Friday 30 April 2004

By Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson

Death inquiry

Social services expert David Gilroy will conduct an independent
inquiry into the death of Gareth Myatt at Rainsbrook Secure
Training Centre in Northamptonshire.

The 15-year-old, who was serving a 12-month detention and training
order, collapsed as he was restrained by three members of staff at
the centre.

Source:- The Times  Friday 30 April page 4

Landlords face sack for fuelling drunks

Licensees who promote binge drinking could be sacked under measures
designed to crackdown on violence fuelled by alcohol.

Ministers and chief constables are concerned about offers of cheap
drinks and the growth of bars in city centres.

Home Office minister Hazel Blears announced the details of the
drive against drunken disorder which will include using children in
‘sting’ operations to crackdown on outlets selling
alcohol to minors. Irresponsible traders will be “named and
shamed” and risk losing their licenses.

Source:- The Times  Friday 30 April page 4

Nurse ‘had history of abusing elderly’

A hospital sister accused of attempting to murder four older people
in her care had a history of abusing patients, it emerged at
Chester Crown Court yesterday.

Barbara Salisbury denies four chares of attempting to murder James
Byrne, Reuben Thompson, May Taylor and Frank Owen between 1999 and
2002.

The trial continues.

Source:- The Times  Friday 30 April page 5

Clubland must change to help disabled people

Ministers are planning to close a legal loophole which will force
private clubs with at least 25 members to adhere to disability
discrimination laws for the first time.

They are currently exempt from the laws on the basis that they are
not a public service.

But they are likely to now be subject to the new regulations which
will force them to be less restrictive about who they let in.

Source:- The Times  Friday 30 April page 6

Charities ‘should run services’

The running of large parts of public services should be taken over
by charities, senior government figures will announce next
week.

A commission on how charities will receive funding to run areas of
social services will shortly report to home secretary David
Blunkett.

Alan Milburn, who has championed the move, said the next stage was
planning a timescale for the handover.

Source:- The Times  Friday 30 April page 12

How system failed gun victim Toni-Ann

Three state agencies were reprimanded yesterday by an official
inquiry into the death of Toni-Ann Byfield.

The investigation found that serious mistakes were made by
Birmingham social services which had legal responsibility for the
seven-year-old’s care. The children’s guardian
appointed by the courts to look after her interests was also
criticised.

A report for Birmingham Area Child Protection Committee also found
that the immigration service had been blinkered and treated her as
an illegal over-stayer.

The child was murdered in September alongside the man who was
thought to be her father, Bertram Byfield.

Source:- The Guardian  Friday 30 April page 6

Last-minute EU deal reached on asylum

Britain and its EU partners last night agreed common rules for
handling asylum seekers just ahead of the union’s enlargement
to 25 members tomorrow.

The deal establishes common procedures for granting and withdrawing
refugee status and agrees on a list of safe countries to which
asylum seekers can be sent.

Source:- The Guardian  Friday 30 April page 8

Byers presses for end to national childcare lottery

Former cabinet minister Stephen Byers said yesterday that
grandparents and other home-based carers should be paid if they
look after children.

Parents who employ nannies should also receive state help as often
this form of childcare is the only kind available for people
working irregular hours, he added.

Writing in the newspaper Tribune, Byers said Labour needed to
rethink its national childcare strategy and move beyond the current
highly targeted approach.

Source:- The Guardian  Friday 30 April page 12

Six councils named for tax capping

Six councils are to have their budgets capped, the government
announced yesterday.

Local government minister Nick Raynsford said Nottingham, Telford
and Wrekin, Torbay and Herefordshire Councils could face sanctions
alongside Fenland and Shepford district councils.

The capping is the first of its kind since the Conservative
government.

Source:- The Guardian  Friday 30 April page 12

Immigration hits record level

Britain received a record number of immigrants in 2002, when more
than 500,000 people arrived to settle or work.

The figures released by the Office for National Statistics reveal
that a fifth of the new arrivals were from the Middle East, Africa
and the Indian sub-continent.

Source:- Daily Telegraph  Friday 30 April page 2

Scottish newspapers

Court hears of years of care home abuse

Former residents of Catholic-run children’s homes in Scotland
are claiming to have suffered a catalogue of abuse.

Elizabeth Abernethy says she was assaulted by a nun every day from
the age of five until she left Nazareth House in Glasgow when she
was 11-years-old.

Her claim for £50,000 is one of more than 400 actions against
the Poor Sisters of Nazareth pending in the Court of Session and is
among around six chosen as test cases.

Source:- The Scotsman  Friday 30 April

Care workers revolt threat

Social workers in Edinburgh have threatened a revolt over plans to
shake-up the city’s social work department.

They said they will refuse to deal with hundreds of
“unallocated cases” which would either leave vulnerable
children without professional care or create chaos in courts.

The council plans to split child care social workers from the rest
of the department following the inquiry into the death of Caleb
Ness.

Source:- Evening News  Thursday 29 April

Free leisure passes for deprived families

A new £65,000 health drive will allow deprived families to
access their local leisure centres free of charge.

The First Step project will target people unable to afford
community swimming pools and gyms.

Edinburgh Leisure predict that 1,200 people would benefit from the
three-year initiative.

Source:- Evening News  Thursday 29 April

Benefits staff walk-out after appraisal row
suspensions

The suspension of eight management staff at benefits offices in
Glasgow sparked a walk-out by more than 100 civil servants
yesterday.

The team leaders based at the employment appeals tribunal centre
were disciplined for refusing to implement a contentious
performance appraisal system which will determine how much staff
are paid.

This led to 50 colleagues walking out of the tribunal centre.
A further 60 staff from the benefits appeal office later joined the
protest.

Source:- The Herald  Friday 30 April

Welsh newspapers

Odious drug gang is put behind bars

A gang of drug dealers on a south Wales council estate sold
cannabis to children as young as 10.

Ringleader Steven Jenkins, who sold the drugs from his home in
Caerphilly, has been jailed for three-and-a-half years by a judge
at Cardiff Crown court.

Steve Lions a counsellor at the Cardiff charity, Inroads, that
supports people trying to overcome their drug addiction, said he
was shocked that dealers were targeting children so young.

Source:- South Wales Echo Thursday 29 April page 2

I’ll fight to stay here

A Kosovan man has had his appeal to remain in the UK turned
down, but his foster family have pledged to fight on to keep him in
the country.

Edmond Pone now faces deportation unless he takes his case to the
Court of Appeal, and the family who fostered him after he arrived
in Wales say that they are now consulting lawyers on their next
move.

Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 29 April page 1

£40,000 fine after gran drank toxic fluid and
died

A judge has criticised standards at a care home for older people
in north Wales where a 72-year-old woman died after drinking
caustic soda.

Patricia Holt, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, drank
cleaning fluid which had been left in a drinking jug in an office
at Plas Rhoseni, owned by Hallmark Healthcare Wrexham Ltd. She died
six days later and her family have called on the government to do
more to protect vulnerable older people.

Hallmark Healthcare, which has 11 homes throughout the country,
pleaded guilty to failing to discharge their duty under health and
safety legislation and was fined £40,000.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 30 April page 6