Following the publication of the Social Services Inspectorate for Wales’ (SSIW) report of the joint review of Carmarthenshire Council’s social services, the Association of Directors for Social Services have welcomed the finding that services for children and their families are ‘good’ in Carmarthenshire. Responding to the report, Susan Lewis, Joint Chair ADSS Cymru said: “We are pleased to see recognition within the report for the improvements achieved, and especially in delivering an impressive range of services for vulnerable children.

Drug addicts could get Britain’s first vending machine dispensing clean needles – outside a police station. Controversial North Wales Police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom is backing the scheme to put the £10,000 machine at the back of the station in the resort of Colwyn Bay.

A Welsh children’s home has face a string of criticisms by inspectors, including that of failing to carry out criminal records checks on its staff. Concerned neighbours of the T Chwarae home in Machen, near Caerphilly, said they were shocked it has been allowed to continue to operate despite failing to meet four quality standards monitored by the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales (CSIW). The home was supposed to house children with learning disabilities for short periods, but was found to have broken the conditions imposed on it by keeping them longer than the three weeks allowed.

No sex offenders will be admitted to a controversial new mental health unit in a Gwent village. Partnerships in Care, who are converting Beechwood House, in Goytre, near Abergavenny, from a rehabilitation unit for people with brain injuries to a specialist unit for people with mental health disorders, took the decision following a campaign by residents.

{mosimage} Social work starting salaries have risen by more than 6% in Wales since a hard-hitting report warned of the profession’s massive recruitment and retention crisis a year ago. The report’s author last night hailed the figures – up from £20,970 to £22,293 – as a positive response to the dire warnings contained in last year’s research. But delegates at a conference in Llandrindod Wells will hear that much more needs to be done to solve a shortage of more than 2,000 workers across the nation.

Tony Garthwaite, the author of Social Work in Wales: A Profession to Value, said, “There is clear evidence that our report has been taken seriously throughout Wales. We recommended immediate and long term action for tackling some very complex and difficult issues and we are now seeing the first signs of that strategy beginning to work.

A senior Welsh police official has appeared before magistrates charged with three counts of rape. South Wales Police’s director of human resources, Greg Jones, has been suspended from his £60,000-a-year post as a result of the rape allegations. He appeared before magistrates sitting in Swansea yesterday morning and was granted bail pending further investigations.

A new £500,000 facility that helps families by offering respite care for adults with learning disabilities has been opened in Bridgend, Wales. Called Breakaway, the respite care home will provide short, medium and longer-term care. It will support families by giving them the opportunity to enjoy a break, go on holiday or take part in an event that they would otherwise not be able to attend. Breakaway will provide purpose-built facilities and has been constructed to a high standard that includes the latest technology for supporting people with profound and complex needs.

The number of arrests for booze-fuelled violence and anti-social behaviour in Gwent fell by almost 450 in the last nine months since 24-hour drinking was introduced last year. Critics of the new licensing laws feared an increase in violence, predicting a bleak vision of brawling drunken louts stretching police and ambulance resources to the limit. But since the more relaxed licensing laws were brought into force last November, the latest figures show a very different story in Gwent.

Controversial plans to build a new children’s home for vulnerable youngsters in Swansea have been scrapped at the last minute. Proposals had been put forward for the new centre on land at Milford Way, Blaenymaes. It would have replaced West Cross House – which is being demolished to make way for new Welsh medium school Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg (YGG) Llwynderw.

A chief constable is encouraging officers by giving them points for the number of arrests they make. Richard Brunstrom, the head of North Wales Police, is giving beat officers 10 points for every arrest and a similar number for good quality intelligence reports. They will earn 20 points for seizing vehicles, three points for setting up community contact meetings, and one point for a stop and search.