Monday 1 September 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Councils to pay for teenage refugees
The high court ruled that local authorities must pay for the cost
of unaccompanied asylum seekers aged over 18.
The judge, Mr Justice Sullivan, said the asylum seekers should be
treated in the same was as local children when they become
18.
This would make them entitled to the same treatment as children
leaving care. Under the Children Leaving Care Act 2000 local
authorities have an obligation to treat young people leaving care
as a reasonable parent would from when they are 18 until they are
25.
Source:- The Times Saturday 30 August page 9
‘Granny creche’ plan to help workers’
relatives
Companies should provide “granny crèches” where employees can
drop off their elderly relatives and know that they are being cared
for while they are at work.
The recommendation comes from thinktank Demos.
The elderly people would be entertained by activities such as
talks, dancing or having manicures.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 30 August Saturday page
12
Immigrants may face HIV tests
Thousands of immigrants will have to be screened for tuberculosis
and HIV under new proposals agreed ‘in principle’ by
ministers.
The measures include making all adults who apply for work visas
have a health check in their country of origin.
Some countries that have high numbers of cases of the disease will
be put on a special checklist.
The government said the scheme would have no impact on asylum
seekers, and that it would be in breach of human rights legislation
to make the health checks part of the refugee process.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 31 August page 2
Blunkett to close asylum loophole
David Blunkett is to extend the law to ensure that asylum seekers
found guilty of serious crimes cannot escape deportation.
The home secretary is to extend an existing law that ensures
refugees or asylum seekers jailed for more than two years for
serious offences are deported at the end of their sentences.
Under the extended legislation, those who receive a prison sentence
of less than two years for a serious crime will also be
deported.
Source:- The Times Monday 1 September page 2
Sex abuse expert to face charges
A test case involving a child psychologist who is accused of
contacting social workers about indecent assault allegations made
by a child during some of his sessions without investigating
whether they are true, began today.
John Eastgate, a consultant working mainly with adolescents in
Swindon, Wiltshire, will be the first doctor in Britain to face
disciplinary action in connection with recovered memories of sexual
abuse.
Campaigners for parents who say they have incorrectly been accused
of sexual abuse after their children have had a psychiatric
consultation, are watching the case closely.
Source:- The Times Monday 1 September page 4
Institutional racism used as excuse for doing nothing, says
CRE chief
The head of the Commission for Racial Equality warned that
institutional racism is being used by some public services as an
excuse to avoid tackling discrimination.
Speaking on the BBC’s Frost on Sunday programme, Trevor Phillips
said: “What they will say is: ‘Well, we hold our hands up to
institutional racism.’ What they mean by that is: ‘Somehow it is
the system. But it is nothing to do with us is it? We don’t
actually have to do anything.”
Source:- The Guardian Monday 1 September page 3
UN attacks plans to limit legal aid for asylum
seekers
The United Nations has complained to the government about its plans
to cut publicly funded legal advice to asylum seekers from 100
hours to a maximum of five hours.
The UN’s High Commissioner for refugees has written to the Lord
Chancellor saying that the measures will harm genuine asylum
seekers.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 1 September page 6
Scottish newspapers
Mother ‘had no option’ but to dump child’s body
in canal
A woman who dumped her daughter’s body in a canal after she
was murdered by her boyfriend was unable to disobey her partner
once she knew his death threats were “not empty”, a
court heard.
Defence psychologist Maireid Tagg said she believed Tracey Reid had
“no option” but to comply with Lee Gaytor, and that
even as she sat alongside him in the dock she remained in fear of
him.
Gaytor beat five-year-old Danielle Reid and threw her down the
stairs at the home he shared with Reid in Inverness last
November.
Reid has admitted failing to notify the authorities, and to putting
her daughter’s body in a weighted suitcase before dumping it
in a canal with the help of Gaytor’s brother
Christopher.
The hearing continues.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 30 August
New groups bridge age gap in fight for
services
Young and older people have come together to discuss community
issues at a meeting in Edinburgh.
Transport has been identified by the Older Persons Service Forum
and the Young Persons Services Forum in west Edinburgh as the top
issue affecting the quality of life for both young and old people,
with safety coming a close second.
