Young Brits 'Could Miss Digital Jobs Boom'

Up to 750,000 jobs could be created in the next five years to fuel Britain's "burgeoning" digital economy, a report has predicted.

Mobile phone giant O2 said the continued growth of the digital sector offers "fantastic opportunities for tech-savvy young people", but warned not enough was being done to harness their skills.

Ronan Dunne, chief executive of the company's parent firm Telefonica, told Sky News: "If we don't generate those jobs using British youngsters with the right skills, businesses will have to look overseas.

"With the situation in the UK, where one million young people are out of work, we have to make sure we get the schooling elements right, the employer elements right and the readiness for work right."

Research by O2 suggests that 20% of the 750,000 possible vacancies would be entry-level jobs, suitable for people entering the world of work for the first time.

Many roles would be linked to the nationwide roll-out of 4G technology, which offers faster mobile internet speeds.

However, Mr Dunne said employers must show a greater willingness to recruit school leavers in order for the digital jobs boom to have a noticeable impact on youth unemployment.

"The onus cannot be on the Government alone," he said.

"Businesses must proactively seek out opportunities to collaborate to maximise the digital growth opportunity and harness the potential of the next generation.

"As digital natives, young people possess valuable skills that will be the future fuel of our economy, but not enough is being done to harness them."

Mr Dunne's comments came at the opening of Campus Party Europe, one of the world's biggest technology festivals.

Up to 60,000 young people are expected to attend the week-long event at The O2 in London.

As well as 100 guest speakers, the event features a digital skills marketplace, where school leavers can meet potential employers, and a hackathon, which aims to teach young people basic coding skills.

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Dementia Patients Feel 'Trapped' In Their Homes

More than 180,000 dementia sufferers in the UK feel "trapped in their own homes", according to research from the Alzheimer's Society.

It said 35% of people with dementia only leave their homes once a week, and one in 10 get out just once a month.

The charity's new report, based on a poll of 510 people with dementia, says many sufferers are not able to take part in activities they enjoyed before they developed the condition.

Almost one in 10 (9%) said they had stopped doing all the things they used to do, and 28% said they have had to give up leaving their homes altogether.

The Alzheimer's Society called on communities across the country to be more "dementia friendly" to help patients remain independent and get out more.

Improving stigma around the condition, having accessible transport, and businesses being "respectful and responsive" are all factors that could improve quality of life for sufferers, a charity spokeswoman said.

Alzheimer's Society chief executive Jeremy Hughes said: "It's shocking and saddening that so many people with dementia feel trapped and cut off from everyday local life.

The Alzheimer's Society says communities need to be more dementia friendly

"It's encouraging to see some communities have started on their journey of change but it needs to be a priority for everyone to act now."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "The dementia time bomb is one of the most pressing challenges this country faces in the years ahead.

"We have made real progress in starting to tackle this challenge, with over £50m going towards dementia friendly health and care environments, and the first ever G8 Dementia Research Summit to be held in December this year.

"But this report makes clear that we need to go further and faster to change attitudes and build awareness in our communities.

"This government is backing communities to give people with dementia all the help and support they need to live well with this illness."

An estimated 800,000 people suffer from dementia in the UK. Experts say this figure will soar to 1.7 million by 2051.

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'Crisis' Predicted Over Primary School Places

Rising demand for primary school places could soon see two pupils fighting for every place in some areas of the country, the Local Government Association has warned.

The LGA said teaching standards are already at risk as some schools are being forced to convert spaces such as libraries and music rooms into classrooms.

Others are having to reduce playground space or expand classes beyond the limit of 30 pupils, says the LGA - which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales.

It claims that by the start of the academic year in 2015, schools in Newmarket in Suffolk will be over-subscribed by almost 100%, with two pupils to every current available place.

In Costessey, Purfleet and central Croydon there will be at least 75% more demand than current places available.

And, by 2016, schools up and down the country from Bristol to Manchester will have to increase the number of school places by at least 20% to ensure every child gets a place.

Council leaders want the government to cut bureaucracy and let them bring in local solutions to solve the problem.

The LGA's David Simmonds said council efforts to find a place for every pupil were being "hampered by uncertainty and unnecessary restrictions".

Education Secretary Michael Gove blamed the last Labour government for the problems, claiming Tory warnings about the issue had been ignored.

He told Sky News: "We warned the last government that there was a need to invest more in new school places. They didn't listen to that message so we are having to clean up the situation now."

He admitted the shortage was now a "significant challenge" but moved to reassure parents that the Government and councils were working to ensure no children missed out.

"Free schools are only one part of the equation," he said.

