GOVERNMENT PLANS

The government was bracing itself for a national class action ahead of a ruling by the Parliamentary Ombudsman on a claim against the Staffordshire Labour party for door-to-door mis-selling. Taking the lead from successful claims of dishonestly sold pensions, mortgages and utility services, a group of voters from the Midlands launched the claim in what they described as ‘a crusade to stand up for the little man’. Millions of voters who believe they’ve been mis-sold a Labour government will be monitoring the ruling.

A barrister for the claimants said, "My clients were visited by a cold-calling Labour party candidate purporting to provide political advice. They claimed switching to Labour would save my clients money and provide a more efficient service for running the country. At no point were my clients told that the representative could only advise on Labour party products, and the advisor also failed to state that he would receive a commission in the form of massive housing and expenses perks for completing the sale. We believe that this is a clear case of political mis-selling."

The claimants’ complaints date back as far as 1997, but many are still angry to this day at how they were taken in by glossy manifestos and catchy slogans. "We were promised that things can only get better", commented a former plasterer from Coventry, "but at least I had a job back then, and a house that wasn’t about to be repossessed. The worst of it is, they kept coming back for more every few years, and took me in every time with promises of new models of government, and sob-stories about needing my vote or they’d end up second-homeless."

One former Labour voter, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "It’s all very well knowing that the gang’s footsoldiers are going to be sent away to consultancy jobs in industry for a very long time but the shady boss that masterminded the whole thing is away on his toes sunning himself on a big yacht somewhere, always one step ahead of the law. And I hear ‘Big Tony’ is planning an even bigger scam pulling the wool over the eyes of the whole of Europe!" (Source: News Biscuit, Jul/09)

The Government is planning the surveillance of all children, including information on whether they eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Plans include a £224 million database tracking all 12 million children in England and Wales from birth, but critics say the electronic files will undermine family privacy and destroy the confidentiality of medical, social work and legal records. Doctors, schools and the police will have to alert the database to a wide range of "concerns" and two warning flags on a child's record could start an investigation.

There will also be a system of targets and performance indicators for children's development. Children's services have been told to work together to make sure that targets are met. Child care academics, practitioners and policy experts attending a conference at the London School of Economics will express concern about how the system will work. The Children Act 2004 gave the Government the powers to create the database but experts fear that genuine cases of neglect will be missed in the mass of detail.

Dr Eileen Munro, of the LSE, said that if a child caused concern by failing to make progress towards state targets, detailed information would be gathered. That would include subjective judgments such as "Is the parent providing a positive role model?", as well as sensitive information such as a parent's mental health. Also included would be the consumption of five portions of fruit and veg a day. Arch, the children's rights organisation, was also worried saying, "Government databases have a dreadful record."

It was revealed this year that more than half a million children had been entered on a DNA database created to record known offenders, even though many had never been charged with an offence. The Department for Education and Skills said, "Our proposals balance the need to do everything we can to improve children's life chances whilst ensuring strong safeguards to make sure that information stored is minimal, secure and used appropriately. Parents and young people will be able to ask to see their data and make amendments and will retain full rights under the Data Protection Act." (Source: Daily Telegraph, Jun/06)

Civil servants in war zones are banned from travelling in Snatch Land Rovers. Government chiefs issued the order three years ago because the unarmoured vehicles offer no protection against roadside bombs. Meanwhile 34 soldiers travelling in Snatch vehicles have been been killed by bombs, and troops still have to use them. Hundreds of pen-pushers working for the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development in Iraq got 50 bombproof Toyota Land Cruisers costing £3.2million to protect them. Private contractors working for both departments were also told not to travel in the Land Rovers.

Recently, a £700million programme to build more than 700 bomb-proof vehicles for troops was announced by the Ministry of Defence. Colonel Bob Stewart, former commander of troops in Bosnia, said, “In the end it comes down to money. The decision to get in better armoured vehicles could have been made quicker, and perhaps some lives would have been saved.” After the death toll mounted in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006 military chiefs asked for more heavily armoured vehicles. But instead of buying a ready made vehicle off the shelf old ones were revamped, taking months to complete. Snatch cars are still used in both Afghanistan and Iraq. (Source: Sunday Mirror, Nov/08)

Surfers, canoeists and families using dinghies could face jail if they are involved in an accident under plans to subject them to the same safety rules as oil tankers and cruise liners. The Department for Transport (DfT) wants anything that takes to the sea to be covered by laws aimed at reducing accidents. It raises the prospect of amateur body-boarders being breathalysed to see if they have been drinking and windsurfers prosecuted if they are deemed to have become a safety hazard.

A long list of apparently innocuous pastimes, usually enjoyed close to the water's edge, risks being swept up into Merchant Shipping legislation as part of a crackdown on jet-skis. Ministers want to "include every description of watercraft" in laws on "safety, conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals and drugs and alcohol offences". Some offences carry a possible prison sentence of up to two years while others could see fines imposed of up to £50,000.

As well as jet-skis, small hovercraft and speedboats, the Government is considering imposing the new rules on body-boards, boogie-boards, canoes, kite-surfing boards, sailboards, skim boards, wind surfers and sailing dinghies. The plans have outraged water sports enthusiasts. Rob Barber, owner of Britain's only body-boarding school, based in Newquay, Cornwall, said the plan was "a bit extreme" and would be too "bizarre" to enforce.

The proposals are part of a consultation launched by the DfT in the wake of a court case which exposed a legal loophole, allowing a jet-skier to avoid a jail sentence. Appeal Court judges ruled a jet-ski could not be considered a ship after Mark Goodwin, 25, was jailed for six months following an accident on his Yamaha jet-ski off Bowleaze Cove, Weymouth, in 2004. The judges said the jet-ski was not a seagoing ship and so not subject to the Merchant Shipping Act. Mr Goodwin's conviction was overturned.

However, the DfT has insisted the plan will only target those who "spoil the fun of everyone else". A spokesman said, "The intention of the proposed amendment is to close the legal loophole in respect of watercraft of all types. Everybody should be free to enjoy themselves on the water in the knowledge that there are sanctions to deal with those who would put their safety at risk. These proposals will ensure that appropriate measures can be taken to prevent the irresponsible few spoiling the fun of everyone else." (Source: This is Cornwall, Jul/09)