According to a report by Rosemary Bennett, Social Affairs Correspondent published in the Times huge numbers of people will require CRB checks
One quarter of the adult population will require criminal records checks under the new child protection system coming into force next year, according to a report criticising the scheme.
Written by one of Britain’s leading parenting gurus, it says the radical expansion of safety checks will “poison” the relationship between adults and children which has already been undermined by the obsession with formal vetting.
Far from enhancing the safety of children the child protection system, which relies solely on the criminal records checks, places them in more danger because no-one uses their own judgement any more, it said.
The report “Licensed to Hug” is written by Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology at University of Kent. He is the author of “Paranoid Parenting”, the first work to suggest childhood is being damaged by an obsession with safety.“Whereas adults would once routinely rebuke children misbehaving or help a child in distress, they now think twice about the consequence of their interactions with other people’s children,” Professor Furedi said.
He cites the case of the death of a two-year-old girl, Abigail Rae, who drowned in a pond after she wandered out of nursery. A man who saw the child walking on her own as he was driving past told the inquest he did not go to help her “because I thought people might think I was trying to abduct her”.
He and co-author Jennie Bristow are even more critical of the expansion of security checks due to come into force next October. Instead of just having their records checked, all teachers, nursery staff and youth workers will be required to register with a new agency, the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) at the cost of £64.
Ministers have also decided that thousands of other adults should pay for the ISA ‘seal of approval’ including, most recently, parents who have overseas students to stay under school exchange programmes.
In total, 11.3 million adults will have to be vetted, according to the latest estimate from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and contained in the new report.
Since the CRB checking system was introduced in 2002, 15 million disclosures have been made, the report said. Many are duplicates, as adults who work with children move area or job and have to be rechecked.
Professor Furedi said the new system amounts to a “licencing of adulthood”. “While you do not yet need a licence to parent your own children, you certainly need a licence to interact with anybody else’s. Before they can be counted on to lay a positive role in children’s lives, adults today have to be in possession of a piece of paper showing they are not likely to be a malign and dangerous influence. Implicitly, the licensing of adulthood undermines its authority. Adulthood no longer possesses authority over children -- it requires the legitimation of a security check.”
Voluntary groups say adults are already put off from working with children because of the CRB checks and fear the more expensive and rigorous ISA system will put off even more.
Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, Executive Director of UK Volunteering Charity, CSV, said: “CRB checks are already reducing people's willingness to volunteer through their intrusion and delays. Checks of any kind are only part of the process, moreover, most child abusers have no criminal record. Eternal vigilance is needed to protect vulnerable people.”
Source: The Times
Jack Straw faced pressure yesterday to appoint an independent judge to oversee the child abuse investigation in Jersey, after police were prevented from charging two suspects.
Detectives said that there was sufficient evidence to charge the couple with serious sexual and physical assaults within the childcare system during the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the island's volunteer police force refused to do so after seeking legal advice from the office of Jersey's Attorney-General.
Politicians said that the Justice Secretary ought to use his powers to appoint an outside judge to Jersey because of the risk to the rule of law.
Jersey Police said that they had “no alternative” but to release the 70-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife, believed to have been foster parents.
The decision has highlighted the links between Jersey's judges, prosecutors and the Honorary Police force, which have led to concerns about Jersey's ability to oversee the inquiry, one of Britain's biggest abuse investigations. More than a hundred people say that they were abused in children's homes. Six people have been arrested and three men have been charged.
Under Jersey law, members of the elected Honorary Police force with the rank of Centenier are the only officers authorised to charge or bail suspects. Centenier Danny Scaife refused to charge the couple on Tuesday evening after receiving advice from the offices of the island's Attorney-General, William Bailhache, QC.
Mr Bailhache is also the head of the Honorary Police. His brother Sir Philip Bailhache is the island's Bailiff or head of the judiciary.
