John Hemming's Web Log

As with the other reports they find little understandable logic in the judgments of cafcass. It takes a bit of time to understand the importance of this. In most instances service users did not experience a service which had been planned systematically by Family Court Advisers; case planning documents were not completed or were not comprehensive, for example. Most files had some case notes, although these were often illegible. Evidence of assessment, such as evidence of the Family Court Adviser weighing and analysing the evidence from interviews, was almost always absent from the case records. It was therefore not possible to understand how FCAs were making their judgements.

I have linked to the Community Care story. This picks up on the key message from the interviews by Lenny Harper reported by the BBC as Jersey murder inquiry 'unlikely' Community Care have correctly identified the issue that the remains of at least 5 children have been found concealed in a children's home. It is worth listening to Lenny Harper's interview on the BBC site as he explains the situation. The issue here, its links to the mainland and the attempts to cover it up are very live issues. As a director (with Stuart Syvret) of Justice for Families Ltd the first steps towards judicial review of the UK government's failure to ensure the application of the rule of law in Jersey have been taken. We are holding a conference call later today with the government to look at this issue.

All the increases in gas prices are not necessarily going to ensure that gas is available during winter. It will, of course, as usual, depend upon the weather. The design of the UK gas market is reliant on a relative abundance of supply. Obviously supply and demand will match, but only at the cost of destitute pensioners and "excess winter deaths".

Accepting the unreliability of early figures June is thought to have produced 86.51 mbd of oil and burnt (or otherwise consumed) 86.2 mbd. This marginal surplus of production over demand is as expected resulting in a price reduction. Demand is probably being reduced further than the predictions as well.

The link is to a story from Scotland that I am not aware of anything other than in the media. This is where children were forcibly adopted because of an allegation of MSbP. The 16 year old has now returned from her adoptive parents to her birth mother (much like the Tammy Coulter story). The problem with these stories is that the children, birth parents and adoptive parents suffer from a what starts with a miscarriage of justice.

What concerns me about this trial is that tenuous medical evidence which is insufficient to convict was allowed to get to the stage of charging and prosecution. I suggested to the previous Attorney General that they needed some people in the CPS with scientific training to check the expert evidence. This as usual raises the question as to how much money has been made by the experts giving evidence. We really do need to be careful about having a system that rewards experts for the answer "guilty", but not the answer "innocent".

Boston BC, Coastal Con 344 (30.9; -1.6) Boston Bypass Independent Party 306 (27.5; -32.9) LD Ossy Snell 213 (19.1; +19.1) BNP 119 (10.7; +10.7) UKIP 88 (7.9; +0.7) Lab 44 (3.9; +3.9) Majority 38 Turnout 37.4% Con gain from Boston Bypass Independent Party Percentage change is since May 2007 City of Westminster LBC, Church Street Con 955 (53.6; +24.5) Lab 652 (36.6; -3.0) LD Martin Thompson 176 (9.9; -1.3) [Respect (0.0; -20.3)] Majority 303 Turnout 24.1% Con gain from Lab Percentage change is since May 2006 Derby City UA, Darley LD John-Paul Keane 1040 (35.8; -0.9) Con 976 (33.6; +4.1) Lab 695 (23.9; -1.0) Green 192 (6.6; -2.2) Majority 64 Turnout not known LD hold Percentage change is since May 2008 Downend and Bromley Heath PC, West LD Craig Whittaker 313 (75.1) Lab 104 (24.9) Majority 209 Turnout 28.1% LD gain from Lab Ipswich BC, Castle Hill Con 843 (64.3; +3.3) Lab 282 (21.5; +2.9) LD Nigel Cheeseman 186 (14.2; -0.4) [Green (0.0; -5.9)] Majority 561 Turnout 22.3% Con hold Percentag...

What is interesting here is how law is being developed by the judges on the basis of an article of ECHR (Article 8). There are complex issues relating to Contempt of Court (Family Court Stuff), Privacy and Defamation that were discussed recently by the Policy Exchange. There needs to be a wider consideration as to where the boundary should lie as it is not entirely clear.

Here we have a 76 year old ex-US police officer who is living in the UK on his US pension (not on benefits) who made the mistake of not getting a proper visa when he came to the UK to bury his ex-wife and overstayed on his visa. He is now told that he will be deported and is not allowed to remain to tend his wife's grave.

The link is to The Times story today which essentially starts with a row between parents resulting in a proposal for a child to be adopted. This is the case where mum then went on the run with her son (age 8). Reading the article does anyone see in this sufficient cause for a child to be forcibly placed permanently with another family? Here is the judgment I don't think the reporting of the article skews the judgment. The question that has to be asked is where the actions of the state in this case have managed to benefit the child "S" or anyone else. It is entirely valid to ensure that a child's right of contact with both parents continue, but there is a serious question as to what extent the state should punish and maniuplate the child through the use of care proceedings. There are obviously other aspects to this case that are not in the judgment (and in this instance I am aware of other factors). Daniel Finkelstein's article (relevant to the comments section)

The link is to a Reuters Story about the APPGOPO report. LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - The looming peak in world oil production will set back international development and threatens to hinder efforts to make poverty history, a report by a group of UK lawmakers said

What is unusual about this story is that it has some publicity. There is anecdote, but not research about the number of suicides linked to care proceedings. It later emerged Mrs Bell feared her younger children, aged from nine to 15, would be taken away after she was arrested for an alleged assault. In her note she said she loved them all and would never forget them.

