News

JANUARY 

1.  Which airline was told that its practice of charging disabled passengers for the use of wheelchairs was unlawful?

a) Easyjet
b) British Airways
c) Ryanair

2.  What were revealed as rewards given to social services employees by various councils following the 2003 star ratings?

a) £2.50
b) a packet of biscuits
c) an extra day's holiday

FEBRUARY

3.  What did children's minister Margaret Hodge describe as a "hiccup"?

a) a proposal in Every Child Matters
b) Children's Fund budget confusion

c) her appointment as a minister

4.  What was criticised for being institutionally racist?

a) mental health services
b) social services
c) the Conservative party

MARCH

5. What was published on 4 March?

a) Draft Charities Bill
b) Children Bill
c) Draft Disability Discrimination Bill

6.  What was said to offer "little concrete hope of speedier, more effective treatment"?

a) the alcohol misuse strategy
b) the Mental Health Bill
c) the privatisation of hospitals

APRIL

7.  What came into force on 1 April?

a) the Disability Discrimination Act
b) new codes of practice for social workers
c) the Commission for Social Care Inspection

8.  Michael Bichard is...

a) A new home office minister
b) The chair of the Ian Huntley inquiry
c) The chair of the Victoria ClimbiŽ inquiry

MAY

9.  On what issue did community care minister Stephen Ladyman tell social workers "don't be afraid of saying the unthinkable"?

a) social workers' salaries
b) their vision of adult services
c) their view of the government's performance in social care

10.The government lost its appeal against three High Court rulings. What was the issue?

a) people with continuing care needs being charged for services
b) former in-patients in psychiatric hospitals having to pay for their aftercare
c) asylum seekers' human rights

JUNE

11.  Who was appointed as chief executive of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service?

a) Anthony Douglas
b) Judy Weleminsky
c) Baroness Pitkeathley

12.  Which bill enables people to make living wills?

a) the Mental Incapacity Bill
b) the Mental Capacity Bill
c) the Living Choice Bill

JULY

13.  What does Pova stand for?

a) protection of vulnerable adults
b) participation of vulnerable adults
c) perception of vulnerable adults

14.  Community Care's Back on Track campaign was intended to improve the lot of which group of service users?:

a) drug misusers
b) young offenders
c) asylum seekers

AUGUST

15.  Who was banned from child protection work for three years?

a) David Southall
b) Roy Meadow
c) Lisa Arthurworrey

16.  West Sussex Council was not happy about supporting a group of people from Diego Garcia and wanted the government to provide extra resources for them. Where is Diego Garcia?

a) Indian Ocean
b) The Caribbean
c) Pacific Ocean

SEPTEMBER

17. What was published in September that critics fear will damage the trust between doctors and patients?

a) hospital waiting list statistics
b) the Mental Health Bill
c) new guidance on the prescribing of medication

18. How many standards are contained in the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services?

a) 5
b) 8
c) 11

OCTOBER

19.  Who lost her claim for unfair dismissal against Haringey Council over her role in the handling of the Victoria Climbie case?

a) Carole Baptiste
b) Lisa Arthurworrey
c) Angella Mairs

20. In what way has the role of the children's commissioner been watered down?

a) the focus on children's rights has been taken away
b) a politician will carry out the role
c) the role was removed from the Children Act

NOVEMBER

21. How many social services departments received three stars in the 2004 star ratings?

a) 20
b) 31
c) 14

22.  What proportion of social workers in England applied for registration with the General Social Care Council by the 1 December deadline?

a) almost all
b) half
c) one third

DECEMBER

23. On what topic did the National Institute for Clinical Excellence produce guidelines?

a) depression and anxiety
b) eating disorders
c) self-harm

24. Health secretary John Reid announced an additional £100m of funding for services for...

a) children
b) older people
c) disabled people

ANSWERS

1 c) Ryanair. Bob Ross, who has cerebral palsy and arthritis, was charged £18 to use a wheelchair when he flew out of Stansted airport in March 2002 and again on his return the following month. A judge ruled that Ryanair was required to make a "reasonable adjustment" for Ross under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 by providing him with a free wheelchair.

2 All of them. Workers at Wandsworth Council were told they could claim £2.50. Bolton social work teams were offered chocolates or biscuits as part of a package. Staff at other councils received extra holiday.

3 b) Confusion over the Children's Fund budget.