William Bailhache said: “When all the evidence has been received and assessed, the decision on whether or not to charge will be made. This case is being handled by an independent Crown Advocate with advice from a barrister from London and there has been no interference by me or anybody else in the Law Officer's Department.”
Austin Mitchell, MP for Great Grimsby, said: “Jack Straw must appoint an independent inquiry headed by a judge from outside the island.”
Source: The Times
A senior family judge has attacked the present system of family courts run by a “self-selecting great and good and a professional judiciary” as out of tune with society.
Mr Justice Ryder, the most senior family judge on the northern circuit and a leading reformer, has called for an overhaul to make family courts open and in touch with the public.
The judge, who sits on a committee advising the Lord Chancellor in cases involving children in care, said: “We are at a crossroads in family justice.” (more)
The following report by Alasdair Palmer appeared in th Daily Telgraph on 29th June 2008.
John Pinnington: Police should be able to let false allegations lapse.
John Pinnington, a man of exemplary good character, has never been charged let alone prosecuted for any act of sexual abuse, or indeed abuse of any kind.
It is not even clear that any of the allegations of abuse were actually made by any of the autistic adults with whom Mr Pinnington had contact: the allegations against him were in fact elicited through "facilitated communication", a method which has been shown to be thoroughly unreliable and dangerous.
But because of the way the law has been framed, a false allegation is all it now takes to ensure that a man can never work with children or vulnerable adults again.
In Mr Pinnington's case, the police contend that the new law requires that any allegation which might be true must be forwarded when an employer carries out checks on a prospective employee's past. That test makes it all but impossible for allegations to be refuted, because any claim, no matter how absurd, might be true.
The two judges hearing Mr Pinnington's request for judicial review of the police's decision to forward the discredited allegations to his employers have their hands tied by the existing law. It will be very difficult for them to reinterpret it so as to avoid the conclusion that the police have a statutory duty to pass on allegations which, while unfounded, nevertheless might be true.
If the judges uphold the existence of that duty, then the long-term effects will be dire. Virtually everyone, if they work with children or vulnerable adults for long enough, finds themselves having to fend off allegations of one kind or another. But any such allegation will be enough to disqualify its recipient from working with children or vulnerable adults. It will therefore not be long before there is a severe shortage of such people.
The Government can repair this situation by introducing fresh legislation that allows the police to exercise discretion in deciding what kind of allegation should stay on a person's record, and what sorts should be allowed to lapse. At the moment they cannot exercise any judgment at all.
Mr Pinnington is one of the victims of that absence of discretion. But unless the law is changed, there will be thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of carers in exactly his position. And the people who suffer most will be handicapped and disadvantaged children.
Source: Daily Telegraph
According to a report in the Daily Mail on the 27th June a teenage girl who falsely accused her ex-boyfriend of rape after hearing that he had kissed another girl now faces jail.
Gemma Capon, 19, claimed that her former fiance Graham Tysoe, 20, forced his way into her home and attacked her after their five month relationship ended.
She told police he pushed her down on the sofa in the living room of the home they once shared and sexually assaulted her.
The next day officers arrested the bartender at the pub where he was working and he was held for questioning for almost 24 hours.
But he was later released after police confronted Capon about discrepancies in her story and she admitted that she had lied.
Now the teenager has been warned she could face up to a six month jail sentence for wasting police time.
The couple met through the internet last year after attending the same primary school.
They got engaged earlier this year and moved in together to a flat in Shoebury, Essex.
But Capon threw him out of the flat in April after she was told that her fiance had kissed another girl.
Mr Tysoe said: 'We were engaged, I gave her a ring.
'But the break up was quite dramatic. I went out with my mates one night and someone said they had a video of me kissing someone else but nothing happened.
'There was no video but Gemma wouldn't believe me.
'I was in love with her once. When it finished I was sad but I thought we would meet occasionally and say, 'hi'.
'I hadn't seen her and three months down the line I got this.'
Capon told police that the attack took place on June 4 this year, but police discovered that Mr Tysoe had been at a friend's house at the time.
