Dad who killed tot gets life

Dad who killed tot gets life

A father who sexually abused and battered his newborn daughter to death was jailed for life yesterday.

One-year-old Jessica died after Andrew Randall, 33, of Kettering, Northants, threw her into a sofa armrest.

A report into Jessica’s care is due from social services in May.

Source:- Daily Mirror, Wednesday March 14 2007, page 20

Training initiative to tap voluntary sector

A new £2m project training 2, 000 public sector employees to commission services from the voluntary sector is set to be launched by the government.

The move is designed to meet the government’s wish for the third sector to play a larger role in running services.

Source:- Financial Times, Wednesday March 14 2007, page 2

Volunteers needed to feed elderly

Age Concern is calling for an army of volunteers to help feed older people in hospitals who might otherwise go hungry because nurses are too busy to sit with them at mealtimes.

The call comes as ministers discuss introducing a “red tray” system for patients who need help with eating, which Age Concern argues will not solve the problem because there are not enough staff in hospitals to help feed patients properly.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 14 March 2007, page 2

Blaming black youths for gun crime is a mistake, says Lady Scotland

Home office minister Lady Scotland has said it is a “profound mistake” to see rising levels of gun crime as exclusively, predominantly or disproportionately the work of young black men, in evidence to a select committee yesterday.

Giving evidence to the home affairs committee, which is looking into the disproportionate number of arrests of black people by police, she said gun crime was not a racial issue.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 14 March 2007, page 10

Criminals should be told to apologise to victims, says Cherie

Cherie Booth will today call for a huge expansion in restorative justice schemes, in which offenders are made to face up to the consequences of their crimes, and warn prison does little to alter inmates’ long-term attitudes and behaviour.

The prime minister’s wife and QC will say restorative justice should be used routinely for assault, robbery and theft and, where appropriate, domestic violence and sexual assault.

Source:- The Times, Wednesday 14 March 2007, page 4

Carers ‘force-fed toddlers and served unsafe food’

A nursery may be forced to close after an investigation found that it had been force-feeding children and serving them out-of-date food.

The Care Commission, Scotland’s care regulator, upheld complaints to this effect against All Stars Nursery, Aberdeen, and is now considering what further action to take.

In one incident, a nursery worker allegedly clamped her hand over a toddler’s mouth after he refused to eat a grape.

Source:- The Times, Wednesday 14 March 2007, page 8

Care pay confusion

The Department of Health has been found guilty of maladministration over the way it handled compensation payments to people wrongly charged for continuing care by the NHS.

The parliamentary ombudsman found the DH had not provided clear guidance to primary care trusts over the payments, which were often calculated incorrectly.

Source:- The Times, Wednesday 14 March 2007, page 23

Is your baby playing with its toes yet? If not the government wants to know why

The government yesterday published a legally enforced curriculum for nought to five-year-olds which will come into force in September 2008.

It is designed to ensure every nursery, childminder and reception class in Britain monitors children’s progress towards 69 early learning goals.

The curriculum was criticised by the National Confederation of Parent and Teacher Associations as too prescriptive for children of that age, but was broadly backed by childcare groups.