12% rise in children at risk of human trafficking for exploitation

Charity warns the government is continuing to fail child victims of trafficking as report reveals the number of potential victims has risen for the second year in a row

The number of children identified as potential victims of human trafficking in the UK rose 12% last year, according to a report by the UK Human Trafficking Centre.

The research identified 2,255 child potential victims of trafficking for exploitation – up from 2,077 the previous year.

Victims were most likely to be trafficked from Vietnam, Nigeria, Slovakia, Romania and the UK, while 84% of UK national children trafficked domestically were found to be potential victims of sexual exploitation.

It is the second year in a row that the number of potential victims has increased, signalling the growing scale of the problem and, according to the charity ECPAT UK, the government’s continued failure to make the UK a safe place for children. 

The research also discovered more inadequacies in the way victims of child trafficking are supported in the UK.

Of the 2,255 potential victims, only 1,186 were referred to the National Referral Mechanism in 2012, on which the government relies for data to identify and support victims. Only 402 were officially judged eligible for protection.

Debbie Beadle, ECPAT UK head of youth and training, said: “We have seen time and time again children who are victims of trafficking failed by the system.

“They may have come into contact with a professional, but due to lack of training they may have not been identified, leaving them vulnerable to further exploitation. Many frontline police and local authority workers are just not aware of child trafficking and do not identify victims.”

The charity is urging the home secretary to fulfill her promise to introduce a Modern Slavery Bill, with a modern slavery commissioner responsible for strengthening identification, data collection and safeguarding procedures.

Source: Community Care Online

The overall number of free schools will more than double this month as 93 welcome their first intake of pupils. The new schools are creating 46,000 pupil places, and are in addition to the 81 free schools already operating. The National Union of Teachers said the government was spending money needlessly on free schools that could be better used to increase primary school places. – See more at: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1078260/daily-roundup-school-bulger-killer-reading#sthash.yO2F6zE3.dpuf

A crime expert has said children who are read to from an early age are less likely to commit violent crime as adults. John Carnochan, a former detective chief superintendent at Strathclyde Police and the founder of the violence reduction unit at St Andrews University, said improved literacy in early years education was one of the ways of reducing violent offending. He added that a research showed children who are read to by their parents are more likely to perform well at primary school and less likely to get into trouble at secondary, reports The Scotsman. – See more at: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1078260/daily-roundup-school-bulger-killer-reading#sthash.yO2F6zE3.dpuf

Jon Venebles, one of the killers of toddler James Bulger, has been released from prison again. Venebles was first released in 2001 after serving eight years for the murder of two-year-old James in 1993. But he was recalled to prison in 2010 for accessing child abuse images. The BBC reports that the Parole Board believes Venebles, now aged 31 and living under a new identity, can be better managed in the community. – See more at: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1078260/daily-roundup-school-bulger-killer-reading#sthash.yO2F6zE3.dpuf

The Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that a “dramatic” rise in the number of children entering the school system could see some parts of the country with nearly twice as many pupils as school places over the next two years. LGA analysis shows that up to two-thirds of English councils will need to find more primary school places than they currently provide to meet the expected demand by 2016. Costessey in Norfolk, Purfleet in Thurrock and central Croydon are set to be the worst affected areas.

NSPCC presses for extension of police child protection training 

The NSPCC has called for all police officers to receive in-depth child protection training after it emerged that members of a new police taskforce will receive instruction on the issue.

Under Home Office plans, all 4,000 officers of the National Crime Agency (NCA), due to be launched later this year, will receive training on spotting the signs of child abuse – with different levels of training for different officers.

The NCA is set to take on the remits of both the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

The NSPCC said that while it welcomed the training announcement, it wants ministers to go further by ensuring adequate child protection training is in place for all police officers.

Jon Brown, head of strategy and development at the charity, said: “If it is additional investment in child abuse training for those officers, it is clearly to be welcomed because undoubtedly opportunities have been missed in many child abuse and child sexual exploitation cases due to a lack of knowledge.

“But there is also a real value in multi-agency, multi-disciplinary training for all police officers.

“There are many child abuse cases day-in, day-out that children’s services and police are having to investigate and manage, and the vast majority will fall outside the remit of the NCA.

