British National Party Public Services News Bulletin w/c September 10th, 2007
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1. MINISTER ADMITS NHS IS FAILING ON DEMENTIA

Immigrants and asylum seekers get priority over native Britons even if the latter paid taxes all their lives. This is one of many examples on how mainstream parties have failed the elderly.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,,2143127,00.html

About 600,000 people afflicted by dementia are being let down by the NHS and local authority social services, a health minister admitted yesterday. Ivan Lewis, minister for care services, said the disease "strikes fear into the hearts of all of us". The number of sufferers is set to double over the next 30 years as more people survive into their 80s and 90s. Mr Lewis promised a new strategy to improve dementia services by next summer to increase awareness of the disease, provide earlier diagnosis and better treatment. The high court will rule on Friday on a challenge to a decision by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence that those suffering from moderate dementia should not have access to a range of drugs on the NHS. But Mr Lewis said the row over medication was not the main issue. "We know too many families feel the current NHS and social care systems are not meeting their needs. The current system is failing too many dementia sufferers and their carers," he said when announcing the strategy at St Charles hospital in North Kensington, London. It was time to lift the disease "out of the shadows", providing much better information to help people detect the first signs of dementia, and specific training for healthcare staff. Mr Lewis was supported by Barbara Pointon, whose husband Malcolm, a pianist and composer, suffered from dementia. Some of his final days were documented for the controversial ITV programme, Malcolm and Barbara: Love's Farewell, which will be screened tomorrow. She said the new strategy was "wonderful". Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said he strongly welcomed the announcement. But Help the Aged's head of policy, David Sinclair, said the strategy failed to give enough priority to research into prevention and treatment.

2. BRITAIN 'SLEEPWALKING INTO SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY' AS PERSONAL DATA IS PASSED AROUND

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=473667&in_page_id=1770

Confidential personal data is being shared at unprecedented levels, the information watchdog will warn today. Data from sources as diverse as store loyalty cards, electronic travel cards and driving licences is being used without people's knowledge as never before. People have "almost zero awareness" of how the information is being passed around because the web of public and private organisations storing it has become so complex. Experts fear it will soon be impossible to stop the "information sharing juggernaut". The comments, from information commissioner Richard Thomas, will fuel fears Britain is becoming a "surveillance society" and stoke concerns over how data is being used in a statement today. Personal information has never before been collected from such a wide range of sources. Police forces are becoming giant data collecting agencies, pooling information from driving licences, DNA and even London's Oyster Travelcard system. Last month Met Police anti-terror officers were given real-time access to Congestion Charge cameras and information. Store and loyalty schemes like Nectar cards and Tesco's Clubcard have led to firms creating massive marketing databases. This information can sometimes be shared with police. In addition, the Government is pushing through compulsory ID cards in the face of massive opposition. Mr Thomas has said such data can be useful in some circumstances but will today warn that Britain is in danger of sleepwalking into a "surveillance society". Michael Parker, of the NO2ID campaign, said there is an "alarming secrecy" over the use of some personal information. He said this was particularly the case with that held by companies and those whom they pass it to. In June the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee looked at how loyalty card information is shared. The Committee heard from Stephen Sklaroff, director general of the finance and leasing association, who said the industry was very anxious to improve the quality of its data. Last night Tesco said it would only give out information when required to do so by the authorities. A spokesman said: "We don't routinely share information with third parties."

3. MPS QUESTION £45BN SPENDING TO BRING SCHOOLS UP TO SCRATCH

Incompetence is the real legacy of Labour government.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,,2144801,00.html