"It is also the case that local authorities are using billions of pounds that we have given them in order to expand some existing schools and allow new schools to be created which will help meet the need for school places."

The Department of Education said the Government will have poured £5bn into created new school places by 2015, more than double that spent by Labour in the same timeframe.

Some 190,000 extra places have already been created since 2010 and another £7.5bn is due to be spend on funding 500,000 places by 2021.

A spokesman said: "We are building more free schools, letting the most popular schools expand, and intervening to drive up standards in weak primaries which have thousands of empty places simply because parents don't want to send their children there."

Demand for places is being driven by a booming UK birth rate.

More babies were born in 2011-12 than any year since 1972, according to the Office for National Statistics.

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Syria: Pressure For New Vote On UK Strikes

There are growing calls for David Cameron to consider a second parliamentary vote on military action in Syria if further evidence emerges that civilians were targeted by chemical weapons.

Washington has announced that hair and blood samples prove the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad has used sarin gas to attack civilians.

Secretary of State John Kerry has used interviews with several US news channels to suggest the case for military strikes is growing, adding that he is confident Congress will back military action when it is put to a vote next week.

In Britain, pressure is mounting for a second vote on whether to support a strike against the Assad regime.

Boris Johnson has become the latest senior politician to suggest a new bid for parliamentary support could be made.

Writing in the Telegraph, the Mayor of London said the use of chemical weapons for mass murder in Syria could not go unpunished.

"If there is new and better evidence that inculpates Assad, I see no reason why the Government should not lay a new motion before Parliament, inviting British participation - and then it is Ed Miliband, not David Cameron, who will face embarrassment," Mr Johnson wrote.

UN weapons inspectors have gathered evidence in Damascus

Mr Cameron ruled out the use of British force in Syria following a defeat in the Commons.

But the prospect of Parliament revisiting the issue has been raised since Mr Obama's announcement that he is seeking congressional support for a strike.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he could not foresee any circumstances in which the Government would return to Parliament on the same issue.

"We're not going to keep asking the same question of Parliament again and again. We live in a democracy, the executive cannot act in a way which clearly is not welcome to Parliament or the British people, so we're not proposing to do so."

He added: "I can't foresee any circumstances that we would go back to Parliament on the same question, on the same issue."

The rhetoric between Washington and the Syrian regime has grown increasingly hostile in recent days.

Mr Assad told state TV his country is capable of confronting any attack.

"The American threats of launching an attack against Syria will not discourage Syria away from its principles ... or its fight against terrorism supported by some regional and Western countries, first and foremost the United States of America," he said.

Mr Obama is seeking congressional support for a strike on Syria

Mr Obama has launched an intense lobbying effort in an attempt to sway sceptical US politicians to support a military strike.

Arab League foreign ministers have urged the United Nations and the international community to take "deterrent" action, while blaming the regime for the alleged chemical weapons assault.

According to US estimates, up to 1,429 people, including at least 426 children, were killed in the alleged chemical attack in Damascus last month.

France says it will hand over evidence to lawmakers proving President Assad's regime was behind the August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria.

As the diplomatic wrangling continues, British MPs have called for answers from the Government over a chemicals trade deal with Syria signed months after the bloodshed started.

The Department for Business issued licences for the export of sodium fluoride and potassium fluoride to the war-torn country in January last year before revoking them several months later.

The chemicals are capable of being used to make nerve gas such as sarin as well as having a variety of industrial uses.

The Government said no chemicals were exported before the licence was revoked in June 2012 following EU sanctions but MPs said they intend to raise the issue at Westminster.

The SNP's Angus Robertson said: "This is utter hypocrisy from the UK Government - deploring chemical weapons in public whilst approving the sale of items needed to make them.

"I will be raising this at Westminster as soon as possible to find out what examination the UK Government made of where these chemicals were going, and what they were to be used for.

"Approving the sale of chemicals which can be converted into lethal weapons during a civil war is a very serious issue."

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Maths, English: Pupils Must Master Core GCSEs

Teenagers who do not get a C grade or above in GCSE maths and English will be required to continue learning the subjects until they gain the key qualifications under Government reforms.

The Government says the move will help ensure that young people have a good grasp of the two subjects in an attempt to end the "national scandal" of two in five teenagers leaving school without basic core skills.

The reforms will be introduced from the start of this term - which begins this week for many schools - and comes as the education participation age is raised to 17. In 2015 it will be raised to 18.

The Department for Education said that ideally, teenagers without C grades or higher in English and maths will continue studying for GCSEs in these subjects, although they can also take other qualifications such as functional skills and maths courses accredited by the exams regulator Ofqual as a "stepping stone" to GCSEs.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said: "Good qualifications in English and maths are what employers demand before all others.

