DS Daily - 25th March 2013

Revised safeguarding statutory guidance - working together

Following formal consultation we have published the revised statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013). This guidance has been published in response to recommendations from Professor Eileen Munro's report, 'A child-centred system' | Dept for Education, UK

Government publishes its final version of Working Together

The revised guidance, Working Together To Safeguard Children (2013), has been launched today and condenses around 700 pages of guidance into 95 pages | CYP Now, UK

Rise in child smokers with more than 200,000 youngsters taking up the habit

The number of child smokers is rising, with more than 200,000 taking up the habit in a year, Cancer Research UK has warned | Telegraph, UK

'570 children a day' start smoking

About 207,000 11 to 15-year-olds take up smoking every year in the UK, a charity has warned | BBC, UK

Cigarette pack plan 'won't increase smuggling'

There is "no good evidence" that standardised cigarette packs would lead to more smuggling, a group of MPs and peers say | BBC, UK

Increase in alcohol-related cancers despite well-established link

The report, Alcohol and cancer, highlights figures showing that the number of admissions to hospital for alcohol-related cancer increased from 29,400 in 2002/03 to 37,600 in 2010/11 | Royal College Physicians, UK

We're drinking twice as much as 50 years ago

As a result, the toll of alcohol-related cancers has rocketed with hospital admissions up nearly a third in the past eight years | Express, UK

In Britain, beer is much more than just a drink

George Osborne may not go to pubs, but has at least cottoned on to their value and called off the annual beating in the budget | Guardian, UK

Are ankle tags the answer for tackling parents with drink problems?

For the past six months the Family Drug and Alcohol Court in London has been piloting a scheme using alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelets in child protection cases where parental alcohol addiction was a concern | BBC, UK

'Strong heroin' warning after Sheerwater man dies

The sudden death of a 23-year-old man in Surrey could be linked to him having taken an unusually strong form of heroin, police have said | BBC, UK

Warning issued to anyone exposed to Heroin

Officers from Surrey Police are issuing a warning about a light coloured Heroin which is believed to be circulating in Woking and surrounding areas | Surrey Police, UK

Leeds market traders charged over ‘legal highs’

Two market traders in Leeds have been charged over alleged sales of so-called ‘legal highs’ in one of the first cases of its kind in the country | Yorkshire Evening Post, UK

Silk Road: the online drug marketplace that officials seem powerless to stop

Authorities around the world know about the website, but closing it is another matter – partly because it uses Bitcoins | Guardian, UK

Drug dealers' ebay selling ecstasy and HEROIN doubles its sales to £1MILLION a month... and the police are powerless to ban it

An illegal website is selling more than £1million worth of drugs every single month - with many of the banned substances being posted to buyers in the UK | Daily Mail, UK

Promoting abstinence for drug users is about saving money not science

Despite overwhelming evidence that substitution therapy reduces harm, the UK government now advocates abstinence. Jason Luty wonders if this is because it seems cheaper | BMJ, UK

Drinkaware targets parents

Drinkaware is launching a campaign this summer to warn parents against serving their children alcohol at home | Drink Business, UK

Gains fade from specialist youth therapeutic community

The question posed by this US study of whether initial benefits from a youth therapeutic community specialising in substance use would persist, snowball or erode, was decisively answered. By early adulthood, all had eroded; over the longer term, youngsters sent to non-specialist group homes had done just as well | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK

Work Programme: Report highlights problems

An official report on the government's main welfare to work initiative, the Work Programme, has highlighted significant problems with the scheme | BBC, UK

Targeted support for women offenders

Female offenders should receive more targeted support to break the cycle of crime and abuse many of them face, Justice Minister Helen Grant said today | MoJ, UK

Healthwatch England Newsletter

Welcome to the first Healthwatch England newsletter. The newsletter will be used to keep you up to date with key developments in the Healthwatch network | HealthWatch, UK

The PSHE Review

So there we have it, the Department for Education have published their statement on the PSHE review | Mentor Thinks, UK

Evidence-based programmes in schools: are they a realistic solution for drug and alcohol prevention?

Mentor is very supportive of the use of evidence-based programmes, but to say that their use in the UK for drug and alcohol prevention has been limited is an understatement | MentorThinks, UK

Drink, drugs, and the hyper-sexual: the dark heart of 'spring break'

The annual exodus of American students to beach resorts has become a raucous rite of passage. Harmony Korine's new film has a surreal take on the mayhem | Guardian, UK

Social Media Highway Code

The Social Media Highway Code is a practical and encouraging guide for doctors and other healthcare professionals who use social media and want to ensure they get the most out of their online communications, while ensuring they meet their professional obligations and protect their patients | RGCP, UK

Justice secretary warns probation officers there will be consequences for ‘criticising’ outsource plans on Facebook and Twitter

Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, has issued a warning to probation officers that they will face disciplinary action if they criticise plans to outsource 70 per cent of their work | Drum, UK

Egypt's Islamist rulers get tough on alcohol

Drinkers say rises in taxes on beer and wine suggest hardliners are gaining more power in Mohamed Morsi's government | Guardian, UK

Colombian police seize cocaine stashed in bricks

Police in Colombia say they have seized half a tonne of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bricks | BBC, UK

National study to put our drink habits in the spotlight

The Government is to undertake a major study of how much alcohol we consume, how often we go to the pub, and who we drink with as it prepares to consider measures, including minimum pricing, to tackle alcohol misuse | Irish Examiner, Ireland

Shuffleboard? Oh, Maybe Let’s Get High Instead

For Cher Neufer, a 65-year-old retired teacher, socializing with friends (all in their 60s) means using marijuana. Once a week they get together to play Texas Hold ’Em poker “and pass around a doobie,” Ms. Neufer said | NY Times, USA

Mexico’s drug war: 7 men shot in head are left in plastic chairs as 14 killed across 2 states

Authorities say the bodies of seven men were found in plastic chairs placed along the side of a street in the drug-plagued Mexican state of Michoacan, while another seven people, including three federal agents, were killed in neighboring Guerrero | NY Daily News, USA