Wednesday 17 November 2004

By Maria Ahmed, Clare Jerrom and Amy Taylor

Zimbabwean refugees to be forcibly removed as ban is
lifted

Zimbabwean asylum-seekers face forcible repatriation after the
government ended a two-year ban on enforced removals
yesterday.

The decision was greeted with anger by refugee organisations but
Des Browne, the Immigration Minister, told MPs that the ban was
ending because it was being abused by Zimbabweans who were not
genuine refugees. The Refugee Council said it was concerned about
the forcible returns and called on the government to monitor who
was being sent back.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 17 November 2004 page 24

‘Unachievable’ asylum policy led to
detention centre riot

An ambitious and unachievable government policy to deport thousands
of failed asylum-seekers led to the riot at the Yarl’s Wood
detention centre that caused £38 million in damage, an
official inquiry concluded yesterday.

The centre, swept by fire after the riot in February 2002, was
poorly designed, rushed through and unfit for its purpose, the
report said.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 17 November 2004 page 24

Blunkett film show suprises judges

David Blunkett’s “bang ‘em up”
reputation is so strong among judges and magistrates that Whitehall
officials have had to show film clips of his Commons performances
to convince them that his policy is not to jail minor
offenders.

Martin Narey, head of the newly merged prisons and probation
services, said that the home secretary did not want them to sent
people to prison, particularly for ineffective short
sentences.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
9

Asylum seeker wins damages

An Egyptian asylum seeker was awarded substantial damages yesterday
after the high court ruled he had been unlawfully detained in a
dispute involving Tony Blair.

Hany Youseff claimed he was falsely imprisoned in 1999 in a
long-running case in which the prime minister questioned why he
could not be deported to Egypt.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
12

Dangerous Liasions

In the UK, cases of sexually transmitted infection have risen by
over 100% in the past decade. But ahead of the government’s
white paper on health, published yesterday, found that the clinical
staff handling the epidemic are overworked and underfunded.

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
2

Velvet revolution

Ahead of tomorrow’s star ratings, David Behan, chief social
services inspector says he is about to get tough councils
languishing in the ‘comfort zone’

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
6

Fast show of support

Many of the Family Fund’s workers are in the same boat as
those they seek to help.

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
7

Taking no prisoners

Critics claim that the risky and controversial merger of prison and
probation services has got off to a shaky start. Not at all, says
Martin Narey, the man in charge of the reorganisation.

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
8

Space craft

Design-led and ‘soft’ alternatives to security cameras
and fencing are needed to keep vandals out and encourage people
back into parks and public areas, says a new study.

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
10

Margins for error

Everyone agrees community cohesion is a good thing. But how do we
measure whether or not we have achieved it?

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
14

Legal code to consider community

Criminal prosecutors have been told for the first time to assess
community confidence in the justice system when deciding whether to
bring charges in cases of low-level antisocial behaviour in a new
version of the Code for Crime Prosecutors published
yesterday.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 17 November 2004
page 2

Sharp fall in number of asylum seekers deported

David Blunkett’s pledge to tackle the number of asylum
seekers entering Britain was thrown into doubt yesterday, as
official figures showed a sharp fall in the number of refugees
deported.

Source:- The Financial Times Wednesday 17 November 2004
page 4

One flawed case found in child abuse
review

A massive review of more than 30,000 children who were taken from
their parents and put into care has found that just one case was
based on flawed evidence. 

The review was ordered in January after Angela Cannings was cleared
on appeal of murdering her three babies. Cannings had been
convicted and jailed on the basis of evidence provided by the
later-discredited paediatrician Professor Roy Meadows.

Yesterday, in reply to a parliamentary question, Children’s
minister Margaret Hodge said only 26 cases were found to involve
disagreement between experts about medical evidence.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
13

Lib Dems criticised loss of tax credits worth £220m
for poorest families

Around 20,000 mostly poor families will lose more than £1,000
each in tax credits before Christmas because they failed to fill in
forms on time.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 17 November 2004 page
19

Scottish newspapers

Jodi murder trial aborted after judge releases jurors

Two jurors were removed from the Jodi Jones murder trial yesterday
and the case was aborted.

One female juror was excused because of ill health and Lord Nimmo
Smith told the second woman to stand down for a separate reason,
which cannot be specified for legal reasons.

A trial can continue with as few as 12 jurors but it was decided
that the best course in this instance would be to call a halt and
start again.

Jodi’s boyfriend Luke Mitchell is accused pf murdering the
14-year-old schoolgirl, the unlawful possession of knife or knives
and of being concerned in the supplying of cannabis to a number of
people, including Jodi.

Mitchell denies murdering Jodi and has lodged two special defences
to the murder charge.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 17 November

More refugees for Scotland

The number of refugee families in Scotland has increased in recent
months and will rise further after the government announced a new
push north of asylum seekers.

Scotland was the only part of the UK where the number of asylum
seekers dispersed from London rose in the last quarter.

Refugee families in London will be forcibly re-housed around the
country even if their children are established in schools, under
new rules announced yesterday.

Source:- The Scotsman  Wednesday 17 November

Vandals wreak havoc at OAP care centre

A care centre for older people was damaged yesterday by a group of
vandals who smashed windows and caused “chaos” inside a
day room.

Up to 30 youths smashed four windows and destroyed window frames at
the Prestonfield Neighbourhood Centre.

Source:- Evening News  Tuesday 16 November

Ministers accused of breaching UN Convention against
torture

Scottish ministers were yesterday accused of breaching the UN
Convention against torture and falling behind the rest of the UK on
the issue by human rights lawyers.

Rosemarie Mcllwhan, director of the Scottish Human Rights Centre,
told UN officials that Scotland was failing to comply in a number
of areas.

The SHRC document recommends that the executive should establish a
Scottish human rights commission as a matter of urgency, end
slopping out and reduce overcrowding in prisons and establish an
independent police complaints commission.

Source:- The Herald  Wednesday 17 November

Welsh newspapers

Families ‘trapped in a housing
no-man’s-land’

The National Assembly and Welsh councils’ attempts to provide
affordable housing for young families is failing, it has been
revealed.

The bodies have tried to tackle the problem of ever increasing
house prices by enforcing a rule that 30 per cent of homes in new
developments are designated “affordable” housing.

However, the policy is not helping many families due to property
developers selling the affordable housing as a job lot to housing
associations.

Young families on moderate incomes often find they are too well off
to qualify for housing association homes, but not rich enough to
buy a normal house.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 17 November

‘Laziest dad’ vows to find a job

A man who was the subject of a large scale outcry after it was
revealed that he received £1,000 a week in benefits to bring
up his family now must find a job.

An investigation by social security officials led to Mike
Blake’s incapacity benefit being stopped. This greatly
reduced his benefits payments and has caused him to seek
employment.

Blake had been receiving extra incapacity benefit because he
claimed to be a recovering alcoholic.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 17 November