She also claimed that a mutual friend of the former couple had been present during the attack, but it later emerged that he had an alibi.
This week Capon pleaded pleading guilty to wasting police time at Southend Magistrates Court.
The court heard that officers spent 136 hours investigating the false claims.
Chair of the bench Christopher Catchpole, warned Capon that she may be sent to prison when she is sentenced next month.
Capon showed no remorse in court, but on her webpage she recently posted a new motto: 'Never create hassle, it only comes back to bite you.'
The blonde-haired teenager who lists acting amongst her interests, also said she was looking for friends and possibly a new partner.
Speaking after the case, Mr Tysoe said the ordeal had left him unable to trust women.
The former pupil at King Edmund School in Rochester said: 'I was arrested at work in front of colleagues and customers. It was awful.
'They said my ex-girlfriend had accused me.
'I just thought, 'oh god, no, this can't be happening'."
'My colleagues and family know me and knew I couldn't have done anything like this.
'I was hurt that she could do this to me.
'I have no idea why she did it, it must have been some twisted attempt at revenge.
'She is a fantasist. I would love to see her in jail.
'I don't understand why anyone would do something like this. It has affected me at work and in myself.
'I'm less confident and I don't trust women anymore.'
His mother Sharon added: 'Women who do this sort of thing are so vindictive it makes my blood boil.
'It's nasty and they don't realise what they put the accused through.'
Hamilton police warn that anyone who makes a false rape complaint, which wastes valuable time and resources, runs the risk of prosecution.
The warning comes as a woman appears in Hamilton District Court this morning charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, arising from rape complaint made last November.
Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Page said the Hamilton woman claimed she was raped after an offender forced his way into her flat but this was proved to be untrue.
"A large amount of police and ESR resources and time was put into the investigation," he said.
"The media coverage of this incident was significant as police dealt with a number of rape allegations at that time. This case has proven to be the third false complaint from that week."
Mr Page said he was disappointed the time of specialist doctors who were called out, ESR forensic experts and detectives had been wasted.
"It's even more frustrating when real complaints had been put to one side to deal with this and other similar allegations at the time.
"The detrimental impact is far reaching and precious investigation time cannot afford to be wasted.
"Instances such as this are an insult to those real victims who police work closely with," he said.
Mr Page said Operation Phil, the Hamilton serial rape case, was not affected by this and continued to be investigated.
"Those three complaints that make up Operation Phil remain valid and detectives are committed to locating the offender," he said.
Source: Stuff (NZ)
The following was reported in the Sunday Sun on the Jun 22 2008 by Phil Doherty.
When the Government last year ruled out allowing the Press into the Family Courts it thought it had ended all debate on the matter.
But, thanks to the intervention of the region’s most senior judge — Mr Justice Ryder — the issue just wont go away.
He said they should be opened up to restore confidence in them. Campaigners for such a move say family law is almost a “closed shop” with the same judges, social workers and experts appearing time and again in the same courts.
They claim too much weight is attached to expert opinion which they often treat as fact.
Most worryingly, campaigners say some social workers and paediatricians, protected by the anonymity of the courts, make false allegations to back up their claims and strengthen cases.
Not surprisingly, those who work in family law strongly deny these allegations, saying those involved in the courts are highly qualified professionals doing a difficult job and their over-riding concern is for welfare of the children.
Solicitor Bill Bache, who famously won mum Angela Cannings her freedom after she was falsely accused of murdering her children, believes there would be a public outcry if they knew what went on behind the closed doors of these courts.
He said: “The courts should be opened to the media as the public are entitled to see how these courts really operate.
“Social workers have a very difficult job and those who do their job well should be seen to be doing it well.
“But there are some very poor social workers who use the local authorities’ strong powers on the flimsiest of evidence.
“Those opposed to open justice always come out with the mantra, ‘It’s in the best interest of the child’ to keep them closed. But if the public truly knew what was going on in these courts they would be outraged. It is not ‘in the interests of the child’ to rip them from loving families on the thinnest of evidence.