The forums were established as pilot projects under the new
community planning initiative in west Edinburgh, and the group met
last week for the first time since being set up earlier this
year.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 30 August
Big drop in vandalism on schools
Vandalism on school buildings in West Lothian has fallen
sharply over the last decade, according to statistics.
West Lothian Council said its willingness to spend hundreds of
thousands of pounds on security had not only reduced the amount of
crime on the property, but reduced the cost of fixing the
damage.
However, council chiefs said they have been so successful clearing
up school property crime that criminals were now focusing their
attention on other community buildings such as libraries.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 30 August
Club fines for rowdy parents
The children of rowdy parents attending a youth football tournament
are to face fines following a spate of incidents around
Scotland.
There were scuffles and verbal abuse at the Glenvale Tournament
held in Paisley, Renfrewshire, several weeks ago including one
incident where a parent chased a referee off the pitch when he did
not agree with a decision.
The move comes after the ‘Scotland on Sunday’ revealed
that the government agency Sportscotand is considering a plan to
issue parents with a code of conduct following a rise in violence
at competitions involving children.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 31 August
Prison service scraps football club links amid inmate
row
Prison inmates have been barred from going to Dundee Football Club
on a work placement scheme after a drug smuggler spotted shirking
his tasks was later treated to VIP hospitality at the Scottish Cup
final.
The Scottish Prison Service has also scrapped an arrangement under
which the club used training facilities at an open prison near
Dundee, Castle Huntly, severing all ties with the club after 10
years.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 31 August
£90,000 drugs seized in raid
More than £90,000 worth of drugs have been seized by police
who arrested three people in two separate operations on
Friday.
At a raid on a flat in Paisley £80,000 worth of drugs, thought
to be amphetamines and ecstasy were discovered, while officers also
recovered cocaine with a street value of £12,500 after
stopping a man and a woman in Glasgow.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 31 August
Children’s panels face ‘slow
death’
The Scottish system for dealing with youth justice is threatened by
the “death of a thousand-cuts”, according to Maggie
Mellon, head of public policy at NCH Scotland.
An inquiry has been launched into whether the system of
children’s panels has stood the test of time, and it will
consider proposals including whether children should sit on panels,
and whether panel members should be professionalised.
The inquiry by NCH Scotland will hear from a range of experts at a
conference in Stirling on Friday then report its findings later
this year.
Source:- Sunday Herald 31 August
Wheelchair mum award
A woman who is confined to a wheelchair has been named as
Scotland’s Single Mum of the Year.
Jacqueline Taws from Alford, Aberdeenshire, broke her back in a car
accident when she was 16 and after her husband left her, she raised
her son Steven, now 14, alone.
Source:- Daily Record Monday 1 September
Secure unit fight hots up
Campaigners are stepping up their fight against a secure
unit being placed on their doorstep.
Two communities are to petition the Scottish Parliament in protest
against such a move.
Uddingston and Bothwell in Lanarkshire have been short-listed as
possible locations for the new West of Scotland Secure Centre and
the £7 million 36-bed unit will treat people with mental
health problems referred there by hospitals, prisons and the state
hospital at Carstairs, which houses some of Scotland’s most
notorious offenders.
Source:- Daily Record Monday 1 September
Welsh newspapers
Sting in Hutt’s ‘birthday present’
The new local health boards in Wales still have a huge
legacy of debt in spite of a £31 million ‘birthday
present’ from the Welsh assembly health minister.
Although they were given a ‘fresh start’ payout from
health minister Jane Hutt in April this year, 16 of the 22 health
boards are still coping with a total of £33.5 million
inherited debt, from the health authorities that they
replaced.
There are fears that the level of debt could compromise patient
care, and result in a reduction in much needed services.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 1 September page 1
Single mum of the year looks after elderly
too
A woman who cares for older and disabled people has been crowned
Welsh Single Mum of the Year.
Cathy Fawcett of Deeside in Flintshire has two children, but also
works as the manager of a carers’ agency, and cares for her
own mother who has poor eyesight.
Cathy herself was diagnosed with cervical cancer six years ago, but
has since been given the all-clear. Her daughter Danielle nominated
her for the award, which is organised by the woman’s weekly
magazine ‘That’s Life’.
Source: Western Mail Monday 1 September page 7