False abuse allegations to be wiped from workers’ records
Teachers and youth workers who have been cleared of alleged abuse against children will be able to wipe the claims from their records, the government has said.
Junior children’s minister Baroness Delyth Morgan last week pledged to change the system as part of an overhaul of the statutory guidance on handling of allegations of abuse against those who work with young people.
Morgan said a review of the guidance had shown it to be largely effective. However, she acknowledged concerns within the sector over the requirements in existing guidance that references on prospective employees should contain details of any allegations of abuse, even those proved untrue.
In a letter accompanying the launch of a consultation on the revised guidance, Morgan said: “I am happy now to confirm that we do intend to amend the guidance to make clear that allegations which have been investigated and demonstrated to be completely untrue do not need to be included in a teacher’s references.
“We are committed to ensuring that the systems for dealing with allegations provide effective protection for children against abuse while also providing a fair, transparent system for teachers and other members of the children’s workforce that minimises the impact of allegations that turn out to be unfounded.”
David Whewell, chair of the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services, welcomed the proposed change. He said: “This is an important change. If someone has been accused of something and that accusation has been found to be untrue, to then tar them with that forever more is very unfair.”
By Ben Willis
Children & Young People Now
15 May 2009
Prison ’so cushy inmates won’t escape’
Inmates enjoy such comfort in jail that they are ignoring chances to escape, a prison officers’ leader has claimed.
In one example, a drug dealer regularly broke into a Yorkshire jail over a six-month period, using a ladder to climb the walls and supply inmates with drugs and mobile phones.
The intruder walked across the yard with the ladder and used it to climb up to a cell window, which had been pulled apart with a crowbar and covered by a dummy grille.
Glyn Travis, the assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: “It was an extraordinary case because none of the prisoners inside tried to escape when no doubt they had the opportunity.
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent, Telegraph.co.uk
25 Apr 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1903030/Prison-so-cushy-inmates-wont-escape.html
Government ‘criminalising young’
The government is too quick to criminalise young people for petty offences where informal punishment could be more effective, says a report.
Ex-Youth Justice Board chairman Prof Rod Morgan criticised an “extensive net widening” of the use of summary powers such as cautions and on-the-spot fines.
His report for King’s College, London, urged assessment of the development.
The Ministry of Justice said there was a reluctance to bring young people to court unless necessary.
The report for the college’s Centre for Crime and Justice Studies said: “There is a good deal of anecdotal evidence, for example, that behaviour, particularly that of children and young people, is being criminalised which arguably would be better dealt with informally (school-related misbehaviour, for example) and in previous times was.”
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