Friday 14 March 2003

By Amy Taylor, Nicola Barry and Alex
Dobson.

Men prefer to stay at home with children

A new survey has found that almost half of all new fathers said
they would stay at home and look after their children if they
could.

The research, which spoke to 1,000 fathers, found that 68 per
cent would have liked to have used the new provisions for two weeks
statutory paternity leave, in which they would receive £100,
coming in on 6 April.

Source:-The Times Friday 14 March page 2

Report discredits Brown’s poverty claim

New government figures show the number of children living in
poverty since Labour came to power in 1997 has dropped from 4.3
million to 3.8 million, a decrease of 500,000, not the one million
that has previously been claimed by Gordon Brown.

Brown made the commitment in the 2001 election.

The decrease is also too small to meet Tony Blair’s pledge to
wipe out child poverty within 10 years.

Source:- The Times Friday 14 March page 10

Teachers jailed for child abuse to have their
convictions quashed

Two teachers who were falsely accused of child abuse in
Merseyside children’s homes are set to have their convictions
quashed today.

The action comes in the wake of the acquittal of David Jones,
the former Southampton Football Club manager, who was wrongly
accused of child abuse in the same inquiry.

Many other former care workers convicted of abuse in the same
operation are waiting to have their convictions reheard. The
questionable evidence obtained by Merseyside police in Operation
Care (child abuse residential establishments), which looked at
abuse in children’s homes across five local authorities in the
1970s and 1980s closed down last month.

Source:- The Independent Friday 14 March page 2

Elderly getting inadequate care homes, says
report

Older people are receiving medical care below acceptable
standards, and more than a quarter of those in nursing homes are
being administered sedatives, according to a new report.

The work, published in the British Medical Journal, studied 698
older people in Bristol, out of which 172 lived in nursing
homes.

Help the Aged believe the problems in Bristol are replicated
across the country.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 14 March page 9

Quango’s last stand

The Community Fund is set to award asylum seekers another
£800,000 of National Lottery money before it shuts down in the
near future.

The organisation is set to be closed down after receiving
criticism for giving anti-deportation campaigners £340,000
last year.

It is now giving around £200,000 to Asylum Aid to conduct
research on women refugees, £329,000 to the Medical Foundation
for the Care of Victims of Torture and £235,000 to a drop-in
centre in Norfolk, which works with both asylum seekers and migrant
farm workers in the area.

Source:-Daily Mail Friday 14 March page 29

Scottish newspapers

Baby Nicole death probe is launched

An inquiry by the north east of Scotland child protection
committee to identify the errors which led to baby Nicole
Bone’s death began yesterday.

The independent probe comes 10 months after 13-month-old Nicole
was murdered by her mother’s lover, Sandy McLure, after
suffering months of abuse.

Frequent visits from social workers, health visitors and
midwives failed to spot that Nicole was at risk.

Source:- Daily Record Friday 14 March page 32

Victims can now learn fate of young
offenders

Victims of youth crime will be able to find out how offenders
are dealt with under a new scheme announced today.

Changes in the law mean children’s hearings can now give
victims information about young offenders.

A new Scottish executive support service will be piloted for 12
months in Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire before being
rolled out across the country.

Source:- The Herald Friday 14 March page 11

Welsh newspapers

Gang leaders pledge to behave

Four teenage gang leaders in a south Wales valley town have
signed good behaviour contracts.

The four, together with their gangs have been causing serious
disruption in Abercarn, and the police had received a lot of
complaints about the way they behaved.

Now following the signing of the contracts and the drawing up of
an action plan by the police to tackle problem behaviour in the
town, the number of complaints has fallen dramatically.

Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 13 March page 1

Telling a few home truths

A new campaign to raise the profile of homeless people is being
launched in Cardiff.

The project, Cardiff Homes in Crisis, hopes to challenge the
image that many people have about the homeless, by highlighting the
problems they face.

The campaign is being run by a coalition of interest groups,
including Cardiff council, Taff Housing Association, Shelter Cymru,
Cadwyn Housing Association, the Salvation Army and the housing
charity the Wallich Clifford Community.

Source:- South Wales Echo Thursday 13 March page 12

‘Baby Newbridge’ laid to rest in peace and
dignity with no sign of his mum

The funeral of a baby abandoned by the side of a canal in south
Wales took place yesterday.

The grim discovery of the child’s body inside a green
holdall alongside the Brecon and Monmouthshire canal near Newbridge
was made last October, but despite intensive inquiries the mother
of the child has never been found.

Members of the local community attended the funeral in an effort
to give the child a dignified burial.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 14 March page 7