TUESDAY 29 NOVEMBER

Depression identified in toddlers
One in ten preschool children may be suffering from mental health problems for which they are getting no help, a US study has suggested.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 23

Schoolboy hanged
A 13-year-old schoolboy has been found hanged in his bedroom in Lytham St Anne’s in Lancashire. Police and education chiefs have begun an investigation into claims that Paul Moran had been the target of bullies at Lytham St Anne’s High School, which is the largest school in the country.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 4

Buggy action
A mother of four has filed High Court damages over a school’s refusal to let her take a disabled son on its premises. Rebecca Lawrence, 33, said the policy adopted by Monkfield Primary School in Cambourne, near Cambridge, was “discriminatory”.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 4

Teenage muggers spared jail on first offence
Teenage muggers who rob with minimal force on the spur of the moment will be spared jail and put on community sentences under draft sentencing guidelines published yesterday.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 11

Third of 17-year-olds drop out
One in three 17-year-olds is neither in full-time education nor an apprenticeship, official figures have revealed. In Yorkshire and Humber, the drop-out rate at 16 is as high as 35 per cent.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 26

New democracy for disabled
Bert Massie says that a statutory duty on public sector authorities to consult service users about their needs is a welcome and revolutionary advance
Source:- The Times, Public Agenda, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 5

Father’s killing of terminally boy was selfish act, court told
A father who murdered his 10-year-old terminally ill son did not carry out a mercy killing but suffocated him for “selfish” reasons because he could no longer cope, a court heard yesterday. Andrew Wragg, 38, smothered his son Jacob, who suffered from the rare degenerative disease Hunter syndrome. Mr Wragg denies murdering Jacob but admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 5

Pregnant women get free fruit and milk vouchers
Vouchers are to be offered in Devon and Cornwall to provide pregnant women on a low income with free milk and fresh fruit and vegetables.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 8

Labour claims 1.1m fall in number of socially excluded
The number of adults defined as socially excluded has fallen by more than 1.1 million since Labour came to power, according to government figures released yesterday.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 11

Chancellor promises housing shake-up
Gordon Brown has promised to implement the recommendations of the Barker review into housing needs, telling business leaders to expect a big shake-up of planning rules in the pre-Budget report next week.
Source:- Financial Times Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 3

Prison “ignored woman’s suicide threats”
The mother of a 22-year-old woman found hanged in her cell has attacked the Prison Service for not taking her daughter’s suicide threats seriously. An inquest into the death in Wakefield heard that Jessica Adam hanged herself days into a four-year jail sentence and her mother warned prison staff what her daughter was planning.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 10

Cameron gathers support over national service for teenagers
Tory leadership contender David Cameron wants every school-leaver to be encouraged to spend three or four months in a nationwide voluntary service programme. Cameron announced that 11 charities and voluntary bodies had come together to help him work out details of programme to “prepare teenagers for the responsibility of adult life”.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 19

Phone firm attacked over teddy bear mobile for 4-year-olds
A teddy bear-shaped mobile phone aimed at children as young as four, with no screen and only four buttons that can be programmed by parents, was launched yesterday. Parents are advised to discourage mobile phone use by children under eight as a precaution against potential health risks.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 5

Schizophrenia link to early use of cannabis
Smoking cannabis at secondary school may greatly increase a child’s chances of developing schizophrenia, according to Professor Peter Jones of Cambridge University.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 29 November 2005 page 6

Welsh news
 
Prison threat to council bosses
More than 20 councils and health trust chief executives could technically be committed to prison if their organisations don’t produce adequate race equality schemes in the new year.
The legal requirement comes in next March and the Commission for Racial Equality in Wales said that it will get tough with organisations who do not comply.
Source:- Western Mail, 29 November, Tuesday