Latest figures show that DNA database is growing rapidly they are also that children are being criminalised and treated as “suspects for life”.

    Official figures show that, since the DNA database was created, 1.07million profiles of children have been added.

This is nearly a quarter of the 4.4million profiles on the database.

A breakdown of the figures shows that the profiles of more 100,000 children had their DNA taken when they were under 13, and the profiles of more than half a million children were added to the database when they were aged between 13 and 15.

In the past three years, 48,500 children under-13 and 204,666 children aged between 13 and 15 were added.

The figures are far higher than previously thought as Government figures only estimate the number of children currently on the database. Official figures show that the profiles of 344,339 children have been included.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne said: “These shocking figures clearly show that the Government has preyed on children in making the world’s biggest DNA database by stealth.

“We already know that guilt and innocence are of no concern to ministers, but clearly neither is the negative effect the database has on children.

“It is difficult to justify targeting a million kids when large numbers of adults convicted of serious crimes before DNA began to be collected are not on the database.

“It is unacceptable to keep the DNA of children on record in perpetuity for the most minor of offences. Unless convicted of a sexual or violent offence, under-16s should not have their DNA stored on the database.”

Commenting on today’s report in the Health Service Journal which finds that NHS organisations will not get the full increase in resources pledged to them by the Treasury next financial year, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said: “It is vital that we cut central bureaucracy in the NHS, but these plans are not the right way to get the best value for money.”

“The danger is that it reduces the incentive to hospital trusts to improve efficiency.”

We have already seen in this region a number of high profile job losses in the caravan industry, Mariner Foods is to close two factories in North East Lincolnshire with the loss of 530 jobs, and there have been job loses lost in the retail industry. 

Therefore it come as no surprise that it is being workers in the Yorkshire and Humber region are expected to be the worst-hit outside London by job cuts in the looming recession, a report has warned.  

The region could lose 170,000 jobs, or 6.8% of its workforce, by December 2010, according to research by the Local Government Association (LGA).  

Construction and manufacturing sectors will be hardest hit, the report says. Some northern cities like Leeds, with more high-skilled jobs, are expected to be relatively unscathed, it adds.  

Only London, which is set to suffer 370,000 redundancies, or 7.9% of its workforce, will be hit harder in percentage terms than the Yorkshire and Humber region.  

The LGA has warned a national, blanket policy will not help all areas.  

The LGA’s ‘From Recession To Recovery: The Local Dimension’ report projects how each area of the country could be affected differently by the economic downturn if no action is taken.  

The LGA, which represents councils in England, is calling for as many economic decisions as possible to be taken at a local level to ensure that local solutions can be found to local problems.

    Government policies to push single parents into work will lead to 55,000 of them having to take out loans to make ends meet next year, the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

    Plans to switch single parents from Income Support to Jobseeker’s Allowance could force them to take out loans to cover the gap left in their benefit support.

Figures released to the Liberal Democrats show that the Government has estimated that up to half of all parents affected by the changes could be forced to rely on ‘Transition Loans’ from the Social Fund to cope with the delay in cash payments as a result of the regulations.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Jenny Willott said: “The Government cannot allow these changes to force parents into debt. 

“It is scandalous that ministers have designed changes to the benefit system that will force single parents to take out loans simply to make ends meet.

“Our ludicrously over-complex benefits system is completely failing vulnerable families who will be left struggling to make ends meet in increasingly difficult times.” 

Commenting on the National Association of Probation Officers’ warning that plans to cut the probation service’s budget by 20% could lead to an extra 300,000 crimes being committed a year, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson, David Howarth said: “These alarming figures show that the Government is losing the plot on crime.”

“The main point of any sentence must be to reduce crime in the future, but the Government is doing the opposite.

“It is making it harder for the probation service to use sentences that have some effect and forcing it to do little more than supervise offenders.

“It is amazing that a Government that claims to be tough on crime is actually planning to make crime worse.”

Mirror online claim that the number of deaths from drug abuse has rocketed 22 per cent over the past 10 years.

Apparently these alarming figures were released after a probe by the Liberal Democrats; this will come as a major blow to the Government because they are refuses to spend more on tackling addiction and indicate that the war on drugs is being lost.

In 1997 1,312 people died of drug abuse in England and Wales - but last year the toll rose to 1,604. The number of people dying while in drug rehabilitation has also increased dramatically up from 514 in 2005 to 784 last year.

    But ministers have frozen the amount they will spend on fighting addiction over the next three years at £398million a year, despite calls from drug charities for an increase.

Last night Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb: said the Government needs to rethink policy on tackling drug abuse.

He said: “It must view drug misuse more as a public health issue and focus criminal justice resources on dealers and organised criminals.”

Home Office figures show 740,000 people took cocaine last year - four times that in 1996.

