MP sorry for Morgan hacking slur

29 July 2011 Last updated at 14:56 GMT By Victoria King Political reporter, BBC News Piers Morgan had vigorously denied Mrs Mensch's accusation Conservative MP Louise Mensch has apologised to former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan for accusing him of "boasting" about hacking phones.

She told the Commons select committee last week that Mr Morgan had been "very open about his personal use of phone hacking" in his memoir The Insider.

But she now says she made a mistake and had misread a newspaper report about the book.

Mr Morgan, who denied the accusation, thanked Mrs Mensch for her apology.

Mrs Mensch made her remarks during the Commons culture, media and sport committee hearing with News Corporation bosses Rupert and James Murdoch on 19 July.

This later developed into a row between the pair on Twitter after Mrs Mensch stood by her remarks but declined to repeat them outside Parliament, where comments have greater legal protection against libel proceedings.

'Outrage'

During the hearing the Corby MP - best known as the best-selling author Louise Bagshawe until she married Peter Mensch, manager of rock band Metallica, in June - asked why the committee not spoken to Mr Morgan about phone hacking.

She said: "As a former editor of the Daily Mirror, he said in his book The Insider recently that that 'little trick' of entering a 'standard four digit code' will allow 'anyone' to call a number and 'hear all your messages'.

"In that book, he boasted that using that 'little trick' enabled him to win scoop of the year on a story about [former England football manager] Sven-Goran Eriksson. That is a former editor of the Daily Mirror being very open about his personal use of phone hacking."

Louise Mensch said she had misread an article about Piers Morgan's book

A furious Mr Morgan, who now hosts his own programme on the US news channel CNN, called the claim "a complete outrage" and challenged her to provide evidence for it.

He also accused her of being "cowardly" by using parliamentary privilege to make it.

On 21 July, Sly Bailey, chief executive of Daily Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror, wrote to the committee demanding the MP correct her remarks.

"On two occasions Mrs Mensch made uncaveated statements purporting to be facts," she wrote. "On both occasions she made allegations that are wholly untrue."

Scoop

In a letter to committee chairman John Whittingdale on Friday, Mrs Mensch said she had "wrongly stated" that Mr Morgan had "been open about personally hacking phones".

"This was based on my misreading of an article in the Daily Telegraph... which covered Mr Morgan's description in his book of how to hack a phone and how he won the Scoop of the Year on the story of Sven-Goran Eriksson and [TV presenter] Ulrika Johnson.

"The Telegraph report covers the claim of a blogger that this story was acquired by phone hacking, and I misread that as Mr Morgan himself claiming this to be true.

"Therefore, I must apologise to Mr Morgan and the committee for this error about his book."

Mr Morgan later said on Twitter that he "graciously accepted" her apology.

Earlier on Friday, Mrs Mensch admitted it was "highly probable" she had taken drugs while working for record company EMI in the 1990s.

She said MPs were "entitled to a life before politics, including making mistakes".

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Hospital sorry for OAP tambourine

21 June 2011 Last updated at 12:30 GMT Tambourine used in the day room of the west wing at Cardiff Royal Infirmary A hospital has apologised for asking elderly patients to attract nurses' attention with a tambourine.

Patients had to use the instrument in Cardiff Royal Infirmary's West Wing day room where there is no alarm system.

Wales' older people's commissioner Ruth Marks said it did "not afford any patient dignity and respect, let alone safety".

Health officials admitted it was inappropriate and said a bell will be used.

Ms Marks said a system where patients could easily call for help was needed.

"Whatever system is in place, it is vital that these areas are checked regularly by staff. If there was an emergency, there may be no opportunity to call for help."

"Resources may be limited, but installing a system so people can easily call for help whilst in hospital must be a priority."

Steve Allen, chief officer of Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Community Health Council, also called the tambourine "totally inappropriate and totally unacceptable."

