Please lock me up…my Asbo isn’t working

Why short-term migrants ‘should pay upfront for NHS and schools’

The head of the new single equality watchdog, Trevor Phillips, has called for migrants coming to the UK for fixed-term jobs to have to pay for public services, to reduce any strain on the state.

Phillips, chair of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, said the government had failed to manage and plan immigration into the UK.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Monday 24 September 2007, page 4

Parents challenged over teenage drunks

Prime minister Gordon Brown will today announce the publication of guidelines on safe drinking limits for teenagers to tackle fears that parents are turning a blind eye to their children’s drinking.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Monday 24 September 2007, page 7

Doctors of defiance

The Islamic Medical Association, which represents Muslim doctors, is advising members not to oppose measures in the Mental Capacity Act 2005, under which doctors would have to withdraw life-preserving treatment from incapacitated patients should they request it in a living will.

Other religious groups have also opposed the move, which allows patients to give “lasting powers of attorney” to a friend or relative who would be able to instruct doctors to withdraw treatment from loved-ones.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Monday 24 September 2007, page 9

Please lock me up…my Asbo isn’t working

A 15-year-old girl asked magistrates to lock her up after admitting breaching an antisocial behaviour order which she said was not working to change her behaviour.

Hollie Watson was jailed for eight months at Fareham Youth Court after admitting robbery and breaching her three-year Asbo, which had banned her from causing harassmsent, alarm or distress to anyone not living in her household.

Andrew Mackie, from campaign group Asbo Concern, said the case illustrated how Asbos were given out without support.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Monday 24 September 2007, page 19

Hospitals face spot checks over fears for elderly people

The Healthcare Commission will start making unannounced inspections of hospitals to examine the care of older people in the belief that a “culture of neglect” has emerged in some organisations.

Such concerns will be outlined in a government-commissioned report due for publication on Thursday, which will report on inspections at 23 hospitals where standards have not been met.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 24 September 2007, page 10

Sex-offender doctors free to practise in NHS

Eleven doctors convicted of sex and child-pornography offences remain free to practise within the NHS.

Source: – The Times, Monday 24 September 2007, page 2

Two held after boy dies in stabbing at house

Police began a murder inquiry yesterday after residents described how a man stabbed two children before going to his local pub for a pint.

Source: – The Guardian, Monday 24 September 2007, page 5

Underpaid, easy to sack: UK’s second class workforce

The government will face a challenge from unions tomorrow over the impact of migration on Labour’s core working-class voters claiming that the use of cheap agency staff is exploitative and fuels racial tensions.

Source: – The Guardian, Monday 24 September 2007, page 1, 20-12

Unions set for showdown on disability

GMB Union leaders threatened to force through a motion at the Labour Party conference this week demanding the government backs down on its decision to close 42 Remploy factories. 

The 42 closures would make 2,000 people redundant at the government backed firm which employs disabled people.   

Source: – The Independent, Monday 24 September 2007, page 8

You ask the questions…Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Schools

Readers of the Independent ask Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Schools, a series of questions ranging from ‘Are you in the cabinet on merit?’ to ‘Have you even seen Gordon laugh?’.

Source: – The Independent, Monday 24 September 2007, page 32-33

Welsh news

County’s education failures ‘unacceptable’

Pupils at schools run by Denbighshire Council are being failed by bad management, education minister Jane Hutt has warned.

In a letter to the council she says it has until November 5 to sort out its problems or the Welsh Assembly Government will intervene.

Source:- Wales on Sunday, 23 September 2007

Remploy to picket

Disabled workers are set to picket next week’s Labour Party conference in an attempt to prevent the closure of their factories.

A motion from union GMB, of which many of the workers are members, calls for the planned closure of 42 Remploy sites to be halted.

Source:- Western Mail, 22 September Saturday 2007

Private education may cost the same as childcare

Figures show families in Wales could put their children through private education for the amount they spend on childcare per week.

Figures from charity the Daycare Trust show families spend £165 a week on childcare and after school clubs. This amounts to £5, 775 for 35 weeks of term. Fees at Welsh independent school, Llandovery College in Carmarthenshire cost £5, 580 a year for primary pupils.

Source:- Western Mail, 22 September Saturday 2007

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