WEDNESDAY 8 March 2006

Patient escapes
A psychiatric patient convicted of trying to push two women under a train is on the run after escaping for a third time. Christopher Studders, 41, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was reported missing from Chase Farm Hospital in north London.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 2

High cost of private care firms adds to hospitals’ cash crisis
Private companies brought into the NHS to increase capacity are costing the government millions of pounds more than it has admitted, adding to the huge financial pressures on the NHS.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 4

Points system will favour skilled immigrant workers, says Clarke
Britain is to close the door on low-skilled migrants from outside Western Europe seeking work in the country under plans for a points-based immigration system.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 14

Teenagers made tempting offer: behave for £25 a month
Gordon Brown tells of plans to keep the young out of mischief, including a sports and leisure reward card
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 26

Belmarsh inspection reveals harsh conditions of July bomb suspects
The chief inspector of prisons has reported concerns that white staff were “punitive” towards Belmarsh prison’s 140 Muslim inmates, and did not understand their social and religious behaviour.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 12

Government plans anti-rape campaign
A £500,000 advertising campaign aimed at young men with emphasise need for consent before sex
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 14

The future of old age
We’re all living longer. But will this just mean more pain and immobility? Or could science cure the illnesses of old age?
Source:- The Guardian, G2, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 6-9

A word to the wise
The Danish approach to caring for children is about nurturing relationships, individuality and creativity. It’s costly, but it gets results. Can it work in Britain?
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 1-2

Top job to put social care back on the map
Social care is soon to get a champion at the heart of Whitehall. Today, the minister for social care, Liam Byrne, announces details of a new top-level department of health post aimed at giving “a new and deserved prominent to social care”.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 2

Ghost towns
A combination of pricey second homes and a diminishing stock of affordable housing is forcing people out of their rural villages, leaving an ageing population and part-time residents.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 3

Credit where credit’s due
Judge Robert Keating set up America’s first community court to tackle low-level crime, an idea he insists has helped make New York one of the world’s safest cities. But are we ready for the concept?
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 5

Happy medium
What might be deemed discipline in Africa can in Britain be considered child abuse. A mediation service aims to help all parties understand the difference.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page  7

NHS chief forced to quit over record deficit gets peerage
The NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp was forced to resign and take responsibility for this year’s record overspending. But he will be granted a peerage, rarely awarded to a permanent secretary
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 1

Missing teacher may have been dreading latest Ofsted visit
A gifted teacher who disappeared from home last week went missing because she could not face another school Ofsted inspection, her boyfriend has claimed. The head teacher of Monega Primary school in Manor Park, east London said the whole school was waiting for the return of Sarah Flooks, 50.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 10

Government misses target on child poverty
The government has missed its target of cutting child poverty by a quarter during its first two terms of office, figures due to be released tomorrow will show. The government has made significant progress but it will have failed to reduce the total by more than 1million by April, the first step to halving the total in a decade and eliminating it in a generation.
Source:- Financial Times, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 2

Universities and local power vital to recovery of leading cities, says study
Universities are crucial to continuing urban recovery and regeneration but centralisation and over-complicated initiatives are still holding back progress, a government commissioned study found.
Source:- Financial Times, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 4

Asbo for leylandii lout
A builder has become the first person in the country to chop back his towering leylandii after being served with a “tree Asbo”.
Source:- Daily Mail, Wednesday 8 March 2006, page 37

Scottish news

Expert report claims social work staffs are in crisis
A report into the death of a young girl at the hands of her mother’s drug-abusing boyfriend has claimed social work staffing in Scotland was in crisis.
It cited poor employee levels and accused care agencies of putting their interests ahead of vulnerable children.
The independent report into the death of Danielle Reid by a leading child protection expert criticised Highland Council’s social work department for not making adequate checks about Danielle’s welfare, despite concerns being raised a year before she was murdered.
Source: The Herald, Wednesday 8 March 2006
 
Drive to end homelessness by 2012 under threat
The Scottish executive’s aim of ending homelessness by 2012 may not be achieved unless the government and housing professionals make a concerted effort to reach the target.
John Mills, the chairman of the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland, told delegates at a conference in Aberdeen that there was a need for more affordable rented housing to be built and for better-quality temporary accommodation to be provided.
Housing, health, education, social care and other public services had to work together to ensure the end to homelessness could be achieved in six years.
Source: The Scotsman, Wednesday 8 March 2006

Time to think about supplying heroin on NHS, says drugs tsar
Edinburgh’s drugs tsar, Tom Wood, has urged the Scottish executive to consider prescribing heroin to addicts on the NHS.
Wood, chairman of the Edinburgh Drugs and Alcohol Action Team, said providing a controlled supply of the drug to certain addicts may prove more helpful than giving them methadone.
The former deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police said methadone was being too widely used in Edinburgh and radical alternatives needed to be considered.
Source: The Scotsman, Wednesday 8 March 2006

Welsh news

Schools should decide on breaks
Schools should decide whether children can be taken out of class in term time to go on holiday not parents or magistrates the High Court has ruled.
Two senior judges said that going against schools’ wishes by allow unauthorised breaks could lead to court convictions.
The judges made the comments during an appeal by a local education authority against a Bromley magistrates’ court decision to acquit a mother who took her three children on two holidays without a school’s permission.
Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday 8 March 2006