Pay for public sector bosses rises by 12.8%

By Mithran Samuel and Maria Ahmed

Pay for public sector bosses rises by 12.8%

Gordon Brown is facing a major row about the salaries of public sector executives after a report from the Taxpayer’s Alliance highlighted pay rises that were six times the rate of inflation.

Source:- The Independent, Monday 12 November 2007, page 13

Sex education classes should teach pupils about consent, says Cameron

Sex education classes should teach children that “no” means “no”, David Cameron will say today as he launches proposals for an overhaul of the law on sexual violence.

Source:- The Independent, Monday 12 November 2007, page 21
 
 
Alarm at Britain’s ‘broken society’

The Tory Commission for Social Justice will today launch an inquiry into the epidemic of gang and youth crime that threatens to turn inner cities into no-go areas.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 12 November 2007, page 1
 
 
Majority of disabled are bullied in class

The overwhelming majority of children with learning disabilities are being bullied at school, according to research published today.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 12 November 2007, page 8
 
 
Creators of Creature Comforts give a voice to disabled

The animators behind Creature Comforts and Wallace and Gromit have unveiled a new set of characters with disabilities as part of a campaign by Leonard Cheshire to tackle public prejudice.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 12 November 2007, page 10
 
 
Logged off

At least 1,700 public sector staff have been sacked or disciplined in the past three years for misuse of social networking and other websites.

Source:- The Times, Monday 12 November 2007, page 2

SNP council tax freeze ‘at cost of poll pledges’

The Labour Party in Scotland has accused the SNP of reneging on a number of manifesto promises in order to fund a freeze on council tax.

A leaked document for Scotland’s council leaders has shown that pledges to cut primary school class sizes, recruit 1,000 new police officers and increase free nursery places would be sacrificed.

Council leaders are meeting today to decide whether to accept the proposal, which will cost the SNP executive £70m a year.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 12 November 2007 page 14

Police ‘ignored child abusers to hit targets’

Police were forced to stop investigating a paedophile ring so they could chase government targets for less serious offences, a review by union the Police Federation has found.

The officer in the case was told that arresting a group of active child abusers would just count as “one tick in the box”. The findings will be outlined in this evening’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme on ITV1.

Source:- The Daily Mail Monday 12 November 2007 page 4

Danger drugs designed for schizophrenics used to calm children of ten

Thousands of children with behavioural problems are being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs with dangerous side-effects.

Around 8,000 are taking drugs such as Ridperdal and Zyprexa despite the fact that these have been linked to a host of health problems from diabetes to brain damage, BBC1’s Panorama reports this evening.

Source:- The Daily Mail Monday 12 November 2007 page 6

Mental health problems cost business billions

Around two-thirds of employers rate the support given by GPs to people with mental health problems as either poor or neither good nor poor, a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and consultants KPMG has found.

But the survey also revealed that over half of employers had never hired anyone with a history of mental illness.

Source:- The Financial Times Monday 12 November 2007 page 4

Remploy to unveil factory plans

Government-funded company Remploy will announce revised plans on the future of its factories, which employ thousands of disabled people, today.

It previously proposed closing over half of the factories, but unions threatened strike action and the government intervened, saying closures would only go ahead with ministers’ backing.

Source:- The Financial Times Monday 12 November 2007 page 4