Councils step up warnings of migrant pressures on resources

Councils step up warnings of migrant pressures on resources
Local authorities warned yesterday that the government’s failure to produce accurate figures on numbers of immigrant workers threatens to leave them severely short of cash to provide services. Councils struggling to cope with a sharp rise in eastern European immigrants say services could suffer as a result of extra demand on services.
Souce:- Financial Times, Saturday 29 July 2006, page 4
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Paedophile priest who raped 11-year-old jailed
A paedophile church minister who may have claimed hundreds of victims  was jailed for life yesterday. Simon Thomas groomed boys over the internet using the social skills he had learnt as a priest, Southampton crown court heard.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 29 July 2006, page 6
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‘Abuse’ action
A health care assistant has been suspended at the Royal United hospital, Bath, after allegations that three elderly patients were abused.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 29 July 2006, page 6

Health trust must pay for brain-damaged devout Muslim to stay at home
A devout Muslim family won enhanced damages yesterday that will allow a catastrophically brain-damaged woman to be cared for at home, ensuring that she receives “spiritual benefits”, even though she is in a persistent vegetative state. She has been profoundly physically and mentally disabled since suffering two cardiac arrests during a hysterectomy.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Saturday 29 July 2006, page 6
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Chess girl’s father accused of raping her
The father of a chess prodigy who plunged to her death from an eighth floor window is accused of raping her.
Source:- Daily Mail, Saturday 29 July 2006, page 1
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Police told to go soft on Asbo breaches
Officially any under-18 who breaches an Asbo can be locked up for a year. But the Home Office has sent a circular to police and prosecutors telling them normally to issue a final warning instead.
Source:- Daily Mail, Saturday 29 July 2006, page 41

‘Abuse’ case head cleared
A special needs headmaster wrongly accused of child abuse has been cleared.
Source:- Daily Mail, Saturday 29 July 2006, page 48

Millions of children to be fingerprinted
British children, possibly as young as six, will be subjected to compulsory fingerprinting under European Union rules being drawn up in secret. The prints will be stored on a database which could be shared with countries around the world.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 30 July, page 1
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US child expert quits Britain over ‘hidden crisis’ in special needs
An Observer story triggered an NHS doctor’s decision to speak out on discrimination against vulnerable pupils – and to return home early.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 30 July 2006
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Online abuse analysed
As police reveal allegations that a 21-year-old Canadian built an internet world in which children were groomed for sex, a report on fresh concerns that teens on the web are being targeted by the dangerous and the criminal.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 30 July 2006
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Charity sees surge in retirement complaints
Health bodies and councils are forcing staff to retire at 65 despite previously indicating they could stay on, Age Concern has found.
The charity said it had received a big increase in complaints from health and council staff. The Local Government Association said it would consider its findings.
Source:- Financial Times, Monday 31 July 2006, page 4
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Whitehall alert at EU migrant influx
The rising number of immigrants from eastern Europe poses huge problems for public services and community relations, a leaked Home Office report disclosed yesterday.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Monday 31 July 2006, page 2
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Criminal gangs moving into child internet porn
Organised criminal gangs are moving into child pornography and trafficking an increasing number of women to work as prostitutes in the UK, according to the first report from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 31 July 2006, page 8
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Family judges learn from Australian approach to battles over children
Australian studies say family disputes are better settled out of court and child-inclusive mediation may cut mental health toll.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 31 July 2006, page 12
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Alcohol offenders go untreated
Alcohol-fuelled crime is not being tackled because of a lack of treatment programmes for offenders, according to a probation inspection report to be published today.
Source:- The Times, Monday 31 July 2006, page 24
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Paedophiles who fled jail are found
Two paedophile rapists who vanished from an open prison were recaptured yesterday.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Monday 31 July 2006, page 2

MPs savage government’s ‘ad hoc’ drug policy
MPs have mounted a savage attack on the government’s drugs policy, denouncing it as “based on ad hockery”, “riddled with anomalies” and “not fit for purpose”.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 31 July 2006, page 5
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Scottish news

Alcohol kills record number of women
A record number of women died from alcohol abuse in Scotland last year, new figures have revealed.
Statistics from the Registrar General for Scotland, published yesterday, showed 492 women died of alcohol-related diseases last year, compared with 441 in 2004. The increase was highest among women aged 30 to 60.
Source:- The Scotsman, Saturday 29 July 2006
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Expert: give alcohol to children as young as five
Children from the age of five should be encouraged to drink wine at home to prevent the toll of alcohol abuse in later life, one of the country’s leading experts on the problem has told Scotland on Sunday.
Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland and a member of the Scottish ministerial advisory committee on alcohol problems, believes the practice would cut binge drinking among youngsters by taking the mystery out of alcohol.
Law, who is helping ministers draft new alcohol policies to tackle the nation’s appalling health record, believes parents should also drink more responsibly themselves to set a good example.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday, 30 July 2006
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Welsh news

Paedophile ‘lessons’ to be made public
Authorities criticised by the family of a girl sexually abused by paedophile Craig Sweeney are set to make the lessons learned from the case public.
Sweeney abducted the girl from her home in Cardiff in January and repeatedly sexually assaulted her.
A spokesperson for the Gwent multi-agency public protection arrangements said that the recommendations would be published in the autumn alongside findings from an investigation into the case.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday, 29 July 2006
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Company denies mentally ill patients are risk
A company that claims that it does not need planning permission to set up a rehabilitation unit for psychiatric patients in a former residential care home has said that its clients are not dangerous.
Julie Seymour, a spokesperson for Cambian Healthcare, which is trying to set the unit in Rhymney, said that the patients were more of a danger to themselves that the public.
Source:- Western Mail, Monday July 31 2006
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