News round up: New social services boss at Haringey to get £200k

New social services boss at Baby P council will get £200,000

The salary offered to the new boss of the council department which failed Baby P was condemned yesterday as ‘unacceptable’.

Peter Lewis will earn almost £200,000 as Haringey’s head of children’s services – enough to fund six front-line social workers in the under-fire London borough.

The 54-year-old council official will earn more than Gordon Brown when he takes over next month.

Read more on this story in The Daily Mail

We’ll get justice for Baby P

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets to lobby the Government over Baby P — and said The Sun’s campaign had given them “a voice”.

Protesters around Britain called for an overhaul of the child protection system following the abuse scandal.

Read more on this story in The Sun

Government plans to raise aspirations of millions of children

The government today outlines plans for major public service reforms to lift the aspirations of Britain’s least ambitious 2.4 million children, predominantly white working-class boys in northern cities.

A deep-seated problem of low aspiration in specific communities has been found in a Cabinet Office report to be published tomorrow. These communities, the research shows, tend to have “more insular social networks, low population mobility and a history of economic decline”.
Read more on this story in The Guardian

Change in rules on missing people urged

The economic crisis and the Christmas season could lead to a significant increase in the number of people who go missing, a charity has warned.

The organisation, Missing People, is urging the government to change existing laws to help the many families left in limbo by a disappearance.
Read more on this story in The Guardian

‘Forced marriage’ doctor can return to the UK

An NHS doctor allegedly held captive by her parents was freed by a Bangladesh court today in a landmark legal victory under the UK’s Forced Marriage Act.

Dr Humayra Abedin, 33, from east London, was brought before the high court in the capital, Dhaka, after five previousrequests had been defied by her family. She is expected to fly back to the UK this week.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

Times charity: Action for Children

Thousands of children in Britain are being cared for by grandparents, aunts, older siblings or family friends, many of whom are providing a haven from violent or unstable homes.

The number of such arrangements is unknown because they tend to be unregulated, and carers could unwittingly be breaking the law by failing to register their agreements.
Read more on this story in The Times