An influential watchdog will today question the value of the government's £45bn programme to replace or refurbish all 3,400 secondary schools in England by 2020. MPs on the education select committee will suggest that some of the cash might be better directed to making buildings more environmentally sustainable by reducing carbon emissions or boosting pre-school learning. An increase in university research budgets should also be considered. The report on the early stages of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, comparable to Victorian and post-second world war school building, does not say the programme is a waste of money nor recommend a halt, but says the scheme must be regularly reviewed. It questions the use of the public finance initiative (PFI) for about half the package - the funding method by which private companies pay to take part and then lease buildings back to schools on long contracts, often 25-30 years. The MPs also want local authorities to have more freedom over the regeneration of schools - there have been complaints that the government forces them into agreeing to semi-independent academies as part of BSF. The programme has been hit by delays but the first new mainstream school buildings under its banner will open in Bristol next month, with about a dozen projects completed by next April. About 50 more are expected the following year. The MPs said other building programmes over the past 10 years had addressed a backlog of leaky, dilapidated buildings and asked whether £45bn was "too much" to be spent on buildings. "BSF has begun by providing resources to areas with low levels of educational attainment. Once those areas ... have their projects in place, it could be argued that investment to replace buildings becomes less of a priority. That might be the point at which BSF could be drawn to a close and a different approach to capital and other investment in schools could be adopted." While the programme represented "an unprecedented opportunity" to transform education, there was "a danger that everyone involved will concentrate on getting through to the end and that the question of whether the project's scope and aims remain appropriate will not be asked." Three PFI-funded schools not in the BSF programme have already closed or are closing, leaving authorities with big bills, and the committee was worried that shifts in pupil populations could lead to more costly closures. Children's minister Kevin Brennan said BSF was "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the historic legacy of under-investment in secondary schools". It would equip schools "to inspire young minds and support teachers", make the most of new technology and provide flexible accommodation to respond to changes in educational practice.

4. OFFENDERS MONITORING UNDER THREAT AS NEW IT PROGRAMME CRASHES

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2224963.ece

A multimillion-pound government project to give greater protection to the public by managing offenders more closely is threatened with collapse because of financial problems, The Times has learnt. Ministers have halted all further development work on the project while officials conduct an emergency review of the costings and capabilities of the £244 million programme. The crisis is the latest setback to an IT system that underpins the whole of the Government’s strategy to manage offenders from conviction and during their prison sentences to supervision in the community by the Probation Service. About £155 million has already been spent on the project but this year it was revealed that there was a £33 million shortfall on capital funding. It is understood that it has now been discovered that the initial costings did not include VAT and that cancelling the project will cost the Ministry of Justice £50 million in fees to EDS, the private contractor in charge of developing the system. A leaked letter from Roger Hill, the Director of the Probation Service, discloses the scale of the problem. “Many of you will be aware that, in light of subsequent developments, the original costing for the C-NOMIS programme has proved to be optimistic. We have advised ministers that we will need to undertake a fundamental review of the work, to return to an affordable programme,” the letter said. The emergency review is to be completed by next month, but Mr Hill admitted that the ambitions of the original project would be scaled back. “We expect that the revised programme will inevitably involve a reduction in the planned functionality and scope of the sysem.” Mr Hill’s letter also discloses that David Hanson, the Prisons Minister, has demanded a full audit trail of the programme since it was set up by the National Offender Management Service, which oversees both prisons and probation. His letter added: “Whilst we are reviewing the programme we had instituted a moratorium on further development work.” Under the project more than 200 disparate Prison and Probation Service databases would consolidate into a single, accurate profile of an offender. More than 80,000 users within the criminal justice system, including courts, Prison and Probation services, police forces and other partner organisations, would share up-to-the-minute information on an offender such as his or her conviction records, addresses and problems. It would allow prison and probation staff to know that a particular offender needed help with housing, or tackling drug or alcohol abuse, on leaving jail. The aim was to help to reduce their risk of reoffending by tracking them through the system and providing what ministers describe as “end-to-end offender management”. But the project being introduced by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has faced growing delays and mounting financial costs. It has been introduced as a pilot in three jails in the Isle of Wight and a planned introduction to a further 30 prisons has been frozen. The Isle of Wight trials were delayed by six months and the date of a full implementation slipped from the end of next year to 2009 as problems grew. There is now doubt if it will ever be available to any of the 43 local probation services in England and Wales, which have become increasingly frustrated at the delays in implementation. The Ministry of Justice insisted that it remained committed to an “affordable programme”, which would allow probation officers access to the records of all offenders in custody and the community so that they could help to track and manage offenders from conviction, through sentence and on release. Harry Fletcher, the assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: “The whole project appears to have been badly managed since its inception. The Ministry of Justice must come clean and tell the public how much money has been spent on this sytem and what the consequences are for assessment of offenders and public protection of any decision to go forward with a system with a reduced capacity.” Charles Bushell, the general secretary of the Prison Governors’ Association, said: “This news is bitterly disappointing. Many of us who have been critical of the extravagant expenditure of the National Offender Management Service had seen C-NOMIS as the one real benefit on the otherwise bloated National Offender Management Service agenda. If C-NOMIS is now threatened we see no good reason to perservere with the conspicuous expenditure which NOMS represents.” Mr Hanson said in a statement: “I have requested a rapid review of the C-NOMIS programme to be carried out with immediate effect. This review will consider the affordability of the overall programme and will report in the autumn with recommendations for a revised programme.”