“Closed court systems corrupt by the very nature of their secrecy. Social workers and others hide their mistakes behind these draconian secrecy laws. This is the real reason why they are so opposed to open justice.”
The family courts have come under increasing scrutiny following the cases of Ms Cannings, Sally Clark and Trupti Patel.
They were convicted of murdering their children largely thanks to evidence given by “expert” witnesses. However, the theories put forward by these experts were later dismissed by appeal judges and the three women were set free.
Concern was expressed that the flawed evidence had been previously used in abuse cases in secret family court sessions and children had been taken from their families as a result.
Despite this the Government ruled out opening up the courts after social workers and charities objected, citing “the best interests of the child” clause in the 1989 Children’s Act. They said that allowing the media into courts would jeopardise children’s rights to privacy and anonymity.
In response the Government said that judges could publish their judgments. But very few do, it is claimed.
Barbara Esam of the NSPCC said: “The most important issue in relation to openness in family courts is the need to protect the interests of the children involved and that usually includes the need to protect their anonymity.
“The NSPCC is in favour of judgments in the family courts system being given in public and made anonymous, but only where they can first ensure that the children’s interests are fully protected.
“It is important to note that the courts already have the power to publish judgments and it is a matter for each judge to decide whether to give their judgment in public.
“This is happening regularly in some courts and in cases where the interests and anonymity of the children can be properly protected, we would like to see judgments published more often to encourage openness in family courts.”
Source: Sunday Sun
According to a news item on ABC the South Australian Government has made an historic apology to former wards of the State who were abused while in government care.
Transcript:
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: The South Australian Government today made an historic apology to former Wards of the State who were abused while in government care.
The apology follows an exhaustive inquiry by former Supreme Court Judge Ted Mullighan who personally heard the stories from hundreds of people detailing abuse they suffered while in state institutions.
The Government has accepted all but one of his 54 recommendations and has committed an extra $190 million for child protection. Many of those who gave evidence to the inquiry now qualify for compensation. But there are some who believe the effort to stamp out child abuse has left carers vulnerable to false allegations.
Mike Sexton reports.
MAKE RANN, SA PREMIER: We accept these children were hurt. We accept they were hurt through no fault of their own. We acknowledge this truth.
MIKE SEXTON, REPORTER: This morning in the South Australian Parliament children who had been abused while in care received an apology from the state.
MAKE RANN: To all those who experienced abuse in state care, we are sorry.
JAY WEATHERILL, SA MINISTER FOR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES: Today has really been about the apology, its been about that recognition. For many others its about seeing the perpetrator being brought to justice so the criminal justice processes are important in that regard. For others it is about help, so services, so they're the things that we have addressed.
MIKE SEXTON: For Ki Meekins this was a day he thought he would never see.
KI MEEKINS, FORMER WARD: I am feeling very, very comfortable with the fact that the state is finally admitting to something that did take place.
MIKE SEXTON: It was his tragic story among others that helped spark the exhaustive inquiry headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ted Mulligan.
Ki Meekins' detailed how he was taken into state care as a six-month old in 1965 and how his childhood became a nightmare of rape and abuse.
KI MEEKINS: It's been a very harrowing, very dark and a very tormented time just for me personally to actually relive my story over and over again.
MIKE SEXTON: As a 13-year-old he says he was taken to Queensland by theatre producer Ric Marshall who cast him in productions, changed his name and refered to him as his son to avoid authorities, and even bought matching safari suits.
Ki Meekins says the whole time he was being drugged and abused.
KI MEEKINS: The medication they gave me, they knew exactly how much to give me, to not make me fall over but enable me to still stand and still function properly during the day while I go to school and all the rest of it. That's how I was in the permanent state while I was in Queensland was in a drugged state in that sense.
MIKE SEXTON: Ki Meekins escaped from Queensland and eventually as a result of making his story public, others came forward. Ric Marshall was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to six and a half years jail which he serves at home where he suffers from Parkinsons disease and dementia.
