Did serious offenders work with vulnerable people?

Did serious offenders work with vulnerable people?

The Home Office is hoping to learn today whether 260 serious offenders, whose crimes were not entered on a police database, took jobs working with vulnerable people.

The news comes amid revelations that police chiefs met Home Office officials four times at the end of last year to discuss the scale of the backlog of overseas convictions that had not been recorded.

Ministers said they only learned about the problem when it came to light this week.

Source:- The Times, Friday 12 January 2007, page 22

Eviction from care home would ‘be a breach of rights’

The Court of Appeal are examining whether publicly-funded residents in care homes in the independent sector should be protected under the Human Rights Act.

The case is brought by a woman threatened with eviction from a home run by Southern Cross Health Care, and three residents protesting against Havering Council in London’s plans to transfer their care to the private sector, and is backed by the government.

Source:- Daily Telegraph, Friday 12 January 2007, page 8

US group in £500m joint venture for nursing home centres

The biggest nursing homes group in the world is set to spend £500m building 18 new homes in the UK.

Sunrise Senior Living, a listed US company that already owns 12 homes in the UK, has teamed up with financial services group Prudential Financial to make the investment.

Source:- The Financial Times, Friday 12 January 2007, page 4

£575,000 for prisoner who tried to kill himself

The Prison Service has paid £575,000 to a young offender who tried to kill himself in custody, in an out-of-court settlement.

The young man was revived by prison officers, but sued over the circumstances of his suicide attempt.

The move, involving an inmate at Northallerton young offender institution in North Yorkshire, has been criticised by local MP, shadow foreign secretary, as a waste of public money.

Source:- Daily Telegraph, Friday 12 January 2007, page 9

Welsh news

Murdered child’s relative to sue social workers

A relative of a baby beaten to death by his mother’s partners says she is planning to take legal action against social workers she says should have intervened.

Sharon Hurlow made three calls to Swansea Council social services about 13-month-old Aaron Gilbert before he died.

Hurlow is the cousin of Rebecca Lewis, Aaron’s mother.

Source:- Western Mail, Friday 12 January 2007

Better-off parents make the most of baby bonds scheme

Take up of the baby bond scheme is lower in low-income areas and Wales compared to affluent south-east of England, according to new official figures.

The government pays £250 to each baby under the scheme and adds £250 at the age of seven.

Source:- Western Mail, Friday 12 January 2007

Scottish news

Arrest of girl, 15, for prostitution revives tolerance zone plea

Police have caught a 15-year-old, who is believed to have run away from home, working as a prostitute in Edinburgh. The teenager was given a formal juvenile warning and later taken into care.

The case was yesterday described as “a wake-up call for the whole of Edinburgh” and sparked fresh calls for the reinstatement of the capital’s prostitution tolerance zone.

Source:- The Scotsman, Friday 12 January 2007

Privatising jail escorts ‘frees up 300 police’

Privatising prisoner escort services has put 300 police officers and 200 prison officers back to front-line duties, according to a report.

Reliance took over the role of escorting prisoners to court for the whole of the country last February 2005 as part of a seven-year contract worth £126 million. Before this, around 140,000 prisoner escort duties were carried out by police and prison staff.

A review of the contract was published by the Scottish Prison Service yesterday and found the system has become more efficient.

It also says the contract freed up at least 200 police from court duties and an estimated further 100 from escorting duties.

Source:- The Scotsman, Friday 12 January 2007

70,000 snub £250 for child

More than 70,000 new Scottish parents have failed to register their children for free £250 child trust funds, according to Treasury figures last night.

Scotland’s 65.8 per cent uptake is well below the UK average of 70.7 per cent.

Source:- The Scotsman, Friday 12 January 2007

Asbo applications up by 24% over year

Figures show there had been a 24% rise in applications to courts for Asbos over one year.

The number of Asbos which were granted more than doubled over two years, from 117 in 2003/04 to 255 in 2005/06.

Source:- The Herald, Friday 12 January 2007