May

"Lawmakers in Mexico City have filed two bills that would begin to radically transform the country's approach to drugs. One was introduced in the Mexico City legislative assembly and one in the federal legislature. The moves come as the debate over drug policy in general and marijuana in particular heats up in the region. The legalization of marijuana in Uruguay and the US states of Colorado and Washington has enlivened ongoing efforts at drug reform in Mexico, and the country continues to bleed from the violence associated with criminal organizations that rose to power on the back of drug prohibition. The Mexico City bill would de-emphasize small-time marijuana prosecutions. It would instruct police and judges to deprioritize prosecution of marijuana violations in some circumstances, and it would create a Portugal-style ""dissuasion commission"" which could impose administrative sanctions on offenders instead of subjecting them to the criminal process. The bill would also allow for the limited retail sales of marijuana in the Federal District. The federal bill would raise possession limits for the amount of drugs decriminalized under a 2009 law and would allow for the use of medical marijuana"

"Brazil will change its immigration law to make it easier for foreign workers to enter the country and meet the growing demand for labour, announced Strategic Affairs Minister, Marcelo Neri. He added that the country is ideally seeking professionals from countries with ""linguistic affinities"" with Brazil. The Brazilian unemployment rate in November was 4.6%, the lowest level since 2002. This has sparked concerns that if the country moves closer to near full employment, it could jeopardise Brazil 's future economic growth. Neri told foreign correspondents, that the government will make it easier for highly qualified professionals, such as engineers, doctors, and technology specialists, to work in Brazil. Neri said the changes would include reducing the bureaucracy involved in obtaining a work visa for Brazil and allowing workers to change jobs without having to request a new visa. A recent study conducted by the Fundacao Dom Cabral business school found that that 91% of companies surveyed said they have problems in hiring qualified technicians, administrators, and project managers. ""The lack of qualified manpower has become a major bottleneck in Brazil, and there is no sign that this situation will improve in the near or medium term,"" said the survey 's coordinator."

The Home Office recently made changes to existing legislation to provide a legal definition of 'work with children. '
These changes consolidate the existing prescribed purposes (a role or activity set out in Police Act regulations which provides eligibility for Enhanced criminal records checks to be submitted) relating to working with children, and bring them together into a single prescribed purpose called 'work with children '. This allows for Enhanced criminal records checks to be made.
The new legislation can be found on the legislation.gov website:
SI 2013|2669
SI 2014|955
It gives more clarity - for example it includes a reference to special guardians, who although previously eligible for enhanced criminal record checks courtesy of the role, had not been previously named. As with a prospective adopter, this would also include any persons aged 18 or over living in the same household as the special guardian.
Here 's a summary of the new prescribed purpose:
�Activities that would have met the definition of regulated activity with children before the introduction of the Protection of Freedoms Act (PoFA) in September 2012
�Activities that meet the definition of regulated activity with children
�Adoptive parents, special guardians and any of their household members aged 18 and over
�Registration for child minding|day care and any household members aged 16 and over
� Registration under Part 3 of the Childcare Act 2006 and any household members aged 16 and over
�Foster carers and any household members aged 18 and over*
�Private foster carers and any household members aged 16 and over
�Household members aged 16 and over of individuals who are in regulated activity with children, or would have been in regulated activity with children before the introduction of PoFA in September 2012 and live on a school site, or are working and living in an Further Education (FE) institution or 16-19 Academy
�Working in an FE institution or 16-19 Academy where the normal duties of that work involves regular contact with children
�Activities that would have been regulated activity with children before the introduction of PoFA in September 2012 if they met the period condition but are only carried out infrequently � Activities that would be regulated activity with children if they met the period condition but are only carried out infrequently
�Registration under Part 2 (Establishments) and Part 4 (Social Care Workers) of the Care Standards Act 2000
Eligibility for accessing children 's barred list checks has not been affected by these changes. The eligibility guide and the DBS child workforce document have been updated to reflect this change.
*In line with the Department for Education fostering regulations.