Monitoring of offenders ‘poor’

Monitoring of offenders ‘poor’
Two thirds of probation services are failing to meet their targets for monitoring offenders who pose a serious risk of harming the public.
Source:- The Times, Friday 16 June 2006, page 2
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Sure Start criticised in research
Sure Start is failing in its central aim to help society’s most vulnerable parents, according to research published in the British Medical Journal.
Source:- Daily Mail, friday 16 June 2006, page 23
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Blair told to shut up as ministers embark on another jail review
Ministers plan to defuse the row over “soft” sentencing by conducting a full review of the system – only 14 months after the results of the last overhaul came into effect. Lord Ramsbotham, a former chief inspector of prisons, told the prime minister to “shut up”.
Source:- The Times, Friday 16 June 2006, page 4
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Patients fail to stop private GPs
NHS patients lost a high court battle yesterday to stop a private US company providing them with local GP services.
Source:- The Times, Friday 16 June 2006, page 4
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NHS risks £20 billion on white elephant, say auditors
The government’s £20 billion investment in new IT systems for the NHS could turn into a white elephant unless ministers work harder to involve doctors in developing it, parliament’s spending watchdog will warn today.
Source:- The Guardian, Friday 16 June 2006, page 6
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Scottish news

Calls from elderly abuse victims
Calls to a Scottish helpline for elderly victims of abuse have risen by 400 per cent over the past year, new figures released reveal.
Age Concern Scotland said complaints to the Scottish Helpline for Older People ranged from physical and sexual assaults to neglect and financial exploitation.
It is estimated that up to 90,000 older Scottish people, three-quarters of them women, have experienced some form of abuse.
Source:- The Herald, Friday 16 June 2006
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Free care warning as population ages
Councils facing fast growth in their share of the elderly population have warned they will need special treatment under any change in the funding formula.
The call follows details emerging of authorities using waiting lists for care of the elderly, which ought legally to be free and provided as soon as required, amid claims that they are having to find millions of pounds in extra funding to meet the Scottish executive’s flagship policy objective.
East Renfrewshire, one part of the country where the number of elderly people is going to rise the fastest, has raised its concern about the uneven growth in demand for services.
Source:- The Herald, Friday 15 June 2006
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Pupils quizzed in methadone school inquiry
Police have interviewed school friends of a seven-year-old boy who collapsed in his classroom after taking methadone.
The authorities want to know how the drug could have entered the bloodstream of the pupil at Merkinch primary school in Inverness, as the boy’s family are not drug-dependent.
As well as child protection officers who spoke to pupils, police interviewed teachers, janitors and playground supervisors as part of an inter-agency investigation into the incident.
Source:- The Herald, Friday 15 June 2006
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Autism sufferers face long distance journeys for care
Autistic people in Edinburgh and the Lothians are being forced to travel hundreds of miles every week for day care because of a lack of services closer to home.
One severely autistic man from Edinburgh is making an 80-mile round trip every day in a taxi because there are no suitable places in the city.
The Scottish Society for Autism is demanding the Scottish executive do more to improve the quality of life for people with the condition.
Source:- The Scotsman, Friday 15 June 2006
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Welsh news

‘Sex offenders will have no place to hide in EU’
A European sex offenders’ register is due to be set up following the case of a Polish rapist who was released from prison only to strike again in Wales.
Welsh Labour MEP Eluned Morgan raised the case of Josef Zygmunt Kurek with the European Commission following his conviction in Swansea last year. Last night Morgan said that a mechanism to keep tabs on people who have criminal convictions in one EU country if they move to another EU country had to be created.
Source:- Western Mail, Friday 16 June 2006
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Teenagers who killed sixth-former Ben to be sentenced today
Three teenagers who killed Welsh sixth former Ben Bellamy are due to be sentenced today over two months after being found guilty.
The judge, sitting at Swansea crown court, had to delay the sentencing due to what he called “unsatisfactory” reports from the probation service.
Joel Taylor, 18 and Joshua Thomas, 16, were found guilty of murdering Ben while 18-year-old Andrew Rafferty was found guilty of manslaughter.
Source:- Western Mail, Friday 16 June 2006
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