4 a) Mental health services. The inquiry into the death of David Bennett, who died after being restrained by staff in a psychiatric unit, found that institutional racism was present in mental health services.

5  b) The Children Bill.

6 a) Lord Adebowale, the chief executive of social care charity Turning Point was speaking about the alcohol misuse strategy.

7 c) On April Fool's Day the Commission for Social Care Inspection went live, taking on the work of the National Care Standards Commission, the Social Services Inspectorate and certain functions of the Audit Commission.

8 b) Sir Michael Bichard chaired the inquiry that looked into Ian Huntley's background.

9 b) Ladyman invited the comments from delegates at Community Care LIVE after outlining his initial plans for adult services. A document was expected in the summer but, alas, the sector is still waiting.

10 c) Asylum seekers' human rights. Section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 denies support to asylum seekers who fail to make their claim "as soon as reasonably practicable". The High Court had ruled that the government's refusal of accommodation to three destitute asylum seekers under section 55 breached article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. And Appeal Court judges ruled that shelter of some form at night was a "basic amenity".

11 a) Anthony Douglas was appointed as chief executive of Cafcass. Baroness Pitkeathley is chair while Judy Weleminsky was suspended from the board after giving critical evidence about Cafcass to an inquiry.

12 b) The Mental Capacity Bill allows people to make living wills setting out who they would like to take health, welfare and financial decisions on their behalf should they lose mental capacity in the future. It was renamed the Mental Capacity Bill having previously been called the Mental Incapacity Bill.

13 a) From 26 July it became a statutory requirement for registered care providers in England and Wales to check whether a care worker is on the Protection of Vulnerable Adults list before employing them.

14 b) The Back on Track campaign called for a reduction in the number of children and young people held in custody, with more community sentences being used instead.

15 a) Paediatrician David Southall was found guilty of professional misconduct by the General Medical Council and banned from child protection work for three years. After watching a television documentary on the case of Sally Clark, who was jailed for the deaths of her sons but then cleared four years later, Southall told police that he believed her husband Stephen had killed the boys.

16 a) Indian Ocean. The High Court later ruled that West Sussex was not responsible for supporting the islanders.

17 b) A revised Mental Health Bill was published on 8 September. The broad definition of mental disorder has led to fears that many more people could be subject to compulsory treatment and that as a result people could be put off from accessing mental health services.

18 c) The children's NSF includes 11 standards covering a number of areas including children and young people who are ill, and medicines management.

19 b) Lisa Arthurworrey, Victoria ClimbiŽ's social worker, lost her claim for unfair dismissal against Haringey Council. Arthurworrey had been sacked for gross misconduct in November 2002.

20 a) An amendment to the Children Bill introduced by children's minister Margaret Hodge altered the commissioner's proposed role from promoting and safeguarding the rights of children to promoting awareness of their views. She deleted five references on children's rights from the bill but denied that the government had "gone timid on rights".

21 a)<2002>The number of councils gaining three stars for social services went up from 16 in 2003 to 20. Eight were awarded zero stars. Only two out of 10 social services departments that had performance action teams working with them improved their star rating.

22 a) Almost all front-line social workers in England had applied for registration by the 1 December deadline. The General Social Care Council said it had received 44,435
forms by the cut-off date.

23 a) Depression and anxiety. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommended that antidepressants should not be used for the initial treatment of mild depression but that where medication is prescribed for people with moderate or severe depression, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors should be selected as they have fewer side effects.

24 b) Reid announced £100m to support older people's social services. The funding will be added to the social services funding for adults for 2005-6 and will be used to improve existing social services to help people live in their own homes.

Score three points for each correct answer.

• 50 points or over: You are a social care boffin. Very impressive but probably best to keep it to yourself!
• 20-50: You've kept your eyes and ears open but are sadly unable to retain too much in the way of detail.
• Under 20: Where were you this year?

Who is the odd one out?

a) The Queen

b) Tony Blair

c) Father Christmas

d) Margaret Hodge

Answer: Father Christmas. The others were victims of Fathers 4 Justice campaigns but Father Christmas was the only person who carried one out.

Recently two Fathers 4 Justice campaigners dressed up as Father Christmas and staged a protest at the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh. Earlier in the year Tony Blair was targeted with condoms of purple flour in the House of Commons, a campaigner dressed as Batman scaled a wall of Buckingham Palace, and a campaigner handcuffed himself to children's minister Margaret Hodge.