Hand social services to volunteers, Cameron says

Hand social services to volunteers, Cameron says
A new wave of voluntary social services should be encouraged to take over responsibility from government for the worst-off members of society, David Cameron says.
Source:- Independent, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 22
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£1,500 pay-out for blind man’s guide dog ban
A registered blind man has been awarded £1,500 compensation after he was refused entry to an antiques shop because his guide dog might break something.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 9
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‘Charity lottery’ cuts its donations
Monday, the lottery promising to give a larger proportion of its proceeds to charity than the National Lottery, has cut pay-outs to good causes from 30p to 22.2p for every pound played – less than the 28p given by the National Lottery.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 13
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Woman stabbed to death by family for loving wrong man
The brother and 17-year-old cousin of a young Pakistani woman were jailed for life yesterday for her murder in a so-called honour killing because she wished to marry a man against her father’s wishes.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 7
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Doctors will face tougher checks to weed out failures
Tougher regulation of doctors and a reduction in the powers of the General Medical Council were proposed yesterday in a radical report from chief medical officer Liam Donaldson.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 8
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Sex offender bailed because prisons full
A paedophile awaiting sentence for seven offences was granted bail because local prisons in Liverpool were full.
Source:- The Times, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 11

Ex-councillor cleared of abuse
Colin Inglis, former leader of Hull Council was found not guilty of one of a series of child abuse charges. He was cleared of indecently assaulting a 13-year-old boy when he worked at a children’s home in the 1980s. He faces five further charges of indecent assault.
Source:- The Times, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 4

Morning-after pill for sale in advance
Women are to be offered the morning-after pill before they have had sex, by DrThom a web-based medical organisation registered with the Healthcare Commission.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 1
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Somali sex offender escapes custody
A convicted sex offender escaped custody yesterday while he was being taken into a deportation hearing.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 2

School meals failing standards
Three quarters of primary schools are failing to provide meals that meet health standards set by the government, according to a report funded by the Department for Education.
Source:- Daily Mail, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 23

Child protection unit policeman suspended
A police child protection unit chief was suspended yesterday for allegedly sending mobile phone pictures of his manhood to a schoolgirl.
Source:- The Sun, Saturday 15 July 2006, page 15

Targeted at birth
Health staff will be asked to identify children at risk at future criminality in infancy so they can receive services to steer them away from crime.
Social exclusion minister Hilary Armstrong is to write to prime minister Tony Blair this week saying early intervention schemes are crucial to helping children “with complex multiple problems”.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday, Sunday 16 July 2006 page 16
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Third of GPs on new contracts drop child jabs
GPs in poorer areas are opting out of providing vaccinations to children and there are fears that primary care trusts lack the ability to fill the gaps.
Department of Health figures showed that over one-third of doctors working to the new GP contract were exercising their right to opt out of providing vaccinations, leaving the job to PCTs.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 16 July 2006, page 8
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Stroke patients suffer with fewer scanners than in Turkey or Poland
Hospitals have 20 per cent fewer stroke consultants than they need while Britain has one of the lowest ratios of scanners for the condition per head of population in the developed world.
The figures follow a damning report into stroke care last week by the Commons’ public accounts committee.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 16 July 2006 page 8
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‘Honour killings’ increasing in Britain as women stand up for their rights
Campaigners claim so-called honour killings are on the up due to women standing up to their families.
The International Campaign Against Honour Killings said the number of women seeking its help had quadrupled in the past year.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 16 July 2006 page 10
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NHS attacked over hospital hotel fees
A select committee report this week will attack the impact of charges for certain NHS services on poor people and those with certain long-term conditions.
The health committee report will attack hospital charges for parking and telephone calls and the fact that certain long-term conditions do not attract free prescriptions.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 16 July 2006, page 15
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Fathers to have debts written off in child agency shake-up
Plans to scrap the Child Support Agency, which will be unveiled next week, will force many parents to reapply for maintenance from a new enforcement agency.
Critics will warn that this may enable absent parents to avoid paying for their children.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 16 July 2006, page 20
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MPs and charities urge help for 100,000 runaway children
A new all-party parliamentary group has been formed to lobby for the 100,000 children who run away each year.
At its first meeting this Wednesday, it will demand urgent action from government to address their needs.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday, Sunday 16 July 2006, page 9