KI MEEKINS: Well this is the result I have been waiting for and this is the result that many other thousands of people have been waiting for. We've finally got the results. So to Ted Mullighan, who is a very honourable man in my books, well done.
TED MULLIGHAN, RETIRED SUPREME COURT JUDGE: I've had 130 people who allege sexual abuse.
MIKE SEXTON: In some cases those who testified to the Mullighan Inquiry qualify for compensation under victims of crime legislation that is capped at $50,000. The Premier says the state will be a model litigant, meaning victims of abuse won't necessarily have to go through court to be paid out.
JAY WEATHERILL: I am concerned that a lot of the good things that have been done in building people up and making them feel strong could be undone if we have a system where people have to, I suppose, maximise everything that is wrong about their lives in order to receive these payments.
MIKE SEXTON: But today's apology isn't universally welcomed.
JULIE HALLIFAX, CARE WORKERS COALITION OF SA: We do believe there is a need for an apology but a blanket apology is very dangerous.
MIKE SEXTON: Julie Hallifax was a foster carer for 15 years and now runs the Careworkers Coalition.
The Coalition's submission to the Mullighan inquiry drew on international experience warning about a wave of false allegations against carers generated by the possibility of compensation, creating an atmosphere where the presumption of innocence is suspended.
JULIE HALLIFAX: I have contact with a lot of carers now and care workers, and that is the general feeling with all of them. As a carer you are guilty and you have to prove your innocence.
MIKE SEXTON: The most dramatic example is the case of Julie Hallifax's long time friend Tom Easling. Almost 20 years ago the public servant began working with Adelaide street kids and later provided care at his home to more than one hundred boys for anything from one night to several years.
TOM EASLING, FORMER FOSTER CARER: You build up a rapport with these kids. A lot of them haven't had a time in their life where life hasn't felt like being in enemy territory. So I wanted to equip them with tools and experiences so they realise that there is a good side to life.
DAVID SCOWN, FORMER WARD: He was really a very caring person. Wanted to look out for you and stuff. He was like a father figure to me.
MIKE SEXTON: Tom Easling had never had a complaint against him and so was shocked when police began investigating an allegation levelled as a result of what he calls "schoolyard gossip".
A three month police investigation cleared him but then the South Australian Department of Family and Community Services newly formed Special Investigation Unit followed up and after five months Tom Easling was charged with 20 counts of child sex abuse, all of which he was acquitted of.
TOM EASLING: It took a few days if not weeks to sort of sink in but I'm not sure if it still has sunk in.
MIKE SEXTON: During the trial the jury was told how two former police officers now working for the Special Investigation Unit had been trawling for stories. They offered incentives to one potential witness and openly discussed the possibility of compensation with others prior to obtaining their statements.
TOM EASLING: A lot of shonky stuff, there is no other word for it. They constructed a case against me, this is the Special Investigation Unit. For a genuine victim of abuse in care, certainly those children, young people, young adults, are entitled to some sort of compensation. No disagreement there whatsoever. But to be used, to try and induce someone to make allegations, historical allegations at that, I think is reprehensible.
JAY WEATHERILL: Look, I dont want to comment on Mr Easling or his case at all, but I dont accept his criticism of the Special Investigation Unit. I have confidence in the work they are doing.
MIKE SEXTON: Tom Easling's life begins again now at 49 and with almost $2 million owing in legal fees. Despite not having contact for almost four years he is back in touch with many of the boys he fostered, including David Scown.
DAVID SCOWN: Now he's been left out in the cold really with nothing and after millions of dollars has been spent on his legal fees and he's been acquitted of everything but still he's got nothing back.
MIKE SEXTON: Tom Easling says he still has a passion for child protection but is deeply hurt by a system he believes failed him.
TOM EASLING: The Government's bureaucracy has got a major role to play in the way my case has unfolded. They've done the wrong thing and they've exploited people in vulnerable situations. There needs to be a Royal Commission or an independent inquiry into that.
