WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY 2006

New rules on incapacity include tougher checks and job interviews
A tougher regime for most new incapacity benefit claimants will start from 2008, with a lower initial benefit, a more stringent medical assessment, and more frequent interviews leading to tougher requirements to seek work or lose benefit, work and pensions secretary John Hutton announced yesterday.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 6

Youths on trial for Damilola murder
Six years after the killing of the 10-year old schoolboy Damilola Taylor, a second trial into his death heard yesterday that crucial evidence had been overlooked days after his murder. Three teenage boys are jointly charged with his murder.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 4

Terminally-ill UK doctor kills herself at Swiss clinic
A British doctor suffering from an incurable illness killed herself yesterday in Zurich with the help of Dignitas, the Swiss voluntary organisation.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 8

Views from young people involved in prostitution
Louise and Claire are trapped in a destructive cycle of prostitution and drugs. Now the government wants them off the streets. But things aren’t that simple.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 1

Preview of health and social care white paper
One theme will be closer working between the NHS and social care provided by local authorities. Health minister Liam Byrne wants  GPs to be able to write “social care prescriptions” stipulating services that a patient needs from a council alongside NHS treatment. That might include respite for a carer that would not be forthcoming by means of an application to social services.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 3

The Asbo that worked
Leeford Walker is the first person in the UK to have an antisocial behaviour order lifted. He was placed under an Asbo in 2004 and was due to run until 2009. His reform has been so complete that, not only have the courts lifted the order, he is now working as a mentor for other young people.
Source:- Daily Mail, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 31

Attack on Brown’s plan to reform tax credit system
MPs have warned chancellor Gordon Brown’s plans to reform the tax credit system could be costly. The treasury select committee said that plans to allow families to increase their incomes by £25,000 in a year without having payments clawed back would add costs, while there was little detail on how savings would be made in the system.
Source:- Financial Times, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 2

Britain must deport more failed asylum-seekers, says top judge
Britain’s top asylum judge has called on the government to ensure more failed aslyum seekers are deported.
Mr Justice Henry Hodge, president of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, said the Home Office and the Foreign Office needed to work together to ensure countries of origin took back their citizens.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 6

Paedophile sent to school to do community service
A paedophile sent by probation officers to do community service as a school gardener was jailed for six months yesterday for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.
Ian Missing, 23, had been sent by Essex probation officers to work at the school, despite having previously been investigated by police for a sexual attack on a child.
Essex Police and probation staff have agreed to improve information sharing, following a review into how Missing came to work with children.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 21

Child care must involve fathers
Family services too often shut fathers out, children’s services minister Beverley Hughes told a conference yesterday.
She said services had to become more father-friendly, and stressed that guidelines for children’s centres called on staff to “consult and involve both fathers and mothers”.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 25 January 2006, page 22

Man campaigning to legalise sex with children arrested
The founder of a group that campaigns to legalise sex with children was arrested yesterday on suspicion of conspiracy to distribute indecent images of young people.
Thomas O’Carroll, founder of the International Paedophile Child Emancipation group, was arrested at his Durham home.
Source:- The Sun Wednesday 25 January 2005 page 1

Scottish news

Funding crisis threatens free personal care 
The financial burden of Scotland’s flagship free personal care deal for pensioners is threatening other public services and jobs, a report claims.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which represents 32 councils, also suggests that unless the funding crisis is addressed, means-testing may have to be introduced to determine who can claim the support.
Source:- The Herald, Wednesday 25 January 2006

No class war in Scotland’s schools
Scotland’s education system was praised yesterday after a new report found it was one of the least socially divided in the world. Schools in other industrialised nations, including England, the United States and Germany,are often split along social class lines, but those in Scotland were more likely to include young people from a range of backgrounds, the academics’ report said.
Source:- The Scotsman, Wednesday 25 January 2006

Welsh news

Second pupil at Valleys school kills himself
A second pupil at a school in Wales has killed himself within less than a year. Nathan Smith, 13, was found hanged at his home in Aberdulais on Saturday. Last Easter Nathan Thomas, also aged 13 and also a pupil at Llangatwg comprehensive school in Cadoxton, Neath, hung himself. The police said that the boys knew each other and are looking into a possible copycat connection. They do not think there are any suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday 25 January 2006

Tories accuse assembly government over bedblocking
The Welsh Conservatives have criticised the Welsh Assembly government after it emerged that more than 600 people who are ready to leave hospital are unable to do so on any given day. New bedblocking figures show that 621 people were unable to be moved from hospital into another setting. Around a third of the figure is made up from beds in hospitals run by Cardiff and Vale NHS trust.
Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday 25 January 2006