Wednesday 2 June 2004

By Amy Taylor, Shirley Kumar, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson

A cash and carry business has been ordered to pay
£5,000 in compensation and legal costs to a man with learning
difficulties who was paid 29p an hour for stacking shelves.

An employment tribunal heard that Falcon Cash and Carry in
Leicester later increased the man’s pay to 96p an hour. The
minimum wage is £4.50 per hour.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 2 June page 17

No supervision for sex offenders being sent back to
Britain

Dozens of convicted paedophiles who don’t have to go on
the sex offenders’ register due to a legal loophole are
entering Britain, a Scotland Yard Investigation has
suggested.

British citizens who are convicted of sex offences abroad do no
have to go on the register due to the anomaly.

This means that if the offenders are deported back to Britain they
are not monitored.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 2 June page 8

Accused judge retires

A senior Crown Court judge on bail over child pornography
allegations is retiring early on full pension due to ill
health.

A spokesperson for the Department of Constitutional Affairs said
that Judge David Selwood, resident judge at Portsmouth Crown Court,
was originally due to retire on June 27, his 70th birthday, but
would go slightly early due to ‘illness’.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 2 June page 4

Stressed and fractured

There were allegations of ‘bullyboy tactics’ when
Whitehall and the lenders of local health organisations clashed
over plans for a new privately-run treatment centre.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 2 June  page 8

Skills on the doorstep

While the social care profession’s recruitment crisis
continues, a London council is bucking the trend by hiring from its
Bangladeshi and Somali communities.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 2 June page 10

Scottish newspapers

22 child death convictions reviewed by Crown Office

The Crown Office has investigated the cases of 22 child killers in
an unprecedented review of prosecutions.

The move follows a wide-ranging inquiry into child deaths in
England where defendants were convicted on the back of
controversial evidence.

Crown Office lawyers have completed a review of every Scottish case
of murder or culpable homicide of a child under two years old in
the past decade and have found no evidence to suggest a miscarriage
of justice.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 2 June

Public safety warning over paroled prisoners

Too many prisoners who are a potential danger to the public are
being freed from jail, according to the head of Scotland’s
parole board.

Professor James McManus said he was concerned about the number of
prisoners released on parole who had to be taken back to
prison.

The comments came as the parole board published figures on prisoner
releases showing the number of inmates freed on licence who are
sent back to jail is still higher than at the start of the
decade.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 2 June

£12m bill to comply with disability act

It will cost Aberdeen Council £12 million to improve its
property portfolio to comply with new legislation for disabled
people, it emerged yesterday.

The authority has already committed a total of £1 million over
the last two years to improve access for disabled people to council
services to meet requirements in the Disability Discrimination
Act.

But a report warns that a total of £12 million will have to be
spent on libraries, schools and other council buildings to avoid
breaches of the law.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 2 June

Prisoner escort firm wins seven year deal

Reliance security firm has been awarded a seven year
contract to provide custodial and court services in south Wales and
the west of England, it emerged yesterday.

The security firm has come under fire for mistakenly releasing
prisoners in Scotland.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 2 June

Children’s reforms ‘held back’ over
reserved powers

The Scottish executive’s reforms of children’s services
are being held back because parliament does not have control over
key economic powers, according to a thinktank.

The Policy Press said the fact that areas such as taxation were the
responsibility of Westminster meant the executive was
“failing to realise the full potential” of policies
such as the £115 million integrated community schools scheme
which aims to co-ordinated education with social and health
services.

The report also criticises the executive for focussing too
exclusively on helping disadvantages families and areas at the
expense of successful integrating childcare services.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 2 June

End in sight for nursery nurses’
strike

The nursery nurses strike will be over by the end of the week it
emerged last night.

Workers in Renfrewshire became the latest to agree a local deal and
return to work, meaning only those in Glasgow remain on the picket
line after three months of industrial action.

But Glasgow Council said 60 nursery nurse had broken ranks by
returning to work yesterday and they anticipated that the number
would rise to 100 by this morning.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 2 June

Welsh newspapers

Head tells of claims anguish

A head teacher at a north Wales school has spoken of his anguish
over malicious accusations made by pupils.

David Jones, the head teacher at Ysgol-y-Drindod, in Wrexham, was
suspended from his job after two pupils made allegations that he
had held one by the arm and that he had vodka in his office.

After a lengthy investigation he was cleared but said that the
ordeal has left him too devastated to return to work.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 2 June page 1

Teachers say false claims are set to reach all-time
high

Teachers’ leaders in Wales claim false allegations against
staff made by pupils and their parents are set to reach an all time
high by the end of this year.

But the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women
Teachers said that less than one per cent of all allegations made
against their members are proven.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 2 June page 2

‘Whistle blower’ nurse loses
tribunal

A nurse who claims she was sacked after blowing the whistle on
an alleged “do not resuscitate” policy at school in
Swansea has lost her appeal against unfair dismissal.

Bernice Pinnington worked at Ysgol Crug Glas special school in the
city where children with life threatening conditions were being
educated.

She claimed that she had stumbled across instructions telling staff
not to resuscitate a five-year-old girl and blew the whistle. She
was later dismissed but a tribunal found that she was sacked after
18 months of ill health.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 2 June page 3

We are just fighting for the best for our little
boy

Children in Wales with autism could be missing out on a proper
education because of a lack of specialist teachers, it has been
claimed.

Autism Cymru said schools in Wales still lack properly trained
staff and that there is a piecemeal approach to services.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 2 June page 3

Fracas over votes for mentally disabled

A row has broken out after an election candidate questioned the
right of residents with learning difficulties to vote.

Sixteen residents at Plas Gwyn residential home in Ceridigion have
been offered postal votes in forthcoming elections. But in a leaked
letter, a former mayor of Aberystwyth, Carol Kolczak has expressed
concern over whether the residents are able to fully understand
what they would be voting for.

Mencap Cymru has expressed concern over the contents of the
letter.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 2 June page 5