JAY WEATHERILL: Its just a question of getting the best possible people and having the strictest possible processes. I am very confident that we have the balance right with the Special Investigation Unit.
MIKE SEXTON: For Ki Meekins a huge burden has been lifted off his shoulders with the combination of an official apology, a wide ranging inquiry, a court conviction and the publication of his life story.
But like Tom Easling he's critical of a system that didn't protect him and believes an independent commission against corruption is needed.
KI MEEKINS: The only way to get to the bottom of all of this and these issues in this state is the same as NSW and the same as other
states use. How can South Australia be the only state in Australia void of corruption. I find that very, very hard to believe.
Source: ABC
According to a report in the Essex Gazette the number of false rape allegations has fallen in the Tendring district.
In 2002, almost one third of all rapes reported to police in the district were later revealed not to have been offences - 11 out of 32.
Figures for 2007 reveal that while the number of reported rapes stayed almost the same at 31, there was a marked reduction in the number of false allegations, to seven.
This trend is echoed throughout the county, with Colchester last year recording 48 reported rapes of which nine were false, compared to 45 reports of which 15 were untrue in 2002.
The figures date from January 1 to December 31 for 2002 and 2007, and were released by Essex Police under the Freedom of Information Act.
An Essex Police spokesman said: "Thankfully Essex Police deal with a relatively low number of false rape allegations. And we have seen a marked decrease in these false allegations in the last five years.
"Victims of sex offences are more willing to come forward and report their crimes now than previously because the police service has, and is continuing to, encourage more people to report this type of crime.
"We would stress that the problem of people making false allegations should not prevent people from coming forward and reporting incidents.
"All allegations are investigated fully, and with sensitivity. We have specially trained officers and dedicated facilities where victims can be dealt with sympathetically."
Lindsey Read, manager of the Colchester-based Rape Crisis Line, said: "It has been shown time and again that the number of false reports of crimes is three per cent.
"We need to be very careful in the distinction between allegations which are false, and allegations which have not been taken forward."
According to a report by John Whiten over 200 wrongfully convicted people in USA have now been cleared as a result of new DNA evidence (more).
Justice
Posted by News Editor
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Our attention has been drawn to the charity
Justice. It has an excellent website. Justice was set up to influence law and practice, promote human rights and improve the system of justice. Well worth looking at.
The following article was posted on Cornwall Frehold Standard [USA] on 12 June 2008
After reading Claude McIntosh's nice article (Coffee Break June 7) about Father Gary Ostler I was compelled to share some facts about Father Gary being slander on a website. I was working at the Cornwall Jail at the time names of so-called sex abusers were being posted on the internet. A person involved with a website visited inmates at the jail. I was sitting 10 feet from the visit area when I heard an inmate claim he was abused by a couple of priests in the Cornwall area years before. He claimed Father Gary was one of those priests. He went back to his cell block, about 15 feet from my desk, and told the other inmates that he was going to make a lot of money as a result of his accusations. He then stated that it never happened, but who could prove it didn't. Soon after Father Gary told his parishioners that his name was on a website and that he was innocent of the false allegations. I told Father Gary and the other priest whose name was mentioned by the inmate what I had heard and that I would testify to that fact.
I know the toll that those false accusations had on Father Gary (and other innocent people). We spoke of it and the trauma it caused him. I can only imagine how I would have felt, and done, if I had been slandered on a website, as happened to numerous innocent people. I have no doubt that Father Gary was a victim of a vicious slur, and I have no doubt that it affected him dearly. I just wanted to share this with the good people of Cornwall so that they remember not to believe everything they are told without sound proof. Certainly sex abuse happened in Cornwall, there is no denying that. However, a lot of good people were falsely, and publicly, accused in the feeding frenzy of false accusations.
Father Gary was one of them and he did not deserve what it did to him.
