Friday 31 January 2003

By Amy Taylor, Nicola Barry and Alex
Dobson.

Asylum crackdown will target illegal
workers

Businesses employing illegal workers are to be targeted after
Tony Blair gave immigration officials 10 weeks to show that new
laws to cull the numbers of asylum seekers entering the country are
having an effect.

The prime minister is receiving weekly updates on the amounts of
people claiming asylum, determined to stop the ever increasing
number.

Source:- The Times Friday 31 January page 1

State turns blind eye to workers in the
shadows

Tom Baldwin on the clues to Britain’s illegal immigrants

Source:- The Times Friday 31 January page 4

Discipline is not a dirty word, says youth
minister

Ivan Lewis, the minister for young people and adult skills, gave
a strong speech yesterday admitting that the government had not
provided enough support to teaching staff, and calling on parents
to take responsibility for their children.

He said that too many parents were not backing teachers to try
and improve discipline in the classroom.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 31 January page 9

Schools’ fury at rise of the new middle class
truants

Rising truancy rates at high achieving schools are due to middle
class parents taking their children ski-ing in term-time.

Peak times for ski-ing trips and cheap sunshine holiday deals
are causing rows of empty seats in some classrooms, prompting fears
that parents could be damaging their children’s education.

Source:- Daily Mail Friday 31 January page 41

Scottish newspapers

Custody question over Fraser Children

Social workers in Elgin are preparing to intervene in the future
of Arlene Fraser’s two children.

The move comes after police broke the news to Jamie, aged 15 and
Natalie, aged 10, that their father Nat was given life for
murdering their mother in 1998.

Moray social workers are undertaking a social inquiry report to
determine the suitability of the children’s paternal
grandmother as their full-time guardian.

Source:- The Herald Friday 31 January page 4

Psychiatrist named as MSPs standards
watchdog

The Scottish parliament yesterday appointed its first permanent
standards commissioner.

Dr James Dyer, a former consultant psychiatrist, will be
responsible for investigating complaints against MSPs.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 31 January page 11

Failure of teenage pregnancy campaign

The Scottish executive’s strategy to reduce teenage
pregnancies has failed.

Official figures revealed yesterday that the rate had remained
exactly the same over the course of the year, despite the executive
spending £4 million on campaigns.

In fact, the number of teenage pregnancies in areas targeted by
the executive has risen.

Source:- Daily Mail Friday 31 January page 2

Welsh newspapers

Child manifesto drawn up

Children’s rights will be pushed to the top of the agenda
today when five leading charities unite in a coalition of
concern.

Leaders of the largest charities in Wales will meet for the
first time since the decision to launch a children’s
manifesto, ‘Wales’ Children – Our
Future’.

The manifesto calls on the hundreds of candidates standing in
Welsh Assembly elections in May to sign up to 20 priorities all
aimed at helping needy children in the principality. It includes a
call for more cash for local authorities to fight child
poverty.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 31 January page 2

NSPCC calls for cash investment in care to follow new
sex laws

NSPCC Cymru is demanding an urgent injection of cash to help the
government’s biggest every crackdown on sex offenders to get
results.

The charity also wants more funding for a national strategy for
young people who display sexually harmful behaviour, including
national standards for care arrangements and treatment

Source:- Western Mail Friday 31 January page 2

Ex-pupils tell inquiry of indecent approaches by
Owen

A woman told a child abuse inquiry how she walked into a drama
rehearsal to find the teacher pulling down the shorts of another
pupil.

During a hearing of the Clywch inquiry being held by
children’s commissioner, Peter Clarke, she also described her
distress at being asked to act out a rape scene. The inquiry into
the handling of allegations of abuse against the late teacher and
TV scriptwriter, John Owen, also heard from another ex-pupil about
how he had been made to perform an indecent act during a role-play
rehearsal. Owen was facing charges of abusing teenage boys when he
killed himself 18 months ago.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 31 January page 8