Unions urged to take stake in welfare services

Unions urged to take stake in welfare services
Trade unions will be called upon to bid for a stake in the government’s new welfare to work programme which aims to half the number of people on incapacity benefit.
Under the government’s plans the programme will be outsourced to the private and voluntary sector but today but today Jim Murphy, the minister for welfare reform will tell a Trades Union Congress conference that the unions should also become involved.
Source:- Financial Times, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 4

Poverty ‘failure’
Gordon Brown will miss his target of halving child poverty by 2010 by almost one million children unless there is an immediate cash injection of £3.8 billion into benefits and services, the children’s charity Barnardo’s said.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 2

It’s not a gang – it’s a group
The word “gang” has been banned by the Youth Justice Board when describing loitering youths who commit crimes and behave antisocially.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 2

Porn star admits trying to sell girl, 13, for sex
A former porn star who tried to sell a 13-year-old girl’s virginity to a businessman for £30,000 has been given a suspended jail sentence at Snaresbrook crown court.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 10

Public sector reform is alienating voters, ministers complain
Labour risks squandering its reputation for upholding good public services as voters become increasingly alienated by the government’s public sector reform programme, a group of broadly Blairite ministers and thinkers admit in a new book.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 10

Going it alone
When Tracey’s mum died, she was determined to keep the family together. So why did neither the community nor the welfare state offer much help?
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 1

Helena Kennedy interviewed
Interview with activist lawyer Helena Kennedy
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 3

Gang involvement down to hip-hop culture
The involvement of young black men in gangs is down to the hip-hop culture they aspire to, argues youth worker Paul Kassman.
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 5

Individual budgets analysed
Individual budgets, where social care service users control the cash allocated to them, are being lauded. But are they just another attempt to control costs?
Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 6

Judge criticises ‘namby pamby’ Asbos
A judge has attacked the “namby pamby state” which imposes unenforceable antisocial behaviour orders on offenders.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 12

255 sex offenders left clear to work with children
Scores of dangerous criminals – including sex offenders – were cleared to work with children because of Home Office blunders, it was revealed yesterday.
Source:- Daily Mail, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 4

Numbers of asylum seekers being sent home at five-year-low
The numbers of failed asylum seekers being sent home has fallen to a five-year low, the Home Office admitted.
Source:- Daily Mail, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 8

Police put 100,000 innocent children on DNA database
The number of innocent children placed on the Government’s vast DNA database for life has quadrupled in the past year to more than 100,000, it has emerged.
Source:- Daily Mail, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 17

Criminal backlog four times worse
The backlog of overseas convictions that the Home Office had failed to process contained four times more serious criminal cases than had been admitted, the government said yesterday.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 2

Jails crisis as prisoner numbers reach new peak
An “operational emergency” was declared in the jail system yesterday as the number of inmates hit a record high, with almost 50 offenders being held in cells under courts.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 31

Lords still defiant over corporate manslaughter
Peers began their first stand-off with the Commons over a government bill in this parliamentary session as they refused to give way on their demands to toughen corporate manslaughter law. The bill currently excludes deaths in prisons or police custody.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 31

Top judges revolt over Ministry of Justice as talks collapse
Britain’s most senior judges last night moved into open revolt against the government after eight weeks of talks broke down over safeguards for the independence of the judiciary following the creation of the Ministry of Justice.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 23 May 2007, page 5

Scottish news
 
Disabled workers in jobs threat
More than 120 disabled Scots workers may lose their jobs.
Remploy, a firm who provide jobs and training for the disabled, plan to axe factories in Aberdeen, Hillington in Glasgow, and Wishaw, Lanarkshire.
They want to place disabled people into mainstream jobs and close loss-making sites. But trade unions yesterday greeted the plans with fury – and threatened a national strike.
Source:- The Record, Wednesday 23 May 2007