5. JAIL SENTENCES FOR SEX OFFENDERS NOW SHORTER

So much for Labour for being tough on crime and the causes of crime.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1245312007

The average length of time served in prison by offenders convicted of sex crimes is at its lowest period for five years. In 2001-2, sex offenders given custody were sentenced to an average of 1,203 days, just over three years. By 2005-6, the average sentence fell to 1,038 days - just over 2½ years. Government research, highlighted yesterday by SNP MSP Christine Grahame, also found wild inconsistencies in the length of time sex offenders spend in jail for different offences. While average prison terms for rape increased from 2,188 days in 2004-5 to 2,425 in 2005-6, typical sentences for people jailed for indecent assault dropped from 1,277 days to 1,033. Jail terms for those convicted of lewd and indecent behaviour also fell, from 845 days to 663 over the two years. Ms Grahame voiced concern at the apparent level of inconsistency in sentencing and urged the Scottish Executive to take immediate action. "These figures highlight a downward trend in the length of time convicted sex offenders are spending in jail and I think that sends the wrong message to victims of such crimes, in terms of encouraging them to come forward to report incidents," she said. "At present we already have very low rates of conviction for these types of offences, especially in rape cases, although I note that the trend, in terms of the period of imprisonment for convicted rapists is slightly up over the past four years. "I believe it sends entirely the wrong message to both perpetrators and victims that such offences are not being dealt with as firmly as they once were. "This may in turn lead to fewer victims coming forward to endure the process of giving evidence in the first instance." Ms Grahame, who is an MSP for South of Scotland, is planning to write to the Lord Justice Clerk calling for a review. She said she would also ask ministers to reinstate the Scottish Sentencing Commission which was dissolved by the last Executive. A spokesman for the Executive said: "Scottish government wants to see greater consistency in the sentences imposed by our courts, and for that very reason plan to hold further discussions with key interests, principally the judiciary, on how to achieve such consistency, including the arguments for the creation of a statutory sentencing council."

6. 90,000 MIGRANTS DON'T USE ENGLISH WHEN THEY TAKE THEIR DRIVING TEST

Another negative consequence of multiculturalism.

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/16097/90,000-migrants-don't-use-English-when-they-take-their-driving-test

Immigrants should be banned from taking their driving tests in foreign ­languages because of the rising number of accidents involving non-British motorists, an MP demanded last night. Figures obtained by the Daily Express show that more than 90,000 learners took the UK Highway Code theory test in languages other than English last year. They answered questions in any one of 20 tongues, including Albanian, Gujarati, Polish, Urdu and Kurdish, according to the Driving Standards Agency. Thousands were also permitted to undertake practical on-the-road driving tests while accompanied by interpreters in their vehicles. The multi-lingual service is offered despite a Government campaign to encourage immigrants to learn English. Tory MP David Davies yesterday called for an end to the practice, and is to raise the issue with Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly. “It is disgusting that a basic understanding of English is not required for getting a UK driving licence,” he said. “Surely there must be serious safety concerns about allowing people on the roads and motorways who cannot read English. “The toll of fatal and serious accidents is already too high, and this can only make it worse. “When even Government ministers claim that learning English is essential for community cohesion, why does this not apply to the driving test?” His call follows growing concerns about the increasing number of accidents on Britain’s road involving foreign-speaking drivers. The number of crashes involving vehicles registered to Poles has increased by 200 per cent in two years. Slovakian cars and lorries were involved in 462 accidents in 2006, compared with 120 in 2004. And Lithuanian drivers were in 745 crashes here last year, compared with 232 two years previously, according to figures from the Motor Insurance Bureau. Driving Standards Agency (DSA) figures yesterday showed that 92,774 learners took their driving theory tests in ­languages other than English in the year 2006-07. The most popular non-English language was Urdu, with 20,975 candidates, followed by Kurdish with 15,726 and Turkish, 10,491. Fifteen people took the theory test in Welsh. But the least popular language was Kashmiri, used by six learner drivers. Overall, just under 1.5million people took the theory test last year. DSA rules allow for various “special needs” requirements for many drivers, including people with disabilities and non-English speakers. For those whose first language is not English, special headphones can be provided during theory tests so questions can be heard in other languages. The range of languages offered also includes Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Dari, Farsi, Hindi, Kashmiri, Kurdish, Mirpuri, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Pushto, Spanish, Tamil and Turkish. Speakers of other languages can also apply to have trans­lators present, although they must pay the fees themselves.