"They are, quite simply, the most important vocational skills a young person can have. Young people must be able to demonstrate their understanding of these subjects."

Mr Gove has previously said that within a decade, he wants to see the vast majority of teenagers studying maths up to the age of 18, and the Government is developing a new set of post-16 qualifications in the subject.

Michael Gove's aim is to get pupils up to the age of 18 studying maths

The proposal was first put forward by Alison Wolf, the Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King's College London, in her 2011 review of vocational education.

At the time, she said it was "scandalous" that half of 16-year-olds were leaving school without good GCSEs in English and maths, and warned that it was a real failure of the education system that many of these youngsters would still not have these qualifications at age 18.

Prof Wolf said today that she was "delighted" by the move, adding: "It will have a hugely positive impact on the ability of hundreds of thousands of young people to get good jobs."

At the moment, around one in five young people in England continue studying maths past the age of 16, compared to other developed nations where the majority of students continue the subject.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "School and college leaders fully recognise the need for all young people to acquire high levels of literacy and numeracy and is in favour of the raising of the participation age.

"However we have been expressing serious concerns to the Government for some time about the implementation of this very significant new policy about which there are many unanswered questions in the absence of a coherent and funded implementation plan.

"At a time when post 16 funding is being significantly reduced and feedback from ASCL members continues to show very different states of readiness in different parts of the country it is difficult to see how schools, colleges, employers and local authorities will be able to provide additional classes or recruit suitably qualified teachers."

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Michael Le Vell In Court For Sex Abuse Trial

Actor Michael Le Vell, who is accused of serious child sex offences, has arrived at court for his trial.

The Coronation Street star, who plays car mechanic Kevin Webster in the ITV soap, is facing 12 charges in all, which are five counts of rape, three of indecent assault, two counts of sexual activity with a child and two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

The 48-year-old is charged under his real name of Michael Turner. He denies all charges.

The father of two, originally from Manchester, is one of TV's most famous faces after playing garage owner and mechanic Kevin Webster for the past 30 years.

The alleged offences relate to one complainant and are said to have taken place between September 2002 and September 2010.

The law protects complainants in sexual offence cases and they cannot be named.

ITV has said he will not be appearing in any further episodes of the soap pending the outcome of legal proceedings.

The actor split from his wife, Janette Beverley, last year.

His trial before Judge Michael Henshell at Manchester Crown Court is scheduled to last around two weeks.

More follows ...

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Council Paints Nine Inch Double-Yellow Lines

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9:27am UK, Sunday 01 September 2013

Tiny: It is not known if this toy car received a parking ticket

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Suffolk Stabbing: Man Held Over Garden Death

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after another man was found stabbed to death in a garden.

Police were called to an address at Brooksfield in Bildeston, Suffolk at 4.15am and the victim was later pronounced dead at the scene.

A 44-year-old man was arrested in connection with the incident and is being questioned by detectives at a station in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Police said.

The surrounding road has been closed off while police investigate the incident.

Anyone with information should call Suffolk Police on 101.

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Live Updates: Murnaghan

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9:49am UK, Sunday 01 September 2013

Dermot Murnaghan

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Savile Abuse Scandal: Helpline Calls Soar

The number of calls to a charity helpline reporting serious sex abuse of children has almost doubled following the Jimmy Savile scandal.

In June and July this year, the NSPCC received 594 calls to its 24-hour helpline that were referred to police and social services, compared with 323 in the same period last year.

John Cameron, head of the helpline, said people now seem more confident in speaking out about abuse following media coverage of Savile's posthumous unmasking as one of the UK's worst sex offenders.

More than 200 offences have been recorded against the disgraced TV presenter, who died in October 2011. Most involved children, including youngsters as young as eight.

"The number of calls we took this summer was significantly higher than last year," said Mr Cameron.

"Eight months on, we can confidently say that the Savile scandal is changing the way in which people react to abuse.

"There appears to be a clear shift and the public now seem better equipped and more confident to report their concerns.

The NSPCC received 594 calls to its helpline in June and July this year

"It's very encouraging to see that adults, including those who don't have direct responsibility for children, take action if they think a child is at risk.

"The Savile scandal has shocked the nation but has also increased public awareness of how difficult it is for children to speak out and how crucial it is for adults to report any suspicions or concerns they have straight away."

Savile was unveiled as one of Britain's most prolific sexual predators after detectives launched a national investigation into abuse claims at the end of last year.

The scandal sparked a huge police operation which has seen a number of high-profile arrests.

:: Anyone concerned about the safety of a child can contact the NSPCC by clicking here.

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