Legislation / Legal
Scottish Executive: The legal age at which cigarettes can be bought is to be increased from 16 to 18 in October this year. Public Health Minister Shona Robison made the announcement while visiting a project at Claypotts Castle Primary School in Dundee which is adopting an innovative approach to smoking prevention. The age of purchase will also be raised in England and Wales on 1 October 2007.
The Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 gives Scottish Ministers power to raise the age of purchase for tobacco products. The decision to raise the age follows a consultation on the recommendations of the report ‘Towards a Future Without Tobacco’ from the Smoking Prevention Working Group.
Press release ~ Scottish Executive: Health - Tobacco ~ Smoking Prevention Working GroupSmoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 ~ NHS Health Scotland ~ ‘Towards a Future Without Tobacco’ ~
DWP: The government claims that the publication of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill marks the next stage of the Government's fundamental reform of the system of child maintenance, which is meant to:
- replace the Child Support Agency with the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (C-MEC)
- help lift children out of poverty by allowing parents on low incomes to keep more of the maintenance owed to them
- empower more parents to make & maintain their own private maintenance arrangements
- Using gross weekly income, rather than net, as a basis for calculating a maintenance liability
The Bill also contains new powers to share with credit reference agencies information on parents who do not pay their maintenance or debt - potentially affecting future loan or mortgage applications.
The Bill includes measures to provide faster compensation to all people diagnosed with mesothelioma, as announced at the mesothelioma summit in London on 13 March 2007.
Press release ~ Bill, White Paper and related documents ~ Mesothelioma summit in London ~ Child Support Agency
RCPO: Three men and two women have been sentenced to a total of 16 years imprisonment after being convicted of cheating the Revenue of approximately £250,000 and stealing thousands of pounds in cash from ‘Catch’, a charity set up to help children with brain injuries.
In all fraud cases reams of paper are generated and in this case alone there were over 20,000 pages of supporting evidence. The Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office reviewed, prepared & presented all the evidence in this case electronically, which saved time & reduced the cost of the overall Prosecution.
Lawyers presented the case by showing documents on screens as they delivered their arguments. This allowed details to be explained to the jury using a media format with which they are familiar and meant that evidence could be shown & discussed without the need to reproduce hundreds of paper files.
Press release ~ Revenue & Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO) ~ Catch (Care and Action Trust for Children with Handicaps)
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