A summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By
Sally Gillen and Reg McKay.

Climbie inquiry halted as woman attacks
witness

The
inquiry into the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie was halted abruptly
yesterday when a smartly dressed woman strode into the hearing and poured black
paint over a witness.

In
front of a packed room, the 32-year-old walked calmly up to Chief Inspector
Phillip Wheeler and doused him in paint before yelling: “You’re taking the
p***. That’s my f****** relative you’re talking about.”

Wheeler,
who wrote a damning report on the standards of child protection services
handling Victoria’s case, was taken to hospital after the paint seeped into his
eyes, but was said to be unharmed.

Source:-
The Independent, 11 January, page4

Scottish
newspapers

Parents protest at paedophile’s sentence

Angry
parents protested outside the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, against the
leniency of the sentence given to a predatory paedophile. Joseph Millbank was
sentenced to six years plus 10 years’ supervision having pled guilty to 16
charges of child abuse in Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth and Dundee between January
2000 and September 2001. 

Source:-
The Herald 11 January, page 9

Young people warn of problems of being in
care

Three
former young people in care spoke out on the problems they experienced during
their time in care, while the Scottish parliament debated educational support
to all looked after children. 

The
conference in Edinburgh had been attended by first minister Jack McConnell, and
minister for education and young people Cathy Jamieson. Later in the day,
Jamieson went on to announce in parliament that all Scottish councils will be
obliged to ensure that looked after children are guaranteed full-time education
by the end of this year.

Source:-
The Herald 11 January, page 15

Cash crisis threatens care homes

The
growing row over money is on the verge of paralysing Scotland’s private care
home sector according to care home owners. Off the record, care home owners
have been expressing their increasing anger and frustration that the revision
of charges undertaken by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the
Scottish executive is not yet complete. 

Today,
health minister Malcolm Chisholm is meeting Cosla and it is understood he will
demand that the review is completed urgently. It is also believed that the
executive is increasingly concerned that councils do not spend all the finances
allocated for residential care on those services – one unconfirmed estimate
being that more than £50m of finance allocated for care of older people is
spent elsewhere. A spokesperson for the executive said: “We recognise the
urgency of the situation.”

Source:-
The Scotsman 11 January, page 2