The following an article by
Andrew Norfolk in the TIMES (9th June)
concerning a solicitor who allegedly banked £30 million pounds profit for his handling of compensation claims for sick miners.
A solicitor who specialises in claiming compensation for sick coalminers has banked a personal profit of more than £30 million from the government-funded scheme.
Jim Beresford is the head of a three-partner firm of Doncaster solicitors, Beresfords, which has been paid more than £140 million from the public purse for its work on coal miner health claims.
New figures reveal that between 2004 and 2006 Mr Beresford's share of the firm's annual profits was £27.5 million - in a two-year period during which he grew richer by more than £37,000 per day.
During the past five years Mr Beresford, 58, who was named last year as Britain's highest-earning solicitor, earned £30.2 million.
The bulk of Beresfords' profits came from fixed fees paid by the former Department of Trade and Industry for damages claims processed by the firm on behalf of former miners and their estates.
Beresfords registered more than 90,000 claims by former British Coal workers with dust-related lung disease or a hand condition caused by vibrating machinery.
More than 760,000 claims were made by law firms across Britain. When the final payment has been made next year, it is estimated that £4.1 billion will have been paid in compensation and that claimants' solicitors will have earned a total of £1.3 billion.
According to government figures last year, the average legal fees paid to Beresfords for its work on each settled claim was £2,264, only £25 less than the average compensation awarded to each of its clients of £2,289.
The multimillion-pound earnings generated by coal health claims has led to a spectacular transformation in the lifestyle of Mr Beresford and his two partners, one of whom is his 29-year-old daughter, Esta.
Mr Beresford is now a director of Doncaster Rovers Football Club, owns a £1.8 million private jet and a string of cars including a Bentley, a Ferrari and two Aston Martins.
A stately home and a racehorse also feature among the benefits mined by Beresfords' three partners from the lucrative seam created by elderly and dying pit workers.
More than 69 per cent of lung disease claimants received less in compensation than it cost the Government to administer their claim. Tens of thousands of miners were awarded less than £1,000. The smallest award was 50p. More than 19,000 claimants died before they received anything.
Mr Beresford's name cropped up last year when the influential Commons Public Accounts Committee examined the Government's handling of the coal health scheme. Sir Brian Bender, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, (the former DTI) said he was “deeply concerned about the sums of money that the legal firms have had”.
Edward Leigh, MP, the committee's chairman, later said: “What has come out of the hearing ... is the scandalous profiteering on the part of some solicitors on the back of the taxpayer.”
Mark Farrell, Beresfords' chief executive, emphasised that “fees payable to Beresfords for handling these cases were fixed by the DTI following negotiations with the Claimant Solicitors Group, a national representative body. Exactly the same fee per case, dependent on the category, is paid to every participating solicitor in the UK. It therefore follows that solicitors handling large numbers of claims would make larger sums of money.”
Mr Beresford is among dozens of solicitors who have been ordered to appear before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in relation to their work on miners' claims.
Source: The Times
Rape Allegations
Posted by News Editor
Thursday, June 12, 2008
There is a very interesting blog (here) on rape alegations by Dr J Crippen's who describes himself as an NHS Blog Doctor.
The Pre-school Learning Alliance has joined up with the University of Derby to launch research looking at why men are not attracted to working in childcare.
In the last seven years, just one male student has graduated from the university's early childhood studies degree course - compared to 377 women.
Tim Kahn, inclusion officer at the Pre-School Learning Alliance, said more men working in childcare might help encourage more fathers to become involved in nurseries and children's centres.
Andrew Sanders, who teaches the childcare course at Derby and was formerly deputy head of a nursery, said: "As a society we need to get over this mental hurdle that the nursery is no place for a man, tackle the peer pressure, and challenge the worries over the economic security of the job.
"It is also fair to say there is a stigma for some men who feel wanting to work with children might be seen as unusual."
The research is in its early stages and has focused so far on talking to fathers and early years workers about their experiences in childcare settings.
