Tuesday 12 October 2004

By Maria Ahmed, Shirley Kumar, Clare Jerrom and Amy
Taylor

Blair sets out broad vision for welfare reforms in third
term

A third-term labour will push through far reaching welfare reform
that is removed from mass production of public services, revealed
Tony Blair.

The move was an attempt to reassure voters that he and his
government had detailed plans for another five years.

Source:- The Financial Times Tuesday 12 October 2004 page
4

Youth offending plan ‘not working’

Plans to tackle youth crime is not working with young offenders
committing 6.5 per cent of crimes in 2002, revealed the public
accounts committee.

Of the seven per cent of young offenders sentenced to custody, 80
per cent re-offended.

Source:- The Financial Times Tuesday 12 October 2004 page
4

Race-hate crime ‘increases elevenfold in past 10
years’

The charity Victim Support disclosed that it helped 33,374 people
who believed they had been targeted because of their skin colour in
the last 12 months.

Ten years ago, it handled 3,072 similar complaints.

Much of the increase is thought to have been caused by changes in
crime reporting since the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence
and a growing willingness of ethnic minorities to report
offences

Source:- The Independent  Tuesday 12 October 2004 page
2

Warnock says mainstream schools fail disabled pupils

Baroness Mary Warnock calls for major rethink of teaching disabled
children in mainstream schools because too many are being
bullied.

Source:- The Independent  Tuesday 12 October 2004 page
17

Media casts youth in a constant bad light

Research by Mori for Young People Now found 90 per cent of youth
workers said the media portrayed a negative image of young
people.

Young People Now is launching a “draft media code” for
newspapers and broadcasters.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 12 October 2004 page 5

Prisoner found hanged

A man recalled to jail after being released on licence was found
hanged at his cell at Pentonville prison, north London.

Stephen Davis from London was originally jailed for indecent
assault.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 12 October 2004 page 7

Census shows Muslim plight

Britain’s Islamic community is the country’s most
deprived faith group, according to an analysis of the population
figures for 2001

The Office for National Statistics found Muslims had the highest
rate of unemployment, the poorest health, the most disability and
fewest educational qualifications.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 12 October 2004 page 8

Scottish newspapers

Free care for our old: Will new policy turn into costly
mistake?

More than 48,000 Scots now receive personal care but experts
believe it will not prove financially viable in the long
term.

Almost the entire £126 million annual budget for free personal
care has been spent in the first nine months of this year according
to Scotland’s auditor general Robert Black.

Professor Robert Wright from Stirling University said: “There
is no doubt in my mind; subsidised personal care for the elderly
cannot be afforded. We can’t afford it now and we certainly
won’t be able to in the future.”

Source:- The Scotsman  Tuesday 12 October

Offender database to drive crime out of city

Shoplifters, beggars and troublemakers are to be banned from
Edinburgh city centre under an initiative between the city’s
antisocial behaviour tsar and retailers.

Donald Urquhart is joining forces with Edinburgh Safe City Centre
Initiative in a plan to use a database of retail criminals and new
antisocial behaviour orders to prevent regular troublemakers from
entering the capital’s shopping zone.

The retail database is being compiled by the safe city initiative
and under the proposal, retailers will be able to ban troublemakers
from their premises by sharing intelligence and information about
repeat offenders.

Source:- The Scotsman  Tuesday 12 October

Woman, 100, died in agony from bath burns, inquiry
told

An older woman spent her last hours alive in agony after suffering
horrendous burns in a bath at her care home, a court heard
yesterday.

Eileen Woodcock died in hospital in December 2002 after being found
lying in her en suite bathroom at the Ach an Eas residential home
in Inverness.

The inquiry is investigating the deaths of Woodcock and Mary
Robertson who died in January 2003 in her private sheltered home in
Inverness after being scalded in a similar accident.

Source:- The Scotsman  Tuesday 12 October

Three men are jailed for sex with runaway schoolgirl,
12

Three men have been jailed for having unlawful sex with a
12-year-old girl who had runaway from home.

The girl was dropped off at school in Edinburgh but she did not
attend an evening class and was missing for four days.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how the girl met Alisdair
Anderson and shared a three-litre bottle of cider with him. Later
that night he had sex with her, and the following day Paul McCue
had sex with the girl in the nearby grounds of Stevenson
College.

After another two days Gordon Warrender had sex with the girl in a
flat described as a drinking den.

Anderson was jailed for three years, McCue was sentenced to four
years while Warrender was given a three and a half year prison
term.

Source:- The Scotsman  Tuesday 12 October

Care home criticised for ‘litany of
failures’

A catalogue of failures in the care offered to older people at a
city nursing home has been revealed in a damning report.

An investigation into the death of Isabella McGregor at Ashley
Court Nursing Home in Morningside has uncovered what has been
described by senior social work chiefs as “the most serious
set of issues the Care Commission has dealt with in recent
times”.

The commission has warned managers that they have two weeks to get
the house in order or face being struck off the list of registered
care homes.

Source:- Evening News  Monday 11 October

Youth will get its say on city services

More than 5,000 young people will participate in a survey aimed at
developing young people’s services across the capital.

The Viewdfinder 2 survey will be used to establish what youngsters
really think about the city’s Youngedinburgh youth services
strategy.

Source:- Evening News  Tuesday 12 October

Welsh newspapers

Revolution in nursery education promised for Wales

New centres that combine play, wraparound childcare and health
advice are to be rolled out across Wales.

National Assembly Finance Minister Sue Essex announced millions of
pounds for the scheme as she gave details of the Assembly
government’s spending plan for the next three years.

From last month, a free part-time nursery place for every
three-year-old who wants one was made available but the
establishment of early learning centres takes the plans even
further.

Source:- The Western Mail Tuesday 12 October page 1

Council houses plans drawn up

Carmarthenshire Council is considering ways to meet the
“considerable challenges” involved in improving its
council housing.

A special team has been set up to look at ways of raising the
millions of pounds required to bring the 9,500 houses up to an
adequate standard.

Source:- The Western Mail Tuesday 12 October Tuesday page
5

‘Climbie’ rap for Gwynedd

Gwynedd Council is not meeting two requirements that emerged from
the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie, an audit has
revealed.

Inspectors found that Gwynedd’s social workers’ case
loads were too big to ensure the recommendations of the Climbie
inquiry were always met.

Source:- The Western Mail Tuesday 12 October page 17