Inquiry ordered after gay couple jailed for abusing foster children

Inquiry ordered after gay couple jailed for abusing foster children
An independent inquiry is to be held into how a gay foster couple duped Wakefield social services. Both men were convicted of multiple charges of sexually abusing 14-year-old boys.
Source:- Guardian, Saturday 24 June 2006, page 10
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Child champions demand a ban on the mildest smack
Parents must be banned from inflicting even the mildest of smacks on their children because it breaches human rights legislation, a report by the anti-smacking Children are unbeatable alliance.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 24 June 2006, page 6
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PM seeks ‘change of mindset’ on justice
Tony Blair yesterday called for a “complete change of mindset” in the justice system that would include tougher punishments, faster prosecutions, tighter monitoring of drug offenders, and tailor-made services for crime victims.
Source:- Guardian, Saturday 24 June 2006, page 4

Interview with Anne Owers
Thousands of psychiatric patients are being incarcarated rather than treated, the chief inspector of prisons says today.
Source, Daily Telegraph, Saturday 24 June 2006, page 2 and 16
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The bitter legacy of Megan’s law
Report on a law which has divided the US.
Source:- Independent, Saturday 24 June 2006, page 29
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A fight for the right to be husband and wife
Paul and Andrea Annear, who both have learning difficulties, tell their story.
Source:- Daily Mail, Saturday 24 June 2006, page 29
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Witchcraft abuse of children is ‘rife’ in the UK
Ministers are preparing to publish a “harrowing” report on abuse meted out to African children in Britain branded as witches.
Source:- Independent on Sunday, Sunday 25 June 2006, page 27
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5,000 elderly ‘killed each year’ by lack of care beds
Thousands of elderly National Health Service patients are dying because they are denied intensive care treatment after surgery, a study has found.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 25 June 2006, page 4
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Prozac for paedophiles
Jailed sex offenders to get anti-depressants in controversial treatment approved by ministers
Source:- Independent on Sunday, Sunday 25 June 2006, page 1
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Blair prison pledge is exposed as ‘total sham’
Tony Blair’s pledge to build more prisons is today exposed as a “total sham” with the revelation that a multi-million pound jail scheme stalled on take-off two years ago.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 25 June 2006, page 1
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Mubarek jail officials win promotion
Inquiry attacks handling of racist prison killing.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 25 June 2006, page 2
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Reid’s move ‘will risk more child abuse’
Home Office crackdown backfires as sex offenders are moved to b&bs
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 25 June 2006, page 4
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Drink offenders may face compulsory rehab
Drinkers who commit violent crimes could be forced to undergo rehab treatment, the home secretary suggested yesterday.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 25 June 2006, page 10
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Patients’ lives being left at mercy of abusive nurses
175 carers are allowed to stay on the wards despite accusations of serious misconduct.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 25 June 2006, page 13
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Carers to lose £1.4 billion in pensions shake-up
Millions of pensioners who look after their loved ones are to lose out on £1.4 billion in benefits after a key handout was scrapped in the government’s overhaul of the pensions system.
Source:-Daily Mail, Monday 26 June 2006, page 30
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Childcare expert recruited as poverty tsar
Lisa Harker, former chair of the Daycare Trust, is being appointed as child poverty tsar to reinvigorate the government’s efforts to reach one of its key targets.
Source:-The Guardian, Monday 26 June 2006, page 5
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Local authorities ignoring duties to promote equality, says report
Legal requirements to eliminate discrimination and promote equality are being ignored by nine out of 10 local authorities, according to a report.
Source:-The Guardian, Monday 26 June 2006, page 12
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Family of teenager in racist cell murder demand change
The family of Zahid Mubarek, the Asian teenager murdered by a racist cell-mate, yesterday called for young offender institutions to be brought into the 21st century.
Source:-The Daily Telegraph, Monday 26 June 2006, page 8
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Choice of hospital is not top public priority, say doctors
Giving patients a choice of hospitals, one of the government’s main NHS reforms, is not top of the public’s list of priorities, a poll by the British Medical Association found.
Source:-The Independent, Monday 26 June 2006, page 6
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Family life faces state invasion
Government surveillance of all children introduced after the Victoria Climbie case, including information on whether they eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, will be condemned tomorrow as a big brother system.
Source:-The Daily Telegraph, Monday 26 June 2006, page 1
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Civil service strike threat over Labour U-turn on pensions
Union leaders raised the threat of strikes over a government U-turn to make civil servants pay more for their pensions.
Source:-Daily Mail, Monday 26 June 2006, page 2
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Kelly wants to give big cities power to run regions
The government will today back the idea of mayor running new city regions in England, with powers matching those of the mayor of London.
Source:-The Guardian, Monday 26 June 2006, page 10
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Minor cases clog up youth courts
Youth courts are becoming choked with school disciplinary problems, neighbourhood disputes and minor criminal damage cases because the police have lost he discretion to deal with them elsewhere, the government was warned.
Source:-The Guardian, Monday 26 June 2006, page 12
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Scottish news

1,000 Scots criminals break tagging orders in one year
The number of cases of criminals breaking the rules on electronic tagging increased by 28 per cent last year, dealing a serious blow to Scottish executive plans to reduce the use of prison.
Figures show that over a 12-month period, there were more cases of tagged criminals breaking the rules – nearly 1,000 – than there were electronic tagging orders.
Between April 2005 and March 2006, a total of 965 restriction of liberty orders were imposed on offenders. But the number of failures to comply recorded by the Scottish executive was 987.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday, 25 June 2006
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Children’s hearings system close to collapse
The children’s hearings system is close to collapse after almost 55,000 young people were referred to it last year, an all-time record.
The growing caseload has been accompanied by ministers denying a request from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration for an extra £20 million over the next three years to hire more frontline staff.
Sources close to the agency warned last night they were “close to being overwhelmed” by the 10 per cent rise in referrals from 2004-5.
Source:- The Herald, Monday 26 June 2006
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Tsars facing tighter cost controls
Scotland’s public service tsars are to be asked to submit three-year budget plans to MSPs in an effort to reduce their spending.
The tsars, who are directly accountable to the Scottish parliament rather than to ministers, have all established separate offices, separate staff and separate administration, prompting MSPs to investigate their activities.
Children’s commissioner Kathleen Marshall said she needed a budget of £1.27 million for the next year, including £157,000 for publicity. The 5.7 per cent increase in her budget was twice the rate of inflation.
Source:- The Scotsman, Monday 26 June 2006
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Welsh news

Head teacher denies sex charge
A primary school head teacher denied sexually assaulting a boy at Caernarfon crown court yesterday.
Christopher Barker, head teacher of Ysgol Tanyfron in Wrexham, pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault against a boy under 13 and three counts of sexual activity with a child.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday 24 June 2006
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Clwych report: lessons not learned
The assistant children’s commissioner for Wales accused local government leaders of putting children at risk for failing  to implement key reforms after a large scale child abuse investigation.
Sara Reid said that some key changes had still not been made two years after the highly critical Clwych inquiry. The investigation was into alleged abuse by drama teacher John Owen at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen in Pontypridd. Owen killed himself in 2001 before being due to stand trial charged with sexually abusing former pupils in 1977-1991.
Source:- Wales on Sunday, 25 June 2006
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Parents hit at pupil exclusion
Parents of pupils deemed as disruptive have called for schools to try harder with their children in a report delivered to education minister Jane Davidson today.
The parents, who are from Barnardo’s Cymru Parenting Matters project, argue that schools need to provide better training for staff on managing behaviour.
Source:- Western Mail, Monday, 26 June 2006
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