Demonised for Caring
Posted by News Editor
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The following letter recently appeared in the Islington Tribune
The call from Community Service Volunteers director Dame Elisabeth Hoodless to recruit volunteers to help families of children on the at-risk register is a move in the right direction (Government must volunteer funds to support vital helpers, May 30).
The hope that such a programme is successful has gained momentum in recent weeks following questions over the ability of social services to keep children safe in tragic cases such as that of Khyra Ishaq, the seven-year-old child in Birmingham, who appears to have been allowed to starve to death.
The initiative is being introduced at a time when more than 5,000 new foster carers are required next year alone to provide more children in care with the homes they need. The problem in recruiting sufficient numbers is hampered by the fact that a third of foster carers will be accused of child abuse during their work, with the vast majority of these allegations being unfounded.
To engage another army of volunteers to assist in child protection will again be severely hampered by the response from social services to an allegation of child abuse. This response offers little support to those falsely accused and invariably results in foster carers being deprived of their livelihood, the children they have cared for removed and the creation of so much stress that many do not return to fostering after a false allegation.
To ensure volunteers come forward to help vulnerable children, the system must change so it is accepted that false allegations of child abuse actually happen and that volunteer carers, particularly male carers, are not demonised and their lives destroyed because they wanted to do something to help these children.
Trevor Jones
Hanley Road, N4
Source: Islington Tribune
The following article by John Ozimek appears in the Register ON Wednesday 4th June 2008
11.3 million working with children to be vetted
Published Wednesday 4th June 2008 12:06 GMT <
“The death of informality”. That was how Josie Appleton, convenor of the Manifesto Club, described the results of the second government consultation on the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).
The ISA is the child of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.
From next year, all those who wish to work, either paid or unpaid, with children or vulnerable adults will need to be vetted. Those who fail the vetting will be barred from obtaining such work. Individuals who seek to work in these areas, knowing that they have been barred, will be committing a criminal offence. Registration will cost £64 per person, although this will be waived for those only wishing to work in an unpaid voluntary capacity. This initiative will be supported by a central database, holding the details of 11.3 million people, or slightly more than a quarter of the adult population. This is an increase of nearly 3 million over initial Home Office estimates, making it the most extensive database of its kind in the world. The scheme launch has been put back to next year as a result of ‘concerns about data security’ and extra work needed to ensure its database was ‘robust’.
The ISA is due to take up its full responsibilities in October 2009. It recently announced its appointment of a board to supervise future work, under the chairmanship of Roger Singleton, former chief executive at Barnardo’s. Concern focuses on two areas.
According to Appleton, who is co-ordinating a national campaign against this new legislation, 'The vetting database is based on the misconception that it is possible for the state to regulate every interaction between adults and children. If only 'state-approved' adults can relate to children, we'll see the death of the many informal clubs, societies and nurseries that are so important for children's development.'
Who volunteers to be vetted?
The Manifesto Club documents an increasing number of areas – such as golf clubs and flying model aeroplanes – where increased vetting requirements look likely to result in volunteer organisations simply banning under-18s.
However, Kate Engles, policy & information officer for Volunteering England believes the scheme will be helpful: “At present, there is some degree of confusion as to what checks are needed for volunteers – so this will help create clarity. It will also bring a more consistent approach to determining who is suitable to work in specific areas. We are not aware of any research that suggests this scheme is likely to harm volunteering overall”.
Volunteering England is a government-supported charity, set up to promote volunteering in the UK.
A rather different issue is just who will be barred from employment. The database will monitor those who are “judged to be a risk”. However “expert” the basis for this judgment, there is the suspicion that this may introduce either a subjective element – or be based on a statistical technique not unlike credit scoring.
It goes well beyond targeting those guilty of child abuse. Minor incidents, such as forgetting to renew a fishing license can see an individual’s livelihood called into question when recorded by the Criminal Records Bureau.
More ominously, the new database is likely to include List 99 data, which takes the criteria for barring into the broader areas of misconduct. In time, there is a fear that the database could also carry “