New legislation to protect victims of forced marriage and prevent others from the same fate comes into force last week.
The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 will enable courts to prevent forced marriages and order those responsible for forcing another into marriage to change their behaviour or face jail. It also provides recourse for those already forced into marriage.

For more information visit http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/lfi/167939

Many organisations spent weeks and months planning to host the Palestinian Under 19 football team in a 3 week visit to the UK in September. This visit is no longer going to take place as the British Consulate in Jerusalem has refused to grant visas to the entire team and coaches.

The British Government, in a decision apparently taken at a senior level, have refused entry visas to the entire team. Although they will not provide reasons in writing, they say the decision was taken because the economic situation in Gaza, where the majority of the team are based, is so bad that they do not believe that the Palestinians will return home again. They deny taking the decision for any politically motivated reason, although they did say at one point that it was because the Israelis would not allow them to return - and so would create a refugee issue, but they have since denied this.

The team posed no threat and the tour was intended to provide support to a team of boys and young men who would have no other opportunity to play in real football stadiums. Britain is now directly aiding Israel in punishing the Palestinians by denying them freedom of movement on no legitimate grounds.

Are you interested in
* Public Value Partnerships
* Working with offenders in different re-settlement areas to reduce re-offending
* Can you make a positive difference to Offender management delivery

Key Questions and issues for the day
* Development of infrastructure of VCS agencies and their involvement in delivering Offender Management Services
* Put your questions to the Regional Offender Manager
* Learning from MOVE
* Workshops
* Commissioning via Contestability for a range of interventions

For more information contact Nahida Majid on 07875 312591

Today is the deadline for submitting applications for the LSC Offender Learning in the Community funding.

See the previous news item for more details.

The LSC in Yorkshire and The Humber Region has been successful in securing £3.5 million European Social Fund (ESF) Objective 3 money to support offender learning and skills in the community.

The ESF funding will support four projects, enabling offenders in the community to access a wider range of provision, better suited to their specific needs, than is currently available. All projects will deliver activity across the Yorkshire and Humber region (excluding South Yorkshire).

The LSC is keen to work with a diverse range of organisations to provide opportunities to meet regional needs and priorities. It is envisaged that there will be a lead organisation working in partnership with other organisations on a given regional project.