Internet sites seek to head off paedophilia concerns
MySpace and other social networking websites will meet police, parents and teachers this week to try and head off a storm brewing over internet paedophilia. A survey today from children’s charity NCH reports that a third of children use blogs and social networking sites at least two or three times a week and warns of an “alarming gap in knowledge between parents and their children when it comes to technology.”
Source:- Financial Times, Monday 17 July 2006, page 3
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Face-to-face contact with birth family ‘can help the adopted’
New research by the University of East Anglia suggests that meetings with birth relatives are in many cases positively helpful to adopted children, their adoptive parents and their birth parents.
Source:- The Times, Monday 17 July 2006, page 26

Pregnancy ‘beats a dead-end job’
Teenage girls who plan to get pregnant do so as a way to improve the quality of their lives, says a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Source:- Independent, Monday 17 July 2006, page 9
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Reid to set out criminal justice reforms
John Reid will unveil a shake-up at the Home Office and the criminal justice system this week in an attempt to restore public confidence in the government’s law and order strategy.
Source:- The Independent, Monday 17 July 2006, page 6
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Employees in the dark over age discrimination laws
Thousands of companies could be heading for expensive and embarrassing legal action when new age discrimination laws come into force in October, according to two new studies.
Source:- The Times, Monday 17 July 2006, page 26
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Weight loss linked to dementia
Weight loss in women may be an indicator of future dementia, according to research from the USA.
Source:- Daily Mirror, Monday 17 July 2006, page 18

Tough line taken on cannabis used for pain relief
Prosecutors are taking a tough line on the supply of cannabis for pain relief to people with chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 17 July 2006, page 14
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Hope for MMR doctor
The first doctor to suggest a link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella jab may not face misconduct charges it has emerged.
Dr Andrew Wakefield has been investigated for 20 months by the General Medical Council but the body has admitted that it may not proceed with the charges.
Source:- Daily Mail, Monday 17 July 2006, page 31

Scottish news

Social workers under scrutiny after ‘supervised’ sex offender abuses boy
An investigation has been ordered into how a convicted paedophile was able to sexually abuse a 10-year-old child despite social workers supervising him.
Lord Hardie demanded answers to a series of questions about the handling of the case of James Steele who carried out an indecent act against the child nine months after he was released from an eight-year jail sentence for sexual offences against two boys.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that Steele befriended the boy and his family while being monitored by social workers while on licence.
Source:- The Scotsman, Saturday 15 July2006
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New autism test to provide results in an hour
Scottish scientists are developing a new testing device to slash the time taken to diagnose autism in children.
Researchers at the University of Aberdeen believe their computer-based system will save parents months of waiting on the NHS for help.
The time taken for a diagnosis in Scotland varies from between six months and three years, but the scientists believe their device could diagnose, or rule out, autism in an hour.
Source-: Scotland on Sunday, 16 July 2006
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Drug and child tsars speak out against bid to stop addicts having children
Two of Scotland’s tsars have warned against plans for social contracts for drug addicts that would see them agreeing not to have children until they had beaten their habit.
Under proposals put forward by Labour MSP Duncan McNeil addicts would also agree to enter drug cessation programmes. Breaking the agreement could result in addicts losing free methadone and having their children taken into care.
But drugs tsar Tom Wood has criticised the ­proposals in their ­current form as unworkable. Scotland’s ­children’s ­commissioner, Professor Kathleen ­Marshall, also warned that the focus must remain on the welfare of the child, instead of­ ­punishing parents by taking away their children.
Source: Sunday Herald, 16 July 2006
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Welsh news

Schools in deprived areas ‘do better than posher ones’
Schools in the poshest parts of Wales are not pushing their pupils enough according to a new report.
The research, carried out by south-Wales based David Reynolds, Professor of Education at the University of Plymouth, found that many schools in Wales’ deprived areas are performing better than schools in richer areas.
Source:- Western Mail, Monday 15 July 2006
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Mum jailed for underage sex with boy, 13
A 43-year-old mother has been sentenced to four years in prison for having sex with a 13-year-old boy over a two year period.
The abuse took place until the boy, who is from Cardiff, wrote the woman a letter asking her to stop and showed it to his mother.
The judge said that the defendant should never be named to avoid identifying the boy.
Source:- South Wales Echo, Monday 15 July 2006
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