      In November 2008, the young people of North East Lincolnshire elected their first-ever Young Mayor - choosing Amy Blackett (13) for the appointment.

Amy takes up her post on Monday, November 17, when she will be inaugurated by the Mayor of North East Lincolnshire, Councillor Colin Eastwell.

Amy’s appointment is the first of its kind in the borough, and will last for a trial period of six weeks. This will give her a valuable opportunity to represent young people at a variety of events and appointments during her term.

During her election campaign, Amy said: “This is an ideal opportunity to show that not all people are the same and that young people of this town are nice people and can be trusted. It would also be an ideal opportunity to show the young people that you can do good things for other people and yourself, along with showing that I am still just a normal ‘kid on the block’.”

There is an article on the BBC website that speculation that Gordon Brown might call a general election next spring has been dismissed as “chatter” by Labour’s election co-ordinator.

Apparently there are arguments that an early poll could benefit Labour, well history suggests that those who wait to the end of their term they don’t have much hope at all. It appears that we are quickly running out of dates, and it looks as though they will be either looking at June next year (the same day as the Euro Elections) or the May, 2010 (the same day as the local elections). However, the Prime Minister could opt for an October or November election but this seems highly unlikely. 

Apparently Douglas Alexander told the BBC he had not spoken to the prime minister about an early election, adding “not a poster site has been booked”.  

He said the government was focussing on getting through the economic downturn. 

However, it appears that Mr. Brown had a good G20 summit, and his popularity could begin to rise further. The chairmanship of the G20 will change to the UK by the time of its next scheduled summit in the spring 2009, and Mr Brown said that the meeting could take place in London. And, we all know that Mrs. Thatcher was the expert of using world events and summits to time General Elections – it was the world stage that kept her in power, she was seen has a world leader. 

A YouGov for the Sunday Times showed the Conservatives’ lead over Labour at its lowest this year.  

It also suggested the prime minister and Chancellor Alistair Darling were more trusted to deal with the economic situation than Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne, by a margin of 36% to 25%.  

However, a ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday suggested the Tories had stretched their lead by three points to 11% over the past month.  

The Conservatives were on 43%, Labour was up a point on 31%, while the Liberal Democrats were down 4% on 12%.

Poor old George Osborne, he appears to lurching from one political crisis to another; firstly it came to light that he tried to that he attempted to solicit a £50,000 donation from Oleg Deripaska for the Tories. Recently his own supporters and party members were unhappy with his performance in a recent opinion poll survey. Then, we hear that there is a whispering campaign to bring in new blood, and some members would like to see Ken Clarke bounced back into the roll. Lord Kalms the former treasurer and founder of the Dixons - said someone more ‘heavyweight’ was needed, and named former shadow home secretary David Davis as his favoured candidate.

As an outsider it looks to me that Mr. Osborne was ruffled and took the opportunity to fight back while the PM and the Chancellor were out of the country at the G20 summit, and this is why he as got into his latest problems. He did not think about the problems that the Tories had created with sterling when he said: ‘We are in danger, if the Government is not careful, of having a proper sterling collapse, a run on the pound.’

His comments have naturally been supported by many senior Tories; however both the government and the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable branded Mr. Osborne’s comments ‘baffling’.

‘Many people will be baffled that George Osborne has apparently failed to notice the fact we’ve already had a run on the pound, but it’s happened gradually rather than in one dramatic moment as with the ERM under the last Tory government,’ he said.

Between 2003 and May this year I Chaired three Scrutiny Committees; firstly, the Education Scrutiny Committee (prior to the Every Child Matters Agenda), then Children’s Services Panel which was renamed Children and Young People.  Therefore, I have followed the numerous news reports with interest about the tragedy of Baby P; however I found it very difficult to come to terms with the fact that history appears to be repeating itself. I can remember set down in front of officers along with other Scrutiny Members asking questions about the Victoria Climbie enquiry, and naturally our main concerns was could this ever happen again but particularly in North East Lincolnshire – I believed we were reassured. 

    Over the last week one blog I have closely followed is Lynne Featherstone online account of the affair; therefore if you would like to keep up to date visit: Lynne’s Parliament and Haringey Diary  

Today, she wrote months after the lawyer for Nevres Kemal (the whistleblowing social worker) had written to the four ministers David Lammy (minister as well as the tragic Baby P’s own MP), Patricia Hewitt, Ivan Lewis and Rosie Winterton and got no satisfactory response - her story finally came to Lynne - can’t say how.

Lynne was naturally concerned owing to fact that Haringey was the Borough when the previous tragedy had occurred with Victoria Climbie that had led to the major changes in Local Government. It appears to me that Lynne Featherstone is highlighting in this article and earlier articles that severe failings have taken place, not just within the council but government and inspectors were aware of the issues. Therefore, it must be right that some actions should follow.If you are interested in reading further articles from this account, visit: Lynne’s Parliament and Haringey Diary