Labour and Tories reverse roles over public sector

June 7, 2006 in Community Care

Labour and Tories reverse roles over public sector
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown delivered an uncompromising message on public sector pay while David Cameron praised the “high ideals” of public sector workers.
Source:- Daily Mail, Wednesday 7 June 2005, page 2
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Brown challenged over tax credits
Gordon Brown was challenged to take personal responsibility for the tax credits crisis after a report by a committee of MPs criticised the chaos that has engulfed the system.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 7 June 2005, page 2
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Poor understanding
Half the people in a recent UK survey had only a hazy idea of what poverty is. Interview with the Church Urban Fund’s chief executive.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 7 June 2006, page 5
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High-risk strategy
Recent tragedies involving the children of drug addicts have led in Scotland to calls for radical action. But will “political correctness’” undermine the plans?
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 7 June 2006, page 6
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Revealed: how 10 joints could lead to 14 years for dealing
Prosecutions to soar under plan to slash limits for drug possession.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 7 June 2006, page 1
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Reach for the sky
Ten years ago, an IRA bomb left the centre of Manchester utterly devastated. But out of the rubble came a stunning and unexpected urban renaissance.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 7 June 2006, page 1
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Lives less ordinary
A new exhibition of photographs portrays the arrival and experiences of Asians in Coventry.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 7 June 2006, page 3
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Words association
“Writing squads” in Wales help children, often from deprived backgrounds, to boost their self-esteem through poetry and stories.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 7 June 2006, page 7
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Days in court
A mentoring scheme aims to attract more people from ethnic minorities to become magistrates.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 7 June 2006, page 7
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Parents told to pay for after-school clubs
State schools will be able to charge parents hundreds of pounds a month to send their children to out-of-hours clubs that are currently free.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 7 June 2006, page 12
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Immigration service remedies are “two years away”
The head of the immigration service told MPs she had few reliable figures to give them and it would take at least two years to get her department working properly.
Source:- Financial Times, Wednesday 7 June 2005, page 2
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Days of dramatic growth in NHS jobs at an end
The days of spectacular growth in the NHS workforce are over, while hospitals will need to be “reconfigured” as the organisation seeks to get back into financial balance, the chief executive of the NHS said.
Source:- Financial Times, Wednesday 7 June 2005, page 2
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Free NHS of politics, says top doctor
The health service should be run by an independent body because the government’s health policies have failed, the leader of Britain’s consultants will say today.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 7 June 2005, page 1
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Scottish news

Council U-turn on free care
The council that used a debt collection agency to pursue a family for the food preparation costs of an elderly woman with dementia, has backed down and apologised.
Renfrewshire Council said it had been wrong to use the agency to pursue the family of Margaret Devine, of Paisley, only a week after its internal appeals committee rejected the family’s appeal without reason.
The dispute involved food preparation costs for Mrs Devine while she was at home and in need of care, with the council claiming she should pay for meals being made. But as soon as she was admitted to a residential home in Erskine, it was recognised she needed the maximum care package.
Source:- The Herald, Wednesday 7 June 2006
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Don’t overstep your powers, public sector tsars warned
Kathleen Marshall, the children’s commissioner has been warned she’s gone too far in asserting her independence from parliament.
Des McNulty, the chairman of Holyrood’s finance committee, told Marshall and Scotland’s other public sector tsars they were wrong in their interpretations of the roles given to them under legislation.
Prof Marshall said she was always prepared to discuss her work with MSPs but added that her main accountability is to children and young people.
Source:- The Scotsman, Wednesday 7 June 2006
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Spending watchdog to investigate free care
Spending watchdogs are to look into the free personal care policy because some councils have run out of money to provide the service.
Following a request from MSP Mike Rumbles, Audit Scotland has agreed to investigate whether the funding packages given to councils to implement policies such as free personal care are sufficient.
Councillors say they have not got enough money to pay for the service, but the executive claims councils should be able to budget to provide free personal care.
Source:- The Scotsman, Wednesday 7 June
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