The Home Office has been impressed by a pilot scheme run by West Midlands Police that is offering

The Home Office has been impressed by a pilot scheme run by West Midlands Police that is offering officers an extra £9,000 a year to stay. The scheme would pay for itself by reducing the amount spent on recruiting and training new personnel, Government sources said.”We really want to hold onto those staff who are currently in their early 50s and have invaluable experience to draw on,” a source said. “These officers are the real ‘Dixon of Dock Greens’ of their local community, known to everyone locally, and they often want to stay on if we can make it worth their while.”David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, is also keen to halt the exodus, to create the largest-ever police force for England and Wales. Mr Blunkett promised soon after taking office to have at least 130,000 officers in post by the time of the next general election. Numbers over the past year have risen by 1.1 per cent.In a Parliamentary answer to Lord Janner of Braunstone, Lord Rooker saidfigures for the Metropolitan police showed that 383 officers were due to retire after 30 years’ service this year That figure is expected soar to 661 by 2006 and 687 in 2010. If the pattern is repeated across the country, tens of thousands of officers will leave this decade.Lord Rooker said a number of options to prevent this were being considered.

The regulations let chief constables postpone retirement for ranks up to superintendent, he said. For more senior officers, it was a matter for the police authority. “We will be considering whether changes are required to the power to postpone or whether guidance for forces on the use of the power to extend service is required,” he said.. A boy tortured by rebels during the civil war in Sierra Leone will be treated in Britain for his injuries, the Department of Health said on Tuesday night.

A boy tortured by rebels during the civil war in Sierra Leone will be treated in Britain for his injuries, the Department of Health said on Tuesday night.
Issa Kamara’s hopes for treatment were initially dashed when he was prevented from coming to Britain by government red tape.But Jacqui Smith, Minister of State for Health, said the 10-year-old would now be allowed to undergo surgery. “The case of this young boy has rightly touched everyone’s heart. I am therefore pleased to confirm that Issa will receive the treatment he needs in the UK at the earliest possible opportunity,” she said.The Norfolk and Norwich Hospital had agreed to fund the surgery but the Department of Health said at first that medical charges could not be waived as Britain does not have a reciprocal treatment agreement with the West African country.Issa was captured by rebels in 1998 along with his mother, Mabinty. She was raped and then rebels held Issa over a fire while making his mother clap and sing to save his life.He now needs corrective surgery to burns on his face and an operation to correct bones in his wrist and hand, which are growing the wrong way.. It was the cloning story of the century.