CONCERNS about sex offenders working in schools may have grabbed headlines in recent weeks, but are there similar problems in other sectors? According to Health Service Journal (Jan 19), known sex offenders could be employed in frontline children’s services for up to six months before their records are revealed. Since 2002, trusts have been using a fast-track system which clears recruits against government lists, but not against either the sex offenders register or local police information. But Gordon Fleck, the NHS Employers senior business manager, says that the present system will continue until new legislation that vets NHS staff is brought in next year.
The top prize for being prepared goes to the Metropolitan Police. A report in The Job (Jan 13) says that Met officers are already working “flat out” on security arrangements for the 2012 Olympics. “You cannot underestimate the sheer scale of this event,” says Commander Julian Bennett. “It will be the biggest policing operation the Met has ever been involved in.” The Olympics unit employs only a handful of people at the moment, but in future as many as 300 could be working on the Olympics full-time.
Reflections on definitions of the word “neglect” may sound like lexical nit-picking, but some childcare experts believe it could be hindering child protection. Community Care (Jan 19) writes that neglect, as defined by the Department of Health, is a “catch-all��� term that includes the neglect of physical, emotional and psychological needs. And by using the word neglect, social services staff can avoid using a very emotive word: abuse. This, CC suggests, does little to help the parents of vulnerable children: “They have a right to know the damage they are inflicting on their child, and telling them only that they are neglecting (the child) denies them that right.”
Difficult decisions for parents can arise out of domestic violence, not least the problem of housing. Yet the exact numbers of those who are left homeless by domestic violence is unclear. For instance, some of those who lose their homes are automatically accepted as homeless under another priority need category, Inside Housing (Jan 20) writes. For others, the stigma of domestic violence may prevent them from explaining how they became homeless. But domestic violence need not always result in homelessness, and some local authorities are providing tenants with enhanced security in their homes so that should the abuser return, the resident has a safe place in which to await the arrival of the police.
From creative solutions to the creative process and the potentially damaging influence of prizes and awards on art and artists. “When crafting a novel, conceptualising an installation or choreographing a steamy sex scene, do artists allow the relevant award criteria to infect the process of creation?” asks The Times Higher Education Supplement (Jan 20). According to James F. English, the author of a book on this subject, prizes and awards could be changing the very nature of art and art production as the “imperial forces of commerce” and the “forces of genuine art” do battle.