City’s Social Care Complaints Rocket By 20%
Complaints to the city’s social care services rose by 20 per cent last year, according to a new report. City of York Council dealt with 111 complaints between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007.
Read MoreComplaints to the city’s social care services rose by 20 per cent last year, according to a new report. City of York Council dealt with 111 complaints between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007.
Read MoreThe Catholic Church’s National Board for Child Protection has appointed the director of the North’s National Society for the Protection of Children as its first chief executive.
Read MoreSecurity guards will be able to search pupils for knives at the school gates without their consent under government guidance to be published today. Schools will also be able to use security arches and metal detector wands when they search pupils for violent weapons.
{mosimage}Legislation passed last year giving teachers power to search pupils for knives and other offensive weapons without consent comes into effect today. But guidance to headteachers from the Department for Education and Skills, published for the first time today, shows how schools can use the new powers. It makes plain that screening and searching can be carried out by professionally trained security staff, as well as teachers. However, it adds that where there is any risk to safety, police should be called.
Security guards would be asked by headteachers to do the work if they felt it necessary. They would have to be vetted with checks by the Criminal Records Bureau, the department said. Guards would also be able to search pupils without their consent. Under the plans, parents would be told annually by schools that a searching policy was in place.
Education department officials insisted last night that the problem of knives in schools was not a large one, but that the powers were needed to deal with the small minority of serious cases.
Read MoreA Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, Ian Paisley Jnr, was under pressure tonight to apologise for allegedly saying he was repulsed by gays and lesbians.
Read MoreBritain’s leading fertility expert condemned the IVF industry yesterday, saying that it had been corrupted by money and that doctors were exploiting women who were desperate to get pregnant.
Read MoreThere were renewed calls for an independent review of the controversial plan to privatise care homes for the elderly yesterday after comments made by the new Highland Council convener left many confused.
Read MoreSpeaking to the National Pensions Convention in Blackpool, Paul Snell, CSCI’s Chief Inspector, paid tribute to the valuable role the NPC fulfils in raising the profile of older people and the issues that matter to the older generation.
Read MoreFemale-dominated caring professions are being undermined by “pocket money” pay rates and high staff turnover, a report has warned. The Equal Opportunities Commission said services such as childminding and caring
Read MoreCouncillors and senior managers were yesterday blamed for failings in the social work service, including services for older people.
Read MoreA prescription-only pill to help people quit smoking has received draft approval for use on the NHS. Varenicline (Champix) is the first non-nicotine drug developed specifically to help smokers give up, and was licensed in the UK in 2006.
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