"Patients should never have to use a tambourine. I also understand anecdotally that maracas were used which was unacceptable," he said.

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The care and dignity of all our patients is vitally important to everyone at the health board ”

End Quote Ruth Walker Cardiff and Vale UHB One relative of a patient said the use of the tambourine was "ridiculous".

"These people are pensioners, not members of the Monkees or Mick Jagger.

"Where is the dignity in asking old and frail people to bash on a tambourine if they are in trouble? It makes the NHS look like a laughing stock," he said.

Another relative said was shocked when his 90-year-old mother told him about the tambourine alarm.

"I thought she was joking about the tambourine but I went to the day room and there it was. I even took a photograph of it to prove it," he said.

"I gave the tambourine a good hard shaking - but after 16 minutes I gave up as no-one responded."

Patients using the West Wing will be accompanied by staff till a new system is introduced

Ruth Walker, executive director of nursing at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said the board took action as soon as the matter was brought to their attention.

"It appears that well-meaning staff have looked for ways to allow patients to make better use of the day room as part of their recovery and provide a way of calling for help when physio or other staff are not nearby.

She said a hand bell had previously been provided but was too heavy and cumbersome for frailer patients and staff looked for an alternative.

"Sadly the solution, while well intentioned, was not appropriate," she said.

"A lightweight hand bell will now be sourced as a matter of urgency and patients will be accompanied while using the day room in the meantime.

"The care and dignity of all our patients is vitally important to everyone at the health board and we sincerely apologise for any distress this has caused and are happy to meet with the family in question to discuss their concerns," she added.

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Exam board sorry for GCSE mistake

21 June 2011 Last updated at 13:07 GMT AQA said 52 schools in Northern Ireland were sitting the exam module An exam board has apologised for a mistake in a GCSE Maths paper on Tuesday.

AQA, which is based in England, said pupils at 52 schools in Northern Ireland were sitting the exam module.

It was unable to say how many pupils were involved.

AQA said it was sorry if the mistake had caused some students distress. It put the problem down to printing and said no student would be disadvantaged by the error.

A total of 31,659 students took the paper across the UK.

Some of the papers given to pupils in the foundation exam included questions which had been on a previous paper in March, however some copies of the paper did not contain the error.

It is understood the problem paper begins and ends with the correct June questions but has questions from March in the middle.

In a statement, AQA said it had told schools that students should attempt the paper "as it is" and it would consider the most appropriate action to protect students' interests, when it had a full understanding of the extent of the problem.

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Council sorry over boy rapist, 11

15 June 2011 Last updated at 12:36 GMT A council has apologised for mistakes which led to an 11-year-old raping another boy.

Sunderland City Council admitted it failed to act upon two warning letters written by a child psychiatrist about the schoolboy's mental state.

The rape happened in 2009 after he invited a nine-year-old into his bedroom to play computer games.

A Serious Case Review identified errors in communication between the agencies involved in the young rapist's care.

It found that the child and his family had been known to the police, health, education and children's services for a number of years, but there was no co-ordinated involvement between the agencies.

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As a council, we acknowledge that things could have been done better in this case”

End Quote Councillor Paul Watson Leader of Sunderland City Council 'Very sad case' It also found that Sunderland City Council had not listened to advice from mental health professionals.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sent to a secure detention centre for four-and-a-half years and ordered to spend another three-and-a-half years on licence once released.

In a statement the council said it was sorry that mistakes had been made, and a number of measures had been implemented to improve its service.

These included; additional training for staff, new ways of answering and acting upon letters, monthly meetings with doctors and other health professionals, and monthly case file audits to highlight and act on any outstanding issues.

Councillor Paul Watson, leader of Sunderland City Council described it as a "very sad case".

"As a council, we acknowledge that things could have been done better in this case," he said.

"We've listened and learned from what went wrong and we've put in place in a series of measures, including extra training, resources and investment.

"This is to help make sure as far as possible that something like this doesn't happen again."

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