THURSDAY 8 DECEMBER

100 trafficked children arrive in London each week, says Scotland Yard
About 100 trafficked children arrive in London each week, a report by Scotland Yard says. A unit including immigration officials and police has begun a three-month operation to check unaccompanied children arriving at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports on specific flights.
Source: – The Times, Thursday 8 December 2005, page 23

Brit credit card debt highest in Europe
Britons each owe an average of £3,034 on credit cards, the highest in Europe, say market analysts Datamonitor.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Thursday 8 December, page 2

Happy slappers attack TV presenter
Myleene Klass was attacked yesterday by a group of three girls and two boys. Earlier this year Klass helped launch an anti-bullying website for children’s charity NCH.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Thursday 8 December, page 2

Row over pyschiatric patient who killed fellow resident
A row has broken out in Newcastle over a decision by the Lib Dem city council to spend £23,000 on a reputation consultant, to help handle the media response ahead of an investigation into how a long-term pyschiatric patient was able to kill another resident with an iron.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Thursday 8 December, page 2

New social justice commission chaired by IDS
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith to chair a social justice commission to draw up fresh policies to tackle what new Tory leader David Cameron describes as “our broken society.”
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Thursday 8 December, page 4

Victims of minor crime to lose right to compensation
Thousands of crime victims who suffer minor injuries could lose the right to compensation under a shake-up of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, said the Home Office yesterday.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Thursday 8 December, page 4

Bosses may have to pay for injuries at work
Employers could be forced to pay compensation to staff who are the victims of violent crimes while at work, under plans outlined by the Home Office yesterday to reform the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
Source:- Financial Times, Thursday 8 December, page 6

Cash crisis hits health reforms
Radical reforms to the NHS appear to be in jeopardy because of the growing financial crisis in the health service.
Source:-The Independent, Thursday 8 December, page 4

Abigail Witchells gets compensation
The young woman who survived a knife attack that left her paralysed is to receive interim compensation of £250,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
Source:-The Independent, Thursday 8 December, page 4

Learn scheme fails
A £2bn flagship government scheme to improve basic literacy and numeracy of adults has been condemned as a disappointing failure by the adult learning inspectorate.
Source:-The Independent, Thursday 8 December, page 4

40 years on, the Race Relations Act “has not defeated racism”
Views from leader of the lords Baroness Amos and others.
Source:-The Independent, Thursday 8 December, page 11

Psychiatrists says NHS cuts put public at risk of attacks
A group of 27 psychiatrists at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge warned yesterday that the government’s squeeze on NHS deficits will put patients at risk of suicide and may lead to violent attacks in the community.
Source:-The Guardian, Thursday 8 December, page 6

Third of Scotland’s spending goes on health
Scotland spends a higher proportion of its economic output on health than many European countries. But in spite of spending more than a third of its public expenditure on health, it has poor financial management.
Source:- Financial Times, Thursday 8 December, page 2

NHS cash crisis eroding confidence
The financial crisis in the NHS is eroding confidence in the government, a Mori survey reveals.
Source:- Financial Times, Thursday 8 December, page 2

More visits to dentist by older people
Dentists face unprecedented demand from older people, who are keeping more teeth than earlier generations.
Source:- Financial Times, Thursday 8 December, page 4

Opt-out on EU working hours limit set to survive
Britain is today expected to keep its exemption from the EU’s 48 hour limit for the working week.
Source:- Financial Times, Thursday 8 December, page 6

Migrants abused
Thousands of migrant workers in Britain are suffering abuse from gangmasters who get them casual work at large food processing plants, a pressure group claimed.
Source: – The Times, Thursday 8 December 2005, page 23

Abandoned twins Holly and Joseph are “stable”
The search continues for the mother of newborn twins, who have been named Holly and Joseph and were abandoned in a cardboard box wrapped only in a sleeping bag in the carpark of Heartlands hospital, Birmingham.
Source: – The Times, Thursday 8 December 2005, page 26

Ministers embarrassed by revolving doors fiasco
Up to 2,000 failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants who are sent out of Britain each year have been ejected at least once before, according to Home Office figures.
Source: – The Daily Mail, Thursday 8 December 2005, page 2

The school planners aged five
Children as young as five should have a say in how their teachers conduct lessons, according to a government handbook.
Source: – The Daily Mail, Thursday 8 December 2005, page 7

Parents win battle over tragic girl they would have aborted
The parents of a girl born profoundly disabled are likely to receive millions of pounds in damages after a doctor was found negligent in failing to spot her rare brain condition in the womb. Alice Lillywhite was born in 1992 with part of her brain missing and cannot move independently, speak or communicate in any way.
Source: – The Daily Mail, Thursday 8 December 2005, page 19

Scottish news

Jamieson backs plans for offenders to serve split sentences
The justice minister Cathy Jamieson has backed a plan for splitting court sentences between prison and community work.
Source:- The Herald, 8 December

Number of bed-blockers in Lothians at record low
The problem of bed-blocking in the Lothians is at its lowest level since records began, with 217 patients waiting in hospital until suitable alternative care can be found for them.
Source:-The Scotsman, Thursday 8 December 2005

Divorce in one year on cards
New laws could be introduced that would enable couples to end their marriage in just one year.
Source:- The Record, Thursday 8 December 2005

Welsh news

Pool girl’s death caused by seizure
The mother of a teenage girl with epilepsy who died after being pulled from a pool said her daughter suffered a massive seizure, it emerged yesterday.Hayley Elizabeth Williams, 13, from Newport, died following an incident at a hydrotherapy complex at the Ashgrove special Sschool in Penarth, near Cardiff.
Source:- Western Mail, Thursday 8 December 2005

Pupils to help tackle playground bullying  
A scheme to encourage pupils to police their own playgrounds against bullying is being used by Welsh primary schools. The schools taking part in the scheme in Bridgend , have their own playground peacemakers, pupils specially trained in anti-bullying.
Source:- Western Mail, Thursday 8 December 2005