Judges Try To Block Rape Reforms
Government plans for changes in the law to boost rape conviction rates are in disarray after the judges who would have to put them into practice told ministers they oppose them.
Read MoreGovernment plans for changes in the law to boost rape conviction rates are in disarray after the judges who would have to put them into practice told ministers they oppose them.
Read MoreOne Plus, the after-school care and nursery provider, has gone into liquidation with the loss of 600 jobs and the collapse of a support network for hundreds of lone parents. Directors took a majority vote to put the charity into voluntary liquidation at an emergency meeting yesterday.
{mosimage}KPMG was last night understood to have been appointed liquidator and is scheduled to hold meetings with staff this morning where it is expected the vast majority will have their redundancies confirmed.
The closure also affects hundreds of volunteers and lone parents who rely on the organisation for support and advice. One Plus management estimates as many as 10,000 people use its services annually.
The Scottish Executive, which refused a rescue package of £2m to One Plus, is demanding answers as to what went wrong. It is understood the executive has been aware of the situation and believes the financial incompetence of the board of directors was responsible for the cash crisis.
Officially, it has said the One Plus refinancing package “just did not stand up”. A senior source at Glasgow City Council, the main client of One Plus, has also said it asked the authority for £3.5m in recent weeks. The council provided a £700,000 stopgap.
Read MoreScotland’s smallest local authority has devolved services to local area boards in an attempt to improve the prospects of vulnerable young people.
Read MoreHundreds of video witness statements made by child abuse victims were unusable in court because the recordings were of such poor quality. A three-year Scottish Executive pilot project used shop-bought video equipment to record evidence given by vulnerable children when they spoke to police and social workers.
Read MoreHundreds of children whose parents are drug addicts face the risk of being taken into care because of a “moral panic” over the issue, Scotland’s drug and alcohol tsar has warned.
Read MoreThe home of Social Care & Health for Ceredigion County Council
Read MorePolice colluded with loyalists behind several murders in north Belfast, a report by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland is to confirm. Nuala O’Loan’s report will say UVF members in the area committed murders and other serious crimes while working as informers for Special Branch.
Read MoreWales’ Children’s Commissioner Peter Clarke has died of cancer aged 58. Mr Clarke pioneered the role in the UK of a children’s “champion” when he took up his post on March 1st, 2001. First Minister Rhodri Morgan has hailed the former director of Childline Cymru’s “commitment” and said he had “blazed a trail for others to follow”.
{mosimage}One of Mr Clarke’s first challenges was to hold the long-running Clywch inquiry into claims of sex abuse by a drama teacher who had committed suicide. His decision showed that he was unafraid to use the legal powers his office gave him.
Mr Clarke’s report described how John Owen serially sexually abused pupils over a period of two decades at the Welsh medium school Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen in Pontypridd. The Clywch report demanded major changes in protection for school children.
Mr Clarke also highlighted the issues of child poverty in Wales and bullying, as well as voicing concerns on topics ranging from the smacking of children to the building of schools on landfill sites.
Read MoreA health minister made the shameful admission that elderly people are effectively being starved in care homes and hospitals. Ivan Lewis said some are given just a single scoop of mash as a meal. Other bedridden pensioners are ‘tortured’ with trays of food placed just out of their reach.
Read MoreThousands of parents face paying up to £1,500 extra to send their children to nursery. Under the current system, many nurseries, which receive a state grant to provide 12.5 hours of free childcare a week, charge top-up fees to cover staff and administration costs.
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