News round up: Baby P’s father says he will sue Haringey

Baby P’s father says he will sue ‘negligent’ Haringey Council

The father of Baby Peter is preparing to sue Haringey Council for failing to protect his son.

The father, who cannot be named, claims that he told social workers five months before Peter’s death in August 2007 that he was in danger from Steven Barker, the lover of the boy’s mother, Tracey Connelly. He also alleges that no background checks were made.
Read more on this story in The Times

Youth offending team ‘falsified files’

A youth offending team falsified its case files on the eve of an official inspection to cover up its woeful performance in dealing with dangerous offenders, according to a report published today.

The chief inspector of probation, Andrew Bridges, revealed that when his inspectors went to look at Rochdale youth offending team in May this year they were unable to provide any “headline scores” for safeguarding and public protection work. This was because they had “insufficient confidence in the quality of the evidence in the case records of the work done”.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

Council ‘not ready for next wave of recession’

Councils are not doing enough to prepare their communities for the fallout from the recession and face a surge in social problems such as addiction, alcoholism and domestic violence, the leading public sector watchdog warned yesterday.

The Audit Commission said that local authorities in England were now facing the “second wave” of the downturn, as the effects of rising business failures, bankruptcies and unemployment bite.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

Young feel the pain of jobless rise

The number of people without a job in Britain is expected to reach 2.5 million today, with almost 1 million of those under the age of 25 – a fifth of the nation’s young people.

The figures will show that overall unemployment has risen by over 800,000 in a year – a 50 per cent increase – as almost every sector of the economy, from construction to the City, sheds labour. Economists are also warning that the public sector, previously immune to recession, will soon begin to cut jobs rapidly.
Read more on this story in The Independent