Wednesday 15 June 2005

By Maria Ahmed, Simeon Brody, Derren Hayes and Amy
Taylor

Minorities face climate of fear, says race report

Ethnic minorities face a “climate of fear and
suspicion” with Muslims, asylum-seekers and refugees bearing
the brunt, an investigation into racial prejudice in Britain has
concluded.

The report by the European Commission against Racism and
Intolerance denounced the use of sensationalist reporting of
immigration and criticised negative attitudes among police.

The study registered alarm over the “considerable and steady
increase” in anti-Semitic incidents and hostility towards
Gypsies.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 15 June 2005 page
10

Lottery millions diverted to public services

Opposition MPs and voluntary groups accused ministers of planning
to divert lottery cash from good causes to services normally paid
for by taxation.

The National Lottery Bill merges three of the bodies giving cash to
good causes and will enable the government to direct how more than
£600 million a year is spent.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 15 June 2005 page
1

Plans for asylum seeker centres are dropped

Plans to build asylum centres in rural Worcestershire, Oxfordshire
and Nottinghamshire were dropped by the government yesterday.

The government said the rethink followed a sharp fall in the number
of asylum application – down from a peak of 8,000 a month in
2002 to 2,000 a month now.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 15 June 2005 page
2

No-go areas to tackle gypsy camps
“unlawful”

A plan by Wakefield Council to use antisocial behaviour legislation
to move on illegally camped travellers speedily has been deemed
unlawful.

The council created five “no-go areas” designed to give
police instant power to arrest anyone refusing to move on when
requested but dropped the plan following legal advice.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 15 June 2005 page
8

Hospitals “abandon” old people to care of
relatives

Hospitals are so desperate to get older patients off their wards
after operations that they are leaving it to relatives to sort out
their care, Patients’ Association president Clare Rayner
warned yesterday.

She said hospitals and social workers were not doing enough to help
vulnerable people on discharge.

A survey by the association found that one in four people were
unhappy at the way their elderly relatives were treated when they
were discharged.

Source:- Daily Mail Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 12

The million home alone

A million children are being left home alone to surf the internet
and watch TV unsupervised, according to survey by magazine
Reader’s Digest.

One in four 11 to 16-year-olds spend at least an hour a day on
their own before their parents return from work but the survey
reveals that youngsters do not like being left on their own.

Source:- Daily Mail Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 26

Amnesty report questions legality of detaining asylum
seekers

An Amnesty International report will criticise the government next
week over its policy of detaining asylum seekers, saying it
breaches their human rights.

The report will throw doubts on the lawfulness of detaining asylum
seekers, a measure that the government has said it necessary to
ensure those whose applications fail can be deported.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 5

Plastic bag fetishist seen near Billie-Jo’s
house

A mentally ill man with a fetish for plastic bags was seen near the
house in Hastings, east Sussex, where Billie-Jo Jenkins was
bludgeoned to death with a tent peg, a court heard yesterday.

The 13-year-old was killed as she painted the patio doors at the
back of the family home in February 1997.

The trial of Billie-Jo’s foster father, Sion Jenkins,
yesterday heard evidence from defence witnesses who said they saw
the man, referred to in court as Mr B, in the area on the day she
was killed.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 4

Police refuse to explain fatal failures

The case of Hayley Richards is seen as the latest in a list of
domestic violence errors. Her family said yesterday they were still
waiting for police to explain why the missed chances to arrest the
man who has become the prime suspect in her murder.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 6

Remand inmate found hanging

A man on remand for burglary has died after he was found hanging in
his cell.

Alan Hill was discovered hanging from a ligature at Leicester jail
on Sunday.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 6

Swift payout for damaging epilepsy drugs

A high court judge will today be asked to approve a scheme expected
to end in a £10 million payout for nearly 500 children wrongly
diagnosed with epilepsy and reduced to what parents termed
“zombies” by years of unnecessary drugs.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 9

Tougher rules on child contact orders

Strengthened powers for courts to enforce child contact orders will
stop short of electronically tagging or imposing curfews on parents
who deny their former partners agreed access to a child after
divorce or separation.

However, while some of the toughest sanctions originally floated by
ministers in January have been quietly dropped, the child contact
and inter-country adoption bill published yesterday will give
courts other new powers to enforce orders.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 11

Reaching for the stars

A year ago, Society Guardian revealed that fewer than 1 per cent of
NHS organisations were led by black or minority ethnic people. Has
the outlook changed?

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page
7

Fatal flaws

A report on the key issues on the agenda in the Zahid Mubarek
inquiry and prison reformer’s doubts over the
investigation’s limited remit.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page
10

Frontline fighter

Lisa Arthurworrey, the social worker sacked for failing to prevent
the murder of Victoria Climbie has won the right to resume working
with children.

Those in the profession give their verdict on the decision.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 15 June 2005 page
12

Axed asylum plans cost £18m

The government has spent more than £18 million on its now
abandoned plans to set up a network of accommodation centres for
asylum-seekers, the Home Office has admitted.

Tony McNulty, the immigration minister, told MPs in a written
statement yesterday that he has scrapped proposals in four
centres.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 8

Councils to be ranked on value

High-performing councils that fail to provide value for money will
face regulation in new league tables compiled by the public
spending watchdog.

Only those that provide top-quality services and are run
efficiently will make the premier league, under tougher
comprehensive performance assessments (CPAs) to be announced
today.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 24

Calls for bereavement therapy

Schools should offer classes in coping with death to help the
20,000 children who are bereaved every year, a report
recommends.

Up to 7 per cent of young people lose a parent before the age of
16, with a similar number losing a brother and sister, yet the
support available varies widely across the country, according to
the study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 15 June 2005 page 24

Scottish news

Child protection checks ‘flawed’

New measures to prevent dangerous adults from working with children
are flawed, a senior official has claimed.

Gordon Jeyes, former director of education at Stirling Council,
said that new checks on volunteers could give communities a false
sense of security. He added that money spent by the Scottish
executive on setting up Disclosure Scotland – which
administers the
system of checks – would have been better invested in
community-based solutions.

Source:- The Herald Wednesday 15 June

Asylum claims drop following tougher rules

The number of successful asylum applications in Glasgow has nearly
halved since the city began receiving thousands of cases under the
government’s dispersal scheme five years ago.

Tough new asylum rules and a wider spread of nationalities
represented has cut the proportion of successful applicants from 80
per cent five to a current 45 per cent. Glasgow houses nearly 6,000
asylum seekers under the Home Office’s dispersal policy.

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 15 June

Child rapist in bail storm detained in psychiatric
unit

A judge has ordered a child rapist to be detained in a psychiatric
hospital for three months of detailed assessment rather than be
bailed until he is sentenced.

A judge said that all sentencing options would remain open when
Edward Waugh, who has learning difficulties, appeared before her
again in September. Last month, Waugh, of Kelty, Fife, admitted
raping an 11-year-old girl in Kelty Woods.

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 15 June

Welsh news

Agencies failed to liaise prior to double deaths

Nothing could have been done to stop a mentally ill farmer from
shooting a pregnant woman who he was obsessed with, a report
concluded yesterday.

But it found that there was a lack of communication between the
agencies working with William Davies from Llangadog,
Carmarthenshire.

Caroline Evans died in the attack.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 15 June

Sharing aims to save public sector £600 a year

Finance minister Sue Essex announced a package of efficiency
measures for public services in Wales yesterday.

The measures are designed to save £600 million a year. The
plans include more shared use of IT systems between public bodies
and more central procurement of goods.

Source:- IcWales Wednesday 15 June

 

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