Derwentside DC, Castleside Ind 297 (82.3 +8.3) Con 64 (17.7 +3.7) Lab [0.0 –12.0] Majority 233 Turnout 27.49 Ind hold Percentage change is from 2007 Hillingdon LBC, Townfield Lab 1031(45.3 –12.6) LD R Chamdal 506 (22.2 +8.7) Con 445 (19.6 –9.0) BNP 186 (8.2 +8.2) National Front 74 (3.3 +3.3) Green 33 (1.5 +1.5) Majority 525 Turnout Not known Lab hold Percentage change is from 2006 Redditch BC, Batchley Con 630 (39.00 –12.4) Lab 539 (33.4 –4.3) BNP 299 (18.5 +18.5) LD R Patrick Taylor 121 (7.5 –3.4) Ind 25 (1.5 +1.5) Majority 91 Turnout 27.59 Con gain Lab Percentage change is from 2008 Wealden DC, Uckfield New Town LD C J Sweetland 311 (47.4 –16.0) Con 289 (44.1 +7.5) UKIP 56 (8.5 +8.5) Majority 22 Turnout 31.77 LD hold Percentage change is from 2007 Worcestershire CC, Arrow Valley East Con 1437 (42.2 +9.9) Lab 1041 (30.6 –15.8) LD D Thomas 455 (13.4 –7.9) BNP 367 (10.8 +10.8) Ind 103 (3.0 +3.0) Majority 396 Turnout 19.76 Con gain Lab Percentage change is from 2005

The link is to today's article. The CYP Bill is returning in the first week of October which gives the first opportunity to put some of these things right.

I now have the figures for each year. On "High High" 2008 is $90 and 2009 is $99. They do say they are thinking of reviewing these figures later.

The link is to a story about an autistic child in Bedfordshire. What is interesting about this story is the interrelationship between potentially care proceedings (although having seen the video they talk about S20 which is not a care order) and the activities of the Local Education Authority. It has been argued that the care system is being made to act in the interests of the LEA as a result of the reorganisation of the care system to place Childrens Social Services in with Education as Childrens Services. I don't know enough about this particular case to make any judgment. I am, however, concerned about the over use of care proceedings in relation to children with ADHD and whose condition lies in the Aspergers Spectrum. Interestingly this also relates to the close of an LA special school. The agenda of so called "inclusion" is clearly causing exclusion for some children. Perhaps in this case we should be questioning the closure of the special school rather than tryi...

The government have responded to my question about Oil Price Contingency Planning. They have a BERR Page with forecast oil prices. Extracting from that table the following prices in USD per blue barrel for each year and assumption are: Year Low Central High "High High" 2007 73 73 73 73 2010 45 65 85 107 2015 45 68 90 150 They dont "feel the need to build contingency plans specifically for peak oil". Well we already are above "high high".

The link is to the story about HDLG in the News of the World. Extracting a bit from the article: A SHOCK secret police report into the Jersey House of Hell children's home reveals youngsters there WERE murdered then BURNED in a furnace to COVER UP the atrocities. Kids were shipped to the home from all over the UK and were never heard of again. What concerns me is the lack of interest of the UK Government in trying to track down which children have been sent to Jersey. I have done an FOI request of all English Childrens Authorities. However, they have mainly only done a cursory glance at the situation. In Birmingham I arranged for the Internal Audit Department to track payments to Jersey and from that identify the children sent there. The government's hopeless response is that you need a court order to send a child to Jersey. They should be instructing Childrens Services Authorities to perform a thorough study. Too many children are "lost" by Childrens Services. ...

It was nice to read the Leader in The Times Today which is linked and has the headline "Justice for Families". This includes: A large number of readers have told The Times this week that they have been denied access to papers that they need to mount an appeal. The systematic raising of difficulties to prevent parents from appealing is one of the aspects of the system that I have particular concerns about. This leaves parents at the mercy of a single judge. Normally a particular family is reserved to a particular judge and if that judge takes a dislike to them they have no chance. Normally the excuse used by their own solicitors for not giving them a copy of their own file is "they need the papers to get paid by the LSC." That does not, of course, prevent them from providing a copy of the file. It is, however, shocking how difficult it is to get both the judgment and the case files. Even if you get there papers get strangely lost in the Court of Appeal time ...

Caerphilly UA, Risca West Lab 636 (56.0 +5.6) PC 315 (27.8 +0.3) Con 137 (12.1 –10.0) LD Mark Maguire 47 (4.1 +4.1) Majority 321 Turnout 27.9 Lab hold Percentage change is from 2008 Canterbury DC, Barton LD Michael Steed 993 (51.8 +9.3) Con 701 (36.6 +2.7) Green 121 (6.3 +6.3) Ind 102 (5.3 –0.7) Lab [0.0 –8.9] Ind [0.0 -8.7] Majority 292 Turnout 33.0 LD hold Percentage change is from 2007 Ceredigion UA, Aberystwyth, Rheidol PC 271 (40.2 +13.0) LD Alec Dauncey 252 (37.4 –30.2) Ind 98 (14.5 +14.5) Lab 36 (5.3 +5.3) Con 17 (2.5 –2.7) Majority 19 Turnout Not Known PC gain LD Percentage change is from 2008 Chichester DC, Bury Con 431 (69.3 +14.0) LD David Hares 191 (30.7 +30.7) Ind [0.0 –44.7] Majority 240 Turnout 34.43 Con hold Percentage change is from 2007 Great Yarmouth BC, Bradwell South & Hopton Con 623 (50.0 +2.0) Lab 429 (34.4 +15.2) UKIP 196 (15.7 +5.3) LD [0.0 –22.5] Majority 194 Turnout 24.86 Con hold Percentage change is from 2008 Kirklees MBC, Dalton Lab 1397 (40.5 +10.0) L...