Wednesday 14 January 2004

By Amy
Taylor, Natasha Salari, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson

Huntley
inquiry focuses on police role
An inquiry examining police mistakes that allowed Ian
Huntley to be employed as a school-caretaker despite a long history
of sex allegations began yesterday.
Humberside Police destroyed records that linked Huntley, who was
found guilty of murdering schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica
Chapman, to the allegations fearing they would be in breach of the
Data Protection Act not to do so.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 14 January page 10

Inquiry
launched into Shipman hanging

Serial killer Dr
Harold Shipman was found hanged in his cell yesterday at Wakefield
prison in West Yorkshire.

Staff tried to
resuscitate him, but Shipman was pronounced dead at 8.10am.

An independent
inquiry into his death, led by Stephen Shaw, the Prisons and
Probation Ombudsman, will begin today.

Source:- The
Independent
Wednesday 14 January page 1

Tax
credits penalise two-parent families

The government’s
tax credit system could act as a disincentive for separated couples
who want to reunite, due to its penalisation of two-parent
families, a charity will warn today.

In a statement to
the work and pensions select committee, which is investigating
child poverty, carers’ charity, Care, will argue that lone parents
disproportionately benefit from tax credits.

Source:- The
Independent
Wednesday 14 January page 10

State support for children
has doubled in last 30 years

The government spends £22
billion a year on state financial support for families with
children.

The figure is more than double the
value in real terms of what families received in the mid 1970s,
according to independent research.

Figures from the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation show that most of the rise has come in the last four
years, with the introduction of child tax credit and means-tested
programmes to help the poorest families.

Research for the Foundation by the
Institute of Fiscal Studies found that tax and benefit support to
families with children was worth £10 billion at present-day
prices in 1975.

Source:- The Guardian
Wednesday 14 January page 13

Howard finds there is such a
thing as Society

Conservative leader Michael Howard
has taken out a full-page advertisement in Society Guardian calling
on public sector workers to send in evidence of waste, bureaucracy
and incompetent administration.

Source:- Society Guardian
Wednesday 14 January page 1

Fallen Angels?

It’s enough to make Florence
Nightingale spin in her grave. As a campaign gets underway to
improve the image of nursing, could a new TV drama scupper
it?

Source:- Guardian Society
Wednesday 14 January page 2

Grey army gears up

The National Pensioners Convention
(NPC) is launching a draft manifesto later this month.

It is calling on all political
parties to make public transport, TV licenses, internet access,
comprehensive health checks and personal care free of charge to the
11 million British older people.

Source:- Society Guardian
Wednesday 14 January page 4

Growing influence

Dame Stephanie Shirley made millions
from her software business. Now she’s happy to give much of
it away. She talks about philanthropy, autism and chauvinism.

Source:- Society Guardian
Wednesday 14 January page 6

Lessons in chemistry

Young people in Great Yarmouth
benefit from a multi-agency approach with their best interests at
heart.

Source:- Society Guardian
Wednesday 14 January page 7

For the commonweal

High-profile cases involving sexual
and racial innuendo have put the spotlight on the new Standards
Board for England.

Source:- Society Guardian
Wednesday 14 January page 8

Absent trends

Fake ‘sickies’ are a
major drain on the public sector. But how can managers get a grip
on absenteeism?

Source:- Society Guardian
Wednesday 14 January page 10

Sink or swim

A funding stream that supports up to
a million vulnerable people is under threat following a Treasury
review that says it is costing too much.

Source:- Society Guardian
Wednesday 14 January page 14

Scottish
news

How to
revive Scots economy – make babies

The state should
encourage Scottish women to have babies at a younger age in a bid
to counter the falling population, a think-tank urged
yesterday.

A report by the
Fraser of Allander Institute at Strathclyde University urged the
Scottish executive to introduce policy initiatives similar to those
in France and Scandinavia, which encourage and enable young,
educated women to have children earlier.

Source:- The
Herald
  Wednesday 14
January

All out
strike vote by nursery nurses

Nursery nurses are
to ballot for an indefinite strike over pay, it emerged
yesterday.

Nearly all
council-run nurseries will be closed, spelling chaos for tens of
thousands of parents, unless an agreement can be reached.

Unison, the public
sector union, said last night they would ballot more than 4,000
nursery nurses next month if their wage demands were not met.

Source:- Daily
Record
  Wednesday 14
January page 10

Welsh
news

We need
extra £1m – Council

A cash crisis is
threatening services for older people and schoolchildren in
Monmouthshire.

The council faces
a £1 million overspend across three key departments, including
social services because of a combination of increased demand and a
poor cash settlement from the Welsh assembly. Members of the
council’s cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss the cash
shortfall.

Source:- South
Wales Argus
Tuesday 13 January page 1

Supercarer
initiatives launched

Councils in Wales
are recruiting supercarers to foster children who have behavioural
difficulties.

The scheme has
already been introduced in Wrexham where it proved to be highly
successful, and is now to be introduced in Neath Port Talbot.

The new
£200-a-week carers, who will look after up to two children
each, are specialists in their field and can provide additional
support for the young people in their care.

Source:-
Western Mail Wednesday 14 January page 7

Fit
patients languishing in hospital as bed blocking rises

Welsh patients who
are ready to leave hospital are blocking NHS beds as delayed
discharges continue to rise in spite of extra money to free-up
capacity.

Welsh assembly
health minister Jane Hutt has ruled out following England’s
example of fining local authorities for delayed transfers of care,
but in November some 1,113 patients were stuck in NHS beds in
Wales.

Source:-
Western Mail Wednesday 14 January page 7

 

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