News round up: Security flaws halt work on ContactPoint database

Security flaws halt work on ContactPoint child database

Security flaws have halted work on the internet database designed to hold the details of 11 million children and teenagers.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) admitted last night that it had uncovered problems in the system for shielding details of an estimated 55,000 vulnerable children.

Read more on this story in The Times

Child protection checks delayed by IT problems

Tougher checks on people wanting to work with children and vulnerable adults are now running two years late after a Home Office decision to further delay the full launch of the scheme.

The rollout of the scheme, planned to close loopholes in child protection measures, has been postponed a second time because of fears it would not be able to cope with demand.
Read more on this story in The Times

£5m claim over ‘sex abuse by priest’

A former City lawyer who claims that the sexual abuse he suffered at a Catholic boys’ school stopped him from fulfilling his potential and led him to have a breakdown nearly 30 years later has launched a £5m compensation claim.

Patrick Raggett told the High Court that he was subjected to years of molestation by Father Michael Spencer at Preston Catholic College in Lancashire, but that he only realised he had been sexually abused three decades later during a Sunday lunch with friends.

Read more on this story in The Independent

Drug treatment for young people should involve whole family, says charity

Projects to help young people who are misusing drugs should work with the whole family, says a report published today..

Drug treatment charity Addaction wants treatment for young people to be tailored to their needs, to be more flexible – and to involve their whole family.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

Families fear claiming tax credits, warn MPs

Struggling families are shunning claiming tax credits because they may have to repay hundreds of pounds as a result of mistakes by officials in calculating their entitlement, MPs warn today.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

‘Appalling neglect’ by NHS of people with learning disabilities

NHS and social care staff have been responsible for an appalling catalogue of neglect of people with learning disabilities, the health and local government ombudsmen say today after an investigation into six “distressing” deaths.