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Crimestoppers introduce safe and secure Knife Crime Texting service
Crimestoppers recognises that violence and knife crime amongst young people is a serious and sensitive subject. In raising the profile of knife crime, Crimestoppers has introduced a safe and secure method of giving information via text message. The text service 88551 allows the user to remain anonymous, so the user's personal details are not known, nor can the text message be traced. Young people are being asked to provide specific information on who is carrying a knife.
The pilot scheme in Tower Hamlets has proved so successful it’s now being promoted in a number of other London Boroughs.
Visit the Crimestoppers website: www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Gangs: you and your child

The Home Office has released a handy booklet of guidance for parents, with information on how to protect children from gangs. Please click website (2/09/08 )

Classrooms focus on 'Britishness'
More than 500 schools in England will focus on the subject of Britishness as part of a government initiative.

The Who Do We Think We Are? week will see pupils look at identity, history, faith and community. The week was one of the recommendations in a report by Sir Keith Ajegbo, published last year following the London bombings on 7 July 2005.

Schools in England are required to promote social cohesion as part of the national curriculum. In some schools it will mean them linking up with more diverse schools in their areas. (24/06/08)

Record levels of immigration have had 'little or no impact' on the economic well-being of Britons, an influential House of Lords committee has said.
It says competition from immigrants has had a negative impact on the low paid and training for young UK workers, and has contributed to high house prices. The peers want a limit on immigration levels - a view backed by the Tories. Minister Liam Byrne says migration has added £6bn to the economy and a points system is preferable to a cap. In their report, The Economic Impact of Immigration, the peers said the government ';should have an explicit target range'; for immigration and set rules to keep within that limit.

Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, head of migration at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said that to say there were no economic benefits was 'simplistic and misleading';. 'Recent immigration has brought immense benefits to the UK in terms of economic growth, increased competitiveness and the delivery of public services'; he said. Supermarket chain Sainsburys was among those to praise foreign workers in evidence to the committee. It said it had found foreign-born workers to be highly motivated with a strong work ethic which rubbed off on the British-born staff. (1/04/08)

Asylum system 'shameful for UK'

The Independent Asylum Commission, led by an ex-senior judge, said the system denied sanctuary to some in need and failed to remove others who should go.
It said the treatment of some asylum seekers was a shameful blemish on the UK's international reputation.
But the Border and Immigration Agency has rejected the report, claiming it operates a 'firm but humane' system.
The commission spent a year researching the report and spoke to former home secretaries, policy makers and asylum seekers. (27/03/08)

Commission on Integration and Cohesion - report published
The Commission's remit was to look deeply into how Britain was being changed by diversity, migration and globalisation - and how society should respond. The report 'Our Shared Future' provides practical approaches through a collection of case studies to building communities' own capacity to reduce tensions and create opportunities for more integrated and cohesive societies. (14/06/07)www.integrationandcohesion.org.uk/Our_final_report.aspx

The Zahid Mubarek Inquiry
The Zahid Mubarek Inquiry has issued its report into the incidents leading up to his tragic murder in 2000. The report highlights the need for urgent action on the part of the prison service to improve how people of ethnic minorities are treated in prisons.

More information and the report can found on the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry website

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