Fund - a move welcomed by child poverty campaigners.

From January, children born on or after September 2002 and who have child benefit claimed for them will receive their first Child Trust Fund endowment of £250 rising to £500 for poorer families. The government had not disclosed the value of the second payment until yesterday.

Source:- Financial Times Friday 3 December 2004 page 6
 
Public sector jobs likely to increase by 50,000 a year despite wide cuts

Jobs in the public sector are due for a net increase of 50,000 a year, despite the axing of 70,000 civil service posts.

A further 250,000 public service staff are set to be employed by 2008 in front line services including 143,000 more health workers, 55,000 more working in preschool and childcare and a rise of 33,000 staff in the criminal justice system.

Source:- The Financial Times Friday 3 December 2004 page 7
 
Brown’s windfall for council coffers

Local authorities have been given a funding boost of almost £1 billion to peg Council Tax rises below five per cent in an election year.

The Treasury, health and education budgets were squeezed to finance the move, made in Chancellor Gordon Brown’s pre-budget statement yesterday.

Source:- Financial Times Friday December 3 page 7

“Carrot and stick” scheme to cut incapacity benefit claims

Employment Office staff are to be posted in GP surgeries in a bid to crackdown on abuse of incapacity benefit. But claimants who return to work will be given £40 extra in benefits on top of their pay, said Chancellor Gordon Brown yesterday.

The scheme will cover more than one third of the country, mostly in the former industrial areas of northern England, Scotland and Wales, where up to one in four men claim incapacity benefit.

The TUC was relieved that the scheme - designed to reduce the £7.7 billion incapacity benefit bill - was “more carrot than stick.”

Source:- Daily Mail Friday December 3 page 13

A&E departments not meeting children’s needs, says study

Many hospital Accident and Emergency departments are still not meeting the minimum standards for treating children, says a new study in the British Medical Journal.

Thirty two essential recommendations, made by the royal colleges five years ago, have not been implemented in all 139 A&E departments, it says.

A quarter do not triage children separately and of those that did, almost one in four did not have a nurse trained to triage children. A third of A&E consultants do not have child training, while almost half the nurses were not trained in child life support.

Source:- The Guardian Friday December 3 page 8

Cold risk to elderly Britons worse than Scandanavia

Older people in Britain and Ireland are more likely to die from cold than the elderly in other northern European nations, says Age Concern.

22,000 people over 65 are expected to die from cold-related illnesses this winter, 18 per cent more than other seasons. By contrast, the winter death rate in Finland is only 10 per cent above other seasons.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday December 3 page10

Paedophile sentence reviewed

The Court of Appeal is due to decided today whether a 12-month sentence for  convicted paedophile Timothy Pickup was “unduly lenient”.

Pickup was found guilty of possessing and distributing indecent images of children, but investigators believe he used software to erase large amounts of similar material from his computer.

Source:- The Times Friday December 3 page 16

Scottish newspapers

Jamieson grabs control of prisons

Justice minister Cathy Jamieson is to announce a raft of reforms to the Scottish Prison Service.

She wants to bring in new regulations that will force prisons and local authorities to work together when a prisoner is released.

Source:- Daily Record Friday 3 December

Winter deaths scandal of OAPs

Age Concern has warned that more than 2,500 older people could die this year from the cold.

Between December and January last year 2516 OAPs died mainly through having problems heating their homes.

Source:- Daily Record Friday 3 December

Child sex academic hits back

The researcher who claimed not all sex between adults and under-16s is abusive has defended his work.

Richard Yuill’s PHD thesis was criticised as it could be used to legitimise paedophiles.

But he said his research showed the people he interviewed had a range of experiences on the issue and that all were over 18 when spoken to.

Source:- Daily Record Friday 3 December

Jamieson acts to cut number of reoffenders

Reforms of the Scottish prison service will focus on tackling reoffending.

Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, will announce on Monday the executive will take control of the Reliance prison escort service and private jails.

It is believed the plans have been drawn up to try and reduce the cost of prison and break the cycle of reoffending through better community support services when prisoners are released.

Source:- The Herald Friday 3 December

Treating the needs of abused runaway children

High levels of sexual exploitation of runaway children in the west of Scotland has got so bad that police and social services have set up a warning system to alert them of risks.

Research by Glasgow Council has revealed that 23 children aged between 10 and 16 were found over a six-month period in the city centre after running away and being exposed to drugs and forced into prostitution.

Source:- The Herald Friday 3 December

Welsh newspapers

Widow of Khan’s victim speaks out over errors

The widow of man killed by a schizophrenic has called for disciplinary action against the mentally ill man’s carers.

The carers did not notify the police until three days after Paul Khan had gone missing in March 2003.

Enid Dodd’s calls come after a report from the National Assembly into her husband’s death stated that the carers were meant to contact police if Khan went missing for more than 12 hours.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 3 December page 5

Comic Relief stars tackle serious subject- abuse of elderly patients

A film to head up next year’s Comic Relief campaign on abuse of older people is shot in Cardiff this week.

Richard Briers and Kevin Whately star in 'Dad' which is Comic Relief’s first film production.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 3 December page 15

Psychiatrist warns of ‘cyber suicide’ pacts

Suicide pacts arranged over the internet could become more common, an expert warns today.

Consultant psychiatrist Sundararajan Rajagopal makes the warning in the British Medical Journal.

Two girls in South Wales who met in an internet chatroom made an apparent suicide pact in September. Laura Rhodes, 13, from Neath died from an overdose while Rebbecca Ling, 14, from Birmingham survived.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 3 December page 6