Tuesday 23 September 2003

 By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson

Care homes given leeway on
vetting

Care homes will still be allowed some leeway
over employing staff who have not completed criminal records checks
when the checks become compulsory at the end of this month.

The National Care Standards Commission said it
would “exercise discretion” on a case-by-case basis.

Source:- The Financial
Times
Tuesday 23 September page 4

Talking tough on crime replaces
softly, softly

Young offenders and petty thieves doing
community service could be made to undertake much tougher
activities under the Liberal Democrats.

Speaking at the party’s annual conference in
Brighton, Simon Hughes, the social affairs spokesperson, said he
wanted people carrying out community service to do manual labour
and, where possible, repair the damage they had done.

Hughes said that the measures were part of a
policy entitled ‘Payback Not Layback’, and would
require criminals to pay back those they have wronged rather than
“laying around in prison”.

Source:- The Times
Tuesday 23 September page 14

Scottish news

Discipline on the
syllabus

New teachers will be trained in how to
discipline children as part of their teacher training course.

Peter Peacock, education minister, said that
better instruction on how to deal with classroom disorder was a
priority.

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 23
September page 2

Alcohol policy ‘not
enough’

Alcohol related deaths will continue to rise
unless drink promotions are banned and alcohol is subjected to
increased taxation, according to a leading expert yesterday.

More than 1,900 people died in Scotland last
year as a result of alcohol. But as new guidelines were issued to
doctors on treating alcohol dependency, Dr Jonathan Chick, who
chaired the development group, warned that the guidance would make
little impact unless more wide ranging measures were
introduced.

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 23
September page 8

MSP seeks delay in closing care
home

The MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
has called for urgent talks with the head of the RAF’s
benevolent fund over plans to close a care home for veteran
servicemen and women.

The planned closure of Alastrean House at
Tarland would have a “devastating” effect on the local
economy and on the 40 residents at the home, Mike Rumbles said.

Rumbles, who is also the Scottish Liberal
Democrats health spokesperson, urged the benevolent fund to puts
its plans on hold until the Scottish executive’s review of
fees for care homes in Scotland was published later this year.

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 23
September page 10

Cut in care home beds ‘threatens
places for elderly’

Targets to reduce delayed discharge in the
Lothians is being threatened by a reduction in care home beds,
according to a new report.

The report to be presented to a meeting of
Lothian NHS tomorrow says the extent of the bed closures is
“a significant risk factor” in meeting the proposed bed
blocking targets by next April.

Source:- The Herald  Tuesday 23 September

Teenage runaway returns to
mum

The teenager who ran away from her home in
Spain with her older boyfriend was reunited with her mother at home
last night.

Amanda McDonnell finally returned to Spain
yesterday with mum Carol Beech, 10 days after running away with her
17-year-old boyfriend Steven Laing. He was forced to stay behind
and wait for his family.

Source:- Daily Record Tuesday 23
September page 1

Welsh news

Children mostly in danger of
neglect

Children in Wales are more at risk from
neglect than any other form of abuse, according to new figures from
the Welsh Assembly.

At the end of March last year there were 1,971
children on local authority child protection registers, a 7 per
cent decrease from the previous year, the figures show.

But younger children were more likely to be on
the register and neglect was the most frequent abuse category.

Source:- South Wales Argus Monday 22
September page 7

Schoolboy hanged with dog
chain

A schoolboy has been found hanged from a
banister at his home, just days before his 18th
birthday.

Police say that Jamie Sell’s death was a
complete mystery.

Sell’s death follows two recent suicides
by schoolgirls in Swansea. The Children’s Commissioner for
Wales, Peter Clarke, has called for more attention to be paid to
the emotional welfare of young people in the Principality.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 23
September page 1

Focus on helping learning skills of
children

The importance of early support in developing
children’s learning will be the subject of a conference in
Cardiff today.

Jane Hutt, the health and social services
minister will speak at the basic skills agency conference on early
language development.

The conference will look at successful
programmes that have helped parents learn how to play and
communicate with their children.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 23
September page 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More from Community Care

Comments are closed.