Every child to be screened for risk of turning criminal under Blair justice plan

Every child to be screened for risk of turning criminal under Blair justice plan
A new-style “11-plus” to assess the risk every child in Britain runs of turning to crime was among a battery of proposals unveiled in Tony Blair’s crime plan yesterday.

The children of prisoners, problem drug users and others at high risk of offending will also face being “actively managed” by social services and youth justice workers.

Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 6

Children’s single-place homes can charge £6,000 per week
There is no evidence that the increasing number of children sent to one-person children’s homes are benefiting from such placements, the Commission for Social Care Inspection said in a report yesterday.

It found staff in the homes, which can cost £6,000 a week, were poorly trained and less competent than those in standard children’s homes, despite dealing with children with significant emotional and behavioural problems in many cases.

Source:- The Times, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 2

Blow for Brown as poverty figures increase after years of decline
Poverty has increased for the first time in almost a decade and the number of children living in poor families has risen for the first time in six years, the government admitted yesterday.

Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 5

Whitehall criticised on paying charities
Charities and community groups attacked the government for not paying them on time, despite its ambitions to increase voluntary sector involvement in public services.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations, which represents the sector, singled out the Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions for particular criticism.

Source:- The Financial Times, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 4

Average council tax bill in England rises 4.2 per cent
Council tax bills for 2007-8 will rise by an average of 4.2 per cent, the government has said, the second lowest increase since Labour came into power and lower than the 5 per cent government target for capping rises.

Source:- The Financial Times, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 3

Ten-year-olds ‘need anti-drugs therapy’
Pupils of ten should be offered therapy to prevent them becoming drug addicts, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence said yesterday.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 17

Deportation threat hangs over Darfuris who fled to Britain
Campaigners fear that dozens of asylum seekers from Darfur in Sudan are being rounded up to be returned despite the humanitarian and security situation in the province.

They claim returning Darfuris will face interrogation or possibly death and that the Home Office is trying to deport them before a test case whose judgement may bar the department from doing so.

Source:- The Independent,Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 10

Interview with Julie Jones
New chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence talks.

Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 5

Ofsted inspects  children’s social care from next week
From next week Ofsted will increase its remit to regulate children’s social care and adult learning, as well as schools.

Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 3

Charity chairs lack opportunities to learn about role
A quarter of people who are chairs of voluntary sector organisations say they are not offered enough opportunities to learn about their role, according to research from the  Governance Hub, a partnership of eight voluntary sector umbrella organisations.

Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 10

What is the point of NHS service user surveys?
The NHS says it wants to really understand the experiences of mental health service users.  But does it, asks a service user?

Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 1

Parents are buying stab-proof vests to protect their children
Worried parents are buying their children body armour costing up to £425 to protect them from knife attacks.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 2

Teenager faces life as court hears of ‘tidal wave’ effect of fatal shooting
The teenager who shot dead a young father on his doorstep in east London last summer was yesterday convicted at the Old Bailey of a murder which had the effect of a “tidal wave” on the dead man’s family.

Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 28 March 2007, page 14

Scottish news

10,000 more children sink to the bottom of the poverty trap
The numbers of the most deprived families in Scotland started to rise last year.

Children at the poorest end of the spectrum, in families with less than half the median income, were 10,000 up last year from the previous year, at 110,000.

These are families with incomes lower than 60% of the median, often blighted by chronic illness and disability, mental ill health, drug or alcohol addiction.

Source:- The Herald, Wednesday 28 March 2007

Six-year surge in drug possession cases as figure tops 34,400
The number of people caught with drugs has soared over the past six years.

Crimes of possession have increased by 58 per cent since 1999-2000, according to figures released by the justice minister, Cathy Jamieson.

In 2005-06 a total of 34,440 such crimes were recorded in Scotland.

Source:- The Herald, Wednesday 28 March 2007

Almost 20 race-hate crimes a day in Scotland
New figures reveal a large rise in attacks on members of ethnic-minority communities.

The number of racist crimes recorded by the police in Scotland was 6,439 in 2005-6, up 12 per cent from 5,732 the previous year and representing an average of more than 17 crimes every day.

Most victims, according to Scottish executive research, were of Asian origin, the largest group being Pakistani. Racist incidents rose by 13 per cent last year it found.

Source:- The Scotsman, Wednesday 28 March 2007

Welsh news

No social care stories today.