“We would like to see similar investment in local level, multi-agency child abuse training.”

Brown said that current training for police varies “from area to area”.

“Certainly we know that multi-agency child protection training has been squeezed as a result of budget cuts and that is a concern,” he said.

The move to provide NCA officers with child protection training follows the conviction of grooming rings in Oxford, Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford, and the case of four-year-old Daniel Pelka who was beaten and starved by his mother and her partner.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Child abuse is an evil crime and we are determined to stamp down on anyone who seeks to harm the most vulnerable members of society.

“The NCA will see more resources devoted to tackling paedophiles and child abusers, whether they seek to commit their horrific crimes in person or online.

“The NCA will carry out this vital work as part of a radical transformation in the way we tackle the damage inflicted by serious, organised and complex crime on the UK.”

Source: CYPNow Online

Teenage drinking raises risk of early dementia, study suggests

Swedish study identifies heavy drinking as a teenager as the most serious of nine risk factors for young onset dementia

Heavy drinking as a teenager is the single biggest risk factor for developing dementia unusually early, according to new research.

A study of almost 500,000 Swedish men identified “alcohol intoxication” as a late adolescent as the most serious of nine separate risk factors for young onset dementia (YOD) – that is, dementia before reaching 65.

Researchers led by Prof Peter Nordstrom, of Sweden’s Umea University, examined the records of 488,484 men conscripted into military service in the country at an average age of 18 between 1969 and 1979, 487 of whom were later diagnosed with YOD at an average age of 54.

About 800,000 people in the UK have dementia, of whom more than 17,000 developed it before they turned 65, according to the Alzheimer’s Society. Two-thirds of sufferers are women and a third are men.

Other “late adolescent risk factors” identified by the researchers included stroke, use of amtopsychotic drugs, depression, father’s dementia, drugs intoxication other than alcohol, low cognitive function at conscription, low height at conscription and high systolic blood pressure at conscription. Together the nine factors accounted for 68% of the 487 YOD cases found at follow-up.

Men with at least two of the nine risk factors, and who fell in the lowest third of the study participants for overall cognitive function, had a 20-fold increased risk of developing YOD, the researchers found.

“We are a long way off knowing exactly why some people develop dementia and others don’t. However, what this study shows once again is that many of the things we are beginning to identify as risk factors are controllable”, said Jess Smith, a research officer at the Alzheimer’s Society. “Kicking excessive teenage drinking or drug habits into touch and treating conditions such as depression early could be key to reducing your risk of dementia in later life.”

Source: Guardian Online

ADHD prescriptions rise sparks ‘smart drug’ fears

Concern as GPs in England hand out 657,000 prescriptions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – up 56% since 2007

The number of drugs prescribed to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) sufferers has soared by more than 50% in six years, figures show

Prescriptions for methylphenidate drugs, including Ritalin, have been steadily increasing, according to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) annual report on controlled drugs.

In 2007, GPs in England wrote 420,000 prescriptions for such medication, but by 2012 the figure had leapt to 657,000 – a rise of 56%.

Officials at the watchdog said health workers should “carefully monitor” the drugs because they have a potential for “diversion or misuse”.

The drugs are one of a number linked to the “smart-drug” craze – in which students take medication to fight fatigue and help them concentrate. Previous research has indicated that as many as one in 10 UK students could be taking “cognitive-enhancing” drugs.

Methylphenidate is known as a psychostimulant and is thought to stimulate a part of the brain that changes mental and behavioural reactions.

The CQC report says the number of prescriptions for such medications rose by 11% between 2011 and 2012.

“As in previous years, we believe that this reflects increased diagnosis of, and prescribing for, the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),” the CQC report states.

“We are also aware of the possibility that methylphenidate could be diverted and abused, and for this reason we recommend that its use should be monitored carefully.

“We are aware of reports in the media and scientific literature that it is being abused as a ‘smart’ drug to improve cognitive function; the long-term risks of this practice are not known.”

Common symptoms of ADHD include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Symptoms tend to be first noticed at an early age – it is normally diagnosed between the ages of three and seven.

It is estimated the condition affects 2% to 5% of school-aged children and young people. However, it can be a lifelong condition and many children continue to show symptoms as a teenager and adult.

Source: Guardian Online